The Heroes Legacy (Darkdrago666 + Grif of Hearts)

[Darkdrago666]

Part 1: "The Long Journey"

"looks like I better get going...this story isn't gonna move itself!" Skull Man thought. It had only been a few months, but Skull Man was already big news, on T.V., The internet, especially a video on youtube of him fighting a group of armed robbers with only his fists. He was a fan of Youtube, and to see himself, well that only gave more fuel to his ego. He looked down from the building he was standing, it was a deep fall to say the least, but he could take it, hell, he was the most reckless crime fighter out there, and he liked that. "well...here goes!" He leaped from the edge. Taking a cue from a "certain" assassin in a popular game. Skull Man spread his arms wide and dived right down, and just his luck he could see a some thugs, and a young woman unfortunately dealing with these lowlife kids. It was a bone shattering THUD!, the sound of his body striking the ground that nearly cracked underneath him. Any other ordinary person, and they would have died instantly, Skull Man, however, he wasn't.

The group of thugs looked on with a confused look, the young lady had managed to get away from them as they were too busy looking at the crazy suicidal guy wearing a skeleton costume, with added neck scarf. Skull Man pointed at the group. "Stop right there criminal scum!" he managed to shout, seemingly jumping to his feet "nobody breaks the law on my watch" Skull Man retorted, as he walked closer to the group.

"okay you guys...lets take this freak out!" The leader of the bunch shouted readying a bat in his hands. "oh really?...a guy that survived a fall from that building?" he showed them by pointing up. "and you think a baseball bat and some knives are gonna kill me?...I'm cool with that" Getting into fighting stance, He simply motioned a "Come On!" with his hand. The first thug ran forward going in for a stab. Skull Man ducked, grabbing his wrist, and twist it into a hammer lock, and with a downward elbow strike, broke the thug's arm, followed by a swift roundhouse kick across the head. The next thug reluctantly step forward, holding yet another knife. "again with the knives?...well, it doesn't hurt I suppose" Skull Man reacted with surprising speed, he sweeped the guy off his feet, followed it with a Knee drop straight to the gut. He got, wiping his hand together "ready for..." the familiar sound echoed within Skull Man's ears. He sighed. "not again"

[Grif of Hearts]

Bright white lights, lined and hollowed into the metal walls, illuminated the room as best they could, but it was more than enough for the lone person in the room to see what they were doing. One on side of the room, the man sat, resting beside a huge crafting table which was littered with various pieces of equipment such as hammers and screwdrivers. A pile of scrap metal and wiring was through loosely to the side, and the two doors out of the room were to the left side.

A slight twist of Richie's wrist tightened one of the various bolts that held the metal plating together, followed by another twist, and then another. It wasn't necessary. Each one was already fastened well enough to last for the time being, but it never hurt to be especially careful. Richie had had the glider literally disassemble mid-flight before, and while that was many years ago now, nobody had come out of that looking especially pretty. Richie himself had shattered an entire arm beyond repair, and although it had healed up perfectly well, he'd rather not go through it again. The glider was almost indestructible now, but his obsessive nature meant that he would keep checking his equipment after every outing with it.

The device around his wrist beeped a few times, the light upon it flashing a bright red. Richie sighed, putting down the screw driver and placing the glider back flat on the table. He pressed the button on the side, and a voice rang out from the watch-like device. The voice was familiar, and the sound of an engine rumbling could be heard in the background. The conversation could have been made through a phone-call, but when it came to these kinds of matters Richie didn't trust the phone lines. They were too easy to trace.

“Hercules, are you there?” called the voice, loud and clear to draw his attention.

It was one of the police officers in the city, his station located in one of the more crime-filled areas. Richie didn't know his name, but the officer didn't know his really name either, nor had they ever met without Richie donning the Hercules persona, so they knew very little about each other. The officer was more than willing to warn Richie whenever something big ended up happening in his part of the city. It could be anything, from a mugging to a drug raid. Richard heard the word “shoot out”, however, which means that someone had gotten hold of weapons which they thought were decent enough to take down the entire city's security.

With him on the case though, they were sorely mistaken. The man continued speaking for a few moments, with Richie not having even responded yet, simply listening to the details. There was a gunfight happening near the centre of town, and the officer had been called in for back up. He wanted Richie to arrive to help, striking down the criminals as Hercules. “Are you even there? Hello?”

Richie cleared his throat. “Give me a few minutes,” he said, lifting up his glider, pressing a button and watching the wing slide into the main part of the device, making it smaller and easier to carry. “I've got to do my hair first.”

Carrying the board, he headed out of the room through one of the two doors, passing into what appeared to be a stand-in wardrobe. Time for Hercules to have some fun outside, Richie thought, as he grabbed what appeared to be a thick, black, full-face helmet, with camera lenses glowing bright green where a visor should have been.

[Darkdrago666]

The shoot out could be heard from Skull Man's location, which really wasn't that far. "oh, do I hear a plot device?" he said to himself the Baseball wielding thug just look at him with a puzzled look. "Oh sorry...you were about to hit me with that bat of yours." as the thug swung the bat Skull Man stopped the swing, and disarmed him in a blink. " too bad for you...but its a home run for me!" Skull Man went in for the swing himself hitting the thug straight in the gut. "You got to try harder next time kids...it's gonna take alot more to kill me!" he laughed as he then headed out onto the main street.

He quickly looked around, untill he saw a police car drive past him obviously heading to his next destination. Skull Man looked on, seeing from afar the police, and the gang in an all out war. "gotta watch myself, unless I got shot in my knee and become a security guard..hehe...I hate that joke" he sighed as he then immediately sprinted to the all out gun fight. This only excited him more, the last gunfight he stopped, another guy was there, called himself Hercules, he even had his own glider, to which Skull Man wanted for himself. But today was going to be different, he would stop this gunfight with ease, and then get back to patrolling to his street. Sometimes he wished more people like himself were out either fighting crime or starting it, every good superhero had an archvillain, or so he wanted. But the lowlife thugs, the occasional gang war, and cop on gang fights kept him entertained enough, and he wasn't going to get bored anytime soon.

as he came closer, one of the armed men firing at the police spotted Skull Man running straight for them, and took aim. "not the knee not knee!" the shot hit Skull Man in the head, and the speed he was going at made him topple over himself, almost as if he was bouncing off the ground. "thank god...thought I was gonna be out of action for a few days! hehehe" Skull Man slowly pulled himself up from ground, the the bullet hole in his head healed up quickly, the bullet pushed out. "Great shot! if that had been any other person, they would've had their brains blown out, I'll give you a thumbs up" he mocked as he moved closer. The armed man shouted for the others to shoot. Skull Man didn't stop moving, hell he enjoyed this kind of attention. people wanted him dead, and could easily not do that request. He loved to ruin their day for it.

the bullets fired like a storm at Skull Man. Some used Uzis, others used handguns, and two guys even had AK-47s, to the surprise of Skull Man. A only a few bullets missed him completely, others, shot through him. "We'll make him swiss cheese!" the guy shouted. a good 20 seconds had passed before they had to reload, Skull Man was still standing. Many holes left in his costume, and the wounds healed just as quickly as the shot to the head. he laughed as the armed thugs stood there in awe, reloading their guns. "my god that must be embarassing!!...all that ammo on me?...sorry to give you the bad news guys but I'm" he sprinted forward, a took a jump. In the air he lifted both his feet, giving the closest guy to him a dropkick he'll remember "Bullet poof bitches!" he said quickly jumping back up. a roundhouse kick to the guy on his right, followed by a arm breaking lock to the guy on his left trying to his rifle as a bat.. "this is my highlight of the day" Skull Man had a grin under his mask.


In orbit of Earth...

"General Zakarr...you should take a look at this..." General Zakarr marched up to the Monitor onboard his personal ship, the alien next him being his second in command Kalza. "good work...we will need further trials for this one...but we still need more like him, if we are going to defeat Malus...notify me on anymore interesting individuals Kalza..." Zakarr ordered before marching back to the obversation deck.

[Grif of Hearts]

Her left hand raised, her arm parallel to the ground. She flicked open the top of the lighter than was in her hand, and the tiny flame burst into life. The woman's other hand raised, her hand open and her palm out flat. The spark began to flicker and dance, reacting to the woman's presence, and soon the flame became much more violent, spitting out in a few directions. She smiled, and glanced forward to the lake in front of her. It was so quiet. There wasn't a single sound, beyond the soft sizzle of air burning and Allison's own heavy breathing. This place was so untouched by civilisation, Allison was probably the only human being within five miles of this place, and that made it perfect to practice. Trees were scattered around, the lake itself being just along the edge of a forest, and long grass was crushed beneath every one of the woman's footsteps. But it was the lake she was more focused on, not the local flora and fauna. Her hand clenched, and then she threw her whole arm forward like a punch.

Flames erupted from the lighter, swirling around her arm for just a moment before being thrust forward, carrying the momentum of the punch. It flew through the air for a moment, but quickly smashed back down into the ground as if she had thrown a rock. The ball of fire smashed down against the lake, splitting into pieces on impact but quickly being put out by the water. That was what the lake was for.

Allison always struggled to keep control of the flames beyond a few metres away. Up until then they flew straight and true, but too far away and then simply crashed down into the ground like this one had. She tried a few more times, launching several more fireballs, but none flew particularly far. She had expected as much, but it didn't hurt to keep trying. It might have given her the chance to find out what she was doing wrong with this. But for now, she was having no luck.

She slumped herself back down onto the floor, taking a few moments to catch her breath. Alice wasn't particularly exhausted by the quick display of talent, more-so frustrated by the fact she had yet to control something which was seemingly so basic. She could probably get the same results by throwing the lighter itself, and that would take less energy to do. But giving up wouldn't get her any further, and maybe one time she'd be able to get one to last longer than a few seconds. Allison clambered back up to her feet, and continued several more times. There wasn't much change in trajectory, but she continued none the less.

x x x

Through the city streets, a sharp whirring noise could be heard from above. A distinct echo followed it as the source shot through the streets, making tight twists and turns around the tall buildings that flooded the landscape, leaving nothing but a thin blue trail of light marking where it once was. It darted through the streets, a small black arrowhead above the heads of the ordinary civilians. Richie was all too aware of its presence, and the eerie screeching noise the engines made rang loud and clear in his ears, the only thing that could possibly mask it being the harsh winds which battered the flying device, which was just as loud and painful to listen to as the engines were. Richie charged through it though, both noises growing more and more familiar by the outing. He didn't like it, but it wasn't completely unbearable.

Richie's feet were locked firmly in place to the board, and he shot through the city faster than any other vehicle he knew could without crashing into one of the many buildings that made up this thick urban jungle. He saw some people below point up at him, but his presence in the city wasn't completely unknown.

And there was the scene that the officer had mentioned. Sprawled out across the street in one of more dangerous areas of town, police officers and one of the various gangs in the city duelling from opposite sides of the road. Guns were fired back and forth, cars and various pieces of scenery used to cover themselves from fire. At the moment, it seemed like a stalemate, no side finding any advantage over the other. Richie spent a moment there, surveying the surroundings. By the look of things, neither side had noticed his arrival, and for the time being that was a good thing. The lights on his goggles flickered, the lenses changing and the usual full-colour vision changing into a ghastly blue and red one. The police uniforms and gang colours became indistinguishable, but now even the thick stone walls of the buildings wouldn't hide a living being. One standing by a window caught his eye, in pose that would suggest he was holding a large gun. A rifle of some kind.

His lower pair of hands clench, the index fingers just pressing against his wrist. The lenses flicked back to normal, and the glider's engines burst back into action, launching him forward above the scene of battle, halting just beside the building's window which was several stories up. Richie turned towards the man in the window, who was indeed one of the gang members, planning on using height to his advantage. The police wouldn't have a single piece of cover if he actually started to fire down at the officers. Riche threw out a hand, grabbing the barrel of the gun and pulling it off of him, dropping it down into the street.

“I love gravity.” One of his other arms thrust forward much as his other had, grabbing the man by the collar and pivoting around. “Say hi to her for m-”

Something else caught Richie's eye this time. Down in the middle of the street, a lone figure seemed to be soaking up bullets like a sponge. The police had stopped firing, taking a moment to catch their breath, while the gang members were loading clip after clip into the figure clad in red. For a moment, Richie was completely baffled at how he could take such a barrage of fire and still be alive, let alone standing. But then he remembered this wasn't the first time he had come across such an immortal person, completely resistant to all forms of harm. Skull Man was the name he went by, and always seemed to find his way into the middle of a battlefield like this one. Richie wasn't going to say that was a bad thing, as he seemed entirely competent at cleaning out an area when he needed to. He hadn't seen him around enough though to formulate a decision as to whether or not he liked him though. They both tended to keep to opposite sides of the city.

Richie pulled the man closer, staring at him eye to eye. “It really is a fun drop,” he said and threw the man forward, watching him drop to the floor, precariously close to where Skull Man was standing. Intentionally of course, if only to grab the man's attention. He dropped in altitude, positioning himself beside the fellow caped crusader. “I thought this was my side of town.” Richie chuckled, lowering the board even further so that it barely grazed the ground.

[Darkdrago666]

"look sir!...We've sent a group of scouts to this location, right outside the City we are focusing on...they found this girl...she maybe what you are looking for sir." Kalza immediately notified Zakarr of the young girl. Zakarr was a strong Vulcan, marching his way to the monitor, he saw the young girl practicing with a strange ability to manipulate fire. While the strange man dressed as a Skeleton could clearly survive virtually any injury, and "the man with many arms", as Zakarr named him, were clearly more experienced than this girl in the art of combat, the girl was learning to control her power, something that he could help her with, that's if she didn't attack him on sight.

"General Kalza, ready the Beacon...I want to test this girl's abilities first hand.." Kalza was surprised, Zakarr never showed interest like this with a target, what this girl special?

The Beacon was a super fast, efficient way of landing on a planet without operating a spaceship, it was a type of teleporting pod, something Zakarr had used since leaving his home planet in search of strong warriors. The pod viberated fast in such a short the time, Zakarr's body was broken down on a molecular level, untill nothing was left within the pod itself.

Zakarr felt himself being pulled apart, and pulled together. A bright flash shined through the forest, followed by a low crackling like rumble as Zakarr seemingly appeared on the spot. He opened his eyes, seeing the forest area for himself, feeling the ground underneath his feet, this reminded him of his home, a smile escaped upon his face as he looked into the sky. "This primitive race truly have a beautiful home...a shame they don't treasure it." ran through his mind as he then focused on the task at hand: to test the girl's potential, and power. "I wonder if her power is linked with her mental energy...maybe it's through enhancements...But then, highly doubtful, since they still use four, or two wheeled veihcles to travel on land" he laughed to himself. He clearly wasn't going to kill her, but then he couldn't really determine how strong she was truly, and maybe he would have to push as if he was going to kill her?, no, despite the reasons why he came to this primitive planet in the first place, no casualties would happen, ofcourse if she appears to be too powerful, he would find a means to contain her.



*************************************



"And another bites the dust" Skull Man announced after throwing a punch straight to one of the gang thugs, who thought they could take him on in a fist fight. some of the thugs had ran from the scene, only to run into the paths of the police men surrounding the building. Skull Man continued to fight the remaining thugs left. In total, Skull Man guess there to be 20 still inside the building. "just another day for me" he said to himself, seemlessly blocking a another gun being as a bat. Skull Man grab hold of the thug via an armlock. " My foot" he lifted his leg and with a quick, powerful strike the thug's knee cap, broke the bone with a painful, shuddering "Crunch". "Meet his knee!" Skull Man laughed to himself once again, to anyone, it would seem he was enjoying the chaos, but Skull Man just enjoyed a good fight, wether it was a street fight, or a gang holding themselves up in a building having a fire fight with the police. This sort of stuff gave Skull Man a satisfying feeling.

Then, a man seemingly fell from sky, or so He had thought "looks it's raining men...hehe" but looking up, Skull Man, noticed the same guy from before, Hercules, sporting more than one pair of arms, a cool suit, and the most awesome glider he had ever seen. He had seen Hercules before, this was neighborhood, and Skull Man was trespassing. " Well my good man, I heard the most perculiar sound of a bullet exiting a gun...I just had to witness it myself...by dropkicking the nearest guy with a gun" He replied to Hercules.

"You know, you whole persona would be complete with a bomb named after a fruit or something!...like maybe a pumpkin bomb?...nope nope...A tomato Bomb!!" Skull Man rambled like a mad man. "oh and there seems to be around twenty guys in the building...wanna split it 70-30?..." Skull man asked with a grin hidden

[Grif of Hearts]

The lake was pleasantly silent, and even if Allison had yet to show any advancement in the control of her abilities, at least she could enjoy the view in peace. The wind bit lightly at her bare skin and tugged at her hair, and the grass tickled her feet, but there was nothing more here than that to disturb her. She sat herself atop a picnic blanket, legs tucked up to her chest and fingers resting on her knees. If anything it was too quiet. Allison was struggling not to lie down and fall asleep in the midday sun. Something she had never done, but she was sure that falling asleep in the middle of nowhere was probably a bad idea, although why exactly was beyond her. Allison didn't try anything to keep herself from drifting off however, such as keeping active. She simply couldn't be bothered to, instead remaining in her position, almost frozen still. The energy to move had been all but lost in the girl.

A sizzle and a flash of light caused her to shudder back into life, however. For a moment Allison had thought that she had set the blanket alight by mistake, but that was not the case. It was perfectly fine, and the sound wasn't enough like fire for it to be so. Turning around, although the light was broken into fractures by the tree line, was certainly coming in from the forest. The noise definitely from that direction too. A forest fire, perhaps? But there was no smoke, and no deep orange glow. It was a much purer light than that, in shades of white and pale yellow, and whatever had caused it and whatever it might be seemed beyond Allison's comprehension. Unfortunately, the lack of knowing had managed to peak her interest, and it was but moments before she had scrambled back up to her feet. She bothered not to pick up her stuff, knowing that it was not going to suddenly grow legs and run off without her, and it would only waste time. The light and noise had already faded, and Allison was unsure if she knew the direct route to the source. She'd just have to head in one direction and have her fingers crossed. She did, and before Allison knew it she had already begun her trek into the thick forest, feet crunching sharply beneath fallen leaves and dirt.

Although wanting to remain cautious, Allison found herself moving swiftly through the trees, ignoring the sounds that her bare feet made against the ground. The temptation to reinforce her skin was also a strong one, but if it turned out to be nothing she would feel a fool, and if it turned about to be a regular person, or even a regular group of people, they would be more than surprised to see someone with skin of steel and silver.

x x x

Although Richie and this “Skull man” treated crime as a very different animal, their goals were much the same, and that meant that, until further notice, the two of them could work together out in the field, even if this time and every other time they had done this it had all been by accident. They had never arranged to fight anyone together. They just seemed to run into each other and the conflict went on from there, which ever way it went. Sometimes it was just hilarious to see Skull man in action. The looks on their faces when they did something to Skull, like plant a knife in his eye, that would kill any ordinary man. Hercules seldom saw him, and yet had seen some of the more horrific injuries inflicted onto him, none of which had even slowed him down.

“Sounds as good of a reason as any,” Richie replied, wincing as Skull man snapped a man's leg clean in half. “I know well enough that you're attracted to dangerous things. If you heard word of a nuclear missile testing site you'd probably drive the nearest car on up there just to see if this 'radiation thing' is all it's cracked up to be”.

Spotting one man priming his weapon, the glider's thruster's primed once more, and Richie flung himself and the board into the side of the man, propelling him backwards into the wall of the building behind him. Returning back to Skull man's side, he heard the man begin his insane rambling. Richie was sure that he had suffered some kind of serious brain trauma, whether recently or many years ago. Considering his powers, that didn't seem impossible. He talked about bombs and pumpkins, although Hercules hadn't the foggiest what he was talking about. Presumably more of his deranged banter. “I don't like bombs, they're messy... so are pumpkins. That's, like, double the messy, and I don't like having to clean up after my own mess”. Skull spoke again, and while Richie expected it to be mindless and incoherent, it wasn't quite. “Sounds like a plan. Have fun with your thirty percent!”

The engines roared back into life again, and thrust Richie into the side of another gang member. He threw a punch, landing the man square in the nose, knocking him out cold.

[Darkdrago666]

Zakarr carefully examined his surroundings, The woodland, and lake area reminded him of the "Peace Zone", back on his home planet, a place built within the barren wastes for those who seeked enlightenment, something he was going to do, untill War started. He immediately heard footsteps, and looked towards their direction, only to find the sound was echoed around him. He wasn't used to this planet, only coming down once before to scout the possible warriors of this planet. Most seemed weaker than his own warriors, untill now."Kalza...Where is the target?...mhm...intereting..." getting the report that she was on the move to his location he readied himself, looking for anything he could use. He saw her in the distance, and with a smirk, used his telekinetic powers, lifting a number rocks from the ground. "'I'll start small..." pushing his hand forward with little effort, the rocks levitating above the ground shot forward, almost bullet like. Something was different about the girl, Zakarr knew she had hidden pontential, maybe this attack will put her in defense, or maybe she would follow the attack up with one of her own. No matter the outcome, he was already prepared, He wasn't the leader of the rebels for nothing.

Not far from their location, Red Dragon was investigating a strange light, an energy he felt not far from this location. It started with a strange sensation he sensed back in the city, a sort of powerful punch to the stomach is how it could have been described. He had only been in this two months and already the crime, and scum that lived within was high. He knew of Skull Man, and Hercules, if only vaguely, but he knew, what that feeling was, it was powerful to make him cringe. He then took notice of a young girl in the distance, or what he could make out as a girl running through the woods. Many questions entered his trail of thought, and his insincts told him to head to wherever the girl was going.

"Sir!...we've got another target not far from you sir!...He's heading towards you" Zakarr's smirk, turned into a grin. "An uninvited guest?..." Zakarr looked around, now that two potential warriors head for him. He just smirked at the thought of it all.



**************



Skull Man looked to Hercules and with thumbs up confirmed his guess. "That I would do...I'd probably do it for the laugh...it makes a great conversation piece too!...Oh I used to drive my land rover to testing sites for fun you know...it's a great work out running from a nuclear blast!" He stated, with an uppercut to a passing thug. " Thirty percent?! now that not fair!" following from Hercules' lead, Skull Man dived into the near window. as he got up, one thug place the barrel of the gun to his head, Skull Man laughed. "Don't think do you?" and with Skull Man managed to spin around, a low kick to the leg, brough him down to one knee, to which Skull Man followed with a swift upward knee strike to face. The guy next to him shot him a couple of times, to the man's fear in his eyes as Skull Man quickly closed the gap between staring him dead straight ".....boo....." Skull Man whispered the would be shooter, who immediately ran for the exit.

"hehe...sometimes they are just wussies" he remarked heading through the next room, untill the door burst open. Skull Man looked up, noticing a much larger gang member, almost seven feet in height, and very muscular. "do they call you tiny?...no, wait....Little Man?" Skull man was then swiftly grabbed and being slammed into the wall and and floor. Skull Man felt the both slams, but rather than scream in agony, he just laughed. "Hey man! that tickles!"

[Grif of Hearts]

Allison felt something strike her face, marking her forehead and making her throw her head to the side. She felt a sharp pain, and her hand quickly moved to her head. She felt a warm dampness, followed by a sharp sting as she touched it. An object hit the ground beside her with a soft thud, and Allison turned her head to the sound. A stone, and a particularly sharp one, marked with a little blood along the sharpest edge. It would be her blood, presumably, which meant that somebody had thrown a stone at her. Could it have been that light, whatever it was? Somehow, the idea of something coming down from the sky in a beam of light, then acting childish enough to throw a stone directly at her face seemed like a bizarre one, but one that seemed perfectly reasonable. Allison wiped a little of the blood away from her forehead with her sleeve, although she could already feel another bead begin to trickle down the side of her face. Another flew forwards, seemingly heading towards Allison's stomach. This one was much faster, and looked as if it'd cause more than a nasty cut. Prepared though, seeing the slightly glint as it shot through the air, Allison routed her feet to the ground. Taking in a deep breath, the stone struck just below her rib cage. It struck cloth, tearing a small part of her cloak, but it hit her not not a slash but a clink. The stone fell to the floor again, this time with a chunk of it smashed away. It had been thrown hard.

What looked vaguely like a drop of paint roll across her skin, moving from her neck up to the roots of her hair. It was joined by another, decorating Allison's skin with patterns of silver and gold, until covered her entire body. Even her hair flickered and changed, resembling strings of gold. A thin trickle of blood still fell from her head, but that would stop soon. Another few stones flew towards her, far faster than any human could throw, but pinged off of her solid flesh like the second one did. Whoever it was wasn't going to catch her off guard this time.

Unsure of quite where the stones came from, apart from somewhere directly ahead, Allison bent her legs slightly to keep herself balanced. She flicked the lighter back on, letting the soft flame engulf both of her arms. One wrong move and she could burn down half of the forest, so she really didn't want to have to utilise any of her abilities

x x x

“How did I know that you already do that?” Richie yelled back, shaking his head. He let out a soft sigh afterwards, but it was barely distinguishable from the sound of heavy breathing from his respiration equipment. It wasn't necessary in this climate or altitude, the contraption designed to lower his oxygen usage, but he had grown accustomed to leaving it connected to his suit. It didn't have any detrimental effects, and not only did it make breathing a little easier when fighting but it also made him sound a whole lot more menacing. “You'd have to be brave or stupid to do that kind of thing... but I suppose that immortal is close enough.”

The ongoing battle was one which involved a lot of Skull man being shot and Hercules actually doing things tactically. While Skull simply leapt forwards, charging towards the gang of criminals and simply allowing things to run their course. That was perfectly fine for him. There wasn't a single consequence for him taking a shot to the chest of shoulder, but Richie did not have the pleasure of such a gift. Instead he aimed for the top window. As far as he could tell, there was not a single person up there, and after switching the lenses across his goggles that was confirmed. The window wasn't quite large enough to fit the board, so hovering beside the window, the locks that gripped around Richie's feet switched off, and he leapt through the open window and into the building. It seemed to be a block of flats, although hadn't been cared for in what looked like years. It was probably abandoned, or at least lacking in use. The door was wide open and the room was a little dusty, but judging by the littered food and beer cans which dotted the room it had been used fairly recently. The gang had probably been using it before the police shoot-out.

The glider slowly lowered itself to the ground, but Richie didn't bother spending the time to find out. He did feel the gloves covering his lower arms buzz however, signalling that the contraption had shut itself off. Below his feet, Richie could hear shouting and gunfire. Skully was really going all out against these people. It wasn't like he was going to be injured, of course.

Moving forward, Richie froze, hearing voices and footsteps. Judging by their speech, they had seen him take a short-cut up to the top of the building. Not a problem, of course. He just didn't like having to fight in such close quarters. Above the rooftops was his personal favourite. Richie heard the door in the room beside him be kicked open, presumably them searching for the six armed man who had since invaded their building. Richie did what he did best. He waited.

[Darkdrago666]

The large, brutish man was exhausted, picking a man up and slamming him into the walls and floor of the room would do that to the average, but muscular gang banger that would charge stupidly at a man that actedc like a living bullet sponge earlier, but still not everyone knew that Skull-Man was immortal. Skull-Man rolled along the ground, the man down to his knee in exhaustion. That's when ole' Skull decided to play this game differently, for a guy as big as this one, Skull-Man would atleast put some of his combat training to use, his photographic reflexes helped out alot too during his "Combat Breakdown" to which he calls it. That's when he started to breakdown how the fight would play out.

First the guy would throw a left hook, skull twisting his hip slightly just so he could grab the man's arm, followed by a quick Forearm strike to the joint of the man's arm, breaking it in the process. A few more hooks, to which Skull-Man would swiftly weave in out of of them, while the pained expression of the man continued. Skull Man then would follow with a flurry of his own, first, he would strike the body, each swift jab would strike the abdomen with quickness and power, he would end the combo with a bone cracking low right hook, breaking one or two ribs of the man. A swift low kick would bring him to one knee, and Skull-Man would follow with a powerful knee to the head, knocking the big guy unconscious.

Skull-Man's breakdown was in effect, he broke arm first. in anger man entered a blind rage, and swung around hoping to catch Skull-Man as he weaved and dodged the rage fill strikes. Skull-Man then followed up with a flurry of quick jabsm and a bone cracking right hook. as the man felt the force of Skull-Man's combo, the low kick brought him down one knee, as the knee followed him, effecively knocking the big guy out. Skull-Man sighed with relief, it wasn't a particularly hard battle, the big guys are always the hardest to take down.

Skull took a glance outside, seeing the cops moving in. That's when Skull-Man decided to move up, heading up the stairs, he quickly ducked into a corner, seeing two of the guys loaded with shotguns. Skull-Man's excitement grew all the more. He quickly moved to the thug on the right, catching him off guard. Skull punched the guy in the stomach and disarming the guy too. Using the shotgun as a bat, Skull struck the thug on the left, knocking him out. Skull-Man chocked the other thug out as he then wiped hands. "Time to head upstairs" he said to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zakarr sensed something change within the girl, his target, but he only smirked. "you seem to have some tricks up your sleeve, let's how you try this" Zakarr took off his helmet and carried on walking, in the same direction the girl was heading. His speed gradually grew, all the while taking out his retractable staff. Zakarr then dashed into a full sprint. He treated this as a sort of "initiation" he wanted to test her to see if she had more hidden potential, if she had the power, or more that he can sense from her, that is trapped within layers walls, stopping it from overflowing. he got ready to strike , his staff to his side, as he then leaped into the air, forcing his weight down, he judged distance, and it wouldn't be long untill she would soon be infront of him.

Red Dragon noticed how fast this creature was going towards something, a girl, but her skin had changed. This surprised Red Dragon and thus he gathered his speed, heading to the girl.

The closer he got, the creature had leapt, much like a pounce, ready to strike the girl as moved in, but that's Red Dragon shot forward as a few feet from the girl, Red Dragon leaped, hopefully knocking the girl out of way of this creature.

Zakarr landed, and his annoyance, it was an outside interferance that effectively stopped Zakarr from seeing this girl's true might. "You both possess great power...I can sense it...but I" that's when Zakarr noticed he was speaking Vulcan, he soon took out a strange collar, and placed it around his own neck "My apologies, I forgot you primitives only known the native tongue on this rock...I can sense great power coming from you two, and I'm here to see it for myself...it surprised that powerful beings such as you two actually exist on such a primitive world." Zakarr stated, his voice, although heavily accented, was speaking a language they could understand.

[Grif of Hearts]

Allison still kept her eyes locked firmly in the direction that the stone had been flung from. She should be able to resist a few stones striking her now that her armour plating had formed, but that didn't make the feeling that she was being watched any more pleasant. A few moments passed, and the tiny cinders that sparked from her forearms began to quiver and die. She knew she was wasting energy by holding them in place, and Allison didn't want to wear herself out before she even met the source of these flying stones.

Her body locked itself in place. She was waiting for the slightest sign of life. The stones had stopped and the forest was as quiet as it had always been. If it weren't for the solidified trickle of blood that had run down the side of her face then Alice might have thought that she had imagined the entire thing. Her arms slowly began to lower and the metal covering her skin began to trickle and fade, and the warmth seeping down the side of her face again. She wiped it away with her sleeve, smearing some of her blood across it. Thankfully some bandages took the majority of it, which could easily be replaced. The wound still stung though, and Allison slowly began to unwrap the strip of cloth from her arm, and gently pressed it against the break in the skin. With careful movements, the cloth was wrapped around her head and a knot tied at the back to hold it firmly in place.

A figure caught her eye. Allison's head twisted forward, spotting a figure moving at an incredible speed directly in front of her. He was blindly sprinting in her direction. By the time that Allison had realised it was a person rather than just a piece of dust caught in her eye, he had already leapt at her, a weapon drawn and a lust for blood.

Arms wrapped around the woman's waist, and for a moment she thought that the man had picked her up and thrown her to the side with the force of a train. Alice certainly felt herself being held to the ground, and she quickly tugged and pulled at the arms that held her. Her skin faded from a pale pink to a swirling pattern of gold and silver, preparing herself for the inevitable fight, granting her the strength to resist and push herself up to her feet. Glancing back, Allison saw the figure that lay where she had just be. She had indeed been grabbed by a man, but he was adorned in a blood red uniform. The charging figure had been silver, and Allison had been torn several feet away from where she was standing.

Back where she had stood, bo-staff drawn, was a creature of such bizarre nature that Allision spent a few moments simply examining it rather than burning it to a crisp. Incredibly tall and layered in what looked to be a piece of medieval armour, the head that sat atop the man's figure showed that he was less than human. Greenish brown skin draped from his figure, with a long face and wispy tentacles falling like some kind of moustache from the sides of his face. Allison had figured that she had become accustomed to strange things when she realised that she could control powers reminiscent of an Egyptian god, but this creature looks positively alien.

Turning to hold out an arm for the scarlet man, Allison helped the man up to his feet. She knew not who he was, but he had saved her from being attacked by what could quite easily be something out of Star Trek, pushing her out of the way of the creature, and for that she was thankful. She muttered her thanks to the man, interrupted by the creature who spoke in some bizarre language that Allison failed to place.

Flicking the lighter back up and a small ember sprung from the end, Allison grinned. Everyone understood fire. Just as the sparks began to swirl around her forearm, the alien changed its tone. It became less aggressive, and the language he spoke even changed. It was now clear, if heavily accented English. Allison understood each word perfectly, but he spoke of great power within both of the humans standing before him. How bizarre.

“What?” Allision said, quite confused.

A simple picnic had turned into a trip where she was being attacked by a prophetic alien with a staff and some quite impressive jumping skills who seemed to like insulting technology. Allison thought it was perfectly adequate. This creature was clearly aggressive though, but the words he spoke... he seemed like he had actively sought the two of them out for a fight, rather than just having run into them by chance. This was becoming more ridiculous by the second.

Sparks grew to cinders and soon caught her forearms alight. Allison held both of her arms up in a defensive stance and bent her legs to provide some balance. Both fists were clenched, ready to throw a punch if she needed to. For a few brief moments she had planned on playing defensively trying to run off at the first chance she had gotten, but then she realised that this would be the perfect training exercise. A live target, and one who seemed perfectly willing to charge straight into the field of fire. Literally.

And if the man who had saved her was willing to be of assistance, Allison couldn't see how she could lose this fight if she kept her head clear. He seemed to have reactions refined enough to save Allison before she were crushed by the alien creature, and that was good enough for her.

Pulling her arm back, Alice kept it level with the creature's chest. “I'm sure I can show you one or two tricks,” she said, glancing back to the scarlet man. “I would either stand back or ready yourself if I were you, stranger.”

She thrust her arm forward, and a head-sized ball of fire erupted from her enclosed fist.

X X X

Richie was hiding.

His body was pressed tightly against the wall of the apartment, and he kept his breaths slow and silent. It was the best he could do to keep hidden in these few rooms as options were quite limited for a man of his height. Three men had burst into the room, adorned in gang colours and a quick peak around the wall and into the main room showed that they were all armed with powerful assault rifles. Richie didn't fancy tangling with them in such an enclosed environment where there was barely any room to man. Ritchie didn't like fighting without his glider, and he doubted that it would be able to fit through the window with damaging the wings. He really didn't want to have to try and fix up the glider again.

“Is he even in here? Looks empty?” said one of the criminals, and Ritchie let out a gentle, thankful sigh. “We could always just drop a light. Watch the whole room go up in flames.”

There was a sound of a hand slapping against the back of someone's head. “And what if he's not even in this room? We've just burned the entire building to the ground for nothing.”

“It was just an idea...”

One of the men drew closer, his footsteps slowly loudening as the figure edged closer to Ritchie's hiding spot. The barrel of the thug's assault rifle peaked passed the wall that Hercules hid behind, and instinctively his left arm sprung out, grabbing the barrel and pushing it to the side. Bullets spewed from the weapon, scattering haphazardly at the far wall and the windows. Ritchie stood out from his hiding space, and with the same arm he gripped the side of the weapon, holding it away. A right hand swung at the man's nose, colliding and breaking it, while another gripped onto the thug's wrist, twisted his body around and dislocated the hand.

One of the other criminals, seeing the chaos, opened fire. Bullets sprayed across the room, many missing due to his lack of discipline with the weapon but several striking his ally whom Ritchie was using as a shield. Most were lodged in the man's body, and those that did pass through soft flesh no longer had the momentum to pierce through Ritchie's armour. His shield was certainly dead.

One of Hercules' fingers flexed, and he heard the soft purr of his glider's engines. The armed man turned to look at the shattered window, and saw little more than Ritchie's glider billowing straight for him. Turned vertical to slide through the window, it tore through the wooden bar that stood half way down the window with a sharp crack and collided with the criminal, lifting him up and smashing against the wall. His back was likely broken in several places and his neck had probably shattered, as it made a similar sound that the window had. He was certainly dead now. The glider itself sat lodged into the wall, pining the body up with it, the wings were dented although generally in good condition but the nose was likely to be shattered.

That left but one man, who seeing that both of his comrades were dead turned and ran. Ritchie was tempted to rev the engines of his glider as the man passed it, spewing out a pillar of flame and burning the man alive. He decided against it though, and turning the engines off altogether the contraption fell to the ground, the front noticeably crumpled. It had just flown straight into a brick wall.

In the clear, Ritchie scooped up the contraption in one hand, flexing a finger to cause the wings to retract, and held out his upper right hand to retain his balance while carrying such a heavy object. He moved down the corridor, darting down the stairs to follow the sounds of gunfire. An attempt to kill the Skull, no doubt. The man could take care of himself, but Ritchie didn't like the idea of letting Skull do all of the work.