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[IC] 《 H. E. R. O. 》 Page 16

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Hidden 4 yrs ago → 4 yrs ago Post by Rabidporcupine
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Rabidporcupine Depression Tree.

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Joseph


It wasn't long before Joseph had too much on his plate to think about anything beyond the here and now. He had still been close enough to here Sam revising the plan, where he and Pattie would track Eliza down using the traces of her scent that lingered on the girl. An interesting development, definitely, but any interrogations or teasing would have to wait until later. There was also the fact that the Wings of Law were behind their kidnapping, but he really couldn't say it was that surprising. He would probably be kicking himself for not realising it on his own at this point if he wasn't already busy.

With that in mind, he rolled away just as a pair of fists larger than his own head slammed into the ground where he'd just been standing, returning the sentiment with a pair of vicious swings from his whip, although he was finding it easier to use as something closer to a meteor hammer at this point. Each hit caused a small blast of flame to erupt from the stone tied into the end, disorienting it to the point where he could move in closer, grabbing a larger, sharp-looking piece of the rubble littering the area and jamming it into the creatures eye.

The ogre roared in pain as he continued to push the shard further in, but he was unable to reach the brain before it regained it's composure enough to launch him away with a backhand. It wasn't exactly a soft landing when he hit the ground, but he managed to roll in a way that allowed him to end up back on his feet. He had to dodge away again almost immediately however, as a second ogre lunged at him from his left. By the time he was back on his feet, the first ogre had made it to their location, leaving him standing between the two.

"Well, I don't suppose you two would be willing to come at me one at a time like gentlemen, would you?"

He winced at the roar he got from the one-eyed one in response.

"Yeah, I didn't think so..." He groaned, before once again rolling under a swing of it's massive fist and spinning his whip at it, angling his body as he did so to follow up with a number of strikes. Although each hit continued to emit small explosions of flame, they weren't enough to do anything more than superficial damage, only really being effective at scaring or disorienting the ogres, and even then only when it was in their field of vision. "Bloody hell, I really wish I could've used Blake's blood for this!"

Right now, his plan was simple. Try to remain in one-eye's blind spot and strike it from there, while also trying to keep it between him and the other ogre. The execution proved to be somewhat more difficult, but he managed to keep it going for a good half a minute thanks to the ogres natural stupidity. However, eventually the other ogre decided it was done playing, deciding to just run straight through one-eye to grab at him. Cursing, Joseph jumped to the side, repelling the hand that grabbed at him with an explosive swing. This unfortunately left him open to a punch from one-eye, who had gotten back to it's knees far faster than Joseph had expected. Unlike before, this punch was weaker, only sending him a few metres away. This may actually have been worse though, as he was now not only on the ground, but on the ground well within reach of two-eyes. The ogre proceeded to try and crush him with a slam of it's fists, and if he had to guess he'd say his head was maybe around half an inch away from them when they hit the ground.

However, much like the ogre, Joseph was also not the sort of person who would pass up an opportunity when he saw it. Rolling onto his feet once more, he ran up two-eye's arm before it could lift it, leapfrogging over it's shoulder to kick one-eye in the face. More specifically, he kicked it in the rubble sticking out of it's eye, causing it to roar in pain as it fell backwards. One last stomp while it was on the ground was enough to put it down for good. Wasting no time, he vaulted over the body to put space between him and the now turning two-eyes. With the ogre unable to quickly reach him due to their lumbering speed, he used the opportunity to change his grip and use his whip like an actual whip, releasing a vicious flurry of lashes that kept it too stunned to continue it's approach. If he kept this up, he could probably take it down through a death of a thousand cuts.

And then there was a resounding crash, and both man and ogre turned to see one of the buildings on the set collapse not far from them. As the dust cleared, he was fairly certain he saw Jamie wandering into the rubble, and found himself grinning despite the situation. Looks like she'd figured out how to put her knack for property destruction to good use.

Unfortunately, he was snapped out of his musings by the enraged roar that emerged from beside him, right before a giant, foul-smelling hand wrapped around his face.

"Hffhng." He tried to curse. He was stupid, getting distracted and letting his guard down in the middle of a fight. If only he wasn't still sort of drunk, he would hav-... Wait, that was it! Ignoring the pressure that was rapidly beginning to press down on his head, he reached into his jacket and pulled out something he'd almost forgotten he'd had.

His flask.

Flipping it open, he proceeded to splash the liquid contained within over two-eyes, making sure to focus as much on it's face as he could from what he could see between the monsters fingers. It roared as the liquid got in it's eyes, likely because any alcohol that could get Joseph drunk was not something you'd want in them, and hurled him away. As he flew through the air, he lashed out one final time with the whip, igniting the alcohol on two-eye's face and turning it into a giant, ugly bonfire.

For a mere second, Joseph managed a smirk at the sight. Then he hit the ground, bouncing a couple of times before rolling into a piece of rubble. He simply sat in place for a moment, slumped against the chunk of column, before looking to the side and sighing with relief.

"JJ, good to see you're still ok. Nice job with... this." He gestured to the rubble around them. "It was a pretty big building to take down though. Your arms ok?"

@canaryrose
Hidden 4 yrs ago → 4 yrs ago Post by Duoya
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Duoya

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Chad did his best to listen and comprehend the situation he was in - he was a HERO! The thing he had been dreaming to be since he was a child! And that wasn't even including the fact that he had just been assigned a badass mission from THE INVINCIBLE WARMONGER! If Powers' slap hadn't hurt as much as it did, Chad would have removed his helmet and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Because of all of this, Chad felt that listening to Powers was of vital importance. Not even mentioning Starbright distracted Chad, although the young hero did strike a small pose when he heard the name. It was a force of habit from listening to the celebrities' songs, one that Chad was trying to break since he was entering the field of Hero work like Starbright. He immediately stopped posing, however, when he learned about the nature of his mission. A group of heroes were kidnapped? Chad didn't have any idea who they could be considering it happened only recently.

Chad paused as he started to think more deeply on the matter since it wouldn't help, and he didn't want to lose track of what Powers was saying. When the older man pulled out a small cube, Chad became especially focused. He leaned in slightly as he spoke.

"What's that thing?"

"This device is a multi-purpose tool called an IDD. Irregularity Detection Device. It's a very common tool for our restorative units, and its interface allows for the detection, isolation, and identification of nearby scientific anomalies. In short, unless all of the heroes are really drugged up, this device should flare up once you get anywhere near them."

Powers tossed a small cube towards Chad, which the Hero caught easily. The thought of using his powers to catch the device and appear cooler crossed Chad's mind, but he avoided doing so - while it did look much cooler, the last time he had tried to catch something using his power, Chad ended up smacking his phone into the floor at over 80 miles per hour. And he assumed that the IDD was significantly more expensive than a cheap phone.

"Wow... This is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten, maybe ever..."

"The profiles of the missing heroes are also loaded into the device. Obviously, it's a big city, but your powers let you cross it fairly quickly, I imagine. I'd check out Brookside and Watervale first- it's probably easier to abduct people there than anywhere else."

Chad poked the device inquisitively but made sure not to touch any unlabelled buttons. It was lacking a bit in aesthetics... but it was still SO COOL!!! Although it did make Chad wonder - would it react to him running around while carrying it? That would complicate things a bit. Maybe that was what Powers was working with when he tapped the interface?

"Once you've found them, report back using the device. There should be a communication button on the side there. We also have a GPS on that device, so once you give us the call we can get reinforcements into the area ASAP."

When Powers began to leave, Chad nodded in response to the man's advice. Searching Watervale and Brookside first was a great idea - Chad was aware of the kidnappings and crimes that were common there, but more importantly, Chad was familiar with the region. The rest of Castleburg would be much more difficult to navigate since Chad would have to run slower or risk hitting buildings or other people.

Messing with the IDD was unfamiliar, but Chad managed to find the profiles that Powers had mentioned. The information there might be able to help narrow down the possible locations...

Tempest - he was a Hydrokinetic, so maybe they would take them somewhere without much water? Then again, water would be helpful against Firebird... The next few people didn't give much information. Aria could be stopped with powerful headphones, Spacewalker's countermeasure was difficult to replicate - most of their weaknesses didn't rely on locations!

Wait, they had Bypass?! How the hell did they stop her from just teleporting away? Chad shook his head and stopped reading there. He had limited time as it was, and this was clearly not helping him. It was at moments like this Chad wished he had Super-Reading along with Super-Speed...

Chad probably should have known he wouldn't have deduced their location from their weaknesses - if it was that easy, H.E.R.O would have done that already. He'd have to just brute force the search, starting at Watervale and moving from there. Chad made sure to have a good grip on the IDD, angled himself towards Watervale, and started running.

Slowing down was not as successful as it was arriving on Savior Island. Chad barely managed to avoid crashing into a building on the waterfront and had to slow down over another 30 feet before he came to a stop. The device hadn't seemed to react in any way while he ran, so Powers must have set it to not trigger in response to Super-Speed! Or it was broken, but Chad really didn't want to consider that possibility.

Chad attempted to reach for his phone before realizing he didn't have it on him - he left it at home to avoid losing it while running. Instead, he opened the GPS on the IDD and found a good route to follow. Chad usually avoided the seedier parts of Brookside and Watervale, and as a result, was less familiar with those areas. But those were the places he was checking out first - if Supervillains were going to keep Heroes kidnapped and secured somewhere, it had to be somewhere without many people. And if it wasn't in Watervale or Brookside, Chad would check... East Flank, probably? And then... Well, Chad would decide what to do if things came to that.

Chad nodded as he finished plotting his route. Then, he started to run.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by DarkRecon
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DarkRecon The sword that smites evil

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Alpha / K Nine

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Alpha watched as things broke down. None of the Hero's were in a state of mind to agree on a plan which then led to some of the more powerful ones engage with the Ogres.

During the attacks, Alpha was thrown off balance when Quake had used her powers to knock down a nearby building which then proceeded to throw around a huge dust cloud in their general area. Alpha had tried to figure out where everyone had went in all the chaos when he suddenly was rushed at by a big shadow.

One of the Ogre's, perhaps one of the more intelligent ones, had grabbed Alpha and was now running with him in his arms like he was some sort of a football for him to run in the end zone. Alpha had tried some powered up punches but it did little more than make him grunt in pain. And with the dust cloud, it was probably not likely that anyone saw him get taken.

After some time, he was suddenly dropped and he rolled for a few feet before stopping. Immediately standing up, he then looked around and took stock of his surroundings. And he instantly realized where he was.

He was right there in the middle of a circular arena but it looked old school. Perhaps similar to the ones you would see in ancient Rome. Except all the seats appeared empty and devoid of any sort of life. The Coliseum if you would.

He then looked at the Ogre as it began to...point at him...then give a "thumbs down" before letting out some sort of roar into the sky...

Alpha had pegged this one smarter than the others but it just seemed this one was either very prideful or very egotistical. Either way, this one had singled him out in the chaos and brought him here. Now it wanted to have a proper match of all things.

His body glowing again, Alpha then got ready for a fight...and he had a gut feeling Nero was most likely watching this as well...
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Zoey Boey
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Zoey Boey Spider!

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Pandora smiled in an obviously fake manner as the grating Christina left her shop. The less she has to communicate with her in future, the better, Pandora thought. She was already regretting this. She looked down at the device and blinked in surprise as some sort of projection of Hugo Powers. Like something out of a Star War.

The good news was, Powers treated her with something like respect. He called her Pandora and said that HERO was in a time of need, and that her skills would be appreciated. A compliment on her business, even. Finally! A little stroking of her ego. It's not that much to ask. Of course, though, the first thing he needs is a rescue mission.

"Bloody amateurs." Pandora muttered to herself as the message concluded. Now that she was alone she felt comfortable speaking to herself again, or rather, her plants. "Best heroes-- hah. Abducted...Christ sakes. Already got me runnin' all around town looking for dimwits in distress. Abducted!" She threw one hand up in the air, already exasperated by her work colleagues.

Walking barefoot out the door, she locked it behind her and flipped a small, wooden, hand painted sign from open to closed. After all these years, she was finally getting back into this nonsense. With a sigh, she clutched the...DD device? What did he call it?

"D-device? Detection? Dimwit Detector. Oh, please, save us! We've been kidnapped!" She raised her voice into a mocking falsetto of heroes she was imagining in her head. Running a hand down her face she let herself fall forward and belly flop onto the pavement of the street, vanishing with it as if it was made of water. It sealed up perfectly, leaving no trace except for maybe a few surprised on lookers.

Treading water in the sidewalk in the pocket of water she had created for herself, she picked a direction and began to swim. This way she could travel Passenger Island as the crow flies, without having to worry about architecture except for the occasional underground tunnel. Manipulating the currents allowed her a fast moving bubble of water that moved with her as if she was being carried by river rapids. Pandora had never done this before, but a past life had granted her decades of practice in ground swimming. Completing a circuit around Passenger Island just to make sure they weren't here, she would dive into the ocean and make her way even quicker towards the main island and begin searching for the lost heroes there. An underground, gorgeous torpedo of a woman with an impeccable sense of direction.



Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by KaijuBaragon
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KaijuBaragon Victoria Concordia Crescit

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Tom couldn't exactly say he had thought much about his strategy, it was definitely a spur of the moment thing - brick up, brick onto the ogres head, then pick up another brick, definitely a simple plan. However, it seemed that this crude plan of attack wasn't actually doing anything close to knocking the ogres unconscious and putting them out of the picture for a while, which Tom had hoped would have been the outcome. Instead, they just looked - pissed off. As pissed off as a big dumb creature that probably wasn't at all sentient could look, anyway. And then the arrival of Jamie, blasting away with her powers, only served to piss them off even more. Tom floated in the air, looking nervous as he heard Jamie and Blake plan and shout to each other below.

Then the ogres changed course suddenly, moving towards a building a little bit away as Blake began to herd them away with his fire kite. It took Tom a couple of moments to work out what the plan was, but when he realised what the pair intended to do, he let out a loud "Ooooooh!" and began to float behind the pack of fleeing ogres, pelting their heads with bricks occasionally. Luckily, this time, it seemed that the ogres weren't getting pissed off with his pelting. It seemed that they were more afraid of Blake and his fire than they were pissed off at Tom and his brick projectiles. Eventually the plan was successful and the select group of ogres were herded into the definitely shaky looking building. When they were in there, Tom floated down nearby Jamie, crossed his arms and watched.

Jamie made short work of the derelict Roman-esque building, which soon collapsed into a pile of rubble, the horrible smell of the ogres wafting up from the wreckage, which made Tom gag a little. "Bleh. Those things are fucking gross... I hope that got them." He said, bouncing a rock up and down in his hand as he watched the rubble from afar. It didn't seem to have any movement to it... But Tom thought that he ought to have a look before they were sure. He was just about to when Blake got bitten by a Vermite. "Ow, dude. You should probably go and put something on that... If we can find anything. Anyway, back in a sec." Tom glanced back at the alive ogres before floating up above the rubble, looking carefully for any signs of life.

@Hitman @canaryrose
Hidden 4 yrs ago → 4 yrs ago Post by Danvers
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Damn it.

Will knew her too well. Of course he would realise that she’d want to keep one of them as a pet. He’d grown used to Dog but apparently swampjaws were a step too far for him.

“Well it would be better for them than being kept by stupid whatshisface...” Sulkily puffing out her cheeks, she wandered off to check for an exit anyway. Although she would love to have a pet swampjaw — and she was sure that Dog would eventually grow to like them — she knew that this was not the time nor the place to have such a discussion. Maybe she would be able to persuade Will at another point though...perhaps if they raised one from a baby or something? She'd seen a picture of a baby one once and they were even cuter. And usually they didn't just have one baby but several!

Sparing one last glance at the creatures as they were forced towards the ceiling, Brie began to leisurely walk around the room. She tried to ignore the bellows, roars and snaps she could hear from above, the 'leftovers are adorable' part of her brain wanting to tell Will to let them go. It was distracting but Brie was as keen to get out of here as him, so she instead focused on the task at hand. A quick scan of the area told her there were no electrical systems she would be able to short-circuit in able to provide them with a way out. She also pushed on the heavy metal door they had come through but it seemed to be locked from the other side. From what she could see, the place was totally secure.

“Nope, no way out! Looks like we’re locked in here. Guess he either expects us to be eaten or kill them...”

Having done a full circuit of the room, she meandered back over to Will. Looking up at the swampjaws once more, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to decide what to do. Thinking was hurting her tired and hungover brain, but even she could see that they didn’t have many options.

“Ah, this is bullshit! I think we’re gonna have to hurt them." Sighing, she inwardly cursed Nero for doing this, hoping she would get a chance to at least shock him a little. "Well, I guess I should do something…” Clenching her fists together, Brie began to concentrate on absorbing more of the surrounding currents. The lights flickered as she did this, a couple of them blowing with a sudden ‘pop’ and causing the room to be cast instead by only a dim light. It was eery but nothing by which they couldn't still see.

“Whoops, sorry! Erm, maybe you should stand back for this.” She glanced over at Will, aware of the significant amount of static electricity that was generating around her body. Normally she would be able to mostly prevent this but the fact that her hold on her powers had been slipping recently, along with being awfully hungover, meant that she really had little control over it. It crackled in the air, palpable and tense. To her it just felt like that familiar buzz she always cherished, but to others it would cause a rather painful shock. She could tell that her already messy hair was beginning to stand on end but she ignored this whilst she continued to concentrate.

“Poor babies! I’m so sorry!” Holding out both her arms, palms raised, Brie suddenly sent two lightning fast bolts of electricity at the water surrounding the reptilian leftovers. The water began to bubble violently as the electricity coursed through it and with nowhere else to go, would strike directly through the bodies of the swampjaws. Brie closed her eyes, unwilling to see the poor things in pain, hoping it would work quickly. “Oh, I really hope they’re not dead...”

@Infinite Cosmos
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Hitman
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Hitman Mori Quam Foedari

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Blake would normally marvel at Jamie's power as she caused the Roman building to crumble on top of the ogres, crushing tons of them with ease and impunity. He would normally give a cheer, a hoot of victory, but instead he found himself cursing while hopping in a circle. "Oww, holy fuck, it hurts...” Blake stopped hopping and extended his ankle towards Rumi, who took a look at the wound. "Alright...good to know, good to know,” Blake said as the pain subsided a little bit. He rested his foot down on the ground, testing it, before taking a couple steps. "It's a little better now!” Blake said confidently, one hand resting against his head as he looked over to where Jamie had collapsed the building. The unfortunate ogres inside had been totally and completely flattened by the building. If they hadn't been trying to eat them alive earlier, Blake might've felt sorry for them, but what was done was done. Blake looked back over to the Vermile, who was inching around him curiously. "Awww, I bet the little critter was just scared! Well, it's OK! I'm not gonna hurt you, little guy, why don't you just c'mere-”

Blake was stopped mid-sentence as the Vermile promptly lunged for his other ankle and found its target, his teeth sinking into Blake's flesh and causing him to curse loudly once again. "FUCK, YOU LITTLE BASTARD, YOU FUCKING-...OWWW, HOLY SHIT, IT HURTS, JESUS, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE MOTHERFUCKER, YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!” Blake turned around in anger and pain as he faced the Vermile, who had scuttled away, over to Joseph, and cowered behind him. Blake glared at the creature. "I'm going to fucking cook this little piece of shit...” Blake said, glowering at the creature, but his thoughts of vengeance were cut off by a loud war cry near the basilica.

Jamie had done a number on the ogres with the building, but it seemed the sound and great deal of vibrations had drawn the rest of them nearby, and they stood there, forming a large semicircle in front of the basilica, all hooting and beating their chest as they stared down the gang, eyes filled with hunger and bloodlust. Blake decided to put aside his murder plan for the Vermile and instead shift his attention to the ogres. Blake knew next to nothing about them, but he knew that they didn't seem to like fire. Well, as it happened, Blake had a lot of that in store, and he was ready to use it. "Guys, guys, get back, I'm going to deal with this...” Blake said as he lifted his palms, and began to channel energy.

The temperature near Blake began to rise drastically as the entire forum began to tangibly heat up, and soon some crimson flickers began to sparkle in the air. The fiery glistening in the air began to intensify as flames began to materialize, serpents of fire wrapping around Blake's arms and palms, a fluid blaze encircling him. The ogres, though, seemed to have grown somewhat immune to Blake's fire, and were still closing in on the gang, hooting and hollering and looking menacing as ever. Blake closed his eyes as the fire began to glow brighter and burn hotter, before the ropes of flame began to all condense in the air in front of Blake, forming a large sphere of fire, like a sun, that was expanding, larger and larger, and once again re-shaping. The ogres now were full of trepidation, stepping back, and witnessing the new flaming shape before them. A phoenix.

Blake's fire had taken the form of an actual firebird, emanating blistering heat, its crimson wings flapping threatening, its head cocked and glaring at the ogres, who were now very afraid and very blind. The flaming bird was very bright, and looking at it too long was not a good idea. On top of that, it was very hot. It was already a hot day out, being almost mid-day in July, but this actual bird of fire raised the temperature to a stupidly hot degree. Even people across the movie set could feel a raise in the temperature, and any sort of temperature detectors or anomaly investigators would certainly pick up on this development.

The bird, whose mouth was literally emanating with smoke, cawed at the ogres (alright, it might've been Blake's sound effects, fine), before then charging directly at them. The remaining ogres gave a bunch of frantic grunting noises before turning on heel and trying to scatter. Some of them managed to get out of the way, but a good chunk of the ogres were plowed down by the massive bird and its equally impressive wingspan, the flaming construct blasting through a good group of ogres and leaving them scorched like ants under a magnifying glass. As the bird took to the sky again, the rest of the lucky surviving ogres did not attempt a rematch, instead fleeing from the area and cowering away. The phoenix dove back down to the ground again, flapping its wings once more, before vanishing into a large pile of ash in front of Blake that was releasing a thick, constant plume of black smoke, much like a chimney.

Blake grinned dumbly as he looked at his handiwork. "I've been working on that one,” he said as he stepped around the ash pile uncertainly, a bit wobbly on his feet, and he definitely sounded out of breath. He looked inside the basilica. "I think there's an elevator in there...it looks kinda locked, though,” Blake said, scratching his head as he wobbled on his feet, before starting to tip over. The combination of being hungover, poisoned by a Vermile twice, and then overexerting himself was too much for his body to handle, and he promptly fell over, planting himself face-first in the pavement.

"Angie~,” Blake muttered deliriously, his words muffled by the fact that he was practically kissing the stone walkway. "You look so pretty, muffin,” he added sweetly as the Vermile's toxins got to his brain, and then his eyes fluttered shut as he laid in the middle of the walkway, standing right before the massive basilica.




Meanwhile, Grace was experiencing the worst torture of her life.

After analyzing the CCTV footage and recording a few elaborate-sounding introductions, Nero had taken to discussing his personal life with his prisoners, considering that there wasn't really much else to do. For the last however long, Nero had rested his feet up on the desk and was currently talking about his strained relationship with his girlfriend, who was also a villain, and who was very disappointed with his lack of success in the villainy field. ”So she tells me, 'Nero, I thought you were a strong, feared villain. Why are you working for these dinky villain companies?' And I always tell her, 'baby, this is my path to the big leagues of villainy!' She just doesn't understand me!” Nero said frustrated, folding his armor-clad arms over his chest. "But this thing is going to be my big break! Once I collect the money from this and send Seraph his check, I'll definitely crack into that top tier of Castleburg villains! I can already hear my name on the TV reports..."

Grace tested her restraints for what felt like the millionth time. "Right, right, so, listen, can we maybe talk about what Seraph wants here? I mean, considering that I'm definitely going to die, tied up on this rack, it can't hurt, right?"

"I told you already, he wants you to die, slowly and painfully, and in distress, and I'm arranging that. Now, where was I? Oh, right, so..."

As Nero began to ramble on, now about politics, Grace snuck a glance over at Eliza. Poor girl. Grace couldn't imagine what she was going through right now, being held hostage by this psycho right now. Grace would've portaled at least her out if she could, but the device electrocuted her every time she tried to concentrate and create a portal, and so she was stuck here, listening to Nero rant to his very bored, very unamused audience. It was actual hell. Grace was genuinely starting to believe that the electroshock torture was better than listening to Nero's speech.

"...I'm just saying, right, Amazon pays zero dollars in federal taxes. I mean, imagine how much revenue the United States government could make if they could actually get money out of them! If we could get them to pay a tax at a 35% rate, or hell, even at 21%, we could actually implement real social change and expand the welfare net! I mean, this is basic economics!"

"Listen, listen, I totally agree with you, probably too much considering you're evil, but can we, uhh, have this discussion while I'm unrestrained, maybe? Then we can talk about big business and all that in an open, free, environment. "

Nero seemed to be considering this prospect when his computer began to flash red, and he quickly rushed over. "Noooo, they killed my Swampjaws!" Nero exclaimed, devastated, as he gestured to the screen, which showed a low-res image of Brie and William standing in what seemed to be a Roman bathhouse, standing in front of a pool full of floating Swampjaws. Dangling from the center of the room, on a string, was what appeared to be a keycard with a word covered in whiteout on it, though anybody with half a brain could tell that, through the terrible whiteout job, it read 'basilica.' Grace smiled confidently. They seemed to be doing pretty well. Obviously, Nero had not thought this through enough.

"Damnit!" Nero cursed, storming around the office with his head hung. As he walked around, Grace took a glance out the window to look at their surroundings. She saw a large stone wall that was wrapped around the entire set. To the outside world, it looked like just a massive walled-off area. Grace looked above the wall to see a barber shop and a beat-up Italian restaurant. It looked to her like Brookside. Great. Brookside.

As Nero began to talk about Swampjaws enthusiastically, Grace tugged at the zipties for the 1,000,001st time. Her friends had better come and save her soon. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by canaryrose
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The ogres’ rotten smell wafted up from where their bodies lay under the rubble. A sudden whiff of it turned Jamie’s stomach, and she had to squeeze her nostrils shut with both her fingers to keep it from making her vomit up what she didn’t even have in her stomach. Why did they have to be kidnapped today, of all days? This villain needs to learn some manners, she thought sourly. Jamie never went on missions while hungover unless she absolutely had to. All the noise and the smell and the sunlight were only exacerbating her pounding headache. With reluctance, she moved aside the rocks covering the ogres’ bodies with one hand, noting with satisfaction that they were dead as a doornail. She fist-pumped, grinning.

A voice sounded from near her. She nearly sent out a shockwave, but then realized it was Joseph. The smile stayed on her face as she turned to her friend, bouncing on her feet. “Jojo, don’t sneak up on me like that! I could’ve crushed you, jeez…” she said, sounding a little more sour than usual. At his question, she examined her arms. There was that subtle, familiar ache to them- not quite her muscles, but her bones, warning her that they would fracture if she over-exerted herself. But Jamie had enough experience with her power to know that this wasn’t her limit. Far from it, actually. “No, I think I’m alright for now. Might not wanna take down too many more buildings and stuff, but they just hurt a little. Are you okay, though? You look kinda messed up…” She reached her hand out to him in concern before she heard another, louder noise and whirled around.

The ogres were standing around them, hooting and beating at their chests. “UGH!” Jamie held up her hands, ready to blast them. She knew it wouldn’t hurt them, but if she tried hard enough… well, maybe it would? Either way, she was annoyed. Couldn’t they just go away already? She was about to let loose a blast when the temperature in the forum suddenly increased. Left confused for a moment, she eventually turned to Blake, the only person she knew there who could control heat. As the heat grew, she put down her hands and stepped away from him. Then, she started to speedwalk backwards. The heat was borderline oppressive, and she was sure it would cook her if she stood by it for long enough.

True to form, Blake killed all the ogres simultaneously with a bang. The sudden light made her headache flare, but Jamie watched the phoenix with awe written on her face. Awesome. It plowed down the ogres with a dramatic flourish even she might not have been able to pull off. After all the ogres were gone, she moved toward Blake, clapping and ready to congratulate him.

“Dude, that was so awesome! I didn’t know you could create animals-” she started, but was unable to finish as he fell to the ground, unconscious. Jamie looked at him, open-mouthed. “Oh my God, is he DEAD?! Noooooo!” Of course, being Jamie, she didn’t think to check his pulse or anything. Oh well.

@Rabidporcupine





Patricia followed Sam’s cues and stayed close, her heart pumping with fear at the sight of just how close the ogres were. She had thought they would be out of the forum by now, away from the ogres- she was utterly useless while fighting them. Even if she wouldn’t admit it willingly. The fact of the matter was, her power was weak unless she was fighting humans. It worked with emotions and commands. A lullaby or maybe even a death song might affect them, but she couldn’t do that with everybody else here.

An ogre approached, and her heart must’ve started going at a mile a minute. She glanced to Sam nervously, only barely managing to conceal her fear. But he killed it like she had thought he would, and she let out a sigh of relief. But that was before five more came charging at them. Oh God, Sam couldn’t fight these things. Maybe Jamie or Blake or Tom could, but… Patricia had noticed the building collapsing out of the side of her eye. That was probably where they all were. Shit, shit shit…

She glanced at Sam out of the side of her eye at his question. How is that relevant? But she quickly caught on. IF they were sensitive to light, would they be sensitive to sound, too? Interesting. Sam was smart, she decided then and there. Smarter than most everyone else, at least. “Pretty high. I’m a soprano, and my power… it doesn’t matter. Pretty high. Should I…?”

Patricia didn’t get a chance to actually start singing. She felt the heat before she noticed anything was happening. Her gaze, along with that of the ogres, flicked to the fiery-haired figure that was Blake across the forum. What was he doing? The air got hotter and hotter, making Patricia sweat. And then… the phoenix appeared. She stared in awe for a moment, hazel eyes reflecting the light. “Woh,” she whispered. It chased all the ogres away, obliterating the ones nearest her. She had to cover her eyes because of how bright it was. And then, after it had done that, it disappeared. That… was probably the coolest thing she had ever seen Blake do. Sparing a glance for Sam and angling her head towards Blake, she walked over to him, ready to congratulate him.

She didn’t make it there before he passed out, but she did manage to overhear the part about the elevator. That enthusiasm about finding a place to get in overridden the concern she had for Blake, although she did spare him a concerned glance. “He’ll be fine,” she told Jamie dismissively, before walking into the basilica and finding the elevator. She ran her hands along it, narrowing her eyes. “It’s locked!” she shouted. “UGH! But where’s the key?! God, I hate this... We need to find it!”

@DClassified
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Jumbus
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Jumbus

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Starbright spun around on his chair at home. Sure, the multi million dollar mansion was great but his day had been consumed by a feeling he hadn't felt in a while, boredom. The problem was that he felt he should put all of his effort into making sure the others were safe, but there just wasn't much he could do right now. Making a move against Wings would be career suicide and complete very little, he had already exhausted all avenues of news coverage about the missing heroes and doing much else would bring suspicion onto him from Wings. I mean sure he could go do rich and attractive people things, but he has already done that every day of his life plus even just spinning around on the chair he was still doing that. But then he had a great idea.

Wing of Law didn't know that Starbright knew about the kidnapping. So if Starbright were to join the search party they would be none the wiser. Plus it would bring more attention to the disappearances. It all was only a call away, "yeah hi Francine. Could you patch me through to Powers. Yeah, let him know I am will be leading the search party for the missing heroes." He said this fully well knowing there had been no discussion of this previously and completely ignorant to his true (lower) level of importance within HERO.



@Hitman and potentially: @Duoya@Zoey Boey
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Zoey Boey
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Zoey Boey Spider!

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Pandora transitioned seamlessly out of the hard ground of Passenger Island and into the ocean. She could travel much faster by manipulating the water currents instead of having to focus on converting the area around her into water and then sealing it back up. Zooming by fish and under passing ships, she eventually made it into Brookside. The device, as of yet, had not beeped. To be perfectly honest, Pandora wasn’t quite sure how it all worked. Technology had...somewhat passed her by, in recent years.

As she transitioned back into concrete and dirt, Pandora began to sweep the entirety of Brookside and Watervale in order to hopefully find the source of these captured superheroes. She was travelling at about forty miles per hour. Unknowingly she was beneath a long row of commercial buildings, franchise shops and restaurants. The device she held in her palm beeped, and she glanced down at it, briefly pausing. Something just went by very fast, but it was already gone. Was it a malfunction? Treading “water”, Pandora hesitated. Carefully she began to circle the area she was in and try to pick up the signal again.

A fair distance away, a figure appeared to be slowing down from an incredibly fast speed. The street and sidewalk were barren and seemingly devoid of life, although that wasn’t too surprising given the usual activities that occured in Brookside. A few seconds later, that figure began moving again, returning to the point in which the device began to beep. The beeping seemed to last significantly longer, however, since the figure was moving at a much slower pace.

If she was listening carefully, Pandora may have heard someone say something - the volume of the voice, however, was too low to tell if anything except the fact that it was said with a questioning tone.

Pandora studied the device questioningly, raising an eyebrow. Blowing ‘air’ bubbles between her lips, she realised there was probably some HERO who was also on the lookout that she just happened to come across. No one else would be able to know where she was unless they also had a device, and villains probably wouldn’t come to seek her out afterwards.

Pandora floated over to where she knew the sidewalk was and emerged partially through it, only the top of her head and eyes above the surface. The three inches of the concrete around her head looked like the rippling surface of a pond. Raising an eyebrow she glanced around for the cause of the disturbance.

A short distance away, a costumed figure was looking around frantically, and didn’t seem to notice that part of someone’s head was poking out of the ground. He was most likely the individual that the device detected, and judging by the sound of the small cube he was carrying, Pandora was correct in her guess that he had a device as well. He spoke once more, and this time was easily heard due to how close he was.

“H-Hello? Where are you? I’m here to save you probably, guys!”

Pandora rolled her eyes and emerged further from the sidewalk, up to her waist. She leaned on the sidewalk with her elbow and supported her chin with it. "Over here." She stated bluntly.

The figure jumped away slightly from the source of the voice, before noticing there was a woman sticking halfway through the concrete sidewalk. He seemed to soften somewhat leaning against a nearby building as he spoke. "Oh god, you scared the crap out of me… Oh man… Okay I’m good, I’m good. Alright, I’m- Huh, you don’t really look like you need saving… Have you been kidnapped and just broke out?"

Pandora briefly broke eye contact and glanced away. "No. I don’t need help. I’m looking for the missing heroes, too. Obviously." She sneered, as if her being in the concrete was somehow not a questionable occurrence. She looked him up and down. A large, bulky, black armored man who’s personality didn’t seem to match his aesthetic at all. It looked like he put it together out of things he found in his closet and a thrift store. She thought for a moment about what to say.

"If we’re going to work together on this it’s best we get acquainted. I’m Pandora. I can swim through the ground. You are?" She asked, gesturing expectantly towards him.

The man seemed to deflate slightly since his assumption had been wrong, but he quickly assumed a pose that one would expect to see more often in a superhero cartoon than in actual heroic work. It seemed he had prepared to introduce himself before.

”I’m glad you’ve asked, Pandora. I’m THE BULLET! With all the speed and justice of a Bullet, I cruise through the streets of Castleburg, seeking to punish evildoers and save the citizens from evil!”

When he noticed that his listener was less than impressed, Chad coughed slightly in his hand, and dropped the pose.

“I’m, uh… I’m pretty fast, y’know?”

Pandora nodded as she got a sense of this wannabe’s personality. "Right...bullets, of course, are known for being implements of all things virtuous." She said with fake enthusiasm. He was, however, a speedster. Able to dodge bullets, punch super fast, run very fast, react very quickly. A very powerful set of abilities, she assumed incorrectly.

“Thank you! Usually people just say something about Murderers using guns, and I have to tell them that THE BULLET doesn’t kill!” Chad seemed to speak in a somewhat defensive tone, and mumbled something under his breath after he finished speaking.

"Well, whatever. HERO didn’t inform either of us of each other’s existence, which is a good show of coordination. I suppose we ought to continue splitting up and covering more ground. If you find something, you should use this thingy to contact Hugo Powers and tell him to tell me where you are. If I find something, I’ll do the same. Sound good, Mister Bullet?"

Chad seemed to pause somewhat as Pandora finished speaking, and his voice was a bit more annoyed when he responded. “It’s, uh, actually THE BULLET, not Mister Bullet… easy mistake, it happens on the forums a lot. They use more, uh… explicit words though...”

He quickly shifted focus, however, and his voice was back to being a normal tone.

“W-wait, more importantly, are you sure about splitting up? Usually splitting up doesn’t turn out well for anyone. I should know, I watched a lot of Horror mo- uh, documentaries… about that.”

Chad had also seen a lot of Saturday morning cartoons, and the idea of splitting up always seemed to cause more trouble than it was worth. Of course, unbeknownst to Chad, real life was not a crappy horror movie or children’s show, and he time that could be saved far outweighed the near non-existent danger that splitting up may have caused.

The woman halfway in the ground had an expression flash across her face that was hard to describe. It was a mix of disgust and derision. She couldn’t quite tell how old he was under the mask, but he was acting like a child. Is this who Hugo Powers sends into battle?

"Look, Mister Bullet, if we split up, we find them faster. If we travel together, we may never find them in time. We can use these devices to contact each other. With your super speed you should be able to react and dial me quite quickly, and with my powers I can retreat easily and contact you. So there’s nothing to be worried about. If you really want to be safe, you can just go home and watch more cartoons." She explained her plan as if she were talking to a five year old, with careful hand motions. A five year old that she couldn’t stand, apparently.

Chad seemed to get annoyed again, but he was much quicker to respond after Pandora finished speaking. “It’s… It’s THE BULLET, it’s written out in all caps, so it seems like it’d be, uh, easier to remember.”

He sighed afterwards and seemed to admit defeat. It was a combination of Pandora being absolutely right, as well as Chad being upset he was talked down to on his first day.

“I guess I’ll go explore the Watervale. Be careful, Pandora.

Pandora made a gesture that was somewhere between ‘duh’ and ‘finally’, and then vanished beneath the surface of the sidewalk, leaving The BULLET alone. His device would indicate that she had begun to swim towards Brookside.

Seeing as he had committed to his second choice, Chad turned around and made his way back to Watervale. Even if it was less likely to find them there, his familiarity with the area would make searching all the easier. Anxious from his first meeting with another Hero, Chad started running.

Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Scarifar
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Scarifar Presto~!

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"Blake, don't, it's going to-" Rumi was about to warn Blake of the Vermile's behavior before it promptly bit Blake's other ankle. He sighed as Blake began to spew out a string of swear words while the leftover scampered away. "What am I even doing here, anyway...?" He muttered to himself, shaking his head as he placed a hand on his forehead. The ogres that had appeared to surround them were not helping either. It seemed the battle earlier had attracted them here, and now they were in somewhat dire straits. Blake had decided to respond to this by increasing his firepower, and quite literally at that. His heat was so intense it was forcing a reaction from his personal force field, and Rumi ushered the group away from Blake.

"Move, people, let's go!" Rumi said, taking a glance behind him to see that Blake had constructed a large bird made of pure flame, which he sent to dive bomb into the horde, wiping out a good chunk of the Ogres and forcing the rest to flee. Once Rumi confirmed there were no Ogres left in sight, he turned his attention to Blake. Rumi had a rough estimate of how much energy Blake had spent performing that move, and it was definitely no easy feat, especially with the Vermile's venom still in his system. Rumi knelt down and grabbed Blake's wrist, letting his nanotech suit's sensors determine his condition. There was still a pulse, which was good, but it was weak. The rest of his vitals weren't looking too hot either, confirming Rumi's suspicions. "Blake's alive, but otherwise out of commission. We can't expect him to perform a light show like that again in the near future," Rumi finally reported. "We're going to have to exercise a bit more caution now." Rumi stood back up and ordered, "Someone carry him. We can't leave him lying around here."
Hidden 4 yrs ago → 4 yrs ago Post by KaijuBaragon
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KaijuBaragon Victoria Concordia Crescit

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Tom's casual float over the rubble where the dead ogres now lay didn't last very long. Partly because of the stench that was radiating off the pile of debris like a heat, and partly because he realised as he looked over that the situation was becoming a lot more urgent by the second. There were a lot more ogres than he had previously thought, and Blake was having a tougher time with that particularly aggressive vermile than someone who had superpowers really should be having. Tom thought that, if it was him, that annoying little bitey thing would probably be flying through the air right now. But he was definitely glad that it wasn't him, because from all reports he had encountered, vermite bites hurt like a motherfucker.

Tom landed next to the others as the remaining ogres began to close in. He was mentally preparing a strategy involving making one ogre tip over, then having that ogre fall onto the others like some kind of dominoes. He was trying to remember high school physics to try and work out whether this plan would actually work, when Blake suddenly decided to take things upon himself. There suddenly in the air was a spectacular looking flame phoenix. It seemed like ogres were afraid of kites as well as phoenixes, because the crowd of leftovers then went running in the other direction. But they were not fast enough, because Blake then proceeded to absolutely massacre the ogres with his phoenix. Tom put his hands on his hips, impressed.

At least he was impressed until he stepped forward to get a better look then got a face full of ash and smoke as Blake retired the phoenix. Tom coughed and spluttered, rubbing his face trying to get as much off as possible. "Son of a bitch!" He exclaimed, glancing up at his hair, which was no longer impeccably faux-messy, but which was now actually messy. But that wasn't really a concern. He heard a thud and looked down at his best friend, who had just unexpectedly collapsed to the ground. Tom looked concerned, but he wasn't nearly as concerned as Jamie, who was beginning to get quite upset.

Tom knelt down next to Blake, and put his finger on his neck. Not that he didn't trust Rumi to check, but he just wanted to personally be sure. He looked back up at Jamie. "Don't worry, , Rumi is right, he's not dead... Unless I've totally fucked up that pulse reading... Nah, he's not. But we should probably get moving. Rumi, you can grab his legs."

@canaryrose @Hitman @Scarifar
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by DClassified
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DClassified Kung Fro Killa

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Location
|| Roman Replica ||

Time
|| Morning ||

Interactions
|| @CanaryRose, @Scarifar, @KaijuBaragon ||


It was a subtle change in footing as the planning went on in his head. Her scream, if piercing enough, would likely bother his own hearing for a bit, but hopefully deter the apes for just long enough. The play was to scoop Aria up and make a break for it. While he could have fought them off, if on his own, Sam wouldn't dare compromise her safety willingly. That was when he heard it.

At first it was rather subtle, as though the first sparks of a fire being struck. Therefore, it was not much of a surprise when he saw Blake still conjuring flames even from his weakened state. What wasn't quite expected, was the radiant raptor that he had crafted. The size and brightness, made him recall tales told by his people of the legendary Firebird. It was no surprise that this flashy means of power struck fear into the remaining ogres and drove them away.

As it passed them, the smell of smoked ogre was strong, but not as unbearable as before. A grateful glance went to the ginger, though he was unconscious. Quake seemed to quickly pronounce Blake dead, though, Sam could still hear his heartbeat, and further checking from Tom and Rumi seemed to confirm that he'd be alright.

The giant's paces came closer as notions of moving on came up. When it came to carrying Blake, it was rather obvious what his role would be here. The more free hands the better with the unknowns that lied ahead. Therefore, when close enough, Samson lightly, but quickly threw Blake over one shoulder; The man-child light as a feather. Walking after the path Patricia took to the basilica, Sam gestured with his head to the others.

"Come along. There's no telling what awaits us ahead."
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by DarkRecon
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DarkRecon The sword that smites evil

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Alpha / K Nine

Location: "The Coliseum" area


Alpha knew he was in trouble. If he had heard right from Brum, the Ogre's were of a higher rank than him. Sure, Alpha knew better than to judge strength and abilities by a mere "grade" but he wasn't making any headway in this fight.

Now down in one knee, Alpha couldn't maintain his ki so he stopped glowing. The Ogre, though, did have some minor injuries since it was breathing heavily but that was about it. It had advantage and it knew it.

Alpha had done a good job with hit and run tactic's since it was clearly slower than him. But it's strength and durability were just too high for Alpha to do any meaningful damage to it. And while he avoided every one of it's strikes, it was clear that Alpha was just prolonging the inevitable.

Then the Ogre got moving suddenly...it dived right at him...and Alpha just did what he could and braced for the impact.

And everything went black.

* * * * * * * * * *

"..."

"..."

"...wh...what?...what did I do?!...wh-who is that on the floor?"

"..."

"...babysitter...your hurt..."

"SON!"

"...Dad!...th-that...villain...I...I...I...I-I-I-I..."

"...it's fine son...your going to be ok...but this is my fault..."

"...no...I...I killed him...I...I..."

* * * * * * * * * *

It was then that Alpha came to...that nightmare...that past...nightmare.

He could barely move now...but that smell...the Ogre...

Alpha then felt the Ogre pick him up from the ground. Then was forced to look right at him. He didn't even bother pinning his hands to his sides as his arms just dangled at his sides.

But that damn nightmare...why...why bring that up at the end of this road? Why did he have to look back at that?...wait.

Alpha then remembered something odd about that incident. From what he could recall, his "explosive energy" he released didn't really do that much damage to the house he used to live in with his parents. Yet not only did he hurt the babysitter but...he killed that super villain.

Then, all the years of training and just being afraid of losing control of his power made him realize what it could possibly do. At this point, he had nothing more to lose but he wasn't sure if he could go suicide and just take him out with him.

...but if he was right about how his energy worked...then maybe...

The Ogre roared at his face as if he expected more out of Alpha. But unknown to the Ogre, pulling Alpha close to his face was all the opening he needed. For as Alpha arms dangled at his sides, the hands started to glow. And after the Ogre's face to face roar, Alpha put his glowing hands on the Ogre's head and just released everything he had out of the palm of his hands.

There was another roar as Alpha was immediately dropped onto the ground. Despite being exhausted...despite being right at death's door...Alpha immediately got up, ran up to the Ogre while it was holding it's head in pain...and placed his palms right dead center of it's chest and released anything he had left into it.

Then...there was nothing...no roar...but the Ogre's collapse onto the ground...Alpha just standing there...realizing that, yet again, he had pulled the trigger...and then collapsed onto his back...
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Rabidporcupine
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Rabidporcupine Depression Tree.

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Joseph

@canaryrose@DClassified@KaijuBaragon@Scarifar@Hitman

"Sorry, sorry..." Joseph groaned out an apology to Jamie, all the while shuffling himself into a position where he could comfortably work on standing back up again. "In my defense though, it wasn't really intentional. Or sneaking, actually."

He tried to keep his usual lazy grin on his face when she asked if he was ok. He wasn't, his left shoulder hurt like a bitch, he was pretty sure he was bleeding from some point on the back of his head, and his knee did this weird clicky thing when he tried to bend his leg to walk. But if there was one thing Joseph was good at, it was forcing his pain down and hiding it behind a content, if generally disappointing facade.

"Oh yeah nah, don't worry about me. I'm still good to go whenever I'm needed."

And then the ogres started beating their chests and howling at them, eliciting a small sigh from the man. And he'd just furled the whip back up too.

"Which... is now I guess. Christ..." He grumbled, before unfurling his whip once more. He resisted the urge to crack it as he did so, considering Jamie's visible discomfort from the loud noises of the ogres. Still, despite not being hungover himself, he had to admit that they were being very inconsiderate about it. "Alright, if you really wan keep fighting, you'd better be ready. I might be down an arm, but I only need one to use a whip, and I'm stone cold sober."

Thankfully though, he never had the chance to make what would probably be an exceedingly disappointing last stand. While he was considering exactly what his next move should be, he felt the area heat up considerably, not even beginning to turn before he watched an enormous bird-shaped wall of fire engulf the ogres.

"Well, I guess that's one way to move the arc along." He said, before turning to face the Blake, who he faintly heard mumble something about Angie before collapsing. For a second, Joseph shared Jamie's concerns, although he was pretty sure he probably actually going to be dead. However, he paused when he noticed something hiding behind him, and looked back to see a... ew.

It was a vermite. Not exactly the most widely beloved leftovers out there, but not particularly dangerous either, at least when they were alone. However, he did notice something about this specific one that was a little less unpleasant. Maybe even weirdly endearing. Maybe it was the way it looked a little bit cleaner than the average trash-weasel. Maybe it was the way it seemed to be depending on him to keep it safe. Or maybe it was the way that it was staring at Blake from behind his leg, indicating that it was what bit him and caused him to collapse, because while that wasn't exactly great, that meant that he probably wasn't bitten by anything that would actually kill him. The fact that it was hiding behind him also meant that it was probably alone, so the flame wielder probably wasn't even bitten by more than this one vermite.

"You know what? You might be alright." He said, leaning down and holding out his hand to the vermite, which actually ran up his arm to his shoulder rather than just biting his hand like most other vermites he'd met. "Huh, well alright. Guess we're a team, at least for now."

After his unexpected encounter wrapped up, he returned to the others, watching as Sam lifted Blake over his shoulders.

"Ok, I'm not sure if any of you guys have a plan for what to do now, but we'd better be careful." He whispered to the others, trying to stay quiet enough that Nero hopefully wouldn't be able to hear. "Now that we're not about to be killed by his ogres, Nero's probably going to assume we're coming for him. That means Grace and Eliza could very well have been promoted from just being a way to torment us to bargaining chips, and his only means of negotiating his way out of here. If we make the wrong move, he might panic, which rarely ends well for hostages, and I'd really prefer if nobody died today, so try to act with that in mind as much as possible."
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Infinite Cosmos
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Infinite Cosmos XIV

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Glancing around the room, William naturally backed up slightly, away from Brie. Their powers, and how his own power affected his body, made it an potentially lethal mix if William was to get in the way of Brie using her powers. Watching the lights flicker, William chuckled inwardly. In spite of all of her shortcomings and recklessness, Brie IS a proper heroine. Her love for animals, namely Leftovers, of all sorts is in direct conflict with the task at hand. Yet, when asked to, she can definitely choose the responsible path.

Oh what the heck. What is a little shock anyways. William took a step towards Brie, wincing slightly as the static electricity around her crackled. William gave her a quick, soft kiss on the cheek and whispered “I’ll never get tired of seeing you use your powers...” before backing away a safe distance as Brie sent her electricity through the columns of water holding up the creatures.

William scanned the room once more, noticing the key card. “That. I’d be willing to bet that that key card is our way out.” As Brie’s powers started to recede, and the Swampjaws at least incapacitated through shock, William snagged the card off whatever it was hanging on and presented it to Brie. “Look at this. They just put whiteout over the words... Such a dumb way to try to conceal something...” William let out a sigh. “It looks like Basilica is printed on the card. I’d reckon that’s where we need to go?”

@Danvers
Hidden 4 yrs ago → 4 yrs ago Post by Danvers
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Danvers boo

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Brie had somehow ended up with her hands covering her eyes and hearing Will speak up, she spread apart her fingers, glancing around the bathhouse apprehensively. Her face fell when she saw the unmoving forms that were the swampjaws and with a gasp, she ran over to them. Crouching down, she gave one of them a gentle prod, apparently needing further confirmation that they were in fact dead. It stayed completely still and even a few more vigorous pokes did nothing to revive it.

“Oh no! I did kill them!” She moaned as she stood up, looking incredibly glum. All she had wanted to do was incapacitate them a little but apparently it was pretty damn easy to kill them. “At least none of them were babies...” Chewing on her bottom lip, she turned to look at the card that Will was holding, her head tilting at the mention of the Basilica. She remembered reading that word on the map and although she wasn’t entirely sure what it meant, she did recall that it had been pretty much in the centre of the page.

“Maybe that’s where he’s got Eliza and Grace!” Walking over to him, she took the card out of his hand, before running over to the previously barred door. A hard shove confirmed that it was now open and relieved, she slipped outside before Nero could decide to lock them in again. “We should go find that asswipe before he hurts them anymore.” Once more, Brie darted off, ignoring the pounding in her head and the aching of her muscles. If the swampjaws had died, she could at least make sure that her friends didn’t suffer anymore than they had to. Plus she was getting really tired, so the sooner they all got out of here safely, the sooner she could hopefully go to bed.

The movie set was pretty small so it didn’t take her long to reach the Basilica. The smell of ogre wasn’t as overpowering anymore and she couldn’t see any of them wandering around, so it looked like the others had killed them. Good job! Her gaze travelled past the pile of rubble that had once been a building, before landing on the open doors of the Basilica. Squinting, she could see what looked like Joseph with what seemed to be a...rat on his shoulder. Weird. Well, not that weird for Jojo...she sort of expected stuff like that from him now.

“Oh, it’s a Vermile! Hey little guy!” Approaching the others, Brie smiled at the leftover, her nose crinkling in delight. She reached out a finger to stroke its head, once again managing to withdraw said appendage just before it bit her. “Aw he’s so cute! Or is it a she...I can’t tell when he’s sat on your shoulder like that..”

Shrugging, Brie eventually remembered why she had walked over to the Basilica in the first place, turning to the others who had assembled in the entrance. “Oh, right! So we went to the bathhouse, which I thought would be really fun. But then there were loads of swampjaws there. And then Nero locked us in...so I had to kill them and I really didn’t mean to, but they were just so easy to kill! It was really sad...” Trailing off after her pointless ramble, she held up the card to show them, not realising that she probably should have started with that. “And then this thing dropped from the ceiling. I think it opens something. Maybe it’s where he’s got Eliza & Grace?” Looking round at the others, she passed it to Rumi, knowing he was the smartest and would know what to do. “Here you go.”

Now free of her burden, she turned back to Will, suddenly looking very apologetic. "Sorry if I shocked you before..." Brie reached up on her tiptoes to whisper to him, so that the others didn't hear. "I can't control it very well recently. It kinda just does what it wants, so you should be careful around me." She shot him a small smile before turning back to her friends, waiting to see what they would do.

@Infinite Cosmos @Rabidporcupine @Scarifar
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Scarifar
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Scarifar Presto~!

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As the others began to tend to / carry Blake, Rumi moved on, examining a keycard reader near the door. He shook his head in disbelief; to think people would still be using outdated tech like keycards. They were ridiculously easy to overcome, usually by taking advantage of the magnetic stripe reader and gaining access of the information stored in it to gain the password needed to bypass it. That being said, though, Rumi did not have the tech needed to do so, as he had been stripped to only the bare essentials. What he needed was a bit more specialized.

Fortunately, it seemed the others had a bit more luck, as Brie and William had come from their trip to the bathhouse, and apparently had a run-in with some Swampjaws. Frankly, Rumi didn't care too much as long as they were unharmed, but it did make Rumi wonder what contingency plans Nero had once they broke in to rescue Grace and Eliza. Furthermore, with all the Leftovers in the movie set, it didn't seem like the Wings of Law were planning to help Nero once the authorities were alerted about this location's contents. He would most likely be scapegoated as a Leftover smuggler and tossed aside once everything was all said and done. Whatever this gang had gotten themselves into, it was a lot bigger than it seemed, but that was nothing new for them.

Taking the keycard from Brie, Rumi stared at it for second, then looked back at the keycard reader. Without a word, Rumi slid the keycard through it. He highly doubted there would be any traps behind the door, at least any technical types, and any Leftovers or such would easily be dealt with by the rest of the gang. Rumi himself would be protected enough by his suit to be able to get out of the way assuming any action would unfold.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by DClassified
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DClassified Kung Fro Killa

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Location
|| Brookside ||

Time
|| Morning ||

Interactions
|| None ||

Brookside had changed a lot since the young man had left it. In the year that he had been back to Castleburg, he made it a mission to explore the city again. It made him feel like a ghost of the past. There were some secret spots that hadn't changed, some faces that he remembered. Other than that, it was like walking into a new hell of sights and smells. Street names changed; businesses closed and replaced. Gang activity had evolved. Even some of the old gangs in the area were gone, including apparently the Guglianos as a result of the company that Hugo had managed to talk him into joining.

Also in the few months since he had joined, he managed to construct a persona for himself in the HERO ranks, The Black Knight. Although typically on this side of town he did his business as The Hood, Zy understood that there wouldn't be much of a fear factor if The Hood officially joined the ranks of the ultra public HERO organization. Still, he managed to build a pretty decent rep for himself as someone capable of throwing down with the martial artists in Watervale’s Wah Ching.

Speaking of, the Director caught wind of his stronger group of young heroes going missing after a Fourth of July party. While it was one thing for a few to go off the radar for a bit, thirteen super powered individuals gone without a trace was a completely different story. So, while Hugo went on to discuss this shit on the news, Zhaire elected to go to the streets to see if he could figure out anything fishy going on the night before.

Even though the kidnapping took place elsewhere in the city, all villainous activity somehow had ties to Brookside and Watervale. That’s just the way things worked in Castleburg. While he may not have had the same sway in these streets that he once did, he still had some connections and people who owed him favors. One of which was an old Brookside native who never seemed to change, Smokey the Street-Rat.

Crossing the road into an old alleyway, there he was. Cooped up in a corner behind a dumpster was his tent with him beside it and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. A corner of Zhaire’s lip upturned; Smokey hadn’t changed a bit other than some grey in his beard.

”I’ve been gone a long time. Yet here you are, still sitting in the same spot I left you.” Zy addressed the hibiscus huffing hobo with some sarcasm. The man only looked up at him from the folding lawn chair, clearly out of it. As many times as he stole food and money for the old dirty bastard, he still tried to give Zy a hard time about it. The young man rolled his eyes.

”Cut the crap, Smokey. August 13th, 2020.--”

“-Not so loud...I had to make sure you wasn’t the stick fuckin’ with my head…” The man past his prime coughed out rather thick plumes of smoke. Zy shook his head a little.

“I had to do the same when I came back to town about a year ago…How you been?”

“Same old me. But I know this meetin’ ain’t meant to be a chat between two Brook ghosts. Nobody visits ol’ Smokey unless they need somethin’.”

“You’re right.”

“Ain’t that a surprise.--”

”Look, over a dozen of the damn heroes disappeared last night. Nothin happens in these streets that you don’t know about. I need to know if any weird shit went down between last night and this morning.”

“You do realize that last night was America’s birthday nd shit right?”

”You do realize B was caught up in all that shit right?” Zhaire prodded. The mention of the letter made the older man’s eyes widen a bit.

“You mean Buzzin Brie?” The man asked with a sigh, followed by Zy’s nod. There was a small pause as the houseless man let his cigarette fall to the ground. Getting up from the lawn chair, he put his hands into the pockets of his jacket and walked out to the sidewalk.

“Couple blocks from here, y’know, where tha ol pizza joint is?” Smokey asked without looking at it. Zy stood next to him with crossed arms.

“Picasso’s...?”

“Yeah. Well, a mac truck pulled up last night. Didn’t seem too shady at first. Thought it coulda been the place restockin. Cept they were deliverin’ to the buildin’ across the street from there. You’ll see it. Shit looks newer than everythin’ else in this part of town.”

”Appreciated Smokey.”

“Don’t go thankin me yet. Go get her outta there.”

With that, Zy took notice of Picasso’s Pizzeria down the street, on the same block as a mexican barber shop. Across from it seemed to be some walled off area that looked kind of out of place. With that, Zy passed Smokey a bundle of cash and started walking.

Going through it quickly, it was faced with a ten dollar bill in the roll, but all underneath it was a bunch of ones. It came out to 20 bucks but Zy could still hear the man suck his teeth.

Choosy beggar in the flesh...
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Hitman
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Hitman Mori Quam Foedari

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”God DAMN it, my ogres! I had those imported from Italy...oh, Seraph's gonna kill me..."

"Correction, I'm gonna kill you," Grace said snidely, which earned her a painful shock and a "shut up" from Nero, who quickly manned the large computer in the office. "Oh, great, now they're manning the elevator. I shouldn't have been so generous, leaving the key out, I thought it would be fun to have something like that open for sport... Nero's armored fingers flew across the keyboard, punching in some code. "Well, Seraph's not going to have that enjoyable tape, but I can still take them out before they ruin everything! I just have to activate the blue bomb and wipe them out..." As Nero's fingers flew across the keyboard at an ever-increasing rate, pulling up and promptly disabling all sorts of safety mechanisms, Grace began to sweat, teeth clenched. To most people, a blue bomb just sounded like some colorful explosive variant, but Grace was not most people. Grace's 20th birthday present was a high-tech state-of-the-art calculator, her 21st birthday present was a collection of science textbooks, and her 22nd birthday present was a fancy microscope. Grace knew science, and what Nero had just said worried her.

A "blue bomb" was a relatively recent innovation that was invented only a skip over the bay at UCNA. Blue bombs were a very small-scale biological weapon with a core of actinium and a rapid dispersal method that, in essence, evaporates biological life within its blast radius while leaving most inorganic matter relatively intact. A lightweight plastic shell surrounding the weapon meant that the bomb disposed of itself, leaving it practically undetectable. Of course, a blue bomb was a very futuristic, difficult piece of weaponry to assemble. It was not something that Nero could assemble in his backyard. It needed a lab and smart people, or alternatively, a rich person to pay the lab and smart people. Seraph, Grace thought again angrily. Just another check written off to some science lab, all to create a contingency for his rivals. Grace couldn't help but still feel shocked at these revelations. It was just months ago when she had thought Seraph was a charming hero. Now, he was paying villains to kidnap, torture, and now irradiate and evaporate them. It was incredible at how well he could hide his true personality in front of the cameras and reporters. It was almost like a second superpower.

Grace closed her eyes as she thought of a plan. Nero was busy preparing his death bomb, and for once he wasn't paying attention to his captives- a crucial mistake on his part. Grace couldn't really get herself off the fence with a portal- doing so would either leave her stranded somewhere else tied to a lightning fence (in which case Nero would likely execute her and Eliza- unideal) or potentially cutting off one or more of her limbs (just about as unideal). Grace's only move was to take Nero out of the picture quickly, before he could activate the bomb and turn all the occupants of the Coliseum into ash and dust. Grace took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and opened a portal.

The portal emerged right beneath Nero's feet. Like Wil E. Coyote standing above a ravine, he blinked a few times in shock before plunging directly into the fluid purple portal, giving a loud "AIEEEEE!" before plunging into the depths of the portal. A paired portal opened on the ceiling, which roughly deposited Nero from the ceiling back into the original portal. After a few rotations, which were quite humorous, Grace closed the floor portal right before Nero flew into it, causing a resonating crack as Nero slammed, helmet-first, into the ground. If it wasn't for the armor, Nero would've likely been turned to a pancake then and there, but even still, he was likely not going to be in good shape. Strangely enough, Grace didn't feel bad for him at all.

The elevator door dinged a moment later, as the large metal doors swung open to reveal the office. Grace and Eliza were still tied to the rack (Grace had somehow managed to get a stick of gum into her mouth and was currently blowing an exceptionally large bubble), and Nero was laying a few feet in front of his captives, moaning and rolling around from the collision, a large and very noticeable dent in the center of his helmet where he had slammed roughly into the carpet.

"Nice timing," Grace said after popping the bubble. "Really helpful right here." Her sarcastic comment made, Grace's eyes quickly sought out and found Rumi. "Apparently, Nero got his hands on a blue bomb. Or more likely, Seraph gave him one." She spat the name out with pure malice, before tilting her head in the direction of the computer. "It's linked to the computer. You should probably disable it. If it wasn't for me, you guys would all be blue dust right now, so I think I deserve a little props for saving you." She pulled against her restraints. "If you could help me with these zip-ties, that would be nice too. Check on Eliza as well. She doesn't look too hot right now."



The movie set in Brookside, a massive space on the west side of the borough with massive, towering stone walls on all four sides, looked almost like some sort of prison, though the advertisements for Marcus Aurelius on all four sides clearly indicated otherwise. (As Grace would be quick to point out if she hadn't been kidnapped, the movie was exceedingly good, one of the best biopics delivered in the 2030s for sure so far). Surrounding the massive stone-walled movie set were a few construction vehicles and some girders and other building supplies, but outside of that, it didn't seem too out-of-place in the run-down areas of Brookside. Of course, the IDD told a different tale. Anybody that was really anywhere in Brookside or even Watervale's western sides could pick up massive heat readings, electromagnetic fields, seismic waves, gravitational flux, really just about everything that the IDD read was present at the site. Anybody with half a brain could figure out that the something was happening there- even some local residents had called ambulances for heat strokes around the massive set.

The IDD wasn't the only device that could pick up anomalies- HERO2 was equipped with much stronger tracking devices, and it wasn't before long that Hugo Powers had a good idea of where the captured heroes were. Even better, they were definitely fighting back, and all indications pointed to them having a great deal of success in that regard. Powers was confident that the heroes would be safe, especially with the two new individuals en route to assist. What annoyed him, however, was a phone call that he had received from Starbright's secretary, of all people.

"Listen, ma'am, I understand Starbright's willingness to help his fellow heroes..." (this was a lie), "...but I'm not sure if he's up to the job. These are some high-tier heroes that have been abducted, surely there's some type of higher-level threat currently engaged in combat with them, it's simply unsafe for him to be in close proximity to such a powerful threat..." Powers said as politely as possible to Francine, before pausing to think. There were several heroes of great power helping out another group of already powerful heroes, likely fighting off a limited number of villains. On top of that, Starbright was a walking magnet for good publicity. A successful rescue attempt would restore some credibility to HERO's damaged image, and while Powers was normally the type not to give a hoot about either HERO's image OR Starbright, both of them would have to be in good shape for the public to trust the organization to hunt down Caustic and other villains. And so, against his better judgement, Powers coughed before speaking into the phone again.

"Scratch that, tell Starbright that he's in charge. I'm sending the coordinates of the heroes' likely locations to his phone now, I've also pinged a few other heroes that are in the vicinity..." Powers did so with the tap of a button on his laptop. "Tell him I give him the best of luck. Bring them home," Powers said, drumming up some much-needed charisma before hanging up. Hopefully, he had not made a monumental mistake there.

@Zoey Boey @Duoya @Jumbus @DClassified
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