Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by shylarah
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shylarah the crazy one

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[ Amuné and Jareth ]




The appearance of Director Powers interrupted Wiseman's greeting to Jareth, but the young man didn't pursue it. The drone had caught his attention. He settled next to the older, armored hero, and watched as the man pried loose a panel, then made sure the thing was disabled. When Wiseman set the drone back down, Jareth accepted the tacit offer, kneeling down next to the drone and taking a look at the innards while listening to the other man speak.

What followed was exposition on the Fiendish Five and their capabilities. They sounded...dangerous. Then again, any villian that had killed 20 heroes was bound to be dangerous. He was nervous, but it seemed Wiseman had a good idea of how to proceed.

Amuné, for her part, had quietly taken the loose panel that Austin pried off the bot, and was turning it over in her hands. She listened attentively to his rundown of who they faced, her face unreadable behind her mask. Once Austin was done, she focused her powers and attempted a scry.

Sure enough, five figures, though only the balding man in a labcoat was clearly visible. The others seemed to be moving around, but Professor Gholem -- she presumed -- was hard at work on a laptop.

"The professor is stationary, somewhere -- I can't really make out the details, but he's got a customized laptop with him. I'm guessing that's how he's controlling the drones. The other four are blurry, but I think they're on the move. Which means..." She glanced over at Wiseman. "Attack incoming, I'd imagine."
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Scarifar
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Scarifar Presto~!

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Megumi Takaki




Megumi nodded as Emily took back the paper, then she moved back to wait for any others to arrive. As it turned out, she didn't have to wait too long. A whole slew of people had decided to come to the orientation in a short period of time. There was a towering figure of a woman. She seemed nice. There was another woman who had an brash look and a sailor's mouth to match. Megumi... tolerated her. There was a... humanoid mushroom creature? Megumi wasn't sure why there was a Leftover here, but considering it hadn't attacked anyone, and seemingly no one else was too bothered by it, they were probably safe for the time being. Still, she chose to not-so-subtly walk around and hide behind Crane, just in case.

A few others also came by, but the highlight of the attendees was a certain magical rune-wielding hero. "It's Stray..." Megumi thought out loud, unable to contain her hint of excitement. Megumi's eyes had lit up upon spotting him, but she quickly averted them in embarrassment, a small blush forming on her face. She then cleared her throat as if there was something there. There wasn't. She just wasn't used to letting her emotions get the best of her.

Fortunately, the topic soon turned as Emily began to explain the upcoming activity: a scavenger hunt of little black pyramids, and the prizes upon winning it. Megumi placed a hand on her chin and slightly tilted her head, lost in thought. The mood plants were of little interest to Megumi; they were nothing to get particularly fussed about, but the idea of the scavenger hunt sounded fun. It would help test out some ideas Megumi had and see how effective they were.
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Hidden 5 mos ago Post by ManyThings
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ManyThings

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「 ARDENT 」


Johnstone Convention Center, New Athens, Castleburg




It brought David a tiny bit of joy to see the Director looking so out-of-place and uncomfortable in his tight little suit. He had only met the man earlier that week, so his sense of his personality was limited to a few very irritating interactions, tainted by the regret and humiliation of his career change from vigilante to proper hero. As much as David hadn't been enjoying his time at the festival, it was nice to see that it wasn't all sunshine and roses for Powers, either.

Seems like nobody's immune to the burdens of publicity.

If David's mood had been worse, he might have said that out loud, but the matter of the metal spider had his attention. Finally, it looked like he was going to have something real to do. He was glad he had come, instead of wasting his day floating around town just to spite the Director. If somebody was going to cause trouble here, he was going to thrash them. That was a proper introduction to the city, not showing up just to look pretty at some festival.

There was a whole world full of awesome powers out there, but David had always found super-intelligence to be especially impressive. It was the sort of power that made problems simple just by existing. If a hero was able to take a glance at a busted-up robot and instantly recognize the identity of the inventor and of all the inventor's teammates, that was a hero David could respect.

Hearing Wiseman's advice for how to deal with the situation, David was a little less enthused. It was slightly overcomplicated, in his eyes. Micromanaging, even. He gave a skeptical squint as a copy of the data on the Fiendish Five was transferred to him.

"Their team lineup sucks for this," The former vigilante observed, flicking through holographic images of each of the Five, accompanied by various lines of text about their abilities and known tactics.

"There's no way jelly-boy or pasty-face are getting anywhere near this place without getting clocked as villains, and they're fucked here since there's no water and the crowd's sightlines are everywhere. Their other two fighters are stuck using conventional weapons to attack, so they don't have anything that could destroy the building or wipe out the crowd beyond popping people one-by-one, plus they can't do any real damage to Powers, who they know is gonna be here." His tone wasn't casual. He had to acknowledge how deadly these villains were, but he also couldn't ignore how weird the situation was. "So I guess they're relying on their egghead. He's the wildcard."

Again, intelligence was a super powerful thing. Whether you got it from the Hero Gene or not, David considered it a superpower, and he considered brainy bastards the worst sort of villains by far. He tried to imagine how Gholem could send the whole situation from bad to worse. Drones could drop little smoke bombs everywhere to give Albino some cover. Maybe a big hose-robot could start flooding the convention centre with water for Jellyfish to splash around in. It sounded stupid even in David's head, but who was he to say what this guy could or couldn't invent? Worst and most obvious, the Professor could have just given his teammates a bomb.

David glanced between Wiseman and Oracle. They both seemed to have pretty incredible abilities to gather information, but he wasn't sure who was going to end up being more effective in this situation. "If you figure out where The Nutty Professor is hiding, tell me right away. He spoke to both of them, with a certain edge to his voice that suggested he was very motivated to find that particular villain. "I wanna go shove that laptop somewhere painful."

Regarding the heroes' own team lineup, it seemed that he had been sorted into the 'outdoor mobility' category, along with Blast and the other woman. Wireframe? That sounded pretty familiar, but he had no idea what she could actually do. For his part, Jake seemed plenty eager to come up with some sort of game plan together, asking for David's input.

"Run around really fast." David told him dismissively, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, he caught himself. He was supposed to be part of a team, now. It was something new. "I mean, don't bother going up high. I can handle that. You're better off going far. Run right around the building, see if the fire escapes are shut properly. Make some wild guesses about where they could be coming from. If you guess wrong, you can just come back here in like, two seconds."

Then, he looked at Wireframe and shrugged. He didn't know her power. "...You blend in really well." He observed. Maybe it was a lucky thing she had come in casual clothes.

With that advice offered, David turned his attention to himself. There was one bit of Wiseman's battle plan from a moment ago that was still on his mind.

"...Doc Holiday can and surely will shoot Ardent out of the sky to make space for Albino to attack on the ground..."


David gave the armoured hero a wry smile. "I'm new in town, so you don't put too much stock in me. I can't blame you." For a moment, his smile widened. Not the fake smile for the crowds, but something with heart and fire behind it. There was some remnant of the brazen Ardent who had taken Boston, and Twitter, by storm. "I'm not dying to gun-guy, or pasty-face, or sword-girl, or any of them. Don't sweat it."

Ardent set his gaze towards the exit from the backstage space."It'd be suspicious if we all started getting real tense and vigilant, huh?" He appeared to be ready, even eager, to head out to search for robots and villains.

"So I'm gonna go say hi to the crowds out front, do some laps around the neighbourhood, and get up nice and high. Good chance I'll see them coming from blocks away. If not, if Billy the Kid really wants to shoot me that badly, he can go ahead and try it. It'll be nice and easy to find him once he takes a shot."
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Aku the Samurai
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Aku the Samurai

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[ 𝑅𝒾 𝓁 𝑒𝓎 ]




A scavenger hunt?

Ugh. If he'd known this was what they had planned, he would have still been passed out in his room. That would still have been a better use of his time than this, in any case. Why would he bother wasting time scavenging for irrelevant facts that he could easily learn by himself at literally any other time? Crystals crunched between Riley's teeth and he swallowed reflexively. Another chocolate bar followed in short order, dissolving like ice upon his tongue.

He crossed his arms and frowned, annoyance creasing his brow. If this was–

Oh?

Riley looked on with fascination as Emily brought out the "prizes". Mood plants were foreign to him, and while they didn't seem to have much use at first glance—detecting someone's mood held little obvious practicality—that didn't stop his interest. He wondered how they accomplished such a feat—chemicals, maybe? Or perhaps, something more esoteric. Leftovers were intriguing to him in more ways than one; beings mutated by the same event that cursed blessed humanity with godlike powers. As beautiful as they were terrifying. Maybe this scavenger hunt wouldn't be an entirely useless endeavour, if the prizes were any indication.

"You should have started with that. I almost walked off."

The AD's final request for no conflict went mostly unanswered, though not necessarily ignored. Riley had no reason or desire to start a fight, and hopefully, none of the others did either. It also wouldn't serve any real purpose beyond antagonising potential teammates. The last part of Emily's sentence, however, did not escape his notice.

.... Another day? Well, if that wasn't ominous.

The mushroom-thing among them didn't seem very enthused about the reward for the scavenger hunt, though. It had quite a strong reaction to the display of the mood plants, actually. It made Riley curious of what else could get a reaction out of it.

He gave the Leftover a glance, then his eyes fell to the spores it shed and he grimaced. Even inhuman monstrosities littered?

Again. Ugh.

A casual flick of a finger was all it took to get rid of the fallen spores, their very being dissolving like snowflakes in the sunlight. Then, he turned his attention to their source.

"Everything's made of the same thing. Far as I'm concerned, there is no difference between them and a dog."

A half-truth, but one that would hopefully satisfy his burgeoning curiosity.
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by baraquiel
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baraquiel Angel of Moe *:・゚✧

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"Thank you, Miss Emily" Eva said. She felt cold so she was taking out black leather gloves from one of the many pockets of her trench coat and putting them on as she sat down at the seat Miss Duff propped up for her. She was also genuinely surprised to see another heroine attend the orientation for new heroes. Miss Duff called her Megumi and welcomed her in as she propped up another chair for her. She didn't seem like the talkative type and Eva let out a small sigh of relief, enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasted.

More and more heroes were making their presence known until it's hard for Eva to keep track on all of them, but she did her best to get a good look-over at each of them. The most memorable one would have to be the walking mushroom Leftover. She didn't really like the sound of that term when describing the mushroom humanoid's kind, making them look like scraps or seem unimportant to the rest of the superpowered humans. They were all affected by that meteor, it didn't make anyone lesser or more than the other whether they're human or not. That being said, she wondered where this one even came from?

After them was a giantess, and a young one at that too. It seemed that Ting Feng's still a teenager, so bright and full of wonder and excitement. Eva imagined she would be a lot like Crane if she wasn't subjected to a life of villainry that started the moment her powers manifested. She could only hope Crane would stay that way even with all the challenges and troubles the world threw at her.

Eva jumped a bit in her seat when the next hero made her introduction. This one was even more excitable, a small bundle of pure energy just zipping and zapping all over. She introduced herself as Rupa, hero name Alchemist, and she was also a little familiar to the green-eyed young woman. She would've definitely remembered meeting someone as memorable as her, but this was their first time formally meeting each other as far as Eva knew. Weird, but that also meant they could make proper introductions later when things simmered down.

The next one was... Oh, it's just Stray.

After him was another hero, Fallout as the records called him. She was very impressed with his powers the first time she knew about him, though he did seem to be the stereotypical moody, disinterested teenager which was a complete opposite of Crane and Alchemist. Still, Eva hoped she was also the type to be warm and friendly the more they could get to know him. Time will only tell.

With that, it seemed that their group was complete and it was definitely an interesting collection they got here right now. Eva was a little concerned with how these new heroes would react when they're out on a real mission. She already thought of a lot of different ways things could get awry but she gave them the benefit of the doubt. She did a lot of mistakes during her first missions as a hero too. Experience will help them to be the kind of hero they aspired to be someday. Eh, as long as they did their duties and responsibilities.

Miss Emily formally started the orientation once it seemed they were complete and it was a... A scavenger hunt? That's interesting, to say the least. Eva would've preferred the speech really but if this exercise helped build camaraderie which would improve chances of successful group missions in the future, so be it.

Unsurprisingly, not all of them were enthusiastic about it. Eva's instincts made her reach down to almost remove her gloves when the mushroom-man became angry; she was then a little disappointed that she caught herself in her own prejudice. With Fallout's words not helping, Eva sighed and stood up to adress the mushroom man.

"The true nature of activities like these is to help us get a better chance to know one another. It aids in building camaraderie, friendships, gives us a better understanding on how each of us tackle challenges and how we can pick up on where the others lack." Eva explained, her deep green eyes focusing on the space on Mire's head where she thought their face would be.

"We understand your apprehension. It is easy to feel guilty that we are here, talking about the mundane while knowing there are people out there who are in desperate need of our help. It is how doctors, police, firemen, and other frontlines feel. It is also important to realize we are hu-, ahem. We are all beings who deserve the chance to take a breather so we can be in our optimal state to help out those in need. After all, how can you save others when you can't even save yourself?" She further said, completely aware how ironic she sounded to herself when she's always out in the field.

She glanced at Miss Duff, hoping that what Eva did was right before clearing her throat and turning to the rest."Apologies for the wordy explanation. I believe we have little pyramids to go get our hands on, yes? Afterwards, perhaps we can go get pizza."
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Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by Duoya
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Duoya

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It was a second or two of tense silence before Ms. Duff smiled weakly and addressed Rupa's question. Thankfully, she brought up the fact that fungi and fruits weren't closely related, and Rupa breathed a sigh of relief before continuing to eat the apple. That would have been awkward - fruits are baby plants, right?

Before she derailed herself too much, Rupa noticed that she was not the only one to show up late! The first was a guy that was scraggy and unkempt, wearing clothes that looked like he slept in them for the last three days straight. He also called out to Rupa and answered her apple question, echoing the director's response.

"Woah, you guys let homeless people stay at HERO One?! Cool!! I know a guy named Sticky Ricky who got kicked out of the shelter for stabbing a dude, could he-"

Judging by his question to Ms. Duff and the fact that Hacker-girl was looking at him like he was Sylvester Stallone or something, Rupa quickly shut her mouth. Probably a thing for heroes in the States - maybe they're on the clock so much they can't take care of themselves or something?

The other late arrival was a boy wearing sandals and an oversized hoodie, who appeared to have walked up to the rest of the group without a word during Rupa's badass introduction. He had a vibe that was kind of similar to the Hacker girl - more aloof and cold than Rupa would like. Emily walked over and gave the guy a handshake (JEALOUS!!!), so hopefully that would help and make the guy a bit less grumpy.

Ms. Duff started explaining the orientation in more depth, and much to Rupa's delight, it wasn't going to be a boring ass speech! They were doing a scavenger hunt - which for some reason the others were groaning about and calling childish? Rupa thought it was super mature and cool, way better than reading a packet or something.

Especially the prize! Rupa couldn't really handle a proper pet right now, and Mrs. Yuvaves wouldn't like it either - but a plant is super easy. Plus Rupa probably won't kill it while she's sleeping, so that's a plus.

Like the scavenger hunt itself, Rupa seemed to be in the minority of people actually interested in the prize. Mushroom guy was especially grumpy about it, growling and ranting about how he was kidnapped to play games. He even let off a bunch of spores, which grossed Rupa out a lot - 'sporing yourself' sounds like the fungal version of shitting yourself, and that's yucky. Thankfully, it did enough to distract her from focusing on the whole 'kidnapping' thing, cause who knows what kind of tantrum she would throw if she knew that Mire was being held against their will here.

Rupa paused for a while and watched the others - no one seemed to be willing to pair up right off the bat. Jeez, did she get stuck with all the introverts and grouches!? The only one who didn't seem at least somewhat upset or annoyed to be here was the giant girl, and that was probably 80% because she didn't have to worry about stepping on pedestrians and fire hydrants right now. The girl in the trenchcoat and the emo boy were talking to the mushroom man, but it seemed kinda confrontational so Rupa zone out of it. She was only brought back to attention when Eva briefly mentioned hanging out after work.

"Hell yeah, pizza!!! Whooooo!!!"

Despite eating out pretty much every day, Rupa rarely ate with someone who wasn't her landlord. It would be nice to get to know some of her coworkers better - like their favorite movies, or their catchphrase when they catch a bad guy.

And their names. God, she needed to ask people what their names were.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rupa noticed the Hacker-girl continuing to stare at the homeless guy- er, not homeless. Stray. Joseph. Do heroes prefer real names or their made-up ones?

Doesn't matter. It was time to get this scavenger hunt started, even if she had to force people to pair up. Rupa walked towards Joseph, thankful that she was oblivious to who he was. Harder to be intimidated by someone when all you know about them is their name and that they have what looks like chili stains on their pants.

"Mr. Stray! I'm challenging you! I bet that me and..."

Shit, who was Rupa pairing up with? Emo-boy? He'll probably say no. Giant girl? She's 10 meters up, she's not seeing those little ass pyramids, and Rupa did actually want those plants. Mushroom guy doesn't look like he's playing, so he's out...

"Me and the hot lady with the cool coat! I bet that we can find more pyramids than you and, uh... white-haired girl, I don't know her name either..."

Rupa pulled out her wallet and looked for whatever would be valuable to a homeless person. What the hell would Sticky Ricky like...

"I'm wagering $12.87! And a loyalty card to Surfshack Tito's Bar and Grill - two more stamps, then you get a free meal AND can choose what they play on the TV! If I win, you have to tell me Mr. Powers personal number so I can prank call him. O-or Ms. Duff's, either works!"

That rewards card was a hard price to pay. Surely Megumi would be thankful, and not annoyed by this embarrassing breach of privacy. Rupa didn't bother waiting for a response, turning quickly and making her way towards the green-eyed woman. She whispered (well, as much as someone like Rupa could) under her breath as she passed the woman, hopeful that none of the others had a perception-based power.

"Please play along, I'll buy you a slice or two when we go for pizza!"

A white-haired woman covered in scars walked past Rupa, making her way towards the rest of the group. Rupa did her best not to stare - while she was used to those kinds of wounds on her guards with the Paksha, and Rupa herself had quite a few from the training she had gone through, she had yet to see an American look like that. She shook her head, focusing on the green-eyed woman.

"Oh, uhm, could I ask what your name is? I think everyone else forgot to do their Hero introduction like I did."
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Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by Infinite Cosmos
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Infinite Cosmos XIV

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Location: The Convention Center, outside
Interactions: @ManyThings Ardent @shylarah Amune @Blizz Wiseman

"This is Bastion, I'm on scene outside the convention center. I was able to listen in on the communication. Where am I needed?" Benji said while halting his car with a harsher stop than he would normally had liked. But the situation was rather pressing, as there are villains on the loose. "Our targets are the drones and the Fiendish Five, yes? There sure are a lot of civilians around. We got a contingency plan for them? I can't possibly shield them all should shit pop off out here..." Benji continued, stepping out of his car while putting on a bluetooth ear piece that is connected to his holo-watch.

Being one of the older heroes, Benji has at least some idea of what the other heroes present can do. Having been able to listen in on the director's earlier briefing, he also knows who are all present. "Wiseman, or Amune for that propose, where am I needed or where should I go?" Benji paused for a moment, trying his best to spot any familiar heroes around him. "Not trying to give out orders or anything, but, Ardent, which building are you looking to set up on? I can try to be close to cover you in case Doc Holiday really tries to shoot you down..." Benji said, doing his best to blend into the crowd as just another bystander.
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Zoey Boey
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Zoey Boey Spider!

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Backup

East Side
Interaction with Alien Angel @DarkRecon




Suddenly, the hot dog eating heroine wasn't alone on her lunch break. Someone was talking to her! Backup turned around, looking at Angel while chewing. She swallowed and scoffed. "Que pasa? I''m eatin' a fuckin' hot dog, that's 'que pasa.'" She said. It was annoying that she was being interrupted on a snack break. She turned away from Angel and kept eating.

A.A. rolled her eyes for a moment but kept at it with her current VR window but based on the information, that was about the expected response.

"...oy I know you like your solitude but there ARE nicer ways to tell someone to piss off...BUUUT I'm one to talk.", Angel then said.

Should Backup look at her at this point, she might note the curious face she was making at her pink VR window. Then putting her finger to her ear.

Backup rolled her eyes. "Fuckin' A. You sure are." She glanced over at her.

"Another cyber chick. What are you doing? Can't you quit fuckin' around on my lunch roof?" She said, holding the paper container of her hotdog in one hand. Backup had favorite places to eat her lunch in all of the Boroughs. This was her East Side Lunch Break Roof, ontop of a combined laundromat and apartment. Mr. Reiz, the guy selling hot dogs on this block made the best in Castleburg. Backup visited him twice a month and enjoyed her lunch here. And now this pink lady with no shoes was yapping in her ear.

Angel then got up then said, "I have to now. Just found my "crisis" of the day and it's a nasty one too...probably will hear about it from Wiseman if you bother to use that Smartwatch." Backup worked her mouth up to the side, and glanced down at her Stopwatch. What's Wiseman got to do with anything?

Alien Angel then walked away from Backup, closing the VR window, then stood at the edge of the roof. Then, to perhaps the surprise of Backup, she transformed...

"...and hey, the name's Alien Angel...and it was actually nice talkin to ya señora."

Angel then leaped off the roof. Backup waved her away dismissively. "Yeah, whatever, fuck off with you."

"Finally." She said, enjoying the rest of her hotdog. There were tons of spices, vegetables, and sauces on it. Backup wiped her face and fingers down with a napkin and crumpled it up. If HERO really needed her help, they would summon her. So she didn't have jack shit to worry about until then. She leaned over the side of the roof into the alley and dropped her garbage into the open dumpster she knew was there.

She decided to change up her patrol route today. Instead of going left, she would go right. Away from that weirdo Alien Angel. The fuck kind of name is that, anyway? She didn't look like an Alien, or an Angel. Was she a new hero? She seemed to know something. But until Backup was given orders, she would go around doing her thing like she always did. Her boots pounded against the roof as she took a running leap to a building ten feet below, landing with a roll. She converted the momentum into a vault over an AC unit and then hopped up onto the next roof.

Patrolling was relaxing and she constantly honed her freerunning. When night fell, she would either continue patrolling, or if she was really bored, hit the underground fight or racing rings. And occasionally take a day or two off back at her apartment. Or God forbid that glorified daycare HERO One if she was there post-mission for some reason. Yuck.

Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by Silver Carrot
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Silver Carrot Wow I've been here a while

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Johnstone Convention Center.
New Athens, Castleburg.
Interacts With: Oracle @shylarah, Blast @Hitman, Ardent @ManyThings, Wiseman @Blizz




"Oh, so 'Oracle' is the hero name you decided to go with, huh? I like it! It's a cool name!" Replied Madison, taking another bite of her hot dog. She swallowed, then looks from Wiseman back to Oracle. "I don't think it'll be anything with too much pressure. It did seem urgent but he asked for anybody who was free, rather than requesting any of the experienced Heroes inside the convention specifically come help him. If he called us for something we absolutely cannot mess up, he sure went about it in a rather wierd way."

It was then that Oracle introduced the two of them to the mythical 'Jareth' she'd always talked about at the Academy. Or, she supposed, 'Terraformer'. Also a cool hero name. She shook his hand when offered, and was about to retort something playful like 'Oh? What did she say?' when she noticed Powers approaching in a suit and went silent as he stole her attention.

He threw a broken robot to the floor and explained the reason they'd been summoned. An espionage drone had been tailing Powers. There was a strong possibility somebody was planning something at the speech. They were here as additional security, to make sure nobody wil ill intent caused an incident or put people in danger. Powers initially suggested that due to her high mobility, to search from high. Madison had not brought her hero costume to change into. She didn't think she'd need it. She began thinking about how she'd go about doing that while at the same time listening to everybody else's input.

Wiseman, by analysing the drone, identified that the villians who were behind tailing Powers with the drone were the Fiendish Five. Madison had heard of them. They executed their plans together so this was unlikely to be Gholem working solo. She viewed the ICOSA files that had just appeared on her watch. What she was most focused on where their faces, and their powers. Holiday was a sniper and Jellyfish travelled by water, and the drones had hitherto only been observing Powers, lacking the ability to be a credible threat directly. If any of them were going to try to enter the convention directly to cause trouble up close, it would be Albino or Lady Blade.

Amuné used her own powers to tell them all something more alarming. The five were on the move. They were not afforded the luxury of prep time. There was yet more strategizing which was going over Madison's head. She was typically an incident responder, and didn't have much experience fighting villains directly. The others were either much more seasoned Heroes, or had abilities that helped them to contribute. Madison listened with a troubled expression on her face as she finished eating the hot dog. That's when Ardent said something to her. He said she blended in really well. Immediately, Madison knew how she could help out the best way.

"It would be really easy for somebody to sneak into the convention hall undetected today of all days if they wanted to. There aren't any drones around us right now so none of them will assume I'm a Hero, looking and dressing like this. I'll stay on the ground, station myself around the entrace and will discreetly alert you all if I spot anyone before trying to keep them busy."
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Hitman
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Hitman Mori Quam Foedari

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Johnstone Convention Center.
New Athens, Castleburg.
Status: Talking with other heroes.
Interacts: Terra & Oracle @shylarah, Ardent @ManyThings, Wireframe @Silver Carrot, Wiseman @Blizz, Bastion @Infinite Cosmos, Director Hugo Powers

Jake gave a slight frown at the snippy response that Ardent initially gave. "Run around really fast, huh. Thanks for the guidance. Why don't you use your powers to tell if it's going to rain tomorrow, Mr. Weather Balloon?" It was not a great retort, but it was something. Jake was not one to lose a battle of words, even if it were not explicitly declared.

Ardent locked in and advised the speedster to patrol the area for any threats on the ground. This made some sense. The aerial view was much wider, but Jake was much more mobile when solid ground was underneath him; he was still not really a great climber. "Sounds good, birdboy." Birdboy. Good one, Jake. Write that one down for later.

Just about then, Wiseman's voice began to sound out into his ear. Apparently, the genius hero had already dissected the droid and determined that it was the handiwork of a certain Professor Gholem, a member of the Fiendish Five. Jake, though not the studious type that would spend his free hours trawling through HERO's collected files on villains, had heard of the name before. They were dangerous, and they were sneaky. Jake's least favorite type of villain. At least the grandstanding "I'm Going To Take Over The City" type of villain was fun to fight against. They smack-talked, they had some type of fun gimmick, they made things interesting. These Fiendish Fucks were the shadowy types that took a shot at you and then sunk back into the shadows. Annoying, unfun, and frequently lethal. A cocktail of frustration for Blast.

Wiseman's briefing was long. Almost as long as some of Hugo's briefings. He had definitely thought this situation out, and to Jake's credit, he did try to listen. But his attention span for long strategy breakdowns was pretty limited, and by the time Wiseman started talking about recommendations to counter individual matchups, Jake had completely tuned out. All of them sounded extremely punch-able, outside of the Jellyfish guy, and Jake didn't plan on going for a swim anytime soon, anyway. He would just head out, scope out the area, and find the bastards before they ruined anything. Easy-peasy.

Though Jake was not interested in Wiseman's speech, the Director clearly sopped it up, as he responded shortly after Wiseman concluded with his own thoughts. "Excellent work, Wiseman. This is an unusual type of operation for the Five. They are rarely large-scale disruptors. But they will do whatever the job calls for." A brief pause. "This could be an excellent opportunity to finally get the weeds at the roots. I'm going to try and get some more hero support at this location, and law enforcement is already converging on the area." This time, a slightly longer pause. "Be very careful. These are a group of very capable killers. One lapse in concentration could mean fatalities. Don't be foolish."

"Loud and clear, bossman. Don't get killed. Blast heading out." The hero bolted through the back door in a burst of speed, put on his goggles, and then really took off.

Blast's super-speed allowed him to quickly survey the area around the Center, but to no avail. He was hoping that the Fiendish Five would be standing right outside the convention center, and that he would be able to plunk them all down like dominoes, but the streets around the center still seemed just about the same. Jake looked left and right. Nothing suspicious. This whole operation seemed a little bit unusual for what were supposedly a bunch of sneaky assassin types. With all the eyes on the city, it would be impossible to just waltz into the convention center while either covered in knives, dressed like Jesse James, sporting a bunch of combat drones, or looking like a character from Spongebob. Jake looked up at the crowd, still gathered around the parade that was just about finished; they were currently cheering as the massive Hugo Powers balloon ("actually terrifying. Whose idea was that?") passed by and a Wild West-themed parade float followed. There was no way that they could get through this massive crowd of people undetected, especially with them knowing HERO was on notice, unless-

Wait, Wild West-themed parade float?

If Jake had thought about the strangeness of the old-fashioned parade float a second later, or didn't have superhuman speed, he would surely have been a goner. Fortunately for him, though, he was just fast enough to avoid the bullet that was fired towards him, dodging just to the left and causing the bullet to lodge into the sidewalk. The BANG! resonated through the area, and the civilians, of course, began screaming and panicking, and the parade came to a halt. The Hugo balloon even began to fly away as the people who were responsible for keeping it tethered down panicked. That was going to be an ecological disaster, but there were obviously much bigger fish to fry.

Jake looked back up to see the villain they were in pursuit of, Doc Holliday, staring him down, revolver in hand. He was standing right in the middle of the parade float advertising the Dodge City Cigar Lounge. That was all the information that Jake could discern, as Doc Holliday still had 5 more bullets chambered. Jake darted backwards as the villain fanned three more shots, forcing the speedster hero to take cover behind a mailbox. He tapped his watch, speaking into it.

"This is Blast. Don't know if you heard, but they're here and they don't seem to be in the mood to negotiate. Cowboy Bebop is in a particularly feisty mood. I'll try to re-engage him when I get the chance- AGH, SHIT! FUCK!"

Jake's report was interrupted as a bullet seared cleanly through the mailbox and caught the tip of Jake's shoulder. Jake cursed a few more times as he rolled away from the skewered mailbox and hid now behind a sturdy-looking bench, his hand gripped tightly around the wound. Luckily, Doc Holliday couldn't see through metal, so the magic bullet or whatever had only caught a little bit of flesh, but it still stung like a motherfucker. Jake winced. Guy had bullets for every occasion, apparently. They weren't a group to be trifled with, that was obvious. Jake hissed into the watch. He assumed revolvers had 6 bullets, so he would have at least a moment of reprieve. "Hey, Birdboy, could use that weather report at some point. I'm target practice out here."

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Doc Holliday casually loaded six more bullets into his chamber as he looked down at the scene below him; the shouts of a hero isolated within a sea of confusion, screaming, and panicked running. The sounds of cursing meant that he had gotten his target; a particularly difficult one to hit, but one that would be a bit easier now with an injury impeding him. Like an injured deer. Heroes really weren't that much more complex than animals, anyway. In this case, maybe less so. At least deer didn't give their position away by yelling. But the villain wasn't particularly interested in that particular target ant the moment. He'd finish the kill later.

The villain looked over at the float he was standing on. He had reserved a spot in the parade a month or two ago; the perfect Trojan horse for his plan. It was a nice-looking parade float, too. It had a nice mockup of an old-style saloon, with some cactuses, barrels, and tumbleweeds artistically placed atop the platform. It would've been good advertising, had it not been a way of smuggling drones right up to the doorstep of their target. Doc almost felt bad. But the job always came first. Still looking at where the speedster had run off to out of the corner of his eye and holding a revolver in one hand, Doc raised a finger to his ear. "Well, drop the bots, Professor. We're in position."

Just like that, the entire parade float deconstructed itself. The sides of the platform popped open, the barrels on top of the platform popped open, and the walls of the fake saloon toppled as well. Inside all of them were copious amounts of robots of various kinds. Spidery looking robots, like the one that Hugo had wrecked but larger and more menacing-looking, crawled out from the inside of the float, scuttling towards the convention center. Meanwhile, a number of small aerial droids, with spherical bodies, mounted guns, and little helicopter blades, accompanied the land-bound spider droids and floated slowly towards the center in tandem.

"Remember the plan. Isolate the target and get what we need." Doc Holliday pulled back the hammer on one of his revolvers, squinting at the park bench. "I'll keep 'em busy out here."
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

"Leave it to Doc to have all the fun, huh?" the woman known as Lady Blade muttered. She was currently crouched in the thick network of beams that made up the roof of the convention center, a good 40-50 feet from the ground. She nodded to herself as she heard her boss give the order. Now was the time for action.

The woman dropped from the ceiling with remarkable grace and poise, and just like a cat, she landed on her feet, her knees buckling to a crouch as the knife-colored Asian woman looked up at the people she had landed next to. A guy with an eyepatch and two kids. Easy enough. The woman casually drew a combat knife from her jacket, twirling it around her fingers with impressive expertise. "If you hold still, this'll hurt less," she said with a sadistic grin, and though she seemed to almost be tempting the trio to fight, her stance indicated she was far from relaxed. This was a trained killer.

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

The gunshot rang out right when Hugo was about to get on-stage. He was almost thankful. At least it didn't interrupt him mid-speech. The Director tapped his watch as he looked out at the panicking crowd. "Hold your ground, heroes. I'm going to get the mayor out and coordinate the evacuation. Once the civilians are out, I'll make sure these bastards don't get away."

Powers took a second look to see a number of robots crash through the front door of the convention, the spidery-looking robots scuttling forth as a few aerial drones hovered above head. Powers patted his tuxedo. This would be the last time he listened to the Mayor and didn't bring at least a sidearm with him. "And watch out for the robots."




H.E.R.O. One Dune
Savior Island, Castleburg.
Interacts with: Dahlia @baraquiel, Gematria @Scarifar, Crane @Zoey Boey, Stray @rabidporcupine, Alchemist @Duoya, Mire @Blizz, Fallout @Aku the Samurai,

Emily waved politely as she was approached by another new addition. Freakshow was her hero identity (a very interesting one at that, but HERO generally didn't intervene with the self-naming process, even when it bordered onto the self-deprecating). "Hey there! Luna, right? I didn't have you listed down here, for whatever reason, but you're welcome to participate." The Assistant Director gave a pleasant smile, though that expression of fondness was soon wiped off her face by the commentary of the mushrooms. She had wished Hugo was here to deal with the thing, but unfortunately, that wasn't really much of an option at the moment.

Luckily, Evangeline came in with the big assist, for which Emily was quite grateful for. "That's right. Part of being a hero involves cooperation. It involves learning about other people, how they synergize, and how to best respond to different kinds of situations as a group. Maybe you have a bit of difficulty adapting to how we do things, but this is an excellent simulation of that in a danger-free environment." Emily did her best to put on her friendly smile. "Give it a chance, alright? This may not seem productive on a surface level, but I assure you it will prove in handy later. I promise."

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Hidden 5 mos ago Post by shylarah
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shylarah the crazy one

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[ Amuné and Jareth ]




Amuné’s danger sense warned her a split second before the woman covered in knives -- Lady Blade, she figured -- dropped down in front of her, Jareth, and Austin. She had a combat knife in one hand, and a menacing grin on her face. Amuné didn’t bother looking at the other two heroes, instead moving forward with purpose, her hands open, her own stance ready. “Back me up, you two.”

Almost immediately the concrete floor beneath the two combatants started trembling, then rumbling, then really shaking as Jareth used his power to form a very localized quake. It only affected the very surface layer of the ground, but really that was all he needed.

Amuné moved like a dancer on the shaking ground, her predictive sense allowing her to compensate for the motion almost before it happened. She also neatly dodged Lady Blade’s initial attacks -- one, two, three -- before venturing an attack of her own, a stiff-fingered jab that targetted a pressure point in the woman’s shoulder. Her opponent blocked, and Amuné smiled inwardly. In using her arm to deflect Amuné’s attack, the blade-wielding woman exposed herself to one of her opponent’s more useful skills. Unfortunately, the attack and the use of her power also left Amuné open to a counter, and Lady Blade scored a slice along the girl’s arm, eliciting a hiss of pain.

“Terra, feet!”

That was all the warning Lady Blade would get, as with a loud CRACK the concrete directly beneath each of her two feet opened up. Jareth was trying to pin her feet to immobilize her. At the same time, Amuné backed off. But Lady Blade was too quick for Jareth’s trick to work on her. By the time the cracks closed enough to trap her feet, she’d already stepped away.

“Attention heroes,” Amuné said, quickly tapping her smartwatch to activate it. “The primary target is not Hero Day events. It’s Hero One!”
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Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Rabidporcupine
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Rabidporcupine Depression Tree.

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Joseph felt a sudden shiver run down his spine as he heard a voice saying his hero identity with something that almost sounded like... respect. Admiration even... Naturally, this left him mildly horrified, since he was pretty sure half the heroes in the organization didn't even remember his name. Hell, half the heroes he'd personally worked with even!

Behind the sunglasses, his eyes darted around, and it didn't take long for someone who... may have been the perpetrator, a younger-looking woman wearing glasses, who seemed to be blushing and staring at the ground. Now, Joseph may not have been a smart man, but that was mighty suspicious...

However, he put his weird social issues aside, as he listened in on the instructions for the scavenger hunt? He didn't get a scavenger hunt for his orientation day! He was almost about to ask Emily what was up with that, but fortunately, he was distracted by the sudden outburst from the mushroom man, shooting spores everywhere in anger at the fact that they were playing for plants. Before he could get involved, he watched as two of his fellow currently employed heroes spoke to the sapient leftover, Fallout either accidentally or intentionally antagonizing them, and Dahlia attempting to defuse the situation.

Honestly, it'd be a pretty bad look if he just sat back and let them deal with the frustrated fungus on their own. No, it was his duty as a hero to step in and assist his colleagues in this endeavour.

"Yeah, c'mon bud, we're all the same side here, right? Let's try to calm down and get along..." He started. "'specially since the part you're angry about is still wrong. Those are plants. You are a fungus. Completely different kingdoms. Also that's actually called a pyramid, not a fortune cookie. I'll let that one slide, since I'm guessin' you're a little new to the big city..."

Before giving the seething shrooman a chance to respond, he turned back to Emily.

"So anyway yeah, while I'd personally have be absolutely thrilled to join, I think I'd better make the responsible choice and sit it out, since if I joined, it'd basically be cheati-"

And then his ears pricked up, causing him to spin around to face the apple girl who'd called him homeless when he'd arrived. It seemed she was challenging him... Intriguing...

"Miss Apple Girl, if you think I would be baited into a challenge for just twelve dollars and eighty-seven cents... you're absolutely right, I'm in. Don't have Emily's number because she has standards, but I can give ya Powers' number no problem! If you win, of course..."

He turned back to the assistant director, pulled a coin covered in strange lines and markings from one of his jacket pockets, and casually tapped it to the pyramid she'd been holding.

"l o r g c u i l"


And then he withdrew it again, the lines starting to glow. Grinning, he flipped it into the air, only for it to hang there, suspended for a moment, before zipping off.

"Alright, sorry Eva, Applegirl, but I've got twelve eighty-seven to win! Anyone not competing against me can come along too, but the money's mine, I need it for survival! The card too I guess... Anyway, see ya!" He said, before rushing off after the enchanted coin.
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Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Zoey Boey
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Zoey Boey Spider!

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Crane

Savior Island




Emily Duff, the Assistant Director, made the objective of the seminar clear. It would be a game! Crane loved games, though she didn't get to play them very often. Hide and Seek, Tag, Four Square...not really an option. But a scavenger hunt? Crane had participated in Easter before. It was difficult for her, and she had to be very careful with the eggs, but as long as she stayed low to the ground it was doable! Her height could give her an advantage sometimes, too, if the egg was in a place that would be obvious to her, only. Excited, she put her palms together and tapped her fingers together in a small clap.

One thing that people might not expect is how quickly someone like Crane blends into the background of a conversation. Just like anyone else! If she sat there quietly and politely listened to everyone talk, it was like she wasn't even there. It was nice! The effect was only boosted because she wasn't even that strange anymore. Already she was enjoying her choice to come to the superhero capital of the world.

There was a bit of disagreement about it, though, and she had to admit, she wished the loud girl hadn't challenged the older fellow to the game. "This isn't his orientation, but that coin seems as if it will let him find all the cookies very soon. Oh, my. I was looking forward to playing. Maybe next year!" She said with a small smile, that partially hid her disappointment. Due to Mire's complaint she had started calling them cookies.

She let out a sigh, and then put her hands on her knees. Her smile widened. "But, it's not over yet! We might be able to find some, and I want to learn more about my new home. Maybe we can beat that coin, hmm?" She rose to her full thirty foot height again using nothing but her leg muscles. One might see where she got the name Crane from, as the motion was graceful and bird-like.

She shielded her big eyes from the sun and looked around. "Ah!" She pointed out towards the water."I see something unusual. I think I will get there first!" She said, and began to walk over to it. At a decent walking pace she was much faster than most people's full sprint. Even still her step was light. At the water's edge she dipped her toes in and felt for solid-ish ground, and began to wade out into the water to the platform.

"I have done the scavenging! I am here." She declared. Forty feet was nothing to her! She grabbed the small platform with one hand to steady it, and then used her finger and thumb to oh so carefully pluck the pyramid from its place. Then she held it up against her ear. "Hello, little cookie. Do you have something to tell me?" She asked, muttering under her breathe.



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Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by DarkRecon
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DarkRecon The sword that smites evil

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Alien Angel and Alpha
New Athens, Castleburg
Possible interaction: Blast@Hitman
________________

Angelia finally flew within the air space of New Athens and landed on a random rooftop near the parade route. While flying from East Side/Flank, she had seen the chaos erupt through hacked security cams around the general area. Including the cowpoke gunslingers briefly before he disappeared from views for the moment. Then the drones that showed.

This was getting ugly quick. But first things first. She needed a plan. The drones themselves was going to be the whole reason why Hero One may have trouble. The numbers game was going to catch up to them. First: get the brains of the team out of the picture.

Thanks to her "Meta Hack" power, it was very doable. All she had to do was get within several feet of one, hack it, then reprogram it to basically "back to sender". Simple enough but even that was a problem. If cowpoke suddenly saw a "pink leftover" doing something weird to one of the drones near his line of sight, he'd "fan the hammer" at her till she was a "dead leftover".

Putting her finger to her earbud, she then called Alpha.

"Alpha. I'm here on the roof. Not too far from the cowboy. I have a plan but I need your help."

Another voice, rather serious, then spoke.

"Negative. I observed Hero One Blast get wounded by the target. Switching to Field Medic role."

Sighing, she responded,"Ok ok boyscout...actually, this could work. Fix him up first. Then ask him if he could cover you while you try to go for one of the toys marching towards the Convention Center. I'll make the move in your place when he's fighting with the gunslinger."

"Affirmative."

* * * * * * * * * *

Then, Blast suddenly had a companion.

What looked like a normal civilian in blue sweatpants, sneakers, a Blast merch T-shirt with sunglasses on and orange colored hair suddenly hid behind his bench hiding spot. He "looked panicked" as if he was also hiding to avoid being shot.

But he then revealed a blue backpack off of his back and in front of Blast, then revealed a First Aid Kit.

Then, said civilian started to "glow".

"...Alpha reporting sir. Sit rep. Is the bullet still lodged in your shoulder or can I heal it now?"
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Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Crusader Lord
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Crusader Lord A professional, anxiety-riddled, part-time worker

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Freakshow


"Hey there! Luna, right? I didn't have you listed down here, for whatever reason, but you're welcome to participate."
Ms Duff


Luna waved back with one hand casually in return.

Yet as she walked up to the group the ex-ganger could almost feel the eyes of a certain 'Alchemist' on her, even if breifly at least, but it seemed no one else was going to acknowledge her presence. Not that they even had to, really, and she was almost glad in part that no one much paid her mind. A sad thing to think, perhaps, but the white-haired younger woman mostly wanted to talk to Ms Duff for the most part. Well, at least that was the intent. Stray taking up a bet over almost thirteen dollars spoke volumes as he seemed to tap the little pyramid object Ms Duff was holding and zoomed off like a homeless warlock on the prowl, and Rupa wanting phone numbers felt a bit strange even if that stutter when talking about Ms Duff's number was a bit telling. Heh.

Even so, some seemingly weren't going to just 'give up' either despite the ill-gain-aims of the older man.

"But, it's not over yet! We might be able to find some, and I want to learn more about my new home. Maybe we can beat that coin, hmm?"
Big Cinnamon Roll (Crane)


That one's codename was 'Crane', yes? Yes. Being a giant girl was a hard powerset to mis-identify in the practical sense, Luna supposed, though she couldn't help but crack a small smile at the giant girl's enthusiasm. But...the smile would quietly disappear once more as the thought of being the same age as her came to mind. The same age. Hell, the other girl seemed like she should have time to enjoy life or something before this. Go to college or get a job or-...ah. Yeah, techincally she had gotten a job. Plus she was 'old enough', Luna surmised, to at least speak and do for herself. Nor was she one of the 'little kids' they had on staff as determined by her own metric and the whole pouring over the files where she could thing.

She had to hold back on that sort of 'too young for this' thinking, even if just a bit. Even the therapist had reccomended that a little bit. These kids wanted to help people and do good things, right? Wanted to make the world better? Make their home better? Good. Sure as hell beat her own childhood decisions and influences by a million miles. Got some learning in, even, to help them out in this area of things if that Lighthouse school she'd heard of and been told about was of any indication.

Well, she could certainly get down with some pizza at the very least. Like hell if eating Mama Li's food or such had even made her gain weight back then. Powers were the reason, maybe? Calorie burning from using her power? Healing factor? Eh, she didn't know for sure.

Besides, she wasn't going to be the next person in line to lecture the walking shrooms. They could speak for themselves, even if the pessimism was both a bit irritating to hear and understandable as she tried to think on its response a little. Then again...

"Eh, I'd say you could think of this activity as gettin' the 'lay of the land' and the environment of the city to better navigate and know its ins and outs as you search for those things. Just like any young plant or animal has to get acclimated to wherever it ends up living, knowing where food or water or stuff is to stay alive. Plus understandin' the layout and environment of this city helps you know what you're doin' when going out to help people. So I'd reckon that this activity is to get ya' better acclimated to the layout of this place and a little history lesson too, among other things like Eva there mentioned.

But that's just my take, so, eh, take it or leave it as you want."


That was all she'd bother with saying to the sapient Leftovers before giving a small shoulder-shrug, having spoken to them in a casual manner without regards for what it was or the like. All she'd given was a thought about the situation in a practical sense, though, and Mire could take or leave it or angrily spore on the ground as they so wished. Might need to get a broom if it was the latter though. Or they could go eat street pizza or such from trash can. Hell, she could eat some serious enough crap if she got desperate enough due to her power and its capabilities to alter and tweak her biology. Just...yeah, perhaps it would be best if no one else ever asked her how or why she learned that....and why it netted her fifty bucks and made some of her peers throw up and never ask her to do that again.

Moving on, however, the white-haired girl would look over at Ms Duff once more as her hands came to rest unthinkingly in her jean pockets.

"Well, I'd figure I'm not listed for this since I'm more familiar with this city than some maybe. Grew up in tha' Brookside and Watervale parts. Or, well, maybe some other reason outside of that that might be in my file or somethin'.

But I wanted to at least check in and see if you heard anything else from Powers, or really if you needed help somewhere with this activity of yours or stoppin' the big man child from ruinin' things or havin' spares for this who need a partner or such. Not much for the whole hero celebrating schtick' myself at this point in time, really, but....I also came to ya' because I can't shake the feelin' somethin' bad's going to happen today with this whole 'HERO Fest' thing. Gut feeling is just kickin' me hard today about that for some reason."


Whether it was not feeling like going to the celebrations, or perhaps being worth it to hang around actual heroes as she was, or even just her gut instincts kicking in for one reason or another about the day's events, she didn't want to sit idle on it in any case. Better to get up and do something, at least, even if that bed of hers had been a perfect hovel to hide away in on a good day off for another hour or two.

@Zoey Boey@Hitman@baraquiel@Blizz
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Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by Blizz
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Blizz Grand Chancellor Supreme of the Wizard Council

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Lady Blade dropped from the ceiling. To Terraformer's credit, he reacted as quick as he could. Wiseman was already diving in the direction of his knife in case she jumped him first, but Lady Blade got a cheap swing in at Oracle. Of the three present, she was the least equipped to last long in this fight. Terraformer could protect himself with the environment, and Wiseman himself could use his weapons and his knowledge of Lady Blade to his advantage. But Oracle could only use flashes of inspiration for the chance of standing up. So when he hit the floor, Wiseman rolled over his shoulder and brought his Stasis Blaster up to eye level. It was instinct for the longest time, tilting the weapon slightly just enough to look past the scope. Lady Blade barely got the chance to finish her taunt before Wiseman fired off three shots, each with the individual potential to drop a target's body temperature to a debilitating level. He armed for her feet, hoping to immobilize her.

She was a hardened fighter who could kill any of them right now if allowed. If this wasn't enough to stop her, he'd just aim for the chest and not let up.

"Oracle! Knife!" He shouted, referring to the electrified blade he stuck in that robot. Oracle could get to it if Wiseman just laid into Lady Blade, and she'd be in a better position to defend herself.






Unsurprisingly, what followed was just a whole lot of empty words from the humans. "team bonding" this, "plants and fungus" that. Of course Mire was aware of the difference between the two kingdoms, they were a fucking kingdom of fungus on legs. If these humans had the cognitive function to understand that Mire was referring to the "pyramids'" nature as Leftovers, just them. The things that these humans were afraid of and yet kept in little boxes like pets. The human in the lab coat at least tried explaining itself better than the others, and on some level it made sense and was a window into the thought process of a human. This was just to get them into shape to actually do their "job," apparently.

"Cooperation is a funny word that all of you humans keep expecting me to understand," Mire commented, towards Emily. "Cooperate while we put you in this box of metal and plastic and gawk at you for a few sunrises. Cooperate so we can stab you with pieces of metal and rip you apart to "study" you, whatever that meant for them. Cooperate so we can put you on some metal tube and take you far, far away from your home so we can make you be a "hero." The word left Mire's guttural approximation of a mouth with some inflection that humans might use to portray disgust. They were pissed off, being here, if it wasn't totally obvious.

"Fine, I'll look for these things. Fine, fine." Without another word, Mire's body warped and sputtered until they were more liquid than solid. Mire turned around, took a few steps and then melted like a statue made of wax, draining into the soil beneath their feet and then vanishing from sight.
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Hidden 4 mos ago 4 mos ago Post by ManyThings
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ManyThings

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「 ARDENT 」


5th Avenue, New Athens, Castleburg




Minutes later, Ardent was in the air.

While he hovered over the parade and waved at the people down below, he cast his gaze over the buildings, looking up and down 5th Avenue and the immediately connecting streets. It was crowded. He could pick out Wireframe from among the pedestrians, and he presumed Bastion was somewhere among them, too, although he didn't know his face. Having opted not to perch on a building, there was no way for Ardent to rely on the support of the part-time hero's shield. It was better to have that protection near the crowd, anyway.

It was a good vantage point, but the villains probably wouldn't be approaching on foot. A car? Ardent descended a little, until he had a view of the sidestreets that let him see the faces of drivers through their windshields.

He heard the gunshot.

Instantly, Ardent whirled around and braced for a hit, his power coursing through his body. There was no impact. He had been hoping to draw some attention in the air and lure out the enemy's first attack. Apparently, someone else had that misfortune instead.

"This is Blast. Don't know if you heard, but they're here and they don't seem to be in the mood to negotiate. Cowboy Bebop is in a particularly feisty mood. I'll try to re-engage him when I get the chance- AGH, SHIT! FUCK!"


Blast. There were worse options for people who could've been shot. At least Holliday hadn't opened the fight by killing a civilian.

The scene of the battle wasn't hard to spot. There was a Wild West themed parade float (In a hero-themed parade?) that was suddenly unleashing a small army of robots, and a certain speedster was zipping around near it, scrambling for cover. Ardent took off, hurtling through the sky over 5th Avenue. He could see his target.

"Hey, Birdboy, could use that weather report at some point. I'm target practice out here."


"Careful," Ardent answered through his own watch, "Might make me rethink who I'm gonna punch when I get there."

As Ardent flew, the situation started to clarify. Lady Blade was inside, somehow. She had gotten past them, to the kid heroes and Wiseman. He felt a twinge of frustration. On the upside, they were holding their own, and Oracle's power had given them another huge advantage in intelligence. Out front, a wave of robots began making for the entrance. Thankfully, the parade crowd seemed to have the good sense to run away at the sight of the things. Ardent still didn't know Wireframe's power, but he trusted her and Bastion to be able to handle that side of the situation. He passed overhead, a blur to the naked eye, weaving between the aerial robots. Even if they fired at him in passing, they posed no threat to him. He wasn't interested.

Ardent was keeping his eyes on the prize. Holliday was standing on the remains of the deconstructed float, preparing another six shots.

The former vigilante banked in midair, curving his approach to come from the direction opposite to Blast, putting the villain between the two heroes. The damage that had clearly been done to Blast, and to the mailbox, wasn't lost on Ardent. He remained keenly aware that some of Holliday's specialized bullets might be packing deadly surprises.

"It's high noon, you old-timey fuck!!"

...But that didn't mean he was going to take a cautious approach.

Holliday had sharp eyes, and presumably drones watching his back for a surprise attack. Given the choice, Ardent preferred to have the sharpshooter look his way, to give Blast and the stranger with him a reprieve. He rocketed through the air at a downward angle, descending faster than any bullet towards Holliday.

Of all the heroes present on New Athens, Blast and Ardent were probably the only two capable of changing direction quickly enough to avoid a bullet after it had been fired. In that sense, Holliday had an unlucky matchup, but they couldn't rely on dodging alone to beat an enemy whose entire schtick was hitting impossible shots.

In Ardent's experience, when it came to long-ranged fighters, whether they used eye lasers, tossed globs of lava, telekinetically hurled cars, or shot plain-old bullets, the core idea was that the best defence was a good offence. This seemed to be applicable for Holliday. His power didn't give him any protection from attacks, so he needed to rely on the fact that either his enemy would get shot and die, or they'd be too busy avoiding his bullets to launch a proper counterattack. It had clearly worked on Blast, who was stuck running for cover instead of closing the distance to take the bastard down. If he waffled about how to avoid taking a little damage, he would never get close enough to strike. Ardent had a different approach.

Even with the warning of a battlecry, Holliday would only have a scant moment to react. Enough time to fire a shot? Possibly. Ardent was ready for that.

A fist flashed out, quick as thunder, driving furiously towards the villain's upper body as Ardent lunged down from above. It was an instinctual, practiced motion that gave no sign of the angle of attack until the moment he entered striking distance. He aimed for the shoulder on the side where Holliday was holding his gun. Even reducing his power to avoid a bloodbath, Ardent's punch carried more than enough force to obliterate bone. Forcing this cowboy to drop his weapon was the first step in crushing him.
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Hidden 4 mos ago Post by Hitman
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Hitman Mori Quam Foedari

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Johnstone Convention Center.
New Athens, Castleburg.
Status: Fighting Doc Holliday; trying not to bleed out.
Interacts: Terra & Oracle @shylarah, Ardent @ManyThings, Wireframe @Silver Carrot, Wiseman @Blizz, Bastion @Infinite Cosmos, Alpha @DarkRecon, Director Hugo Powers

Getting shot, as it happens, hurts. Really bad. Even though Jake had not had the misfortune of getting shot somewhere very serious, he was still bleeding quite profusely. Luckily for him, Ardent was approaching to offer some assistance, which meant that Doc Doolittle or whatever his stupid name was would have another very difficult-to-hit target to deal with. Jake peered over the bench as he heard the familiar sound of a hero moving at high speed. That had to be him. Jake looked down at his shoulder, which was now covered in blood. "Holy...I have this much blood?" he said to himself in a quiet, comic tune, chuckling to himself to distract from the fact that the blood was coming out much more than he would have preferred.

Having actively-bleeding open wounds and breaking the sound barrier didn't seem like a particularly useful combo, but Blast wasn't about to let Ardent get filled with bullets by this random cowboy wannabe. Even if it hurt like hell, he was going to go for it. Before he could make his move, though, he was approached by what looked like a normal civilian in blue sweatpants, sneakers, ginger hair, and most importantly, a Blast merch T-shirt. While Blast commended the civilian's fashion sense, he did not commend the fact that he was running into a gunfight. "Hey, pal, appreciate you coming to check on me, but this is kind of, and by kind of I mean extremely, dangerous. I would recommend you get out of here, pronto."

The civilian then pulled a First Aid Kit out of his backpack. Jake understood. He's some wannabe hero guy that I guess is a big fan of me and also knows first-aid. That's nice of him. Maybe a little stupid, but nice.

Then, the guy began to glow. Well, that theory's gone. Maybe he's a vigilante like Ardent, but with way better taste?

"...Alpha reporting sir. Sit rep. Is the bullet still lodged in your shoulder or can I heal it now?" the man asked, with a tone and language use that reminded him of the Director. The guy might have been some type of healer. Maybe he was associated with HERO, and Jake had totally forgotten about him. That would've been unfortunate; guy was a big fan, clearly. "Umm, thanks for the help. It's not lodged at all, just bleeding." Jake glanced down at his shoulder. "Badly. You can patch it up. Thanks for all this, by the way. You with HERO? Or are you some type of...y'know, "independent warrior of justice" and some shit?"

Jake was very much doubting his vigilante theory. Unaffiliated vigilantes, by his experience, were usually characters with big powers, gusto, and all the patience of a charging rhinoceros. Kind of like Ardent. Speaking of Ardent, Jake craned his head over the top of the bench to get a glimpse of how the fight was going down...


¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Doc Holliday immediately turned when he heard the loud taunt. Having been in the villainy business for a long time at this point (and having been a hero before that), Holliday was like teflon when it came to these types of callouts. The way he saw it, they could make fun of his demeanor and persona all they wanted, but he was still quite alive, and many of them were either spending the night in the hospital or the morgue. So instead of retorting, he offered a simple "hmmph" and turned to face the threat, his revolver spinning like a disc in his right hand. He assumed that his shot had bought himself at least a moment of time to focus his attention on the flying threat. Even if he didn't, he trusted that his ally's drones would prove to be worth their sticker cost and provide some level of protection.

It was lucky he did that, because the flying man launched down directly at him in an attempt to dive-bomb him. It was almost cute to see him go for such a head-on attack, and in a vacuum, it made sense. Most people could not see a target moving down at them at ludicrously fast speeds. Ardent would turn 90% of the villains he faced into red pulp with the speed and strength of his attack.

But Doc Holliday was not most villains. He had some of the sharpest eyes in the world, and he had spent years honing his craft. He had spent a year in Africa shooting peregrine falcons out of the sky in the savannah, and he had fought more than his fair share of winged, flying, floating, and otherwise airborne combatants. This was, for the most part, par for the course for the man.

This guy was moving faster than your average superhero with big, useless swan wings, but Holliday also saw a hell of a lot faster than your average supervillain with a gun, and so he simply aimed his already-cocked-and-lifted revolver and pulled down the trigger, firing a single bullet at the man. The bullet he had chambered was the same bullet that he had fired at Blast; it was filled with a special type of plasma that could cut cleanly through most metals. Holliday was hoping that this one would do enough damage to knock the annoying hero clean out of the sky, and let him re-focus his attention on the recovering, earthbound speedster behind the metal bench.



Hurtling down towards his target, Ardent's eyes narrowed as he watched Holliday turn around and take aim. They had only just locked eyes, but this was already the moment of truth that would decide the direction of their fight. The enemy had taken his shot.

Ardent's entire body twisted, spiralling through the air as he psychokinetically pulled his head and torso out of the line of fire. A normal bullet would have been nothing, but if Holliday had ammunition that could melt through a mailbox, it was too risky to take a direct hit to the vitals.

The moment of impact brought white-hot pain as the bullet made impact. It hit Ardent's arm, just as he was preparing to throw his punch. Even from a mere grazing shot, the power and heat of the plasma was overwhelming, digging a groove nearly an inch deep into the meat of the arm as it scorched through reinforced flesh, only barely deflected into curving away and burying itself in the nearest wall.

Ardent clenched his teeth, hissing with pain.

...Doc Holiday can and surely will shoot Ardent out of the sky...


Up against a guy like this, getting shot was a given. It was really the out of the sky part that David took issue with. With his power, he could prevent himself from flinching or doubling over in pain. He wasn't even going to slow down. If Holliday was used to chasing down injured deer, he wasn't ready for this.

For anyone watching, the exchange was instant. Simultaneous. A bullet, glowing with plasma, cut across Ardent's arm, letting loose a spray of blood. At the very same moment, Ardent's fist, unerring, met its mark, crushing bone into innumerable pieces. The villain's upper arm was destroyed, his shoulder rendered a broken wreck in the blink of an eye as he was hit with an attack that carried enough force to send him to the ground.



Doc Holliday knew he would land his shot, but he had not anticipated the hero pushing through the shot and landing a blow of his own, and the villain was certainly punished for his miscalculation. The bones in his arm loudly snapped as they were fractured in too many places to count, and his revolver was launched from his hand, landing a safe distance away on the asphalt of the road. The hit also sent the villain literally spiraling; he was thrown back across his own float, being launched through a couple of tumbleweeds and hitting his back against a (presumably fake) barrel of whiskey. His arm was mangled and, to those who had not been in their fair share of fights, very much offputting by the way it was bent the wrong way.

But Doc Holliday, though old, was also gruff, just like his idol; and though he had been in his fair share of fights, and had taken his fair share of hits, he was also extraordinary resilient for a guy who looked like he worked in Splash Mountain. And besides his toughness, which while not superhuman was certainly impressive, there was one other fact that the H.E.R.O. documenters had failed to mention in his villain profile.

He was ambidextrous.

No sooner had his back slammed against his fake booze than he had tugged his other revolver free with his left hand, and with masterful dextrosity he flicked back the hammer, aimed, and fired the weapon right at Ardent, releasing a special type of bullet from the barrel. This bullet not loaded with plasma, but rather, was laced with a heavy dose of sigillium that would, with luck, quickly spread and take quick effect. The bullet was very expensive, but Doc Holliday paid the big bucks in order to have these types of tools in these types of moments. Ardent may have gotten him here, but he would not get anybody again.



"Fuck, that hurt!" Ardent winced as he remained in flight, not quite touching down on the platform after landing his hit.

Although the enemy appeared to be down, he wasted no time. The blood that had sprayed from his gunshot wound stopped in midair before hitting the ground, reversing direction to return inside his arm, following after him as he flew. Having landed a decisive hit, he needed to maintain the offensive and secure the takedown. However-

While Ardent had surprised the villain with his unexpected endurance and commitment to attacking, those roles were now reversed. He had considered the possibility that Holliday had backup weapons, but hadn't been expecting him to be prepared to draw one within hardly a second of having his arm broken. The hero's face tensed as indecision nearly took over. Why was Holliday so confident he could win after even his plasma bullets had failed? What sort of ammunition had he been keeping stored away in his emergency gun?

Ardent trusted his instincts. His power may have seemed simple on the surface, but it afforded him a few good tricks beyond flying and punching hard. All pieces of his body were under his control. With a wave of his arm, the blood that had been about to return into his wound flew forwards, ahead of his flightpath. Blast's use of the mailbox and bench for cover had proven that while Holliday's aim was impeccable, he still needed to see his target. And so the blood flew straight for the cowboy's eyes.

His movements masked by the splash of blood, Ardent evaded, snapping to the right as soon as the bullet left the chamber. Expensive as it was, it sailed harmlessly through the air and out of sight, its true threat left unknown. The hero circled around Holliday before turning towards him again, aiming to reengage before he had even wiped the blood from his eyes. He might have shouted something about how Castleburg wasn't big enough for the two of them, but Holliday didn't seem to be impressed by those sorts of lines. Ardent would have to settle for beating the hell out of him instead.

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

It would be a great disservice to Lady Blade to say that she was not fast; she had incredibly quick reflexes and was an extremely talented assassin. But it would be fair to say that she might have bitten off more than she could chew in this particular situation, as unlike her Western-themed partner, she was not capable of dodging bullets. And though she had successfully avoided being sucked into the ground by Terraformer, she was not able to avoid the junior Professor Gadget's onslaught of plasma blasts. She did just barely weave out of the trajectory of the first two, but the third one caught her squarely.

Like some type of wicked ballerina, she spun and contorted from the hit as her body temperature plummeted. She knew she was about done for. But she could even the odds.

With her last vestige of strength, she drew a knife from her belt and chucked it at the assembled group of heroes. Due to a significant lack of strength, the knife didn't really soar, instead kind of awkwardly arcing into the floor like a very poorly thrown frisbee. It was what happened afterwards that was more alarming; several lights that were positioned on both the handle and the blade of the knife began to pulse red, and the knife began to emit a loud, periodic beeping noise. Almost like a bomb. Scratch that, exactly like a bomb.

"Goodnight..." Lady Blade whispered before collapsing onto the ground. She may have been defeated much more easily than her compatriots, but it seemed she was willing to go out with a bang.




H.E.R.O. One Dune
Savior Island, Castleburg.
Interacts with: Dahlia @baraquiel, Gematria @Scarifar, Crane @Zoey Boey, Stray @rabidporcupine, Alchemist @Duoya, Mire @Blizz, Fallout @Aku the Samurai, Freakshow @Crusader Lord

Emily nodded at Freakshow's request. "It looks like everybody is...kind of doing their own thing. Which I guess means everything is going according to plan." The Assistant Director looked down at her hero watch, which strangely still had the time listed as just before 1PM. Strange. "I'd relay a message from Hugo, but it looks like we're having some technical difficulties. This sometimes happens when ALISA is re-routing her focus away from running our stuff and towards chess. Or predicting the end of the Bachelor." Emily chuckled quietly to herself. "I'll take care of this problem. Why don't you stay here and make sure nothing goes horribly off the rails?"

Emily walked away from the little gathering area by the shore, but she had only walked a minute or so (just another to take her to where the rest of the group near the beach could only just see her silhouette) when she paused. Something was off. A strange, cold sensation, like the temperature had just dropped a good few degrees. Somebody was here.

Emily turned quickly, her powers flaring up just in time to see a pale man in a dark coat looming over her, holding what appeared to be some type of stun baton. Emily's signature crystals flowed from her hands, forming a spiky, crystalline, makeshift shield in front of her, and blocking the baton, encasing it, along with the man's hands, in a layer of crystal.

"Sharp reflexes, Butterfly," the albino man said with a wide grin.

"What are you doing here?" After a few years of heroing, you learn that responding to the villain's taunts gets you nowhere.

"I'd worry less about that and more about what's happening behind you."

In this case, not responding to the taunt didn't do poor Butterfly much good, as from the waters behind her launched what can only be described as a thing. A thing that vaguely resembled a person, though a person with grayish-purpleish skin that was remarkably translucent, a bulbous, jellyfish-like head protrusion, and a number of long purple tendrils hanging from his back. Before Emily could do much of anything, the thing had laid two of its tendrils upon the Assistant Director. Whatever was in those tendrils clearly packed a punch, for as soon as they made contact with Emily's skin she gave a spasm and then collapsed to the floor, the crystals she had formed around her hand shattering and freeing the albino man, who promptly folded up his baton and put it inside his coat.

"The good old one-two. Gets them every time. How was your scouting, Jellyfish?"

The mutated, Leftover-ish man's voice was haunting, almost ghostly, with a layer of pervading sadness added on top of that. "It went...well. From what I observed, mostly junior recruits. They should not pose much resistance. Is Professor Gholem's device is operating as intended?"

The albino man smiled, opening his left palm to reveal a small, black, circular object, only a few inches larger in diameter than a coin. The device was small, but was currently emitting a signal that was scrambling all communications across the entire island. Gholem may have been a coward, but he was a genius coward, and a very helpful one at that.

"Working like a charm." The man closed his palm. "Let's wrap this party up before we go after the real target. Wouldn't want a teenager walking into HERO One and messing up our process."

The jellyfish-like man nodded solemnly, taking a couple steps with his slimy, bow-legged lower limbs. "If you wish. I should have enough moisture for an hour or so, so let's not waste too much time."

The other man once again procured his stun baton from his coat. "You know me well, partner. We won't."

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Hidden 4 mos ago Post by shylarah
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shylarah the crazy one

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[ Amuné and Jareth ]




Wiseman scored a hit on Lady Blade, giving Amuné the space she needed to disengage. His shout of advice she immediately heeded, moving to the Indra Blade where it lay on the ground next to the broken drone and scooping it up in her hand, careful to only touch the handle. But it seemed she didn't need it, for the knife-covered woman was spun around and clearly having trouble.

The knife the villain tossed with her last ounce of strength, however, was a serious problem. It was beeping like a bomb and flashing red, and Jareth wasn't about to take any chances with the safety of his little group. "Back, back! Behind me," he said, waving a hand to send the knife skittering across the floor to the far end of the backstage area. Then he stomped his foot, hard, and tilted a large, wide piece of the concrete floor from horizontal to vertical, giving the three heroes a place to shelter from the explosion and its accompanying shrapnel. It was a good thing, too, because--

BOOM!

The knife exploded with a loud noise that shook the area, sending a hail of metal shrapnel in every direction. Jareth's quick thinking had saved the three heroes from some serious damage. He gave the other two a shakey smile, though it was hidden behind his bandana.

Amuné, still dripping blood from her injury, tapped her watch again. "Bastion, Oracle here. We've handled Lady Blade, so feel free to assist the others with Doc Holiday and those drones." As she spoke, she headed for her backpack in the corner, and pulled out a first aid kit. "Terra, give me a hand, would you? I don't think I'll need stitches, but you can tell better than I can.

Jareth checked over her arm. "You don't have a suture kit in this thing anyhow, so even if you did need stitches they'd have to wait until we got back to base," he commented, taking out a roll of bandages.

"Or until Angel-5 gets here. Wiseman, is it en route?
Hidden 4 mos ago Post by Scarifar
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Scarifar Presto~!

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Gematria





Megumi watched as events unfolded before her. The fungus man went on a rant about what she assumed was the most recent events that led to his presence here. She felt sorry for him, but there was little she could say or do to alleviate his mood. It wasn't like she could relate to anything he had gone through. Then an additional bet came in to supplement the original prize of the scavenger hunt, and Stray was one of the first to jump at the chance. She marveled at the spell he had just performed for a moment, then realized she needed to get started if she wanted to have a chance at the scavenger hunt.

Megumi proceeded to take out her 12-inch G.E.M. figure from her bag and place her finger on its head. Her body then turned into a mass of electric sparks and flow into the figure, which then fell towards the ground. As it did, the display on its face plate lit up, revealing two blue lights for eyes. It flipped through the air and performed a superhero landing on the ground, then formed a cute pose. "Gematria, fully operational!" Megumi announced, now immersed in her Gematria persona. "Current directive: complete the scavenger hunt!" Her impact boosters, which looked like a pair of rings, emerged from the sides of her feet and made popping noises as she launched herself forward, following the path Stray had taken. Despite the small size, she was traversing a large amount of space in a short amount of time. She had managed to spot Stray, but her target was not him; it was the coin that had shot off to who knows where. Fortunately, her scanners were able to spot it and lock onto it, and she shot off towards it, hoping to use it to her advantage.

Unfortunately, it seems both of them were slower than Crane whose size gave her an advantage in speed. Gematria crossed her arms and harrumphed in disappointment, but the feeling was short lived as she realized she was next to her favorite hero. "Oh! Uh, h-hello, um, Stray!" Gematria stuttered to Stray as she fiddled with her fingers, unsure of what exactly to say. "I uh, uh... i-it's nice to meet you!"
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