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Johnstone Convention Center.
New Athens, Castleburg.
Status: Fighting Doc Holliday.
Interacts: Terra & Oracle [@shylarah], Ardent [@ManyThings], Wireframe [@Silver Carrot], Wiseman [@Blizz], Bastion [@Infinite Cosmos], Alpha [@DarkRecon]
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Alpha spouted some more stuff about some other pink vigilante also wearing a Blast t-shirt (Jake was positively impressed by how big his fanbase was growing. Maybe an energy drink sponsorship? It matched with the speed superpower, and Jake drank a lot of the stuff). Jake was only barely registering what the man had to say, though, his eyes instead peeled on the conflict between Holliday and Ardent. When the man was finished, Jake stood up, stretching his arms. [color=lightgreen]"I would never arrest somebody wearing my t-shirt, dude. But stay out of trouble here, OK? Let the real heroes handle this one."[/color]

Speaking of heroes, Bastion promptly showed up to offer some assistance. Jake gave him a quick thumbs-up to show he was alright. [color=lightgreen]"All good here. You be careful; this guy has some nonsense plasma laser bullets."[/color] He cracked his knuckles. [color=lightgreen]"I'm going in."[/color]

Just as he prepared to make his move, he heard a loud crashing noise. Ardent had decided to flip the entire platform. Well, that was one way to get a guy off his feet. [/indent][/indent]

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[indent][indent]This platform-flipping a clever move, for sure. Doc Holliday would've given the hero credit, but Holliday was perfectly busy with his own tricks. This time, it wasn't his guns, but what appeared to be his overpriced cowboy boots that saved him. The metal spurs that were attached to his heels- ones that seemed to be just for show in the 21st century- clicked to life with a hum of energy and promptly attached themselves into the side of the rapidly-tipping platform. And so while hunks of cardboard and wooden barrels fell into a heap on the ground, Holliday casually slid down the platform like he was doing the moonwalk, but actually cool. As he reached the bottom, he hopped off, landing awkwardly, but still on his feet. Technology paid off.

Holliday, of course, was not one to rest until the job was done, and his gun was immediately raised in his left arm, pointing at the vertical float. Unless Ardent had octopus arms and/or psychic powers, he was right on the other side of the platform, and going by basic physics, he was probably close to the middle of the platform. That gave Holliday a pretty damn good idea of where the flying superhero was going to come out of. 

And come out he did. Ardent came bursting through the platform, right about where the villain expected him to. Holliday squeezed the trigger of his revolver. His timing, of course, was impeccable, and his location was pretty close. These weren't any fancy types of bullets; Holliday planned on filling this hero up with lead. He was running out of time, but he planned on winning this fight. Though unfortunately for the villain, the fight wouldn't remain much of a classic duel for much longer. [/indent][/indent]

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[indent][indent]Holliday would not be able to see whether or not he landed his shots. He wouldn't even be able to recount how many times he was able to rapidly and fluently pull the hammer back and fire. Maybe twice, three times maximum. Before he could revel in his satisfaction or mope in his defeat, he was promptly blasted (no pun intended) to the side from the force of a rapidly-moving speedster slamming into him.

Blast did not have the combat experience or savviness that Ardent was trying to employ. He saw villain with gun shooting at friend (well, friend was a strong word at this point, but you get the idea); Jake's goal was to move gun out of line with friend. And so he stood up, jolted to the right, and then promptly launched his shoulder right at Doc Holliday's side. The good ol' fashioned shoulder slam was very effective when the slammer could build up speed faster than a fighter jet, and when the slam recipient was focused on trying to kill somebody else.

Blast crushed the already-feeble Doc Holliday, sending him careening into the asphalt. Blast zoomed over to the downed body, giving a coy wink before dropping his foot right onto Doc's remaining good hand. The villain attempted to withhold a scream as Blast brought his foot down a few more times directly onto Doc's functioning gun hand. It might've been a [i]little[/i] bit overkill, but Blast did not want himself- or anybody else, of course- to get shot again, and this was the best way of making sure of that.

After mimicking the secretary bird a few moments more, Blast brought his foot down onto Doc Holliday's head, not pressing too hard but applying enough pressure to keep the semi-conscious villain's head smooshed to the ground. He lifted his watch. [color=lightgreen]"Got Doc Holliday down over here. Might need some medical attention."[/color] Blast looked back over towards where Ardent had just been. Smoke and sawdust were rising from the crushed platform, making it difficult to see if there was anybody there. Blast adjusted his foot, still squarely planted on Holliday's face. [color=lightgreen]"Birdboy, if you're in there, squawk once. If you need a medic, squawk twice."[/color][/indent][/indent]

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[indent][indent]As Wireframe and whatever miscellaneous heroes were in the midst of fierce battles with the robots, they would find that their opposition would suddenly decide to quit on them. All of the robots began to suddenly turn off; the land-based spider robots collapsing onto the ground, and the airborne droid robots falling like coconuts. It was as if whoever was operating them decided to quit in that instance.[/indent][/indent]

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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]
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[indent][indent]That giant lady was terrifying. Fortunately for the villainous twosome, she also wasn't the sharpest super-tool in the hero toolbox. Albino gave his biggest, most friendly-looking smile that he could muster. [color=BF9C9C]"Oh, she'll be alright. Wind exhaustion. Happens to us small people all the time. We're, erm, HERO doctors, by the way. Just here to make sure her wind exhaustion wasn't too bad."[/color] He looked over his shoulder, mostly to make sure the Assistant Director wasn't readying a counterattack. [color=BF9C9C]"Just give her some rest and she'll be fine! Now if you'll excuse us-"[/color]

Unfortunately for the remaining two-fifths of the Fiendish Five, some slightly less gullible new recruits showed up. One of them was suspicious of the duo, and the other one flat-out recognized them, and launched some sort of goop right at them (which both trained villains easily avoided), before signaling for help. Apparently, some of the young heroes [i]did[/i] read the case files. Albino growled. [color=BF9C9C]"Alright, you got us. Now if you know what's best for you- woah!"[/color]

Albino started to get sucked into the ground, in the panic dropping the Doctor's communications coin onto the ground. [color=BF9C9C]"What the hell is this?"[/color] he yelled in alarm as the fungus creature decided to try and chew him up. This was definitely not going according to plan. When did hero start recruiting ground mushrooms and poison people? Albino and Jellyfish were expecting two mid-level hydrokinetics and a guy that could control a certain species of oriole, not this insanity. 

[color=BF9C9C]"Alright, Jellyfish, now!"[/color] Albino shouted out. This may have been worse than he thought, but the Fiendish Five had more tricks up their sleeves.

The jellyfish-like man lifted his tendrils knowingly, before suddenly beginning to sparkle. Intense blue electricity vaulted from his person, arcing in the air and creating an impressive lightshow. That was, however, all this was- a lightshow, a distraction. For as all the eyes, even for a moment, were fixated on Jellyfish's lightning display, Albino activated his powers, vanishing out of the fungal death grip (which had torn up a leg of his nice pants!) and re-appearing right behind the poison girl that had called them out in the first place. Albino flicked out a switchblade as he grabbed the woman, holding the knife to her throat. 

[color=BF9C9C]"Now listen here, junior heroes. We're just going to take what we want and leave. We'll be taking this annoying one with us as insurance. Any funny business, and I'll make history by killing a hero before their first mission. Understood? I think I'm understood."[/color] Albino slowly began to drag Eva backwards. [color=BF9C9C]"Now, you all behave and go back to playing Uno, or whatever you were doing."[/color]

Jellyfish, meanwhile, hovered nearby, though he looked down at the mossy ground beneath his feat. [color=lavender]"Why side with them? You have more in common with us. We can get you freedom. What you desire,"[/color] the mutant man whispered in his soft, haunting voice, his bulbous eyes flitting between looking at the ground where the fungus monster was and over at the hostage situation scene. 
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Dodge City Cigar Lounge
New Athens, Castleburg
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[indent][indent]The man in the labcoat nervously fiddled with his computer. This was bad, much worse than any other mission that the group had gone on. Doc Holliday and Lady Blade were down for the count and likely to be apprehended, Albino and Jellyfish were in danger (and one of them had almost been eaten by the ground), and it was only a matter of time before the man got tracked down. The Professor drummed his fingers against the table like a  row of jackhammers, his nerves clearly overtaking him in the moment. 

HERO had always been difficult, but they had never been this difficult. Something about this new generation of heroes was frightening. Every villain in the city ought to be frightened by them. The Professor nervously wiped his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief as he thought out his options.

He could try and control more drones; perhaps that would be enough to overwhelm the heroes by numbers. But the rest of his drones were quite a way's away, and by the time he would get them over to the location, he would've been tracked down for sure. And plus, there were certainly more heroes on the way, now that they had been smoked out. 

Perhaps he could unveil some type of trump card, but unfortunately, the Professor didn't quite have that at his disposal at the moment. The Five had money, but they didn't have mega-death-robot type of money. Especially with almost half of the Five out of the picture.

His last option was to go dark, shut off the drones, and run. That option meant that he likely would be able to avoid HERO for a while longer. But that option also meant that he had to abandon his research and funding and start anew, something that the Professor didn't want to do. The longer he stalled, though, the more Jon Gholem realized that he would infinitely rather endure the setback in his research than endure prison. 

[color=B7B7B7]"Goodbye, my children,"[/color] the scientist whispered as he keyed in a few instructions, putting all his active droids on standby. He then activated his failsafe feature- a small pouch of acid within each droid that would hopefully bleach all the software that connected him to the droids, set to go off in about 5 minutes. Gholem then gathered his laptop and other electronics, shoved them in his backpack, and prepared to call an Uber. 

Before he could rideshare away from justice, the doors of the Dodge City Cigar Lounge flew open. The Professor squealed like a pig and lifted his backpack in front of his face, as if it could shield him, as a number of armed guards rushed into the room. All of them were dressed head-to-toe in full-body black armor, like they were SWAT, though instead of helmets, each man was wearing a red beret and a balaclava to cover their faces, and instead of positioning themselves to take down the criminal, they lined the walls of the upper lounge and saluted. As the Professor examined the situation, adjusting his glasses nervously, he saw a silhouette appear in the door, and the sound of a female voice filled the room.

[color=DarkKhaki]"Don't worry, Professor. Your contract has been successfully fulfilled. We're getting you out of here."[/color]

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