[IC] More than Human

[thewizardguy]

People crowded through the streets of Aegis Central, the hub in the centre of the city that contained most of it's shop. Well, not people in the strictest sense, at least not all of them. Demons walked alongside humans, and some of those figures who mingled through were beings even more obscure and mysterious. Great horned figures, many-armed snakes, and giant four-legged monsters. And yet, even those humans who walked among them matched them, having been blessed or cursed with supernatural capabilities, ranging from immense physical prowess to the abstract art of manipulating the mind. A delicate balance of power, overseen by those with the greatest gifts of them all - the gift to rule, and to control, the masses.

It was here that a series of events would occur, eventually to grow and escalate into either catastrophe or victory. Forces outside of sight prepared plots and plans, as the Demon Princes placed their hungry eyes of the souls of man. It was a small group of figures, who would then eventually determine the outcome of this series of events.

Unbeknownst to them, they were about to be drawn into the greatest cataclysm since WWIII.

[Main Street - North Side of Aegis]

With an explosive blast, the face of a weapon shop was blown to pieces. A figure dressed in casual clothing shot through, a gauntlet formed from mysterious black metal on each hand. A second figure, tall and imposing, walked from within the building, hundreds of tiny white lights floating about him. Each faced off, a silence prevailing for a moment, before both rushed at one another once more. Blades extending from the guantlets as the black metal reformed itself - white lights flowing from the tall man's sleeves before exploding in flashes of bright light.

[Wraithblade6]

[Main Street]

Aeshma flicked his tail in annoyance as chaos broke out less than a hundred meters from him on the street. He magically blended his massive, hooved form into the shadows of a shop beside him, leaving only his fiery eyes visible against the darkness to watch the irritating mayhem. Such fools, the demon mused to himself as he looked over the combatants to judge their powers and alignments. Likely a couple of young metagang members had accidentally found each other. The Overseers' grip on Aegis was laughable, at least in the eyes of a wise demon such as Aeshma. He planned to do a much better job once he brought the overseers to their knees.

Now, however, was a time of strategics, planning, and manipulation. No demon with any intelligence ever acted without information. Aeshma believed bluffing was for lowly, weak fools, fools that should do his bidding.

Instantly and naturally, he searched the minds and hearts of the two fighters. Why were they here? What were they feeling? What were their thoughts? Sometimes, he could tell which of a pair of fighters was going to win by their level of belief in themselves. Emotion empowered the soul, and soul empowered the body.

[thewizardguy]

[Main Street, North Side]
These two warriors were vastly different, and yet the same. The discrepancy could easily be felt. The figure with the gauntlets was filled with rage, fully committed to victory or death. It was clear that he wouldn't back down until either he had been killed, or his enemy lay dead beneath his feet. It was the will of a destroyer. His motives could be felt, if only barely. Revenge for some act committed by the other party, the warrior was avenging some perceived wrong.

The taller figure, on the other hand, was a dead zone. His will could be felt, distantly, suppressed and crushed. Fragments of what had once been a powerful mind, crushed beneath the foot of some powerful psychic force. They moved, and they spoke, but it was not by their own will that they did so. It wasn't a recent ordeal either, this person had been lost for many years now, beyond all hope of recovering. If released from control, he would most likely simply flop to the ground, entering a vegetable state.

"I'll burn the entire city to the ground!"

The black gauntlets seemed to expand, layers of black metal covering the figure's body even as he dashed forwards. They formed what appeared to be a medieval suit of armour, if with an unusual quantity of spikes. Anyone with a basic knowledge of popular culture would be reminded of Sauron. It also seemed this suit enhanced the man's physical speed and strength considerably, as he flipped a car just to block an incoming orb of white light, leading to a large explosion.

The tall figure remained silent, flying around and dodging thrown projectiles, even as he fired downwards another series of glowing orbs, the explosions ripping the street to shreds.

[akje]

[Main Street - North Side of Aegis]

Barto was having a good day.
The weather was pleasant,
the citizens were behaving,
and everyone gave him wide space as he made his rounds through Main street.
Out of sheer respect for his uniform and beard he knew.
Yes, today life was pleasant, almost boring.

Of course the very thought caused the hands of fate to deliver a loud crashing sound nearby.
Immediately alert Barto rushed over to where he heard what he assumed could be a fight, or better! An unsanctioned ritual! That would be the cherry on top of a perfect day.
At jogging speed Barto came around the corner and scanned the area.
There seemed to be a small scale explosion or magical effect, causing some surface damage.
There were two figures attacking each other in public.
Having seen all he needed to make his judgement Barto swiftly decided how to act.

Authoritatively he stepped forward declaring his presence.
"Citizens, I am an Agent of Light and this district is under the watchful eye of the Overseer Council.
You are in direct violation of the second commandment. Cease your activity or meet with retribution."

[Chaos Wolf]

[Main street]
Zio was enjoying a nice juicy apple, just as he was about to take the last bite of it an explosion made him drop it from the roof he was currently sitting on. "Dammit I dropped it." He said with a sad look on his face. Zio turned his attention to where the explosion was coming from. He could see three men one looked like an Agent of Light and the other two looked like they were just about ready to kill each other. Zio knew not to mess with the Agents of Light, they were incredibly strong. So for now Zio decided to go a little closer and watch the fight that was about to go down.

[nookzer]

Noah was sitting at a café enjoying coffee when a explosion happened right across the road instinctively he flipped the table to shield himself from the blast ready to use his weapon if need be. Once he looked over the table he saw to combatants ready to kill each other and an Agent of the Light.

[Wraithblade6]

The demon watched the combatants momentarily, measuring their attributes as only one with his abilities could. The one with the gauntlets was very strong and durable, and apparently well-motivated by something so childish as vengeance. He would make a useful servant. The other... Aeshma scoffed at him. The light-wielder was already pathetically dominated. He was nothing more than a vessel, a cannon.... a nice one, but complete mind control was a pain in the ass.

Aeshma's expression turned sour as one of those abhorrent paladins blithely stepped out. Such arrogance and pride. Aeshma himself fit into that category, and it made him chuckle in the shadows. If he pulled the right strings, he could end up with a new servant and a dead child of the light today. His orange eyes scanned the debri from the exploded weapons shop nearby. Sliding through the shadows, he drew closer. Fate had even provided him free weapons.

[thewizardguy]

[Main Street, North Side]

For a moment, as the Child of Light proclaimed his authority, the two combatants stood still, eyeing one another furtively. Looking for an opening, a moment of distraction. Each was tense, and acted as an experienced fighter. Finally, the tall figure spoke, his voice filled with mangled verbs and an influx of emphasis. It was a clear side effect of someone else attempting to use his Vocal Chords. "Stand down, Child of Light. I am an agent of the Priestess. This is Overseer business." Both sides were ready to reengage one another on the merest of whims, but one the fighting had slowed, neither wanted to be the first one to move - fearful of losing some slight advantage that might turn the tides.

As a Child of Light, Barto was of course familiar with the Priestess. One of the members of the Overseer Council, a frightful woman often referred to as the Queen of Spiders. She lead a 'religion', or more accurately an ideology, that dictated that all the world had a place to fill. A form of extreme communism, which she enacted forcefully through use of mind control. She controlled a lot of the trade routes towards the Earth, and was feared for her immense psychic powers. While it was unlikely that this puppet's controller was the Priestess, it was not impossible.

"Yeah, it's overseer business all right!" The figure with the black gauntlets smirked, glaring upwards at the emotionless puppet. "You see, I represent the... the Clown! That's illegal, right?" As dictated by the Laws of the Children, agents of the Overseers could not do battle with one another, and while this certainly didn't prevent minor spats, it had up until this point prevented a war from breaking out that would tear apart the entirety of Aegis.

The Clown, also, was a familiar name. It referred to a Demon of unknown origins that fed on suffering, named for it's appearance as a twisted, inhuman clown. Whilst technically speaking it held no real power, it was feared throughout the city for it's cruelty and knowledge of torture. It blessed those that did his bidding with the capability to ignore all pain, as their suffering was directly channelled to their master.

In the meantime, of course, Aeshma - without removing entirely his attention from the business in the street - had located the remains of several weapons in the rubble. And, more importantly, the mostly intact shop behind the hole. It's owner had fled, leaving behind a whole pile of usable merchandise.

There was no limit of what weapons could be sold in Aegis, and that laxness could be clearly seen represented in the stock being offered in this shop. Most of it consisted of heavy weapons, many of which were built specifically for beings with superhuman strength - the recoil would tear a normal man in half. From massive railguns to what appeared to be some kind of fusion between a gattling gun and a rocket launcher, born from the destructive genius of man. Full Auto shotguns, depleted uranium bullets, hollowpoint and AP rounds, shrapnel and heat-based rockets, a variety of grenades.....

There was enough gear here to suit up a small army.

[akje]

Barto stood in grim silence for several long seconds as he processed the information before him.
His hand stopped hovering over the weapon in his sheath and moved to the radio on his belt.
"If you speak the truth that means you both are instead in direct violation of the first commandment! Cease your activity or meet with full retribution!"

Barto had never passed judgement of the first commandment before. He felt nothing, but somewhere he knew he would have found this to be exiting.
He was tense, ready to pull out the radio and push the emergency button in a moment. The criminals had been read the rules, all he needed was one more act of violence or unruliness and he could call the entire church on their necks.

[nookzer]

Noah had taken cover behind the table he had tipped over he had his Glock and was ready to fight he looked over and recognised the two fighters organisations if things got ugly he would need a better weapon than just a handgun, he then spotted a weapons store using the distraction from the fight he decided to crouch to wards it as he walked in he saw a tall demon standing there he griped his Glock and readied himself just in case "who are you?"

[Chaos Wolf]

[Main street]

Zio just stood there focused on the three people who were in the middle of a stand off. "This is going to get ugly." Zio said to himself as he could feel a hand being placed on his shoulder. When he looked to see who's hand it was he was surprised to see that hand belonging to his step-sister Mira. "Mira what are you doing here I taught you were out of town?" Mira just gave a small smile. "Yeah I was supposed to leave, but then I decided that I should stay here and keep you out of trouble." Mira said as she removed her hand of Zio's shoulder. "Haha keep me out of trouble as far as I can remember you were the one always getting in to trouble." Zio said with a grin. Both of them were now watching the two fighters and the agent of light.

[thewizardguy]

[Main Street, outside Gazz's Guns]
"There is no evidence that-"

"Do I look like I care? Come on, blow me up. You know what will happen." The figure in the black armour turned around, the black metal turning to a tar-like liquid and dripping from his skin. Grinning widely, he turned around and walked away. "You can't prove shit, and I don't think starboy over there is taking any chances. Letter of the law, you know."

The taller figure, still hovering some distance above the ground, tensed but did not attack when the figure in black turned to leave. It was clear a consideration was being made, before finally a conclusion was reached. The small lights died out, disappearing as if they had never been there at all. "This is not over. Those who offend the Priestess find themselves facing divine retribution." The words were monotone and slack, devoid of any emotion. Already, the figure was turning and leaving, floating up above the houses that lined Main Street.

[akje]

[Main Street, outside Gazz's Guns]

Barto relaxed as the tall figure wised up and too backed down.
He knew they'd fight later, but it would be outside his jurisdiction.
Threats weren't illegal. Veiled or otherwise.

He saw several citizens loot the weapon store. Theft was not illegal, so Bartho said nothing. He simply stood and watched.
Onlookers might see his stern stare and guess this was hard on him, that his sense of justice put him in conflict.
But he wasn't conflicted. By strict law, theft was legal.
Shop owners had their own way to protect their interests, it was not his jurisdiction.
He was simply waiting for one to aim the weapon at another citizen.
Waiting for someone to break the law.
Barto imagined how he'd break them in return.

[Wraithblade6]

As the floating Overseer slave was about to turn to go, and just as everyone was thinking the fight was over, an explosive blast from a giant, two-handed force-wave cannon blew Barto off his feet. The child of the light was thrown and slammed hard into a wall, covering him with rubble. Demon eyes flared with excitement as Aeshma watched the supreme weapon do its thing. A direct hit on the accursed Peacekeeper was incredibly satisfying. The gauntleted figure now had a clear, unhindered opening to the light-orb being with no lawkeepers watching. Aeshma's muscle flexed as he lifted the gun and grinned wickedly to his dark friend, encouraging him to go after his enemy.

Aeshma had looked carefully to be certain no other Light's Children were in the vicinity before he made his move. He'd back off into the shadows once again, following his new friend to assure his victory.

(OC I'm just hoping to knock Barto out for the moment. Don't want to kill his character.)

[Chaos Wolf]

[Main street]

Both Zio and Mira saw the blast hit the agent of light." Damn that's gotta hurt." Zio and Mira said in unison. Mira looked to where the blast came from and although she couldn't see it she could sense someone or something there. Mira placed her hand on the hilt of her sword just so she was ready for anything. "Brother keep your guard up." Mira told Zio as she looked to him. "Yeah, I know Mira." Zio said he also noticed something strange going on.

[akje]

A sudden boom, followed by a high pitched ringing in his ear.
Barto noted he was very suddenly and alarmingly rapidly moving.
With a dull shock wave and the sound of cracking plaster he slowly registered he had smashed into something.
He felt a rush of adrenaline, soon it would run out and the pain would come.
The world still spun around him.
"Their word is law, their will is reality."
Barto spent his last few seconds muttering scripture before falling unconscious.

[thewizardguy]

Even as the Child of Light collapsed, both combatants turned. A volley of orbs struck Barto's personal rubble-pile, nearly blasting him to pieces as the bubbles of compressed air released their charge explosively, ripping apart stone and flesh. Luckily for him, however, the figure clad in black metal raised both hands, the gauntlets turning into what appeared to be dual miniguns.

With a crackling of energy, the very fabric of reality ripped open. A giant purple tear in spacerevealed itself in the middle of the street, as a massive rotating disk moved slowly through it. Upon the disk sat three robed figures, hoods obscuring their faces. Eight long and spindly legs revealed themselves from below the disk, as the disk turned out to be a disk-shaped demon, several 2-dimensional eyes moving across it's surface as it observed the battlefield.

With a war cry, 3 figures dressed in ripped clothing and human flesh jumped from the alleys, flames and lightning flowing across their bodies along the runes they had cut into their flesh. A meta gang of sorcerers, who used their own lives to fuel deadly spells. Shrieking skulls launched themselves at all parties indiscriminately, as red mists coalesced into howling figures, summoned forth directly from Hell. They were intent only on the deaths of all those involved.

The Children of Light were the keepers of the law, and bastions of order in Aegis. But few realized just how serious a change their presence made, until they witnessed one being taken down.

[Wraithblade6]

Aeshma flicked his tail with a fanged frown on his face. So it seemed powers hidden even to him had been lying in wait all this time. The giant, spidery demon with the three robed riders appeared, and Aeshma backed off to try to recognize what it was or who it served. At the same time, the three sorcerer gang members bounded out of the alleys, firing magic at everyone in an attempt to massacre them.

BOOM!

Aeshma fired again, fracturing the bones of one of the sorcerers as the body was sent flying. Aeshma didn't like the unexpected, and he was now irritated that his original plan had been interrupted. He tossed the gun however. It was powerful, but too big and made him too much of a slow-moving target. He much preferred the sinister shadows and secretive, calculated attacks. His hooves moved him swiftly toward one of the alleys where he could take cover. Anyone in his path he attacked with an overwhelming fear, causing them to flee uncontrollably from him.

[nookzer]

Noah's day was not going as expected their was a fight out side and now some idiots started throwing magic around picking up a SCAR-H of the floor and grabbed several magazines of ammo and began firing at the sorcerers killing one and getting a second in the arm.

[Chaos Wolf]

As soon as Zio and Mira saw all the people jumping out of the alleys, both Zio and Mira grew a small grin. Mira unsheathed her sword and started to charge at the eight legged demon. While Mira was charging at the demon Zio also charged in the same direction as his step-sister, only he was aiming for the people that were riding on the demon. "Chaos Drive!" Zio shouted as he was covered in a pure black aura.

When Mira was close enough to the eight legged demon she slashed right through one of its legs, getting it off balance. Zio on the other hand jumped over Mira and punched on of the guys riding it in his gut. Zio's punch was so strong that it send the guy flying directly in a building, blood could be seen coming out of the opening in the building. Both Mira and Zio jumped back after their attack and landed next to each other.