Crusader Lord

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

>.>

<.<

This RP has me curious. Is there still room here for joining? :O

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Freakshow

The Terrazards were rushing in to bring the literal 'house' down, even as the bulky monstrosity of Freakshow barreled out of the building with a serious haste. Ardent had taken the heat, perhaps both literally and metaphorically speaking, from the amped-up Torch inside of the building....and she wasn't going to let it go to waste for the time being either. Evacuating the twins, and ultimately Lab Rat it seemed, in the nick of time was certainly a thing many might call 'heroic'. To her? To her it was just the practical thing to do to get the others out of there and rush them to safety, while also doing something or anything to try to bring down the flaming building before things got worse and maybe taking out Torch along the way. Or, well, hopefully not taking out Ardent in the process. Actually, that was a good point there-

"Ok kids, fun time's over! Time to get off the big ol' fleshy horror ride! Please just hold tight, or maybe not try to kill each other, or somethin'."

As she moved out into the open, and got properly clear of the building in her flight, Luna would gingerly deposit both of the twins as well as Lab Rat on the ground together. Though as she finished speaking, her tone went from an almost whimsical theme-park-ride tone to something more akin to an exasperated mother trying to juggle three kids in her arms while the other two were almost burning down the house. Almost. Maybe. Hopefully just an 'almost', though just in case the fleshy monstrosity kept the Terrazard command device concealed fully inside of her flesh alongside that other head that had been talking into it. Better to keep a handy tool on-hand and hidden from sight in case she-...oh. Ok. Yeah, that was better than she'd thought it was going to be.

Noticing the ongoing drenching of the now-just-smoldering building that was still being torn to shreds by her Terrazard Demolition Team, it also stood to reason that she'd at least notice the nearby kaiju fight going on as well. Or, well, two kaijus and an angry bunch of mushrooms trying to figure out how this was going to end until one hell of a haymaker took the giant monkey out finally. Things were going down fast though, weren't they? In part it made her glad, though otherwise it made her want to simply sigh at the hectic nature of it all. But that was a fight for ya, it could be fast and it could be slightly less fast depending on what was going on. Not unlike a bunch of suicidal morons on a bridge trying to hold it like they're the Greeks at Thermopylae.

"Terrazards, keep tearing down the building to the ground, and once done with that return to the open field here and line up in two neat blocks and wait at attention."

The head hidden inside of her body spoke into the command device again, even as her external heads kept an eye on things around her to make sure it all went down well enough at least while she stood next to the trio of bodies she'd gently put on the safe ground outside what was now right next to her. That giant hole inside of the building was certainly something to take note of as well, thinking back, but the Zards' had been pouring out of it like water from a busted dam earlier. Like someone had a breeding project going on down there, or had been cloning them or something. Went deeper than this stupid moron Torch and his attempt to make a goon squad for sure....how much deeper she didn't know, but to recruit a moron and draw them in with a proxy to take the fall that used a name like the 'Azure Skulls' it had to be something perhaps. Not to mention they'd lost sight of a convenient little super-smart tinkerer in more recent memory to boot, at least before ICOSA had arrived.

Hmm.

Following her gut instincts, Luna would inside of her own body begin fashioning a neat little thing in secret. Do her best to match the density, weight, exact dimensions, and size of the Leftovers Control Device using good old bone and such hard materials she could generate. She did have the real thing, after all, and she could engineer a nice, smooth replica 'just in case' after all. Just in case something or someone tried to pry it from her by force and held her peers hostage or something stupid like that. Or, well, if Magician tried to get it. She really didn't like that guy, or trsut him as much, though speaking about the matter of ICOSA....as for Ms. "Chimera" Perez? Heh. Well she could see the smaller woman wasn't on her perch, and that building just got a nice new water bath to help the situation. Didn't take too much to at least assume the woman had done something as things had gone to hell in a heartbeat, and the monster of a heroine felt more respect for that personally over someone just willing to sit back and risk innocent lives over this sort of thing.

"Hey Crane and Grumpy Shrooms, you two doin' ok?"

One of the extra heads would shout rather loud to the other two heroes, wanting to know if they were doing ok despite the victory. However, Mire was getting a new nickname for a breif moment even if they hated it. Also it wasn't tehcnically wrong, Luna felt, since Mire was a grumpy bunch of fungal matter with sapience and a personality of their own. But hey what was a bad situation for if not badly-timed teasing at teammates as thanks for a job pretty well-done in beating up a giant monkey? Eh? Eh? Well, overall perhaps it was a job maybe not nessecarily done yet anyways. It depended on how they proceeded from here really, and she wasn't going to make assumptions until the fat lady sang her heart out. But in the meantime-

"Hey Rat, er, Lab Rat. Could you keep an eye on these two knuckleheads for a sec? Specially' the one ready for some maple syrup here after gettin' pancaked, he'll need some doctorin' to get him back on his feet for sure. Don't have to worry bout' the nearby Zards', though, I've got em' handled for now.

Meanwhile I'm going to check in on Ardent and stuff inside real fast, and see if Ms. Perez decided to make her debut on the Brookside scene....also if that stupid hole is still open for now too. Somethin' about all of this smells a bit too fishy about this whole scenario and its timing from here, and I don't think its the trash in the burnin' building either."

With that, the monstrosity would make her way quickly back toward the burning building to catch up with her hopefully-alive teammate, maybe even to get him and Torch out of there if she had to help take down the murderous dolt. Secreting more of the fire-resistant mucus substance over herself, then, Freakshow would plunge into the smoldering building again in an attempt to locate the others. Yet while she braced herself for a potential battle, at the same time she hoped there wouldn't have to be one. Ardent was a tough guy, but he also wasn't immortal...none of them were for that matter.

@Blizz@ManyThings@Silver Carrot@shylarah@Hitman@DClassified@Zoey Boey

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Freakshow

Fireballs would cause some of the secreted mucus on Luna's horrific form to bubble, melt, and fall off in strange, sizzling chunks upon the abaonded factory floor as she charged him down and took the impact of his blasts. Even as Luna could feel the searing pain signals from her fleshy form, her pain tolerance having been well honed and then been further augmented by her capabilities, she would still keep up the charge regardless of the damage to herself as the forward-most head on her shambling visage kept the focus of its faintly glowing red eyes and horrifically split-open monstrous maw focused straight ahead on her target. There was no dissuading her from this course of action, nor stopping her monstrous roaring of untold warped and distorted voices coming out from her many mouths.

Torch, for what it was worth, wasn't one of the heaviest hitters of the old gang from what she'd ever known....man hadn't even been among those kept at the HQ for later while the rest of them had been sent out to die for the sake of what amounted to blasted publicity stunt of all things. A useless, hollow publicity stunt meant to propel those left behind into infamy, enough to work to make that accursed dream of being 'big time villains' a reality. The thing that had cost most anyone left with even two cents of brain power in their heads back in the old Blue Skulls their lives and otherwise.

As her monstrous form crashed into the body of Torch, tendrils and myriad arms reaching out as well, Luna would grab and thusly rip the black control device from Torch's hands as her mass sent the other metahuman flying. The tendrils that grabbed the device would then retract it quickly into her own body, moving it to where one of her many heads had retracted into a hollowed-out space inside of her huge fleshy body while her HERO watch had come to be stored elsewhere inside of her. This, even as she stood back up from where she'd fallen and continued her pursuit of the man to try to get him while he was down.

"Why did you decide to accept their deal in the end?"

Why indeed. The therapist had asked her that after she took up HERO's deal. Poor therapist had listened to her about a lot of things, helped her work on many others, and yet she could still recall her response after they'd talked a little more about it. Motivations. Reasoning. Etc. Things that'd motivate her to accept that deal, all trying to make sure she wasn't feeling forced into it among other things. Therapist crap, basically, though in hindsight she was glad for it to enough of an extent. Helped her get her head on her shoulders, perhaps for the first time in her life, and she'd resolved to do something with that.

And she still felt that resolve even now.

"[Because] for the last few years I thought I'd rot in my cell for the rest of my life, yeah, and hell I'd determined myself to do just that after all I've done. I deserve it I think, still think I do at least, but now at least I have a chance to make a difference rather than just sit around now. Make a good difference, in a great way, for as many people as I can help one way or another. This is something I never thought I'd get the chance to do in my life at this point, and I-....I....I-I want to do this, and do this with my own two hands and work my hardest at it.

You told me ta' find a better 'reason to live' than guilt and everythin', and I think this is it. I want to live for a good reason, not just feelin' guilty all day and night and wishin' I was dead with the rest of em'. Won't bring back the dead, make anyone else feel better or do better, won't make me better, or the like. I wanna' put myself to good use in something I've come to believe in now, and work toward that as best as I can and live my life as best as I can from now on.

As for the freedom eventually? That's just a tiny little bonus beyond all of this, nothin' more."

She would work to make the world better, even if it cost her the rest of her life to do so. For the kids and people who lived in Brookside, for the average person who got caught in the middle of all of this sort of crap, and for the people who had yet to be born. She'd fight to make sure as few bodies as possible got sent back in bags or pieces even among her enemies, and would make sure as many of people as she could would get back home alive. Couldn't save everyone, though, but like hell if she'd give up regardless. And right now wasn't any different, as if this fire got into more of Brookside, if the Zards' got spread out into the area, and the like then it would only make things worse for everyone. Even if she had to come out each day to spend all day and night hunting the things down alone and by hand she'd do it, but maybe with the device Torch had used now in her hands she could at least do one thing for the people of Castleburg and Brookside in this situation.

Yet the heroine and resident 'Freakshow' wouldn't get to her target much in time despite her efforts, though, as Torch injected himself with the same stuff Menace had been hit with and dropped the syringe on the ground. A lashing tendril would shoot out and grab the empty thing at least, though, before just as rapidly retracting into her mass to protect and store it. Likewise a hand would emerge from the lining of the internal space inside of her body she had created prior to store one of her new many heads, this hand holding the captured Leftovers Control Device and attempting to use it as the mouth of the one head in there also spoke loudly into it. She'd try it with her own normal voice, then by mimicking Torch's voice if that didn't do anything. Etc. But she had to at least try something.

(("Terrazards, return to this building and destroy it completely! Bring this piece of trash burning building crumbling down to the very ground and your use your bodies to put out any scraps of the fire that remain afterward!")

Bring down the building, right down on the head of the asshat who was setting it on fire right now. Bring it down, and kill Terrazards. Then what would remain in the aftermath, if any of the Terrazards? She had a plan for that once they got to that point, but one thing at a time for now. She had to see if this particular stupid plan of hers, certainly not the first nor the last, would function how she hoped. Otherwise, she had to come up with a Plan B really, really fast and on the fly. She could at least do that. But for now, Torch had gone even more insane and was doing a good job of making the place into a literal dumpster fire at this rate. But....perhaps it was the funeral pyre he had wanted....and the one he deserved as well.

They had to get out of there before things got worse, though, and as Torch went mad Luna would try to emit more protective anti-fire mucus and would fire about five bone spikes from her body at the man like a shotgun blast. This all as she scrambled off back toward the others, where if she got the chance she'd try to grab up Lab Rat and both of the Twins and to pull them safely close to herself as her own huge form sought to barrel out of the burning building and back into the safety (ironically) of the open and not-currently-on-fire space outside. If her attempt to command the Terrazards was working, however, she'd not attack any Terrazards on the way out. If it wasn't working and the the things were still attacking them all anyways or such, she'd use the extra arms and bone spikes and her many feet and such to keep killing as many Terrazards as she could on the way out one way or another.

"Time to go, party people! Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, and be careful because the local Lizards bite!"

Yet as her main external heads spoke this aloud and in a hurry as she sought to do all of this, she would take care to contain the injured member of the Twins as well as use a side head to speak to the other one if she had managed to get ahold of them as she intended to do.

"Hey, kid. Time to get out of here, see if I can keep you two alive too at that. This ain't picking pockets near the corner store on fifth. Hate me or not, I don't care, because you two don't deserve to die because of Torch being the insane asshat he is....or other reasons for that matter."

@Blizz@ManyThings@Silver Carrot@shylarah@Hitman@DClassified@Zoey Boey

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

@Blizz@ManyThings@Silver Carrot@shylarah@Hitman@DClassified@Zoey Boey

Posted for Luna! Forgot to tag in my post like I usually do, though, so letting you all know here instead.

o7

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Freakshow

"You're right, but--" He thrust the signpost into another lizard's chest as he spoke, repelling enemies from Freakshow's left flank while she spearheaded the charge, "--We can't just leave the lizards out here, either. Rushing to the heart of the plant all together is the strongest play, but it's not the right play."

Ardent

"....You're right."

One of her heads looked to him and spoke in Luna's normal voice, though her tone was a little more audibly subdued than it had been prior. But as much as she wanted to just charge in and get this over with-....she....ah hell. It was hard enough to admit, but she'd admit it rather than deny anything and fumble about trying to justify something stupid 'again' in her life. At least if she could help it. But how couldn't she be a bit worried about all of this, hmm? They had total newbies who likely didn't know squat about the danger of Zards and how it could still be rather bad even if you were some 'super badass' or something, and damn it all she'd held a man's severed head before just trying to get someone out of a stupid ass situation they'd all gone into without getting the blasted clue beforehand. Did she want that again? Did she want to see any of those other things happen again to people, teammates or otherwise?

Hell. F******. No.

It ate away at her just to know the possibility, but in the end she couldn't just make it all simply go as she wished no matter how hard she wishes she could. In. Out. Done. Everyone comes home in one piece or something. All just to keep her own mind at ease about the state of her own little personal world here at the very least. Just to feel like she could say something and bring anything useful to this blasted team. She'd shed enough blood. She'd seen enough blood shed too. Why couldn't she just make it all work out so everyone went home and no one ever had to deal with crap this like this ever again, hmm?!

...Ah. Breathe. In and out. Just breathe.

If they let these things get out into Brookside proper and set up actual nests once they weren't being controlled or something (she felt that was the case here)? It'd be just as bad as if they'd run away and not solved the problem at all before letting it balloon even more out of control. So yes, they'd need to have people screening these things and keeping them out of Brookside as much as possible. Even if that's what the morons inside of the building wanted, as she personally suspected, for them to do. They were heroes, so they had to try to actually save people for pity's sake! What was the point otherwise?

He looked to Luna, his face lightly splattered with scales and reptile blood. He grinned.

"You're worried about what these things can do. Fine. But it's time to show some trust. These things are dangerous, but so are we!"

The head looking back at Ardent as the trio of heroes moved along toward the building would crack, even if for a moment, a grin of some sort. A grin, in the middle of all of this situation as the rest of herself was mulching Zards and the ilk. It all just felt so, so stupid to her in some part....but to hell with that. Trust was a hard thing to come by, but you had to give a little to get a little, right? Had to prove you were trustworthy and give others the chance to trust you too.

Ok. It was decided then.

"Heh. Alright, alright, trusting you guys it is then. It's just I don't want to be brigin' people home in bags or pieces....never ever again if I can damn well help it."

A rare moment of vulnerability to admit that crap, but they had little time before they'd be inside the building proper. And then? Well, she had no idea what 'surprises' awaited them in there. What idiots were doing all of this. What crap was going on with all of these gangers, and who was fueling the fire they were trying to start by imitating the Blue Skulls of all things. And that brought up once last point as 'Freakshow' took note of who had joined them to go into the building and what they had coming into this new situation. Not a bad setup, certainly still not the best scenario. It's whaat they had to work with in the end regardless, though, so it'd have to make do.

"Alright, Ardent, Lab Rat, I ran years ago with the original gang the morons inside are tryin' to imitate the very worst of. I know how the Skulls were goin' with things as well before they....died off. Won't sugar coat it, that probably means someone in there knows me, that this will be personal, and that all means things will get a loot worse for us inside here."

It was all she'd communicate to the two otherwise before they got inside. Had she done some really bad crap before? Yeah, because how would someone ever get the moniker 'Cadaver' otherwise? They took a kid with a strong power and threw her into crap usually only the older ones did because she was 'good firepower' and crap like that or something. Etc. But might as well get that tidbit of information out to the two allies she was 'charging into the breach' with before some lug tried to ramble it out for her like it was some big dramatic theater-kid-esque reveal.

"Welcome, heroes," he said, his voice oozing the type of overconfidence that was endemic amongst villains. He turned to face Freakshow, staring at her behind the mask. "Welcome home, Cadaver. I'm glad you were able to make it inside our humble abode."

The Asshat Supreme

But once they got inside, some idiot in a mask began to talk to them as his 'friends' seemed to be standing or hanging around as they wished.

"No sh**, really? And here I forgot to bring a present for you."

Her tone was half-assed and intentionally a bit mocking, but still.

What was most notable about thhe scene, though, was the giant blasted hole in the ground that seemed to be 'leaking' Zards, which likely meant more than what it looked like at face value, and yet as the masked man began to speak it took the ninteen year old a few seconds before the manner of speaking made it finally 'click' in her head who he was. Sure he was spilling as many beans on things as he could too, it seemed, and Luna woujld quietly going to turn on her HERO watch and had one of her many new grotesquely-warped heads whisper to ALISA to record what the mook was saying to boot for potential information and get a picture or so of the scene at large as things went down. Then the arm with the watch on it would withdraw with one of the additional heads inside of her grotesque form to try something else.

Outside of that, though, part of her didn't honestly fully know how to respond as she let the man go on with his rambling spiel and used her many heads to eye the situation as one of them looked right back at the masked man in turn.

Of course, it also didn't help when the Menace got injected with something strange and hulked the hell out like he was on drugs-...actually, yeah, that'd make sense too. Didn't look the same as she'd read or seen about him in the past though. Inject him with some enhancement stuff, make him go giant monster, and then-? Eh, seemed he decided to leave the building at least. Wait....oh hell Crane was out there still too. But that was not something they had the luxury to think about for the moment.

Torch chuckled madly. "Now, where were we? Oh, right. Killing you all." The fireball that was flickering in his hand now grew even larger and hotter. "Go forth, Terrazards! Go forth, Menace! Kill these heroes! Just leave Cadaver to me."

Torch

Well, at least this particular asshole was someone she'd known about before. Hell, met even before the Bridge at some point or another. Already she'd been pushing her durability and some attempts at a more fire-retardant mucus being emitted across her exterior 'skin' and parts too while the guy had taken his sweet time to speak once she'd recognized the voice and seen the fireball in his hand. How could she forget this guy, though, even if his cousin Carl had been a bit more memorable than him to most of the gang. Couldn't forget him, totally, not at all, never in a million years...but as he chucked the intense fireball at her-

"You got to be f***ing kidding me. 'Lutz the Klutz', here, in front of me, in real flesh and bone? Was fraid' you'd gone the way of good ol' Carl back there on the bridge, though I didn't have time to check."

Of course it'd be this dingus that someone would manage to manipulate. Backers? Financing? Logistics? Lutz wasn't some Napoleon, but he wasn't a nobody either. At the same time, he soundedd more unhinged than she could ever remember him being like for what it was worth. Not that the bridge hadn't had its own effects on her and the others too back then. Well, the incredibly few others who'd managed to scrape by alive at least. Guy knew how to fight well enough, though, so it was worth it to acknowledge that this fireball and any other fire was going to hurt like hell at least.

Luna the monstrosity charged in against Pyro as he was throwing the fireball at her, though, her shuddering mass moving inhumanly fast toward the guy as it could and attempting to minimize the impact of the thrown fireball to her right side. The others would have to deal with the twins here and the Zards inside the place. Those outside would have to deal with the other crap. Sheer mass sought to crash into the freak of nature in the end, though, and do nothing short of cripple his ability to fight thouroughly but without killing him or ending his life whenever she finally got her tendrils and so forth on him. Even if it took a few tries or whatever in this fight, as it wasn't her first rodeo metaphorically speaking.

Because even if it took some trying, oh boy she was going to get her hands on him one way or another.

Ah, but now she was roaring in her assault in another literal cacophony of inhuman sounds and disturbing voices again at least. Was glad the creepy Fallout kid wasn't there to hear it and see her again, though, even if he was supposed to be some kind of ally and all. Kid was....yeah.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Freakshow

((Stuff in her color, with single quotes and italicized = Luna's thoughts. Normal quotation marks = Speaking.))

Oh course two of em' were gonna' rail back against it all. Not that she hadn't opened her trap wide enough as it was an' killed time. Eh. Look, better the newbies get some idea of what ta' do than not, right? Hell. She wasn't used to doing this sort of thing on her own. Not at all. Trying to get this group of people under the same banner and the same idea or something of the sort without prep time. What had HERO been thinking on this one, really? Two of them who knew the hood, but naturally having this whole ICOSA crap coming down on them and then this mess. What, were they supposed to be a fluid coordinated team at the drop of a hat? Took time and effort and bleeding and almost dying alongside each other for some people to connect the damned dots!

Luna didn't talk back or respond to the others. No, instead she swung her empowered fists and turned Terrazard skulls into paste. Could feel them gnawing at her, only to get thrown off or have their brin ripped out with her bare hands. As much as she wanted to do her best....do her best to stay clean and on a good path no matter what that is, she couldn't deny that this was almost cathartic in a sense that she hadn't felt for a long time coming. Then Mire's stunt almost splashed her, for that matter, though it was certianly a relief. But all of these Terrazards coming in like this and all at once? Doing so in a formation of some kind? No, this couldn't be coincidence at this point.

However-

"Don't follow them? Are you serious? If they stop coming to us, we're gonna have to go to them. The mission is to clear out the whole place, which means we're gonna have to go in there and get our feet wet a little. If you don't feel safe doing that, you can wait outside. I'm gonna-"

"Hah! At least we can forget about the bait!"

"That was a lot of yapping just to say 'let's watch each other's backs while we fight some lizards'! Better hope it works!"

Ardent

"Alright, I opened my yap too much and I'll own up to it. Thoough I didn't say for us all to never go in there together once-....oh shi-."

As she spoke her eyes would spot something far, far worse on the horizon. No, a lot of somethings running at them in numbers that were far from natural. It was far from normal. No, it was nothing short of a giant Hollywood zombie horde of Terrazards just flooding out like they were coming out of the walls....or had been set loose. Even the bad infestations in Brookside had never gotten THIS bad in all her life thus far even in the stories from the old timers.

And bounce back they did. Hordes and hordes of them flooded out of the big hole in the side of the wall of the recycling plant. So much so that, at a certain point, the concern was no longer the lizards. The lizards were dangerous to regular people, but there were a number of heroes, or perhaps even some non-heroes with good enough equipment, that could kill them with ease.

"This ain't natural! Everyone come together, toward and onto me, and keepin watchin' each other's backs while we start makin' way toward the plant right now! Morons inside have lost their minds, and splitting up for interceptin' these things won't do squat to help unless we stop the source of em' comin' out from the inside!"

The problem was whoever was putting them there in the first place. Terrazards were never present in these large quantities. Maybe small groups. Maybe LARGE groups. Whatever this was, was a veritable army. Who was making this army?

It was her nightmare scenario in all of this come to fruition. One of those asinine ideas she'd heard some morons saying as a joke years ago, but...hell. Whoever was inside was really trying to just kill them all at this point, wanted to just as badly as they were horribly stupid. Stupid enough to name themselves after the Blue Skulls in the most obvious possible way. Stupid enough to not send everything out at once, only a token stupid force, because now at this point she didn't doubt the Skulls inside were the source of this crap at all.

It was all so stupid, and it made he wonder if it was just some stupid coincidence or not.

'Wait a damn minute, if they made a damn Zard army like that then why send just the small fry bunch at us first? All you'd get is us gettin' ready, then the rest come for-....for....no...'

Luna began to ramp up her power, her body beginning to warp and change in shape as she ran foward to intercept the next innumerable wave. Grotesque juttings of bone stuck to super-strong arms. An elongating body that ran with far too many pairs of strong legs. Multiple heads and the ilk keeping watch and lash out to bite on super strong but stretchy necks, all while jutting meaty tendrils would begin stabbing with syringe-like super-strong spears of bone to inject her own extremely augmented digestive enzymes being mass-produced in many new stomachs into the Terrazards. Like a caterpillar from Wonderland that got dropped into Hell for a few millenia or so.

But it was her transformation, and her effort, to not hold back and attempt to help 'handle things' while the others hopefully formed up and came up with her. Hopefully. Because in this swarm, splitting up for any reason could get them killed and they needed to go to the source. Cut off the source, then hunt down what had come out of the building. Would save the most trouble by far, compared to the alternative that was splitting up and grabbing buckets to hold water when you had a 'burst pipe' type of situation like this.

'No, the name's obvious. Too obvious. Screams loud to people what they're tryin' to imitate. Ya know who knows what it means too? Who'd be drawn here just fer' that reason? **My stupid ass**. HERO's stupid ass too.

And the Zards'? No, they're producing em' somehow. Breeding em'? Somethin'. Have enough wander around to get us called to the scene, though, and then just give us a taste so no backup comes runnin' or we arrive with a bigger group than planned.

They spring this crap on us, and then we get desperate and charge in like morons to try to stop it. Bam.'

This wasn't right. None of it was. Skulls should have stayed dead, and the morons trying to emulate them had what they wanted here potentially as well. Her. HERO. A smaller group of fighters compared to what HERO would've sent to assist if they'd known the Terrazards had such unnatural numbers here or the like. Newbies who'd never fought Terrazards before, two veterans, and a dysfunctional mess that could potentially blow up if they didn't come together well enough. Heh. She'd almost laugh if it didn't make her want to cave in heads with her fists first.

For all her issues or not, for all her power was horrific or not, Luna wanted them all coming back alive and hoped to bring them all back in one piece. She even hoped even Mr Grumpy Mushrooms and Flyboy could at least see the advantage of coming together to push to the building instead of rushing in like a dumbass alone or otherwise. She hoped the Newbies would see. She felt Blur was going to have an eye on things, however....call it a hunch based on past experiences. Though to see 'that guy' here and under the title he was? She was just glad they were all on the same side this time.

But in the end she wasn't going to hold back the assumptions about this anymore. Some asshat in there knew what had happened at the old HQ. They knew she worked for HER. They were nuts, but it was the desperate, vengeful, and crazy ones that just wnted to see the world burn which you had to worry about most sometimes. They, after all, had the least to lose, and the most to gain.

....Or, well they were on copious amounts of drugs that only having a superpower would enable without dying. Just manage to locate and ask the corpse of the former Skulls member, the 100% post-mortem legend himself, that had once been "Crazy Crackhead Carl the Immortal".

@Blizz@ManyThings@Silver Carrot@shylarah@Hitman@DClassified@Zoey Boey

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Freakshow

Looking to the side once more as the sound of a gunshot reached her enhanced hearing ears, and enhancing her eyes again, Luna would rapidly glance to the side and glimpse something not very enticing to her. The Zards were already coming in their direction, and were doing so in a hurry to boot. Actually were moving....strange. Not a normal Zard approach. Ran in as if they were in a formation, and while they were pack hunters something felt 'off' about it all. Could see one of them already dead too, even, likely their little guardian angel's doing, though she hadn't gotten any word from the woman or anyone else about the approach either. Likely the shot 'was' a warning of some kind, if their watcher had to give any sort of indication....still could have said something for a split second.

Overall this was very not good. Very not good.

"Shi-

Get in your formation positions here and now, people, and make sure to protect the flanks! Somethin's got the Zards comin' this way at top speed, usin' some strange formation, and they're gonna' be on top of us in a heartbeat! I'll try to interrupt em' for a moment to buy you time!"

The enhanced 'Freakshow' would shout into the comms to her teammates, even as she suddenly darted off in the direction of the Terrazards simultaneously. Enhance her reflexes more. Enhance strength even more. Push durability even farther than she had before. Enhance her speed to meet the threat and try to interrupt their approach. She'd given them the talk about the Terrazards, and enough of them seemed onboard at this point, so none of that or the info on the formation needed retelling. They didn't even have the time for that anyways. But what had alerted them to their presence, or at least sent them all running their way like this? The group were at a pretty far range even if the things had seen them, wind was blowing the right direction to their favor, and everything to a certain extent. It was, to say the least, something that smelled a bit....suspicious if she had to put a finger on it.

If those self-proclaimed 'Skulls' were weaponinzing Leftovers or anything like she was worried about here, she was going to crack those skulls before bringing them in alive. Stupid, stupid asshat-mimicking asshats. Did she mention she already thought they were asshats on a conceptual level before they'd even 'professionally' met? Yeah, they were still asshats.

Luna would move to intercept the nearest edge of the angular formation the Terrazards were moving in at. Her goal was to hit the leading tip edge of the formation and disrupt it through a lot off high-impact meat-splattering punching and the sort. Enough to get some of them on her, she hoped, and buy the rest of the group a moment to get ready the rest of the way as she'd barked to them. No time for niceties, the time to act or die was now. Should the thing try to pull back on her or something stupid, at least if someone was pulling the strings or these things had gotten 'that much' smarter since last time she'd been around them, she'd try to hit the center of their formation in a sudden and impactful attacking leap.

Or, well, at least that was her personal plan. Idea was to hit the things, buy a little time, and then retreat into the formation to draw some back with her if the others were following the plan. Because only one of them had given a plan, and that plan was to try to help them not die. Neither was the plan for herself to die, at least intentionally, but that wasn't the main thing right now in her mind.

It was the time to see what these things would do....and if any of her fears were correct.

@Blizz@ManyThings@Silver Carrot@shylarah@Hitman@DClassified@Zoey Boey

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Freakshow

Brookside, the familiar turf she'd run across back and forth back in the day. Er, over five years ago at the very least. Before....everything happened. That was as much as she'd preferred to term it to keep things simple on her side these days, but Powers personally had a finger on the breakdown of everything she knew otherwise. But when she'd gone back to the reports to get more info on the newcomers and so forth she'd found quite the resume before her....and likewise an enigma alongside that so very stunningly Bri'ish resume she was surprised the woman that came with him didn't speak Irish or Scottish or served him his midday tea every single day. Eh? Ok, perhaps it was a bad joke to think of on her end, but hell if it wasn't something if the guy didn't come off like he did and had confirmed actual MAGIC in his aresenal. But when getting the info on the coming mission, however, the crew for the mission, those coming along, and yet most notably the starting info they had to work with had certaianly drawn her attention.

"In addition to the Leftover surge, there are rumors that organized crime has been operating out of the area. Particularly, a small but resilient group of metahumans that have begun to call themselves the “Azure Skulls,” believed to be an attempted revival of the destroyed Blue Skulls, have been seen on the perimeters of the abandoned plants. There have also been loud machine sounds heard echoing from the depths of the facility at night. Again, it is presently unknown precisely what their motives are and if they are even associated with the plant."

Mission File

Some people didn't know when to let go. Stubborn as all hell bunch of total of-.....never mind. Was it a bunch of newbies and metas inspired by the Bridge Incident from five years ago? Some slackers who'd avoided going to the bridge that no one had noticed due to the big news going on back then? Maybe some pocket of 'villain era' recruits they had tried to get together or such that HQ had kept under wraps before sacrificing the rest of them like cattle to the slaugher alongside everyone else? She sure as anything, even down to her bones, knew it wouldn't be anyone from HQ....she'd made personally sure of that years ago. Double-checked it, even, in the aftermath from the very top to bloodied and wall-painted bottom. Seen it in her nightmares, even, for by now a bit over five long years with at least four of those and a bit of putting more into working on herself than she'd ever done before alongside the rest of it.

The metahuman let an audible and loud click of notable dissatisfaction out of her mouth without batting an eye as the van pulled to a stop finally.

Leftovers, gang fights, it was all part of the Brookside life as far as she was concerned and had ever known. But some idiots with that ambitious of a goal and that much resilience setting up in the ruins of this place in particular? No, it wasn't a coincidence at all she figured. Nor was it a good sign they'd possibly found a means to live alongside some Leftovers or to use em' as cover or something. To hell with accusations of paranoia, she'd admit to it in a sense in this situation if asked outright. Do not underestimate the stupid crap that goes on in Brookside, and if anyone down in this building had been associated with the now-former leadership or been trying to work with em' on those 'big villain group' aspirations then it was more than doubly dangerous for all of them here to boot.

She wasn't as ridiculously smart as the kid they called "Wiseman", but she wasn't stupid either. Even caught up on her education and then some. Did her homework. Etc. Was a part of just learning how to survive in some capacity to her, so she'd built on that with new habits and such to try to make the best use of herself. Had to know your allies as much as your enemies and so forth. Not that surprises couldn't be there, etc, but even just a basic idea before going into a fight with another gang could spell better or worse for those involved. And she'd just been a dumb kid learning that.....and learning it in the worst ways possible.

While Lab Rat had ridden with Crane's truck, Ardent had taken to flying, and Mire just crawled out however it pleased, Luna took a brief second to get out behind them before anything else. And yet while the sight of the ruined-out building felt a bit too familiar for her liking, all the same she'd walk over to where Crane and a few of the others seemed to be congregating. Or, well, where others were congregating at Crane? Hmm. Maybe they could-

"Before we start." He glared at Lab Rat, who had emerged from Crane's truck. "I wanna know. Are you actually with us?"

He tilted his head up towards the tower.

"Or with her?"

Ardent

”Is that human on the tower coming down here or is it going to annoy us?” They asked, hearing Ardent mention the ICOSA “supervisor.” ”Are we supposed to care what they think? If that’s the case, why would they put me here? When they already don’t mean anything to me?”

Mire turned and look up at Perez off in the distance. That strange approximation of a humanoid skull glared right through her, emotionless but obviously unamused. ”They want me to get rid of the same thing that I am, but they want me to stay here… Fine. Where are they? They’re my problem, now. But if that human points that… ”Weapon” or whatever they’re called at me when I get rid of them, it goes next.”

Mire

-....hell. She could work with the distrust of the ICOSA suits, but all the same it wasn't going to get their real job done any better to start this sort of crap already. Already! They were here to help, but Mire was here to b**** like usual about everything, Mr. Vigilante was already tossing looks and words a little here, and Crane was already being caught in the middle of this while the newcomer was semingly trying to be nice to her or something. All they needed was Blur, who probably knew enough of Brookside like she did according to her gut instincts, and the Terraformer kid right over here too and it'd be an unofficial group meeting.

Alright then, they couldn't sit and do this all day and all night or else they'd be inviting everything bad to happen to them. Plan and simple, at least in the former ganger's mind. The girl would augment her durability and strength incredibly already to solid combat levels on her part, however, and briefly even augment some supporting things to boot like her eyes and ears using her power. She would then take a look far out at the moving Leftovers for a moment to try to judge a bit of distance. Terrazards? Why was it always blasted Terrazards? But she'd try to look for any 'suspicious movement' or the like in that brief time window as well.

Afterward, Luna would then finally pull up her watch and send a loud and clear group message to those who were here on this mission. Those who she was standing near would get her speaking loudly there to boot. Not too loud as to call to the Zards, but enough to talk over the others and get their vital attention.

"Hey there, party people, I won't be mincin' words here or sugar-coatin' even though no one died an' made me king or queen here.

Let's please keep our eyes on the prizes here for the time being, and on keeping each others' backs more than anything. We're not here to fight each other, and we're not here to shoot off glares and spit out words at each other for the moment. End of the day, ICOSA or HERO, we all should be right here right now to stop these things and then investigate things before it all can threaten innocent lives...or worse.

So I suggest we all listen up a second too, because I'm goin' to be droppin' some facts and knowledge for the uninitiated here because these Terrazards aren't going to pull punches or anything like that here. Even Ms. Perez is being pulled in on this call, so all of us will be on the same basic page for this stuff even if ya' already know some of this."

She was going to call it as it was. If ICOSA wanted to keep an eye on them more than help people at the end of the day, then it would show. But for all intents and purposes they needed to keep their eyes on the prize and so forth. What they were going to face wasn't paltry kiddie play, and neither was what they had come to investigate to boot. Had to be focused, or it would all go southward in a heartbeat. She had seen it personally happen before years ago. All that was left of one guy she'd tried to get out of there once was his-....ahem. Yeah it wasn't pretty to be monster food, that was all she was going to acknowledge for now.

"Terrazards, or just known as 'Zards' around these parts, are lizard Leftovers that hunt in big packs, move quick, got razor-sharp claws, and their spit can paralyze ya' if you get bit. Hide is too tough for stuff like some pistol, but rifle'll punch into em' just fine. They are very clever, and they always like using their big numbers and ganging up on people an' otherwise gettin' you isolated or killed in smaller groups by pulling you away from the main group.

I'd say we're over two hundred yards downwind of the things for the moment it seems, thankfully, but they like hunting metas like us and if they get the scent of food should the wind direction change we won't have time ta' argue our asses off with each other later since we'll be dead if they get us badly enough or get us with our pants down.

So let's get to work here while we've got the time and chance to."

Luna's tone was blunt, to the point, and speaking as clearly as she could to boot. Yet at the same time, a certain seriousness and somberness was obvious enough in her speaking if one listened for more than just two seconds.

She'd seen people die to this type of Leftovers as well as weaker ones. She'd seen people die in metahuman fights. She'd seen meta people who though they were 'all that' get gunned down by just some mundane guys in a car who used their heads to win at the end of the day. She'd seen mundane people die to the most simple and forgettable ways of dying. She'd even seen her own body parts severed, eaten, or sent flying like a football at an NFL kickoff for pity's sake. There was no mincing words or sugar-coating it to those involved, cleaning up things like this and fighting were not pansy little things you could fully understand in school. Not to be mean to the Lighthouse school nessecarily, but the only experience she had was in Brookside and on these streets and around these things and these people and the chance to die more often than not in one incredibly horrible or even pathetically lackluster way or another. The Depths held plenty of things and horrors on its own, and so did every corner of Castleburg as far as she knew. Horrors that were open and violent and easy to screan and run from, monsters that crushed you from behind closed doors, and things that though they were saviors or in the right no matter what despite the sufficient coating of blood and gore on themselves in the aftermath. Even her catch-up education in lockup had certainly made things clear when learning about history and the sort as well.

But, for now, she'd continue with the better part of what she wanted to say.

"So the local Brookside way I know to deal with em' is simple enough: Think like em' and get in their head a little. Use similar clever tactics. Do not go off alone or pursue them for any reason, even if you've got two people to do so. They and anyone inside of that building who doesn't want us alive here want you to do that, whether its out elsewhere in the open or inside a building or somethin', and you will potentially die.

Starting us off with the plan proper, though, is the bait. Role's pretty self-exlanatory, even if it at first seems to be against the general rule I just gave ya'. Bait draws the Zards out not too far out from their home, they're not stupid after all, to where the rest of everyone needs to set up a proper perimeter inside and out while keeping an eye out while the bait does their thing.

Outside of the perimeter is the majority of people whose one big job is keepin' the numbers of em' at bay, watching out for danger from the Zards or other sources, and keepin' us from getting surprised from other things from the outside as best as possible. Given the ambitious and reckless idiots the metas we're investigating inside are tryin' to emulate, expect sneak attacks or sniping or traps or that sort of thing as a potential hazard outright throughout all of this at all times.

Inside the perimeter, then, we then have our heavy-hitters. These are the ones whose main jobs is to kill as many of em' as fast as they can. Bait brings the first bunch into a hole we leave wide open on the front of the perimeter, then before the outer perimeter people get overwhelmed or hit in the back heavy hitters begin smashin' those that followed the bait in fast and hard. We leave that hole in the front of the perimeter because its where the bait brings em' in for the heaviy hitters ta' begin the meat grinder initially, and ta' make these things think its a weakness they can exploit ta' flank those on the outer perimeter so they keep sendin' more of their own in to get chewed up by the heavy hitters like a meat grinder.

Bait after kickin' things off and getting back ta' safety then helps the outside of the perimeter or even the inside as needed, at least unless the Zards stop coming into the perimeter opening an' start holdin' back. If the Zards stop sending more of their own inside the openin', everyone goes to perimeter and fills out the hole ta' help out and avoid getting us flanked and overrun."

Cull the numbers, and then the Zards would not be as confident eventually. Would still be clever still to kill if they retreated and you opted to follow them like a suicidal idiot, but get a frenzy going to get them running in and dying by the numbers and it would pay off handesomely by killing them off before they could think to retreat overall. Even the gangs had to deal with or keep these sorts of things at bay in this part of the city, no matter how big or small you were as a gang, for that matter. Skulls had to do it often enough, and she'd been on those missions too after her power had kicked in. Had been part of her years of being in the meat grinder herself, almost quite literally at times depending on the fight and how much damage she took and the like. But having a basic plan of some sort to fight these things was certianly an important one when dealing with clever and deadly creatures who enjoyed using numbers and intellect as their two biggest weapons....same went for some gangs and villains or people in general, perhaps, now that she thought about it. Eh, that thinking was something to look at later really though....not right now while things were getting laid out to go.

"Finally, if anyone needs help, then damn well shout for help and don't stay silent or leave someone else to get overrun. Pride, loyalty, helpin' other people, and nothing else like that matters if you're dead. So if we're gettin' too overloaded, then, we all back the perimeter up together. Careful retreat unless situations demands otherwise badly enough. Get far enough away, Zards'll take longer to get to us or might go back home if they see us as not worth it if its been long enough. Eventually we get far enough ta' regroup and recoup before headin' back into things.

Even if we have to do anythin' like this or not, though, remember the first big rule and don't forget it.

Aaaand that's the basics of Brookside Zard huntin'!"

You let anything, other metas or humans or Leftovers or any enemy sneak up on you when you aren't expecting it, or they make you fight on their terms, it wasn't ever a good sign in her book. Sometimes you had to handle such situations no matter how well you prepared, though, which was another follow-up to that. Simple. It didn't matter how strong you were, fast you were, or anything if you got yourself into a stupid situation or fumbled about things badly enough they could kill you either way. Either way it could be a death sentence all the same, and you might die simply because you didn't take it seriously enough. Overestimation had its problems, sure, but to hell if not focusing on the end goal or underestimating was going to help either. Going against Zards without a proper plan or people willing to do it was going to benefit anyone but themselves, specially the Zards and the so-called 'Azure Skulls' of all things. So yeah, she wasn't going to pull those punches here....not if anyone here wanted to stay alive by the end of it. Even if it pissed anyone here off to interrupt their lovely glaring and talking session, they had far bigger problems to face here than ICOSA in the short term situation of this mission for sure.

And it didn't help two of these kids were either her age or younger and didn't seem to have any experience with stuff like this, at least according to what she could glean on them beforehand when reading about her coworkers to try to get some idea of them across the board. Still, Luna stood there with her left hand in her pocket and her right wrist held up near her mouth to keep speaking things out to the group.

Better to have a plan than no plan. Better to say something and try to get them on task than mull about. Even a good enough backstabber in the streets knew when to cut and run with the profit and when to not let themselves and everyone else die in the process....in theory. Too many idiots in the world sometime, it seemed, to her eyes. But that was another matter altogether and she didn't want to get sidetracked in all of this.

"So, with that all in mind it is my strong suggestion we have someone like myself or Blur act as bait. Someone who's fast enough, in his case it seems, or expeienced enough with these things, like myself, who can survive to draw em' out to everyone else or has done this before. Point is ultimately for the bait and tactic here to bring them into our battle arena under our rules, and ta' not let them draw us apart and split us up and bring us into their territory instead where we get picked off one by one or two by two.

Ardent, you have air superiority here against these things if you stays high up enough, and you can best cover Crane if she's in trouble I believe. Terraformer can shape the land around us as we need, mind that these things can climb like crazy though, but all we'd need is enough to slow em' down or get em' to scramble where you can use rock or something to crush em' hard without holdin' back. Crane has the size and perspective advantage, so she could work in the perimeter or on the outside of it. Then Lab Rat has some speed as well as some durability of a sort too. That's even going ta' be my suggestion for a perimeter team at that.

Mire, you're my first thought for heavy hitters on the inside of the perimeter. Can melt em' down good and effectively. I'd be another suggestion for the heavy hitters, as I can be fightin' a few at once and hit hard. Blur is another suggestion as well. If me or Blur acts as bait, then the two of us with Mire can handle the meat grinder inside of the perimeter as the heavy hitters from that point.

And last, but not least, I will say this again: Do. Not. Go. Alone. Or. Follow. These. Things. Or. Anyone. Or. Anything. Else. Away. From. The. Group. For. Any. Reason. At. All. Not even if you see a meta inside the factory with chocolate chip cookies, or they're prestending to be your friend or something. No. Reason. Do not trust anyone but the group of us sticking close together, do not get cocky with the Zards, and have your eyes on your back and the back of the person next to you. Call for help if you need it, and if you are afraid of panicking just focus as best as you can on your 'lane' of the operation and role."

Any questions? Could ask that, but she knew the easy sass answers to that question already. But if anyone had a question, an alternative idea, or the like then they needed to say it now or she was going to try to get them going and moving before it was too late. She really hoped they could get moving before they either broke apart or something from stupid internal fighting or sat around for too long and wasted the time they had for this mission by flushing it and themselves right down mouths of the Terrazard-shaped toilets running around about two hunded and something yards of into the distance. Literally or otherwise, she'd let them pick at that stage as otherwise she likely would be most busy at that venture trying to save as many of their collective carcasses as she could from the grip of death and further trauma.

@Blizz@ManyThings@Silver Carrot@shylarah@Hitman@DClassified@Zoey Boey

The Long Afternoon of the Mojave (A Fallout Roleplay)

Frank Karrington - Hopetown (Canyon Wreckage), Jacobsville, Western Mojave Wasteland

It was a sleepy early morning, but nonetheless an early morning that had made it hard for Frank to do anything but get ready for his job. A job. Heh, that was something he hadn’t thought he’d manage in a place like this with mutants and ghouls and even some of the weird crap you usually heard about in ghost stories elsewhere. Either way, the people here had taken him in and kept the Greenlung people out, given him a job to do, and hell he’d even gotten married in the last year! It fared far better than starving out in the wastes, dyin' to fiends, gettin' shot up by other Raiders, and much less rotting under the boot heel that was Denver and his thrice-damned soldiers trying to enforce their ‘order’ on the Mojave Wasteland while some freaky plague and green stuff was tryin' to take over the whole Mojave and everything else in the blasted Wasteland.

Despite the whole thing with mutants being around, though, things seemed to go generally pretty well in this neck of the woods. Same rules for everyone, discretion was good, and frankly the whole community felt far more tight-knit than some ramshackle farmstead father out West where the Brahmin Barons went to play. Sure there were more humans here than mutants, but even when one went farther in past Hopetown that proportion of mutants to other people changed it was generally a safe place to live for the most part from top to bottom. Generally. He’d been deeper in a few times out of curiosity, or for some regular training as a settlement guard anyways, but he didn’t envy the poor sods who had to holdout on the other opposite end of things deeper into the Divide. Freaky ghouls that even made the normal ones take pause, and even things that made the bigger mutants have to fight and struggle. Them, struggling that bad! It was a hell of a thing, but he was frankly glad they were around in that place to keep the other end of things secure along with the rest of em' to be sure by this point.

Still, the front door of his family’s humble home shack creaked open as usual as he moved to step outside, its placement closer to where some said an old bus and other prewar debris was originally sitting there like a doorway into the Divide with those words "Lonesome Road" scrawled onto them for some reason. That in mind, it made sense to him that his home was near the top of the hill near the back of Hopetown itself and likewise had quite enough a view down the brief incline and scrap-paved new road that meandered down quickly from the Divide’s entrance (cliffside constructions and secondary gate, with two sniper-mounted watch towers climbing all the waup up onto either side of the cliffs themselves, aside) all the way to the rotund market area located basically just behind the front gates at the foot and front of Hopetown. It was all sitting nestled in the rocks and hills, with internal walls used to further shore it up, caressed in its neat little hiding spot that for the most part tried to stay concealed and hidden. Or, well, at least wasn’t in the open air and easy to get sight of. Just a nice little corner of the Mojave, fortified up and tucked away from the viewpoint of those living in Primm proper for the most part.

Front gates and front walls themselves sat hidden and crested in the rock as well, as did the front walls on either side of them, but they were distinctly not built to be visible from the side either. In fact, the ones who had built it all seemed to not get too close to the old playground for the most part either. Avoided it like some freak cave animal avoided the light, though he supposed that was the same type of thinking that went into making this part of Jacobsville in the first place. Don’t stand out like a sore thumb. Don’t make a big silhouette. Tuck things away nearly into the natural surroundings, and make sure it was well-protected. Very front of the whole operation even only went as far down as the last old wreck that had been on the incline before Hopetown itself had popped up into existence, if not held back some feet more. Made the front gate squished against the market circle itself just about, but it still at least had more room down there to operate and move in than might meet the eye from farther back. Was big enough to work guard shifts in for one thing, some doing the paperwork and storing it in their little buildings to either side of the front gate and the others standing outside armed and ensuring traffic flowed smoothly while keeping an eye for trouble.

Still, as he walked out onto the main road proper and tried to move in place among the moving people, Frank would easily spot a large green blob just across the street waving at him with a stupid grin. Big mutant type. Green, not so smart, and with the biggest muscles anyone had seen. Heh. It was that time of morning already, wasn’t it?

Weaving through the traffic, mostly to avoid the latter party unthinkingly bolting through it to talk to him, Frank would approach the large super mutant with a casual smile. Big guy was smiling himself as well, though, that much was easy to tell. Seemed a bit happier than usual, even, now that he thought about it. Even so it wasn’t hard to still notice the large scars, Deathclaw sized to be sure, that raked across the big guy’s face. Made him seem a bit scarier than some until you heard anything come out of the guy’s mouth.

“Frank-human!”

Yup. Just as jovial and childlike as anything. Big kid for the most part in some ways, but that was ‘Grub’ for ya. Happy and friendly to a fault, but hell the big green guy was good company. Also good people to have around in case of something going down in the market, as he’d also seen in the past, but that was not something he wanted to dwell too much on right now either.

“Grub! How ya’ doin’ today, you big green lug?”

The super mutant gently ‘fist-bumped’ with Frank as he walked up to him, as the idea of a ‘hug’ had gone out the window a long while ago for….reasons. Reasons the regular doctor (not to be confused with the other doc down in the market) was more than happy to help explain to Grub in easier terms for him as well too. Still, the edges of the super mutant’s mouth even then had remained in the best example of a smile he could manage all the same.

“Am good! Boss lady say I do good job cutting weird meat up yesterday! Was happy.”

Grub was in the end, well, just one local mutant that lived in the Hopetown part of Jacobsville. Name was pretty normal as far as he knew anything about mutants in this mish-mash of a place in general, though, but he seemed to recall how to cut up meat pretty good given he worked at the meat place down in the market. Or, well, perhaps remembered a little and the boss had made him ‘pretty pictures’ to help him do his job as the mutant had once told him. But where else on this side of the Mojace was one going to find some odd specialty butcher shop? Eh? Primm? Place was NCR turf, and like hell if most here wanted anything to do with the place or the NCR itself to boot. That much they could all agree on.

“Really? Eh…how ‘weird’ was the meat?”

“Looked like small, thin Brahmin with strange horns and two heads still! Very dry, tough, and sit in metal box of lots of strange white stuff when I see it. Boss lady said it was ‘from really far away’, so I be veeeery careful with it. She watch me too, tell me where to cut this time. She smile when I was done too. Say I do good job!”

“That’s great! Er, did she….call it anything?”

“Uhh…vin-eeeee-seeen?”

Grub put a finger to his chin as he tried to pronounce the unfamiliar term, his brain seeming to put all the steam it had going into that too. At the same time, though, all Frank felt was his left eyebrow raising up as he tried to parse what he was hearing. Vineesen? Was that some fancy pre-war word or something? Eh, not that it mattered much now. Better to not burn the big lug out too early in the day with the thought stuck in his dead, not unless he wanted to get an earful from Grub’s boss later for it.

But what kind of meat was Grub even trying to describe here? Didn’t sound like some malnourished Brahmin, could be for all he knew though, but at this rate who really knew. Not like anything that ran around the Mojave or too close to it, at the very least, but maybe someone had brought it from far away to get it cut up to sell at a price hike and big profits. Wouldn’t be the first time something strange like that popped up out of the blue and left without another word, that was for sure.

Frank pulled up his hands to wave at the big guy, trying to get his attention before it was too absorbed into the thought to do anything else.

“Don’t worry about it, big guy, I’ll ask her later myself, ok? No worries. You don’t have to think about it. I promise.”

“Oh! Ok, Frank-human!”

Whew. Ghoul lady running the shop Grub was at certainly had her ways….and Grub seemed content to work for her too. Yet the most surprising thing was the raw patience she’d seemed to give toward Grub’s adjustment to the place after he’d tried to help the guy find work at the market and she’d taken an interest in him. Had been a big surprise with her getting the big lug comfortable like she had, all despite the thing he’d heard and seen with regards to her temper…and her abnormal skills with a knife. Still, Grub seemed content enough with his job despite the at times shady nature of things his boss seemed to dig her claws into. Even had the lug delivering some packages to the front gates a few times that he could remember, though, so she had him well-trained and kept him happy it seemed at least.

“Well, for now I need to hurry if I want to get to my post this morning. My boss lady is gonna’ not be happy if I don’t. So I’ll see you later, ok Grub?”

“Ok! See you later, Frank-human!”

With that, and a hasty goodbye wave, Frank would try to dart back onto the main road and through the two moving lanes of foot traffic. He had become accustomed to things for the most part, but if he ran late a second time this week he was not gonna’ be a happy camper either. If Grub’s boss was shady and great with knives alongside having a temper, then his boss was grumpy and one heck of a shot with a gun while having all the ‘discipline’ and rigidness of a damn Brotherhood Knight! Seriously. Plus on top of that if Maurice didn’t shut the hell up about having to do early morning duty or wanting to ‘be promoted’ to a sniper one day he was going to let some of the others kick his ass one day…but not enough for the pretty keen-eyed ghoul to be unable to come back to work the next day or where he’d have to cover for him. Please no, never that again if he could help it.

Even still the mooing Brahmin, clatter of metal, smell of cooking foods, the clap of shoes moving up and down the Hopetown road itself, it was all enough to get him back in ‘the zone’ as he liked to call it. Normals sounds in a normal workplace that got you in the working mindset, as far as he was concerned, though you still had to keep an eye and an ear out for things. It was, to be blunt, his literal job to keep his eyes and ears peeled at that.

Still, all the way down at the front gate and the market was his own domain in a sense too, he felt, where he helped the other five guards there keep tabs on people, record those coming in and out and some things like that, kept his eyes and ears open for trouble, etc. Three on each side of the front gate, two standing out there armed and ready and keeping tabs on things and one in the shack-like booth on each side keeping the paperwork and such in the shade. A standardized format. Was honest work, and hard work at times, but hell if it wasn’t better than ‘underpaid caravan guard’ in his opinion. Naturally didn’t need raiders or others wanting to give them a bad time walking in, morons trying to rush or gun their way inside, or other trouble like NCR. It was to keep their own safe, to be a show of force to asshats, even if defensively, and they helped keep tabs on who came in and who went out for the day to boot.

The market itself, however, didn’t seem to be much busy yet. Mostly some individuals, maybe three pack brahmin he could see with some others, etc. Butcher shop and the market doc were seemingly getting ready to open up in their own ways, Junk shop was already selling something, and the other stalls were getting ready for the day’s business all the same in turn. The one or two spots to get grub seemed to already be serving something for the ‘early risers’ too, though, and it was an almost heavenly smell sometimes at the end of the day if he’d had to skip lunch over something going on at the gate.

“Hey Frank! Front gate duty again? Maurice beg them to put you there to suffer with him again?”

Frank’s head popped up, the man lost in his thoughts for a moment and almost tripping over his own two feet, only for a peal of laughter to his left to drag him out of the moment. With a huff and a light eye roll, he looked over to see the smirk of a certain young redhead leaning against the nearest stall. Small ponytail, freckles for days, hair as red as a fire, but couldn’t tan for the life of her. That was Amelia, one of the young regulars who traversed the market and helped ‘visitors’ seeking discreet assistance get to where they needed to be either in Hopetown or farther back into Jacobsville. Not a formal role or real job, though, but one the kid had managed to work out for herself. Plus for how savvy the kid was with a 9mm pistol and sneaking about she was just how old again? Only 19 years old now? Still, Amelia knew the Hopetown area and as far back as the Silo like the back of her hand. Seemed to take pride in it too after being a pickpocket in the Mojave who pissed off the wrong gambler and having to ‘start over again’ after a near-death experience.

“Yeah yeah, ha ha hha, but no. Volunteered for it while I’ve got the chance, even taking on a bit extra before Maria pops and we’ve gotta’ take the time for our new kid.”

“She’s that close already?”

“Doc Patricia said she was, last we checked a few days ago, at least. Got us excited to see if it's a boy or a girl, but either way I’ve been told we’ll need to try to be ready to handle the kid.”

“You, having a kid of your own? What’s next, tiny green people landing and dancing in front of the gates? But good ta’ hear Maria’s doin’ well. Tell her I said ‘hey’, would ya’?”

“Heh. Yeah, I will. She’s been wondering how you're doing’ these days, but despite your comments this morning I’ll tell her you said hi this evenin’.”

The redhead would roll her eyes in turn and give him a light punch on the shoulder before leaning back against the side of her chosen ‘vantage point’ to look out at the market. Was enough to make the edges of Frank’s mouth tug back once more, however, and to hell if it was a smirk this time either. Heh. The kid still reminded him of his sister years ago, least’ before their family had split up a bit and-...well, he’d not talk about it right now. Naturally reminded him in the best and worst ways of her though, for what it was worth. Smartass mouth and everything.

“Just get going before my potential customers come in, ok?”

With a nod, though, Frank would hurry along.

As he walked closer and closer to the entrance of the Hopetown Market, the reinforced inside barrier people had to walk around on one side or the other to come in or out of the gate standing as tall as it ever had, he’d find his waking mind wandering a little in that regard. That little wall, though, was mostly for cover and to keep anyone from being able to throw or shoot right into the market beyond. It also provided cover for the guards themselves in the case of a shootout of some kind in part at the entrance. Was certainly working out better thanthe caravan guard gigs he’d run in the past, especially after his fifth and final client out in the Mojave decided to cut and run before paying his large due in caps. All because he tried to tell him going through a Green-infested area was a ‘bad idea, no really, yes really’! Cheapskate. Conniving asshole. Fancy-suit-wearing wine-chugger. Hoped the Green had gotten the guy for his trouble and caps, but perhaps a Deathclaw finding him would be better now that he thought about it.

Ah. But no, no, Maria had told him that was not very nice to imagine, even if part of him wanted to keep doing that to soothe the old pain of the event a bit. And that was before the pregnancy!

Already, though, he could see the three on the other side checking people in, which meant-

“Frank!”

A female ghoul standing on the right side of the gate called out to him, waving the man down as he walked over with a casual wave of his own. She was donning the same outfit and attire they all did as guard, from the reinforced leather, to the sewn-in plates of metal in it, to the same general choice of gun and knife and pistol depending on what they had to assign to guards. Admittedly, though, Dorene the ghoul had very few strands of hair left on her head. Usually liked to wash where she could, though, and ‘take care’ of herself as best she could of her body still regardless. Couldn’t blame er’, for a ghoul she did the best of anyone he’d seen in that regard. Human or not.

“Hey Dorene. Grub an’ Melia’ got me on the way for a few seconds. But, eh, is Maurice already given’ you the usual headache already?”

“No, he’s been stuck on paper duty so far. He gets stuck with you for just a shot while around midday, though, before you rotate back into paper duty for the end of the day.”

A sigh of relief slipped out of Frank's lips before he could think twice about it. Maybe today he’d make it back with his sanity intact for once. But minimal work with Maurice right there next to him? Eh, that was also a bit fishy. Call him superstitious, but something like that usually meant something else would ‘compensate’ for it all in the end. Blargh. But at least they’d be checking people out and not ‘in’ this time.

“How’s Maria doing this morning, by the way? Does she need anything? Sickness getting to her too badly at all today?”

The mild worry in her voice was audible, but he'd expected that much of Dorene as it was.

She did used to be a sister to, eh, one of his wife’s ancestors it seemed. Once reason she’d always been a close friend of the two of them for a hot minute. Call it sentimental, but hell at least Dorene was a good relative to have around for sure too. Was really good with some of the basic stuff, taught Maria more when they’d first learned she was pregnant even, but had practically learned to use a gun for the past two centuries too. Had been excited for the coming baby to boot, perhaps even more than Maria or himself for that matter, from what he’d seen.

“She’s fine, Dorene, but it's gettin' harder for her to move these days. Usually she stretches stuff out over the course of the day to avoid overexertin' herself, but even with me takin’ up a couple of things more at the house to help too she sometimes doesn’t like to take her time still as much as she should. Wants to get everything extra ready for the kid as soon as she can beforehand....”

“Oh! My sister was always like that, but it's still good to know we’re of the same mind on her pacing things out. For her and the baby’s sakes. I’ll have to talk to her again, maybe, after work this evening I mean.”

“Sure, I think I need the backup as it is. Plus we’d be happy to have you for dinner, though it’ll be pretty late. Night shift guys’ll be late tonight, remember?”

“Oh shoot….I had almost forgotten that. Well, for now let’s get you out here before the boss stops covering for me for a second. I told him I’d make sure you got here in time.”

“He’s coveri-, ah for fricks’ sake! Ok, ok. Please lead the way before we get the full earful today.”

Yup. It was going to be another day. Another guard duty. Another lovely time spent under the shade of the walls and main gate, underneath the seemingly eternal constant that was the heat of the persistent Mojave Wasteland sun.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Freakshow

Cresting over the edge of view and almost slithering into the area the duo of villains and the ever-growing posse of involved heroes it came. Its chitin-covered bony legs of innumerable count chittered and clattered in irregular manners as the first thing to hit the ears of those there, potentially, even as its disguistingly abnormal centipede-like and rather super-elongated body of supersized proportions emerged rapidly into view and onto the scene. Muscle-controlled bony spikes lined the sides of its shamble of a form, these being intermingled with a myriad of human arms that seemed to flex and move as if ready to grab onto something with inhuman might and strength, though this was not all.

Its body was made of exposed muscle, hanging bits of flesh, intermingled grabbing tendrils of many-fingered 'arms', and dripping meat that screamed 'not right' to the naked eye were attached to it as if it was some horrific project gone wrong in a lab experiment. All of this, though, even as one could notice the far too numerous random eyes and mouths that were grown on its back and underside and even on its sides as well seemed to keep an 'eye' on all directions around the hulking thing and kept rows and rows of sharp, inhuman teeth at the ready. Even enhanced chitonous and bone-incorporated plates were seemingly randomly grafted to its thick and dense fleshy form like a sort of ad-hoc armor to boot. The multiple warped human heads on the front of this hulking something with sharp pointy teeth and inhuman grins only served to push things along to boot.

It skittered along with frighteningly fast speed, albeit timing its arribal to the last part of Stray's speech, though as it entered the scene it spoke only after the older super had managed to finish his piece. Yet even then, its many mouths spoke in a cacophony, semi-united and semi-uncoordinated on-purpose as the echoing of the horror's voice ran through the waterside air like nothing else had ever quite sounded that particular day. The chorus spoke almost sweetly, in a sing-song manner even, and yet its varied tones and textures of voice were nothing if not a potentially jarring combination in its own right. A proper show of intimidation, one meant to push home the message Stray had been giving about surrendering and the potentiual price of not doing so.

"I'd listen to this guy's offer of peace and surrender if I were youuu~"

Luna had taken the words of Ms Duff to a bit of concern on her part, though this didn't come from anything about ALISA's tendencies. No, those felt....much more human. Normal. But to suddenly not have contact like this for a bit out of the blue? It was still suspicious to the heroine's gut instincts, and she'd stuck around as requested to try to 'make sure nothing went horribly off the rails' at the very least. Enhanced her own eyes, ears, and even smell to try to keep a vigil, even, though it hadn't taken long before she'd heard something happen from afar. The crackle of electricity. The sound of a fall on the sandy shore. Two people talking about something. Ah.

Yet before she'd the chance to react much the younger woman would hear the voice and form of Crane moving over as Luna herself had tried to crouch and creep closer to get a better peek. Darn it! Seemed to have a heart of gold, but had not the social awareness of someone who'd lived in a bad part of town and worked in the bad part for too long in turn. Even then, Fallout and then Eva seemed to make their way over in turn. Then the angry mushrooms went in for an attack anyways. Then Stray snuck over and did his thing, and Eva was now of course a hostage because why not.

It was like magnetically everyone's attention had turned to the right place at the right blasted time, even, which in part felt convenient but at the same time felt oddly vexing in part as well. Not because she wished for trouble or to be theo nly one helping, hell she was glad others were getting in on it before it went too far, but because going all too fast could lead to actions of desperation on the part of the enemies who might be feeling a bit 'trapped' right now to say the least? Some idiots could even kill and run just to try to distract, but at least it seemed the two who had taken out Ms Duff were at least not total murderous assholes.

...Well, hopefully they weren't.

But she'd taken the time to warp and change herself into something, and as Stray gave his speech Luna had felt the timing was perfect to emphasize his points near the end of it all by skittering in with just one of the horrific uses she'd thought up for her power. A bit of intimidation, as it were, taking on a huge and super elongated monster form in the background while others were distracted so she could help push the point of these two being surrounded and potentially in a less-than-winnable situation. Besides, she didn't have to say it to imply that 'attacked by a horrific monstrosity that can swim and skitter along on land alike just fine' would be included on the list of 'bad things to happen' to them if they didn't surrender or did try something stupid here and now.

Such was the mind of one Luna Bianco. Scaring the hell out of your enemy was better than killing, she hoped, as otherwise she planned to try to capture the duo in the case they did try something instead of killing them or such otherwise.