MrDidact said
Sixgun's pantomime of terror was absolutely convincing as the Witchfinder did not immediately add another hole to the cowboy's head. Chunk did in fact take this as his signal to go in and kicked in the door, firing at everything within. There were several humans working over what seemed to be a hybrid between a chemistry set and crude arcane workings. Beakers and tubes of anomalous fluids were shattered and two or three technicians were shot in the chest, their blood mixing with a veritable rainbow of chemicals. Chunk turned and ran and what followed next wasn't pretty. An emaciated hispanic man raised his arms and muttered a word and his hands let loose a green misty burst that hit Chunk in the back and immediately he started to... dissolve. His clothes turned from black to grey and ashy, melting partially and turning brittle and crusty in other places. His skin turned from a sunburned pink to a putrid yellow before it started to melt too. Chunk's screams reached an unbelievable pitch as the spell worked it's ways through his now melted skin into his muscles and bones, unable to walk he sank down into the ground and mere moments later all that was left of Chunk was a putrid puddle in the dirt. He had a bad run in with Legion's Alchemist. The Alchemist turned his attention to several tall gnarled plants in the room and he touched down muttering a word and then the plants moved, uprooting themselves from their pots and twisting their bodies, turning into roughly humanoid shapes of dark bark, greenish fluid leaking from several places but especially what passed for a pair of eyes. The mandrakes, a half-dozen in all, screeched and bolted out the doorway and came around the sides of the lab, taking quick but shuffling strides as they looked for more intruders. The woman nodded lightly, "Ok. But what if you get shot? Or worse? That woman was unbelievably fast." There were a dozen or so other patrons within close proximity of the woman and Rift Hound, their escape would be difficult but not impossible. The guards with the guns on the other hand were the first obstacle. Bishop snapped a thunderous finger again and the guard departed before returning with the drink Shifter requested. Bishop raised his wine, "A toast. To mutual dialogue and cooperation." He drunk and set down the glass, going about back to his dish. He nodded a their answers, "I see. Not your typical heroes then. Lost souls. Looking for something more. Well let me tell you this, Legion is always willing to take in strays." His eyes gleamed as he chuckled, the wine and tea rumbling at the same time. He cut into his steak and blood mixed into his dish, "Why do things for only one reason, when you can do them for many? Maybe because it's fun. Maybe because of the money. Maybe because it'll burn the Outfit even more." Flasher returned and teleported a group of small children away. The Marconi family group was now down a third of its party. Bishop chewed,"Because while we abduct Marconi's family, this captive audience ensures none of you do anything stupid. And now that we have two of the League's own I feel even more secure." Bishop leaned in after taking another bite,"And because it states definitively who we are. We're the ones in control of the streets now Heroes. Not the Outfit. Not you. Us. We do what we please, when we please, wherever we please, and however we please. Stay out of our war, let us deal with the criminals you left over, and we can have peace. After this war, after we eliminate every violent outfit in basically half the country, we'll keep the violence down to a minimum. We'll keep the oh so terrible crimes behind closed doors, beneath the surface. Your innocent civilians won't be attacked. You get to keep doing what you're doing. And we get to rule the largest criminal empire in history. How about that for a business deal?" He drank more wine and went at his plate again, it was now more than half-done. He dabbed at his mouth with a napkin, "So any questions, concerns, comments, conundrums? I brought you here to talk after all." The mole creature went still as the impact killed it. Abaddon's wild cry rang throughout the battle. Suddenly serpents appeared around Abaddon's body, dark and red-eyed creatures that wrapped around him tighter than any rope and bite at him, venom dripping from their fangs as they both constricted him and tried to poison him. A calm, resonant voice pierced the air, "You will regret invoking me creature." A tall caucasian man appeared, borne aloft on the back of what seemed to be a demonic gryphon. The man raised his hands and two massive black-furred, red-eyed dogs appeared blood around their muzzles and red saliva dripping from their mouths. The man snapped his fingers and the dogs ran at him, faster than any mortal canine could have accomplished and they leaped through the air at the ensnared Abaddon, one at his torso and one aiming for his head. Inside the prison, Frost grimly stared as he started to kill Apogee. Then suddenly a human missile slammed into him knocking him to the ground, robbing him of all breath, and shocking him to boot. The man groaned and lay on the floor, consciousness slowly leaving him. Apogee crashed to the floor and her eyes gleamed red, the heroine readying a heat vision blast but not firing in a bid to raise her temperature back up. Suddenly the Surgeon sprang at Volt, ten razor sharp claws extended as he dove at Volt's face. Nearby Rot slowly got to her feet. Near the infirmary, the screams echoed down the halls to the three heroes as the fireball strode calmly through the halls, inmates and guards alike burning in her wake or frantically retreating from her. She was now very close to the infirmary and the injured guards, staff, and inmates within. On camera the prison was in chaos, inmates brutally beating each other or guards, Legion men or inmates executing any cornered staff they found, guards, staff and even other non-violent inmates hiding in every nook and cranny they could find, all kinds of brutal no-holds barred melees, wanton destruction of the buildings and vandalizing, and more than one female guard or smaller prisoner being dragged off screaming. The overcrowded, underfunded, ill-equipped prison had been thrown into complete anarchy.
"Agh!!!"
The appearance of these large serpents was completely unexpected, even for Abaddon. Though he had sensed a changed in the air around himself, their sudden appearance was far too quick to be dodged instantly, leaving him bound in crushing pressure that easily could have broken the bones of a normal human. And the venom... it didn't necessarily poison him, but by God did that shit burn like hell!
"So..." Abaddon coughed out, "This is what.... what that feels like...!"
Abaddon had used constriction via his tendrils to give his unlucky victims a slow death before. Now he knew how it hurt, but instead of regret, Abaddon let out a strained laugh as the summoner appeared before him.
"Gotta thank you for this. Now I know that they didn't die painlessly!"
Two demon wargs appeared before the summoner, jaws snapping and dripping blood in saliva as they eagerly awaited their master's order to dig in to their trapped meal.
*You will regret invoking me, creature,* the summoner spat as he ordered the hounds to attack. They leapt forward, claws outstretched and mouths wide open to deliver fatal snaps to their prey.
"Ha!"
What an expected move. Abaddon had at least three ways he could have gotten out of this situation earlier, but he decided to endure through it to see what else the summoner would do. Now he had the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone! Well... four birds.. two snakes and two dogs. You get the deal! Clenching his claws together, Abaddon released sharp spikes all ove his body, cleaving the serpents on his body into pieces and impaling the too eager mutts.
"Ahhh, much better!" Abaddon hissed as he cracked his back, the long spikes now shifting into flexible tendrils to move and throw away the corpses. He did keep one though, the body of a freshly killed warg which he used to try and unnerve the dark conjurer.
"I hope that's not all the magic you have at your disposal," Abaddon mocked as he brought the animal closer to the now open second mouth along his stomach. The sharp teeth splattered blood and pieces of flesh everywhere as he devoured it.
"Because if all you can do is hide behind worthless pets, you're not gonna last long! Half of these sorry beasts lying all over the place was my doing!"
He motioned to the grounds around him. Left and right, there were monstrous bodies with pooling blood and missing pieces strewn around. Their numbers had been greatly diminished, something which gave the guardsmen a boost of confidence to press onwards and do a better job of fighting against the creatures. Manmade weapons could only do so much though, so Abaddon knew he had to kill the summoner to banish them all.
"Sadly most of your meta buddies got hogged by Zenith and his friends, but I guess you'll have to do as compensation for the lack of excitement around here..."
Abaddon thrust out his arm and delivered a wave of magic energy intent on knocking the summoner backwards...
