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Heads up that I have tweaked The Wanderer's attributes to reflect the power boost he received shortly after his last post and during the transition period.
I swear I'm not trying to hog all the spotlight on Page 40 of the IC. Promise


&



In

A Man Out of Time #8: The Fall of Rage

Location: Pacific Point, California


The wind metahuman summoned a gale that blasted the three heroes who had appeared to stop the ramage of the metahumans victimized by the Hounds of Humanity. These winds would have knocked the average person off their feet, but Gajana, a mountain of a man, crept forward, approaching one step at a time. The wind metahuman kept pumping more power into the violent winds, but no matter how much the winds raged, Gajana kept inching forward until he was standing right next to the man. Gajana then raised his arms up and slammed his fists against the wind meta’s shoulders. As a result of blow, the wind metahuman was momentarily stunned, which caused the winds to die down.

“Firefox!” Gajana exclaimed, since he had made an opening for his teammate.

Another portal appeared next to the elephant man and the nine-tailed fox girl hopped out of the portal and landed next to her teammate. Using her fire powers in the same way she did on the speed metahuman, Firefox pressed her hand against the circular device that was attached to the metahuman’s stomach. In mere seconds, she was able to deactivate the device and revert the metahuman back to his original state. Gajana then lifted the now unconscious metahuman and gently placed him down on the other side of the portal, so the individual would no longer be in danger.

“Look out!” Firefox called out when she saw the light-powered metahuman charged up an energy blast and shot it at Gajana. Firefox instinctively leapt into the path of the beam and took the hit for her teammate. However, due to her powers, Firefox’s body absorbed the energy. As a result, the tips of her nines began to glow, signifying that the energy had been stored in her body.

Meanwhile, the Wanderer had been tussling with the rust and ice metahumans. The buffeting winds from the wind meta had done little to deter him, his bloodied face scowling at his two opponents through the purple haze of his barrier. The combined strength of rust spears, the wind and a blizzard-like beam did little against the strength of the barrier despite it looking impressive. As the attack brushed up against the barrier, the mutant focused on the area around them, trying to find the best place to launch a counterattack of his own. As he focused on a potential location, he knew that with the three attacks striking up against the barrier, there was little in the way of him preventing himself from sustaining an injury.

As soon as Firefox took down the wind meta, the mutant saw his opportunity to strike. Releasing his hold of the barrier for a second, he focused on phasing to the next location. While the icy blast and the metal spears struck him as he focused, their attacks seem to do little to deter him. The spears were only glancing strikes against his arms and legs and his body armour slowed the advance of the cold against his body. Smirking, The Wanderer disappeared into thin air, reappearing a moment later between the two metahumans. Before they had a chance to react, he low kicked the ice meta across the knee. The kick itself was ineffective, but it gave him the position needed to blast the rust meta across the street with a beam of psionic energy.

Reduced to one enemy, he began focusing on the ice meta and launched an attack of his own. The psionic blades began to work as they chipped away at the icy exterior of the meta. As he shifted between attacking with the blades and phasing around the metahuman, the blades disappearing between each shift, it wasn’t long before his barrage became too overwhelming. The ice metahuman collapsed to the floor in a daze, much like the wind meta before her. ”Another metahuman down,” he called towards Firefox. He then turned to face the rust meta, managing to get back up on its feet after getting blasted.

While the Wanderer was facing the rust metahuman, Firefox opened up another portal and jumped through it. She landed next to the downed ice metahuman and started working on destroying the device that had turned these metahumans into these raging monsters. The light-based metahuman was momentarily disorientated by his target suddenly disappearing. However, when he turned around, the metahuman immediately found its target again.

“Gajana,” Firefox shouted to her teammate. In turn, Gajana rushed forward the light-based metahuman and he threw a right uppercut. However, the punch did not hit its mark. Instead, his fist passed through the metahuman’s body, as if the light being was intangible. The light-based metahuman turned, raised his hand, and blasted the elephant man with a light burst, which sent Gajana flying into the side of a nearby building.

While her teammate momentarily distracted the light-based metahuman, Firefox was able to revert the ice metahuman back to normal. However, she did not have enough time to open another portal and transport the metahuman to safety. Therefore, the only option she had was to take any hits the metahuman could dish out.

As the fight with the rust metahuman was about to start, The Wanderer noted the two warriors as they were preparing to remove the device from the downed ice meta. As psionic blasts hit the surface of his opponent, he watched from the corner of his eye as the device was successfully removed from the victim, though at the cost of Gajana being struck into the side of the building. While the rust meta was being dealt with medium success, his slight distraction wasn’t enough to fully put the monster down. When the light metahuman was ready to launch an attack on Firefox, with the recovering metahuman still in the field, he had to act.

As the light meta was done focusing on the elephant man, it raised its hands to begin another attack towards the kitsune woman. After it finished charging up, tendrils of light shot out from the ball of light that formed within its hands, each finger darting towards their target. A moment later, the attack connects. However, they collided with something other than their intended target. A translucent dome of a faint purple hue appeared in their path, the damage from the attack doing nothing to dent it. A little further away, The Wanderer had his back turned to the rust metahuman, the monster getting back onto its feet after a psionic detonation blasted it off its feet.

As the tendrils disappeared, the mutant focused on the light meta. His eyes narrowed as his thoughts channelled in on one thing to do, much like he had done with the group of Hounds. The barrier fizzled out, but the beam used to create it surged from it towards the light metahuman. The psionic beam successfully hit the meta, sending it flying. He chuckled at the result. I’m starting to get the hang of thi…

As his thoughts were finishing, the rust metahuman had reached him and slammed its right arm into his side, sending him flying into the building close to where Gajana was. As he collapsed to the floor, groaning at the pain that was now pulsing through his body, he turned to the elephant man. ”I think it’s best if you go for the rusty one while I go for the light-based one. What say you?”

“Sounds better than being blasted by this human lightbulb,” Gajana answered the Wanderer.

Gajana then pulled himself back onto his feet. Before he had time to rush into action, the rust metahuman had Firefox in its arms while trying to squeeze the life out of the fox girl. Gajana could not just confront the enraged metahuman without endangering his teammate.

Suddenly, fire burst out on the tips of Firefox’s tail. The flames then started to spread down her nine tails, until it had covered her entire body, from head to toe. The heat that the flames were giving off grew in intensity. Once she was outputting enough heat, the rust metahuman loosened its grip on her, allowing her to slip out of its grasp. She then rolled out of the way, giving her teammate an opening.

Once Gajana saw his cue, he picked up one of the wall chucks that were created by his impact with the building and chucked it at the rust metahuman’s head. The blow to the head dazed the metahuman for just enough time for Gajana to charge over against their opponent. With one strong punch to the jaw, Gajana knocked the metahuman out cold. As a result, the rust metahuman crumbled to its feet and rolled over.

Firefox dropped to her knees and began working on the device that had drove the rust metahuman crazy. This time, since she had used her powers to covered her entire body, including her suit, with flames, this procedure took even less time, since it took less time to heat up the device. Once the rust metahuman had been reverted back to normal, Firefox stood back up next to Gajana, who had turned to see if the Wanderer needed any assistance.

As the rust metahuman was reverted back to normal, the lone light metahuman snarled at the two heroes. Like a feral animal trapped in the corner, it roared at them in defiance as it began to charge another attack. As both hands were forced into the air, the light in the surrounding area began to darken. Even in the broad daylight, the light from the sun seemed to wane as the skies around them seem to go black. Each passing second went by and the ball of light grew bigger and bigger.

With the attack from the enraged metahuman almost concluded with its charging phase, The Wanderer phased into the line of sight between it and Gajana and Firefox. While he blocked the way so that he would take the brunt of the attack instead of the two heroes, the mutant thought about how to counter whatever the attack was. He thought about the barrier to shield them from the attack, but with the length of the charge then the surrounding area would probably get destroyed. Likewise, if he used a barrier to surround the metahuman, the attack could risk killing the person inside of it. Seeing no other choice, with even a close-up attack being ruled out for it being too slow, he began charging his own attack. He raised his right hand and pointed it towards the light metahuman, the flames of his psionics migrating to his hand as a ball of psionic energy formed in it.

Then, both of them fired. The purple beam of psionic energy and the beam of light collided in the middle of the street, the destruction in the road forming at the point. At first, the two beams were equal in strength, not wanting to budge an inch. But with the previous exertions of the past couple of days became apparent as moments later, the beam of light slowly started to creep forward as it pushed the psionic beam back. The mutant gritted his teeth as he dug his heels into the ground and searched within himself to find more energy to stop the incoming attack. ”I don’t know how much longer I can hold this back,” he grunted at Gajana and Firefox, his body slowly edging back towards them. ”Get the changed people to safety before I lose my strength.”

Suddenly, something tweaked throughout his being. As if something was beginning to break within him, The Wanderer started to feel more energy coming into him. This was visually apparent to those near him as the purple flames of his psionic aura began to flicker with shades of blue in the tips of the flames. Whatever had happened, it gave the psionic beam more energy than before and started to push the beam of light back. Then, as the energy started to increase, the purple beam split the beam of light in to. It surged forth until it hit the light meta. The enraged person was sent flying down the street as the beam of light disappeared with the attack. The purple beam disappeared as soon as The Wanderer reacted to the attack hitting the metahuman. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting heavily as the sweat dripped from his face.

A moment later, he looked up towards the light metahuman. With the sudden surge of energy that went into the attack, he feared the worst had come to pass. While his normal eye saw the metahuman’s body looking limp, his psionic eye saw the waves of psionic energy still emanating from the body. ”Good,” he muttered, audible enough for Gajana and Firefox to hear. ”The metahuman is still alive, but they would need some serious treatment after this.”

While Firefox took care of the now downed light-based metahuman, Gajana immediately contacted the authorities to send an ambulance as soon as possible. Before the heroes knew it, emergency sirens were blaring in the distance, signalling that the EMTs were on their way.

“Thanks for the assist,” Gajana told the Wanderer. “However, I would suggest you let the medics take a look at you. You took quite a beating back there.”

“I agree,” Firefox said while she walked away from the light-based metahuman. As she approached, the flames that had covered her entire body started to extinguish itself. However, when these flames disappeared, her costume turned out to have not been damaged at all, since it had been designed to withstand the heat that Firefox could output. “You don’t want those wounds to fester.”

The Wanderer panted as the two heroes dealt with the last of the enraged metahumans. It wasn’t too long before the sound of the emergency vehicles were in his ears. Guess with this over, it’s time for me to make my leave, he thought to himself, getting back to his feet. While he had suffered injuries from both the Hounds and these metahumans, he was still new to the timeline he was in. Meaning, there wouldn’t be any record of him in the books at all bar the heroics he will have written about him in the news outlets. Besides, he suffered injuries like that before and he figured he could pull through them again.

When Gajana spoke to him, the mutant nodded at the elephant man. ”And likewise,” he responded in kind. When the suggestion of getting the medics to check his injuries from both heroes, he shrugged off the idea. ”While I am sure you’re right about me needing to get checked out by the medics, I’m afraid I’ll have to give that a pass.” He paused for a moment, deliberating on whether to reveal that he was from 200 years in the future. Ah, fuck it, he thought. They might press on their point on getting the medical attention so he better reveal it now than learn about it in the future. ”Besides, I’ve shrugged off much worse injuries from worse beings in your future and still live to be able to get to your time.”

If any word could describe the expression on Firefox and Gajana’s faces, one would use the word ‘surprised’. Although this world had seen interdimensional demons, metahumans, and users of the mystic arts, something like time travelling was too far-fetched to be science fact. This had to be this guy’s gimmick. It was either that or he was mentally unbalanced enough to believe in such a delusion, or possibly both. But what superhero isn’t a little crazy in the head when they run around a city in tights to beat up bad guys.

However, although the Wanderer had taken a beating from his encounters with the metahumans who had been sent into a rage by the Hounds, Firefox and Gajana decided that it was probably better not to try to take the Wanderer in to inquire about the validity of his claim about being from the future. They would only endanger the first responders and any other civilians by starting another metahuman battle.

If the expression that the two heroes were any indication, The Wanderer’s declaration of him coming from the future had taken them by surprise. Of course, he thought, the feeling of disappointment in realizing the error in making such a statement. They probably think that me being from 200 years in the future is too outlandish for this timeline. Nevertheless, he needed to convince them that what he was saying was true and not a delusion that anyone would make up when meeting other superheroes in this city.

Ok, trying to convince them is the next part, but how? was the major question that ran through his mind now. The easiest solution would be to show the various news articles that had been saved in the small memory banks of his wrist device. But, with the more advanced technology he was used to, he decided against it. Without calling past events of this year without much in the way of knowledge on his part, there was only one option for him to take. One that he didn’t like at all.

”Judging by the looks on your faces, what I have said seemed to be a bit… absurd?” He asked, pretty much validating that he has read their expressions. ”It is a large bit of information about me that I have given you, so it might be deemed as impossible. We can talk all day about it and try to convince that I’m from a time 200 years in your future, but that might make either one of us frustrated at the other.” He paused for a moment. ”It doesn’t matter if you think that I am delusional or not, that is the truth that I will say about myself. Whatever its interpretation, I’ll leave to you. Nevertheless, you still have my gratitude and I hope that we meet again under better circumstances.” As his time with this fight has drawn to a close and the threat on civilians are no longer around, he nodded farewell to them and walked away from the scene.


In

Prelude: Within the Depths of Fear


Location: Unknown building, somewhere in Crown Ridge




The Penose had achieved their goal. Every one of the smaller outposts in the Lost Haven and Crown Ridge area belonging to the Hounds had been taken over. And the Hounds that had managed to retreat from their battle in Sherman Square had come back to an ambush. With the head of the Hounds no longer communicating their efforts, any attempt to take back the lost outposts was met with swift defeats. While some had died in their vain attempts, nearly thrice as many had been captured. However, the unusual thing about the Penose’s victory was not the manner they achieved it, but who was assisting them when the Hounds returned.

Another unknown group had appeared once the outposts were seized. Similar to the Hounds, the new organization wore an attire that was black in colour: black body armour, black full-helmets, black boots and black trousers. However, the key difference that made them stand out was the lone, golden emblem that was spray painted on the right breast and on both shoulders. While the Hounds did have S.T.R.I.K.E to thank for their armaments, this organization had similar specifications of technology. The few that stand out had additional weapons. The first man that stood out had two ornate axes attached to either side of his hip, while the man next to him had a similar style of spear strapped to his back.

As the Hounds faced away from the doorway in their room of capture, location in what was determined to be this organization’s new headquarters, there were two men. The first was a beast of a man, standing well over 6’5” and was ripped with muscles that would make most bodybuilders envious. While his uniform was similar in style to the men that stood watch around the room, the shoulders were more elongated from the tops of his shoulders. Another big difference was the rifle was strapped to his back, though two unusually-designed swords on both sides of his hips suggested that he, too, was someone of significance in the organization. The dark brown hair was left draped over the back and front of the armour as his piercing eyes scanned the room of their prisoners.

“Brothers and Sisters of the Hounds of Humanity,” the man spoke up, his voice just a spoken tone but carried throughout the large room. “For the past few weeks, your masters had tried to wrest back the power of back from what you deemed was the plight of humanity: beings with powers and traits that are deemed a danger to the world. For weeks, you have tried to take back the control you have had nary a year ago. For weeks… your masters have failed you.” Measured in steps, the man moved from where he stood to stand in front of the kneeling men and women. “What would you think would happen? That you’d be able to fight these beings with simplistic weapons that one of them could snap like a stick? That your powerful Finger of God would allow you to take control from those beings, despite it now being nothing more than space debris that will crash upon this Earth? Your games of fear and false ideals against the metahuman, mystic and supernatural worlds was doomed to fail from the moment your masters had wrought their agenda to the world.”

Finally, the man stopped at the end of the very small platform that was indicated by black and yellow tape. “But don’t let your ideals end here. Not on the day the Hounds of Humanity were finished. For there is another path to follow. Your ideals were heard. And while the Hounds are to diminish into the history books as nothing more than a terrorist organization that failed, the ever-present eye has been watching. Waiting. Biding its time to find the right moment where our goals are to be accomplished. Where our goals that once started will cause the inevitability of the new era where beings of power will be managed. And I ask of you: What will it take for you to complete the ideals you once had with the Hounds of Humanity? If you say that you will die to make this world a safer place for all who reside in it, then I ask of you this one thing: Join us. The Eye of Osiris has been watching, it has been waiting and it is ready to lead the charge where a new world order will be achieved. The plight that you see is on the verge of being purged from this world and we welcome all to our fold and embrace the change that you so desire. For those that deem our goal to be unworthy for you to take on, then we ask you to stand tall. But for those who want the change, want the peace they are wanting from this world, then we ask of you to remain seated and you will be deemed worthy to be welcomed in the Eye of Osiris.”

As the Hounds murmured amongst themselves about what was said, the man returned to where he was standing, waiting to hear what the captured in the room were deciding. It hadn’t been long before one Hound stood up, followed by a few more. After a short moment, no more than a couple of dozens were on their feet.

“If you so think you are worthy of fighting back these scum, then why haven’t you done it by now?” The man closest to the front shouted out. “Why wait until after the Hounds of Humanity made its charge? You know what I think? I think you’re cowards and you’re never going to accomplish near as much as we have done.” The Hounds that were standing up cheered.

While the man that was standing had been the focal point of the standing Hound’s furious disagreement, the other had been sitting there. While the facial expressions were unseen behind the metallic sheen of his helmet, the red-tinted glass that covered his eyes, the appearance of him slouching in the chair and head resting on his propped up left hand gave the notion that he appeared bored by what the man had said. Motioning towards the standing man, he whispered something as his comrade leaned in close to listen to what was said. The blond-haired soldier stood upright again and turned to the defiant Hound. “I believe we haven’t met. And you are?”

“The name’s Dominic.”

“Right, Dominic,” the man spoke in kind. “The reason we haven’t acted until now that unlike your masters in the Hounds of Humanity, we are waiting for everything in our plan to align before we make our presence known and felt throughout the world. We don’t plan on going half-cocked, which we have clearly seen with your pla…”

“Oh, bullshit!” Dominic spat out. “Unlike you, we don’t wait for ‘everything to align’. And certainly compared to that cowardly piece of shit that you’ve spoken to, we aren’t afraid to go out into the light and show what we’re made o…”

Before he could finish his sentence, something grabbed him by around the neck, choking the last few words into silence. His hands reached out to grab what he felt was a human spine that had grabbed him. The man that was sitting down, with his body now upright, held onto the user end of the skeletal whip that appeared out of nowhere. With a simple tug, the Hound was thrown to the ground. The sitting man then stood up from the chair, the red-tinted lenses of his helmet now glowing. ”Because of the feeble men you had pledged your allegiance to,” the man started, venom laced in his voice as he walked towards his trapped prey. ”Your plans to stop who you deem as your ‘oppressors’ has failed. And who by? By the superhumans that you swore to defeat. To the likes of Icon.” When the hero of Lost Haven was mentioned, the venom in his voice seeped through as he spat the name out. ”If you were the so-called Hounds of Humanity, you would have achieved your goals. What say you, Dominic?”

As soon as the Hound’s name was mentioned, Dominic felt an overwhelming feeling of dread in every fibre of his being. Almost shaking from the sudden fear he was feeling, he looked up to the man that had grabbed him by the throat. The red glow that was in the man’s eyes disappeared, both eye sockets and the mouthpiece fizzling into empty cavities of black. Then, as if the deepest, darkest fears had come to life, a whole manner of spiders and snakes seemed to creep forth from the cavities, each arachnid and serpent slithering and crawling out to the floor. It hadn’t been long before the Hound was made into a quivering mess, wetting his pants at the sight.

”That is what I thought,” the whip-wielding man spoke as if amused by the sight that was in front of him. ”It is also because of men such as you that the Hounds of Humanity had failed. Weaklings such as yourself had tarnished the lofty goals into failure. And that will not be tolerated.” Once again, he tugged onto the whip. Unlike before, the tug of the whip had done something else. For those closest to Dominic, they see the coiled bones of the whip morph into shape, turning sharper in appearance. The end result surprised all witness into shock, with Dominic’s head cleanly taken off as his body was dropped to the floor. Returning the length of the whip to his hand, the man turned to the armed men around the room.

”For those who are standing, you have been weight and measured. In the end, your ideals are left wanting. And in the eyes of Osiris, you are deemed unworthy.”

As if it was a signal, the members of the Eye raised their rifles and pulled the trigger. The remaining Hounds that were standing had no chance to defend themselves as the bullets ripped through them in a firing squad-like fashion. As the smoke of gunfire settled, the dozen of men remained motionless, their black attire riddled with bullets as the hollow-point bullets remain embedded in their bodies. The whip-wielding man then turned to the remaining Hounds. ”For those that remain, the Eye of Osiris has deemed you worthy for our cause. Be not afraid, for our gracious goals are soon to be upon us and the revenge that you are longing for is within your grasp.”

With what seemed to be the initiation into the organization, the captured Hounds still surprised with what had happened, the whip-wielding man returned to his chair. Once settled in it once more, his head turned slightly towards the blond-haired soldier of the Eye. ”My dear Sobek, have you heard from Anhur of the Pasadena girl?”

The dual-sword wielding Sobek turned towards the man, his expression remaining unchanged during the moments before. “He has located the girl in Lost Haven and is still proceeding to track her down, Dullahan. It won’t be long before we are in possession of what was taken from us.”

Dullahan’s red eyes looked on from Sobek, turning to the people leaving the hall to begin the next phase of their initiation. Inside the helmet, his lips curled into a smirk. ”Good, then all things are proceeding as normal. Tell Anhur to proceed as normal. We leave for more information on our missing treasure.”

and


Location: At the HoH base
Time: Attacking the second Base.



As soon as the beast burst out of the vent Richard was already in a full sprint towards them, but luckily he didn’t need to travel all the way back over, as soon as Fletch miraculously dodged out of the way Richard unloaded his rifle into the animal, or at least he tried. Several of his bullets made contact as tiny spurts of blood shot out, but the beast was quick, and sprung into action. It’s quick leaps and jumps were erratic.

”Shit, he’s fast!” Richard shouted, he continued to use quick bursts from his gun, but it wasn’t enough.

It continued to dash and jump towards him, it deftly climbed around his armored body and mounted itself on the front. It’s claws tried to tear into his chest, furiously clawing and scratching at what it could, and the head of the figure clamped it’s jaws around the sides of his head, destroying the outer sensor module in the process; a sparking mess of wires and ruined metal hung from the side of his head.

As the beast took aim at Roadblock, Fletch remained on her hands and knees at the final resting place from her roll as her bow remained nearby. Having such a thing trying to attack her with killing intent, the thought had sent her into a sheer panic. The repressed memories of when she almost died in Pasadena - the night she lost Jason - flooded back into view. Reliving that night had caused her to freeze up, almost sending her into a sobbing mess. In her frantic mind, she knew that there was danger still about and she needed to help fend it off. But the only thing her body and mind wanted to do is curl up into a ball and sob her heart out. I don’t want to die, was the only thought running through her mind, jumbled in with the flashbacks and the fond memories of Jason.

Then, another feeling came into her mind.

Snap out of it! While she had been frozen in place, the mindset of Fletch came back through, almost shattering whatever was holding her in place. That was in the past! You are in the now and you freezing up here will get yourself and everyone you’re with killed. Now. Get. UP!

As if the mental bitch slap was enough to shake her out of it, she looked up and examined what was happening. The beast, a large, canid-like humanoid that had been marred with various scars and sutured-tended cuts was gunning for Roadblock. While she could hear Nemesis yelling through the door and bangs as she and Hound Dog were hitting it to get through it, it was too muffled for her to understand what was said as the beast collided with the suit. The monster had grappled the policeman, trying to get into the suit with its razor-sharp claws and vicious fangs. While it wasn’t as visible as it was before, the neck had been torn open and whatever was inside it was glowing red off of the metal surface of the suit.

Now thinking a bit more clearly from her panicked state, though fear was still the dominant feeling, she charged at the pair of them. Grabbing an arrow from her leg quiver, she jumped onto the main console and onto the beast’s back, her left hand grabbing a huge tuft of hair on its head. ”Take this, you ugly son of a bitch!” Grabbing a secure footing, she thrusted the arrow into the beast’s neck. As the blood spurted out of the new wound, some of it landed onto her hand. While she didn’t know of it, the blood began eating away at the already damaged glove. It didn’t take long before it got through and began to burn her skin. She yelled out in pain as soon as it began eating away at her hand. But the move was enough to distract the monster.

The canid yelped out in pain, quickly disengaging its hold with Roadblock. Sensing a new threat on its back, it began to thrash about trying to grab the archer off its back. Fletch remained where she was, though was struggling against the powerful and rapid changes in movement. As soon as one of her feet slipped off the back, she almost fell off. But one of the large, clawed hands managed to grab her around her torso. She screamed in pain as claws dug into the sides of her rib cage, though the awkward position meant that she wasn’t crushed in its hands. As it finally got a hold of whatever it was holding, the beast threw her away from it, sending her body slamming into the wall. Bouncing off of it like a doll thrown into a wall, Kayla dropped to the floor and remained there, dazed from the collision. The claw marks left on both sides of her were deep, but fortunately not long enough for her to need many stitches. From there, she remained motionless in her daze as the canid began to focus on the weaker of the two targets.

”Stay down!” Richard yelled. Fletch didn’t seem to be one of the physically enhanced metas, if she was at all, but she also looked dazed, so there was no telling if she heard the warning, which meant he needed to get over to her as fast as possible. He jumped towards it, holding his shield in arm, he rammed into it, slamming it right into the wall with a fleshy thud. Blood escaped from some of its earlier wounds and burned at the shield, but Richard gave it another slam before it pushed back.

He pulled his rifle up again to suppress it in a wave of inaccurate hip fire, but Richard barely had time to level his gun before the creature was up, a few of the bullets hit, but it didn’t seem to cause any notable damage. However, with the sudden change in targets, along with the fight escalating, must have caused it to rethink its actions as it quickly darted up the wall, and crashed through a ceiling vent.

Richard stared down the vents in the room and even the door for a few more moments before quickly making his way over to Fletch and examining her. Blood leaked out of the claw wounds on her side, but it didn’t seem serious so they could address that later. She was thrown across the room, that might have broken something, and depending on how she hit a concussion wasn’t out of the question either. However, the base in the blood from earlier was still active and continued to slowly eat away at her hand. Artemis saw his hesitation as he scanned over her.

”Use water to help neutralize the base on her hand.”

Richard glanced around the room, scanning for anything with water, and spotted a half empty bottle. He wasted no time moving over to grab it and nearly tore the cap off while emptying the cool liquid all over Fletch’s hand.

”Are you alright?”

For what seemed like a long time, Kayla remained motionless. While she had been dazed from being thrown into the wall, it was fortunate for her that the impact hadn’t been hard enough for her to have any broken bones, though the grip it had on her might have broken one or two of her ribs. And from the impact, her head didn’t hit the wall at the same force so a concussion was likely to be out of the equation. But the impact had knocked the senses out of her and had spent those moments regaining them. During that time, any sound coming from the room and from the hallway.

The first thing that came back to her was the throbbing pain that her right hand was experiencing. While her glove took the brunt of it, the caustic blood had left some damage on there. But as the cool sensation of liquid hit her hand, she finally began to stir from her stunned state. She moaned as she slowly raised her head up to look at her surroundings. The first thing her groggy vision had noticed was that the beast was no longer in the room. The second was that the room was still under lockdown. Finally, Roadblock was by her side tending to the wound on her hand.

When he asked if she was ok, she slowly began to work her way through what had happened and what her condition was. As she slowly got herself up to a sitting position, she noted the pain on the left side of her chest. Her head had been spinning, but it was quickly disappearing and there was no pressure in her head. ”I think that apart from a couple of broken ribs and the feeling the room is spinning around in my head, I think I’ll be alright.”

With the threat immediately gone for the time being, the first thing that came to mind was the lockdown. ”We need to get this lockdown lifted. For all we know, whatever that bastard is might be attacking the others.” Slowly, using her uninjured hand to prop herself up against the wall, she managed to get herself back onto her feet. ”I’ll… I’ll try to get it lifted using that console… If you want to stand watch in case it comes back. Your armour seems to be able to resist the caustic blood much better than the fabric my costume is made off. Sound like a plan?”

When Fletch had mounted the creature earlier its blood had also managed to take off a little from the top, but that was probably because there was so little. Other than his damaged sensor module, there were numerous paint scratches all over his torso.

”Sure, but if you need me too I can take the console.” Richard moved to follow her, if the creature burst out again he needed to be in it’s way, it was far too fast to try to intercept it from any amount of distance safely.

”The lockdown must have activated when you shot it earlier...Although, that beast doesn’t seem like its a part of normal Hound operation, and yet its presence alone didn’t activate the alarms.”

Once she was steady on her feet, Fletch listened to Roadblock talk about the console and the lockdown. When he mentioned about the possibility that the blood might have triggered the lockdown in the first place, she thought about it. ”Yeah, that makes sense,” she replied in agreement. ”I mean, it being in the room before to take out that lone Hound didn’t trigger the lockdown before.”

Then, she slowly made her way to the console. With the Hound now on the floor, it made sense for her to sit down on the chair while she began to work on lifting the lockdown. She made slow progress getting into the mainframe, so she thought about something to break the silence in the room. ”What do you think that thing was? Looked like something you’d see in An American Werewolf in London. But when I got on it… it looked like it had a lot of stitches in it…”

”Sure, looks like a werewolf, but that kind of thing doesn’t really exist.”

”Lycanthropy, have you heard of it Mr. Hunter? It’s the transformation of man into wolf, most believe those are merely fairy tales, and yet, the tales had to come from somewhere.”

”Eh, yeah, those stitches, and that weird red glow from earlier, I still don’t think we’re looking at a ‘werewolf’. But some kind of frankenstein project, maybe. Richard said, he didn’t try to hide his skepticism at all.

”Say, while we’re in the clear, you happen to look like someone that raided HQ a little while back. You want to explain yourself, ma’am?”

Once her mind had gotten clearer from being thrown into the wall, Fletch was busy at work getting the lockdown lifted. She had to admit that she knew some things about IT from her degree, but nowhere near enough to disable the lockdown. But she had to try anyway. Her brow began to furrow as she focused on the computer.

While that was happening, the archer listened to Roadblock’s reasoning to what they were facing moments ago. While it was amusing to hear the skepticism in his voice about the ‘werewolf’ idea, what other explanation was there to determine what that thing was? Maybe there was more to this world of superheroes than what it seemed, especially as the idea of metahumans and an alien helping out humanity was a known fact. And she reflected on that when she replied to him. ”Well, we are in a world where people like Icon exist. Maybe there is another area of the world where cryptids like the werewolf exist. That plus it is another thing that the Hounds of Humanity would want to get rid of.”

”I don’t remember those fairy tales talking about werewolves having acid blood. Like I said, I still think this is some kind of animal the built from scratch somehow, maybe to hunt down metas, to stalk them when they can’t.”

She carried on typing onto the computer when Roadblock mentioned her raid on LHPD HQ. At that moment, she stopped what she was doing, her hand freezing in the spot. That moment she decided to go after the man that had attacked her wasn’t the lightest moment she had done during her time as a vigilante, but it wasn’t done, she would still be a target to the Penose until she was killed. While her mouth was hidden from it, the eyes through her yellow sunglasses showed the pained expression that was on her face.

”While it probably would be better to lie about what happened there, but that person you’re talking about and I are the same people,” she replied, her voice more of a loud whisper that reflected her guilt. ”To be honest with you, I never intended to cause any hurt to anyone on LHPD force. But the person was hired to kill someone close to me. The group that hired him was already targeting her for some reason or another and they blew up a bus to try and get to her.” She let out a sigh, her hands sinking to her lap as she leaned back in the chair. ”That bus bomb killed a few people and her friend’s would-be fiancé is still in a coma from it. It’s because of that I raided the HQ: I wanted to know who was behind the bus bomb and my friend’s attack and stop them from causing anymore harm.” Another sigh escaped her lips, her eyes shifting from the computer to look at Roadblock. ”I’m not expecting that this explanation would exonerate me from what I had done, I really don’t expect it. I just hope it brings an understanding for why I had done it.”

After a moment of silence, with the banging from the other side of the blast door ceasing, she got back to trying to get through the lockdown. The more she focused, the more she felt the pressure of the focus behind her eyes. Perhaps I do have concussion, she thought, stopping to pinch the bridge of her nose. ”Sorry to have to ask this, but could you take over from getting into the console. Starting to think that me being thrown into the wall has caused more injuries than I had thought.”

She really is just some reckless vigilante, she’s going to get herself killed.

”Alright, just stay close to me, just in case that..werewolf..comes out again” He hesitantly said it, but just calling it an animal might be confusing if the Hounds had another lying around. As he walked up to the console, he realized he actually didn’t really know what to look for, the UI was way different from any computer he touched, and they really didn’t have the time for him to start searching aimlessly through the setup.

”Lost? I’m not surprised, they don’t give any computer training at the police academy, I imagine.”

”I’d like to see you try this.” Richard placed a finger on the other side of his helmet, as if he was activating some earpiece, just in case Fletch was close enough to hear him whispering.

”It can’t be helped, I want to see what the Hounds are up to as much as you do. But for future reference, I hate this.” An awkward moment passed and Richard still hadn’t moved, it became clear he was waiting for her to do something. She gave off an exasperated sigh, which was fake of course, but it was meant solely for Richard to hear.

”I guess it was too much to expect you to read the entire manual. On the underside of your arm, you can pull out a USB cord, plug us in and I can do the looking.”

”Luckily the Hounds computers are more are less the same.” Richard took an extra moment trying to pull the USB cord out, but eventually he managed to plug it in. Now that Artemis could get to work, and maybe help him save face, he remembered he still wanted to speak to Fletch.

”I’m not saying you’re in the clear, or you were right to tamper with evidence, along with assaulting an officer. But it sounds like they’re targeting you specifically, it might be time to bring in a third party, somebody they don’t expect.”

Fletch nodded as Roadblock came up to the console to try and get into it. She rolled the chair out of the way so he could face the console itself. Then she remembered her bow being on the ground near where she dived out of the way and quickly went over to retrieve it. Much like before the bow had suffered some scratches, but was otherwise undamaged. Not wanting to hang around to inspect the bow properly, she moved back close to the control panel. She hadn’t forgotten his reluctance to call that beast a werewolf, but decided not to press him further on it. Much like him, she was still coming to terms with what they had seen and fought. But the odd thing was that it had caustic blood and that red glow that seemed unnatural for such a monster.

She remained near the policeman as he fumbled around getting started on the console. It didn’t take long before a USB cable was pulled out from his suit and plugged into the computer. I’m guessing his suit has some sort of AI that could bust through whatever encryption the Hounds were using, she thought. She had been tempted in asking Roadblock if that was the case, but with her mentioning that she was the one who raided LHPD HQ she decided against it.

When Roadblock talked to her about the raid itself once it was sorted, she could hold back the surprise in her eyes at what he had said. While she had expected that she wasn’t cleared for what happened on that night, she hadn’t been expecting him to offer his assistance in tracking down the Penose. It was also the wording he used when making the offer, suggesting that he had put two and two together in knowing her true identity under the Fletch guise. It was that kind of wording that the thought of turning down the offer. She weighed up all of the pros and cons of allowing the policeman to help, she made her decision.

”I figured as much that I wouldn’t be cleared for what had happened. Hell, I think I wouldn’t have cleared myself if I was a cop. Might face the consequences of my actions in one form or another in the future. But for now, whatever I am dealing with with the Penose is my fight…” She sighed, determining if she had made the right choice. A moment in reflecting on it, she looked up to Roadblock’s visor. Her eyes had shown relief in his offer to help. ”But I figure that I am only one person against god knows how many of them. So any help will be appreciated. Don’t want these bastard to trouble anyone else in our city, eh?”

This dumb kid still wants to fight, but I can’t blame her, they made it personal.

”Yeah, you pick up any more leads on these Penose, and you call me. I’ll help you out, and vice versa. More and more metahumans are going out trying to be heroes, but none of you have to do it alone, remember that.” Richard’s words were earnest, nobody becomes a policeman for the money after all, so he honestly wanted to help, but there was another reason for this too.

He couldn’t know what her day to day life was like, but considering she only had a bow, he wagered she could use a hand. Of course he thought about dissuading her, like any normal policeman would, but these Penose sound like they made the fight personal, and he knew what that was like.

It was then she had an idea about what to do once they broken through the Hound’s console in relation to what they were facing. ”I just thought of something. If that thing wasn’t a member of the Hounds and it’s in their HQ, they must have some form of record on it. Think that AI of yours could try and find any information on it as well as find a way to shut down the lockdown?”

”It’s because you keep leaving everything to me she figured it out.” Artemis’ voice turned to audible venom. He didn’t know why her existence had to be kept secret, but it really made things unnecessarily complicated sometimes.

How can she even get angry, she’s a damn program. Why couldn’t it just be a guy that said “yes” all the time?

”Hmm, AI? We wish. No, only Iron Knight has something that advanced, probably. What I’ve got is more like an automated google search.” As if on queue, several new tabs appeared in what looked to be the taskbar, Richard quickly pulled it one up to fullscreen, there were several options, the one at the top appeared to be asking for confirmation to lift the lockdown. The password appeared to already be entered, just awaiting confirmation from him, and with a click.

The dark red emergency lights spinning in the room shut off, then replaced by the sterile, bright white from earlier. The control room door gave a slight hiss before it opened up.
@Liseran ThistleYee alls you gotta do is ask @nitemare shape


*Ahem* :P
Thank you! You guys all seem really nice already! I'll join the Discord once I'm on my laptop ^^. Just as a warning though, I'm not much of a talker on there (I'm actually really shy and nervous to, sorry \(>///<)/ ) so if I'm really quiet on there, that's why.

Also, where would be a good place to jump in, or should I just make an introductory post and go from there?


What Afro suggests. At the moment, we're wrapping up a story arc :)


Character you have created:
Unknown

Alias:
Dullahan

Speech Color:
#630f0f

Character Alignment:
Villain

Identity:
Unknown



Character Personality:
Dullahan is a man with sadistic tendencies. With his time in the Egyptian Special Forces, he had gotten a taste of gathering information from ‘informants’ through inhumane ways. Even when the reputation of his methods precedes him, he still continues to use such methods and carries on, even after he gets what he needs. Another unique trait he has is his superiority complex. He will belittle anyone he comes across in any meeting he has. If anyone were to stand up to him, he’d just use his powers to the point of getting them to bow to his will. And, with him being sadistic, goes further to punish them.

Uniform/costume:
This is the basis of a survivor’s description, seeing the man before visualizing his fear.
ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB16caQJVXXXXaLaX…
His uniform in real life:
wallpaperbetter.com/wallpaper/269/704…



Origin Info/Details:
Not much is known about when Dullahan was born or how he got his powers. However, a few people can say that he is an Irishman of Egyptian descent. Moving back to Egypt later in life, he later joined the Al Quwaat Al-Khaasat, progressing through the ranks until he commanded his own squadron in his early 30s. However, one mission went south, resulting in massive civilian casualties. From this, he was dishonourably discharged from the Egyptian Special Forces. With that being his only way of life, he formed his own mercenary group that had the same goal: Achieve the objective, no matter the cost. Through this mentality that his group swelled in numbers and eventually began to influence various organized crime syndicates.



Hero Type (Select one):
Supernatural/Brick

Power Level:
World Level (Influence)
City (if ability is suppressed) – World (if ability is unsuppressed)

Powers:
Advanced Combat:
Having been a man of fortune for a long period of time, he has a higher understanding of fighting techniques and use of weaponry outside of a whip.

Enhanced Whipmanship
Much like what the name suggests, Dullahan has a high proficiency in using a whip.




Power Bestowal
Although nowhere near as powerful or versatile as The Psionic Nexus, Dullahan is capable of bestowing some of his Dullahan Mimicry powers onto his troops, namely the ability to manipulate fear. Some of his high-ranking personnel have more than this ability, depending on their role.



Attributes:
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 170lbs
Strength Level: Peak Human -> 100+ Tons
Speed/Reaction Timing Level: Human (reaction is 3x that of a human) -> 100+MPH
Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: Peak Human -> 5 Hours
Agility: Peak Human -> 20x Human
Intelligence: Genius
Fighting Skill: Mastered


Resources:
Extreme



Weaknesses:
Gold - In the folklore of the Headless Horseman, the dullahan has a fear for the precious metal. For Dullahan, this fear is certainly not the case due to his background as a man of fortune. However, the metal when on his body will slow him down considerably, as if his muscles are freezing up. The more gold he has on him, the slower he becomes until he comes to a complete stop.
Fae-affecting Magic - With the dullahan being an Irish faerie, any magic that can cause harm to the Fae will also harm him. He could, up to a certain point, be influenced by anyone capable of manipulating the Fae folk. However, he cannot be fully controlled by them and won’t outright answer the orders from them.
Outside of his dullahan mimicry, he is still a human being so he can still be damaged by any other means. Note, however, that with the more fear he is able to draw into him, the more durable he becomes.



Supporting Characters (Does your character have a significant other? A mother? Friend? Who are they, what do they have to do with your character?):

Numerous crime organizations around the world
While he has no official criminal organization that any of the intelligence agencies know about, Dullahan is capable of bending almost any leader of smaller organizations to his will and force them to turn half of their profits for his gain. It is because of this that he has gained a lot of wealth to help him purchase anything he requires or do any tasks that he needs. Some of the organizations range from the Haitians to the Dutch Penose, the latter one of the rising groups in Lost Haven.

The Eye of Osiris
If there is any form of organization that he has control over, it is his personal military squad. For some strange reason, the Egyptian mythos grabbed his interests and everything is themed around them. They stand at 1000 strong of ex-military background, the majority of them dishonourably discharged. As these people tend to want to join him for riches and the powerful position he sits in, he has personally bestowed the power of fear manipulation (suppressed form) to them to help spread his terror in areas he works in. Some of the high-ranking personnel in the legion are:

Anput – Personal assassin
(not much is known about them, though rumoured to not have any powers)

Sobek: Personal Bodyguard
Abilities: Fear Inducement, Enhanced CQC, Weapon Manipulation (Dual Khopesh)

Montu & Sekhmet: Enforcers
Abilities: Fear Inducement, Weapon Manipulation (Sekhmet – Axe, Montu – Spear), Enhanced CQC

Anhur: Vanguard/Leader of Lost Haven Operations
Abilities: Fear Inducement, Enhanced CQC



Do you know how to post pictures on RPG boards?:
Of course
Now that my powercut/storm situation has been resolved, it is now time to reveal my villain! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!




Character you have created:
Unknown

Alias:
Dullahan

Speech Color:
#630f0f

Character Alignment:
Villain

Identity:
Unknown



Character Personality:
Dullahan is a man with sadistic tendencies. With his time in the Egyptian Special Forces, he had gotten a taste of gathering information from ‘informants’ through inhumane ways. Even when the reputation of his methods precedes him, he still continues to use such methods and carries on, even after he gets what he needs. Another unique trait he has is his superiority complex. He will belittle anyone he comes across in any meeting he has. If anyone were to stand up to him, he’d just use his powers to the point of getting them to bow to his will. And, with him being sadistic, goes further to punish them.

Uniform/costume:
This is the basis of a survivor’s description, seeing the man before visualizing his fear.
ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB16caQJVXXXXaLaX…
His uniform in real life:
wallpaperbetter.com/wallpaper/269/704…



Origin Info/Details:
Not much is known about when Dullahan was born or how he got his powers. However, a few people can say that he is an Irishman of Egyptian descent. Moving back to Egypt later in life, he later joined the Al Quwaat Al-Khaasat, progressing through the ranks until he commanded his own squadron in his early 30s. However, one mission went south, resulting in massive civilian casualties. From this, he was dishonourably discharged from the Egyptian Special Forces. With that being his only way of life, he formed his own mercenary group that had the same goal: Achieve the objective, no matter the cost. Through this mentality that his group swelled in numbers and eventually began to influence various organized crime syndicates.



Hero Type (Select one):
Supernatural/Brick

Power Level:
World Level (Influence)
City (if ability is suppressed) – World (if ability is unsuppressed)

Powers:
Advanced Combat:
Having been a man of fortune for a long period of time, he has a higher understanding of fighting techniques and use of weaponry outside of a whip.

Enhanced Whipmanship
Much like what the name suggests, Dullahan has a high proficiency in using a whip.




Power Bestowal
Although nowhere near as powerful or versatile as The Psionic Nexus, Dullahan is capable of bestowing some of his Dullahan Mimicry powers onto his troops, namely the ability to manipulate fear. Some of his high-ranking personnel have more than this ability, depending on their role.



Attributes:
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 170lbs
Strength Level: Peak Human -> 100+ Tons
Speed/Reaction Timing Level: Human (reaction is 3x that of a human) -> 100+MPH
Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: Peak Human -> 5 Hours
Agility: Peak Human -> 20x Human
Intelligence: Genius
Fighting Skill: Mastered


Resources:
Extreme



Weaknesses:
Gold - In the folklore of the Headless Horseman, the dullahan has a fear for the precious metal. For Dullahan, this fear is certainly not the case due to his background as a man of fortune. However, the metal when on his body will slow him down considerably, as if his muscles are freezing up. The more gold he has on him, the slower he becomes until he comes to a complete stop.
Fae-affecting Magic - With the dullahan being an Irish faerie, any magic that can cause harm to the Fae will also harm him. He could, up to a certain point, be influenced by anyone capable of manipulating the Fae folk. However, he cannot be fully controlled by them and won’t outright answer the orders from them.
Outside of his dullahan mimicry, he is still a human being so he can still be damaged by any other means. Note, however, that with the more fear he is able to draw into him, the more durable he becomes.



Supporting Characters (Does your character have a significant other? A mother? Friend? Who are they, what do they have to do with your character?):

Numerous crime organizations around the world
While he has no official criminal organization that any of the intelligence agencies know about, Dullahan is capable of bending almost any leader of smaller organizations to his will and force them to turn half of their profits for his gain. It is because of this that he has gained a lot of wealth to help him purchase anything he requires or do any tasks that he needs. Some of the organizations range from the Haitians to the Dutch Penose, the latter one of the rising groups in Lost Haven.

The Eye of Osiris
If there is any form of organization that he has control over, it is his personal military squad. For some strange reason, the Egyptian mythos grabbed his interests and everything is themed around them. They stand at 1000 strong of ex-military background, the majority of them dishonourably discharged. As these people tend to want to join him for riches and the powerful position he sits in, he has personally bestowed the power of fear manipulation (suppressed form) to them to help spread his terror in areas he works in. Some of the high-ranking personnel in the legion are:

Anput – Personal assassin
(not much is known about them, though rumoured to not have any powers)

Sobek: Personal Bodyguard
Abilities: Fear Inducement, Enhanced CQC, Weapon Manipulation (Dual Khopesh)

Montu & Sekhmet: Enforcers
Abilities: Fear Inducement, Weapon Manipulation (Sekhmet – Axe, Montu – Spear), Enhanced CQC

Anhur: Vanguard/Leader of Lost Haven Operations
Abilities: Fear Inducement, Enhanced CQC



Do you know how to post pictures on RPG boards?:
Of course



Let me know if I need to add more stuff to the Origin as I'm not 100% happy with the length of it.
I hope people have posts in the work for bringing their characters to the Hounds' Lost Haven base. We don't want IK and Vigilante soloing the final boss.

Also, has everyone who is planning to go with Icon to take out the satellite discussed the plan of attack with @nitemare shape?


I'm currently working on a post with Fallen with some Fletch/Racheli interactions, but I'll get her moving in that direction :)
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