@Raptorman Absolutely, gives us some time to say that among the cleaning and wreckage, War-Pulse delivered the other three vials.
@Athinar FEEL THOSE CONSEQUENCES WEIGH UPON YOUR SOUL.
@Athinar FEEL THOSE CONSEQUENCES WEIGH UPON YOUR SOUL.
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So are you planning to post again dumping the rest of the vials or do you wish to move the meeting?
It seems like there are a few people beginning interested in doing a two day time skip. If that's the case, I would prefer to do a timeskip where he has delivered the rest of the vials and can meet with the Good Doctor, unless someone else has an interest in confronting War-Pulse on his last three deliveries.
Similarly, unless anyone has an interest in attempting to stop the Cowl's shipment, I'm just going to give one or two more posts for him accomplishing his goal, then moving on to another part of his plan.
“Are you getting this Dennis? Keep the camera on them!”
Sarah Winslow, an up-and-coming news reporter for Lost Haven Channel 12, was busy fixing her hair for her next “eye in the sky” report in the team’s news chopper. Accompanying her was Dennis Mackey, an experienced cameraman grumbling at his new co-worker barking orders at him as if he were some novice, turning the lens to focus in on the two superpowered combatants below. At the helm of the whirlibird was a man named Thomas, a veteran helicopter pilot, who was adeptly circling the area despite the chaos ensuing below, not a care in the world for the old man.
“I got it, I got it.” Dennis huffed, leaning out of the helicopter to keep the action plastered on the metas. “Can you believe this? Second attack on the city in a few months, what kind of crazy shit is that?”
“Yes, yes, it's simply awful, but what a scoop!” Sarah replied, sitting beside Dennis while redoing her makeup, smearing numerous powders and mascara onto her face, “I can’t believe how much press we’re getting.”
“Yeah, it’s not like everyone gets a career off of the city being destroyed.” Grumbled Dennis.
“Oh, hush, there is nothing we can do about it. The best we can do is keep people informed.” Sarah replied, running her fingers through her hair. “At least that way people will remember what happened here.”
“Yeah, whatever, you’re on in five, by the way.” Dennis replied, pulling back into the helicopter to get the young woman into the shot, as well as keep the two metas in the frame, which was easier said than done with how fast they moved. In the blink of an eye they could be down the street a half a mile away from where they started, leaving rubble and destruction in their wake.
Dennis countdown with his free hand from five to one, allowing Sarah to get into her position and ready up before the broadcast brought it over to her and her team.
Without missing a beat, Sarah dropped her normally fluid, snarky tone into a monotone, business-like voice, the rest of the crew becoming dead silent as her report began.
“Chuck, it’s been over four hours since the city began to riot, and things do not look like they’ve improved since then.” Sarah began, “The city is in flames, and it seems at least 60% of the city is embroiled into a mass riot that has taken the town, with all of Lost Haven Police being called in to contain the spread of this uproar.” She gestured out the window, pointing at the two metahumans as she spoke. “However, with that said, the metahuman population has also re-appeared to contend with the riots, but what is even more confusing are the ones that are fighting amongst one another. We can see out there a single metahuman having a brutal conflict with what looks like a 12 foot armored suit near the Little Sicily Water Treatment Plant. The robot suit we have no record of, but the human fighting it has been seen in Lost Haven before. Reports indicate that the silver-clad human goes by the name ‘War-Pulse’, he is a notorious criminal-for-hire who was last seen defending the city from the notorious ‘D-Day’ a few months back. His motives for appearing in this time of turmoil are unknown, but it can be safe to say that the mech suit he is fighting with could be assumed to be either a bounty hunter or superhuman trying to bring him in for his crimes.”
“Sarah, what’s the status of the area around the two metahumans?” Came Chuck’s voice into her earpiece, the eagerness in his voice indicating how well her information was keeping the attention of the city’s viewers. “Are there any rioters still in the area?”
“Absolutely devastated.” She replied “If there are any rioters here, they have either hidden, or are dead from these two titans tearing apart our streets. It looks like from these two alone we have lost...at least two blocks, if not more, most of the streets are now craters, with dozens of vehicles overturned from this battle.”
“Does either show any sign of ending the fight?”
“It’s still pretty up in the air, neither side has a definitiv--”
Sarah’s broadcast was interrupted by the sensation of the helicopter rumbling and twisting, causing Sarah and Dennis to shift.
“What is going on?” Sarah griped, turning to the cockpit. “Thomas, keep the helicopter steady while we’re reporting!”
“I’m...trying…” Thomas said, visibly pushing at the controls, panic starting to well in his voice. “The thing suddenly went haywire, it isn’t responding to my commands!”
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Sarah shouted back.
“What I’m saying is someone else has taken control of our helicopter! I got no control over where it’s going, no matter what I do!”
At that moment, the vehicle suddenly began to dive, descending rapidly out of the air.
“Sarah? Sarah, what’s going on?” Chuck asked from the earpeice.
“We’re going down, Chuck, that’s what’s going on!”
“What? Sarah, hold on!”
“I can’t stop it!” Thomas screamed. “We’re headed straight for the fight!”
“What? No!” Sarah rushed to the cockpit, followed quickly by Dennis and his still-rolling camera.
“We’re going to crash straight into the War-Pulse guy!” Thomas pointed out of the cockpit, indicating their trajectory.
“Pull up! Pull up!” Dennis yelled. “I don’t want to die!”
“I can’t, we’re gonna--”
The last sound heard on the newscast was the three in the helicopter screaming as the camera recorded the helicopter slamming into War-Pulse, followed by a rush of fire, then static.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Deus Ex Machina? You mean the boy in blue?” War-Pulse replied, not missing a beat as he pursued the retreating Equilibrium. “Believe me, I got nothin’ but respect for Icon, but between you an’ me, I think I can take him.” He barreled forward, cocking a fist back to follow up the solid hit he had just delivered, hoping to tear deeper into the mech’s plating to get a shot at the man inside. “Hell, I can take you, after all, how hard can he be?”
However, as he spoke, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It took a brief second to realize there was another large metallic frame coming his way, another to realize that this frame was a news helicopter plummeting straight down out of the sky.
Directly at him, to be exact.
The aircraft slammed into his back, the steel buckling as it made contact with him, driving him straight into the pavement below. The initial impact was enough to rupture the entire aircraft, but the following impact of hitting the pavement was enough to shatter the fuel tank, exposing the gas to the hot engine and causing the inevitable explosion. The surrounding area around the collision was once more torn asunder, enveloped in fire and force as the explosion ripped the cement and pavement into nothing but rubble and ruin.
For a moment afterward, there was silence, the deafening blast echoing over the torn streets and decimated buildings, the remains of the helicopter standing vertical amongst the wreckage as the smoke cleared. It was embedded into the ground by its nose, the tail and hull were buckled and warped, creating a jagged obelisk among the empty crater. However, that contorted tower lasted only for another few seconds before it began to shake and shudder, the metal creaking as movement began to occur below the nose. With a mighty shove, the rubble was sent toppling to the ground, with a very angry War-Pulse stepping out of the hole, his body crackling with force, a blue glow enveloping him with each step he took.
As he rubbed the back of his head, regaining his bearings, he called out to the area around him. “Alright, that was unexpected, but I swear if you laugh--” He cut himself off abruptly, scanning the empty area for a 12 foot-tall mech suit. As such a machine was hard to miss, it became abundantly clear that Equilibrium had retreated from the battle.
“Sunuva bitch ran out on me!” He shouted, whirling around and punching the helicopter, causing it to topple over a little bit more, the burned remains of a makeup kit falling at War-Pulse’s feet. The sight of the remains caused the mercenary breath a soft sigh, kneeling down to pick the kit up, the carbonated plastic singeing his glove before turning to ash in his hand. He tossed the ash to the ground, silently stepping out of the crater as he began to move back to the dumpster that contained the other vials of mystery fluid a few blocks away, keeping an eye out for any giant robotic surprises.
However, it was that moment when a signal began to come through his comm once more, it was hazy at first, but with each step, the signal began to strengthen.
“...ulse? Can y--hear me--ent?...I ca--see you’re signal, but I’m still having trouble getting the connection…”
“Ah, Warden, nice of you to call in.” War-Pulse sneered, placing a hand to his ear as he spoke. “You bounce back from the mech’s little present for you?”
“Yes and no.” Warden replied. “The system he attacked is completely fried, the virus he delivered to me was a potent hydra-esque virus. Every time I contained it, it split into more coding, making it nearly impossible to counter without preparation.”
“And yet you’re talking to me...how?”
“Do you really think I have one system?” Warden scoffed, something War-Pulse only heard once in a blue moon. “It took time to recover certain connections, while I did have backups of the information I had on the fried hard drive, that doesn’t mean re-establishing connection was easy...good to see you’re still alive, by the way.”
“Pft, the guy was tough, but I always pull through.” War-Pulse replied.
“For the most part. If that fight lasted any longer, you would have had to absorb energy from an exterior source, which you should think about doing now.” Warden replied. “I can see your vitals, I've never seen your body pushed like this.”
“It’s what I came here for...kinda let down the way it ended.” War-Pulse sighed, looking out to the area. “I get hit by a rogue helicopter and he takes the time to split on me...probably had to leave because he was laughing too hard.”
“Yeah...about that…” Warden said, “I’m not sure that helicopter was ‘rogue’.”
“The hell do you mean? The thing dropped out of the friggin’ sky! What, did the pilot decide he’d prefer to go out with a crowd?”
“Not exactly...I had already hacked into some of the surveillance equipment around the area while you were fighting, I didn’t want to directly contact you because I was worried the mech suit would detect my presence again…”
“So? You still saw what was going on, what's that got to do with anything?”
“I was keeping tabs on local news channels...that helicopter didn’t fall out of the sky, it was dragged out.”
“You serious?”
“Very, the pilot made it very clear he was no longer in control of the aircraft, and the helicopter’s trajectory was guided directly into your path, leading me to believe someone else was guiding it. I’m going to assume since he attacked our systems in such a similar fashion that it was our mechanical friend who brought the whirlibird down on your head.”
War-Pulse stopped, his brow furrowed as he turned to look back at the ruined helicopter. “What kind of superhero sacrifices people for their own gain?”
“Someone either not worried about the pot calling the kettle black, or someone very focused on the greater good are my guesses. He might consider his activities important enough not to risk serious injury in a continuous brawl.”
“Or he didn’t do it.”
“Doubtful, nobody else in Lost Haven with that kind of technical knowledge has any grudge against you, and according to what’s going on in the rest of the city, that’s the most logical solution to why you were assaulted with a news chopper.”
“Fine, whatever, he’s gone now.” War-Pulse said, slamming his hand through the hood of a nearby SUV and yanking the car battery from its attachment. His muscles clenched and tensed as he dug his fingers through the plastic, the electricity from the battery jolting through his body. Albeit slightly painful, the battery’s energy was enough to give War-Pulse a slight recharge, one that would be completed by the next string of destroyed cars before he made it back to the dumpster. “We still got a job to complete, and with the city losing its shit, now is a great time to get it done.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Once you bring yourself to a suitable condition, continue your mission. I’ve got all the coordinates laid out for you on your smartphone.”
“Sure, I’ll contact you again when I’ve got the three vials in their drop points.” War-Pulse said, clicking off the comm link. With a few more car batteries flowing through his body, the mercenary found himself back at fighting capacity by the time he reached his coat and the briefcase filled with the vials. He somberly slid the coat back onto his torn battlesuit, briefcase held tightly in a gloveless hand as he levitated off of the ground.
“Equilibrium, huh? This place just keeps getting more and more crazy.” War-Pulse murmured to himself, a smile passing over his face before a kinetic burst launching him to his next objective. With the third real fight to test his skill under his belt, War-Pulse could not help but accept that there was no other town like Lost Haven.
And this was only the beginning.
I've got a War-Pulse post up and coming, hopefully the fight between Equilibrium and War-Pulse will be done by then. The Cowl will also have a post coming soon.
Of course, there is one more post I'm working on...
Of course, there is one more post I'm working on...
War-Pulse is very much public, as his name is on STRIKE databases, criminal records, and most wanted lists. His name 'War-Pulse' just means more than Trent, he's better known by it.
Oh! Oh! The Shroud will gladly take up that deal. More firepower is always appreciated, after all.
The mercenary's eyes popped wide to see the silhouette of the mech still standing behind the thick cloud of dust still settling from War-Pulse's assault. War-Pulse had felt some sort of energy radiating off of Equilibrium when the battle started, but only now did he realize what that field was, as it had deflected his strikes rather handily. Now he was paying for that oversight with a slew of taunts coming from his opponent, calling out his supposed strength and finding his potential lacking. However, there was no time to deliver a retort, as now War-Pulse was feeling some sort of energy buildup from Equilibrium, mostly in the upper shoulder area. He could not see through the fog, so he could not be sure what it was. Was there some sort of repair mechanism? Or was it some kind of weapon from the automaton?
The answer came sizzling through the smoke in a beam of light, singing through the air towards the mercenary. Given the smog, War-Pulse could not have predicted the attack nor prepared to absorb the laser’s impact, preventing any adequate defense from himself. The laser hit home, the impact thundering off of his chest and sending War-Pulse careening backwards, hurtling down the paved road into a nearby industrial building, colliding back-first through a brick wall. A deafening crash ensued as a large portion of the wall and a substantial chunk of the building crumpled around the impact, the building no longer able to support itself when the metahuman pounded through the concrete and cement.
It took a moment for War-Pulse to realize what happened, the impact being so sudden and surprising as he blinked his eyes a few times to try and get some focus on his current situation. Once he realized he was under some rubble, it took him little time to shove most of the rocks and boulders aside and return to a standing position. As he regained his bearings and the dust settled and it was clear Equilibrium again had him locked on, the now visible shoulder-mounted laser pointing directly at him and the machine moving on his position. And yet, all the mercenary could do was smile, rolling his neck and shoulders to relieve tension from the previous impact.
“Alright, looks like your rust bucket packs more of a punch than I thought. Not bad, Equilibrium.” He called back, his eyes scanning the torn apart street for an opportunity to get the edge against this mech. “I can’t say ‘god’ really fits me, though, I’ve always thought of myself as a ‘force of nature’...still, if that’s the story you got, then I’d really hate to leave you feeling underwhelmed.” His gaze locked on to a large eighteen wheeler, surprisingly untouched by the chaos. Jackpot.
"So how about we turn this up a notch!?" He shouted, quickly pointing his finger in a gun shape, a kinetic spark bursting from his fingertip towards the mech's laser cannon. He was hoping to at least cancel out the ensuing laser blast if not actually hit the laser cannon, though he surmised the energetic shield would deflect his attack regardless. All that mattered was that Equilibrium would have to react to his attacks, which resulted in less shots being taken at himself.
However, as he launched himself behind the cover of the truck, he could feel a sharp, stinging pain come in a wave across his entire body, causing him to wince as he landed, nearly crashing to the floor. The constant fighting was beginning to take its toll on his body, causing the implanted organs that process and generate his kinetic power to cramp and strain. He had expended a substantial amount of energy early into this fight, and since he had not bothered to recharge after his fight with the silver-haired girl before, his resources were beginning to run thin.
However, that would not stop him now, in fact he found the strain to be enthralling. It had been too long since he had to cut loose and actually try in a fight, let alone feel like there was a shot at actively being defeated. This was what he had been looking for when he came to Lost Haven, foes who would actively challenge him to make use of all his had learned as a mercenary, and now that he had found such a challenge, he could find nothing but exhilaration in this moment. As he spun on his heel, his hands dug into the tractor trailer of the large truck, fingers piercing through the steel as he crouched into position. With a mighty heave, the creaking metal of the vehicle made an audible shudder as it was lifted from the ground, placed into the hands of the powerful metahuman. Of course, War-Pulse had a target, and as soon as the truck was lifted, it was hurled; a mighty turn of the mercenary’s body causing the full eighteen wheeler to be spun through the air, launched with a powerful throw from the silver-clad warrior.
This was only part of the two-fold strike, with War-Pulse advancing almost as soon as the truck was sent flying through the air. At this point, it was safe to assume Equilibrium would be ready for the flying object chucked his way, either by shooting it down or moving to the side, it would not be airborne for long, which is why War-Pulse had to act quickly. As soon as the truck was halted, it changed from a projectile to a stepping stone, with War-Pulse utilizing it as a stepping stone to launch himself high into the air. Taking another substantial chunk of his power, he cocked his fist back, kinetic energy crackling around his hand as he began to descend. There was a clear, wild grin on his face, his eyes gleaming with both power and excitement as a burst sent him rocketing towards Equilibrium.
“Now, let’s see what’s under the hood here, shall we?!” He called out, dropping from the sky at an alarming rate, headed straight for Equilibrium’s current position. With a mighty cry, War-Pulse shifted the weight in his shoulders, launching his fist forward in a mighty haymaker punch to the mech’s faceplate with intent to penetrate right through it. “Time to crack this pinata!”
I'm going to have a War-Pulse post coming soon, then hopefully I can get around to my other characters.
Neutral Nexus, when you have warpulse finished with his confrontation with the mech, we will proceed with War Pulse meeting his employer right?
Yes, of course, Athinar and I should have a few more posts most likely, then I should be clear to have him meet his employer(provided War-Pulse doesn't find himself in jail or anything, we haven't decided how the fight is going to turn out).
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