NeutralNexus — Roleplayer Guild

It had been two days since the notorious night of nonstop rioting in Lost Haven, a time still occupied with rebuilding and recovering from such an onslaught.  Already the community had gathered in force, with contractors, city workers, and even officials working to fix what had been broken or lost, with a surprising amount of funding to those who were paying attention.

Of course, this did not concern a mercenary by the familiar name of War-Pulse, who had also been working around the clock since that night had occurred, albeit for a much different job.  Since his conflict with Equilibrium, War-Pulse had been able to deliver three out of the four vials in total.  While the first one had admittedly had fuzzy results, the following two went off without a hitch.  After all, nobody seemed to be paying attention to one man amongst crowds of city workers repairing numerous damages.  

Today was different, however, for two reasons.  One reason was that the rebuilding effort had been relatively concluded, with help from the city’s metahuman population and round the clock rebuilding efforts, the short-term damages were all but fixed.  

The second being was his target was a large storage tank on the coastline of Little Paris.  Since his last conflict, War-Pulse knew better than to walk into the nearby treatment plant and simply dump the vial in there, what with his last attempt being thwarted by a large mech suit.  However, this storage tank was the connection point for a Purification Plant designed to purify seawater from the nearby Lost Haven Harbor.  From here, the purified water would be distributed to the nearby Little Paris and Little Ulster areas, a much bigger area than any other drop points had covered.  With such a vulnerable and experimental device, this particular drop point was a far more valuable structure to the community, and thus more likely to be defended.

There would be no attempt to disguise himself this time, nor would he desire to be there for any extended period.  Unlike the other Water Treatment Plants, this was out in the open, anyone approaching it would be spotted very quickly, so he had to make this as quick of a drop as he could.

Of course, very few people would predict him coming from the air.

War-Pulse had pinpointed the drop point from a high spot, levitating almost within Lost Haven airspace as he locked on to his target, barring no interruptions, his plan was simple; drop down onto the top of the storage container, rip open the top, and dump the contents before anyone was any the wiser.

“Okay, War-Pulse.  This is the last one, you can do this.” Warden’s voice came onto the comm link, his bland tone belying his sincere motive.

“Dude...we talked about this, you are the worst motivational speaker.”  War-Pulse replied, “Just let me know when I have the window.”

“Okay, the shift worker is finishing the Ph test.”  Came Warden’s voice, the clacking of the keys over the comm link signifying his surveillance. “There are no visible bogeys in the immediate area, you should be clear in five seconds….”

War-Pulse tensed, light kinetic emissions altering his flight pattern to re-direct him towards the storage tank’s roof.

“Four…”

His body aligned, eyes straight on the steel hull.

“Three…”

His body humming with power, the familiar blue glow emanating from his form.

“Two….”

Already he was beginning to descend, vial in hand as he began to drop.

“One….Now!”

A burst rocketed him down from the sky, careening at a breakneck speed towards the tank.  There was an audible whistle as he dropped, a bomb dropping from the sky.  However, his velocity was interrupted, a pulse of kinetic might slid from his mouth about halfway down, immediately jolting his body to a halt.  At roughly a hundred feet, he should not break through the top of the tank from this height at a free fall, letting gravity do the rest of the work for him.

He landed on the thick steel with a tremendous thud, the heavy metal buckling under War-Pulse’s impact with the very center of the tank.  War-Pulse could not help but wince at the shock, had he hit the top too hard?  Was he just going to blast straight through?

To his relief, the steel groaned and creaked to a stop, the top layer now bent into a U-shape from his impact.  His chest heaved a deep sigh of relief, placing the vial lightly onto some nearby grating as he knelt down to the roof.

“Okay, now I just have to get to diggin’.”  He murmured to himself, raising a fist back to begin punching through the stainless hood.  He had to act fast, it was only a matter of time before someone heard that impact and came running to…

“I assume from your fashion choices that you’re not from the city maintenance unit.”  War-Pulse whirled around at the voice, quickly discovering that he was not alone on the water tower.  A woman was clinging to the side of the storage tank.  However, this was no ordinary woman, since her entire lower body was replaced by a scaled-up version of a Black Widow spider.  This woman wore an entirely black costume.  She had her midnight black hair styled short, perfect for preventing her hair from being caught by anything or anyone.  “Mind you telling this little old spider what you doing all the way up here?”

War-Pulse literally stopped mid strike to the woman’s voice, his torso whirling around to face the mysterious woman.  His eyes popped wide as he saw her, the arachnid woman form causing him to audibly emit a “Whoa” subconsciously.  As he rose to his feet, the snarky side of himself kicked in as he gestured to the woman. “Y’know, I keep thinking I’ve seen everything this town’s got to offer. We got gods, demons, and superbeings flying around everywhere, you would think that would be all the crazy in the city.   Now I see a giant friggin spider-chick hybrid concerned about water safety, unbelievable.”

He moved from the large dent he made, eyes still on her as he adjusted his footwork. “As for what I’m doing, I’m just making sure the roof of this tank is durable.  We wouldn’t want any contaminants coming in from the sky and ruining the water supply, would we?”

“Sure you’re concerned about the water supply?”  However, even though the same voice had spoken those words, they did not originate from the same woman who was standing before War-Pulse.  From behind him, War-Pulse could hear the spidery feet of a second metahuman click against the metal shell of the storage tank.  Quickly taking a glance over his shoulder, War-Pulse realized that there was not just one but two ‘spider-chicks’, as he had referred to them.  And it was not just two ‘spider-chicks’, but it almost seemed like they were clones!

As he whirled around to face an identical looking woman, he could not help but emit a cocky laugh at the sight. “Wait, you mean there are more than one of you?”  He asked, pointing at the two. “Don’t tell me you’re related to that other Spider-Girl I met...I mean she didn’t have the...spider-butt, but there has to be a coincidence here.  Oh god, please don’t tell me there are a legion of radioactive spiders going around biting hot chicks...I don’t think this place could take that kind of invasion….”

“You do realize that radioactivity does not work like it does in the pages of the Amazing Spider-Man, right?”  The second ‘Black Widow’ countered as she took a few steps forward.

“Oh, right, sure, there are no comparisons to comic books being made right now.  After a demon invasion and a widespread metahuman-infused riot, this looks completely normal.”  He snapped back, taking a few steps away from the advancing driders.

The second ‘Black Widow’ rolled her eyes at War-Pulse’s sarcastic taunts.  “While we’re on the topic of that ‘Spider-Girl’, if you’re talking about that blonde who was wearing a genderbent Spider-Man costume, there might be a possibility that our powers have similar origins.  In fact, she actually now has a physique very similar to mine.”

“Except she has a rack that would make Power Girl blush.”  The first ‘Black Widow’ interjected, considering War-Pulse’s comic book references in his taunts.  This ‘Black Widow side-stepped to the side, ensuring that she and her ‘twin’ had War-Pulse as the midpoint between them.

“Friggin knew it!”  War-Pulse interjected, pointing at one of the Widows. “Get ready Lost Haven, this city’s going to be attacked by Mean Girls spliced with Eight-Legged Freaks!”  The words of the first ‘Black Widow’ quickly sunk into his head, and a brow cocked while he turned to address the comment. “Wait, why are you focusing on her rack?  That’s a weird thing to advertise, are you vouching for her dating viability or informing me of a mutation?”

“I was just pointing out a difference between us and her, namely that [i]she[i] has an almost impossible physiology, while we fall within the normal range for the average person, as long as you ignore the obvious spider parts.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.”  In response to what her 'twin' has said, the second 'Black Widow' just shook her head as she placed her hand on her forehead, partially covering her eyes.

“What, you jealous?  I bet a push-up bra and some socks could fix that.”

“Who wants to carry around that much weight?  And she’s the one who brought it up, not me.”  The second ‘Black Widow’ mentioned as both of them started to close in.

“I don’t---you know what?  This got weird, let’s not talk about your blonde friend or her enormous rack anymore and focus on the real situation here.”  War-Pulse said, crossing his hands in a quick gesture as he now found himself cornered on the edge of the tank. “What exactly is going to go down now?”

“That blonde-haired metahuman isn’t our ‘friend’, for the record.”  The second ‘Black Widow said as she place her hands on her hips, or at least what was left of them since that’s where her human half merged into her arachnid part.”

“What, did she say mean things about you on Facebook?”

“Well, I can confirm that we are not planning to do anything to you at the moment,” the second ‘Black Widow said, seemingly ignoring War-Pulse’s latest taunt.  “Although I cannot speak for him”

From behind War-Pulse, a giant man bulldozed through the air toward the mercenary.  However, there was a blue aura surrounding him, implying that he was not ‘flying’ by his own means, but rather that the blue aura was propelling him through the sky.  Once the man came closer, it became obvious that he was not entirely a man.  His skin was a silver tint, while his underbelly was a pearly white.  In addition, his head was replaced by the skull of a Great-White shark.

“Annnnd you have a shark man.”  War-Pulse commented, his eyes widening once more as the creature was air-lifted to their position. “A flying shark man to be exact, is everyone on your team a human with animal parts stapled on, or do you just wheel out the freaks first for shock value?” 

“Well, wouldn’t it be counterintuitive for us to give away our ‘troop’ composition?”  Before  War-Pulse could answer the second ‘Black Widow’, Jaws, or the shark man, as War-Pulse called him, slammed into the mercenary, who now seemed to be challenging Deadpool for the title ‘Merc with a Mouth’, knocking him down onto the ceiling of the water storage unit.

Finally, a fourth figure floated up to the top of the shortage tank.  However, unlike the first three characters, this last one was not a human-animal hybrid.  Once the blue aura, the same one that caused Jaws to levitate and slam into War-Pulse, dissipated, the woman's soles tough down on the metallic surface.  The gust caused by the altitude caused her long black hair and her flowing, silver dress to billow in the wind.

"So, this is the metahuman who has been causing some havoc across Lost Haven.  I would have thought you would wear something a little less, how should I say this, flamboyant."  Before War-Pulse could even react, the Silver Sorceress extended her arm and mumbled a spell.

Manus Manium

Once these two words closed out of the silver-clad woman's mouth, dozens of ghostly hands rose up out of the ceiling of the storage tank and grasped the metahuman mercenary.  If War-Pulse struggled to free himself from the hands of the shades, these creepy appendages just tightened their grip.

“Eh, what can I say?  If you live the kind of life I do, you might as well do it with some style.”  He spat out, the weight of the shark man bearing down on him while the ghostly arms wrapped around his body, binding him to the metal. “Which--ngh!--reminds me, how did you guys get the drop on me?  You people are about as flashy as I am, I’m not sure how I didn’t see you on the way down."

“We’ll show you.”  The Silver Sorceress gave the mercenary a toothy grin, taunting him.  She then turned her attention towards the first ‘Black Widow’.  “Effigy, show him your little trick.”

Effigy began to step forward.  With each step, her appearance began to dissolve into a disorderly mass of tissue and flesh.  However, just as quickly as Effigy’s body had become a formless mess, the metahuman’s appearance reformed.  It was now obvious that Effigy had copied the appearance of the other metahuman, who was called Black Widow.  In fact, once Effigy’s body had reverted back to ‘normal’, it was not immediately obvious what gender she (or he) was.  

The only defining feature she (or he) had was that her (or his) face was entirely blank.  No nose.  No eyes.  No mouth.  A slenderman like appearance.  Not uttering a sound, since she (or he) did not have a mouth, Effigy crouched down beside War-Pulse and placed her (or his) hand on the mercenary.  A dim, silver light emanated from her hand and it crawled up her arm.  Once the light had passed any specific section of Effigy’s body, that particular body part had now been replaced by what looked like an exact duplicate of War-Pulse’s counterpart of that part.  After a few seconds, an exact duplicate of War-Pulse was standing next to the mercenary.

“It’s good to be male again.”  Effigy said in a voice identical to War-Pulse.  “How does it feel to no longer be ‘special’ anymore?”

War-Pulse’s eyes widened, jaw dropping slightly underneath the facemask as the entity shifted into an exact replica.  He even emitted another subconscious ‘whoa’ as the copy spoke in his exact voice.  However, this reaction was nothing more than an overacted ruse.  He was letting the group feel big, allowing them to talk their big game and show off how powerful and awesome they were while he worked on his bindings.  He had done this before during D-Day, his experiences with demonic energy teaching him that while magical energy is much harder to define, it still at some level falls under the limitations of physics, and therefore can be absorbed in its bare kinetic form.  He just had to focus, when he had tried it before it felt like drinking salt water through the nose.  It was uncomfortable for the most part, the unnatural elements of magic affecting him much differently than the more common forms of energy.

But he could do it, the magical energies of the constructs subtly flowing into War-Pulse’s form, strengthening him as the supergroup had taken the time to reveal a very big card in their deck of surprises, foolishly telling War-Pulse something they could have ambushed him with later.   This small group of superhumans now believed they had the edge, but in reality it was the perfect time to strike for the crafty mercenary.

“That’s a pretty neat trick, right there.”  War-Pulse admitted, nodding to the little group now formulated around  him. “But if you think it’s just my incredible good looks that make me ‘special’, you’re sadly mistaken...flattering, but mistaken.”

Then, all at once, he snapped his arms forward, having absorbed the ethereal constructs enough to rip through their restraints like it was tin foil, the ghostly grabbers shredding and dissipating in the air as the gleeful energy-bound warrior smashed his elbows into the tank below him, causing him to vault to his feet.  The rest of the motion happened in a blur, concentrating the energy he had absorbed into the center of his body before extending it outward in an energy wave, forcing the group surrounding him to be launched back.

“Now, I’m still thinking this is an uneven fight, so I’ll give the four of you a chance to run and find more teammates to even the odds.”  War-Pulse quipped, a gleeful, hungry smile appearing on his face as he cracked his knuckles, energy flaring off of his body in bright blue wisps. “Otherwise, you can give me your best goddamn shot!”

While the Silver Sorceress reacted quickly enough to construct a magical bubble shield around herself to block War-Pulse’s counterattack, the others did not have the same means to protect themselves.  While Black Widow instinctively used her silk to create a rope to break her fall and wheel herself back to the top of the storage unit, the other two did not have an innate means of saving themselves.

Using whatever mental concentration she had left while simultaneously holding up her defensive shield, the SIlver Sorceress was able to cause Jaws to levitate in midair, saving him from a collision with the ground.  The blue aura that had guided Jaws into slamming against War-Pulse now led him back to the roof of the building on which the were standing.  Unfortunately, she did not have enough time to prevent Effigy’s fall, causing him to crash into the ground.  He lay there motionless, not moving an inch.

Praestgiae Manium

After the SIlver Sorceress had muttered these words, a red aura irradiated from the woman, spreading around the storage unit.  At first, it seemed as if this ‘spell’ had done no harm to War-Pulse, since it did not even exert any force on him at all.  However, after a few seconds, eerie phantasms began to rise from the ground below them.  These ‘ghosts’ slowly climbed up the tower, despite the fact that the tower was unscalable without any equipment designed specifically for the job.  Once these specters had reached the top of the tower, they, in a zombiesque fashion, stumbled towards War-Pulse, seemingly ignoring the other three combatants that were standing right there.  But these were not any originary undead.  In fact, they all appeared to have been the shades of numerous men that War-Pulse had killed during his so-far successful career as a mercenary.

The advancing horde indeed gave the mercenary temporary pause, a brow raised as he met the deformed eyes of every shambling corpse, his fighting stance undeterred.  It took a few seconds, but he began to notice familiar parts of the phantoms’ attire.  Between the familiar insignia, all too coincidental armaments, and even certain scars that the mercenary remembered, it did not take long for the mercenary’s eyes to pop wide open in realization that the zombies he was facing were indeed men he had killed.

“Whoa, that wasn’t what I meant,”  He shouted, shuffling his footwork to keep them at bay. “And honestly, you aren’t getting much support.  I already killed all these schmucks, you think they’ll have a better shot the second try?”

"Pulse...what are you yelling at?" Came Warden's voice from the comm link. "I don't see anything on the camera, where is your head at?"

War-Pulse furrowed his brow at Warden's words. He couldn't see the undead horde? How could that be? They were everywhere, disposable goons as far as the eye could see! Of course there was one exception that War-Pulse's eye kept falling on, a shorter figure in red and gold robes and a cape, thematically attired in the form of a superhero. There was a pang of sadness in War-Pulse's eyes as he saw the caped figure, he knew his past would come to haunt him, but he always hoped that figure would not be one. 

He was quickly snapped out of his inner turmoil as a crash, not unlike the rumbling of thunder, erupted from the base of the storage unit, which was quickly followed by a flash of light.  War-Pulse felt an energized sucker punch that struck him square in the back.  When the metahuman mercenary turned to see his assailant, he discovered himself standing there.

“Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”  Effigy taunted War-Pulse as the shapeshifter pulled out a vial that was tucked away within the uniform that was an exact duplicate of what War-Pulse wore.  “I wonder what’s inside this.  Anything worthwhile, my second-rate friend?”  Even as Effigy gloated over War-Pulse, he turned his glance towards the Silver Sorceress.  After only receiving a slight nod, the magic user mumbled yet another spell, causing a yellow aura to sweep across the top of the storage tank.  However, once it returned to the Silver Sorceress, it seemed as if the yellow aura had done nothing.

War-Pulse spun on his heel to face the doppelganger,  his eyes narrowing as the copy revealed the vial to him.  

“Well, first off, for the metahuman equivalent of a glorified cover band, you sure are full of yourself.”  War-Pulse sneered, taking a step closer to Effigy. “Second, that vial is none of your business, and all of mine.”

With that comment, War-Pulse launched himself forward, slamming right into Effigy in a tackle straight off of the tank to throw the pair into the air.  Quickly he pried the vial from Effigy’s hands, his other hand delivering a solid right to the copy’s chest to send him hurtling to the tar below, following close to stomp on him as he impacted into the ground, causing a minor shockwave of tar and concrete to be kicked into the air.  As soon as the pair hit the ground, War-Pulse leaped clear of his opponent, dropping the vial off in a nearby car window as he tried to re-evaluate the situation.

“War-Pulse, you may be biting off more than you can chew here.”  Warden declared. “I’ve got a reading on this...Effigy...character.  He’s definitely more than just a miraged fake, he is emitting almost exactly the same kind of energy signature that you are, almost an exact copy.  If you have to fight yourself as well as three others, this may be a fight you cannot win.”

At those words, War-Pulse couldn’t help but scoff.  Warden was smart, but severely underestimating the mercenary.  He would never back down from a fight, especially now that his professional record was on the line.  These guys had some big cards on the table, not only was there a magician and two mutants, but now a version of himself was bearing down on him with intent to show him up.

Just the kind of challenge he was looking for.

He extended his hands to Effigy, goading him into attacking. “C’mon, copycat!  You want to be the better version of me?  I ain’t impressed yet!  Show me what you can really do!”

War-Pulse saw Effigy pull himself off the ground.  The shapeshifter brushed off the fall from the top of the tower as if the fall had only been for a few inches.  “You know what’s the difference between you and me?”  Effigy cracked his knuckles as he prepared himself in a fighter’s stance, “I don’t need to rely on myself to be the ‘best’ to win a fight.  Better is also such a relative term.  In of itself, the word cannot qualify the degree of difference on its own.  Me being better than you could range from me overpowering you and beating you at your own game to being the slightest bit superior than you, which could tip the scale of balance.”

Effigy siphoned the kinetic energy from both his recent fall and the impact with the ground into the energized glow in his hands.  Once the doppelganger had taken his aim, Effigy released the kinetic energy as an energy blast, causing a beam of energy to be emitted from his hands.  However, instead of aiming the blast at War-Pulse, Effigy had fired upon the ground.

From above, unbeknownst to the silver-clad mercenary, the Silver Sorceress had lowered Jaw via her magic until he was at a height that would not be fatal to the shark-man if he fell from that distance.  Once she had gotten Jaw at this position, the Silver Sorceress released her magical spell that was causing Jaw to levitate.  When Jaw had almost reached the ground, he wound up  his arms and slammed them into War-Pulse.

Due to the spray of rubble from Effigy, War-Pulse was unprepared for the attack by Jaws, only getting enough time to face the shark-man before the impact slammed the mercenary into the ground, cratering deep into the rubble, nearby automobiles shifting and rolling over from the shockwave.  War-Pulse grunted, his back firmly in the dirt as the shark-man wound up to deliver more thunderous shots to War-Pulse’s face and chest, driving him further into the dirt with each strike.

However, it was not long before War-Pulse’s hands came up to catch the beast man’s fists, slowly rising from his crippled position to push himself back to his feet, bearing down on his monstrous foe.

“Sharks have vital sensory organs in their nose,”  Warden’s voice came in, still monitoring the fight. “If this...creature has a similar structure, then a firm blow to the nose should shock its system at the very least.”

“Ngh...okay...maybe you’re right, copycat!”  War-Pulse replied, slowly pushing the shark-man back by the fists, forcing both of them out of the crater. “Hell, I’d even be so bold as to say that you’ve got a point.  You don’t have to rely on being better than me, you got three other people to give you the advantage!”

With those words, he brought his head back slightly before slamming his forehead directly into the shark’s nose, hopefully delivering the exact system shock that Warden had reported to stun it.  In one smooth motion, War-Pulse took this moment to grab the thing’s leg and twist, lifting the creature off of its feet and slamming it into a nearby van like a wrecking ball, impacting into the steel with a vicious crash.  He continued the motion with another twist, spinning to gain enough momentum to toss the creature far into the air, directly at the floating spellcaster.  

However, his momentum did not stop, for the moment he released Jaws, he bolted for Effigy, delivering a solid straight jab to the bridge of his nose.  If Effigy was as powerful as he was at the moment, the punch would not deliver any damage, but it would startle Effigy enough to continue an assault.  A barrage of kinetically charged jabs and hooks, each impact echoing through the neighborhood like a shotgun blast, forcing Effigy to take to the defensive.

“But hey, the challenge is what makes shit like this fun!”  War-Pulse called over a vicious rising knee to the chin, followed by an elbow down on his collar. “If it was just you,I'd have beaten you three times over by now. You may have my powers, but an amateur like you severely lacks in the combat training and focus to make those powers useful!”

To punctuate his remark, he delivered a straight boot to the chest, throwing Effigy back into a construction zone, smashing into a pile of steel i-beams.

"And I really do have to label you as amateurs. The only exception being spirit fingers with the undead army.  You're an uncoordinated mess!"

A small blast erupted from the jumbled pile of steel i-beams, causing the debris to fly to the side as Effigy pull himself to his feet.  He calmly, yet purposefully, walked towards War-Pulse, making sure he was prepared for the mercenary’s next move.

“By definition, of course we are amateurs.  We’re not getting paid to knock people off.  That’s your job!”  Once Effigy was in front of War-Pulse again, he began to shuffle from side to side, like a boxer.  He began to feign jabs and uppercuts as he moved to and fro.  

However, from behind War-Pulse came a silky thread that adhered to his back.  Once it had firmly clunk to the mercenary’s back, War-Pulse was yanked away from his doppelganger, being dragged across the ground as he was pulled.  Once he had been stopped being dragged, when he looked up, War-Pulse saw the Black Widow standing above him.  She bent over and planted her hand on the ground right above War-Pulse’s shoulder so that her human half was parallel to War-Pulse’s body and that her face was several inches away from his.  She took her other hand, licked her fingers, and then slicked War-Pulse’s hair to one side.

“I think you forgot about your friends.”  Black Widow grinned as she looked back up towards the storage tank, as the shades of War-Pulse’s past victims tumbled off of that building’s roof.  Even as they crashed into the ground, the restless ghosts pulled themselves off the ground with ease.  In response to the now gathering mob of phantoms, the Black Widow scrambled to the side, allowing the undead to dogpile War-Pulse.

Soon afterward, Silver Sorceress, along with Jaws via the witch’s magic, floated back toward War-Pulse’s position.  Once they made a soft landing, the Silver Sorceress knelt down to where War-Pulse was barely visible amongst the mass of undead shades.  She began to whisper another set of words, causing a darkness to envelope the silver-clad mercenary.

Aeternum Somnium

The spirits now had enveloped the mercenary, grabbing and clawing at him in an attempt to keep him pinned.  He struggled in response, swinging wildly at the mass of phantoms in a vain attempt to keep the swarm from enveloping him.  A few were dissipated on contact with each swing, only to have more take their place.  It seemed all of Pulse's confirmed kills were going to pin him to the ground.

All but one.  The hooded vigilante, the most fully-formed of them all, remained floating just above the carnage.  This was the true struggle of this swarm, not the mass of undead surrounding War-Pulse's person, but the single spirit leering down upon him, a resentful glare searing out from the torn and bloodied face mask.

"You enjoying this, asshole?" War-Pulse cried to the floating spirit. "This make you feel better?"

The spirit said nothing.

"Pulse...what are you yelling at? What are you even fighting?" Came Warden's voice through the comm. "There is nothing there, you are swinging at air. What are you--wait. It's the sorceress, isn't it? She's casting some kind of illusion, you are seeing something that isn't there. Snap out of it!"

But Warden’s words now fell entirely upon deaf ears, as War-Pulse continued to shout at the cloaked phantasm.

“What do you want?  Why are you just staring?”  War-Pulse shouted, yanking one of the undead free from his arm. “What do you want?”

The hooded ghost said nothing, it simply stared.

“Look I...I’m sorry, alright?!”  He yelped, the air distorting around him as he continued to devolve into instability. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to kill you!  It was a job!  You...you should have just stayed down!  Pretended to be dead, that would have been enough!  You didn’t have to get up and keep fighting…”

The ghost said nothing, it simply stared.

“There, you happy?!  I’m sorry, I said I’m sorry!  But what’s done is done, now leave me alone!  ALL OF YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!”

The ghost said nothing, it simply stared.

“WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?!  LEAVE...ME...ALONE!!!!”

When War-Pulse began to emit waves of light due to the hysteria caused by the Silver Sorceress’ illusion, almost all of the other metahumans began to panic.  What would happen when War-Pulse reached the critical point?  Would he destroy the entire block?  However, there was one of them who had her head in the game.

“Jaws, grab that car and drag it over towards the shore.”  The Silver Sorceress barked with authority while pointing at the same car where War-Pulse had deposited the vial that Effigy found. “Effigy, since you can absorb some of the energy that this crazy mercenary is emitting, aid Black Widow in wrapping him up in her webbing.”

Immediately, the three metahumans went to work.  While Jaws was working on getting the vehicle in position,  Effigy spun War-Pulse around, allowing the Black Widow to wrap her spider silk around him without touching him.  Once War-Pulse was now all but a silk cocoon, with one hand, the Silver Sorceress caused War-Pulse to levitate.  She sent him over to where Jaws had set down the car.  With the other hand, the Silver Sorceress used her magic to unlock and open the car door.  Immediately afterwards, she shoved the still levitating War-Pulse in the backseat and slammed the door shut with her magic.

“Effigy, Jaws.  We’re going to need you to toss this car as far as possible into the sea.  I’ll decrease the density of the car so that we can increase both your throwing range.”  Therefore, once both Effigy and Jaws had lifted up the car, they heaved it into the air, sending it into the ocean.

Once the car plunged into the depths of the sea, only a raising tension of silence remained as the four individuals waited on the shore for the explosion.  Luckily, it seemed like they managed to get War-Pulse as far away from the nearby residential area in the nick of time.  Suddenly, a deafening blast echoed across the coastline as the sea erupted into a dome-like expanse of blue light visible for at least a few miles down the coastline, the docks along the coast shaking from the impact.  The area around the explosion had forced the seawater outward, allowing the ocean floor to momentarily be exposed to the air before the water came rushing back in.  More importantly to the metahumans on shore, the resulting explosion had sent a series of tidal waves racing to the shoreline, threatening to envelop the docks.

However, while using her magic to assuage the raging water, the Silver Sorceress managed to transform what could have been a tsunami into what would have seemed like normal waves that would crash onto the beach.

Once the crisis had ended, all four of these individuals took a sigh of relief, knowing that their confrontation with War-Pulse had not ending in a similar fashion as the mercenary’s last fight at the water treatment plant, or in a fashion far worse.

Then, the Silver Sorceress pulled out a vial, which looked exactly like the one War-Pulse had been carrying.  She caused it to levitate in the air, allowing the others to see.  

“What a twit.”  The Silver Sorceress berated the now absent War-Pulse, “I cannot see any reason why anyone would want to hire this guy.  He’s almost up there with those four elemental mercenaries that the Doctor hired several weeks ago.”

Now that their work here was done, the Silver Sorceress muttered another set of magical words.  As soon as she had finished the spell, the four metahumans vanished into thin air, as they were teleported away from this location.  While a positive media appearance was something that the group thought would be desirable for their plans, at the same time, they did not want to overstay their welcome.

There was short, tense silence after the detonation.  The water refilling the large gap serving almost as background noise in comparison to the recent sounds of battle echoing through the block.  However, that silence was short lived when the water was once more ruptured. Barrelling up in a mighty water column, War-Pulse found himself high in the air, a wild glint in his frantic eyes. His anxious panting only overtaken by his rage.

"Alright, that was a dirty trick!" War-Pulse called out as he shook water off of his face. "For that, I am so gunna--"

He stopped his threat mid-sentence, glaring around the coastline for any sign of his opponents.

"Hey! Where did they go!?" He shouted, his body now crackling with kinetic power to reflect his provoked state of mind. "I swear I am going to just start blasting until they rear their--"

“They're gone, Pulse, now pull yourself together.”  Came Warden’s voice barking through the comm.  “I take it you are relatively unharmed?"

“Unharmed? I'm pissed right the hell off!" A snarling response came from War-Pulse, "That magic bitch messed with my head! I am going to kill her for that!"

“I don't think that's possible.  They disappeared in a flash of light while you were in the throes of insanity. What makes matters worse is that the car they threw you in contained the vial...”

“Wait, does that mean...”  War-Pulse glanced around, his brow furrowing. “I didn't blow up the vial too, did I?"

“You can say it wasn't your fault, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Dammit!" War-Pulse held his hands on both sides as he cursed. "At this point, we’ve only got a 75% success rate on this job.”

“I’d make that about 65%, we don’t know how much of that first vial got into the water supply.  Nevertheless, I’m sending our report to Randall...we may not have been entirely successful, but as professionals, it’s our duty to--”

“Warden, can you just do it instead of scolding me like a disapproving dad?.”  War-Pulse interrupted, floating along the water’s surface back to the shore. “Right now I’ve just come the closest I’ve ever want to come to a debate of my own morality, I’m not in the mood for reminders that this Randall guy is going to chew us up."

“That’s…”  Warden began, though knowing better at this point was quick to switch topics. “The report is being typed up and sent as we speak, we should be hearing from them within a few hours.”

“Terrific.  I’m going to go find a mountain to punch to clear my head.”

“Shouldn’t you try to stay under the radar, for now?”

“Nah, wouldn’t work anyway, people can see me on radar, what’s the point of hiding?”

“Fair enough, I’m going to go dig up some dirt on your four assailants, maybe point you in their direction once we’ve finished with this job.”

War-Pulse sighed, clicking off his comm link as he touched down onto the docks. “Yeah, then it’s payback time.”
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