Member
LeeRoy
Izurich
Icon lowered his head as he drove his body through the small, single pilot alien craft. The ensuing sound which was reminiscent of a freight train colliding with a tractor trailer was deafening. It was a sound that one felt as opposed to heard. The cobalt and silver clad hero quickly glanced over his shoulder just as the wrecked craft crashed down into an empty park below. He made a quarter turn midair, then raced toward another craft. His heart pounded as he raced toward the oncoming craft, feeling a slight pang of guilt from the satisfaction he felt at the destruction of the last ship, however, he shook that feeling off in time to unleash an optic blast which utterly obliterated the oncoming vessel.
“Take it easy Flyboy, you're making the rest of us look bad.” He heard Radiance say. Though their com devices had been fried in the EMP that helped bring down the massive war machine, Icon was thankful that his enhanced hearing made the coms obsolete, for him anyhow. He looked back at Radiance and gave her a brief grin, however, it was fleeting.
The large cigar shaped ship, which seemed to serve the same purpose as a navy battleship cast a long shadow over the city, blocking out the sun as it took a position over the Lost Haven Harbor just off of the coast of Little Ulster. From his position, Icon could see movement on the craft itself. Parts in motion, pieces sliding in and out, revealing multiple batteries of armaments, all pointing toward Lost Haven.
They're going to raze the city. Icon thought to himself as he realized just how far the invaders would go to protect the Purifier from any external threats.
“Not today, you son of a bitch.” Icon said as he rocketed toward the massive ship.
***
Lyger wasn't going to let the others have all the fun. While he couldn't fly, and thus was more or less useless when it came to dealing with the alien fighter ships that had descended upon Lost Haven, he was determined to get to that tower and find a way to bring it down. The sudden arrival of the tower had really shaken Flux, and she seemed sure that the emergence of the tower, this “Purifier” meant that the fight was lost. But he'd been down before, he'd seen the heroes of the world come together and pull off miracles...and he hoped that they had at least one more left, because if the world was ever in need of a miracle, it was now.
Lyger fired a grappling line from his wrist gauntlet and ascended to the rooftop of a nearby building. Once he made it to the roof of the building, he ran, jumped and bounded from rooftop to rooftop. His instincts had proven correct, he had run into no alien resistance until he reached the sixth building. A lone Arlaaekan crouched at the far ledge of the building, looking through the scope of his long barreled blaster. Before the alien sniper even knew that he was there, Lyger grabbed the alien's head and drove him face first into the stone ledge, then bounded away before the alien's limp body hit the rooftop.
It wasn't long before he came across more of the alien butchers. Just ahead, on the next roof he was able to see a pair of heavily armed alien gunmen. Unlike the sniper which he had so easily dispatched, these aliens were not worried about discretion. In fact, the weaponry that they carried looked to be designed to cause as much damage in as little time as possible. Aside from the now familiar Arlaaekan blaster rifles, the pair also carried what looked to be the Arlaaekan equivalent of rocket launchers. Lyger quickened his pace, and as he neared the pair of aliens, he jumped toward them, hitting the first armed marauder square in the back, driving the air from his lungs and sending him crashing face first on the rooftop. Before the stunned alien could finish letting out a wheezed breath, Lyger had turned his attention to his partner. The feline hero struck at the alien with a barage of open and closed fisted strikes which kept the alien off balance, before shattering his left knee with a sudden well placed thrust kick. The alien gunman crumled to the ground and clutched his leg shouting out in pain. Looking down at the injured alien, Lyger silenced his cries with a single punch, shattering his jaw in the process.
Without missing a beat, he bounded to the next rooftop where he came face to face with a pair of armored aliens.Unlike the others, they were not taken by surprise. As he rantoward the pair of aliens, he could hear them speaking to one another, and though he could not understand the words being spoken, he understood their meaning. They were frantic, almost in a panic as he approached. Even as they leveled their weapons at him, they did not seem as sure of themselves as they might otherwise be. Lyger anticipated their reaction, dodging to the left and then to the right as plasma bolts fly past him. Lyger dodged another volley of enemy fire before leaping towards the pair of alien soldiers. His foot connected with the firsts just under his chin, sending blood and tooth fragments into the air. He had barely touched the ground before he turned and drove his elbow into the temple of the other, a shot which staggered the alien, but did not topple him. Lyger did not relent; he struckthe alien with a series of quick kicks and punches, be fore landing a knife edged thrust to the invader's throat which finally put the alien down.
Suddenly, just as Lyger was getting ready to move onto the next rooftop, something hit him.
Hard.
The impact knocked him off his feet, sending him into a nearby electrical junction box. The collision crumpled the large green metal box sending sparks shooting into the sky around it. Lyger sat hunched over against the ruined junction box as he tried to recover from the shock of the sudden attack. His eyes darted around looking for the source of the attack as he tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him. However, much to his surprise, there was nothing. Then there was a shimmer in the air, and a form began to materialize, like a ghost making itself visible, right in front of him. This Arlaaekan was different than the others. This alien was much larger than the others, standing at about seven feet tall. It was an imposing figure, and for an instant he could hear his father's voice in his head, describing the bruiser of an alien as only Jack Porter could.
“Man, that fucking thing is built like a brick shit house.”
As Lyger would soon discover, his attacker was not only large and powerful,but he was also incredibly fast. Before he could get to his feet, the large Arlaaekan was on him, his massive hands gripping his face and head, much like someone palming a basketball, and yanked him up, and then slammed him back down to the rooftop, again knocking the wind out of him. Lygerinstinctively rolled over to his stomach and forced himself up on his knees, however, before he was able to get to his feet, the alien brute took a bounding step and landed a well placed kick to his medsection, a kick that sent Lyger hurtling through the air, landing in a lump about a dozen feet away.
I can't keep this up, this son of a bitch is going to kill me. Lyger thought to himself as he forced himself to his feet. The kick had actually been a blessing in disguise, it had given his the separation that he needed to gather his bearings somewhat. Just then, the bruiser charged at Lyger. Using his cat like reflexes, the hero was able to jump out of the way, barely escaping what wouldcertainly have been a catastrophic impact. The large alien lunged again, and again, Lyger was able to dodge the attack, but not before landing a strike of his own, a hard open palm strike to the alien's temple. This staggered the brute, sending him backwards several steps while he tried to clear his head. However, Lyger didn't give him the chance. He dove in toward the brute, getting as close as he could to his massive opponent. Once Lyger was in close, too close for the stunned brute to strike, he unleased a series of knee strikes, to the alien's midsection, followed by a flurry of punches, forearm, and elbow strikes which battered its he and neck.
Though the alien brute had been staggered, it still stood. Lyger jumped away from his larger opponent, who had recovered slightly from the hero's assault. The alien let out a gutteral roar and rushed towards Lyger, who just like before dove out of the way, easily avoiding the charge. However, in the brutes rage, he did not notice that this time Lyger had been standing in front of the damaged electrical junction box. The alien brute slammed his fist into the box, sending hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity coursing through its body. The alien cried out in pain for several long moments, that to both combatants seemed to be an eternity. Finally, mercifully, the alien brute fell silent as its body slumped to the ground.
***
Icon counted three smaller alien craft coming towards him from the West, and another four from the North. Icon veered toward the first three ships, which began firing plasma bolts at him as he approached. Icon took immediate evasive action, barrel rolling to the left and returning fire with an optic blast which nearly vaporized the first craft on impact. Icon lowered his head as he flew through the resulting fireball, slamming into the second craft which had been trailing close behind the first. Then, with a quick turn of his head and another optic blast, the cobalt and silver clad hero felled the third of the Westwardly alien fighter crafts.
Before Icon could look to get a position on the other four fighter crafts, a plasma bolt struck him from behind and above. The sudden attack was painful, and nearly knocked the wind out of him, he quickly realized that he had been on the receiving end of far worse. Suddenly he stopped his forward momentum and hovered in place. The first of the alien craft was moving to fast to register the fact that its target was no longer in motion. Icon reached back and drove a fist into the bow of the craft, sending a mixture of sparks and metal debris into the air an instant before the entire fighter exploded from the collision. The second fighter made its approach, firing multiple plasma bolts at Icon in rapid succession. Two of which hit him, however, Lost Haven's hero was able to steel himself against the incoming volley, and return fire with an optic blast which reduced the fighter craft to little more than a fireball falling from the sky. The two remaining fighters were eliminated in short order. Icon circled around and went in pursuit of the third craft, firing off a pair of optic blasts, one which sailed just to the left of the fighter, however, the second clipped the craft's wing, sending it into a tailspin where it crashed into Lost Haven Harbor. The final craft made its approach, firing hot plasma at the hero in rapid succession, however, Icon easily flew out of the way, avoiding the enemy fire. Icon circled around and flew through the alien fighter craft, sending the fiery wreckage crashing to the waters below.
Icon hovered in midair for a moment, quickly looking all around for any more of the pesky alien fight craft when a massive bolt of energy whizzed past his head on its way toward the city below, where it struck one of the city's skyscrapers. The building's ensuing collapse reduced it to rubble.
“NO!” Icon cried out as several more of the energy bolts rained down on the city. Icon spun toward the source of the attack, and came face to face with the large cigar shaped vessel, its cannons bared on the city below.
***
Bill Hoyt watched the events unfold in the city in horror with the rest of the employees who had remained in the office at Winstone International. As a member of the board of directors, he could have remained in his office and watched the events from there. However, he had never seen anything like this in all his years, and he didn't know if he, or anyone else for that matter would live to see another day. He started his career as a front desk receptionist for Alexa Winstone's grandfather over forty years ago. He worked his way up through the company to Executive Vice President, a position that he was so proud to see Alexa, who he had seen as a daughter of sorts, take over when he was again promoted to President.
He had sacrificed so much for Winstone International. The company had occupied so much of his life that he never had time for a wife or family. So he looked at his employees as his family. There was nothing that he wouldn't do for them, so if this truly was the end, he wanted to be right here among his family.
He hoped that somehow the world's heroes would again pull off a miracle and save the day. He had seen them save the world from Dr. Diplodoc's meta domes, he watched as they defeated the Hounds of Humanity and their space laser. He was also there when they repelled the actual forces of Hell and sent the demonic forces back to where they belong during D-Day. But somehow, this felt different, and he didn't know if the newly minted Guardians, even with help from the rest of the world's heroes would be enough this time. He still had a sliver of hope. However, that hope quickly evaporated when he saw the massive ball of energy, which to him appeared to be almost as bright as the sun, coming right toward him.
The impact eradicated everything, and everyone in the immediate impact zone. Metal beams twisted and melted, and the entire building trembled. Then, Winstone International, the third tallest building in Lost Haven cried out as it fell to Earth.
***
Radiance waited for her opponent to get closer. She had already taken down several of Arlaaekan flight suits, which in a way reminded her of the suit of armor worn by the Iron Knight, though they were not quite as stylish. The purple and black suits also seemed to be quite susceptible to electricity, which she found to be exceptionally convenient. So she waited, and when the suited alien got close enough, she wrangled the speeding suit of armor and released a powerful electrical discharge, which fried the suit's flight system, causing it to quickly lose altitude until it crashed to the city below.
She didn't have time to celebrate, as a bright bolt of energy lit up the sky as it raced toward the city. Then another, and another, each impacting buildings throughout Lost Haven, each target collapsing moments after impact. She wanted to be sick as she looked over the destruction in the city below. Then, as she surveyed the destruction, an icy chill ran down her spine as she saw the pile of rubble that sat where Winstone International had once stood.
***
Icon slammed shoulder first into the large, cigar shaped vessel just to the left of one of the massive cannons that adorned the side of the craft. He reached over and tore into the cannon's housing and yanked. He strained to pull the cannon free from the side of the craft. The metal groaned and whined in protest until finally, Icon separated the cannon from the ship. Then, like an oversized baseball bat, Icon swung the cannon, connecting with the cannon housed next to it. Black smoke poured out of the side of the ship as Icon moved onto the next cannon.
He flew around the ship, hitting each of the cannons with an optic blast, reducing each to smoldering craters in the ship's hull. Once he had taken out the cannons, Icon moved above the ship, only to find that it too was heavily armed. The ship's defenses began firing, rounds of hot plasma flew past him as he dodged to the left, and then again to the right. Once he was again over top of the ship, he let loose with a massive optic blast as he flew toward the ship. He maintained the onslaught as he crashed into the ship. Metal crunched as and surprised Arlaaekans cried out in shock as he drove himself all the way through the ship, emerging from the bottom of the hull. Thick black smoke poured from the ship's wounded hull, but Icon was not done. He flew along the bottom of the craft, releasing a sustained optic blast as he went. Once he had moved past the ship, he looked back just in time to see the craft separate into two halves, bout of which crashed down into the harbor below.
Icon took a deep breath as he watched the remains of the ship slip below the waves. With the immediate threat taken care of, Icon turned his attention to the massive black tower that now stood prominently over the Lost Haven as he raced back to the city.
