Things were getting out of hand. All she wanted was for this stupid plant to die.
Seriously, who ever heard of plants that fought back? Stupid forest.
But she wasn't thinking straight anymore, she had started to panic as her feet left the ground and the crushing tightness started to get tighter. It was the beetle all over again, wasn't it?
No. She didn't have friends this time.
"In the name of the Shadow, I defy you!" she grunted out angrily as a thought shot across her mind faster than she could properly comprehend it.
She had directed her fireball into a fire breath by focusing it through her mouth. That meant that it was partially through her will or her intent, something about how she wanted to use it and the skill to use it.
Right now she just wanted fire. In her mind it was like when she had nearly died. Fire all around her, fire all within her. Burning.
She willed it to life, desperately trying to make the fire come from all around her body instead of a single point.
Blue was more interested in the people than the show, if she had to be honest. The show itself was....Well, she guessed it was alright but honestly it was fairly boring.
And she was stuck sitting here.
Doing nothing.
Waiting.
When the lights started was the first time she had any active interest in the show, shifting slightly as she coiled, ready to pounce. If they just landed on her....
She blinked as she turned her head to the little girl next to her, her mouth turning into a thinly pressed line as she fingered her "walking stick," an itch forming inside her. As Mieke stood up, Blue mirrored her. Once Leonard showed her something, Blue gently placed a hand on the young girl's back, leaning in close before she could leave.
"If anything happens, I'll pull you out. Be strong, little bird."
Manifold stood strong, helping to coordinate people alongside Inkscape. Her hands moved quickly as she help direct people, simultaneously communicating with her sister about where they should go. Behemoth was tricky, his radiation would be a bigger issue than the beast himself to the Rescue operations.
Her eyes were often on the giant manifestation that had appeared quickly, doing more damage to the Endbringer than she’d seen a single cape do in quite some time. Normally it was Eidolon who managed something like that.
Though there was that dragon back in Kyushu...If they had someone of that calibre here? It gave her a little hope.
As the beast started moving closer, very obviously coming directly for their staging grounds, Manifold began getting people to move further away. Back. When the lightning bolt struck, many less were within range than there would’ve been otherwise due to the collective efforts of those who hadn’t engaged yet.
As the local Protectorate leader rose up, unleashing his power in full, Manifold heard a call for help from a somewhat unique voice she hadn’t heard much before.
”Roger, Dragon. I’ll take care of it,” she responded in her false voice. ”Search! We’ve got downed capes! Every injured body recovered is a life possibly saved! MOVE IT!” She pushed her system to its loudest for the announcement, directing the stunned crowd around her.
<<Charm, we’re moving! Rescue in the rubble.>>
”On it.” Ana said with a quick nod. Ana bolted off towards the crumbling section and started digging her way in into the rubble, shifting large sections of concrete with relative ease. ”We got any muscle that could help me clear this faster!?” Ana called out taking a brief moment to look about for another possible brute to help.
”I might not be a brute, but I can certainly try to help!” Mastar yelled as she ran over, grabbing the rubble in front and trying her hardest to push it to the side, sprouting extra appendages to help push at the expense of the mass in other areas of her body. She managed to move some rubble to the side before starting on another.
Manifold strode forward, holding up a hand before spray a mildly green substance, making sure to keep it away from being near the tar kid. It was harmless to organics, but it melted through inorganic substances like acid. As the tar girl wrapped around a fairly large piece of building, Manifold stepped forward to help shift it. As it moved it shifted, turning and threatening to fall somewhere unpredicted, and Manifold quickly punched it. Cracks spiderwebbed from the impact point, a sizeable chunk now missing, before it fell into the proper place, cracking through into multiple smaller sized pieces.
Shaking her head, she stepped forward to deftly climb over some rubble as the neared the location that Dragon had indicated. Shifting the rubble she found a Trooper and what appeared to be two capes. How’d they managed not to be crushed was beyond her, likely something to do with a set of powers or two. But she wasted no time before pulling them all out to safety, handing the two men off to Ana before scooping up the odd looking lady.
”Keep looking! There’s bound to be more!”
Ana continued shifting chunks of rubble eventually managing to get a glimpse into an small room, there was a few people trapped behind some fire though the hole she’d made was still small. Ana shot a look back at Mastar and beaconed her over. ”We’ve got some people trapped in there and I don’t think I’ll be able to get to them in time. Do you think you could squeeze through there and get them to safety?” Ana pointed to the do sized hole while still using her other hand to peel away more rubble.
”Can do, lovely.” Mastar snapped as she backed up, running straight at the hole and going into her full-tar state to squeeze through with ease, reforming on the other side. She couldn’t mess with the fire on this side of the area, except for… that convenient fire extinguisher! It was on the ground and a little dented at the bottom, but Mastar grabbed it and put out the flames as quickly as possible, allowing for all the people to make it closer to her. ”Charm, there’s not another way out of this place. I’m gonna need you to open it up just a little more!” Mastar said through her entrance.
”Alright just give me a second!” Charm stood over the hole and continued carefully removing chunks of rubble, trying her best not to cause things to cave in, though despite her efforts rubble kept sliding down to replace the stuff she removed. ”Hey Manifold! Could I get some of that super solvent over here!?” Charm yelled out as she continued to move rubble only for it to get replaced with more falling stones.
Manifold raised a hand without looking over, spraying a thin stream around the edge of the hole while she broke through into the building itself finally. The parahumans around them was thinning out as more people travelled further away, following after the trail of destruction that the beast was leaving in its wake.
The trapped people rushed out of the building as quick as they could, along with Mastar as she pointed the way for the survivors to run. ”I think this place is cleared out, now!” Mastar stated as she snuck around the solvent. She didn’t wanna risk getting sprayed by that, for sure. She was still trying to make heads and tails of what her body was really made of, anyway. ”Where to next?”
Charm looked up momentarily as it started… Raining? It must be the work of a cape. At least the rain would help put out fires, though any exposed wires would become a deathtrap… Though people that close to Behemoth and the destruction would probably be more worried about Behemoth.
Charm looked at Mastar as the girl asked what was next. ”Go ask Manifold, I’m going into the building. See if a can’t get some more people out.” Charm then ran through the hole Manifold’s solvent had created, heading deep into the crumbling structure in search of more trapped people.
”On it!” she answered before reforming into her whole body once again, running towards Manifold as quickly as she could. Within a few seconds, she had made it over to the senior hero, stopping hastily as to not mess up anything that Manifold was doing. ”Charm directed me to ya’. Need a hand?”
Manifold looked up from where she was dissolving some more debris, allowing more capes and to help. Her wrist clicked audibly as the stream stopped and everything shifted back into place while she turned towards the young Ward.
”We need to regroup. With Inkscape down someone needs to step up to direct the Search and Rescue squads coming in. I do not know the city well enough. Is there anyone else we can trust to carry on his work?”
”I… uh… think Overlook is the best bet for directing larger groups, since he can get a good view of the city, monster and all, with his drone. Dunno if he’s occupied right now, but I’ll let him know over comms in a moment. If you need someone, I’m a Denver Ward. I know this city pretty well.” explained Mastar. She was getting a little scared about Inkscape being down. T-though, she wasn’t worried about that! It was Inkscape! A good hit couldn’t take them down!
The older woman considered the Ward for a moment before pressing a finger to the side of her visor.
”Overlook, can you coordinate rescue operations while I get us a new base of operations running?”
”Yeah, should be able to. Phoenix is currently occupied running some wounded out, so I’ll get right to it.”
”Dragon will assist, I’m sure.” Manifold looked back down at the Ward before glancing across the city towards the towering beast. ”Where’s a good open place we can set up for regrouping?” she asked Mastar.
”There’s a schoolyard, not too far from where Behemoth is now. It should’ve already been evacuated, so we’ve probably got a good sized area to work with.” She hoped it was evacuated, or else Ryan would be in a bit of trouble pretty soon with all these heroes getting involved there.
”Closer is not ideal. We want something where the wounded won’t die to radiation.”
”Best bet is the park, then. It’s over that way.” Mastar pointed towards Behemoth, only about 75 degrees away from the monster’s right. ”He’s about to pass the street it’s perpendicular to. It’s a couple of blocks away from him in terms of distance.”
”It’ll do. If you’re up to it, you’d do well searching the city for anyone trapped.” Manifold said gently. ”Dragon, Decoy, sending you new coordinates for a base of operations. Please acknowledge.”
As they did, Manifold started moving towards the location. New teleporters would arrive there shortly, and that’s where they’d bring the wounded for evac that couldn’t just go straight to a hospital.
”I’ll get started then!” Mastar noted as she ran towards a bit more of a debri-filled area, pinging someone on her comms for assistance. She needed a hand since she couldn’t move rubble efficiently. ”Hey Tiger, I might need your help with moving some things. Heading towards the rubble that’s by the PRT, if you’re able to assist.”
”Roger that, on my way to your position,” Lillian replied quickly, sounding slightly out of breath.
”You okay? You sound a bit winded.” Mastar asked as she converted to her full-tar state, slipping through the cracks in a building in order to get through all the way before reforming and darting. ”Don’t tell me Behemoth hit ya, I already saw Inkscape go down, I don’t want another friend getting hurt!”
”N-no, just….seen a lot I’d rather forget. Mom’s dead, I don’t know if Dad’s gonna make it. Seen a lot of people hurt. This bastard just keeps going….”
”... oh… o-oh…” Mastar’s voice cracked a little as she looked at a hero running down the city carrying two familiar people. She couldn’t help but feel herself slow down as they reached their destination. T-those weren’t some randoms.
”I-I think I know how you feel, Lil.” Kendall’s voice broke out fully as they looked at their mother’s crushed body and their dad’s limp one. Hell, the mask on their face melted down slightly to show a tear welling up in their eye.
”It needs to pay,” Lillian said softly as she stepped around a corner behind Mastar. Her costume seemed to be damaged in places, torn to show small cuts and scrapes beneath, but there was a look in her eyes as she stepped forward.
And that was when all hell broke loose as Tulpa finally released her attack.
Charm could only imagine what kind of carnage was going on outside as she dragged a few downed people through the corridors. She was being as careful as she could be with a total of five people stacked on her back, with a few others who could still walk following behind her.
Charm carefully squeezed herself and the survivors out of the wreckage and made her way after Manifold. ”Can I get a hand with some of these guys. I don’t think me carrying them like this is going to be good for them in the long run.”
No sooner than she asked did a teleporter take two of the people of her back, picking the two that looked the worst for ware and taking them directly to intensive care.
Jason
Jason had been running for longer than ever before. Throwing capes, throwing objects from capes, throwing things to capes, carrying people around...
He was in his element, but even then he could tell that things weren't going great. Even with the light-thing and all of the Triumvirate it just wasn't enough.
He watched as the PRT HQ got hit, hard, and as Inkscape himself rose against the creature and went down.
He watched as the local dragon girl conjured up a storm and was reduced to slag.
He watched numerous unknown capes burst into flames from the inside out, get crushed, have their bones destroyed from a roar alone.
He watched as people died, and he wasn't able to save them.
As the energy attack released, Jason took a moment to breath before it became clear that the beast wasn't dealt with. It was still alive, and their primary attacker so far was gone.
Almost casually he found his hand rising to the communicator that he had been given by that little dino girl. As he pressed the comms he spoke clearly, eerily calm.
"Is there anyone who can grant me the ability to survive the Kill Aura? I can put this bastard on his ass if I can just touch it."
After creating three puddles near the Blood Snare Plant, Torrent took her time and thought carefully about her next move. Once she had decided what she would do, she said a small prayer--or was it a chant?--in the back of her mind.
She felt the magic surging just like before in the cave. And, using her mouth to guide the flame, she released it in a narrow stream to ignite the venom puddles…
Was it just her, or had the fire become a darker tinge around its edges? Was that from the poison, or her concentration of the flames?
The thinner, controlled stream arced perfectly to strike the puddles. But though the flames spread across the surface of the liquid, it only lasted for a few moments. The fumes rising up from her poison, however, ignited with a sharp hiss. Unlike something like gasoline or gunpowder, however, this effect didn’t create a powerful explosion--the poison, or some layer of it, just seemed to burn, and the overall liquid of the puddles didn’t catch fire at all. Nonetheless, three separate clouds of flame blossomed around the Blood Snare, plus the condensed stream of fire Torrent spread in an arc as she moved her head.
The plant’s reaction was immediate. Its fleshy petals drew close, drawing up into a tight bud, and with whiplike snaps and cracks its vines jerked free of the earth and began lashing out wildly! If Torrent couldn’t evade or defend, these flailing appendages would deal a hefty blow--but they were coming from so many angles!
Despite this, several of the vines and other parts of the odd plant were singed and burned, and some embers still clung to life. As the flames caught up, the smell of burning flesh and cooking meat began to waft in the air, but the plant writhed even more with an eerie lack of screams yet no less agony...
As the plant began to move, the first of the whips flailing, Torrent's immediate instinct was to get away.
Which she did by promptly digging straight down until she was in a little hole. But she wasn't quick enough to evade all the whip-like attacks, as several clipped her along her back end and tail. Irritated at having been struck she swished her tail back and forth while she moved forward slowly towards the plant. Breaking back up she made a small hole that she could see the plant through, and she backed up slightly into her little tunnel and into the darkness that she felt more comfortable in.
Using Scale shift to the dirt beneath her, which would be a richer color than the forest floor she'd used it with above, Torrent stopped to think.
Something that was becoming surprisingly more common for her. As far as she could tell, this thing didn't have a way of sensing her except through touch. Which meant that it shouldn't be able to do anything about her attacking through her little safe hole. She couldn't believe she was fighting a plant of all things. A funny thought occurred to her as she thought, however, as the memory of Jason and his chanting words before doing things randomly popped into her head.
"From the Shadows I strike, swift and true, a stream of fire and ire, assassination," she said confidently after a few moments of thought, repeating her mixed flame breath and poison breath attack from before through the hole at the plant's 'bulb'.
The sound of the battle was clear now, and had been for a little while. The shaking of the ground, the roars that even all this distance away held a kind of weight all its own, the claps of thunder….
It was a kind of noise that brought a tilt to her lips. Standing at the top of a hill, she lifted a hand.
In the distance a man was falling, what her systems told her was ink falling with him, as Behemoth swatted him away with lightning like he was an annoying fly.
”My my my, what a sight to be greeted with,” she said softly, keeping her finger in line with the falling man until he fell out of sight. She clicked her tongue, disappointed that she couldn’t have seen where he fell, before she raised her eyes to the projection floating high in the sky. Already she was intrigued by it and the light it excluded. Not unlike Scion’s light, really, in a way.
She clicked through the local scans she was performing, picking up a few random traces of signals and communications. She frowned, irritated. She couldn’t hack into the system at an event like this, so these little scraps were all she was going to get if she didn’t want to make enemies earlier than she wanted.
"Mhmm. They started without us. Lovelies, why don't we make our mark. Go. Show them our strength. Break the beast." She said the words confidently, giving her girls free reign.
They knew what to do.
She sauntered forward slowly, twirling her bow into her hands and pulling back an arrow. Letting it fly, she was yanked forward moments later as it connected and started reeling her in.
It was time to make some noise.
Outlet nodded silently as she ran forward to an area where she could get a clear line of sight on Behemoth’s massive feet, holding out her hands towards him and launching as many rods as she could at his legs, each one exploding with a beautiful display of electricity, chipping away at his scales with every blast. She didn’t have to worry about being too close to the beast, as her power was definitely suited for a bit of distance. Maybe not a mile, but a few blocks was definitely doable.
‘Alriiiiiight~!’ Gorgon called as she ran forth, rather loudly on account of heavy rock feet. She saw where Behemoth was going, and with a smirk Gorgon made her own plans. The ground beneath her feet was petrified and turned to dust, dropping Gorgon into the earth itself into caverns she just created. With this done, she ran for ahead of Behemoth while underground, taking care not to run underneath him and often looking up to check where she was because she couldn’t entirely know down there. When she reached her destination, Gorgon set her trap.
Beneath the streets of Denver she turned the solid earth into loose dust. Petrified, brought under her control over a wide range, then shattered and unbalanced. She created huge pits just beneath the surface, above which normal humans could run just fine in large numbers but which would surely crack if the weight of Behemoth tried to cross. Following the vibrations Gorgon continued setting up her huge-beast-traps, wherever Behemoth changed directions towards until she had him surrounded. So few accounted for what might be happening under the earth, after all.
She did ensure no dirt with buildings on top was solidified, by looking up occasionally while also keeping out of the deadly range of Behemoth. As much as she would have wanted to fight the beast in hand-to-hand and petrify him, Gorgon was not under the impression that would work. So, letting him fall into graves would do~!
Hanna stood on top of a building some twelve blocks away from the beast's current position, her bow raised and moving slowly to keep the beast's head in her sights. On her visor a multitude of readouts were running, indicating all the variables and accounting for them. Wind, visible powers (which were being logged and sorted into her files with notes), movement....
There was an opening as the ink controller, which her systems identified as Inkscape, fell. A momentary lull as the majority of the local capes fell still for just a breath. As Alexandria hurtled in again, slamming into Behemoth's face like a V6 Rocket, Hanna fired her arrow. As the iconic woman was smacked away for the umpteenth time, Hanna's arrow flew into the eye of the Endbringer, sinking in a little more than one would have expected, before it exploded in a flash of liquid nitrogen, literally freezing the section of Behemoth's face around the eye. Another cape stepped in moments later as steam became to rise visibly, her systems noting that the man had been visibly thrown by another, before he slammed a fist that was suddenly ten times normal size into the section.
Lightning exploded out from a direction she couldn't see, crackling and sizzling as it hit the flesh of the monster. She made a note to keep an eye out for whoever was throwing around lightning. Outlet could use a good friend like that.
It was then that she noticed the growing field above the beast and she pursed her lips. A quick scan let her zoom in on the projection, noticing a myriad of elemental and energy based effects being thrown, blasted, and formed near it.
"Mhmmm. That's interesting. Very interesting. At least I won't be getting bored anytime soon....And there's someone who could use a little talk when this is all over..." Hanna muttered to herself, a wry smile splitting her face as she fired another nitrogen arrow at the beast's legs in an attempt at slowing it down.
Blue stepped forward slightly, smoothly moving in such a way that made one wonder if she had moved at all. Her right shoulder was now slightly in front of Mieke as Blue gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. Her eyes bored into the man's as Leonard politely reminded him of what manners were.
"Now now boys, we wouldn't want to cause a ruckus when the show is about to start, now would we?"
Torrent wandered curiously, ignoring the little rubber frog that hopped away from her, as she searched for something interesting. Something to eat.
When she stumbled upon the edible plant, she was content enough to just dig it up quickly and eat her fill before moving on.
From there she stumbled across the odd blood plant. She stayed well away from its odd flesh-vines as she considered how best to approach it. It smelled amazing, but her analysis indicated it was dangerous. Getting caught would likely end badly for her, and she didn't want to simply start a forest fire by accident.
Again.
Instead she thought how best to handle the thing. She was still kinda close to base camp, even if they were going to move soon, and that made this thing a danger. At least, she thought that made sense. Fire might attract predators, what with the burning flesh. Cooking meat always smelled good, from what she could remember of it.
Instead, she started making a puddle of her venom near the thing with carefully aimed globs. Not close enough that it should splash onto it, but close enough for what she was hoping would work.
From her little experiments back in the shelter, she knew that the fire could....it was almost like it had ignited the venom. At least, that was the best way she could understand it.
Once a small puddle had formed, she opened her maw and was about to release a torrent of Fire Breath forth towards it before stopping to think. She carefully canceled the spell and stopped to think for once.
She'd be on guard, taunt at attention for any sign of a change in the plant or anything else showing up unexpectedly. Instinctually she found herself activating Scale Shift to blend into the ground beneath her feet while she thought. “In the name of the shadows, may this bring about the darkness that my master might desire,” she thought as she set her plan into motion.
She followed this up with trying to forcefully concentrate like she had in the shelter, attempting to harness that dual breath attack again while keeping it directed and focused forward. It had burned, kinda, but that had been on stone. She wanted to see if it would be enough to ignite her venom as she envisioned, as it had been a more controlled stream instead of an almost cone shaped attack.
When she felt like her concentration was about to waver, she released. But she didn't open her mouth fully this time, instead trying to use her mouth as a kind of hose to direct the ability where she wanted it to go.
Jason slowed to a stop outside the PRT building, carefully setting down his load of whoever came with him. They were fairly early, all things considered, as capes were porting in.
The speech was... Not very positive, but the point of being careful rang true throughout. And even with odds this bad they could win. They had won before.
They could do it if they worked together.
Jason ruffled Whimsy's hair as he stepped forward towards Eidolon.
"Be careful."
As he stepped in close to what was the second most powerful cape in the world, Jason felt a thrill run up his spine. "I can move people around quickly. Not durable enough to get close enough to deal damage myself, but I can always throw someone at the fucker." He spoke with a raised voice, making sure to be heard.
It was shortly after he was paired up with someone from another city who could build walls that Behemoth emerged. The sound rattled him to his core, and the tremors nearly unbalanced him.
With a quick stretch, Jason picked up anyone willing and set off towards the beast...
Lillian was handing out communicators as quickly as she could, her years of acrobatics helping keep her moving steadily, as Messiah moved along nearby. She kept an eye on her girlfriend nervously, worried about the incoming threat. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to help. She wasn't strong like Legend or Alexandria.
She still couldn't believe they were here.
That this was happening.
That Kens had already almost died.
She heard every word of Legend's speech, how could she not, but it just wasn't sinking in for her. None of this made any sense. How could it be happening here, in her hometown?
.... Did her parents get out yet?
<<It's never a good day,>> Manifold signed to her sister as they walked through the crowd, having stood up when asked. They'd fought as often as they were allowed. Behemoth had been the pushing point for Elle all those years ago, after all. The final straw.
And it had only gotten worse.
<<Tell that girl she's doing a wonderful job, would you? She looks like she's in shock,>> she added as a little girl in a scale-like costume handed them communicators. She carefully hooked the device into her own system in the meantime. Couldn't speak unless she used her system, but listening would be better than nothing. She pulled up the latest schematics for her temporary addition for this. She couldn't be certain it would work exactly right, and she'd probably have to replace something after using it...
Probably should get the jet running in advance.
Her chest expanded as she breathed in as a minute amount of the material coursed through her veins. Fire in her body, almost. Nitrogen fire.
She stepped over to Inkscape a few moments later, her arm shifting visible through her tech options. <<S & R?>> she signed, unsure if he'd be able to understand. So few people bothered to learn it, such a shame. If she ever got her own leadership position she was going to make learning it mandatory.
He nodded at her, and a smile broke her face. It was so nice to see someone who understood.
<<Thank you. It's nice to be understood.>>
"Search and rescue, Manifold. Tinker. Self augmentation. Multiple S-Class events, years of experience," a distinctly computerized female voice sounded out seconds later. She'd had had to make a brain implant for that, but it was still.... Wrong to her to use it. It wasn't her, not really, unlike the rest of her tech. It made her feel dirty. But better for those nearby to hear.
It seemed like an eternity passed before the ground shook hard enough to make her worry about stumbling as she reached out to stabilize a young cape that was falling from it.
She didn't even look as the bastard exploded from the ground with a bone shattering roar and a display of lightning.
It was time.
Hanna stood on the edge of a pit, looking down with a hint of irritation. Not that anyone would see it past her visor and gear.
Next to her was a TV, broadcasting the events of a certain man.
A certain target.
Patriarch.
The scumbag openly attempting to convert someone he'd had beaten half to death, taunting and playing as he inched ever closer.
And then all went still as sirens blasted through the audio. Specific sirens that anyone would recognize.
Endbringer sirens.
”It's time.” She spoke confidently, clearly, as she casually kicked the TV into the hole. ”We help fight the beast, and then we kill the Community.”
”Really?” Rosa chimed in from behind Hanna, intending to walk over to her originally for a hug before stopping to listen. ”We’re going to go and help fight an Endbringer as our debut appearance in Denver?”
‘Oh, my,’ Mathilda made a noise of surprise, looking over from where she had been looting a drawer for potential cute clothing while they weren’t moving, a small audible crack as she turned her solid neck on her rock body to look over. ‘I join up with your team and the FIRST foe we take on is an Endbringer?’ Mathilda let a happy smile spread, also by rock cracking momentarily. ‘Nice~! So far, not disappointed~!’
”I told you you'd find us to your liking, my lovely Gorgon,” Hanna replied smoothly as she ruffled Rosa's hair gently. ”Looks like if we leave within a few minutes we'll get there maybe ten minutes after it starts. Seismic activity. Behemoth, then. We'll have to keep our distance, but I expect you could get close Mathilda.”
She unslung her bow from her back, pulling out an arrow. ”Mhmm. Five minutes, ladies, and I burn it down.”
”I’ll be ready here in just a moment. Gotta grab my mask from where I left it.” Within about two minutes, Rosa had returned, her mask bunched up around her neck as she talked again. ”Gotta say, I didn’t expect to be helping bring one of these down. Ironic, too, since my history with them hasn’t been the best.”
‘Heh,’ Mathilda made an amused sound in reply to the first words to her, dropping the clothes in the drawer and standing up to join her new team-members. ‘The hero-killer himself, huh. Don’t die, I have high hopes for you,’ Mathilda told, still smiling. ‘… Hm. I don’t suppose Endbringers ever scream in panic, do they?’ She was momentarily dismayed she probably wasn’t strong enough to cause such distress in their big foe. ‘I want to drop him in a sinkhole,’ she eventually concluded. She focused a bit before her eyes, and a rock domino-mask formed in front of her eyes. It was entirely only to stick to the cape-theme. Gorgon had little in the ways of concealing her identity.
Hanna watched the readouts on her visor, casually stepping out of the building they'd taken as their temporary resting ground. As her girls stepped out behind her, she turned and fired her arrow through the open door.
Moments later the house was ablaze as they walked away.
”Alright lovelies, let's go show the world their Last Minute.”
Jason felt his hand close around the head of the villain, and he pulled. The ensuing beat down was a blur as his rage consumed him, and he didn't even stop when the new arrival appeared. It was only when he started talking that Jason tilted his head to look at him, listening.
He was about to reply to the newcomer when the TVs kicked on.
Patriarch.
He watched in surprise, blood dripping from his gloved hands, and abject horror as the hand came ever closer. Ever closer.
He was about to see a man's free will ripped from him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Yeah, Whimsy, we won," he muttered as the girl spoke up absently.
And then the bad that had turned worse became the absolute worst case scenario.
Sirens. The sirens.
Endbringer sirens.
"I know you just got here, kid, but this is all hands on deck if you're willing to risk your life," Jason said quickly. "A monster is coming to kill us all, and we need all the help we can get."
Activating his comms he spoke to his team, letting his voice carry to this Chivalry.
"I'm going. If anyone needs help getting to the staging area, now's the time. I can take two. Chatter, you'd be really useful with the evacuations."
He'd wait to see if anyone wanted to join him, and then he'd be off to the PRT Building. The staging grounds whenever it was in the US.
Lillian carefully turned the safety on, slinging the rifle across her back by the strap, and she made her way around the spreading confoam carefully, but quickly, eyeing the hidden Protean warily. The... Things that he'd started, as well, she watched for signs of activation before she broke into a run towards the Director. Sinking to her feet, she started pulling at his shirt to expose his wound, pulling on all the first aid classes they'd had to take. Compression. Stop the bleeding. She listened carefully to his breathing, making sure he didn't stop while she did what she could. She pursed her lips at the realization that she couldn't do enough here, not with what she had at arms reach, and she looked up at Alessa.
"Messiah, burn the wound. I can't stop the bleeding and he's lost too much already. I can't —"
"Wards, there’s been a new development you need to see!” Decoy called out over the communicators. A nearby projector animated Patriarch’s broadcast on the wall.
Lillian's face went paler than it already was as she saw what was going on before she turned her attention back to the Director. She wished she could just ignore what that madman was doing, but she could still hear everything. But she couldn't do anything about that, she couldn't help that man, and she had to focus on what she could help with as she continued to do what she could for the Director.
"We need to get him to medical," she said distractedly to no one in particular as she stared at her bloody hands.
And then things got worse.
"No! No, this can't be..." she muttered in disbelief. "Decoy, what do we do?"
She was frozen in the kneeling position she had taken, rooted to the spot in terror.
Level 3: 14/30 (-3 for Hearts, +3 for post. No change.)
Gaige
Level 1: 6/10 Word Count: 619
Zer0 moved quickly when the Mega Bowser announced his displeasure at the bullets. From what he could see the reaction was stronger to his bullets, probably because of b0re, and that made things a little simpler.
Zer0 avoided the rampaging turtle-dragon, stealthing in the process, as he took an extended route towards where the cages were dropping.
It was obvious that they needed more allies, and he knew how to manage that. It seemed the Courier had the same idea, arriving just before Zer0 himself, and gifting a heart to the ape before running off towards the healer. Zer0 couldn't help but shake his head at the man, instead turning his focus to the others that had been free.
Quickly he repeated the process he'd done to revive Gaige on the remaining three that had been freed, finishing up the first two before the purple dragon landed nearby.
So, he did it to the dragon as well. This was just like Mercenary Day, in a way. All the allies he could want! Absolutely fantastic.
Up above, however, Gaige jumped from the cage she'd been on to get caught by Deathtrap mere moments later. The little furry guy with the miniature bot that sometimes appeared on his back was freeing another, some little dragon thing, and that left one cage to deal with. Which, really unsurprisingly, held some poor looking kid with a cape. Really, child labor at it's finest! Maybe this big dragon guy worked for Hyperion? This was the type of despicable, capitalistic behavior that they would take advantage of. She could just stand by and let this go, either. No, she needed to free him.
Directing DT closer, she gripped onto the plates of his shoulder she was sitting on as he made a mighty swipe with his free clawed arm through the chain holding the cage in the air.
“BE FREE AND FUCK THE BIG GOVERNMENT DRAGON GUY, KID! RISE UP AGAINST THE MACHINE!” she yelled at the kid in the cage as it fell towards the ground. She could see Zer0 reviving those freed down below, so she turned her focus towards their enemy.
Lifting her pistol, she fired at the giant beast as it came out of its shell, aiming for its face. She had DT take her to a safe spot, dismounting and throwing up her metal arm dramatically.
“TO HELL WITH THE FIRST LAW, GET 'IM DT!” she commanded, laughing maniacally as her robot whizzed off towards Mega Bowser.
Zer0 might've laughed at Gaige's insane yelling if it wasn't for the fact that they were in a life or death situation, and there was a metal cage falling directly at his head. With a shake of his head, he dived to the side, rolling with his momentum, before coming up with his rifle at the ready. He was closer to the Courier now than before, who was apparently in combat with their healer. Stealthily Zer0 positioned himself again, taking aim before firing twice through the Courier's body towards Mega Bowser's face.
What was it that they always said? Two birds with one stone, right? He couldn't tell if the Courier was actually helping them out or not anymore, so it was better to be safe than sorry. If he was helping them through some weird act, well, Blazermate could heal him back up in a jiffy. Just like a good shot to the face from Maya! Just, y'know, without the bullets or crazy Siren powers.
Member
