With Headhunter's response to the drone being gunfire and Thunderbolt's response being a thrown crate, Chatterbox let his smirk grow back into a proper smile. A malicious tilt had made its way into his expression. Feeling the directions of his various targets shifting, he spoke—quietly--into his bluetooth headset. A moment later one of his 'fans' spoke up, informing the rest of the Jacks that they were sending people around the building to cut off the other escape route.
Further, he noticed that one person was handling his power far worse than the rest. His smile broadened, showing white teeth as he spoke up once more. For the briefest of moments he let the immunity of his team falter ever so slightly,
"Well, I'll take your silence and movement as an affront to my prestigious team and of course my own skills." He turned so he was standing sideways, making the Jacks immune again. The effect bolstered their confidence in their own abilities subtly, perhaps burning away doubt or worry over their situation, without totally erasing their caution. To the wards on the otherhand, the skills of his teammates were reinforced.
Pointing his hand at the entrance that he and Headhunter had come through, he spoke even as he tapped his pager.
"I will have to just punish you petulant heroes for thinking yourselves sufficient to stand against us. Headhunter," he said, reinforcing the crushing sense of hopelessness. He focused on the target on the roof and the one most resistant to his words, just outside the building. A moment after he'd gotten Headhunter's attention, one of his fans spoke through their headsets.
"Headhunter, move back, Chatterbox is fairly sure there's something in that area interfering with powers. Go towards the back door. Someone's coming around that way, two people. Chatterbox thinks you can handle them."Walking towards the backdoor, Sofia's hand in his, he continued tapping the pager.
"Sofi—err, Whimsy. Chatterbox needs you to 'ignore' you and him for safety purposes."The message given he started on another, keeping his gun at the ready. He noted the shifting of someone's location a few times, till his sense of their location in the room had totally changed.
"Someone's coming around trying to flank you," his 'fan' iterated to the team, followed by.
"Heartless, intercept. If your power is interferred with, retreat."Chatterbox spoke, tuning his power down to fifty percent,
"I know we should probably be flattered that the PRT has taken an interest in us, but given what I can see of you, well...it's rather disappointing really. After all, we're worth more than a few incompetent chidren," he said those last words with a sneer, as if disgusted, and flared the intensity of his power back to its full strength, increasing the impact of those ideas in his audience.
I need to break them down psychologically. The less agency they feel that they have, the easier this will be. Though, I shouldn't entirely reveal my hand. Instead, let's give them a bit of misinformation.Turning somewhat as he gradually retreated, he fired twice in the general direction that he knew the flanker was moving. He aimed so he wouldn't hit boxes, but instead the far wall. It was a tactic to induce fear more than anything else. Then, shifting again he fired just past the edge of the open cargo doorway that served as the back exit, doing it so he wouldn't hit anyone, but would make it seem like a far worse idea to come around that corner and take them from that angle.
"I can see you scuttling around, you know. Like little insignificant insects trying to outmaneuver a hawk," there was clear disdain in his voice, to help drive the statements home even without the use of his power—which of course was still playing at their emotions.
"Oh, by the way, you should tell your little friend upstairs to come down and join the party. Maybe dance with you, mmm? After all, it's not as if they were ever hidden to begin with. Just as with the rest of you. No good at stealth, though it's not terribly useful with someone like me around," arrogance practically dripped from his tone, polluting their thoughts, putting a nasty taste to everything. It made him seem more pompous, less legitimate, but at the same time foolish enough to reveal part of his power's nature. He reached the back door, Sofia's hand in his, gun in the other and—provided she had "ignored" them—he stepped beyond the door.
Hopefully Headhunter was taking care of the two who had headed around the building.
"Of course, telling you anything else would be far too helpful, wouldn't it? Then again," he considered briefly, letting the pause hang so that they'd wonder at his words. His powers increased the effect faintly, making that
want to hang on the words of the charismatic, and loud more potent...yet somehow not out of place.
"...perhaps you need all the help you can get." Staring along the wall in the direction of what was likely to be oncoming heroes, he fired his gun once, twice, three times. Rubber bullets may not have been lethal, but they hurt and guns were loud.
The sharp pain of sound would distract from his power, but not detract from it. With the tension and stress of the situation, mixed with the impending threat of firearms and capes he could keep up the pressure, hide his power, and attack all at once.
"Fun fact, kiddies," he began, mockingly,
"I'm a Thinker." He began walking away, using his tap code to communicate with his teammates further. If the two who had circled around stood in his path he would flash them a grin and just keep walking towards them—Sofia's hand gripped tightly as he did so. They were untouchable like this, it was ideal, because it meant his power would continue to work while he remained impossible to stop.
It almost couldn't be more perfect.
"Wait, sir!" One of his fans called out through their comms, sounding afraid,
"There's something coming...and another one of them.""What? What do you mean!" He kept his voice down and the smile on his face as he said it, whispering and barely moving his lips. Yet, before he could respond, there was a crash, punctuated by a sharp grinding and then the sound of stone being broken apart.
That does not sound good....It wasn't.
Pain, confusion, and mixed feelings were what she was dealing with while her teammates faced against evil. She hated it. She hated how crippling it felt, how useless it made her seem, even if only briefly. Over the minutes that she was somewhat incapacitated, waiting for the pain to fade so she could focus, use her power, and help her teammates, Evelyn listened to the comms. It didn't help, but to turn it off would be worse, so she forced herself to listen to her teammates struggle against what their words implied to be bad odds. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she centered herself, straightened her clothes, mask, weapon, and then rose to her feet.
Her head throbbed, she winced, but she was not about to leave her team in a sticky situation that she could help with. She'd just have to make sure she didn't scan one of their capes again. So, instead, she reached out to her projection and willed it to move. Copying materials as it did blurred into motion, the silver 'shadow' whirred by her teammates, touching those who were outside or only just entering the building. While she wanted to get a better read of the powers of their opponents, those heinous criminals that she had every intention to bring to heel, she couldn't risk it. So, instead she drew back her projection, letting it return to her. Totally on accident it brushed
through one of the villains.
Her head throbbed again, but this time the pain came with information.
Touch-initiated transdimensional mass transference. Limit: Temporary alteration.Well, that was...something. It might be useful. She laid it alongside the powers of her teammates in her mind, sans Ira.
She took a few moments, focusing on the various details and sorting through the material-traits that she had access to.
Concrete(Hard. Porous. Dense, Heavy), Metal(Hard, Solidity), Flesh(Soft, Adapatability, Strength), Wood(Medium hardness, Bendable), Rubber(Flexible, Durable, Medium Hardness), Glass(Translucent, Crystalline, Weak).There were a few others, but they were harder to classify in her head. First, keeping in mind the traits, she altered the silhouette of her projection, letting it shift into a six limbed creature with a long tail and medium length neck. She then assigned its physical body certain traits.
Adaptability/strength(Flesh), solidity/hardness(Metal), bendable(Wood), flexible/durable(Rubber), hard/heavy/dense(Concrete)Then, laying out the powers at her disposal, she ran through everything with combinations in mind.
Protective absorption. Focus, energetic. Physical limiter. Control appropriation. Non-adaptive control method. Upwards limit, irrelevant. Dimensional access. Energetic storage method: Dimensional. Access threshold: Neural interfacing. Ranged application.Messiah.
Contact based transfiguration. Object alteration.Margrave.
Alternate form. Scalable. High physical resistance and strength. Enhanced detection and reaction. Focus: Hearing, smell. Proximity object integration. Transformation method: dimensional mass-transition.Tiger Lily.
Touch-initiated transdimensional mass transference. Limit: Temporary alteration.Unknown Villain (Thunderbolt).
"Alright...I got this," she said to herself, eyes closed as she began the process of mixing their powers. It would take a bit of doing to make what she wanted.
Static physical alteration: High physical resistance, durability, and strength. Enhanced detection and reaction. Focus: Sound and thermal energy. Contact-based mass absorption and shedding/object transmutation. Absorption limit: Irrelevant. Scalable/selective absorption. Storage method: physical.She locked the powers into place in her mind, felt no feedback, and then opened her eyes. A look of determination had come across her features. Already standing she exited the vehicle and started walking towards the warehouse. Her projection's "shadow", not yet manifested, drifted through the air, its form a subtle silver glow. Taking her retractable staff from her back she activated her comms with her free hand.
"Tulpa reporting in. Back-up incoming," she ended the communication and pointed at the building.
"Manifest," she said cooly and her projection did just that. The glow suddenly becoming dense, then taking on proper physical form—the air around it briefly distorting as it phased into existence—before it bounded forwards, at first clumsily, then gracefully. This time her projection had taken the form of six limbed monstrosity its teeth were dull, but long and flexible. She knew immediately that it was capable of grappling with its mouth, able to lock something in its jaws without biting into it, using its teeth as a cage and a threat—if an empty one. Its entire body was covered in a hard dull gray substance, clearly some kind of composite of concrete and metal. It was clearly some kind of armor and, by the looks of it, heavy...yet the creature moved as if entirely unencumbered. Of course, the reality of its weight swiftly came into focus as it slammed into the side of the warehouse, seemingly unable to stop properly.
She received information about the collision as she broke into a jog. It had done it on purpose. Of course, that wasn't terribly surprising. What was a bit surprising was when the projection responded to her incredible desire to help her teammates by rearing up onto its hind legs before using its claws to rend straight through the stone wall of the building in four precise slashing motions. It then
fell forwards, pushing itself forth with its hindlegs, pushing the section of stone wall out of place violently. The stone, quite suddenly, shattered under what could only be the weight of her projection.
She smiled as she felt the projection open its mouth and let out a low bellowing roar. The creature was standing on four of its six clawed limbs, its tail held out behind it for balance as it half reared up, neck turned to gaze down at the rest of them. It was heavily armored, well muscled and entirely silver, gray, and red in its coloration. The red ran in lines across its body, stopping at its face where its two eyes lay. They curved over the front "brow" ridge of the face and along the sides so that they managed to give the projection view of both its sides, somewhat behind it, and in front of it with clarity. Over the surface of the eyes there seemed to be a hard silver tinted carapce. It was largely translucent, and from within it shone a number of fierce red 'pupils'.
It did not appear particularly happy with its existence and the general state of the world.
Luckily for them it was under the control of someone far less unhappy with the status quo.
At least...for now.
Swimming above his teammates, Outsider revelled in the feeling of
presence that his power allowed him. While his Second Vessel's expression was unreadable, on the inside he had a huge grin. Hearing Rend and Kyoshi, he laughed a little—and it came out sounding somewhat awkward, not to mention hollow. Speaking up, making sure not to do so too loudly, he communicated with his team.
"Yeah, this does seem rather strange," he said, sounding far more animated—if strangely distant—than the situation ought to justify. It was hard for him to reign in the pure joy of really experiencing life moment-to-moment, rather than as a passenger.
"Perhaps I could catch one of those Rockers and we could question them? Wouldn't do to arrest them. Conversely, we could follow them. Thoughts?" His digits and tendrils twitched slightly and he continued swimming in abstract patterns through the air. His body's movements were at once ponderous and graceful.
As he awaited their response he kept a close 'eye' on the old man, still not trusting him. In fact, the distrust was even stronger than before, given his current state.
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