Bagle_worm

"We need some electricity! There's a Bot at three 0'clock!"

Three bolts of lightening shot from three different Blaster's hands, aiming at the random-targeting auto-fire defense gun. The technology promptly short-circuted and sent out several white sparks.

Hidden had sunk into stealth mode, as well as activating his forcefield. He dashed back and forth, letting the display screen on his glasses and the beeping in his ear guide him to the wounded. In the top corner of his tinted glasses, three names flashed in red letters, as well as a small arrow indicating their position. He dashed to the nearest two, a tanker crumpled against the fortress's wall, and a tiny blaster laying akwardly on the dirt beside him. He pulled the Tank back from the brink of death - the teleporter hadn't activated just yet. The huge man rose above Hidden's head in a ray of green and blue light, his genes mutated momentarily to deal extreme amounts of damage. He tipped his fedora in thanks and lumbered off to beat on some soldiers who had left their back exposed.

The Blaster took a bit more time, as she was still consious and writing in pain, but he soon had her on her feet again. She handed over a small vial of blue-tinted liquid, which he drank gratefully. His body swelled with energy once more.

Physic Defiance had targeted a helicopter almost directly overhead, and her and the small team of other controllers and blasters overrode the 'copter's blades with raw force. The machine rose straight up, the blades smoking on their router ((or whatever it's called...)), where the whole machine was frozen solid before plummeting to the ground. The slim woman gazed at the sky again, searching for another copter to destroy. There were none to be see.

"Copters are delt with, lets do what we can to ease the pressure from the font line."

The small gorup nodden and sererated to find good vantage points from which to deal the best, most accurate damage. Physic saw a young hero floating in the air above the heads of everyone else. He had gone up to get a good aim at an opposing soldier, but Physic saw he also had made an easy target of himself. She closed her eyes and concentrated on his position and body, and he teleported to her side looking confused.

"You almost died just then," she pointed to where he had been. A spray of bullets passed through the air where his head had been. "Stay in the crowd, don't stand out."

She nugded him back into the battle, and he trotted out of view. Just then, over the noises of battle and men crying in agony, she heard something she didn't expect.

"Time to fear, heroes! The Wolf Spider Warrior is here!"

What is it with them and spiders? she managed to think before the fear settled in. If they had SuperVillians on their side - trained ones, not the mixed variety form within the prison walls - then the enemy might have been severly underestimated. She saw a man clad in black charge at a Tanker who's back was turned, and efficently stopped him in his tracks by increasing the gravity aorund him. His body was slowly crushed by the powerful force, and the tanker whirled around and bonked him on the head. She smiled and spoke into the counterpiece of her radio.

"Watch your heads, heroes, we've got a SuperVillian on the rampage."

Oh Christ, this guy is un-bel-IEV-able. Ruggaso thought, as the witless man was suddenly and inexplicably surrounded by Longbow agents. The villian, Bounty Killa as he was called, kept shouting tough-sounding words at the heores, taking them all on at once.

Well, Ruggaso had to admit, He can sure hold his own. If he has any amount of useful brain to him - his stomach churned uneasily as the tanker thought of the salty taste that still hovered on his tongue, - The bits that didn't land on me, of course, he'd be a pretty good fighter.

But, alas, it didn't seem so, as he certainly couldn't take a strong hint from a woman, nor did he think of the other people around him as he went making wild swings and strokes with his weapon. The finely made sword was handled farily well, although with a large amount of flourish. Flourishes and boastfulness, Ruggaso knew, often lead to a final downfall and were also occasionally a demonstration of ignorance to the true form.

He grabbed a nearby Longbow, stared sadly into the man's eyes, whispered a hurried and cryptic "This is so you can keep your arms," and then rammed his thumb sharply into the man's neck, just beside his ear. His hazel eyes rolled promptly into his head, and the man's body went limp. The longbow suddenly felt as light as the air in Ruggaso's arms, and he faded in a flash of blue light. The hero had been transported to the hospital.

Rugg wasn't given a chance to save any others, the reckless villian had taken care of them by that time. Without much more option, he wandered back over to where the female was talking with the un-fated male. Rugg took in the man's single eye and frosty exterior in one glance, knowing instinctivly that he was called Iron Fist. The tanker hovered on the sidelines, listening in on the conversation the two were having.

"We need organisation, or we'll fall. The enemy knows exactly what they're doing; why shouldn't we?"

A few murmurs of assent greeted Physic's words. She now hovered slightly above ground level - right side up - and she had that repulsion shield around herself again, so she wouldn't perish to a well-aimed snipe attack.

"Lets take care of the macheniry first. Anyone able to control gravity or weather - we may need one or two electric attacks as well - can take care of the helicopters." She glanced at Hidden Incognito, who was currently not in stealth mode, and he took her glance as a hint. Quickly he brought up a display of all the heroes present, showing in the corner of his pink-tinted glasses. He scanned the list.

"Numero Uno, The Weather Man, Nimbus, Zapper, Physic Defiance, Yariley and... the Gravity Kitten- " he said the last name with a slight smile - "That means you. Once the 'copters are gone, you stay in the backlines and fire on the gunners."

A shy-looking young man piped up from the back. "Formation-wise, lets get the Tankers as the frontline, with scrappers using them as shields, and then the Rangers in the back..."

"Good Plan," Hidden scanned the datalist, "Marco Polo."

Someone else added, "Healers should go straight into the brunt of the fight, revififying and healing the Tanks and Scrapps."

"Here, have a bubble." Someone tossed a force-field divice to Hidden, who was the nearest healer. Several other defenders raised their hands for gadgets, and the make-shift meeting went chaotic as everyone proclaimed their specilties and did their best to imporve other's.

In the end the group was formidable. The muscle-bound Tanks stood with their weapons and fists ready, behind them were the agile scrappers streaching and readying their attacks. Forcefields, repultion bubbles, smoke, mist and invisable shadows concealed the seventy-some heroes. Healers stood at the ready, blasters were poised, and the gravity team was ready to attack the Halicopters.

A strong-looking controller held his fist in the air, giving a last minute warning before the now-organised gorup charged.
"Just 'cus we're heroes don't mean we're invinciable-" a few Tankers shouted their disagrement, but he went on with nary a smile, "So if you can flee to safety, do so. The hospitals are a long distance away, and we need everyone here. So, everyone set?"

From deep within the crowd - Hidden suspected it was one of the blasters who shouted it - came the call of "CHHAARRGGEE!".

The air was thick with battle calls, and the wave of heroes swept forward like a tsunami, ready to break upon the heads of the Arachnos gaurding the Zig.

((Sorry, loves, rough weekend. Gotta do my catching up.

And now everyone's here to muck up my pretty little roleplay. -wink- Just kidding, welcome aboard everyone.))

Ruggaso grabbed the next prisoner to file through the sewer entrance. She gave him a glare that could melt fire, but he simply set her hair alight. As she screeched obscenities at him and tried to get her hands around his thin neck, He flicked his wrist, and summoned a stone mace.

A lump of stone grew on the inside of his palm, like a super-fast tumour. It then extended in a rough pole in both directions, sprouted a bulp at the end, and produced what looked like twenty stalagmites.

He swung it at the girls head, and the stone drove itself deep into her brain. She too zipped off to shake Death by the hand.
That'll teach her. That good-for-nothing had infiltrated a hero base, laid in wait for twenty hours, and then massacred them in their sleep.

Two prisoners he let go without comment, theives spurred by hunger and poverty. The fourth he eyed, a glint of amusement on his features. Archlich had strode pass, barely noticing the hero who had two bodies at his feet.

Undead. How very interesting. We'll save HIM for later, shall we?

Ruggaso picked off a few more thugs and murders, one rapist and three cult leaders who convinced their followers to perform a mass suicide. Then Kairaishi had stumbled though, and Ruggaso stopped again. His hand twitched under it's thick layer of stone, but he left the robed man alone, for the time being.

The flow was dwindling off - he could see a few prisoners lurking in the shadows of the sewer, not daring to come out. Rugg chuckled to himself as he stomped away, just in time to get splattered by half of someone's brain.

"Yo, what the -bleep- was that about?" he growled, disgustidly wipting the brain matter off of his face. There was a salty taste in his mouth, and it dawned forcefully that he had actually swallowed some of it.

"I hope you -bleepin'- died." he added, nudging Bounty Killa with a toe. But, his hopes were shattered as the half-brained dimwit lept upright and the proceeded to brag to some girl that he couldn't die. May the gods have mercy upon my sanity. Ruggaso thought with a sigh.

----

Physic immediatly saw that they would lose. The heroes were flying, jumping, running and teleporting willy-nilly, some succeeding to catch one or two of the defending soldiers, but most of them simply getting themselves hurt. She didn't have time to open her mouth and say something, though, for at that moment a handful of missiles exploded around her.

In the massive shock wave, Physic was thrown high into the air. While she was airborne, she had the presence of mind to do two things: She constructed a protective shield of antimatter and gravity around her prone body - anything that touched the bubble flew off with a loud crack - and she then proceeded to hover upsidedown in the air.

Hidden had been nearby, and had taken damage from the flying shards of stone and metal. Physic had huge welts on her body, and gazed up in amazement as a few drops of blood landed on her face. Her abdomen was torn open, the wound only now starting to bleed. She had been spared from the shrapnel by her force field, and she realised that without it, she would have been on her way to a hospital.

Hidden rushed to her aid as the rulpution bubble faded, allowing him to approach, and emmited as much healing radiation as he could. Her bloodflow eased a slight bit, now a steady trickle working its way toward her neck, and the skin began to scar, holding back the rest of the flow.

"Retreat! Heroes! Back!"

She cried, and the few who heard her truned to stare at the upside-down woman.
She looked pleadingly at Hidden, who switched his earpiece to the high-security team frequency.

"We need a plan, everyone BACK!"

A few more heroes took up the call, and half of the offensive force began to back away from the prison. She heard some of the prisoners cheer, along with some of the soldiers - but others seemed suspicious. They had the right to be.

Half a mile away, under slight fire from long-range snipers and a few helicopters, the heroes stood and disscused their options.

Ruggaso came to the hole in the floor, leading straight down to the sewers. His face wrinkled into an expression of disgust, but he supposed that it would be better to go with the crowd on this one.

Without a glance at - or a thought to the health of - the nearby criminals, he lept over their heads and landed cat-like in the sewer tunnel. He tried not to breathe through his nose, but gave up as he realised smelling the foul air was better than tasting it.

Ah well, there was the light at the end of the tunned. Rugg almost jumped up the ladder to berid himself of the foul place, and was now out in the open and - as Archlich had observed - noise-polluted courtyard.

"What to do, What to do." he muttered out loud, gazing at the unworthy beings that surrounded him. Through a supernatural power he knew who deserved to die and who should live. The guy in the skull mask - the one who was being beaten up pretty good - deserved to die. Perhaps he would just now.

The girl near him also deserved a death - possibly a long and painful one, but sometimes revenge is a tricky thing to deal with. However, the man they both seemed to be connected to either wasn't marked for death at all, or he was set for a quick, painless and allmost plesant one.

He streched his limbs out fully, and stepped aside to let the buildup of baddies get passed.

"I'll start with you."

His hands moved like lightening, and he snatched a scrawney stalker by the neck. That worthless bit of flesh had murdered twelve innocent people for kicks. His fists glowed redhot for a moment, and then a solid casing of rock erupted over them. The little man barely knew what hit him before he fell into death's embrace.

((Here come the heroes. Don't turn your backs, boys, and be sure to watch the skies. ))

"WHAT!!!!"

The ear piece buzzed excitidly as all the heroes currently tuned into the broadcasts muttered similar things. The news had just reached the Longbow operatives, and then the resident heroes of Paragon, before flying across the airways to other countries and other concentrations of Heroes.

"Humm?" murmured a sleepy Hidden Incognito. Two female heroes sat with him, one suited up in metal-based, electricity conducting materials, the other leather clad and scar-covered. Hidden had been jolted from a rather pleasent nap by Physic's yell of disbelief.

She shushed him and the other two with an absent wave of a hand, and Hidden fumbled for his own earpiece. The silver-clad woman silently handed it to him.

He slipped the bit of metal around his ear, and immediatly heard the second half of the looping report:

...direct transport centers have been set up for all heroes who qualify to aid. As a mass flocking of heroes to the rogue isles would leave Paragon unprotected, only a certain number of the most experienced and proven heroes will be permitted to teleport overseas. If you so wish to help, proceed to the nearest teleporters, located in...

Hidden Incognito tuned out, impatiently nudging Physic. "What the hell happened? Aren't the Isles in France...? Oh, Christ.." he suddenly understood, and fell silent to listen to the first part of the broadcast,

The Ziggurat maximum secuirity prision, located overseas in the Rogue Isles, has taken heavy damage from what is thought to be Arachnos bombs. Countless prisoners have escaped, and the guards can not controll the outbreak. A full briefing will be given to Longbow and registered heroes willing to help...

Hidden peered across the base. Sterling Silver was looking from Physic to Hidden anxiously, but Damsel was looking moody.

"Silver, take care of Damsel, we have to run. Don't worry," Physic added, as Sterling Silver rose to her feet,
"No one is in danger. They won't be able to leave the islands and get into civilised areas. You just stay here and take care of the city."

Physic rushed out the door, Hidden on her heels.

--time passed--

"You understand? Your medical teleporters have been re-routed to transport you to one of the field medics. The technology's a little cruder, but it works basicly the same. If you fall, don't be afraid to use it."

One nod later and the pair of heroes were on the ground, surrounded by numerous others. They stared into the distance - already flecked with advancing heroes and longbow - and at the looming Prison. There was smoke, fire and noise polluting the air, but Physic breathed deeply none the less.

"Lets go grab us some Villians," said the air next to Physic, and she knew Hidden had gone invisible. She lept upwards toward the sky, the law of gravity temporarily suspended for her body only, and soared towards the battlements, an invisible comet speeding alongside her.

((here's Rugg; I don't feel like writing out his physical description. He is supposed to be more muscular than he is in that pic, though.Ruggaso))

The tanker moved lithely down the hall, straight to the dead end. He raised a gloved hand, passed it over the cement wall, and closed his eyes briefly. The mortar and stone dissintegrated into a pile of dust, and Ruggaso passed through the hole, limping a little. Too much power flowed thorugh his humanoid body, he needed his belt to regulate the pulses. The flames dancing across his skin and clothes grew in intensity, and his face began to blister. The pain was almost becoming unbearable.

He had emerged in the lockers, where they kept the confiscated items. It was here somewhere... but where? He kicked at the lockers and trunks, his vision turning red and stars exploding in the shadowy corners. The athletic figure pounded the nearest trunk in blind rage until it opened with a reluctant click.

There it was. The constraining device glinted darkly in the firelight, and he took it into his hands with reverence. As it snapped into place around his waist, the flames dimmed and retracted. Ruggaso sighed in deep relief as the pain dissolved. He stood for a moment, waiting for just the right type of flame to jump from his body and... A green-tinted wave of healing fire washed over his body.

Ruggaso flexed his muscles, glad to be free and painless once more. He stepped out into the hallway, peering at the chaos surrounding him. Everywhere the earthly scum were struggling to find their beloved weapons and armour. Underneath his gloves and clothes, his skin was knitting together nicely, concealing the grey stone that resided underneath.

The distant noise of a shotgun returned him to the present, and his urgent goal. He had to get out of here. The more dnagerous of the prisoners were no where to be seen. Apparently they had already exited. Joy.

He trotted down the hall, moving fo no one. The reduced aura that surrounded his body still reached and singed any who drew near to the running hero. But no one dared fight - they would only feed the rage and endanger their lives. He passed the man with the gun, the wave of heat passing grudgingly over his body. Ruggaso was picking up speed, following the villians who seemed to know where they were going.

((You want heroes? I can give you heroes.

-wink- how ya doing? I didn't know it was you, Khellen, 'Till I got halfway through the posts. And Iron Fist's here too! it's like a reunion.
I just tend to jump onto the new plots afore everyone else mucks them up. -shrug-))

It was disgusting. He had been here for almost two years, treated as a commoner. The violence, the dirt, the unworthy beings. They should be put to death the minute they're caught. What sort of fools would simply allow this type of scum to continue to live, and leech off of the people's money?

The system had to go. The villians had to go. The gaurds had to go. And that longbow had deserved to die, no matter what the law said. Petty earthly rulings. Trying to Control him. HIM! of course, they had no idea who he was, that would jeapordize the mission. They thought he was a common hero, they had classed him as a Tanker. Fire 'n Stone. The two most devestating natural elements to be found on this planet. A hero. He was no hero. His loyalties lay elsewhere, and that was why that Longbow had died under his hands.

Now, however, he had bigger fish to fry. All the filthy thugs and dangerous villians had been freed - no doubt by some organisation that had had an eye on those that were gifted. The Yang of the hero's Yin. He had warned them, hadn't he?

-----

"Who's to say everyone gifted with superpowers will have the same motives and morals as your own?"

The jury gazed at him, their intrest midly peaked. They saw only a killer, but a killer had the right to speak nonetheless. It was the law. They were the children of the law, forced to cater to it's every whim. They waited for him to continue.

"If I told you that that Longbow officer was a double-agent, you would ask for proof. There is no physical proof, other than her continiual failure to bring down any members of Arachnos at all. They always slipped through her fingers. -poof- he got away.

Is taking the law into your own hands such a crime? Isn't that what heroes like me are supposed to do?"

-----

The memories brought with them a sort of rage, a rage that no other creature - to his knowledge - was able to feel. He cried out as his body was englufled with searing heat, and then his skin burst into flame.

He was on fire.

The searing pain was lessened as his skin cracked and the layer of stone was revealed underneath. His horns, stained red with the blood of the unworthy, glowed from the heat. The fire spread, burning on top of the clothes he wore - specially made to resist the power of the all-consuming fire.

He finally stepped into the now almost deserted hallway. There were a few prisoners still inside their cells, locked behind the metal bars. He passed by them with no comment, ignoring their pleas.

Rapist. Drug-induced murder. Petty thief. Cult Practices. They begged, but he left them to rot in their rooms.

"I, too, feel it was an honour."

Physic glanced at the card Toy Dispenser offered, and for once, didn't shudder. She could see another side of villiany, one that most heroes didn't have a chance to meet. There was a strange sort of honour there, one that the street thugs didn't radiate. The card got tucked away into her belt, for future inspection.

It didn't feel like paper. That called for some investigation.

Damsel had backed away again when Toy Dispenser had appreached, the figure lacking any sort of flesh and blood. This time she didn't act on familiarity, as the figure did not tug any sort of emotion. She stepped away into the shadow of one of theose towering buildings, crumpled into a defeated heap, and started to cry silently to herself.

Hidden didn't try to comfort her - she cried a lot when she was Damsel. He only saluted his fellowes, nodded at Toy, and scooped the lady Damsel up into his arms.

"Fiz." he said quietly, and Physic put her mullings on pause. KNowing exactly where they were going, she teleported away in a flash of blue light, and a moment later the figures of Hidden and Damsel had dissapeared too.

------

Knight resurfaced roughly four days later, festering a deep hatred of any statue, and a little angry that she never had a chance to duel it out with Ghoul. Hidden Incognito was still both dissapointed that his master left him behind, and angry that his master just-so-happened to be a Villian. Physic Defiance had made no leeway on the mysterious substance of the calling card.

One year later, Physic stood watching the ceremonies of Brass Monday. She hadn't met up with any of the heroes - or villians- that had helped, and she expected that she'd never get to see them again. She was curious, though, and wanted to see how the other heroes managed to arrive right on time. This was the only way of maybe finding them.

But the crowd was large and varied. There were certainly many heroes in disguise - even some that weren't - but none she recongised form that fateful day. She sighed to herself, and then lept into the air, using her newest technology to soar over top of the buildings, back to their base, where Hidden was loyally tending to the demanding Damsel.

((Have a very nice life, everyone. I mean that scincerly. ))

((Hey, Khellendrosiic, I just noticed we're on the same server. :P Maybe we'll cross paths in the PvP soemtime.

Physic Defiance's me name. Crushing the bad guys is me game. XD))

Underneath the sky that was black with smoke, a small group of heroes took a moment to breathe. There was much work to be done, many lives to be saved, and of course the most tiring task of all: To keep the crime out of Steel Canyon while the repairs are being made. Steel Canyon would not go the way of Boomtown or the Hollows, if Physic had anything to do with it.

The two had left Damsel to collect her thoughts before they took her back to the base. Neither had the heart to knock her out again, even in the hopes that it would be Knight who awoke. Damsel wasn't really that bad - she could even occasionally remember things that had happened while her body was taken by the mind of Knight.

She was having one of those queer memory-surges right now.
As Brutish Ghoul approached, Damsel's eyes grew wider and wider in fear. She pressed herself against the pile of rubble and dirt, in a feeble and instinct-driven attempt to distance herself from the beastly creature.

And then it was speaking, and she knew that she had a reason to both hate and like Ghoul, although she couldn't remember exactly why. The part of her mind that raged and fought was slightly soothed by his words, but Damsel herself found no comfort. She took his preoffered hand none-the-less, both shaking it breifly, and using it to haul herself to her feet.

Physic saw her rise out of the corner of her eye, and immediatly stepped to her side.

"I'm sorry, uh.. Ghoul. Knight isn't herself at the moment. Personality disorder, you know." her eyes flickered down to where Damsel grasped Ghoul's hand.

"Yet perhaps she recongises you?" An inquirey glance to Damsel's face brought no answer. The medieval girl couldn't even tell herself. Still, that feeling of familiarity scratched at the back of her mind. So she spoke to him:

"I think, sir, that even though I don't know your name, You are forgiven for whatever hardships you caused me."

There was a strange sort of bond foraged, but Damsel shyly took back her hand, and diverted her eyes from the villian. Hidden had approached the trio, a clook of puzzled concern on his features.

"We best be going, Fiz. A longbow just dropped by and said there was a disturbance caused by some Clockwork to the east. Mangey scroungers."

Physic lent much of her remaining energy into getting the hell out of that place of death. She was glad to breathe relativly unpolluted air, and her lungs swelled happily.

Hidden peered around himself, noticing the absense of his master for the first time. Was that.. emotion glittering behing his glasses? He was noticably downtrodden, tired, and obviously insulted as being left behind by Iron Fist.

Physic took that moment to inform him of Fist's true allegience.

Hidded Incognito straightened his back, glared at the ground for a moment, and then muttered a defiant "I knew it the whole time. I was just playing along."

Knight panted on the ground as her friends exchanged words. She was sprawled upon some rubble, exhausted. Her mace clattered to the cement as she passed out cold.

----

A blurry face swam into view, and reluctantly focused. A man with spiky black hair and pink glasses was staring at her. She moaned.

Upon my awakening, will I find the gods have favoured me? Or have the allowed this hellish torture to continue?

She blinked again, and groaned as she saw not the familiar stone masonry and open plains of her homeland, but the soaring cement structures of her personal hell.

"Why have you forsaken me, my God!" she screamed, utterly distraught.

----

Hidden called Physic over to his side. "It's Damsel." he said crypticly. Physic padded over to Knight - or Damsel, as her new mind was - and poured a small vial of health-boosting liquid down her throat.

"She'll be fine. We're just lucky she didn't switch over halfway through the battle." Physic turned to Hidden.

The two stared at the heroes around them. While some of their allies departed, others remained.

"What now?" Hidden couldn't help but ask of them.
Physic, observing the blank stares of the heros surrounding them, added:
"The gates might still be blocked. There are wandering enemies. The hospital hasn't been repaired yet. What sort of actions are we expected to take?"

((I'm guessing we're nearing the end of this storyline? To those that are leaving, it was an honour to roleplay with you. Maybe I'll see you around the boards. To the others, it's up to you is we want to keep this going, or kill it off within the next few posts.))

Physic was there from the beginning, standing stock still as the early events unfolded around her. She was in slight shock – not by being Nemesis face-to-face, nor by the miraculous appearance of some new heroes ( heroes at last. she had managed to think through the furious whirlwind of other thoughts), but by the appearance of Nemesis Rex.

Her predictions and theories had proven themselves true. For only the fourth time in her life, she had been absolutely right in her work. Not a single flaw in her theory or equations. She sensed the slight rift in the gravity, the tugging of the injured space/time structure, the delicate morphing of all the physical laws that she had strove to shatter through all her years of research. It was wonderful.

She gazed at the proof before her eyes, and then watched in horror as Iron Fist and a man she had never seen set about destroying the thing.

It was with a slight shake of her head that she returned to reality. Now was a time for fighting – not thinking.

She took on the Nemesis.

His force field was tough, the heroes tired, and the action dizzying. Unfortunately Nemesis's protective contraption had one fatal flaw that was often overlooked: he was still susceptible to gravity.

Discreetly, she increased the gravity around his body. It crushed with a steady, almost unnoticeable force. His movement was slowed – like moving in water, or space. He apparently didn't notice it, for the other heroes were doing a fantastic job – he was busy with other problems than the constant, but not too powerful, force.

Toy and Ghoul had arrived too. She fell back to healing and boosting – sometimes re-adjusting her hold on the gravity inside Nemesis's bubble. A bubble that was growing weaker.

Hidden joined her at her left side, boring radiation into Nemesis's body every time the bubble flickered. Knight stood by and felt useless, deciding that the best thing to do was beat all remaining enemies into pulps. So she did. She kept the allied force from being plinked to death by the handful of remaining soldiers.

She blinked as the room suddenly seemed empty – she realised that all the soldiers she wasn't allowed to touch had gone. This was a good thing in her eyes – it was easier for her mind to process who was enemy and who was friend. She cried gleefully.

"Fun fun! No?"

Brutish Ghoul was a source of both hatred and admiration for the tanker lass. She of course hated him because he was taunting, strong, determined, and such a worthy opponent that she couldn't help but hate him a tad. She admired him for much the same reason. The bet had been a failure: no many obstacles in the way. That was all well, the battle was almost over, and the girl could use some eats to fill that bottomless stomach of hers.

Knight peered at her fist, unreconisable under a thick coating of blood, gore and hair. Of course, the lass didn't understand the term "get your hands dirty", so she simply though that Ghoul was either blind of extremily dumb. Her hands were very dirty, after all, as was her face, arms, torso and feet.

It was her heaven - and other's hell.

She did, however, understand the concept of a bet - having made and won many in her own time and day - although she didn't actually have 100 of anything to her name. All she had was the clothes on her back, the weapon in her hand, and the fury contained within.

Still, a bet was a bet, and she didn't intend to lose. When her mace became tangled in the flesh of others, she took to biting and tearing at her foes like a beast. She screamed her battlecry - her fist halfway down a soldier's throat and her foot crushing someone's head.

"AAARRGGIIIGGGSSSSSHHHH!"

Ghoul was in for a tough bet.

Physic lept away form the tunnel the duo had fought - more important matters beckoned. Knight was going in the opposite direction, but that was no big problem. She always did that. Physic had seen Iron Fist straighten up and charge off, leaving Hidden to deal with the influx of bots, sewer dwellers looking for a fight, and other soldiers.

'Ole Fisty was up to something.

Physic Defiance trotted quickly after the villian, weaving through the crowd, trying to dodge any blows that were ment for her. She finally saw what Iron Fist had seen, and stopped dead.

The final Nemisis; the master. She coughed as something hit her in the back, but did her best to ignore the petty blows for now, and she flicked her eyes form Nemisis to Iron Fist.

"Christ, they just don't stop, do they?"

HIdden was growing tired, and, dare he admit it? Even bored. The faces never changed, and it was becoming a nuscience rather than a favourable activity to knock them aside.

"Physic, why don't you have a word with iron Fist, see what we're gonna do?"

Hidden was still blissfully unaware of the tnesion between his new master and his long time friend. Physic shook her head, adding slyly:

"You go, I think he likes you more. I'm sure you could get some helpful information out of him."

Hidden grinned heartliy, turning his back on the enemies. The flow was finally dwindling, perhaps the fight was almost over?

"Iron Fist Sir! What is our current mission status sir!"

HIddion was poised before his captain, hand to his forehead. He had to break the stance, however, to take care of a bulky robot who was causing a slight disturbance to his right. It took him and three others to dispatch the thing, but he returned to Iron Fist's side immediatly.

Physic merely giggled uncharisticly at Iron Fist's unexpected message.

"Love, you just lost out bigtime." She muttered, as Hidden cursed under his breath. Knight was radiating green waves of health, peering around her floating body with slight confusion. This wasn't Hidden's powerful radiation bringing her back from the brink of death; it was the less remarkable, standard actions of a complete stranger.

She snuffled a little, flexing her newly re-animated limbs, and then smashed her way though the horde, back to her friends. Hidden sighed, but then let the occurance go. The fallout blow would have been devestating, as well as the mutated Knight who would've been supercharged with super-superhuman strength - but the other members couldn't have known that. Stuborn fools, he thought with a sigh.

Ah well, the issue wasn't that important. Physic and Hidden knew the drill and they worked together seamlessly. A subdued Knight took on a nearby robot with flaming concentration - the bloodlust had shrunken and cleared, lurking in the forgotten depths of her mind. For now.

Physic, now taking her cue from Hidden (who stood without moving, his face scrunched with cocentration), Pulled one of iron Fist's fallen troops away and teleported him into the centre of the mob.

Hidden immediatly released the remaining energy from the soldiers body into the area surrounding him, with the force of a large expolosion. The boom echoed defeaningly off of the curved walls, and the blast knocked most of their enemies down. He then transformed the unwitting soldier into the ultimate warmachine, enfusing his body with mutated genes that would remain within him for a few minutes, and would ensure the soldier unlimited power, force and amazing defense.

Hidden and Physic grinned, and watched their creation blink for a moment, then launch himself onto the surprised heads of the remaining nemisis. They cheered.

Knight, however, turned the odds against them. She was full of fury and wrath after her brief encounter with Brutish Ghoul, and was on the warpath. She saw Hidden and Physic fighting lightly off to one side (they had bottlenecked the advancing troops in the corridor, and were picking them off one by one), and decided they needed to battle harder.

She charged into the wall of guns, swinging her huge weapon with unrelenting power and savagery. She was screaming and snarling, and decapitating anyone who was within reach. Physic yelled at her, "No Knight! Stop there!"

Knight didn't respond, and only continued her onslaught further into the tunnel. Unfortunately, the energy with which she had first launched the attack was dwindling; she couldn't keep swinging. The minor damage she was inflicted with was cumulating into something serious. As she paused momentarily to catch a breath, the crowd pushed into her personal space, forced forward by the troops behind them. They were packed tightly, and were frantic as her fire aura – fuelled by pure anger and strength – singed them unceasingly. Knight could no longer swing her mace, and stood uncertainly for a moment. Guns, fists and knives took their heavy toll, before she figured out how to attack again. She held the weapon just below the ball of metal, and took to clubbing enemies over the head with that. She was falling fast.

Hidden was deeply concerned. He couldn't see the lass from beneath the pile of Nemesis and a couple robots. He only knew her general location by the telltale burning of enemy troops' hair. The beeping in his ear escalated steadily, the display screen embedded in his glasses flashed her name and health status. She dropped through the green zone, plummeted through the yellow and orange zones, then sunk towards the bottom of the red zone as she dropped to her knees, finally exhausted and too wounded to react to anything.

Hidden groaned as her health status melted into black. The fires went out. His earpiece wailed at a high frequency for a minute, then quieted itself, monitoring the status of the others.

((ooc: ahaha. Cliff-hanger. Gotta love them. Oh, and are we sticking strictly to the game, or playing with it a bit? It's be more realistic if we could alter some minor bits…))

The battle was going bad, so he had to sacrafice valuable energy reserves to turn the tide.

One-two-three, he unleashed massive amounts of radiation, threw fistfulls of radioactive matter and infected the nearby troops with radiation poisining, which they would spread to their allies.

The defender panted heavily, no where near exhausted, but needing to get a little air. He took the moment to release the healing radiation into the bodies and frames of Toy's and Iron Fist's troops. Unfortunatly, he couldn't risk creating an EM pulse, for the sake of Toy Dispenser's army. It would help enormously against the nemisis bots. The option was there, but he would only resort to it in an emergency.

Hidden gasped suddenly as some bullets found their way into his back. He whipped around, frying the culprit with pure x-rays from his eyes. He never missed with that attack. As they say, how can you miss something when you're looking at it?

The earpiece chose that moment to beep urgently, informing him that some of his allies were in trouble. Hidden peered around. Toy's bots were in a bad state; he helped them as much as he could - filtering energy and power into them, but there was only so much he could do. He took to a different entrance, where a stream of fresh soldiers were flowing out. The battle began again, and Physic came to his side immediatly.

It was her that was causing the beep. The controller didn't have the toughest tolerance for pain. She limped and winced with every step. There were open wounds and burns on her pale skin. She had a look of grim resolve on her features, though, as she stood by her old friend and one-time lover.

Without a word she stole the energy form the advancing men and funneled it into her body. Some of the wounds colsed up, and her limp almost dissapeared. The beepeing, however, continued softly in Hidden's ear - though not as urgently. They would be fine for the next five minutes.

((ooc:Had to leave my Chars in a neurtal area; not sure when the next time I'll be on is.))

((ooc: Same goes for me. Fact is, I haven't fought anything you can't find in the Hollows. :P))

Knight snarled, and whirled around to watch Ghoul get clobbered. She was a good fighter - she had only one bad habit: overkill. Anything she encountered was beaten into a bloody (or fragmented) pulp. So at her feet were the indistinguashinle remains of several foes.

Knight growled and sneered at Brutish Ghoul, furious at his insult. (He had implied that he was a better fighter than the battle lass - an easy enough mistake to make, but a possibly fatal one)

Knight raised her mace high over her head, and brought the weapon down fast and hard, aiming directly at Ghoul's head.

At the last possible second, though, Physic's warning broke through the red haze that was bloodlust, and she changed the course of the war mace slightly. The heavy metal cracked into the hull of the Warhulk, large chunks flying off and deep gashes raking along the sides.

The robot's attention was now solely on Knight, and it turned akwardly to face her. She glared at it and ignored the petty injuries that the few nearby nemisis troops inflicted, and again raised her mace in the air. Her fire aura exploded around her, singeing all foes out of melee range. It crashed down on the contraption's thick head, splitting it in two. The robot crumpled into a twitching, short-circuting heap.

Knight beared her teeth at Ghoul, shaking her clenched fist.

"Not only you kind is fighters -" she managed to squeeze in an explecitive that she had recently learned, "Watch your head for my backswing."

She shouldered the weapon and squeezed her way over to where Toy's army was being demolished.

HIdden, at hearing the distinctive noise of robots crumpling, peered over the heads of his fellow troops and enemies, and caught sight of the losing side of the battle.

He lept over to help, letting lose a s tring of defense-destroying attacks, and healing anyone he could.

((Gotta run, will finish this post tomorrow))

"That," said Physic quickly as the Toy Dispenser's robot passed, "Is a friend. DO NOT ATTACK IT!" she stated firmly, because the blood-encrusted mace had been raised slightly. Knight looked dissapointed.

Brutish Ghoul's stare was met with the stony glare that was Knight's equivilant of a pout. She wanted to smash the robot. Stupid Physic wouldn't let her.

"He is a friend to. And so is he." Physic pointed at Ghoul and Toy Dispenser. Knight nodded glumly. Physic's lips twitched as she tried to supress a smile - Knight was acting like a small child who didn't get what she wanted on Christmas.

"Go back to Hidden, you can kill things up front."

Knight gleefully stomped off again, Physic following, transfusing the energy form the enemies around her into the bodies of her temporary allies. The steady healing made the sewer walls glow green.

Hidden, meanwhile, was battling his way steadily forwards, muttering words of encouragment to yhis fellowes, and smiling gratefully as one of Toy's robots helped him with a perticularily difficult foe.

All was well, untill the radio-transmiters clipped behind his ear crackled into urgent life:

"Attention! Attention all heroes of Paragon! This is longbow commander Lutzwits, with an urgent broadcast! The Steel Canyon hospital has taken severe damage, and the emergency transportation systems are down! I repeat, the hospital teleporters are down! All heroes in the area are advised to take exreme caution and to avoid dangerous situations at all costs. Longbow medics will be arriving shortly, and all empathy heroes are urged to help if they can. This is Longbow commander Lutzwits, with an urgent broadcast:

The message repeated itself several times, but Hidden stopped in his attack. Physic looked worried, too, and even Knight could sense the change in atmosphere.

But, as the expression goes, the show must go on, and neither hero could spare precious moments to consider the excelerated danger. Hidden and Physic were both healers; and Knight could take after herself. The trio advanced again.

Physic shivered as Iron Fist spoke. She had been right. The closet had been opened, and the cadaver was not alone - a whole army of abominations and mortificators had followed.

So she was working with a Villian. The enemy. A filthy, low-class, traitor to humanity.

But she had been right about one thing - Villians were extremly complicated. This one had a sprinkle of good in him - maybe even a whole dash. She wanted to help him - and maybe even keep helping him after this strange occurance was dealt with. It would all depend on one thing though: If his Heaven was anything close to her Heaven.

Physic blinked herself form her thoughts, wondering brefily how the Villian had known her name (she couldn't remember if she had told him or not), and then turned to Toy Dispenser and Brutish Ghoul.

His welcome was met with a grateful smile. At least someone here is still sane.

"Thank you very much," she said, genuinly thankful. A mock curtsy accompanied her words.

"Yes, my name IS Physic. Physic Defiance. My two companions have hurried ahead. Perhaps we should too?"

The hero straightened her back, picking absently at the tear in her teal-coloured costume. Then she grinned, or, well, smiled a little wider than usual, and trotted off to the sewer gate.

Inside, Hidden and Knight were moving quickly, dispatching the few guards they came across. She would have to tell them of the new developments - or, at least tell Hidden, for Knight wouldn't care. Still, she remained at the back of the prosession, avoiding the figure that was Iron Fist. She would have to mull things over, maybe have a heart-to-heart with the man if the opportunity arose.

Knight pulled to a halt as she noticed Physic was no longer with them. The Femme peered behind her, and caught sight of a patch of teal and purple at the back, by the entrance. She shoved her way through the troops, and stood at Physic's shoulder.

"Fiz bad about something?" she inquired bluntly. The medival hero could tell something was wrong, but wasn't really able to see much more than that - because Physic wasn't that worried about one thing, it was a number of small troubles that brought the distant, displaced look to her face.

With a small smile she replied, "Knight, would you like to meet some of the other people involved?"

((ooc: I don't know what a GM is (other than GodModing, which It can't be when used in your context), but here's my opinion:

If everyone else is a mature enough RPer to avoid godmoding and powerplaying, then I'm all for the technique where one player attacks, occasionally leaves the result up to the other player, and then waits for the other to reply.

ie: "Marco unleashed a bolt of pure energy, which slammed into Jenna's chest. "

---

"Jenna cried out as the powerful attack hit her, straight and true, knocking her back. It only tooks a second to recover, though, and then she was on her feet and hurling bolts of lightening at Marco."

If we can't handle that responsibility, though, than I'm not sure what to do about it.))

Hidden Incognito moved alongside the rest of the soldiers, extremily glad to be a part of a single-minded entiey. The good ol' days of marching, stratigies and simple, day-by-day lives were missed very much by the pink armoured hero.

Of course, there was no denying that it was the military who got him into this mess with the radiation and the hero-ism and the pink armour. (At least it wasn't solid pink, there was some tasteful black checkers thrown in for a hint of manliness.)

Sadly, though, the men at the Lab had a bad sense of humour. Once they realised "Radioactivly Engeneered Advanced Lifeforms" had the acrynom REAL, they decided that only REAL men wore pink.

Hidden smirked at these memories, gazing at the men around him. They were happy, concentrated and fit. Ideal soldiers, each and every one of them. He hadn't even needed to re-awaken any of them yet. Astounding.

Knight was waiting patiently at his side as he breifly reminised, unsure if she should follow the soldiers into the dark sewer entrance. Hidden nuged her along when he came to the present, and Knight ducked inside the filthy chamber.

Physic remained behind. She had that queasy feeling she sometimes got when things were about to go horribly wrong. Horribly, and unavoidably wrong.

She didn't know what it was. Maybe it was that sense of This can't nearly be all, that afflicted heroes regurily, just before they open the door and a pile of bloodthirsty cadavers fall out and try to kill you.

Maybe that was too specific, but the sensation was nearly the same.

Lacking any other sort of Idea, Physic made her way over to iron Fist, who, for the past short while, was talking confidentially to once of his... underlings. Physic waited patiently untill the moment the conversation borke off, gave him two seconds to collect his thoughts - and hers- and then padded over to him.

"Sir. My companions accepted your leadership easily - a great honour, you would see, if you knew them."

What the hell am I doing? I could be digging my own grave here.

"But I, sir, can be harder to please. I know you are intelligent, perseverent, and authoritive. You have many allies scattered about. I, Sir, need to know where your motives lie. I will continue on this particular mission with you, but after that, I cannot gaurentee anything."

Granted, she was dairng, couragerous, maybe a tad bit full of adrenaline (causing her to do things that norrmally she would have never tried), but she still had her brain intact, and Physic was ready to spring away if anything bad happened.

Which, of course, it would. That cadaver-in-a-closet feeling was slowly increasing, and the tenstion would break soon.

"Iron Fist, sir, I am at your command untill nemisis is defeated. I assure you that. I do, however, have my own honour and valour to keep intact. A hero would respect that."

She finished, a tad challengligly. Curtious, bold, breif. The hero waited for Iron Fist to make of her as he would.

Physic Defiance was too occuipied with her musings to notice the faint tickling sensation as her mind was probed. She did, however, manage to consider that their new leader could just be a slightly skewed version of a hero - heaven only knew how many of them were running around paragon.

Iron Fist was nearby, and - unfortunatly for the extremely unlucky heroine - she did not think that he would have reason to be suspicious at this stage. So she continued on as happily as she could with her work, destroying nemisis soldiers, nemisis bots, and the few shards of cements that had managed to stay alive.

Yeah, that was the weird part of the whole operation. Because of the advanced nano technology used, the larger parts of the statues (the ones that had major wiring and whatnot still inside them) were able to writh and twitch on the dusty ground. It was a little unnerving, but Physic thought of them as seperate nuissenses rather than full-fledged enemies, or even maggots (which they greatly resembled).

Knight had been surviving decently, although the larger wounds of the battle hadn't been healed yet. She was usually out of the range of Physics, or even Hidden's, health-boosting powers.

She made use of the healing properties of her fiery aura - unbenownst to most of the world, as fire usually scorched and rarely healed - as much as she could. Contrary to what her friends thought, Knight actually had a fair amount of mental prowess, and was thinking at the moment that she'd rather be back home and fighitng enemies that bled instead of short-circuted.
Not in those words, of course, but in the vague giest that her mental process called for.

The Femme padded over to visit Hidden, and maybe catch the tail end of the healthy radiation he emmited sparradicly, and then she stomped towards Iron Fist, the largest, most important-looking figure arond.

Tossing the head and hands of a nemisis troop at his feet as a peace offering, the femme openly looked him up and down. The "presents" had been severed from the toughest foe she had taken down that day, and in her mind it was a gift for a king.

With her bloody hands, rough leather kilt, yellowed canvas top and ferocious eyes, Knight was deadly, enticing, and completly out of place. When she spoke (lips and cheeks and eyes flushed with the heat of battle), her englich accent was thick and unsteady.

"King lead this battle yes? Fists of metal-" she gestured with her fists, "- strong man, no? We fight for you. Fight good 'n hard."

Knight finished by squaring her shoulders and bearing her teeth, a sort of growl emmiting form her throat. Then Hidden Incognito's hands were around her shoulders, and he was pushing her gently aside for Physic to tend to her wounds.

But Knight had given Iron Fist her pledge of loyality, strong and true, and Physic was now the only one who hadn't spoken up.

((ooc: Couldn't add much. Decided to build up the situation a bit more))

Physic Defiance was occupied with an unnerving thought. She was just going through the motions - enough time fighting crime had given her the abilty to do that efficiently - and was concentrating harder upon her current mental plight than on the enemies she smited with her astounding control.

There was something weird about Iron Fist. Something not... right. She had worked alongside many heroes in her time, had encountered many villians too, and Physic just couldn't decide what side of the spectrum Iron Fist was.

He had a whole army for one - and the only hero army she knew of was the longbow. And there weren't many of them hanging around - though some flew overhead, apparently heading to somewhere important. (And what was that? Did she just see one of Iron Fist's troops attack a Longbow? Or were her eyes playing tricks on her?)

Also, he seemed a little.. malicious. Maybe it was the feroscity with which he controled his troops. Hidden seemed to trust him - but Hidden was bred and brainwashed to obey strict commands. Hell, she had even made him do errands for her from time to time, just by ordering him to do it. So Hidden couldn't be relied on.

And Knight hadn't really met the man. And even Knight wasn't to be exactly trusted with your life - she's turn that mace of hers onto your back if you angered her.

On the opposite hand, Physic couldn't fathom why he'd be helping the heroes. But Villians operated differently than the average hero; anyone not under a Villian's command was the enemy. Now there was a startling thought - what if they were now allied with a crook?

Physic failed to contained a shudder, and then to cover the motion let loose a powerful heal which lapped at all the nearby troops. It was a question for later. They were marching off again.

((ooc:

Guess I should tell yas where my heroes be at (only because I have nothing else to do for the next 20 minutes. If you don't care, don't bother to read it.):

Physic Defiance: So named by her stunning ability to defy the laws of physics with her mind - and a few helpful gadgets she invented herself. Educated, female and sarcastic, she's tough, sly and eager to bring justice. Focused not on protecting the innocent, but on destroying the guilty, she's a force to be rekoned with.
(Grav/kenitcs Controller, current pool sets: Teleport; Current level: 15, RPing level: 30.)

Hidden Incognito: An old flame of Physics, he left her to join the army. Years of boot camps, tough battles, promotions and politics lead him to one place: A secret government lab under the deserts of Navada.

The scientists in controll of him didn't have much thought to the aftermath of their experiments - they let him loose after a year of intensive radiation and brutal experiments. He was instructed to do as he pleased - be that wreak havoc, or fight for the good, they didn'd particularily care. After two years of toasting door-to-door salesmen, he became restless and donned him infamour pink battle armour.
(Radiation/radiation defender. current pool sets: invisibility. Current lvl: 10. Rp level: 28)

Damsel Knight: After the experimental Time Bubble emerged from the distant past with an occupant, Crey Industries was worried about the effects it might have. Fortunatly for them, there were no greatly noticable problems, but the woman they held captive wasn't too pleased about it.

She appeared to be a simple damsel, old engligh and from the medival itimes. In a state of shock she passed out for almost a whole thirty minutes - and when she came to, the Crey industtialists were stunnned at what they discovered. They had brought back the infamous, nameless, female scourge of the dark ages.

Damsel and Knight fight for the misplaced body - Knight on the constant war path, and Damsel struggling to get back to her home in the past.
(war mace/firey aura Tanker. Current pool set: none. Current lvl: 6, I beleive. Rp level: 29)))