BrokenSpade

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He wasn't dead, still conscious and weakly moving, but in far too much pain to stand back up. The TRV-150 had ended up somewhere else entirely, and thus as Marius walked toward him, he vainly tried to retrieve his sidearm from its holster. No dice. Material fused by the heat, that thing wasn't letting anything go.

But that didn't mean Marius wouldn't be taking fire. Closing in to a few steps from the Esertosian, a splash of water suddenly struck his side, most likely to no effect other than becoming steam. Still, one way or another, it was very noticeable.

As was the source: a little human girl (she couldn't have been more than 3 to 5 years), aiming a colorful toy squirt gun at him, a glare in her eyes that could've thrown daggers.

"Get away from Uncle Vlad, you big mean poopyhead!" she griped at the towering Marius, not showing a twinge of fear - unlike her mother, who came running with wide, deathly afraid eyes to her child's side.

"Melanie...no..." 'Uncle Vlad' meanwhile groaned, rolling onto his stomach and forearms to try and wedge himself back up off the asphalt...

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Marius was not a villain, he did not kill those who were down and out. He picked up the wounded solider and left him with his family, he turned to the little girl. "I am very sorry, I did not mean to hurt your Uncle. Now if anyone asks... I didn't come through here. It will be our secret eh?" He said with a wink. And like that he took off at a high speed, knowing that the military would be locking down this sector soon.

Marius saw the missile flying at him in what seemed like slow motion. He put his flame shield up at the last moment, but the attack still struck home. The explosion sent him flying into a building through several walls. Marius stumbled out of the building and wiped the blood from mouth.

"Fine you want to play it that way do you!" Marius' entire body burst into flames, "Fortunas Inferno!" A massive wave of flame shot out from his body in all directions.

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The beat of helicopter blades rose in the air as a trio of Comanches entered the area in pursuit of Marius. Apparently, the troop he'd attacked had managed to get out a distress call before being ended - and air support had responded.

Easily spotting the tall man's heat signature with their FLIR systems, the aircraft maneuvered into position. A spotlight from the first clacked on, focusing in on the man on the street.

"Unidentified hostile." a Chinese-accented voice addressed him via megaphone, clearly coming from the lead helo, "Surrender immediately, or we will open fire."

Turreted 20 mm rotary cannons swiveled in on Marius' position to underscore the ultimatum. The only way they wouldn't fire was if he did indeed surrender, or if he managed to get something valuable between the aircraft and him. For that latter situation, however, the helos had a different weapon at their disposal...

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"You've got to be kidding me." Marius said as the choppers came into view. Marius had no intention of surrendering to these people, and for that matter he wondered why the Chinese were helping them. Marius fired a ball of flame at the lead helo and began to try to escape.

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Okay, not quite sure if Torcher and Pyra followed Griffin to the hospital or entered the detention block, so if it's the former, please feel free to assume everyone got there while this here stuff happens. Also welcome Spade, but you'll need to give me a little more info on Marius' location and such so I can figure out what's going on. ))

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((Yeah he is in King's Row))

((Time to enjoy myself.. Que the evil laughter.))

Description

Name: Marius Fenix

Age: 24

Hero Alias: Fortuna Fenix

Physical Appearance: 6'1 Dark brown hair. Hazel eyes, athletic build. Has a cross scar on his right cheek. Wears full black and red trenchcoat with a fedora also wears dark black sunglasses.

Marius

"You know, I could be at a cook out right now." Marius said right before the Axis troops opened fire on him. Their bullets never met the target. A wall of fire appeared before them and melted the bullets. Marius charges through the wall of flame to uppercut the first soldier, keep in mind his fist still is on fire. Fortunas diem! He said as he clobbered the soldier. He proceeded to destroy the Axis squad with no remorse or mercy. As he walked away from the battle he pushes his fedora back into place with one finger still lit with an intense flame.

David reached out and grabbed air as she disappeared, "No Odette!" David screamed. He opened his ears and listened... he could hear it all but he was only searching for one noise. Then he found it, he heard Odette hit the floor and the sound of the slash. "Oh god... Oh god no. I have to hurry." David sped out the door towards the source of the noise hoping to god he wasn't too late.

(Sorry I have been slow on the response Torrent. I have been in Vermont the last couple of days.)

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“Morning sleepyhead you feeling better” Odette hasn’t moved from her position either…but she was definitely awake the whole time and she still looks terribly exhausted.

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"Yeah... I am feeling a lot better, but you aren't looking too good. You want to try to get a few hours of sleep while I keep watch?" David sat up and looked at Odette, he saw many things in her eyes, Fear, exhaustion, and worry.

((Guess who's back? Yeah I did go to E3 for my work. Got to see in Champions Online in action and all I can say is holy [censored]! That is going to be such an amazing game. Anyway I digress. I am back for the time being...))

David's eyes fluttered open and he realized he had fallen asleep next to Odette. He turned to her and touched her shoulder. "Hey there.. you doing alright Odette?" David said in a soft voice very much unlike the normal gruff tone he speaks in.

David lay next to Odette and smiled weakly, "Don't fret. Give me an hour or so and I'll be ready to go again." He said with a laugh. With one hand he absent mindedly played with her hair.

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“David, you need medical attention! Are you up for a medicine spell?” Odette holds David close as she looks at his wound.

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David put his hand to his chest a bright green light shown around it closing up the wound. David collapsed backwards into his bed, accidentally bringing Odette down with him as he tried to grab her for support. "Yeah... I think I am gonna be just fine." He said as he smiled weakly.

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“David we have to go NOW! He will make it too” Odette concentrated and engulfed David in a blue energy, granting him a speed increase. “Please, just go, he’ll be fine!” Odette looks up back at Acid and the says softly to him, “thank you”

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David picked Odette up and took her with him speeding through the halls back to his room. "We should be safe here for a little while. I just need to get this healed up then we can figure out what to do."

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“Oh god david!” Odette touches David and tries to lead him closer to her making sure to speak in low tones. “I swear I don’t know who he is but we have to get out of here! I’ll explain about the mask but we have to get out of here!” Odette looks towards the door but there is so much chaos going on she doesn’t know if they can make it in their conditions. “I can muster up a speed boost but there’s a shield holding the dark matter in ((right?)) and I don’t know if we can get through! Where is the guy who put it up?”

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"We can break through. I can give it one last burst of speed before I give out. Let's do this." David grabbed Odette and kissed her hard. "For luck." He says.

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After all, it would've been senseless of Acid to stand there and do nothing. After no more material had impacted the shield he'd spanned across the short hallway, he'd dropped it and jumped to the ceiling, clinging to it with his claws following the teleportation. Unfortunately, though his method of the jump allowed him to do so in zero time, he still needed a little bit to reorient himself in order to properly target the detention field.

But since Masquerade had been slashing wildly during this time, he'd thankfully given the reptilian said little bit. The detention field once more operated in zero time, locking its prey down not from one instant to another, but in the very same snap of time.

The man was caught; this was a fact. The detention field's fabric extended far above space-time, meaning even a teleportation wouldn't get him out. Simply put, there was no way under, over, or around it.

Sadly, like any sort of energy field, there was an obvious (if somewhat difficult) way through it.

"Go." Acid told them calmly, not letting his gaze off the still-slashing Masquerade, "Got about five more seconds before he busts out of that - less if he decides to make an HHe bomb appear..."

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"No you are leaving here with us. I am not gonna leave you with that! Whatever the hell he is. It ain't human that's for sure." David said in voice that wouldn't take no for an answer.

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Odette was still very weak from the rapidly accumulating use of her powers but she still had enough energy to roll out of the way of Masquerade’s attack, She is exhausted and she keeps repeating weakly, “who are you? who are you? Just tell us please and stop this.” She scans the room in a desperate attempt to see David in the destruction, “please be all right…” For now, she is just concerned with escaping alive with David.

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David had reached his limit... both his wound and his last attack had drained him of most of his energy. "Got to find Odette, concentrate David... listen." Closing his eyes he could hear the faint rapid breathing of a woman. Ah. There she is. David thought to himself as he crawled over to her. Knowing she couldn't see him he tapped her shoulder. "It's me Odette... its David. Are you okay?"

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Masquerade continued his attack on Odette, bring his arm down in a slashing motion that would be followed by a cleaving wound if Odette didn't find a way to dodge.

Masquerade also decided to employ one of his more subtle abilities. He was not actually an illusionist, what he created was entirely real. He could still use his powers to manipulate light in some ways, and this was one of them.

Using his power to make entire groups of people invisible using dark matter, Masquerade caused himself, Odette, David, and Acid to become invisible to everyone else as well as each other.

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David was in bad shape. His wound from Masquerade was getting to him pretty bad. Then came the darkness, Heh, no one ever realizes that I can still hear them. Talisman thought to himself as he jumped off the ground and listened for his enemy. Blood dripped on the ground. He heard the inhuman steps and breathing of his enemy. He sped behind him and attempted to launch one last assault before his body gave out. "Explosion Strike."

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Masquerade, for that was his name, reeled and smashed into the wall once again, which cracked under the strain. The energy in David's punch had blown away the lower half of his opponent's jaw, leaving nothing but a gory mass of black ooze and tar. Which was when Masquerade revealed HIS secondary abilities, and he turned out to be quite empathetic.

An aura of healing radiance bathed the area around him with strange energies, and David saw the ripped portions of his face weaving back together. There was a flash of light as the sinister man teleported, reappearing over the fallen Odette and slashing at her with his arm for an attempted easy kill.

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Talisman only had less than a second to react, Masquerade was going to kill Odette, David did something very foolish. Using his super speed , he jumped in front of the blow, saving Odette, but seriously wounding himself. The blow launched him into the wall. "Spirit Cannon." David said as he held up one hand and launched an energy wave into the attacker's stomach.

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“GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU [censored]!” Odette finally gets up and reveals her secondary powers. The air seems to vibrate a bit until a massive wave of energy instantly engulfs the room. It doesn’t seem as though anything happened, but Odette had just performed a massive Fulcrum Shift, she holds her hands out to the side essentially attempting to drain Masquerade’s power and momentum, “DAVID NOW!” Odette’s eyes are bloodshot as she collapses, once again, to the ground watching intently, hoping she wasn’t too late.

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David barely got out of the way of Mr. Erik's attack... it still drew blood on his left arm though. Odette's attack however, gave David the time he needed to launch a powerful attack on Mr. Erik. Blue energy surged around his uninjured arm. "Kai-Sei-Ja-CHA!" Talisman chanted as he unleashed a massive energy punch directly into Mr. Erik's jaw. "And stay down ya [censored]..."

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The Mask shatters and so does the vanity drawer. Two screams pierce the air, one from a woman not present, and the other from Odette who suddenly doubles over in pain clutching her head, “AHHHHHH! D-David…mask…v-vanity someone….inside!” Odette falls to her knees and then sideways still clutching her head.

Inside, the vanity shakes a bit as the other woman’s scream continues for a few moments and then echoes into silence. It was particularly painful because the second scream did not come from anyone’s mouth, instead it was like a scream inside your mind, as if someone were blasting an air horn in your brain.

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David sprung into action and kicked in the door. He spotted Mr. Erik standing there. "Who the hell are you!?" Talisman yelled as he charged the strange man and punched him square in the jaw.

((No problem Torrent. I am just playing Civilization IV at the moment anyway. It is so addicting...))

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“Ok then let’s be on our way” They walk out into the hallway and towards Odette’s room. Odette looks down at David’s hand and then back in front of her, “Odette isn’t my real name you know…My real name is Mireille but I really want you to keep calling me Odette,” her gaze softens a bit as she walks hand-in-hand with David. “Odette was my mother’s name, and the only people that know me as Mireille are the masquerade so I figure it was time for a change.” They near Odette’s door and she reaches for the doorknob not knowing that Mr. Erik was still inside.

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David looked at her and smiled... "Of course Odette. We all deserve a chance for a new start." David sighed happily. Despite everything that had happened today. It was the first time in four years that he could actually say he was kind of... happy.

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“Awww you are such a cute little boy scout. No its ok, I think that I should probably head over to my room because I left my outfit over there.” Odette snaps her fingers and in a blur of purple polygons she is clothes herself in an illusion of a lovely short summer dress. “This should be modest enough for me to get back to my room.” Odette reaches towards the doorknob but stops and looks back at David, “I think…you should come with me I am worried the masquerade already has people looking for me and I’d feel safer with you.” Odette smiles and holds out her hand for David, “just superspeed your outfit on…I’ll turn away if you want me to” she smiles a bit wider.

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David face turned from pink to crimson. "Uhh... yeah one second." With a blur of speed, David stripped of his bathing suit and reappeared wearing his blue jean shorts and an unbuttoned hawaiian shirt. He took her hand. "So shall we go?"

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Odette looks a bit shocked and then reaches over to grab his other hand. She stands before him looking much stronger now and she speaks with a new strength in her voice, “Ok, this is what we must do; we can heal both our lives in the process.” She takes a deep breath trying to begin the healing of her spirit. She opens her eyes and looking down, realizes that she is still in her bikini from earlier. She lets go of David’s hands and turns away playfully crossing her arms to cover her chest. Much of the elegance and poise she showed earlier slowly returns as she peaks over her shoulder and says with a new and honest smile, “If we are going to do this…defeat the queen that is,” Her smile devolves into a smirk, “We should probably get out of these wet clothes…and into something a little more suited to planning the demise of an archvillain” She uses one hand to tussle her semi-moist hair.

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David blushed at her suggestion. Despite being such a hardened person, he found this woman able to break down all his barriers... it could have something to do with the fact that he had not really interacted with a woman like this in years. "Yeah... you're right." He stammered. "We should start getting ready. Do you want me to step outside for a second so you can change?" He said with obvious embarassment in his voice.

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Odette holds David’s hand tighter and the look on her face looks distressed, “how can you even trust me David!? I tried to kill you out of cold blood on a whim!” Odette thinks of letting go but she can’t bring herself to actually do it. “I’m surprised you can share these wonderful things with me after what I’ve done.” She looks away and her hand begins to shake a bit, “would you believe that killing you was my initiation into the masquerade as a full member…I am a terrible person David”

Odette was telling the truth, before the boat even left port; she was given a task by her headmistress to kill at least one Meta passenger after charming and seducing him. It was a sick rite of initiation but Odette accepted none the less.

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David turned her face back to him. "I trust you because of that look in your eyes. I see it, the desire for redemption, sadness, anger." David had a sad smile on his face. His voice only a whisper, "Also... I need to have something to believe in. If I can help you get away from this terrible life, and help save you... it will save me..." David's hand was trembling. It was true... David had lost a lot of his reason to fight over the last few years. He had begun to lose faith in what he was fighting for.

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Odette smiles slightly as her arm feel much better by the second. “No,” She pulls herself away just enough to look into his eyes, “I needed you. If it meant true freedom, I would have had you…you…” Odette kisses David for a few seconds, and the her eyes shoot open and she pushes back from him, escaping his embrace she looks away, “I’m sorry, I don’t know- I’m sorry” Odette begins to move the arm that was injured and fumbling for a new subject, she says looking back at him, “Is your friend alright?” Odette wears an expression of confusion over what she just did. She was telling him the truth when she said earlier that she never really had a true relationship.

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David was slightly surprised when she kissed him. He just went with it, for some reason it felt right. He noted her embarrassment and put his hand over hers. "Raiden will be just fine, that guy is something else... never met anyone quite like him. Comes and goes like a shadow he does." His mind drifted back to her. "It's okay... about the kiss and all. If it makes you feel any better, I have not dated anyone in the last four years since the Rikti War."

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Odette throws her arm around his neck still leaving her injured arm limp on the bed. She presses herself close to David, she speaks through soft sobs, “no…*sob* she’ll kill you too…you can’t *sob* she’s a monster.” Odette begins to shake a bit, she is obviously rattled by the thought of David’s death…and the horrors he described in his story. With her good arm, she touches David’s hair and whispers softly, “You poor man.” Odette closes her eyes, losing herself in his embrace.

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David laughed when she mentioned his own mortality, "I have been just kind of gliding through the last few years, guided by anger and vengeance for my friends. Never really had much to fight for. This queen of yours may try to kill me, and if she does... than so be it, but I will make sure that I drag her kicking and screaming to the gates of hell with me." Talisman held Odette tight. He touched his hand to her injured arm, a green glow came from it healing some of her wounds. (Medicine Power Set.) "I am sorry for injuring you..." He said as his voice trailed off.

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Odette stirs and then opens her eyes slowly. She looks up at David with her lovely green eyes and whispers softly, “My knight…I’m so sorry” she wipes a small bit of blood off of her face and then lets her hand go limp at her side as she attempts to sit up. She winces in pain as she lifts her body into a sitting position. “ you’re a good man David, that’s why I need to be honest with you” Odette breaks eye contact and looks at the floor in shame, “ I am a Lieutenant in Longbow….and I have been a double agent for 6 years now. I work for a group of Women known as the Twilight Masquerade and their leader uses many of my past mistakes as blackmail to keep me in her organization.” Odette’s eyes begin to well up again and looking back up at David she says with fear and despair in her eyes, “She made me kill, steal and lie and somehow I always followed it.” Odette wipes the tears from her face, “She is an A-Class Telepath and Telekinetic but she has never used her abilities to make me do things…She is a master in persuasion and she always knows exactly what to say.” Becoming a bit more Hysterical, “SIX YEARS DAVID!” Odette puts her face in her hands, “I don’t know what to do” Odette sobs softly on David’s bed, completely drained of all the vivacious joy that she showed so much of earlier in the evening.

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David suddenly hugs Odette. He whispers in her ear, "It's okay... I understand your pain. You want to know why I am so lucky?" David winces as he brings up the memory. "During the first Rikti War... in the initial attack, myself and my friends were buried alive in the ruins of an office building... they all died, except for me... For some reason I lived and they died..., and ever since that day I have had a mysterious amount of good luck, it's as if karma was trying to pay back a due it could never pay off..." David hugged her tighter as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "We will find a way to stop her. I will help you, I promise."