Dante

Brian Mackenzie was on the floor, his massive form rendered powerless by the psychic attack. It felt as if ice cold needles of pain were being slid into his mind and he was powerless to resist. He could see some heroes still attacking but the clones were upon them. Gas was still pouring from the vents of the meteor, albeit more randomly now. The sphincters, although fleshy were clearly not mere organic matter. Their rubbery surface stretched as they were attacked although they did have a limit, some tears appearing in their blubber under the assault. If the thing in the meteor knew what radiation was or what the Shivan was doing to it, it showed no sign of comprehending the danger.

From the far side of the crowd, The Amber Banshee finished up with a clone that had spikes protruding from it, a sonic bolt sending it reeling over a stairwell. She could see the meteor now, the gas spiralling away from it as something tore at the vents. She saw a number of heroes laid low by the tentacle as it spewed out its electric death. In amongst them she saw a familiar shape.

“Dad!?” she gasped incredulous. She grabbed her com unit desperately. “Anyone who can reach the meteor! We have to destroy that tentacle!” She began running towards the crash site, almost ignoring the clones that jumped out in front of her.

‘Get Up’ came a voice in Brian’s mind. Something beyond him, something greater called to him. ‘It Is Hurting Me. Get Up And Destroy It.’ Brian struggled to find the energy to move. He could feel something moving through him, a compulsion, an urge, something as old as time. Placing both massive hands on the ground, feeling its comforting solidity, he pushed up, rising slowly to his feet. ’It Has No Place Here’ said the voice again. Wobbling slightly, trying not to think about the needles of pain in his skull, he placed one foot in front of the other, slowly striding towards the meteor. The tentacle with its perversely beautiful flower was close now, almost within reach. He stumbled slightly then pushed forwards, urging his aching body onwards.

“You know something,” he said from behind gritted teeth, “You’re really p***ing me off!” He swung a massive fist at the flower, knocking it backwards so that it smacked against the lip of the crater. The purple light died in an instant, the tentacle waving slightly, the delicate structure of its flower crushed by the stunning blow, its deadly assault on the mind ended. It was then that the deadly radiation that was being pumped out by the glowing Shivan hit home, its energies burning deep into the being’s core. There was a high pitched screaming that encompassed the area as the clones began to tremble and quake. They advanced on the remaining heroes, swinging wilding, attempting to get the where the meteor was being slowly poisoned. But they were clumsy, almost melting as they strived for their goal.

The tentacle emerged, ‘seeing’ the heroes as they surrounded the crater. The clones were returning, drawing closer, bombarding the heroes with whatever they could whilst taking care not to hit the meteor itself. The flower on the end of the tentacle bloomed again, this time spreading its ‘petals’ wide. A concentrated burst of energy exploded from the flower, a static field of purple energy specifically targeted towards people’s minds. The psychic burst sent shockwaves of power through the collected hero’s brains, enough to render the mightiest hero powerless.

The clones were closer now, moving towards those who seemed to have resisted the psychic attack. Targeting those who were not bend double in agony from the constant waves of energy, they sought out those who did not succumb.

There was a moment of calm on the battlefield as every clone stopped what it was doing and turned its attention on Annie. Flying clones hovered in her direction whereas the others either advanced on her position or fired off a stream of various energies towards her.

I have a level 44 Sonic/En Blaster and I just respeced out of TF. I never liked TF for the damage, I took it for the mag4 stun. Following its reduction in magnitude, I've replaced it with Air Superiority and it works just as well. By the time the target gets back on their feet, I can apply Screech and Bone Smasher which normally stuns them (less so on bosses, I tend to use knockback for them instead). If not, it's a quick Power Thrust to the other side of the room for them.

I don't PvP that much so not sure how that would work out there but it works a treat in PvE.

Still not sure what he was doing, Brian waded into the green mist, a clone approaching him. It blasted at him with some sort of force beam but Brian just shrugged it off, watching with interest as it impacted on him. Where it hit flesh, he saw it momentarily become like cracked stone before returning back to human skin. The clone tried again, putting more power into its blast to try and knock him off his feet. Brian kept on walking. He could feel a power running through him, something he had been aware of when he had been one of the Devoured. But back then it had been twisted, stolen, perverted in some way. This energy was fresh, clean, holy. It compelled him, fortifying him, connecting him. He like it.

Coming close to the clone, he began to run forward, watching as the emotionless clone seemed to almost panic, firing off blast after blast at him. Gaining speed, charging, Brian roared in defiance before slamming his fist into the clone’s forehead. The head of the clone exploded as if it had been hit by a freight train, the orange glow dying immediately. He looked around but couldn’t see much, the green mist still obscuring the battlefield. From his left he saw one hero pinned down against three clones of himself. He braced himself and prepared to enter the fray.

Further down the field, the curtain obscuring the meteor was momentarily lifted by a huge gust of wind that pushed the green gas away. In front of the space rock stood a man, facing the car sized object. The rock, having cooled somewhat was craggy and pocked with holes as something that had endured space travel would be expected to be. But it had a strange red hue to it and a large crack that ran down its centre from which the tentacle had first emerged. Inside the crack it was possible to see a blackened core, moist with various purple lights that seemed to dance around its surface. From the bottom of the rock, embedded as it was in its crater, three sphincter like protruberances were still busily pumping out the green gas, only momentarily abated by the wind. Sensing a presence, there came a hiss from inside the crack as the long tentacle device emerged once more, rising up to probe the one who dared step this close.

“Can we send it back out into space?” replied Saffron to Portent’s query. “Actually, scratch that, I don’t like the thought of it landing somewhere else and having the natives blame us. A forcefield maybe? I dunno.”

A second voice chimed in, that of Saff’s father. “What about overpowering it? Putting a few thousand volts through its system? Or maybe irradiating it? Kill off whatever’s in there by radiation? It would have to be open to our environment to be able to vent the gas.”

Saffron didn’t respond. She’d already seen another bunch of heroes tackle her clones so she’d turned to try and help out a police officer who seemed to be facing down a cloned Kheldian. The thing looked like Luna’s ‘dwarf’ form as she called it but she could see the telltale orange glow in its forehead. A few notes sung by her at its frequency had got its attention but what she was going to do next she hadn’t considered. “Aw crud,” she exclaimed as the thing turned its attention towards her.

Fifty feet away, Brian sat on the sidewalk, watching the battle. He felt guilty for not being able to help, for leaving his daughter to do the fighting. It wasn’t right, he thought, to leave her vulnerable. He looked down at his hands, hands which still bore the mutation inflicted upon him by the Devoured Earth. He’d experimented since his restoration, seeing what that accursed virus’ legacy was. He’d blunted several knives trying to cut his skin and he’d proved that he could lift a car without straining. But could he live up to what these heroes faced every day? Maybe it was time to find out.

The meteor needed destroying. But although a few heroes were closing in on it, most of them were still concerned with battling their own clones. That he could help with. He stood up, rising to his full height of nine foot two and started to walk slowly into the battlefield.

Well folks, thanks for a successful KH TF, it was a lot of fun. Still no idea what happened with Mary, I guess it might have been a combination of difficulty settings and levels. Either way, we kicked posterior. Eventually. Although sometimes it was just prodding buttock. But it was fun prodding buttock. Looking forward to the next one.

As for the ITF, I would like to do another IC one sometime but I tend to need a little bit of notice.



And someday, perhaps, I'm going to shake this habit of getting rubbish rare recipies out of TFs.

Mine is currently my favourite picture of my main, Dante Carver as drawn by Neil Edwards for Draw The World Together.

Defender. I don't know what it is, but I love looking after the team. Even when on other ATs, I find myself looking out for other people.

“But I can’t!” exclaimed Brian, still holding the writhing clone of his daughter. He had it held tight, one massive arm encircling it, the other hand clamped over its mouth. It squirmed in his grasp but Brian’s Devoured mutation and recovery had left him with immense strength and Saffron had no more strength than any other twenty one year old. The clone wasn’t going anywhere.

Saffron rolled her eyes in despair. If she could handle the bones of an alternate reality version of herself, she expected her dad to be able to destroy a replica of her. “Ok, hold it tight and get ready to drop it when I shout.”

Brian nodded in response, Saffron lining herself up and tuning into the frequency of the orange glow in her clone’s forehead. Singing a finely tuned note, she pinpointed the glow with the blast, causing it to vibrate madly before dissipating. Brian noted that the body went limp almost instantly and dropped it to the floor. Within moments it began to start melting. He watched it forlornly before he was led away by his daughter.

“It’s ok dad, it’s just a clone,” she said. “An alien copy of me. I’m still here, ok?” Brian nodded, a little saddened and weirded out by recent events. “Now get back to the Dugout, there’s going to be wounded and The Militia’s base is closest to be able to provide help and refuge.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have that option,” replied Brian, staring behind her to where the meteor still lay. From out of the mist, more clones were coming. But this time there were at least five copies for each hero, a veritable army of hero clones, including one of those that had already fallen. Saffron turned to see two more copies of herself destroying a car through more sonic blasts. She clicked open the comms unit on her wrist and switched to PPD and Hero Corps emergency frequency.

“Attention all present at the Kings Row crash site,” she began, “There’s more clones incoming from the direction of the meteor. We need to aim for the glow in their heads and somehow get to that damned meteor and switch it off!”

Still slightly dazed, Saffron looked up from where they’d landed. She could see the Nightseye clone about to pounce them and slightly further away, her own clone as it turned and shouted at... her dad!? She was about to say something when the Nightseye clone pounced. Singing a bassline frequency at it sent it spinning off course. She followed it up with a higher pitched tone, designed to knock it backwards. Leaving it reeling she ran from the cover of the tree towards her own doppelganger.

“It’s disoriented, there’s your opening!” she cried, hoping Nightseye would take advantage of it. Right now she was more concerned with her dad who seemed to be beating on a bemused Shivan. Could this day get any weirder, she wondered. Seeing the Shivan’s pacifistic flailings, she figured it was somehow not involved in the alien shakedown. But knowing her dad, he’d probably seen it, seen the meteor, put two and two together and come up with five. He had a lot to learn about heroing.

“Dad no!” she shouted, before her double caught her with a blast, sending her into the side of a parked car. Brian, hearing his daughter turned to see the two of them fighting and stopped.

“What the hell?” he muttered. He patted the Shivan on the chest and turned to sort out his daughters. “We’ll speak later,” he said. Striding over to where the two Ambers were dodging each other’s screams, it was easy to spot the fake when next to the real one. He grabbed the clone from behind and lifted it off its feet, watching it as if flailed trying to get free.

“What is this?” he asked out loud, “some kind of clone?”

“Leave her alone!” came a loud voice from Steve’s side.

Striding through the mist, Brian Mackenzie appeared. Just over a month ago, he had been one of the Hamidon’s hideous Greater Devoureds. Now restored to human form and released from mind control by his daughter and The Militia, he still retained his enormous size towering over nine feet tall and almost the same again wide. He hadn’t been happy when Saffron had revealed her secret life as a hero to him, he was even less happy to see her get hurt. He’d heard of these ‘Shivans’ that landed along with the meteorites in Bloody Bay. This one must of gone off course. He had no idea what he was going to do with the green glowing thing but he was damned if he was going to let one touch his daughter. He barely noticed the glow from her head, figuring it must be some sort of hero thing that she was into.

“You want to fight something! Fight me!” he roared and launched himself at Steve.

The lamp-post hit Annie’s clone with resounding force, striking the orange glow dead centre. The clone reeled for a second, unable to control itself as the orange glow flickered as if trying to hold onto consciousness. And then it blinked and dissipated into nothing.

Without the glow, the doppelganger fell lifelessly to the floor, devoid of any life signs. The fall would probably have broken the bones of a human but when the body hit the floor it exploded into a shower of green fluid, as if it was returning to a less solid version of the gas. The viscous gunk flew everywhere, redecorating the front of a building and showering a reporter who was trying to get the scoop on other, less adventurous journalists. In amongst the puddle on the floor, it was just possible to glimpse distorted green internal organs before they melted away back into green mush.

The clone, not responding to Nightseye’s protests, continued its assault. Screaming in various tones attuned to the feline’s personal rhythm, it did not seem the remotest bit interested in communicating with her.

If Feline was confused already, it probably didn’t help when seconds later, the real Amber Banshee appeared, blasting the imposter with sound waves. Momentarily distracted, the clone soon recovered, hitting Saffron with a perfectly pitched note that sent her reeling, the world swimming as she hit the floor.

Freed from the assault, the clone turned back on Nightseye, calmly returning to a neat pattern of blasts designed to bring the feline woman down.

The clone of The Amber Banshee rounded on Nightseye, screaming a well pitched note at her. The clone, although fighting, did not seem enraged or angry but instead maintained the same patient face that Saffron did whilst blasting her opponents.

“What the hell are you?” asked Saffron, regaining her senses. The clone made no attempt to communicate, it simply regarded her with a look in curiosity. She’d never been in a first contact situation before, she had no idea if there was protocol or some other way to go about it, no-one in Vanguard had ever spoken to her about it.

“What do you want?” she tried again, closing the gap between the two of them. The similarity was uncanny, from the scratches and burns over her jacket, her green eyes, right down to the myriad of freckles that covered her face. She could see that the orange light in its forehead was a flickering, dancing glow, akin to a firefly. When the clone didn’t respond, she tried a different approach. She reached out her hand as if to say hello.

The clone suddenly struck out, thrusting its fist forward. Saffron momentarily recognised the vibration coming from the thing as her own when she was suddenly repelled backwards as the creature’s fist struck. She was bowled over, but recovered quickly only to suddenly be hit with a sonic wave. She spun, ignoring the pain of being struck with her own rhythm and replied with a similarly pitched note. It struck the creature, obviously causing it pain. She ducked sideways, before it could recover and hid behind one of the parked police cars. This thing not only looked like her, it fought like her too. Whatever the alien device had done, it had accurately copied her appearance and her powers. Her doppelganger jumped on top of the car and blasted her with another sonic wave. Saffron scrambled to her feet, momentarily stunned before she leapt up onto the roof of the car and blasted it backwards over twenty feet. From her vantage point, she could see that the battle was joined, the clones assaulting anything they could find with powers copied from the heroes around them. Citizens ran for their lives, unable to tell which were the real heroes and which were the duplicates. And all the while, the meteor sat, pumping out more of the noxious green gas.

Having gotten a sufficient distance from the gas, The Amber Banshee had managed to recover. The stuff tasted foul and yet somehow sweet at the same time. Once she was able to breath again, she began to wonder whether it wasn’t poison and in fact had some other purpose. It was when she saw figures emerging from the mist that she turned her attention back fully to the meteor. Grabbing a handkerchief from her pocket, she tied it around her mouth and nose, giving her the appearance of some cheap, flame haired Hellion. Steeling herself she strode back into the mist, trying to make out the figures that were walking towards them. As the mist parted momentarily, she was able to see one that seemed to be making its way towards her. The sight was enough to stop her in her tracks.

The figure was just over six feet tall, lanky and had long red hair. It wore black jeans, a battered motorcycle jacket and a burgundy face mask. Aside from a slight green tinge and an odd orange glow coming from its forehead, the figure was a carbon copy of The Amber Banshee. Saffron, almost certain that she would be facing the grotesque features of a Shivan, was stunned to instead be facing her own doppelganger.

She took a few steps back, looking around herself. On the outer edges of the gas, as it swirled from the spinning hero circling its perimeter, more figures were emerging. All of them had the appearance of the heroes who had witnessed the event, all of those who had been touched by the strange purple lightning. For each person and hero who had felt the meteor’s gentle touch, a duplicate strode forth from the mist to confront them, the same pale orange glow emanating from their foreheads.

Saffron tried to speak but words died on her lips. She hadn’t just been scanned by the alien rock, she’d been cloned.

[ QUOTE ]
Glasgow Kiss attack?

[/ QUOTE ]

Shockingly unsporting what?

Tally Ho Chaps! I think the Brits have come up with something!

Bravo! A sterling effort there dear boy!

I'd love to suggest one for the Primary though - Queensbury Rules: any foe within the PBAoE can't use any underhanded tactics. Freaks can't revive, Sky Raiders can't teleport and those damn clowns can't go intangible. Stand still while I hit you, you cur! Have at thee you scoundrel!

Oh yes, I like these.

The Portent’s hasty message played over the Dugout’s speakers, the computer’s AI reacting to put the base into Red Alert mode. Brian Mackenzie looked up from where he was wiring in the new device, realising that all was clearly not good outside. He leapt up, knocking over several items as he did, and ran to the external monitors. He could see the meteor as it spewed its gas, the various citizens and heroes scattering.

“Saffy…” he muttered before turning and running for the door. He had no idea what he was going to do out there but he’d be damned if he was going to leave his only daughter out there, regardless of how much experience she had. He grabbed one of the Militia’s com units before exiting, barely squeezing his massive frame out of the door before it sealed shut.

As he walked out into the street, he could hear the piercing sound as it battered his eardrums and felt the cloying smoke on his body. He was about to start shouting for his daughter when the sound suddenly stopped. He looked about to see the people looking up, daring to take their hands from the ears. The smoke though, was ever present and almost impossible to see through.

Further in, closer to the meteorite, several heroes pressed in, daring to approach the sky fallen rock. Here, the fog was thicker than ever, making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of one’s face. But it that thick green cloud, shapes began to appear. Humanoid shapes, walking from the meteor, their features indistinct. It was possible to make out human sized silhouettes as they walked to meet the heroes, a strange glow seeming to emanate from their foreheads. They made no sound, and said nothing, still too hard to see their forms in the gas.

The flower suddenly stopped its spraying of delicate lightning bolts for whatever purpose they served. The head of the tendril closed slowly and descended back into the meteorite, snaking itself into the car sized rock.

Silence descended, as if the device or creature or whatever it was had gone back to sleep, the buzzing sound disappearing too. For an expectant moment, it seemed as if the danger had passed.

And then came the noise. An intense, piercing whine that seemed to pierce the eardrums, pushing the boundaries of tolerable sound. Even The Amber Banshee, used to producing similar sounds, clapped her hands over her ears, the waxy plugs in her inner ear closing instinctively to prevent herself from being deafened. She glimpsed the other heroes assembled, hoping that the maybe some of them had some sort of audio protection.

And then the gas came. Billowing from the base of where the meteor sat in its crater, it spewed a thick, green cloud that was almost impossible to see through. Those caught in it felt its sticky, viscous touch, almost like being smothered in glue. People ran choking from the cloying gas, scattering away from its source. It didn’t seem like poison, just unpleasant. Those who attempted to stay in its range retched, the taste of it making them nauseous.

Amber retreated, horrible memories of the gas that had led to her kidnapping and torture a year ago returning with a vengeance.

“Run!” she managed to gasp as she staggered away from the crash site. Choking and almost deafened, she joined other heroes as they fell back.

That is one cute baby. As someone who’s expecting his first as well, I’m getting used to going ‘Ahhhhhh....!’ when I see one of the little pink things.

Big Daddy Congratulations to Back Alley Brawler! Get him measured up for his own gloves now!

“Most movies with aliens don’t end well,” said Amber as she watched the tendril complete its loop. “Apart from E.T. I guess but that still made me cry.”

The tentacle rotated once more, hesitated and then opened. The bulbous tip seemed to bloom like a flower, displaying a bright orange head of various filaments. It almost looked beautiful, like a radiant bud springing into life. It was then that the hum that had preceded the opening of the meteor went up an octave.

Without warning, the ‘flower’ began shooting purple lightning in all directions. The spidery electricity arced across thin air, grounding itself on anything it touched. Lamp posts, cars, people, the assembled heroes, it radiated energy like an enormous Plasma Ball. Where people were hit, they jumped but were surprised to find that it did not hurt. The Amber Banshee managed to cry “Oh crud...!” before a blast hit her full in the chest. Although it knocked her back slightly, it did no damage and soon dissipated, leaving her with a faint tingling on her skin. Looking around her, she saw the flower shooting out the energy to all directions, hitting other heroes and people but not harming them. Soon, people were calming standing there, almost enjoying the alien touch. It felt like being caressed by an angel.

“Well that was weird,” muttered Amber as she watched the strange display, the electric tendrils playing around the area, touching, feeling everything it could.

Ok, so from the responses I’ve had, we’ve got a team that looks like this:

1) The Amber Banshee
2) Wavekite
3) Luna Starbright
4) Nightseye
5) Steel House
6) Fusebox
7) Fanservice
8) Mystic Savant

If anyone drops out or wants to swap, let me know. But there will be more running, I can promise that. If we could meet at Katie at 19:30 ready for a 20:00 kick off (BST), that’d be grand. I’m considering other TFs as well, namely Hess, the Ouroboros Flashbacks and maybe even an Imperious if we feel lucky. Other suggestions welcomed.

See you there!

Saffron turned to see the feline creature appear almost from nowhere. She wondered just how reclusive Nightseye had been to not recognise a meteorite.

“That?” she said, indicating the cooling rock, “Probably just a hunk of rock but you can’t be too careful…”

It was at that point that there was a cracking sound, like an egg but much louder. Peering into the mist, Saffron could see that the meteor had a large opening in it, about a foot wide. She couldn’t see into the dark interior but there was a low buzzing sound that seemed to emanate from inside.

“Oh well, screw the ‘lump of rock’ theory,” she muttered.

Something seemed to be moving. Growing from the rock was a long tendril with a bulbous end, extending upwards into the air. Once it reached a height of three feet, it began to rotate, as if looking around itself. There was no indication in its movement of its intent.