Kasoh

The shattered pieces of Tiberium transformed almost everything they touched into more of the godforsaken green crystal. Doom and Jameson soon foundthemselves in bright green mess.

Doomtastic monologued calmly as the Tiberium began to spread, "This is absurd. And normally I love absurdity. "How not to be seen?" Hilarious. But this is some kind of...not funny absurdity, which is a wholly new feeling for me and were I not declared criminally insane by quack doctors who obviously bought their degrees by some grade by the pound internet course--"

"Celes!" Jameson snapped as she shucked her wrist blades, finally having given up the tiberium colored ghost. "You will undoubtedly survive this horrible experience, but I most certainly will not, and I'm up for promotion to Night Widow in two damn weeks so please, do something outlandish and crazy that will solve this mess."

Doomtastic smiled brightly as an idea struck her. "Okay!"

She keyed a code into her glove mounted computer.

"Warburg was having a special last week you know. A two for one deal."

She clapped her hands together and giggled, "One localized chemical burn coming right up!"

Doomtastic rubbed her chin thoughtfully for a moment. Tiberium was volitile stuff, the gents who sold it generally were relieved to be rid of it, but the only chemical cocktails capable of neutralizing it were only available in tech labs, not city streets.

She considered asking Positron for help, intense radiation could destabilize it and heroes had this thing about letting other people die, but it looked like her favorite boy toy was having other problems.

Having eliminated the calm and scientific routes she shrugged. A look of intense concentration crossed her features as she gestured at the ground next to her. A black cloud of smoke appeared along with her personal Blood Widow. She was one of Bella's favorites after all.

"Good christ Celes, now what?" the helmeted Arachnos Operative muttered.

"Shut up Jameson and start smashing."

Doomtastic lifted her leg and stomped the ground, shattering the cement and creating a rift in the ground. As her widow hacked at the crystaline structure Doom began to rip the ground out from under it.

((Doom knew Recycler wasn't a Petless Mastermind, her thoughts lend themselves to inane or humorous tangents.))

Doomtastic frowned at the green crystal exploding from the cafe. Positron was probably going to use his phenomenal luck to bounce back soon and it looked like she was out of exploding trucks.

"Boss? You okay in there? I'll take screams for no."

Staggering up from the where the massive explosion had tossed her, Doomtastic groaned as she caught her breath. If she noticed the massive destruction filling the city streets after that little boom it didn't show. The first thing she did was make sure her costume was still on. Explosions were never nice to nano-assembled leather.

Assured of her own modesty, Doomtastic looked for Recycler-33 and didn't see him. Of course with the smoke, she barely saw Postitron pulling himself up.

The two looked at each other for a short beat. The silence was awkward and pregnant before they looked away from each other.

"Good god, that was sooo Freudian...." Doomtastic finally muttered, "That was not my fault!"

Positron didn't say anything and collapsed back to the ground.

Limping away from the burning remains, Doom began a more earnest search for her minionless mastermind. Well...she probably counted as a minion at the moment, would be bad form if it got out he was a petless mastermind. No one would ever work with him again. Grandville had enough unemployment problems.

[ QUOTE ]
"Have you any idea what we might find here?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Glancing at the barren site, Ceus shook her head, "This clue mentioned an idol, and to beware the Currentfast--which was capitalized, so its a proper noun, a thing that is an infinite storm and it goes fast."

She shrugged, "I first thought of Jupiter. Could be more metaphorical though."

Ceus waved her hand in a careless gesture at the pillars of runes. "These runes though, I can read. Its some derivitive of Mesopotamian Rune Magick."

She retrieved her pen and parchment and sketched the pillars and runes as they appeared. Satisfied, she approached them, hovering inches off the ground.

((And despite all evidence to contrary, Ceus is a villain. She just has a history with the Necronomicon and it would suit her just fine to rid the world of it. Its purely selfish.))

Doomtastic was surprised when Positron grabbed her wrist, so surprised that the shot to her face knocked her head back.

But Doomtastic was unyielding, she couldn't be moved unless she wanted to move, and her knock out blow couldn't be stopped, she followed through with her punch, the strength that flowed through her that enabled her to pick up tanks and rip safes from their hinges coupled with her nigh unbreakable bones meant that Positron would either let go of her wrist, or break his.

The punch connected with his armor and dented it, and even if it didn't send him flying 15 feet into the air, it staggered him. She reached her hands back for a Haymaker when the Phalanxer retailiated.

With a deafening roar, his jet boots exploded with force, propelling Positron into Doomtastic. The pair slammed into one of the trucks the masterminds brought, tearing through its side and stopping inside the back. They both had only a glimpse of the trucks' cargo before they both uttered.

"$#@&."

And it exploded in a brilliant ball of fire.

The energy punched into Doomtastic's gut like a sledgehammer, and she didn't even slow down. The thrill of a good fight was in her now, and she wasn't going to stop until she was satisfied.

"Well, Ray, even if you don't love me, Bella does!"

She threw her hand out and bright yellow lines of soul strings formed a skull that marred Positron's vision long enough for the enraged woman to wind up a powerful knock out blow.

"I can hardly refuse such a pleasant offer."

Ceus nodded at the man.

"This is what I found. These clues mean anything to you?"

She began to prep the teleporter.

Doomtastic smiled as she ripped up a chunch of asphalt and threw it at the hero, smacking Positron in the chest keeping him from taking off away from the ghosts that were creeping around him again.

"You need help Doomtastic. Serious help." Positron declared, blasting green energy at his attackers.

"Just because it was Time Travel doesn't mean it didn't happen!"

She paused.

"Or does it?"

Shrugging, she charged the armored hero again.

((sorry, its just that Doomtastic has a rather unrequited love for Positron.))

Even as the spectral remains converged on Positron, Celes moved to cover the henchless mastermind.

She shoulder tackled the Hero down into the Steel Canyon street and an onlooker would be hard pressed to decide if she had grabbed the armored scientist to crush him to death, or hug him.

"Raymond! You never call! A girl might think you don't love her anymore!"

Eye rolling might not have a sound effect, but Positron managed it quit well, and he followed up with blast of radioactive energy that flung the brute off of him.

((Is doing dialoge for the Heroes we're fighting kosher?))

She had searched her every memory for references that would illuminate the clues given via mental projection. And to make sure that didn't happen again, Ceus cast a quick spell, something to shield her mind from being read or intruded upon. It was one of her favorite spells, not for just the handy effects, but the charming limerick the verbal component was.

Still her memories gave no inclination of ever hearing of any place described in so cryptic a manner. So she quickly googled 'Valley of the Fallen Angels.'

Amidst the garbage, satan worshipers, porn, and pryamid schemes she found a single website blogging the progress on an archeological dig. Why, they even discovered an idol recently. Could be what she was looking for.

Now all she had to worry about for this clue was the infinite storm. She'd probably have to go to Jupiter just to appease the fates.

As an afterthought, Ceus quickly typed an after action report of her divinations and the results, then emailed them to everyone whose name she remembered at the original meeting. If someone was going to stab her in the back, might as well give directions.

As the mercenaries started to level their weapons at the restaraunters, Celes O'Bannon, commonly referred to as Doomtastic in the Rogue Isles checked her watch.

"Is it time already? I thought I was early..." She glanced at the skyline, squinting at the sun. Spending to much time in the D, is what it was, extra-dimensional travel plays hell on her Seiko.

Standing up, she activated her nano reassambler, turning her Armani knockoff suit into her combat uniform, a red leather bustier, gloves, black pants, knee high combat boots, and a long red Fortune cape.

With a toss of her hair, the blonde bombshell turned to the diners and slammed her hands together, the sonic handclap knocking them all down.

Celes turned to the mercenaries and waved at the men behind their minions her voice dripping with the worst british accent impersonation they'd likely ever heard, "'Ello! Doomtastic here, I smash for cash, if it bleeds I can kill it. Which of you blokes signs the checks?"

((Doomtastic is a SS/Inv Brute.))

"Oh Great. Visions."

Once more Ceus reached into her Astral pocket and retrieved her quill and parchment. She quickly wrote down the clues, as they were.

All her effecient and meticulous plans were tossed aside as she resumed her hovering lotus position.

"Riddles." She muttered.

She cast her senses outward in a net that would alert her if anyone approached while she turned her memories inward. Perhaps she had already had the answer within her. Unlikely, but it was worth a shot.

"Bah. Humbug."

Wherever Recluse and his compatriots had wandered off to, it wasn't here. Aside from a few Menders, Ouros was empty, and that was A) Suspicious, and B) Annoying.

"'Lets not rush into things', they said. 'Plan ahead' they went on."

Ceus didn't know she muttered to herself when frustrated, the same way she never realized that she would stop hovering everywhere and start pacing.

There hadn't been any signals back since everyone jumped back through the portal after Horowitz and she still didn't know why, sure the big green man was amusing and had the nicest hat she'd seen in ages, but he couldn't have been important enough to leap after.

Oh well. If they all died, they probably were not strong enough to be worth knowing anyway.

Not willing to toss herself after them, nor just sit around doing nothing, Ceus found the nearest pillar of Fire and Ice. On the off chance that the away party came back alive and somehow secured the book, it would be handy to have the items to destroy it handy.

She considered a good place to start searching and decided she'd start with the book. It was the first to come to her in the divination, and it might have important information.

She knew where several magic libraries were, and she patted the pillar, she'd just check them all at the same time.

Ugh.

Her body absorbed the ambient energy of the area, quickly returning Ceus to her 'normal' form. A wave of her hand reconstituted her clothing and she promptly sat down and pulled out a quill, ink bottle and parchment.

She recorded down the items as she remembered them, this other book was small, yet thick. No title was embossed on the cover, but the pages had gold leafing on the sides.

The folder with the two numbers was quite plain, and she turned the image around in her mind, looking for a logo on the folder, but no such luck. She'd have to confer with the others for more information about this thing.

But...an ant? the image in her divination gave no indication it was a large radioactive ant, or a mundane army ant. She drew it onto the paper along with a description.

Stupid Fate magics. Only gave you just enough to not feel robbed, but never enough to get you to stop asking questions. Would an address and directions have really killed anyone?

Her meticulous recording of the event done, Ceus looked around. The ones who jumped in the portal still weren't back with Horowitz and it had to have been an hour or two already. That was either good, or bad...Ceus sighed. That was helpful.

Before she did something stupid, like run off after them into certain death, Ceus began to look around to see where Recluse, his cronies, and Ghost Widow had wandered off to. If you're going to make an entrance a couple dozen Bane Spiders at your back never hurt.

Ceus looked at the once heavily occupied meeting room, now largely vacant thanks to Horowitz. She hoped whatever operation to get the green man back didn't end entirely in disaster.

She reached into her astral pouch, a handy extra-dimensional pocket, and pulled out a large piece of chalk, a jar of dragon blood, and seven candles.

She drew the circle and the lines of power, taking extra time on the energy drain circle--didn't want the excess magick vaporizing any onlookers.

The seven candles were placed in a ring around the circle, and she connected the candles to the ring with line of blood. Hovering in center of the circle, Ceus crossed her legs underneath her.

She began her chant in Gaelic, rituals were about channeling vast power into small spaces and she had the best rythem in the old languages.

She focused on the Necronomicon first, drawing up images of the last time she saw it, The dark spine, the pitted cover, the yellowed pages were the trappings of its most recent binding, the book changed its covers every couple hundred years, but the information within released a certain aura. The aura of power and the chill of its corruption. The mad will that drove it to turn its readers into its slaves.

As her focus narrowed, she began to think of destruction, the power required to destroy, the triumverate that held the life of the book in its hands.

The energy pulsed around her and it grew hot and bright. the runes drew into the circle shot light high into the sky.

Magick burst forth from Ceus, white flame trickling up and down her body, disintigrating her leather clothes, burning whiter and brighter than any flame of natural origin.

When floor beneath Ceus began to bubble and the lights could get no brighter, the energy exploded silently, the white power cascading through the air and dissapating on the walls.

Drained of magicks, Ceus dropped to the floor, no longer the faceless blue skinned, silver veined monster, but a mere woman with pale skin and brown hair. She would quickly regain her normal appearance as her magicks recharged, but for the next minute, she was free from her curse.

prying open her pale blue eyes she stared at the ceiling, but the only thing she saw were three items circling around the picture she had of the Necronomicon.

Her voice rasped out, "Heh. I never would have guessed those."

((I have no idea if I should just make the items up or leave that to Yosef, Ceus' divination magick is based off D&D style, so it usually requires the DM to supply the answers, but I'm flexible.))

Ceus didn't actually think she could move anyone to actually destroy the book. Recluse himself, and probably a few of the independant agents probably already had plans to aquire it for themselves before the end. It was alright, magick had rules and payments for such power were always required.

Ceus nodded to Skjebene the motion slow and deliberate. When one doesn't have a face, body language became very important, "I...could try a ritual to divine the items needed to destroy the book. I would need a piece of it, a verse from it, or I'd be working from memory, and I haven't seen the book in almost 1500 years."

"It would be noticeable magicks however, not like the subtle fortune telling of the Mu, it could bring discovery by those who are equally magically inclined or by those who we wish to destroy."

She felt stupid for offering, it was a complex ritual that she had watched Morgan LeFey perform, never having need of divining a macguffin before, she had just set the ritual in the back of her mind. She was more used to killing people.

She really didn't want to die just to get back at a book.

After listening to the various suggestions that had been put forth, Ceus finally entered her opinion

"Why are you all treating this like a conventional war against a conventional regime? This man supposedly wields the power of the Necronomicon. A tome so powerful his will is made reality. And given what he has accomplished so far without being stopped, That's a large check in the 'probably' column."

"You want to attack the economy of a man who can transmutate the elements? Kill the soldiers of a man who raises the dead? The power of that book can turn even the lowest guttersnipe into a god."

"Sheer overwhelming force against him in a surprise attack might work..." she nodded to Nathaniel, " only if you could find him. The man is not our foe, the book that powers him is. Take that and you have in your hand godhood and the reins to his empire. The Necronomicon cares little for who uses it, just as long as its used."

Having wound herself up to sound like the mystical crackpots she always hated working for, Ceus paused. Finally seeing she still had everyone's attention she pointed at the Ouroboros emblem inlaid in the ground, "Or we take advantage of our hosts unique architecture and Kill him before he ever touches it. Babies don't fight back."

Ceus hovered near the meeting area, eyeing the vocal youth, Nate? Nathaniel? there was some question of what his prefered name was, but he had quickly escaped the grasp of the Jager, "Short of a fight, I think, you gave him what he wanted."

Ceus, still hovering a few inches off the ground, eyed the mismatched group of heroes. Their auras were powerful yes, but there was so few.

She turned to her fellow neer'do'wells and spoke clearly to make sure the heroes overheard, "So Recluse brings his inner circle, and the heroes bring a grab bag of talent? I'd ask what the world was coming to, but this is a little silly. Outsourcing heroics..."

Suspicious.

It was times like this that Ceus missed being able to frown. Recluse wanted to team up with heroes to conquer a more powerful evil? Makes sense. Given the power that Abdul currently had, that the plot obviously involved mending the time stream also made sense, but when was he going to stab the heroes in the back, and if Recluse was true to form, betray his former destined ones?

Lord Recluse Share? Might as well ask a hungry wolf not to bite.

She had been a slave to would be conquorers for over five thousand years. Now that the leash was loose, she wasn't about to give it back.

She looked at the gathered villains. Could she rely on them when the time came?

[ QUOTE ]
Pfft... dere's plenty uff things dot can reduce de vorld to ashes- even those schtupid Hellion-boyz haff tried. Hwon more thing, even de big thinky-type book, iz no big deal." he said with a shrug.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ceus raised a hand with the pointer finger extended, readying herself to make a counterpoint when reason got the better of her. Arguing with someone who had no inclination to understand the greater forces of the universe was a task akin to slamming one's head in a door. Yes, you can do it, but for mother earth why?

She lowered her hand and shrugged, mirroring the green man's gesture, "I suppose when one looks at it in such a broad manner, you are correct."

Well. At least it wasn't going to be boring.

((Last time I tried to use Ceus it didn't go so well, but I like trying to get into her head, so we'll give the ageless magical weapon of mass destruction with a soul another go.))

Hovering a few inches off the ground, Ceus floated toward the barely decipherable accented speaker, humanoid only in silhouette, her leathery blue/green skin was traced with pulsing silver veins. buckled leather pants, heavy strapped boots, and a tattered cape that once belonged to a hero were her only accessories.

Her faceless visage looked upon the lizard man, "Do not underestimate the Necronomicon, that book has enough power to reduce the world to ashes if used improperly. What this Abdul has done is only a fraction of its abilities."

My natural characters use Superjump and I rationalize it in by thinking of it like leaping from roof top to rooftop, landing on top of buses for the quick ride down town, Similar to how we've seen Captain America travel when he's not riding a vehicle.

(Cinderstorm is a young woman in her mid twenties with dark red eyes and dark red neck length hair, almost maroon. Gold rimmed blast goggles rest on her forehead and a white sleeveless top with a gold and white sun emblem centered on the chest. Her white skirt, cape and thigh high boots all have a gold flame motif on them. Her face defaults to serious and its not uncommon for her to scowl at even the best of intentions.)

It was strange for her police radio to come up with a return in Kings Row, normally the derelict city zone was handled by the lower security level heroes.

Standing from her crouch where she had been examining some unusual Clockwork activity, she keyed in her communicator finding the other hero's frequency, "Blue Shield, this is Cinderstorm, I'm near warehouse 257, you want some help?"