TeChameleon

((So... no-one's going to react to the Hydra Men that have started stomping around in the portal room..?))

((*shrug* Oh well. Waiting on Devious before I reply to the various happenings))

((mmph... both Brawler and Devious had reacted between my spray-arrows-everywhere post and my hydra-men-pop-out-of-nowhere post... there's at least a moment or two between the two posts))

((the only things that 'happened' in my post are:
Target Lad dodged a lot and fired a single arrow.
The Fly Trap fired a thorn barrage and snapped at Target Lad (sorry for the slight autoing, by the way, Devious).
A Man O' War came through the portal, spat at Target Lad and tried to stomp on the Fly Trap.
A bunch more Hydra Men charged through and started trashing the place.))

((I know I wrote a good-sized post, Sov, but Target Lad only fired one arrow that time... Unless you're referring to the previous post when he started spraying arrows all over the place, in which case... er... a little late, neh?))

((Target Lad is a (student) hero, Shinji- he's currently engaging Nataan and Pestilence. Pokin' Prodder is also in the portal room))

Target Lad simply shook his head. While it was true that the room was full of angry plantlife, it hadn't started growing out of the celing yet, and he had kept high and well out of its reach. Now he was facing... another plant. He made an aggravated noise and twisted out of the way of a barrage of thorns that it had flicked at him.

Huh... seems tha' all those bloody worthless 'obstacle courses' tha' th'gamesmaster is al'ays havin' us run are good for summat after all. he thought. Then again, I suppose I shouldna be surprised... I did ge' an "A" in tha' class for "boostin' m'aerial manoeuverability by seventy-nine percent, confirmed', whatever tha' means. The neck of the plantbeast stretched as it brought its snapping jaws up in a tremendous lunge at the airborne archer, and Target Lad took his opportunity. A arrow, burning like the heart of a newborn star, appeared in his hand, and he loosed it, a precisely-aimed shot for junction of neck and 'body'. Even a near-miss would scorch the plant-thing badly, at least in theory, reducing mobility and adding an environmental hazard of open flames feeding on the hyperaccelerated vegetable matter that now covered the floor.

The young archer wasn't entirely sure that setting the place ablaze was the best idea... but then again, it had been turned into a mock jungle, hosed down with high-pressure hyper-concentrated acid, and had dozens of holes poked in it with bone spikes and arrows. He shrugged, figuring that fire was probably the least of their worries in there by this point.

The 'glorp' noises from the other side of the portal sounded again, louder... and something that could loosely be termed an 'arm' thrust through, followed by the rest of a creature that could only be described as ambulatory snot. "Bugger." Target Lad muttered. "Hydra Men. Just what we needed, neh?" The first Hydra (large and purplish- probably a Man O' War) lurched clear of the portal, horking a glob of corrosive spit at Target Lad and trying to stomp on the Fly Trap. It was followed by others- a steady stream of Hydra Men of all sizes, driven to a berserk frenzy by the abrupt dimensional transition, the part plant, part acid, part open flame environment they now found themselves in, and the thunder of battle that roared through the compound as multiple superhumans clashed in the hallways.

The little energy bolt whiffled past the erratically-moving Target Lad- in a roomful of acid spray, writhing vines, and hurtling spikes, the relatively defenseless archer was flying a wildly evasive pattern, and didn't even really notice one more aerial hazard. He did, however, notice that Cynic was scarpering, and wheeled around in pursuit... to be brought up short by a high-pressure jet of acid roaring past his face.

An eye twitched, once, and he reached into his pocket dimension full of arrows, drawing out a giant fistful, drew it back, fired... another... fired... another... fired... another... fired... until the entire portal room was filled with a hissing rain of arrows, richoteting off walls, bouncing off the ceiling, and generally filling the room with pointy doom.

Unnoticed, one arrow hit just the wrong control on one of the many panels monitoring the great portal, and the rings shifted slightly, the roar taking on a new pitch as, above the thunder of battle and general portal noise, faint *glorp*ing sounds came from the other side of the portal.

((Okay, in all honesty... beyond Cynic buggering off, I'm pretty much totally lost as to what's going on >.< Is there any way I could get a quick update on who's doing what?))

Target Lad shifted his flying charge's angle of attack, bringing both hands to bear as he slung his bow over one shoulder... and grabbed the staff.

The air turned purple for a minute as actinic sparks flared and burned, crisping the vines clinging to Cynic's legs and setting further pseudo-plants afire. Then, with a crack of thunder, the conflicting energies simply exploded, hurling Target Lad backwards. The little archer somersaulted in midair, then righted himself and lunged forwards again... coming up short as a blast of acid hissed past him, some bursting into flame as it hit the smouldering vines.

He flung a web of electrical energy at Cynic, hoping to stall him for a moment, then spun around. "What's wrong wit' ye, y'daft spine-tossing twit?" he roared, his voice cracking up an octave and a half on the word 'spine'. "Can't ye keep one idjit bus... ah." he paused as he registered the third (fifth?) combatant in the portal room.

The little archer shrugged and lobbed an impervium-headed arrow at Pestilence, taking careful aim at his high-pressure hoses. If the shot hit, the results should be... entertaining. Then he returned his attention to Cynic. With a grimace, he pulled out another stunning arrow... fired... another... fired... until it sounded like hail on armour plate as stunners of all sorts- plain-and-garden straight physical shockers, taser arrowheads, neurosynaptic disruptors, even a couple that relied on the shock of shoving the target partially out of phase for a split second- rained down on Cynic and everything around him.

((I hate to bring this up so late, DoB, but Target Lad never actually fired >.>

Eh, I'll go with it))

Target Lad caught the blast full in the chest, a brilliant flare knocking him sideways as his own energies reacted violently with the burst of power that Cynic had hurled at him. He clutched at the edge of the portal, getting flung sideways by the spinning ring, well out of the way of the vines and seeds. Losing his grip, he spun through the air, finally managing to slow himself just before he hit the wall, flipping around so he 'landed' feet-first.

The little archer 'crouched' on the wall for a moment, wheezing, before he managed to reorient himself. Then his eyes sparked with anger and his 'targeted precognition' flared. He pulled out a fresh arrow with a strange, blunt head... and, with a snap and a muttering growl, the talsorian arrowhead sprang to life. Electrical power roared around it, and Target Lad fired, a streak of green fire, following it with an explosive arrowhead, then a fistful of arrows bracketing the entire area where Cynic was standing.

Not satisfied, Target Lad launched himself after the arrows, flying hard and his fists crackling with electricity, a triphammer blow aimed for the point of Cynic's chin.

Target Lad watched the unfolding drama, hanging upside-down amidst the shadows of the thick pipes that made up the majority of the ceiling in the portal room. Bloody wonderful. Plant-Man th' Wonder Weed, ET-phone-home, an' Captain Heroic Cliche. The little archer dropped, somersaulting and coming to a hovering stop with an arrow nocked and drawn, aimed at the center of Cynic's chest. Worst... homework... assignment... ever. he griped to himself. And of course there's some other bloke here so that my grade will get all mucked up... He sighed. "Aye, an' he's no' alone..." he grumbled, adding "Much as I wish I was..." in a muttered undertone.

The dark-haired young archer- no more than twelve or thirteen years old- didn't cut a particularly impressive figure in his tatty white t-shirt (with a large bullseye on the front of it), blue jeans and sneakers- his only concession to superhero-ing was a targetting reticle over one eye... but the pointy death he had pointing squarely at Cynic's sternum tended to speak for itself.

Mind you, some unacknowledged dramatic instinct had caused him to come to a stop right at the center of the roaring portal, an abruptly dangerous-seeming silhouette against the blue fire caged in the great steel ring... a decision that Target Lad was starting to wonder about as sounds, just on the edge of consciousness, seemed to be emanating from the portal. ... a'right, exactly where is this thing set for..? he wondered nervously as he kept the two supervillains covered.

*sigh*

Pay packs for a costume bundle? Great, not a problem.

Pay pack for a bundle that's this chintzy on male options? Yeah, not happening.

*shrug*

Nothing I want in the pack, so I'm not too bothered by the price.

And I suspect what has most people kind of scratching their heads at the price is the fact that Male/Huge characters get, out of all this... a jacket. Granted the ("Nice costume. Where's the rest of it?") options for females are cool, and the jacket in question is a perfectly good jacket, but...

The Blaster in question was, in fact, attempting to pry the still-crazed Jagerkin off of what was left of Ruladak. Eventually giving up, he simply bashed Horowitz over the head so hard that the Jager's eyes crossed, and the green being slumped to the ground. Shaking his head and grumbling tiredly, E-X hoisted the Jager in a fireman's carry and dragged him over to the rest of the group.

"Yeah... next time, one of you gets to clear the path in. I want to have some of the fun too." he griped, dumping Horowitz onto his head. "Don't worry about him. Jagerkin have hard heads, unfortunately. Hopefully his body will clear the toxins soon... Jagers are even worse when they're hallucinating. I wouldn't have thought it was possible."

((Honestly, guys, this has jumped off the rails so far that I'm kind of losing interest in it. The only reason E-X has even been able to compete is the 'overdrive' mode I included for this sort of situation, and I don't like using it for too long. And Target's pretty much hosed. That and we've been hemmhoraging people, there aren't too many left in this one :/

Unless something changes dramatically, I'm seriously thinking of bowing out. Sorry ))

((I'm still around, just... bleah. Finally managed to shake the writer's block, but got a side project that is sucking the creativity *right* out of me- it'll probably be another week before I'm back to normal... or as normal as I ever get, anyways.

Sorry ))

((Speaking of purposes- could I lay claim to Australasia/Oceania? I've got a very cool idea for a last redoubt (well, I like it at least ), but it'd be a pretty big thing to play with))

((I believe that Khell has had RL take over for a bit, Squiddy Attack has vanished, likewise TH3OR3M, and I think Blood Wolffe might have been feeling that his thread's been hijacked a little))

((E-X went with Danger and the Devialiens; Target's going wherever Bladewing is going. Beyond that, I just can't come up with anything worth writing on that bit))

The Scarlet Eye watched Cry's vicious battle against Ghost Widow with mild disinterest, a minute fraction of its attention on directing the wild infighting in the Fortunata and Widow corps, shoring up wavering loyalty here, severing it there... a psionic maelstrom of chaos that fed both its hungers exquisitely.

An indetectable tendril of chaos snaked out, disrupting Cry's absorptive ability. The infant was in for a nasty shock next time he tried to just take one of Ghost Widow's attacks... Anything that drew this battle out was just fine by the Eye; it would stretch out the violence amidst Arachnos' Fortunatas and provide a veritable banquet. And if it spread... with careful manipulation, it was entirely possible that this could send the entire Fortress up in flames, and with a little luck, could spark the final confrontation between hero and villain that would lead to the ascendancy of chaos... and the Scarlet Eye.

Horowitz staggered sideways out of the hole he had made in the cliff, shaking his head. It might have just been the odd nature of reality in the Shard, or the proximity of Bang, but even an unbiased observer would have a hard time denying that there appeared to be cartoon tweeting birds flying circles around the Jager's head. They flickered, were transparent and hard to see... but there was something there.

For a moment, the thump on the green being's head appeared to have cleared it... then his pupils re-dilated abruptly, and he roared and leapt, wrapping himself around Ruladak's leg and gnawing on the aspect's knee.

(( >.O Just assume that I'm coming along to wherever (both Target and E-X). I'm not sure whether it's tiredness or just colossal writer's block, but I can't seem to get anything worthwhile written))

((I'm still here, but I think my brain has thrown a piston... and Devious, Target's flying alongside the ATC, and E-X had already agreed to being examined))

((... now?))

((Uh... how does Cry know that Scarlet Eye 'eats' psychic energy? I don't think Cry's ever seen the Eye eat, and it's not exactly something the elemental advertises, particularly not to potential meals.

Also, Scarlet Eye was talking out loud to Cry, not mind-to-mind. If it was telepathy, I would have noted it as such (and it would have been in italics).

Also, ironically, Cry being weak makes him a less desireable target for Scarlet Eye- it means he doesn't have as much psionic energy for the Eye to 'eat', making him a poor meal.))

STEEL CANYON-

Target cast a quick, appraising eye over the APC, and shook his head. "'preciate the offer, mate, but I think I'll wing it. Y'could prolly use an eye-in-the-sky anyways... and 've always been nervous o' trustin' t'armour when I could be stickin' wi' mobility an' speed. 'special when there's blokes about who could peel tha' off y're nifty set o' wheels like the skin offa a banana." He rose from the shattered pavement, then paused about six feet up. "I'll be wi' ye, above, in plain view. If'n anythin' attempts t'eat me, I'd 'preciate a hand..."

Not far away, Energon X actually had to suppress a snicker as Danger's 'ride' dumped him unceremoniously in the dirt.

[ QUOTE ]
"Okay, okay, I get the idea." Danger grunted, brushing imaginary dust from his uniform. It was too bad, really - he rather enjoyed heckling with Energon by now, "Alright, seriously then; we've got a little time to spare, so I say we use it. If you want, we can head back to the Rover and see if we can get rid of the overload problem. You're channeling energy from a protoverse, right? As in a universe before it's a universe, or a different meaning...?"

[/ QUOTE ]
The armoured form of the Blaster shrugged. "Broadly, you're correct- as far as any of our geeks has ever been able to figure, my 'blasting' is actually releasing the energies of a universe that never developed time during its big bang by 'leaking' some of our universe' time into it via the portal that's me, and letting energy out the portal in an equivalent exchange. It was dubbed a 'protoverse' since it's not quite there- needs time to be able to finish the big bang."

The blaster made a wry noise. "Y'know, that sounds really stupid when I come to say it out loud." He shook his helmet and shrugged again. "You're welcome to take a look- but I'd consider it a favour if you refrained from doing anything without asking. I'd really rather not explode because you thought you'd figured things out."

The blazing purple lights that marked his 'eyes' flickered rapidly for a moment, and he looked oddly at Danger. "By the way... what happened to that attack you were expecting?"