"I can't stand the sewers," Contact said, standing in front of the gaping sewer pipe with its broken gate. He pushed his hand through his blond hair in frustration and looked over at the cat-woman that was with him who mirrored his sentiment.
"We don't have to do this, after all it's my contract, Neko," he turned towards her, hoping to put off delving into the sewers at least until tomorrow.
"No, its ok really, I could use the experiance," she said, slipping past the bars and into the pipe before Contact could protest further.
~~~
"RRAWWRL," the feral growl was followed with the sick sound of tearing flesh and the groan of another abomination.
Battle raged all around the cavernous sewer switching room. Neko had long since given over to her more feral insticts and was tearing the slow, yet powerful, abominations to pieces. Contact stood behind her, keeping her movements fueled with careful kinetic manipulations, healing her wounds, and preventing her from being flanked.
A larger abomination thundered towards them. Contact noticed the various tubes and connectors leading from the thing's skin to a large tank on its back; it was a walking bomb. He quickly lanced what was left of the creatures brain with psionic force, causing it to stumble forward tripping over its own feet and exploding harmlessly before it could reach the pair.
The explosion rattled the walls of the sewers and suddenly everything was quiet. Neko and Contact looked around and found no more enemies. Both climbed out of the knee-deep much and sludge they had been fighting in onto an overhanging grate to rest.
"We have one corpse left to recover, Neko. Then we can get out of this damnable place," he said resting against the railing and catching his breath. Vahzilok minds were terriably difficult for him to effect, and the strain was begining to show.
Neko mewed in agreement and purred, cleaning some of the filth off of her armor.
Sighing, Contact picked himself up and they moved on.
~~~
"There is something ahead," Contact stopped abruptly, holding a hand to his head and shivering. "Something completly inhuman... terriable." The pair stood silently in the doorway, a large sewage filled room stretched outbefore them.
Slowly they picked there way forward and that's when he saw it. The creature was huge, standing over 12' high and made of knoted clumps of muscle, bone and metal. One of the beast's arms had been turned into some sort of weapon... a cross between a large cannon and a huge axe, and the other was a giant meaty fist. If not so terriable the human sized head would have looked comical atop all of those muscles, like a cartoonists drawing, but there was nothing funny at all about this creature.
Contact gasped and backpeddled, dragging Neko with him who mewed weakly in shock. The two retreated back to the doorway and collected themselves.
"We can't do this, we should go," Contact was exhausted and sick of being underground. He tried to sound firm, but the truth was he was rattled. This was no gutter-punk ganger, or even a shambling zombie... this was a horror.
Neko considered for a moment, having regained control of herself from the shock, "We should try at least... He looks to big to fit through these tiny doorwars, we could always retreat back here?"
"Well," Contact looked at the doorway then back at the massive Doctor, "I suppose you are right. Maybe I can draw his guards away individually. If we can get that... thing... alone maybe I can knock it down? Once its down you should be able to pummel it with your darkness."
"Just be careful, Neko"
~~~
To his surprise, the Doctor was distracted and took little notice as Contact carefully drew his guards away from him and dispatched them. Left alone with only the Doctor before them, the two made ready to attack.
"Just remember, we will hit him then retreat. Once we rest we can attack again," Contact said, all buisness now. With the way things were going thus far, they might actually have a chance.
Neko nodded and they both rushed forward to attack. Contact let Neko speed a bit ahead of him while he prepared to lance the creatures mind, hopefully distracting him while she got in position. Contact hardly phased the Doctor as he roared and leveled his canon at him. Swearing, Contact ducked his head and ran for cover behind a nearby sewer pipe. Bullets rattled off the wall where he was standing just a moment ago as Neko leapt at him, enveloping him in a cloud of dark energy. Seeing that Neko had engaged, Contact rushed forward hoping to use the Doctor's energy against him and force him to the ground for her to finish off.
Unfortunatly, that is when things turned for the worst.
The creature was completly uneffected by Contact's kinetic control. It actually laughed as he ran behind it and exploded with energy. His most concentrated effort only caused it to stumble forward half a step.
Neko was furiously pounding the flesh of the thing with her dark fists and claws, but to little effect. The Doctor made huge sweeping attacks with the axe blade of his arm, nearly connecting several times. Franticly, Contact used his powers to heal the wounded Neko, but there was no way he could keep up; The Doctor was far to powerful.
"Run woman, go for the doorway," Contact yelled, healing her again.
Neko ducked under another attack from the Doctor and quickly scampered towards the door. Not accustomed to seeing his victims escape, the Doctor lowered his huge cannon and bore down on the escaping hero.
Contact was completly drained. His mental attacks and kinetic controling abilities were doing little to harm the Doctor. The only wounds he had suffered thus far had come at the hands of Neko and her dark energy. In any case, he expended his last bit of power in healing Neko as she escaped. Seeking the Doctor bear down on her and prepare to shoot, he knew he had to do something. With few other options, Contact jumped up and grabed a low hanging pipe, wrenching it from its fitting. Taking it in both hands he swung as hard as he could for the Doctor's head.
~~~
THUNK!
The sound echoed through the cavernous chamber which was otherwise silent. Contact stood motionless for a moment, the pipe still in his hand as the Doctor slowly turned to face him.
Dropping the pipe and taking a few steps back, Contact moved to run, but was caught dead center in the chest by a meaty fist. Flying back several feet he crashed into a rusting steel door and slumped to the ground.
His vest had taken some of the shock, but he could still feel a sharp pain in his abdomen. The blow had likely broken a rib. Pulling himself up, Contact made another run for the door, trying to keep the Doctor away by ducking behind pipes.
Belowing in frustration the Doctor opened fire with his cannon, spewing rounds over the area. Staggering, Contact nearly made it to the door when a round clipped his shoulder, spinning him as he staggered out of the line of fire and behind the doorway. Neko caught Contact before he could fall and dragged him away from the area, back to the "safer" area of the sewers, putting as many walls as possible between them and the Doctor.
~~~
The stocky man-tiger was the first to arrive. He introduced himself as Tigerseye. Contact was still injured even after attending to himself as best he could with a medical pack. He tried to hide it though and greeted the man cordially, thanking him for coming and joking with him to cover his own nervousness.
Neko called one of her group's droids to assist next, a unit Contact was familiar with designated as Project LV-426. He had worked with him before when he was just starting out in Paragon, well before First Strike even existed.
The giant Lobe was the next to join them, crinkling his nose at the stench of the sewer and chiding Contact for arguing with Neko over some minor thing. Both laughed and were glad to see him join them.
Last to arrive was Ivory. The wreath of blue fire that heralded his apperance from "the Limbo" burning away any traces of the filth that might have tarnished his suit on the journey there.
Assembled, Contact began designating tactics. He paired up the two younger members, Tigerseye and Lobe, with the two more experianced, Project and Ivory, so that they wouldn't be overwhelemed by the Doctor outright. He knew that the two more experianced heroes would keep them safe and the group needed all of their added strength.
The group approached the chamber that held the Doctor, some with apprehension and others with much more confidence.
~~~
Contact was the first in again. Even though he had doubts about how succesful they would be, he refused to balk in front of others... he always lead from the front. Tigerseye, Lobe, Neko and Contact all rushed forward towards the Doctor, ducking their heads to avoid the hail of bullets. The droid and Ivory moved in behind them, both hefting massive weapons and bearing down on the beast, returning fire. Lobe and Tigerseye crashed into the massive Doctor, pounding him with huge fists and burning him with fire. Neko moved to his flank and peppered him with blow after blow, her dark aura enveloping him.
Contact remained between the two groups. He needed to stay close enough to the front fighters so that he could heal them and increase their attacks with his Kinetics, yet still far enough back to direct the gunners. He didnt want anyone getting hurt and in this chaos it was quiet possiable for a shot to go errant. He trusted Ivory and the Project, and his faith was well placed.
The Doctor fought back furiously, his fist pounding into the cat-man like a jackhammer while he swiped at Lobe with his axe. Both men were wounded and Contact did what he could to bolter them back to health, increasing their power with his own kinetics. In the end though, it was the two gunners and Neko that won the day. While the two large men took the brint of the Doctor's fury, they were open to attack him at will. Project and Ivory picked him apart, choosing their shots carefully and making each one count. Neko was close enough to land her shots in sensitive areas, taking advantage of his distraction. Her dark cloud further confused him and slow sapped away at his energy.
The end came as quickly as it had began as the massive form of the Doctor crashed to the sewer floor, showering the room in muck. Ivory and Project stepped forward and everyone surrounded the body momentarily as it decomposed before their eyes.
"Its done."
~~~
Contact sat in the office of First Strike Security, a check from Skyway City General held in his hand, "For services rendered."
Reaching forward he pressed the button on his speaker phone.
"Gene, I'd like you to arrange for a funds transfer, once this check has cleared," he spoke towards the box.
"Of course sir, to whom," the female voice responded, distorted by the speaker.
"Send half of the funds to Kitties on the Prowl and the other half back to Skyway City General."
There was a long pause, "Sir are you sure, that would be a lot of money, shouldn't we," she didnt have a chance to finish.
"I'm positive. Just make sure the funds transfer properly, " he interupted, closing the connection.
Leaning back in his chair and smiling to himself, Contact decided to test a theory someone once told him while standing outside of a sewer pipe.
~
OCC:
And I missed it all... because I was too damn busy writing my blasted origin... damn...
ooc
its a good read, if thats any consolation.
OOC preface
It was a lot of fun and very exciting.
Thanks to everyone that came out and helped with the fight last night
I am going to tell the story through my character's perceptions, I encourage those that were present to do the same, it could be interesting to view the same event through different eyes.
Thanks again,