(OOC: For got one bit.)
Mayor Morale was being escorted by security to a car he was eager to get into. Being the Mayor of Paragon was never easy, especialy with nut jubs like Nemesis around. He had a proud career of only three kidnappings. A best for the whole states. He sat in the car and took a few deep breaths. "Alright, lets get to Atlas in a hurry." He said as he took out his cell phone and called for Statesman. He realized he had no single, "[censored] waste of money!" He whipped it at the ground.
He turned on a small TV in the car he watched when bored and occasionaly to find out what was happening in Paragon City. He was greated by Nemesis on the screen. "-f the US or any other military steps in I will be forced to take even greater steps to secure my victory. I want to leave as much of Paragon standing as possible. I surgest that as a people you should request for the United States goverment make me the head of the country now to save a lot of time and pain.
"Also, all Heroes be warned, I will destroy you. It is best that you simply give up now. Those of you who can throw your powers away, I surrgest you do so. And if anyone thinks to take advantage of this, like you Center, I'll show you how powerful I am." Nemesis concluded and the channel switched back. Mayor Morale turned off the TV.
"Oh God, there's going to be a panic. Alright, we need to get the message out. Uh, we need to make a publi-" Mayor Morale stopped speaking when one of his secruity gaurds ponted a gun at his face.
"I am Nemesis, fear me." The man said as the other continued to drive and Mayor Morale started to sweat.
A boy in his mid teens walked down the streets of Steel Canyon, a wide smile on his face. July 11th was, after all, his birthday, only adding to his good mood, as there was no school on Brass Monday. His parents had given him a large pocket of spending money, and he had already planned what he was getting. He ticked it off in his head.
A new lighter, he needed one of those. He always kept one around, it became useful at times. An MP3 player, he'd wanted one for a while, all of his friends had one. A ram stick for the computer, it was lagging a bit in his favorite game and he needed to keep up with the times. A new Bond game had come out, he couldn't wait to try out all the great new gadgets once he'd purchased it.
He walked into an electronics store and began looking around. He hated talking to store employees, so he tended to spend a long time searching for whatever he was looking for himself. A man asked him if he needed anything, but he just said no and walked off to the other side of the store. He tuned everything out as he flipped through the newest games and upgrades for his computer, spending a long while staring at the screenshots taken with a new video card.
One thing he couldn't tune out, however, was the enormous voice that boomed out over the city. He didn't know whether to be angry or pleased as he heard Nemesis. After all, this was supposed to be his day off, but that steam punk's robots were so fun to beat up! He shrugged and ran out of the store, trying to act paniced as several of the patrons looked around in fear for the source of the mysterious voice.
Alleyways weren't in short supply in Paragon City, the boy quickly ducked into one and opened his backpack. There were several small books, a small gaming consol, and a couple trinkets, including his lighter. Most importantly, however, were the shirt, jeans, handwraps, and his ever so famous sunglasses. He quickly pulled off his clothes and managed to get into costume without being spotted, most had other things on their mind as the sounds of battle began from not too far away.
The costumed boy quickly threw his pack into an old box and hid it behind a dumpster, praying it would be there when he got back. He didn't want to have to track some idiot thug down for stealing his stuff. He ran back out of the alley and concentrated for a moment, allowing the free energy that generated inside of him to take full affect.
His eyes, the 'vents' for the energy that coursed through him, were the first things to change. They suddenly lit up with a fiery passion, looking like they were caught it white flames. Of course, the boy's sunglasses kept anyone from really noticing. The rest of his body slowly joined in and began glowing, but in an entirely different fashion. His eyes let energy loose, his body used it as a sort of skin tight shield, making him nearly indestrucible.
Billyboy put on a dashing smile and began running down the street, concentrating as much energy as possible into his feet as he went. Each stride lasted longer, until after a few seconds he had entirely left the ground, his energy somehow allowing him to stay adrift in the air. No one really understood the flying thing, nor anything else about the hero's strange mutant powers, but they all agreed he was good at what he did, hitting bad guys and saving good guys.
A fake Nemesis robot soon came into view, hulking over the form of a huddled family, all fearing desparatley for their lives. Billyboy gave himself one last push forward and allowed himself to freefall, his momentum aimed at the automaton.
He aimed well.
The hero crashed into the gigantic robot, his glowing fists leading the charge, smashing in like some sort of dazzling falling star. His force took the fake Nemesis off of its feet, sending the two of them on a small roll until the robot managed to process the situation and come up with a counter.
The family gasped as the Nemesis robot grabbed Billyboy by the back of the head and smashed his face straight into the pavement, making a small crater. The Nemesis robot stood and slammed its foot into the prone hero, smashing his back under a huge leg.
The robot, thinking the hero nothing more, turned and took a step toward the citizens it had been harrassing. It stared straight at them before it proclaimed, "I am Nemesis. Fear m-"
SLAM!
Billyboy punched the massive construct in the back of the head, transferring an ungodly amount of energy into it's head. Against an organic oppenent, his attacks usually overloaded cells with energy, causing the body to overheat and shut down, almost always promising simple incapacitation. This, however, was different. Inorganic material, things that do not process energy, don't overload. They simply can't accept the energy, and tend to either explode or be propelled away by the force. The large dent on the back of the robot's head was obvious as it slammed into the street.
"Just some of that funky raz mattaz!" Billyboy gloated as the Nemesis robot stood itself up again and reached out for the hero, who was quickly out of reached, he gangly body's reflexes were honed after many years of battling villains in his home town, Arcadia.
The robot's staff was had fallen from its grasp during the teenager's sudden barage, a fact that the robot understood quite quickly. It began running back to the staff, hoping it could reach it in time. It was very wrong.
Billyboy pulled his sunglasses off his face and smiled roguishly as his eyes began glowing with white-hot energy. He released a bolt of the stuff from his eyes, taking the automaton directly in the back. He could hear the explosion before it happened, the robot's entire chasis was in ruin as it fell to the ground.
Got the drop on that one, but the others won't be so easy. Billyboy reminded himself as he winked at the family he had saved and bolted off into the sky. Blyde Square's gonna be a hot spot, with Posi standing there, what else would you call it? The hero turned his course directly to the center of Steel Canyon, hoping he could end this confrontation with Nemesis before it truly began.
"I am Nemesis, fear me."
Brainframe stared in rapt fascination at the images flashing before his eyes. His face had an oddly dispassionate expression, especially when most people faced with such scenes of violence and chaos would be expected to at least display some sort of emotion. Anxiety, desperation, or as with some of his contemporaries here in the Rogue Isles, anticipation or even glee. No such betrayal existed, however, and those few who knew him best would not express surprise at mannerisms which many newcomers, upon first meeting, incorrectly deemed, "robotic."
This was simply the way he looked when he was thinking. Really thinking. Not worrying. Not enjoying. And most certainly not, as the man/machine before his eyes continued to insist he be, fearing.
Because thinking was what he did best, and if he was going to do something he firmly believed in doing it right.
At the moment, part of him was thinking of what their esteemed "benefactor," Lord Recluse would have to say about his former rival's little anniversary celebration, for he would surely have viewed these same scenes himself by now. Another part was considering how this news would affect his compatriots among the Isles. Yet another part was frantically scanning and categorizing the various Nemesis mechs for a more careful analysis at a later time. Ten percent of his considerably enhanced gray matter was devoted to calculating how many ways he himself could turn a profit from these proceedings.
Even if anyone had the nerve or stupidity to risk returning to Paragon City in this chaos, travel to and from the Rogue Isles had been strictly regulated by Arachnos since the recent Longbow strike. Every newsfeed flickering across his screens was either dominated by the face of Nemesis repeating his monotonous spiel, or a haphazard collage of rapid fire updates on the situation; a gas line ruptured and caught fire near what was left of Baumton, police forces rerouted from Kings Row through Independance Port, reports of Heroic activity across the city ranging from Blue Steel and Back-Alley Brawler heading a squad of Freedom Corps and cops to unconfirmed rumors of Statesman and the Freedom Phalanx returning from a classified mission to deal with the crisis.
"Haxx," he finally said to nobody in particular, "I need a Class-1 gearslide, prep three mechs for transport, and patch all available data on this to the Arena. Half the island'll want to see this, and the other half will probably start taking bets on the outcome."
The corner of his mouth began to tug in a barely noticeable smirk as the computerized voice intoned, "Immediately, sir."
[Brainframe is the Bot/FF Mastermind I play on Guardian. Just thought we should get a handle on the villains' perspective in all of this. Interesting concept for an RP, can't wait to see where it all ends!]
There is an art, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. --The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
(OOC Thanks ZooCreeper.)
Billyboy found Nemesis forces thinner and thinner the closer he got to Blyde Square. Maybe Positron and Valkyrie had been able to route the Prussia Prince's army. He rushed foward to find a very different scene. Nemesis' forces were trying to entrench themselves in Blyde Square and were fightin Valkyrie for it.
She stood alone flanked on all sides by brass automations. Her spear jabbing wildly, each blow pentrating armor. Valerie Kellum's life had changed greatly since she had found that spear, her personality had literaly been altered by it into a warrior and she glady cut through whatever foes put infront of her.
Then she was hit by a Sniper, though he looked like a normal man who was hanging halfway out a window. Her armor, made of ancient but advanced nanites easily absorbed the blow minimizing the damage, but it knocked her off balance and her display of fury faltered for half a step. The machines waiting for just such a chance took full advantage of it.
A Fake Nemesis brought down it's steam staff down on her in a vicous arc and swept her off her feet and she hit the ground hard. As she landed the brought the spear around and cut into the Fake Nemesis' left leg crippling it. She was just getting up when a Warhulk closed it's claw like hand on her and started to squeeze acctualy cutting into her armor.
The withered pilot of the Warhulk declared his victory over the speakers. "I declare Blyde Square the begining of the Nemesis Empire." His voice tried and old. He was old, very old. He had fought for the south in the Civil War, always working for his lord Nemesis. And now after all those years of absolue devotion his dream was finally being realised. He wondered why his victory here left him feeling hollow. He assumed it was because it was just a tiny victory, just a harbinger of something greater. "Secure the area! We've won, now we need to do the hard part, hold it." Nemesis technology was already being deployed to make walls to hide behind and one robot attended to the crippled Fake Nemesis.
"Yes General Polk." Several of the human soldiers said as they set to work. Then there was a scream, slowly Polk turned his head as if the simple action hurt him to look at Valkyrie as blood started to stream from the three cuts the pincer like blade were making in her armor. Polk let his head turn back just a slowly with any concern as the baldes slowly cut deeper into Valkyrie's armor.
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Positron flew trying to get aid, he was trying to raise the Freedom Phalanx for aid, but ever channel seemed cut off. Then he found one. He traced it to it's point of orgin and spotted a man with several robots fighting a Nemesis automation. Positron's armor was already comparing him to ever hero in the cities database and insteed found a threat file from Longbow, Brainframe. Positron paused, he had to surpress his ever instinct about engading the man.
In his years of fighting crime he had occasionaly worked with Villains. Ever time he had walk or limped away with a bad taste in his mouth. But to fight Nemesis...Positron sighed. He unlessed a bolt of radiation, one hand clamped onto the seem in his armor, at the automation and called out in an amplified voice. "I need to use your network to make a call!" The automation was already getting up.
"Razzle dazzle!" Billyboy yelled as he landed with a flash, punching his fist into the ground and sending a wave of energy flying from him to all sides, smacking into the robots that were attempting to hold Blyde Square. He quickly took advantage of his preemptive strike and sent an energy charged punch into the nearest jaegar, causing it to explode and send sharpnel every which way, cutting into Nemesis troops around it. The troops knew who this new threat was, he'd been a thorn in Nemesis's side for too long. Ever since he had arrived in Paragon, it seemed, he had been doing nothing but causing the Prussian Prince distress.
His death would hail in the rule of the Nemesis Army!
Billyboy knew the element of surprise was lost now, and these guys were numerous. With his gaze locked onto Valkyrie, the hero began punching a path to the Phalanxer, hoping to reach her before it was too late. Steam powered robots and rifles turned his way, sending a stream of bullets and charges meant to specifically take down the heroes of Paragon City. Billyboy bellowed in pain, but he kept swiping at his enemies, not even bothering to take his gaze from the warhulk he had a passion to take down. After another volley pounded into his chest, he discovered he'd need less blunt tactics to save Valkyrie. Luckily, he'd learned a bit in his four years of heroing.
He heard the sliding of ammunition as it put itself into place, the telltale sign of another volley coming his way in just a few crucial seconds. Jaegars next to him opened up and began swinging their maces toward him. Billyboy wooped and shot off into the air, not even bothering to stop and see if his plan had worked, his gaze focused on Valkyrie.
The jaegars' maces smacked into each other, tangling their chains without Billyboy there to take the blow. They would have been able to untangle, but just then dozens of bullets meant for the hero slammed into them, tearing through their chasises and shutting them down in a fiery explosion.
Billyboy landed right next to the warhulk, the soldiers all aimed at him but didn't dare shoot with their commander so close. Billyboy faced the man and scowled. "Put the hottie down!"
Linking his personal teleporter system to the Paragon City grid wasn't terribly difficult for Brainframe. Doing so under the watchful eyes of Arachnos and Lord Recluse was another matter. Once he'd made the decision there was little he could really do about the ramifications, though. There were too many opportunities at hand to simply ignore, no matter the possible consequences. The advanced Nemesis salvage to be found could prove invaluable for research into his own projects, as well as on the Rogue Isles' black market. He could only trust the masking signal built into his bodysuit's microcircuitry was properly screening himself and his robots from all the Arachnos coded frequencies he's discovered; there were undoubtedly other systems in place, however, so the job needed to be done quickly.
Brainframe had selected one of the few automatons unwisely acting without any backup from its "brothers" and ordered his own mechanized minions to strike. He'd always been rather impressed with the self-styled Prussian Prince's designs, no matter how seemingly outdated the steam-powered tech which drove them appeared. The mechanical madman's historic use of machines to commit headline-grabbing crimes had been a key inspiration for Brainframe's own rise from overachieving hacker and data thief to full-fledged Villain, although growing up in a hero-filled Paragon City had taught him the value of anonymity and secrecy when entering into a life of crime. He had always considered it a shame that his employers at Crey Industries had discovered his extralegal activities and sent in the Protectors to shut him down before an opportunity to deal with Nemesis came up.
The Nemesis automaton had proven a bit more resilient than Brainframe had initially suspected. The drones had been pecking away at its armor for over a minute with only a few dents to show for it, but at least it hadn't advanced any further down the street or signalled for backup. He was almost ready to consider the job a wash and teleport to safety when a focused burst of antimatter slammed it into the pavement. After taking a second to recover from his initial shock at the unexpected event, his eyes narrowed to slits and he quietly swore to himself. He slowly turned his head to take in the dreaded sight of an extremely recogizable armored Hero rocketing toward his immediate location. The slits narrowed further to a pained cringe when he noticed that Positron's containment armor had been seriously damaged, probably from one of the numerous conflicts raging elsewhere. Great, he thought, I knew this stunt would probably get me killed, but I'd rather not get microwaved to a crisp because Positrash couldn't keep his super-entrails--
"I need to use your network to make a call!"
"...What?"
He glanced back at the Nemesis mech, his own robo-minions still pelting it with scattered laser fire even as it hauled itself back to a standing position. Back to Positron's wound and the unstable energies already leaking from between tightly clenched fingers. Half a second to calculate the probable outcomes of a dozen actions he could take during the next few minutes.
*sigh* "Hell, Recluse is probably gonna kill me anyway." A quickly tapped sequence into the keypad on his glove's wrist began charging the portable force-field generator, and a protective containment field was quickly thrown about the dangerously leaking hero. Another series of taps brought the comm systems online and he began speaking into the headset at his right temple. "Haxx, gearslide a repair/retrofit platform to these coordinates, and open a secure line to commport-2. And you," he pointed at the henchbots, "keep up that covering fire!"
A series of beeps confirmed the order and a small module detatched from Brainframe's right gauntlet, which he quickly plugged into the headpiece he'd removed. In the meantime, a mechanized platform was teleported immediately beneath the shielded Positron, robotic arms ending in clamps, welding torches, and various soldering tools unfolding to recieve their waiting patient. As the shield dropped and the platform went to work, Brainframe tossed the modified communicator to his newfound temporary ally.
"Just try not to talk too long, Positrash," he sarcastically remarked as a sleek black pulse rifle teleported into his waiting arms, and took aim at the Nemesis robot's head. "I'm way outside my local coverage."
There is an art, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. --The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
((...bump?))
There is an art, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. --The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
HellcatF6F stared, slack-jawed, as he got off the Green Line and took in the events unfolding around him. His tram wasn't scheduled to stop here, but when heavily armed Nemesis troops had hijacked the train and forced it to stop, Hellcat knew there was something big going down.
Dressed in his street clothes, which consisted of his old Airforce flight jacket, loose trousers, brown work boots, a cap, and sunglasses, Hellcat tried to stay blended with the crowd. As they were herded off the tram station like human-cattle, Hellcat quietly slipped behind the leg of the tram line and jumped down onto the roof of a nearbye building.
Ducking behind a ventilation duct, Hellcat let loose with a burst of radiation that transformed his into his alterego. His skin turned bright blue, his hair dazzling silver. Green fire dissipated from his body, revealing his metallic blue suit, the symbol of the Galactic Union stamped proudly on his chest. His white boots left the roof and he whipped into the air, flying towards the crowd now huddled under the tram station.
The Nemesis guards barely had time to react as the Redoutable Defender leapt into their midst. His white gloves flashed as he unleashed bolts of intergalactic radiation at the soldiers, searing their uniforms and leaving them in heaps on the concrete platform. As soon as the tram passengers were safe, Hellcat swept himself into the air again, soaring towards Blyde Square, where he was sure Positron and Valkyrie would be.
As he flew over the city, he was amazed at the number of jaeger mechs on the ground. He was busy trying to count up the odds when a blast of energy caught him in the side. His white cape billowed around him as he whirled through the air, trying to regain his equilibrium. As he turned to face his attacker, he noticed that it hadn't been one, but three jaeger mechs posted on the rooftop balcony of a skyscraper.
Alien radiation swirled around Hellcat's eyes as he leapt at his attackers, using his power to draw kinetic energy from the androids to add to his punch. When he got within range, he let loose with a blast of radiation from his eyes just as the robots were powering up their weapons for another shot.
The green energy sliced through them, sending their halves spinning and rebounding off the side of the building onto the sidewalk below. As his gaze followed the destruction he noticed something strange...Three smaller robots, armed with lasers, were frantically trying to destroy another, much larger robot. The large one was obviously Nemesis, but Hellcat couldn't figure out where the other three had come from. Deciding to lend a hand, he landed amidst the automatons and began transmuting the larger robots energy, delivering it to himself and the three smaller droids. Their speed increased, as well as the strength of their lasers, and soon the larger robot's composition roughly matched that of swiss cheese.
(OOC: So sorry, I blame life in general. I'll tey never to let that happen again.)
Positron sent out a transmission over the villains private channel. "Freedom Phalanx. I need help immedately. Hell, we'll probably need the Vindicators and Longbow if we can manage it." He waited for a moment for the response, "Over?" He said unsure. "Hello? Can anyone hear this?" He asked despreately.
"I got you Posi." Manticore responded. "But, we've got a bit of a problem. Nemesis some how took control of several tractor trailers and smashed them. They're blocking the entrances to Steel Canyon. We're working on clear it now."
"Wait, why isn't Statesman or Citdel doing anything about it?" Positron said, knowing those two that makeshift barricade would last two seconds.
"Citidel was backing up some Longbow with Luminary on the Rogue Isle. He says he's on his way, but it'll take a bit for him to show. But I have some good news, in about five minutes you should see some Longbow Eagles and Chasers clear the War Wall."
"What about Statesman?" Positron asked.
"Well, Statesman wa-*static*"
"Manticore! Damn it, where the hell is Statesman!" He nearly screamed. He looked down at the villains below, "Alright, slight snag. Help is coming, but it's blocked off. Longbow might show, so you might want to keep your head low when they show up." Positron offered, "The're abit zealous and not prone to asking questions before arresting." He paused as he saw the Fake Nemesis blown through by another Hero and the robots. "Hey you, down here." Positron amplified his voice over the armor.
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The Warhulk looked at Billyboy and turned to face him. "Ah, the Gearsmasher. Yes, you've been trouble before." Said the old voice. He slightly released Val and then clamped down on her again and got a very satisfying grunt for his effort. "All Heroes must die, Lord Nemesis was very specific about that."
Billyboy grabbed his signature shades ready to lower them like a death threat. The Warhulk raised it's gun and fired just as Billyboy fired a shot of pure energy. The energy cut through the arm holding Valkyrie with easy as it dropped hydrolic oil spewed from the wound.
The bullet hit Billyboy in the chest. He would have laughed at this pitiful attempt. He had survived much worse than a bullet. The only thing stoping him from gloating was the poisonous gas that came from the bullet and filled the air. He gagged as he ran, to paniced to fly, out of the gas cloud. Valkyrie slowly bleed on the road. All the Nemesis troops were to focused on Billyboy to do anything about her.
"And call for help!" Supertaster 4.0 yelled after the swiftly retreating figure, hoping that she heard him. Carmina had the highest security level among the group by far, but she was rather less than useful in an emergency. Supertaster turned, and glared at the shorter half of the Enzeru sisters. "That goes for you, too."
Carla crossed her arms defiantly. "I'm not budging. I can help out here, you know that."
"No, you cannot." A firm hand clamped down on Carla's shoulder. Despite the owner of the hand's petite size, Carla could not struggle out of the grip. "You have been given a command, Warshade, and you shall follow it."
Carla grimaced. "Seisha..."
"I shall take her away," Seisha informed Supertaster. "I do hope that she does not resist." Pause. "For her sake."
"Er... yeah. You do that."
"Uptight officious violent Peacebringer bi-" Carla began, but wilted under a warning glance.
"Was that a common human custom?" a voice enquired, after the two left.
Supertaster found a sword of flame in his hand before he realized who had spoken. He looked down. "Angel, what have I told you about sneaking up behind me?"
Ayura considered this. "Don't?" she answered brightly.
"Right. Besides, they're not really humans, anyway."
"Ah, yes! The merging of the non-Terran life form known as a Kheldian to-"
"Yes, yes, well done. What've you got for me?"
"It is a very messy situation, think I," Ayura reported solemnly. "Nemesis troops and automatons have infiltrated a great number of office buildings, and snipers are picking off heroes with impunity."
"Fantastic."
"It is?"
"That was sarcasm, angel." Supertaster pointed to the center of Blyde Square. "We've got to get to Positron and Valkyrie, get to the statue and Cooke's, hold a defensive perimeter. Did you see them anywhere? No? Damn. Go see if you can find them."
Ayura saluted, and faded from view.
Supertaster concentrated, and jumped, soaring over the melee. With any luck, he could gather a group of other heroes, fight back, clear out a street or two...
Something slammed into his back, knocking the wind out of him. Supertaster, off-balance, plowed into the ground, incidentally observing that the impact hurt a lot more than it should. His mutant toughness must be slipping, or something.
Standing groggily, he found himself face to chestplate with Nemesis.
Or at least, a Nemesis.
"Real, or fake?" Supertaster wondered.
The giant steam-powered battle armour brandished its staff. "For Lord Nemesis!" it roared.
"Fake," Supertaster decided. He glanced around; help did not seem to be available from any quarter. "Well," he said, as his hands were wreathed in flames, "who wants to live forever anyway..."
The Fake Nemesis tossed a large bubble of energy at him. It collided into Supertaster's gut, knocking him back several paces. "Ow! You know, I actually felt that." The Fake Nemesis lumbered towards the fallen hero, and Supertaster thrust his hands forward. The fire left two hand-shaped scorch marks on the battle armour, but with no other result.
The Fake Nemesis responded by casually smacking the hero into a small group of automatons.
"This is bad, very bad," Supertaster muttered, dodging a bayonet stab. He grabbed the weapon, pulled its wielder into his elbow, and then swung the rifle like a club, mowing down two more automatons. He then heated the metal cherry-red, and threw the result at the Fake Nemesis.
The explosion staggered the robot, and Supertaster took this opportunity to hack a gash in its leg armour with a blade of flame. The Fake Nemesis emitted a prodigious amount of steam, as it crashed to the ground with the screech of tortured metal.
Supertaster dropped to one knee, panting. That fight had taken a lot out of him, unused as he was to fighting Nemesis troops, and he was hurting in many places that he hadn't known could hurt. Just a short while to catch his breath, that's all he needed, but from the way the Fake Nemesis was getting back to its feet, it didn't look as though he would have that while...
... until a Warhulk charged into the scene, leaking steam and a strange green gas, gibbering unintelligibly. It collided with the Fake Nemesis, and blew up.
Supertaster blinked, then broke into a large grin as Ayura faded back into view.
"I do hope those isotopes decayed quickly enough to be safe for the general population," Ayura said worriedly. "The Boss is not going to be happy if I... come to think of it, I am not sure if this mortal vessel is capable of contracting cancer..."
"It's fine, angel, it's all fine," Supertaster laughed. "You're a gorram sight for sore eyes. Did you find Positron and Valkyrie yet?"
Ayura shook her head. "Too chaotic. The Nemesis troops are fairly evenly matched with the heroes, think I. And for every new hero, reinforcements arrive from unknown vectors."
"Frell. Say, you've got more experience dealing with these guys than I have; mind showing me a trick or two?"
"Sure! It is just a matter of practice, say I!"
Supertaster looked at the mayhem around him.
"Yeah, I'd say we're going to have lots of practice today," he said.
-
((OOC: ... you try describing Invuln tanker Invincibility.))
Current main:
Schrodinger's Gun, Dual Pistols/Mental Blaster, Virtue
Avatar: Becky Miyamoto from Pani Poni Dash. Roulette roulette~
Billyboy hacked terribly and spat a bit of blood to the ground but wasn't too worried about the poison, his immune system was super charged with free energy, anything foreign never survived for too long. He was, however, more than a bit worried about what seemed to be a wall of armor piercing slugs flying at him.
The hero had no time to dodge, and wasn't much of a dodger in the first place, so he did the next best thing and braced himself. Despite the fact that he knew the volley was coming, and that he had faced Nemesis troops in near forty previous engagements, he was blasted back several feet by the hail of explosive rounds.
Clutching a stitch in his side, Billyboy leapt to his feet and gave a smile. "Whatcha so mad about, guys? The weather machine? The doomsday device? The other doomsday device?" he mocked as he ran forward at the crowd, his fists glowing with angry energy. He was thinking one thing as he charged the pure overwhelming numbers of the troops, I'm gonna need some backup!
The choas of the streets seemed to be reaching a turning point already. Nemesis had already taken quite a few hits to his army. Even the massive force couldn't hold up to continued abuse from Heroes. It was going to take alot of effort but they could win this battle. Supertaster cut a Nemesis automation in half with his flaming blade when he heard the heavy crunching sound. Something very heavy was walking down the street.
He approched the corner quietly and quickly took a glance at what was coming. It looked like Jaegar, only more onto the idea of a tank. A single large cannon protuded from the top half which seemed capable of turning. Instead of the normal four legs it had six. Supporting it on either side was a line of Nemesis troops.
It must have spotted him as the cannon turned and launched a massive charge from it. The troops kneeled and took up fireing positions. The charge hit, Supertaster decided he really didn't want to test the limit of his powers just yet as he tried to run from it. Once it connected it exploded, the flames engulfed Supertaster and then expelled him. He hit the ground hard.
The monsterous robot continued it's advance and several troops looked for the hero. They didn't find any remain and took it that he had been vaporized by a direct hit. They continued on as Ayura tried to get some sense back in him. "Uh, what the hell was that?" Supertaster asked, he wondered how he got into this alleyway.
"A very large Jaegar." Ayura said.
"Great, what would he need that for? What's he going to do? Tear down the War Wall? He'd need something bigger than that." Supertaster said as his ears stopped ringing.
"I don't know, but they seem to be heading for the Copper District." Ayura said helpfully.
"What's there that's worth while? I mean, besides a door to Preze..." Supertaster stopped talking as it hit him, "The hospital is there!"
(OOC Hey Kellis, I hope you aren't mad about me using your characters for a bit. Sorry if you are. And welcome to Brass Monday. And I hope I got them close to right when they talked.
As for the super Jaegar, think of it as a Gaint Monster)
((OOC: Thanks for the welcome. And don't worry about characterization, you did fine.))
-
Ayura sped through the air, heading in the direction of the hospital. Supertaster had decided to delay the... well, she supposed it should be called Uberjaegerpanzer or something. Humans seemed so fond of their catchy labels.
That thing was huge, though. Ayura remembered Carmina's somewhat disjointed account of that large robot that some secret conspiracy had sent against one of her teammates... the Titan? No, it had some other code name. Ayura resolved to ask the half-elven woman when she next got the chance.
Assuming any of them got out of this alive.
Why would Nemesis attack the Steel Canyon hospital? Ayura supposed that it would delay the return of wounded heroes to the fight, but the tunnel gate to Independence Port was near enough, as was the Yellow Line. If nothing else, the rapid response teams would be able to set up a temporary medical tent and reroute the emergency teleportation system there.
Wheels within wheels. That's what Nemesis's plans always were, from the histories she had consulted when researching the significance of this holiday. Nemesis never did anything without thinking it through, sometimes decades in advance...
First, though, there was that giant Jaeger to deal with. Even if it were only a diversion, it could still cause massive damage.
She could see the hospital staff being evacuated. The resident gangs in the city were strangely absent; self-preservation instinct, perhaps.
She needed something to slow down that Jaeger, something that would reduce it to junk if need be...
Junk?
Cloaking herself with the practiced ease of a celestial among mortals, Ayura landed on a rooftop near the hospital. She could only do this one at a time, but she couldn't think of any other way.
Carefully, she reached out with her mind. As usual, instead of encountering dead metal and circuitry, she found herself manipulating a living, powerful mind, something akin to a hive, and yet not.
You seek spare parts, she projected. Rusty heads and glowing, sparking eyes turned to face the steam-powered Nemesis monstrosity. You seek spare parts, and here is a good source for your needs.
Of course, their leader would probably not be happy about Ayura usurping his soldiers, but their leader was, well, somewhere else, not here.
A nearby hero caught Ayura's intent, and he grinned widely, as he bent his own considerable mental powers to the task at hand. Other heroes soon joined in.
Clanking and whirring, the Clockwork of Steel Canyon advanced upon the army of Nemesis.
Current main:
Schrodinger's Gun, Dual Pistols/Mental Blaster, Virtue
Avatar: Becky Miyamoto from Pani Poni Dash. Roulette roulette~
As Hellcat and the small robots took down the jaeger, he turned back towards Blyde square, racing through the sky as chaos erupted all around Steel Canyon. Heroes clashed against the robots, some winning, some losing. Hellcat touched down in Blyde and noticed the bleeding form of Valkyrie...Several soldiers had turned their attention to Hellcat upon his entrance and now ran to face him.
Spreading his arms wide he send an aura of radiation at them, incapacitating most of them. The last two didn't last long either, as one took an optic blast in the stomach and doubled over, writhing in pain. His friend lowered a gun at Hellcat, though he seemed rather surprised when the brass weapon melted as Hellcat waved a hand.
Grapping the startled soldier by the facemask, Hellcat drug him towards the wounded hero, the soldier's feet working frantically to reach the ground. Slamming the soldier onto the pavement, Hellcat quickly checked Valkyrie's vital signs. She was fading rapidly, but the Redoutable Defender could fix that. Using his energies to transmute the soldier's life force into healing energy and pressing a hand over Valkyrie's wounds, the blood loss stemmed, skin repaired, and bone knitted. Hellcat helped Valkyrie to her feet.
"I've come to help," said Hellcat, as he and Valkyrie turned to face the newest wave of soldiers and mechanical monstrosities. Hellcat reached deep down and shifted the battalion's energy, enfusing himself as well as valkyrie with lethal energy. He called on his power once more and boosted her speed. Valkyrie leapt into the fray, her spear flashing as her new found super speed and enhanced strength allowed her to tear through the ranks. Hellcat kept slamming the robots with radiation and healing Valkyrie whenever the attackers landed a hit. Soon, however, his energy was exhausted. Hellcat was barely keeping his head above water as he started focusing on keeping Valkyrie healed.
"We're going to need some help over here!" he yelled as the last of his energy left him. He listed to one side, trying to stay on his feet as the soldiers advanced. Valkyrie's spear flashed through the soldiers, rank upon rank of them falling before her. Soon, however, the two battle fatigued heroes found themselves severely outnumbered.
"That's what I said!" Billyboy yelled as he slammed through several jaegars that blocked his progress. Hellcat noticed several bruises on the hero, and his costume seemed pretty beat up, but his fists were still glowing. "Got surrounded, glad you got here! Hey, aren't you the Redoutable Defender?!"
The butt of a rifle smacked the young hero in the mouth, delaying his speech for the moment it took him to smack the soldier upside the head and drop him to the ground. He didn't seem like a very focused warrior, but he was obviosly effective. "Glad you got the chick up!" Billyboy smiled and he backstepped a jaegar's swinging mace. "I was beginning to worry I'd be too late to save her!" An explosive round slammed into his forehead, causing him to fall backwards a few steps as he clutched his shattered sunglasses against his face. "Damn, these guys don't know when to quit! Which is bad, cause I don't know how long I can hold out! Which probably wasn't very smart to yell across a crowd of Nemesis Army soldiers!"
He allowed the shards of his broken shades to fall to the ground as he pulled a spare pair out of his pocket and settled them on his slender face, but not before sending a blast of energy into a nearby werfer jaegar, causing it to explode. He sidestepped a bayonet thrust and sent a glowing fist straight into the offender's face, breaking his mask and dropping him to the ground next to his broken eyeware.
Hellcat finally managed to get his feet back under him in time to see Billyboy's retaliatory strike against the jaegers.
"Thanks, man," said Hellcat, catching his breath. He drew life from the nearest soldier, healing the battleweary trio. He reached out again and siphoned the soldier's stamina, allowing the heroes to become re-energized. A third wave of his hand and drained energy from the surrounding soldiers, causing the costumed gladiators to become even more battle-savvy.
Pointing at both Valkyrie and Billyboy, Hellcat caused a change to overcome their muscles, making them superfast. Leaping into the midst of the soldiers, Hellcat spread his arms and sent out a nova of radiation. This sapped the last of his reserves and he collapsed as the soldiers blasted him with their brass rifles even as the radiation ate away at their armor.
The energy from their guns slammed into the alien metal of Hellcat's costume, causing the blue starmetal to turn almost black. Hellcat was buffeted by the blasts and found himself hurtling through the air, slamming through the wall of a nearbye building. Business people screamed and ran around helter-skelter as Hellcat's gloved hand twitched as he lay buried in the rubble.
He could hear the sounds of battle outside and knew that the temporary power boost he had given his two compatriots was paying off. He managed to poke his head out of the rubble, concrete chips still falling from his hair, as Billyboy slammed his fist into the ground at high speed, spending shrapnel and rock flying at the wave of soldiers. The high speed projectiles tore through the men and robots alike, shredding them and leaving them in heaps on the ground. Valkyrie was likewise occupied, her bright spear flashing and slicing through brass guns and uniforms alike.
((OOC: Love the Clockwork twist, Kellis! Gives me an idea for later...))
"Alright boys, careful now..."
Brainframe's robot minions had already begun stripping the Nemesis "corpse" of any salvageable materials within seconds of its collapse at the hands of Hellcat. The repair sled had been returned to the unmarked Rogue Isles warehouse that held much of his other gear, repairs to the wounded Positron having been completed. Brainframe himself had retrieved his headset and was currently multitasking between issuing commands to his 'bots and hurriedly making arrangements back "home."
"Tell the guys we've got some sweet salvage inbound, and try to set up some interested buyers."
"Got it, Brain," came the reply from a female voice slightly muffled by static. "Excellent feed you set up, by the way. Who knew you looked so good on TV?"
"Just a walk-on cameo, Terminatrix. I'll be back in friendly waters soon enough, and we can split the take then."
Contrary to Positron's voiced concerns, Brainframe wasn't worried about Longbow coming on the scene. The brightly costumed super-Marines had long since stopped being of interest to him in the Rogue Isles, and today he was a very small fish surrounded by the far more obvious sharks in this metallic feeding frenzy.
Still, best to err on the side of caution. Starting with making himself a less noticeable target. He turned toward the robot nearest him and tapped a code into the controls on his wrist. "LMN-8R, get that back to base immediately." He pointed to the pile of metal parts for emphasis.
"By your command. Initializing launch sequence. Returning to base." Powerful thrusters on the underside of the robot's legs flared to life and it roared into the sky.
"Right, then," Brainframe said as he checked the power level on his pulse rifle and put a hand to his headset. "Let's find out how that backup's coming."
There is an art, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. --The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The extra boost from Hellcat's radioactive powers had Billyboy barrelling through the Nemesis ranks, sending men and robot parts flying as his fists whirled at high speeds. Valkyrie was doing similarly well, if not using far different tactics. While Billyboy swung his fists with wonton fury, Valkyrie seemed to move like a dancer, cutting into robots and incapacitating men with a fire in her eyes. Billyboy gave her a smiling thumbs up and immediatly received a shelling for his lack of concentration, cauing him to double over in pain.
"Damn, think that bruised a rib!" Billyboy coughed and he eyed the perpetraters and made a break for them, shooting off into the air and landing in the middle of the crowd in what seemed like mere seconds. All guns turned to Billyboy, each aiming for his head, but he just smiled rogueishly and glanced around himself at the men who had him completely surrounded. "You wouldn't be dumb enough to try it, would you?"
The Nemesis Army troops, realizing that if any of them missed they would hit each other, instead stabbed forward with their bayonets. Billyboy bit his lip and several hit their mark and tried to pierce the skin-tight energy barrier that surrounded him, doing a bad job but hurting him nonetheless and ripping his shirt badly. With a grunt, Billyboy grabbed the nearest rifle and concentrated the energy from his fists into it, causing it to explode and send several of the armored soldiers hurtling backwards.
"Leave him to me!" a voice called over the crowd, who parted to reveal the warhulk that had held Valkyrie before. Billyboy was only to happy to accept the challenge and ran forward, failing to notice that his speed had returned to an average pace. He was about ten yards away when the warhulk raised its storm cannon arm straight upward and fired, causing Billyboy to laugh, thinking it must be malfunctioning from the earlier beating.
He stopped as he heard the storm cannon's burst hit something hard and looked up just in time to make out the form of a giant stone hand, recently blown off from Blyde Square's giant statue, falling toward him faster than he could possibly hope to react to.
"Oh shi-" Billyboy began, but was silenced with a loud THUMP as the stone landed on him and drove into the ground several feet, making what the Nemesis troops were sure would be a tomb for the hero.
Valkyrie Looked quickly at the downed Billyboy, "Kid!" She yelled as she looked at the Warhulk. She lunged foward with her spear hefted for a shot at the robot's power source should be. Bullets flew and knocked her to the ground, the ancient nanites of her armor took as much of the blast as possible. But the damage done by the Warhulk hd already taken it's toll on the armors durablity.
She quickly picked herself up and quickly knocked over several of the soldiers in her mad fury. The spear danced as she tried to take another shot at the Warhulk. A Jaeger split open and unleashed it's whirling blades. She didn't see it coming, the blades bit into her leg, while it bearly made it through the armor it was enough to trip her up.
She tried to get up quickly as the large storm cannon was pointed at her. She thought that she might be able to cut into the robot and disable it. She fortunately didn't have to make that decsion. Instead, a missle hit a patch of Jaegers tearing them to pieces. "Halt in the name of Longbow! Put your guns down and we won't have to rough you up.!" One of the three Chaser boomed over a speaker as they approched. The Nemesis troops didn't look to eager to follow the orders.
------------------------------
The Uberjaegerpanzer was being torn apart by the robot horde. Most of the troops had fled from the scrap robot's endless assult. The gaint Jaeger stepped on one of the Cannon Princes. From the crushed constructions body came four small Gears. Each of them started to climb the robots legs.
Other Gears had already done the same and climbed into the small space that seperated the robot's top half from the lower half and were activately doing their best to tear it apart. Pieces of metal were removed, wiring was torn out, redundant systems were compromised. One of the Legs suddenly disconncted as an industrious Cog ceased cutting through it. The leg was already being salvaged for pieces as the top stopped turning and the main cannon failed mid shot. The gaint Jaeger was all but ready for it's mass reconstruction into Clockwork Constructions.
---------------------------------------
Positron looked at Brainframe, he already knew he would end up regeting this. But at the moment he could do no where near the damage Nemesis could. "Right, knowing Longbow, they'll go right for the center of the madness, Blyde Square." Positron floated up, "All give you support from up here. Just focus on getting there and taking down any Nemesis soldier who gets in your way." Positron knew it was risky going straight for the center of the chaos, but right now his sidekick was trapped in there, nothing was going to stop him from getting to her.
((Lord Dire is my bot/ff MM and an energy energy brute as well as an energy/traps corruptor. lot i know but think your prototype armored megalomaniac))
* Lord Dire had seen enough. Watching form his hidden base, he had been readying a plan to obtain an experimental power generator from one of D.A.T.A.'s labs in Steel.
Teleporting into Paragon City past Portal Corps detection Grids had been easy for one of his advanced intellect, and from there he had proceeded to the Lab where the generator had been stored. A team of heroes had attempted to stop him but he had easilly dispatched them.
Making ready to depart he had been unpleasantly suprised to find himself in the middle of a warzone. "this is unexpected." he though to himself. a quick examination of the battle revealed a scene of utter chaos. a young boy in his teens had fallen defending The Heroine Valkyrie from a horde of nemesis troops and automatons. A giant Jaeger warmachine was being slowly torn apart by a veritable swarm of clockwork robots, and his armors sensors were registering a massive source of radiation nearby. "Positron" he grated through clenched teeth.
He nearly flew off to find the radiation powered hero who had been instrumental in stopping his own Brass monday style invasion some 4 years back. But then reconsidered. Quickly his mind calculated the possibilites.
Nemesis had launched a bold attack on the original anniversary of hsi first major incursion. if unchecked nemesis would have a high probablity of success even with the various so called heroes in the city. Statesman was away in the rogue ilses, he had arraigned a series of emergencies to keep him busy. and the rest of the Freedom Phalanxe was nowhere to be seen.
No this could not be allowed. That bloody pompous fool must not succeed . Only Lord Dire was fit to rule and pretenders such as the so called Prussian prince of Automatons needed to be put in there place. he sent the return coordinates and activated the teleportation sequence sending the generator back to his base, along with the robot minions he had brought with him. He would do this himself. remind the heroes that Lord Dire was back and remind Nemesis and that Fool Recluse that pretenders would not be tolerated.
lifting off using the anti grav system in his advanced powered armor Lord Dire waited patienly for an opportunity to make his presence felt.
He couls almost appreciate the Irony. He himself had rampaged through the Streets of Steel Canyon some 4 years ago and only Statesman and the Freedom Phalanxe had narrowly stopped him forcing him to retreat to his hidden base to plan anew. Now he would be forced to reveal himself ahead of schedule. Nemesis would pay for that he vowed.
Seeing an opportunity He descided to start with Valkyrie. she would need some relief form the overwhelming forces arrayed against her. His armor had just the trick. The Armored gauntlets glowed with an ominous crimson light and unleashed a ball of magnetically accelerated plasma into the surrounding nemesis troops. then not waitng to see the resulting explosive blast he activated a Shield drone and instructed it to shadow Valkyrie after laying down a triage beacon. he also quickly encased the embattled heroine in an forcefield designed to provide isulation, and to deflect any attack that might come to the wearer.
with the beacons healing energy, and the sheild drone providing her with cover . He calculated she would have an increased chance of survival of at least 76.356666 percent even in her current weakend state.
As He turned to leave he spotted an shadowy figure taking aim from the rooftop nearby. Teh Sniper had a clean shot at Valkyrie. well that would certainly not do. Swiftly he activated his flight system and landed next to the Lance Corporal. An bone smashing blow layed the stunned sniper at his feet. grasping the troop by the neck Lord Dire lifted him up with ease, and in a voice cold and measured spoke. "
I know you can hear me old man. Do not think I we'll allow this farce to continue. I am Lord Dire! It is my rule that all well follow. My destiny that well come to pass." then Crushing the soldiers throat he allowed the lifeless corpse to slip form his hand their was still much work to be done.
So you mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword; and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?
Dubbed first knight of pep-istan by her majesty Queen Pepcat. first catmonaut to walk onna moon.
PENGUIN!!!...(^)>
...............C(...)D
.................m.m
Brainframe and his remaining robots began peppering any straggling Nemesis troops with laser fire, drawing them away from the crowd a few at a time only to be cut down by Positron's blasts. Now that Longbow had arrived, the Nemesis army was facing far greater resistance, drawn much more thinly across Blyde Square in an attempt to engage all their myriad foes at once. Making the individual mechanical soldiers easy pickings for the odd team of legendary hero and criminal mastermind.
As the pair pushed closer toward the center of the main battle, Brainframe ordered his robot minions to continue the attack, while he began to slowly fall farther behind the action, finally ducking behind one of the few parked cars not yet overturned by the fighting. The main objective of this little walkabout had been achieved, and it was nearly time for him to make his exit.
"Job's nearly done, Haxx. Sending extraction vectors, request delayed recall command for all active drones at t-plus 15 minutes."
"Command re---ved, sir. Pre--re fo- ---ediat- ex---ctio-..."
"Haxx?" A note of concern began to creep into Brainframe's voice; his system was supposed to be untraceable by Longbow and Arachnos, nobody should have been able to scramble the signal. Unless...
True horror twisted his features as he looked down to see a layer of ice forming over his body, freezing his hands and pulse rifle solid and leaving him all but helpless. He began frantically sending subliminal return commands through the neural link to his drones, knowing deep down that they were already in a similar state. No. Nonono...please God not...
His eyes widened when the trio of heavily armored figures landed on the pavement in front of his helpless form. The leader stepped forward and pointed directly at him.
"Simon Freeman, alias Brainframe. You are in posession of Crey Industries property. You belong to us."
There is an art, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. --The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
His eyes widened when the trio of heavily armored figures landed on the pavement in front of his helpless form. The leader stepped forward and pointed directly at him.
"Simon Freeman, alias Brainframe. You are in posession of Crey Industries property. You belong to us."
"No he belongs to me." came a reply in a deep baritone that had the hollow doom laden tone of an deep well. the 3 Crey Armored units were formidable in there own right. They would fall none the less.
"Lord Dire!" the Crey Cryo tank said with suprise in his voice. It would eb the last words he would utter. Building up the energy and focusing it through the gauntlets he Released a Short ranged but extremely powerful burst of energy at virtualy point blank range. Lord Dire Crumpled the cryo tanks armored chest plate like an aluminum can shattering the ribs and bursting the organs of the person within.
Using the suprise of his assault Lord Dire refocused the energy into an total focus of devestating potential then rammed both firsts down on the power Tank in the middle. caving in the agents slull and helmet in one blow.
the third remianing tank was a new experimental model Pyro tank. utilising plasma stream ejectors and Crey mark V flamers. recovering form his intial shock the Armored trooper activated his Palsma ejectors unleashing an inferno of heat upon the meddling Meta. seeming to obscure him in burning Plasma. For the briefest of instants a small inferno raged melting the sidewalk. then to his shock A tall imposing figure walked from the conflagration. the flames sloughing off the active Power and insulation shielding of his armor. "No no its impossible." Amping up the intensity The pyro tank opened up on Lord Dire with an intense flame thrower burst formboth gauntlet nozzles. surely he thought this would finish him. then he heard 2 sounds that chilled him.
The first was the tearing sound of metal. the second was the Booming laughter of Lord Dire triumphant. looking down he saw Lord Dire remove an armored arm and fist glowing with energy from hus crumpled chest plate. Another quick barrage of energy enhanced punches finished the job the first powerhouse strike had begun.
Turning to study his handiwork. he was pleased. Brainframe would be free shortly. the intence heat directed at him ahd cracked and melted the icy coccoon within which he was encased. he would break out shortly.
the continued fighting seemed to be intensifying despite the Arriving Longbow and freedom corp reinforcements. He would have to either end this soon or depart.
Focusing and aiming Lord Dire Unelasesd a blast of energy with sniper like accuracy. the powerful blast removingt he head of a fake nemesis causing the tall automaton to self destruct.
"Yes this day is not over yet." he stated as much to himself as to anyone else. he continued ot monitor the course of the battle and waited for his next opportunity to make an impact.
So you mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword; and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?
Dubbed first knight of pep-istan by her majesty Queen Pepcat. first catmonaut to walk onna moon.
PENGUIN!!!...(^)>
...............C(...)D
.................m.m
Darius James hadn't figured on participating in any activites surrounding the 74th anniversary of Brass Monday. In fact, he was doing what he normally did on Monday's, spending the morning in his dojo atop one of the tallest apartment buildings in Perez Park. The view of the park was serene and helpful in concentration, something especially necessary to control the function of his body now running rampant with nanites.
As he began his mental exercises, his peripheral vision caught sight of flashes coming across the War Wall from Steel Canyon.
Fireworks for Brass Monday? That's odd. He thought to himself. As he focused more intently on his view through the War Wall he could see something was amiss. Those weren't fireworks, but larger and more dangerous explosions.
In an instant he arose and stepped out to one corner of the dojo. Using a small device strapped to his wrist, he quickly swapped his training kimono for a metallic body suit and made the 100ft leap to the next building. Concentrating more, in another three jumps he arrived at the gateway leading to Steel Canyon.
"What's going on in Steel, Rudy?!" He asked the familiar face at the gate.
"Hey Mutai Kid, I dunno, we've been hearing alot of commotion coming from the other end of the connector, but no one's come through in over an hour, not even a hero."
"Not even a hero?" That's strange, there are usually a few stalwart heroes who come in to interrogate the Skulls and Hellions, or retrieve victims of the Circle.
Making his way to the other side of the War Wall, Mutai Kid noted the patrol guards weren't at the Steel Canyon end of the passage. In 2 bounds he was over Gimry Ridge and came down in front of the medical center. People were running all around, most with terrified looks on their faces.
Around the corner of the building a pair of Cuirasseur's appeared, blast rifles drawn ready to fire. In an instant Mutai Kid jumped between the two soldiers and landed a roundhouse kick on each one, knocking them to the ground. Before they could regain their footing he lashed out at them with a swift leg sweep which sent them flying backwards off the edge of the walkway and over the railing.
Nemesis in Steel Canyon? They never come over here, I better get to the bottom of this quick!
Bounding off toward Platinum Lake, Mutai Kid looked up and saw a group of Longbow heading toward Blyde Square. Not good, not good at all. I better follow them in and see what's happened.
---------
As Mutai Kid bounded down the Platinum Lake highway he saw more and more Nemesis troops running toward the center of Blyde Square. Mixed in were platoons of Curiasseurs and groups of Gewehr Jaegers steaming away.
Jumping into one large group of Jaegers, Mutai swept them away with an energy blast, a recent technique he learned while concentrating the energy generated by the power core implanted in his body.
A couple of Jaegers staggered back on their spindle legs and began swirling blades attached to their centers, coming at Mutai Kid like a pair of automated scythes. "Nemesis will recognize us for taking out this hero!" One Jaeger proclaimed as it lunged forward in attack.
"Hey! This kicks just for you!" Shouted Mutai as he unleashed a furious roundhouse which caught the mechanical beast at it's legs, severing them send it crashing to the ground.
At the same instant the other Jaeger launched it's attack, swiping at Mutai Kid's own legs. But the Jaeger was far outclassed and outmaneuvered by Mutai. The years of martial arts competition, mental training, and speed of thought fluidly came together as the Nanites in Mutai's body instantly caused his body to flip, avoiding the slash, and returning the attempted blow with one that landed squarely through the top of the metallic dome, hitting vital components and rendering the Jaeger inoperative.
Meanwhile, the Longbow that Mutai Kid had been following reached Valkyrie and the shielding effects and healing beacon of Lord Dire began to take effect.
Spotting Valkyrie in the square, Mutai Kid leaped in two super bounds to her side, landing just short of the large hand which was dropped on Billyboy.
"It is that balance, the ground between EB and AV, where the PvP struggle should exist. Where a 1v1 becomes a struggle of equals, and 1vMany gives the benefit to the 1."
Freedom: Fireocity, Electro Imp, Gotya
Infinity: Meteor Storm, Mutai Kid, General Bot, Da Smasher
Hellcat began to dig his way out of the rubble, bits and pieces of granite falling from his costume. He was shaky on his feet, but managed to keep standing by bracing himself against a wall. The starmetal that composed his costume had been shredded in several places, his pale blue skin scraped and bleeding underneath.
Some rogue in powered armor was busy showing off, apparently trying to impress Valkyrie by blasting through the Nemesis troops like they were paper. Grabbing a passing soldier, Hellcat shot into the air, landing on a roof and transmuting the man's energy. Hellcat's cuts and scrapes healed quickly, though his costume would take several days to fully regrow. The Nemesis soldier struggled in his grasp, so Hellcat decided to make him more comfortable. Slamming the man down on the roof Hellcat used his radioactive optic beams to fuse the soldier's armor to the roof. Hellcat was still low on energy, so he decided to turn the soldier into a "triage" unit. Sapping the captured man's strength and agility, Hellcat regained his stamina and increased his speed.
Picking up the soldier's brass gun, Hellcat leapt from the roof. He let himself fall several stories before kicking in his flight. Aiming for a Fake Nemesis, he held the rifle in front of him and rammed the robot, impaling it on the rifle's bayonet. He kept his momentum, sailing away before any of the soldiers even realized that he had been among them. The impaled robot flailed around, trying to attack him. Being unsuccessful, the robot turned to threats:
"Let me go, hero, or you'll never see Paragon's precious mayor again!"
Hellcat stopped so abruptly that the robot's momentum jerked it free of the rifle. It went soaring away from Hellcat but, lacking any means to fly of it's own, soon slammed into the side of a building. As the automaton fell towards the sidewalk, Hellcat streaked towards it, catching it just in time.
"What have you done with the mayor, Nemesis drone?!" roared Hellcat as he swept back towards Blyde Square.
"I'll never tell you, you pathetic cape!" came the garbled response from the badly damaged robot.
Hellcat dropped towards the ground, landing near Positron. "We have a situation," said Hellcat, filling Positron in on what the automaton had said. "We have to track the mayor down quickly! The Nemesis troops have been trying to keep us busy fighting them while the mayor has been kidnapped."
(OOC: Welcome to my first attempt to start an RP. The story focuses on a single event, but one that will shake Paragon City. It takes place on July 11th 2006, the 74th anniversary of Brass Monday (see Web of Arachnos for more - Manticore
). For those who don't know, Brass Monday was the day Nemesis invaded Steel Canyon with an army of giant robots, sometimes history repeats itself.
If you're interested in playing you can be either a Hero or a Villain, after all, if Nemesis wins there will be no Paragon for Villains to dominate. Basic rules of RPing apply, no God Moding, don't be a complete jerk (in character jerkery is okay, but keep it reasonable), and have fun. I'll be playing the role of Nemesis and several other NPCs, so please don't use the following, everyone else is okay.
Nemesis
Statesman
Positron
Ms. Liberty
Sister Psyche)
It was a perfectly normal July day, not a cloud in the sky and staying in the mid 90's it was still pleasant. In Blyde Square a memorial service was about to begin for Brass Monday, the first super power tragedy Paragon City experience occurred 74 years ago. It was almost canceled this year due to lack of support, while it was an important event in Paragon City history, it simply didn't stack up to the more recent horror of the Rikti War. And few people really care about what happened 74 years ago, the only reason people even remembered was the day off they got for it.
But forgotten history has a way of repeating itself. As Mayor Morale was about to give his speech and get out of there and to Out Front Stake House for a late lunch the speakers were cut. He tapped the Microphone and checked to see if someone had turned it off. Then the silence was broken by the speakers ringing. "Greetings Citizen's of Paragon City." The speakers spoke as Morale looked around baffled.
Positron had been there simply because it was in Steel Canyon and he was always there. He literally jumped when he heard the voice. His sidekick, Valkyrie looked at him, "What?" The former archeologist asked.
"It can't be him." Positron said still recovering from shock.
"As you well know, I'm Nemesis. And today is my holiday, the day of my failure. Hard to believe it was only 74 years ago the Freedom Phalanx managed to defeat my army. But I'm not bitter about that, I hardly ever think about it any more. But today I send out the same challenge, if Paragon City doesn't surrender to me, I will take it by force just like I've taken Steel Canyon." Nemesis' voice rang out.
There was a pause as people franticly looked around wonder where Nemesis' force would strike from. There was nothing around, Positron caught onto this first. "Calm down everyone, please, he's bluffing." He called out trying to placate the crowd before they panicked.
"On the contrary Positron, I've already won." Nemesis stated as Security was escorting Mayor Morale away.
Then as one a large portion of the crowd said to Positron's horror, "I am Nemesis, fear me!" As brass guns emerged on seeming normal citizens. They pointed them at the real civilians holding them hostage. The crowd was all to eager to comply.
"You see Positron; I've learned something from my last attempt." Nemesis voice rang over the speakers, "Now tell your Fr-"
In one panicked moment Positron unleashed an EM pulse over the area rendering the speakers and robots inert. "People, please, go to ah hospital immediately, it's only a light dose of radiation, it shouldn't affect you more than a sun burn. But to be saf-" Positron was cut off as a bolt of force smashed him in the back and propelled him into the crowd. He landed on one of the downed robots and stumbled to get up.
Valkyrie leapt into action and with her Halberd she turned to face a Fake Nemesis robot. It was moving to finish off Positron, she wasnt about to fail her mentor like that. She charged with the point at the metal beasts head. And was blown away by an explosive round from a Warhulk as it smashed her side. As the Heroine flew through the air she once again was thankful for her armor as she landed.
Meanwhile the Fake Nemesis raised his steam powered staff and brought it down on a prone Positron. He raised his arm to shield himself and as the staff smashed down into Positron heard a horrible sound he could only hope he was imagined. Then, as if to confirm his fears a jet of Anti Matter cut through the steam staff causing a large explosion. Positron grabbed the crack, his specially designed armor slowing the stream. But he couldnt stop it all together; small explosions went off around his glove and crack. Positron! Get out of here! I can handle them! Valkyrie yelled as she looked at the Warhulk.
Positron looked down at his wound; she knew how dangerous the leak could be. He nodded and looked at the Nemesis robot. Alright, Ill be back with the Freedom Phalanx! Hang on! He took his hand off the leak and shot the jet of anti matter into the robots head causing an explosion destroying it. He clamped his hand back over the wound and flew off clutching his wound. The citizens were scrambling, fortunately the city seemed clear of all menaces
That couldnt be right. He desperately looked for a few Outcast hanging about or some Hellions looking to cause trouble. He couldnt even find any Clockwork. None of the local gang bangers were about. And then the ground shook and collapsed and like demons out of hell, the Nemesis army advanced out of these holes. It also marched out of offices and department stores. An army of imposter automations, soldiers, and all manner of robots.
Steel Canyon actually was under Nemesis control. Not for long if Positron could help it. Hed get his arm repaired and contact the Phalanx and they could repeat the end of Brass Monday. He flew past the Yellow Line and watched as the trams just came to a stop. Nemesis wasnt going to make this easy. But the day wasnt lost; this was a City of Heroes, now where the hell are they? Positron thought as he flew through the air.