"Awfully friendly, isn't he?" muttered Toy Dispenser to Ghoul and Physic.
That guy is crazier then some other guys I know. Heh. He and Psymon would have some nice little conversations together.
Toy shrugged off any misgivings he might have and turned toward the hero. He scanned her briefly to confirm her gravatic powers and check to see if she was a registered hero. She was. Toy then back tracked through his memory until he found the proper file.
"Greetings, madame hero." bowed Toy, "I am, as you may have heard, Toy Dispenser, and my collegue here is known as Brutish Ghoul. It shall be both a pleasure and an honor to work with such esteemed company."
At least until I no longer have a need to be civil.
OOC: How do you guys do Player vs. Player battles here? I've been in forums where one player attacks and then the other player reacts and back and forth and I've been to forums where one player attacks, the GM decides what happens, and then the second player attacks. How do things work out here?
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
Physic shivered as Iron Fist spoke. She had been right. The closet had been opened, and the cadaver was not alone - a whole army of abominations and mortificators had followed.
So she was working with a Villian. The enemy. A filthy, low-class, traitor to humanity.
But she had been right about one thing - Villians were extremly complicated. This one had a sprinkle of good in him - maybe even a whole dash. She wanted to help him - and maybe even keep helping him after this strange occurance was dealt with. It would all depend on one thing though: If his Heaven was anything close to her Heaven.
Physic blinked herself form her thoughts, wondering brefily how the Villian had known her name (she couldn't remember if she had told him or not), and then turned to Toy Dispenser and Brutish Ghoul.
His welcome was met with a grateful smile. At least someone here is still sane.
"Thank you very much," she said, genuinly thankful. A mock curtsy accompanied her words.
"Yes, my name IS Physic. Physic Defiance. My two companions have hurried ahead. Perhaps we should too?"
The hero straightened her back, picking absently at the tear in her teal-coloured costume. Then she grinned, or, well, smiled a little wider than usual, and trotted off to the sewer gate.
Inside, Hidden and Knight were moving quickly, dispatching the few guards they came across. She would have to tell them of the new developments - or, at least tell Hidden, for Knight wouldn't care. Still, she remained at the back of the prosession, avoiding the figure that was Iron Fist. She would have to mull things over, maybe have a heart-to-heart with the man if the opportunity arose.
Knight pulled to a halt as she noticed Physic was no longer with them. The Femme peered behind her, and caught sight of a patch of teal and purple at the back, by the entrance. She shoved her way through the troops, and stood at Physic's shoulder.
"Fiz bad about something?" she inquired bluntly. The medival hero could tell something was wrong, but wasn't really able to see much more than that - because Physic wasn't that worried about one thing, it was a number of small troubles that brought the distant, displaced look to her face.
With a small smile she replied, "Knight, would you like to meet some of the other people involved?"
((ooc: I don't know what a GM is (other than GodModing, which It can't be when used in your context), but here's my opinion:
If everyone else is a mature enough RPer to avoid godmoding and powerplaying, then I'm all for the technique where one player attacks, occasionally leaves the result up to the other player, and then waits for the other to reply.
ie: "Marco unleashed a bolt of pure energy, which slammed into Jenna's chest. "
---
"Jenna cried out as the powerful attack hit her, straight and true, knocking her back. It only tooks a second to recover, though, and then she was on her feet and hurling bolts of lightening at Marco."
If we can't handle that responsibility, though, than I'm not sure what to do about it.))
Toy Dispenser watched Physic hurry ahead and then followed after she had gotten a bit of a lead. Toy signaled for his bots to continue forward and assist the front ranks of Iron Fist's men. All of the bots except for one battle drone, Mini Bot, which refused to leave Toy alone.
"You always were an odd one." Said one robot to another as Toy made his way to the entrance of the sewer with Ghoul tailing along.
The multi-colored android went into the sewer, nodding at Physic and her companion as he passed. Ghoul shot a longer stare at Knight before he too went into the entrance.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
Iron Fist was moddy, brooding, angry. He was not in the mood to argue with a hero over how he worked, what hiis pupose was, why he did so. Most of troops around him knew that look and stayed as far from him as possible. He was moving along, not attacking the enemy himself, but allowing his troops to do so. They were almost to the end.
"That," said Physic quickly as the Toy Dispenser's robot passed, "Is a friend. DO NOT ATTACK IT!" she stated firmly, because the blood-encrusted mace had been raised slightly. Knight looked dissapointed.
Brutish Ghoul's stare was met with the stony glare that was Knight's equivilant of a pout. She wanted to smash the robot. Stupid Physic wouldn't let her.
"He is a friend to. And so is he." Physic pointed at Ghoul and Toy Dispenser. Knight nodded glumly. Physic's lips twitched as she tried to supress a smile - Knight was acting like a small child who didn't get what she wanted on Christmas.
"Go back to Hidden, you can kill things up front."
Knight gleefully stomped off again, Physic following, transfusing the energy form the enemies around her into the bodies of her temporary allies. The steady healing made the sewer walls glow green.
Hidden, meanwhile, was battling his way steadily forwards, muttering words of encouragment to yhis fellowes, and smiling gratefully as one of Toy's robots helped him with a perticularily difficult foe.
All was well, untill the radio-transmiters clipped behind his ear crackled into urgent life:
"Attention! Attention all heroes of Paragon! This is longbow commander Lutzwits, with an urgent broadcast! The Steel Canyon hospital has taken severe damage, and the emergency transportation systems are down! I repeat, the hospital teleporters are down! All heroes in the area are advised to take exreme caution and to avoid dangerous situations at all costs. Longbow medics will be arriving shortly, and all empathy heroes are urged to help if they can. This is Longbow commander Lutzwits, with an urgent broadcast:
The message repeated itself several times, but Hidden stopped in his attack. Physic looked worried, too, and even Knight could sense the change in atmosphere.
But, as the expression goes, the show must go on, and neither hero could spare precious moments to consider the excelerated danger. Hidden and Physic were both healers; and Knight could take after herself. The trio advanced again.
*deep beneath steel canyon in the abandoned sewer system.*
"Attention! Attention all heroes of Paragon! This is longbow commander Lutzwits, with an urgent broadcast! The Steel Canyon hospital has taken severe damage, and the emergency transportation systems are down! I repeat, the hospital teleporters are down! All heroes in the area are advised to take exreme caution and to avoid dangerous situations at all costs. Longbow medics will be arriving shortly, and all empathy heroes are urged to help if they can. This is Longbow commander Lutzwits, with an urgent broadcast
Lord Dire listend to the broadcast with increased interest. this could be advantageous when the time was right. he busied himself with the current struggle. he was hand to hand with a Wolfpak MKIV robot .
he and his erstwhile companions Mutai Kid, Billyboy, and Psyearth had made there way through an ever increasingly confused maze of sewer tunnels. they ahd allreayd fought off several attacks form some of the more dangerous denizens int he abandoned sections. several groups of acidic spitting hydramen, and a concerted attack from a group of rikti had delayed them. but the unlikely quartet had prevailed in each instance.
Now they had run into an advance patrol. a dozen mekmen and A Wolfpak command bot led by a nemesis lance corporal.
the battle had been a suprise for both sides as they ahd come around the corner to face each other simultaneously.
the lance corporal and Billyboy had simultaneously uttered "Whoa." then all hell had broken loose. Mutai Kid attacked the lance corporal keeping him off balance the corporal parrying with the bladed storm rifle as if it were a spear.
Billyboy overocming his inital suprise with some help from a mekmans concussion blast in his gut. had promptly shown why he was well feared by automatons everywhere. smashing mekman like they were made of tissue paper instead of reinforce armor.
Psi busied himelf by providing soothing waves of energy healing wounds as they appeared. and encasing sevral of the mekmen in crushing cages of stone.
Lord Dire acted quickly on hsi own. " Delphi initiate jamming protocol alpha 4. scramble now!" he shouted then rushed to engage the Wolfpak. the ground trembled beneath the 12 foot giants metalic feet. as the collided.
"Confirmed Lord Dire jammimg all frequencies." delphi responded in that calm even voice of hers.
Good Lord Dire thought now they could not alert the command bunker. now to finish this. for brief instance the 2 struggled together. it seemed the mechanical mans superior size and strength would prevail as it pushed Lord Dire back.then Lord Dire activated a series of micro processors. these built up and channled a surge of energy through his armors servo musculature. with a grunt of effort Lord Dire dug his feet in and pushed back then bracing himself he pulled the robots arms until with a wrench and a screach of tortured metal. they came loose in a shower of sparks.
USing one of the arms Lord Dire swung it like a massive club bashingt he machine into scrap with several powerful blows.
Turning around Lord Dire watched as Billyboy with his usual exubreance finished the last of the mekmen splitting it in two with a single nergy enhanced karate chop. like a black belt might break a board.
Mutai Kid was busilly engaging the lance corporal and gaining the upper hand. when Lord Dire ended the fight. a blast fo energy slammed into the nemesis soldiers spine withbone shattering force. the corporal slumped lifelessly into mutai kids arms. his eyes glazing over.
"Was that really neccesary." Mutai Kid layed the fallen soldier on the ground and looked at Lord Dire with undisguised anger. it was one thing to fight for your life but Lord Dire did it with a casual brutality that suggested that anythingt hat got in his way was an obstacle to be removed by any means.
"He was an enemy. had he survived he would have alerted the prussian to our presence. as it is now we may allready be compromised." he replyed casually. "You heroes need to rearrainge your priorites. the life of one nemesis soldier or the lives of countless thousands above." then turning away he moved forward the command bunker was close.
Soon you Prussian pretender. Soon You well face Lord Dire. then wel our long conflict come to an end.
The foursome approached the command bunker and the sounds of a small army preparing for battle grew louder.
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
Iron Fist was marching along, directing his troops to destroy any threat in their way. A few Rikti, some Lost, Hydra, and... Nemesis? Yhey had made it to the very edge of the Gigantic underground base. And according to the message Psy had put in Fist's head, Lord Dire and the heroes were almost there as well. Iron Fist let out a yell, causing heads to turn. Iron Fist leapt at a Fake Nemesis and tore it to shreds, even before the soldiers could register what they were seeing. The battle had begun.
As the foursome approached the sounds eminanting from the next corner, Lord Dire began receiving reports from his operatives of another group approaching the same bunker from an alternate direction, it was Iron Fist with the other villians and heroes who had been making their way down the sewers.
------------
Seeing Lord Dire distracted, Psiearth tapped both Mutai Kid and Billyboy on the shoulder. In a whispered tone only they could hear he said to the pair "You heard the broadcast from Lutzwits, there isn't a safety net for us to fall back on if things go awry in there, watch out for our 'friend' and his helpers as well as Nemesis. I'll do what I can to keep you alive, but if we get seperated try to get back to me as quickly as possible." The two younger heroes nodded their understanding, knowing that Psiearth would do all he could to assist them.
"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
Panda Doll and Valiant had reached the surface of Steel Canyon and begun to search for Mutai Kid and the other heroes. Valiant soared above the broken cityscape, some areas untouched, others showing massive damage. He noticed that the Blyde statue was missing, and in fact all the statues which should have been visible from his vantage point were all gone. It was then that he noticed in the far distance a great number of troops pouring into a sewer access tube. "It looks like the battle's moved underground Panda Doll! Back to the sewers!"
"Damn, the sewers again?! I hate the sewers!" Panda Doll shouted in an agry tone.
The duo moved off in the direction of the sewer tube Iron Fist's contingent had used to make their way to the Nemesis base. Valiant entered closely followed by Panda Doll, making good time as the trail of mechanized debris and dead soldiers led them onward. "Someone's been really busy busting heads here, and from the looks they're taking no prisoners!" Valiant's statement was laced with an icy emotion. He disliked seeing wasteful deaths, even if they were villians. At that moment the broadcast by Commander Lutzwits blared through the sewerway on Valiant's comm. Unphased by the declaration, the pair continued onward, following the path of devastation wreaked on those in Iron Fist's path.
Soon they began to hear the sounds of a battle echoing faintly down the sewerways. "We must be getting close, and by the sounds they must've started the party without us!"
Turning the last corner, the pair were only half suprised to see they had arrived at the same vast cavern they had left earlier, except from a far different vantage point. In front of them, was Iron Fist's group advancing across the great cavernous room. To their left was Lord Dire and his forces, and intermixed with them were Mutai Kid, Billyboy and Psiearth.
"There they are!" Valiant turned to point them out to Panda Doll, but she was gone. Where'd she go?! Damn, I've got a bad feeling about this! Valiant turned up his IR sensitivity in hopes of locating the girl, but he could not find her, too many weapons were being fired, raising the temperature higher making the IR filter ineffective. Valiant decided that his best course of action would be to join up with the other heroes so he began making his way towards them, smashing a few mech's on the way.
"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
Toy Dispenser slapped Large Toy on the back and pointed at Combat Toy. The massive assault bot was tangling with an equally large Fake Nemesis and was currently on the losing side. The protector bot nodded and charged up the large tesla coil on its back. A pair of seeker drones were spit forth and the nasty little machines homed in on the Nemesis. The detonations stunned and overloaded the sensors of the enemy robot and gave Combat Toy enough time to blow gaping holes in the Nemesis with a missile barrage.
As the two robots shifted targets to softer Nemesis infantry Toy turned to see how his allies were doing. His three battle drones and Ghoul were handling an annoying combo of a pair of flame troopers and several jaegars but things seemed well in hand. Toy was about to motion his second proc bot, Lego Bot, forward, when a large crunching sound came from the right of the embattled Ghoul.
A giant metal ball attatched to the Warhulk that exited from a side passage slammed into Mini Bot, crushing the small drone's right side and sending it hurtling toward Combat Toy. The assault bot, Large Toy, and several of Iron Fist's men had been holding the left flank against the various enemies they had come across. When the demolished battle drone knocked the assault bot flat on its back the Nemesis troops were quick to take advantage of this break in the line.
"We've got problems over here!" shouted Toy as his bots were buried under the sudden charge. He froze one soldier in a detention field and opened fire on the rest, firing until his laser rifle was close to overheating. And then the soldiers retaliated, sending the robotic mastermind reeling.
Ghoul had been enjoying himself until the Warhulk had shown up. Not only had Toy's robots run off for some reason but only that annoying hero with the mace was near him.
"Let's see if you can keep up, hero!" shouted Ghoul as he lowered his armored shoulder and rammed the Warhulk. The machine staggered, or at least as much as it could stagger in such limited confines, and tried to take aim at Ghoul. The brute channeled his dark energy into his hands and grasped the gun arm. He wrenched it so that it was pointing at the Warhulk's head and then turned toward Knight.
"What d'ya think of that, hero?" gloated Ghoul moments before the Warhulk slammed him to the ground with its wrecking ball.
"Damn it!" he roared as he dug at the thickly armored arm with his hands.
OOC: If I got anything wrong about Nemesis armaments chalk it up to the fact that I've never fought them.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
((ooc: Same goes for me. Fact is, I haven't fought anything you can't find in the Hollows. :P))
Knight snarled, and whirled around to watch Ghoul get clobbered. She was a good fighter - she had only one bad habit: overkill. Anything she encountered was beaten into a bloody (or fragmented) pulp. So at her feet were the indistinguashinle remains of several foes.
Knight growled and sneered at Brutish Ghoul, furious at his insult. (He had implied that he was a better fighter than the battle lass - an easy enough mistake to make, but a possibly fatal one)
Knight raised her mace high over her head, and brought the weapon down fast and hard, aiming directly at Ghoul's head.
At the last possible second, though, Physic's warning broke through the red haze that was bloodlust, and she changed the course of the war mace slightly. The heavy metal cracked into the hull of the Warhulk, large chunks flying off and deep gashes raking along the sides.
The robot's attention was now solely on Knight, and it turned akwardly to face her. She glared at it and ignored the petty injuries that the few nearby nemisis troops inflicted, and again raised her mace in the air. Her fire aura exploded around her, singeing all foes out of melee range. It crashed down on the contraption's thick head, splitting it in two. The robot crumpled into a twitching, short-circuting heap.
Knight beared her teeth at Ghoul, shaking her clenched fist.
"Not only you kind is fighters -" she managed to squeeze in an explecitive that she had recently learned, "Watch your head for my backswing."
She shouldered the weapon and squeezed her way over to where Toy's army was being demolished.
HIdden, at hearing the distinctive noise of robots crumpling, peered over the heads of his fellow troops and enemies, and caught sight of the losing side of the battle.
He lept over to help, letting lose a s tring of defense-destroying attacks, and healing anyone he could.
((Gotta run, will finish this post tomorrow))
"Time to break stuff!" Billyboy yelled gleefully as he rushed forward into the absolute chaos. His energy shield, super charged by his ego boost at beating Vim, was knocking bullets away before they had the chance to get close. He was fighting dangerously, stupidly, in all truth. He would wear out fast using that much of his strength, and when his energy shield dropped it would be game over in this battle. Permanent game over.
Billyboy lead his attack with a vicious uppercut, sending a Nemesis soldier into the air as he flew into the air for maximum damage. The soldier hit the ground in a heap, all will to continue this battle gone.
The funny thing about Billyboy's fighting style was that he was usually the one doing the most damage to himself. Perhaps it was a zealous need to do justice, or perhaps it was just to show off, but he used as much energy as flashily as possible in a fighting form he often referred to as "Raz Mataz". While these things usually succeeded to both impress and get the job done in short fights, it was absolutely suicidal in a battle of epic proportions, much similar to the one he was now participating in.
A jaegar, whose circuits and shell couldn't take the extreme amount of energy being forced into it, exploded with force, sending sharpnel flying every which way. Billyboy smiled and hardly cared as it bounced off of him. This was his fight, he was gonna make today a day Nemesis would remember.
Billyboy shot into the air and looked for the nearest large threat, which he found in a warhulk as it released a burst from its storm cannon and sent him spiralling through the air. He grunted and took the blow, sending a laser burst the robot's way out of his ever-potent eyes. The warhulk staggered back as the glass on its tank cracked from the blunt force, not reacting in time to stop Billyboy from sending his fist straight through the center of the automaton.
The hero remembered that he wasn't wearing his usual specially made sunglasses a moment before a jet of boiling water from the tank splashed into his face.
Billyboy bellowed in pain as he stumbled back, narrowly and unknowingly avoiding being crushed by the falling warhulk. It all seemed to happen at once as shells burst into him and several jaegars began pounding him back and forth with their maces. The hero vainly tried to gain footing, but it was useless, he just seemed to keep setting himself up for more attacks.
"I'M NOT GONNA DIE, YOU STUPID TIN CANS!" Billyboy screamed as he slammed his fists to each side, connecting with two jaegars at the same moment. His eyes released a solid stream of devastation, sending robots and men flying into the air and into each other. With a yell suitable for a dying man, Billyboy released nearly everything in his, creating what looked like a white hot nova around him. Automatons and soldiers went flailing every which way around him, entirely unable to brace themselves for the sudden force.
Billyboy's eyes were glowing dimly as he stumbled to the right and barely caught himself from toppling over. He let out his trademark phrase, "Razzle dazzle" (very unenthusiastically at this point) and shot into the air and back to Psi, who was busying himself crushing robots with walls of stone. He landed weakling and gave the man a pleading look before slumping to the ground, his body entirely worn out.
Psiearth caught sight of Billyboy's tactics, shaking his head as he watched all the wasted energy. He'd seen lots of heroes of all types; why was it always those with seemingly unlimited energy who so often burned out early like a supernova.
Keeping one eye on Billyboy who had rushed foolishly out of his healing range, and another on Mutai Kid who was nearby fighting a series of Jaegers, Psiearth's third eye was concentrated on several Nemesis Grenadiers in front of him. Laying down a quicksand trap in front of the rushing soldiers several fell into the trap unable to make any headway. Slamming his foot to the ground he brought up Stalagmites which hurled the remaining soldiers off their feet. Next, raising his arms, he brought forth great pillars of stone which sandwiched the soldiers and pressed increasingly inward, crushing the air from their lungs, cracking bones, and in general causing massive internal and external damage. In a matter of 3 minutes the soldiers were all splayed out on the floor dead or dying.
Psiearth turned as Billyboy fell at his feet. Radiating a healing aura around him, Psiearth concentrated a great burst of energy into the body of Billyboy, enough to keep him from collapsing into unconsciousness, but Billyboy would have to rest to regain enough strength to continue. "Pace yourself Billyboy! This isn't going to be a short battle, that razzle dazzle will get you killed, and we're gonna need you to the end!" Psiearth hoped that Billyboy would be more careful, but knew that it was time to call upon more help.
"Arise Star Granite! I have need of your services old friend!" At that moment a spacial anomaly appeared in the ground in front of Psiearth and a stoney figure climbed through. About 10 feet tall and nearly 5 feet wide, the enourmous figure arose and giving a nod to Psiearth he advanced on a pair of Jaegers.
((OOC: Star Granite is Psiearth's 'pet' though in reality he is actually a form of rock creature from the asteroid belt. Star Granite arrived on earth many millenia ago as part of a meteor storm caused by a comet which nearly hit earth. Star Granite was caught in the gravitational pull of the comet, disturbed from his slumber in the asteroid belt. The pull of the earth being greater than the comet, he was torn from the grasp of the comet and fell to earth as a meteor. He lay dormant in a crater where he was found by Psiearth 200 years ago. Now when called upon by Psiearth, Star Granite appears and helps however he can. His rock composition is so hard that he cannot be destroyed, but his endurance is limited and he will go dormant in battle unless buffed by Psiearth. His major attack is using a stone club made of the same material as his body.))
With one mighty swing of his club, Star Granite forced one Jaeger to slam into it's compatriot with such violent force that the pair exploded. A group of Grenadiers opened fire upon the giant stone figure with their grenade launching rifles, a series of loud explosions rocked around Star Granite but he just shrugged them off like gnats. Aproaching the group of soldiers he slammed his club to the ground creating a shockwave of dirt which steadily mounted into a wall 10 feet tall which slammed into the group sending them flying backwards where they fell motionless.
Nearby, Mutai Kid had just finished disposing of some rather vicious Jaegers whose slicing arms had attempted to disembowl him. "Nice to see you Granite! We can definitely use your help!"
Star Granite gave Mutai Kid a thumbs up sign and went back to work tearing apart the nearby groups of soldiers who got within his range. Meanwhile Psiearth, freed up by the rock creature continued to buff up Billyboy into some semblance of shape and cast an endurance increasing aura for Mutai Kid and Star Granite.
"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
The battle was going bad, so he had to sacrafice valuable energy reserves to turn the tide.
One-two-three, he unleashed massive amounts of radiation, threw fistfulls of radioactive matter and infected the nearby troops with radiation poisining, which they would spread to their allies.
The defender panted heavily, no where near exhausted, but needing to get a little air. He took the moment to release the healing radiation into the bodies and frames of Toy's and Iron Fist's troops. Unfortunatly, he couldn't risk creating an EM pulse, for the sake of Toy Dispenser's army. It would help enormously against the nemisis bots. The option was there, but he would only resort to it in an emergency.
Hidden gasped suddenly as some bullets found their way into his back. He whipped around, frying the culprit with pure x-rays from his eyes. He never missed with that attack. As they say, how can you miss something when you're looking at it?
The earpiece chose that moment to beep urgently, informing him that some of his allies were in trouble. Hidden peered around. Toy's bots were in a bad state; he helped them as much as he could - filtering energy and power into them, but there was only so much he could do. He took to a different entrance, where a stream of fresh soldiers were flowing out. The battle began again, and Physic came to his side immediatly.
It was her that was causing the beep. The controller didn't have the toughest tolerance for pain. She limped and winced with every step. There were open wounds and burns on her pale skin. She had a look of grim resolve on her features, though, as she stood by her old friend and one-time lover.
Without a word she stole the energy form the advancing men and funneled it into her body. Some of the wounds colsed up, and her limp almost dissapeared. The beepeing, however, continued softly in Hidden's ear - though not as urgently. They would be fine for the next five minutes.
((ooc:Had to leave my Chars in a neurtal area; not sure when the next time I'll be on is.))
Knight, however, turned the odds against them. She was full of fury and wrath after her brief encounter with Brutish Ghoul, and was on the warpath. She saw Hidden and Physic fighting lightly off to one side (they had bottlenecked the advancing troops in the corridor, and were picking them off one by one), and decided they needed to battle harder.
She charged into the wall of guns, swinging her huge weapon with unrelenting power and savagery. She was screaming and snarling, and decapitating anyone who was within reach. Physic yelled at her, "No Knight! Stop there!"
Knight didn't respond, and only continued her onslaught further into the tunnel. Unfortunately, the energy with which she had first launched the attack was dwindling; she couldn't keep swinging. The minor damage she was inflicted with was cumulating into something serious. As she paused momentarily to catch a breath, the crowd pushed into her personal space, forced forward by the troops behind them. They were packed tightly, and were frantic as her fire aura fuelled by pure anger and strength singed them unceasingly. Knight could no longer swing her mace, and stood uncertainly for a moment. Guns, fists and knives took their heavy toll, before she figured out how to attack again. She held the weapon just below the ball of metal, and took to clubbing enemies over the head with that. She was falling fast.
Hidden was deeply concerned. He couldn't see the lass from beneath the pile of Nemesis and a couple robots. He only knew her general location by the telltale burning of enemy troops' hair. The beeping in his ear escalated steadily, the display screen embedded in his glasses flashed her name and health status. She dropped through the green zone, plummeted through the yellow and orange zones, then sunk towards the bottom of the red zone as she dropped to her knees, finally exhausted and too wounded to react to anything.
Hidden groaned as her health status melted into black. The fires went out. His earpiece wailed at a high frequency for a minute, then quieted itself, monitoring the status of the others.
((ooc: ahaha. Cliff-hanger. Gotta love them. Oh, and are we sticking strictly to the game, or playing with it a bit? It's be more realistic if we could alter some minor bits
))
((OOC I'll be on the road starting Monday for a week, so may not get a chance to update my toons in-story, feel free to use them in character. I'll be off and on during the week as I get internet access while on the road and will try to update too.))
"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
Iron Fist was fighting like a madman. He swung his fists left, right, up, down, around his body. He blasted, he singed, he burned. He was the Avatar of War. Literally. Statesman might have gained the powers of Zeus. And Lord Recluse gained the powers of Hades. But Iron Fist, upon drinking from the Fountain of Youth, gained the powers of Ares, the Greek god of war. Of course, Athena is typically pictured as the godess of war. But being a male, Iron Fist received the more brutal powers of warfare, ala Ares.
"No mercy! Destroy them all!" said Fist savagely. His troops might be afraid of Iron Fist but they were loyal to the end. They sent bullets raining into the oppisite troops, cutting them down even as they themselves fell. Iron Fist noticed the woman with a mace start falling. This angered him She would have made an excellent member of the cause. He mentally called Psy to ressurect her. Even though he was blind with the battle, he still remembered how one of the heroes didn't trust him. Maybe helping the mace swinging lass would gain her trust. As Psy issued his healing waves into the woman, Iron Fist held Nemesis off by sending deadly rays of Thermonuclear energy into their bodies.
As Psy's powers finally made the woman's body float up into the air, Iron Fist said to Physic, "I am resurecting her for my own sake. I know that she is a friend of yours and I hope that you are happy. This does not change my thoughts. If you decide to retaliate against me then I will kill you. But if you decide not to... let us just say that you could be an amazing member of the cause. I have already told you about my cause and I trust I will not need to again. Think about it..." With those words Iron Fist jumped back into the fray, blasting a Fake Nemesis out of the way and landing on top of a 5th Column Warwolf, crushing it underneath him.
Physic merely giggled uncharisticly at Iron Fist's unexpected message.
"Love, you just lost out bigtime." She muttered, as Hidden cursed under his breath. Knight was radiating green waves of health, peering around her floating body with slight confusion. This wasn't Hidden's powerful radiation bringing her back from the brink of death; it was the less remarkable, standard actions of a complete stranger.
She snuffled a little, flexing her newly re-animated limbs, and then smashed her way though the horde, back to her friends. Hidden sighed, but then let the occurance go. The fallout blow would have been devestating, as well as the mutated Knight who would've been supercharged with super-superhuman strength - but the other members couldn't have known that. Stuborn fools, he thought with a sigh.
Ah well, the issue wasn't that important. Physic and Hidden knew the drill and they worked together seamlessly. A subdued Knight took on a nearby robot with flaming concentration - the bloodlust had shrunken and cleared, lurking in the forgotten depths of her mind. For now.
Physic, now taking her cue from Hidden (who stood without moving, his face scrunched with cocentration), Pulled one of iron Fist's fallen troops away and teleported him into the centre of the mob.
Hidden immediatly released the remaining energy from the soldiers body into the area surrounding him, with the force of a large expolosion. The boom echoed defeaningly off of the curved walls, and the blast knocked most of their enemies down. He then transformed the unwitting soldier into the ultimate warmachine, enfusing his body with mutated genes that would remain within him for a few minutes, and would ensure the soldier unlimited power, force and amazing defense.
Hidden and Physic grinned, and watched their creation blink for a moment, then launch himself onto the surprised heads of the remaining nemisis. They cheered.
Iron Fist's frenzy had come back. He was again smashing everything in his way. He saw one of his soldiers get a supercharge from Hidden. He hardly cared. All he wanted was for the battle to end. Nemesis was not this dumb. He must have one last trick up his sleeve. Besides, Nemesis would not have a full-scale invasion without being there himself. Maybe-
His thoughts were cut short by the appearence of Silver Skull. "Hello governor!" He said brightly, "I have some good news! I have found Nemesis!" Iron Fist was not surprised. He said, "gather the heroes, the villains, everbody, and take them with you to attack him! I will meet you there in a minute! I will hold the troops off for you. Go!" Silver Skull bounded off to tell the strange army. The day was almost over.
"Christ, they just don't stop, do they?"
HIdden was growing tired, and, dare he admit it? Even bored. The faces never changed, and it was becoming a nuscience rather than a favourable activity to knock them aside.
"Physic, why don't you have a word with iron Fist, see what we're gonna do?"
Hidden was still blissfully unaware of the tnesion between his new master and his long time friend. Physic shook her head, adding slyly:
"You go, I think he likes you more. I'm sure you could get some helpful information out of him."
Hidden grinned heartliy, turning his back on the enemies. The flow was finally dwindling, perhaps the fight was almost over?
"Iron Fist Sir! What is our current mission status sir!"
HIddion was poised before his captain, hand to his forehead. He had to break the stance, however, to take care of a bulky robot who was causing a slight disturbance to his right. It took him and three others to dispatch the thing, but he returned to Iron Fist's side immediatly.
Toy Dispenser sat in the rear of the advancing column, furiously shouting at someone on his wrist communicator.
"What the hell do you mean you don't have another AR unit operational? ... Then get it off the damn rack! ... Yes! Those too! ... You keep this up and you're soooo fired!"
Toy flipped shut the annoying little comm device and looked at his surviving bots, a protector bot and a recently repaired battle drone.
"Alright you two, here's the deal. Zach is going to sat drop some new guys into the sewers. I know this'll get ugly but the thinnest roof area is just ahead past that next group of baddies. Toy Bot: I want you to get to Ghoul and tell him to break us a path. Lego Bot: Go to Iron Fist and inform him that I'll shortly be dropping some troops in the enemy's rear. Got that? Good. Get going."
As the two robots ran off, Toy Dispenser slotted a fresh battery charge into his laser rifle and moved to the front, dropping shields on soldiers that looked to be almost beat and shooting the hell out of everything else. He dropped a photon grenade on a lone Vahzilok abomination that had somehow wandered in and moved past Iron Fist who was talking to one of the heroes and Lego Bot.
Ghoul stuck his fist into the 5th Column soldier's chest and extracted the man's life force, healing the remander of Ghoul's wounds. As new gray skin covered up the black sludge that was now nominally his internal structure something tapped him on the shoulder. He listened to the battle drone's report and clapped it on the shoulder.
"Stay behind me, little bot." said the undead brute, "Toy can't afford to lose another of you."
"Affirmitive, sir." replied Toy Bot as it trotted alongside the brute.
Ghoul reached the front and flexed his arms, causing black energy to engulf them up to his forearms. Ghoul shouldered and shoved his way up his where Knight was fighting and announced himself by punching a Fake Nemesis in the head, splitting the thing in two and causing the robot to fall with a loud crash.
"Let's start things off on the right foot." Ghoul said to Knight as he backhanded another soldier into the wall, "The name's Brutish Ghoul and the last person to reach the end of this tunnel forks over a hundred bucks."
Ghoul launched a flurry of punches that sent another Nemesis flying and battered down two others. He looked back over at Knight and grinned a very predatory grin as he added, "You up for it? Or is little miss armored pants too afraid to get her hands dirty?"
OOC: Ain't Ghoul just the best? 
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
((OOC- Thankyou Khell for making Iron Fist talk for me. I was almost afraid that nobody was going to post again. And yes, Ghoul is insane. That's pretty good coming from a Hobo. ))
"ATTACK!!" Iron Fist was leading the large group against Nemesis' remaining troops. They were frantic. The battle was almost over. Fist smashed into one after anther enemy force, wheter Nemesis or 5th Column, nothing could stand against his wrath. He noticed Silver Skull fazing in and out of existance but he neither payed attention nor cared. He just wanted to defeat Nemesis and leave Paragon City. He was planning to use this moment as an oppertunity to attack the city and he needed to get more supplies. Iron Fist was positive that LordDire was planning the exact same thing. He wanted to get to Paragon before Lord Dire did.
It was at this moment when he spotted the REAL Nemesis. It's time to end this. He trudged off to Nemesis. The battle was almost over.
Knight peered at her fist, unreconisable under a thick coating of blood, gore and hair. Of course, the lass didn't understand the term "get your hands dirty", so she simply though that Ghoul was either blind of extremily dumb. Her hands were very dirty, after all, as was her face, arms, torso and feet.
It was her heaven - and other's hell.
She did, however, understand the concept of a bet - having made and won many in her own time and day - although she didn't actually have 100 of anything to her name. All she had was the clothes on her back, the weapon in her hand, and the fury contained within.
Still, a bet was a bet, and she didn't intend to lose. When her mace became tangled in the flesh of others, she took to biting and tearing at her foes like a beast. She screamed her battlecry - her fist halfway down a soldier's throat and her foot crushing someone's head.
"AAARRGGIIIGGGSSSSSHHHH!"
Ghoul was in for a tough bet.
Physic lept away form the tunnel the duo had fought - more important matters beckoned. Knight was going in the opposite direction, but that was no big problem. She always did that. Physic had seen Iron Fist straighten up and charge off, leaving Hidden to deal with the influx of bots, sewer dwellers looking for a fight, and other soldiers.
'Ole Fisty was up to something.
Physic Defiance trotted quickly after the villian, weaving through the crowd, trying to dodge any blows that were ment for her. She finally saw what Iron Fist had seen, and stopped dead.
The final Nemisis; the master. She coughed as something hit her in the back, but did her best to ignore the petty blows for now, and she flicked her eyes form Nemisis to Iron Fist.
((OOC: I contacted Hermod, he said he won't be posting in Brass Monday further. That means we're pretty much open as to how we wind this RP up. Here is my contribution toward that goal))
It had been a long day for many heroes in Steel Canyon, not the least of which were Positron and Valkyrie. After the early battles with Nemesis forces in Blyde Square and the abduction of the Mayor, Positron had tried to get support from the rest of the Freedom Phalanx. Unfortunately most of them were too far away or involved in serious battles of their own. Even Manticore was unable to reach Steel Canyon, the tractor trailers were not the only obstructions in the war wall tunnels leading into the city, Nemesis had somehow set up invisible portals in the center of each main entry which transported anyone immediately to Portal Corporation headquarters on Perigrine Island causing massive congestion and confusion which had to be handled by Manticore. By Noon on Monday all trains and main entrances into Steel Canyon were blocked and the few alternate routes were heavily guarded by Nemesis forces, isolating the entire city.
The forces of Iron Fist and Lord Dire had complicated matters even further, along with other rogue elements from the outer isles. Positron had seen the valiant efforts of a mere handful of heroes fighting much of the battle in Blyde Square. When the statues in the city began to animate, Positron and Valkyrie went in search of some of the larger statues near the Boomtown entrance. Somehow Nemesis had managed to also infect several statues in Boomtown and Positron and Valkyrie had gone there to seal of the entrance before the behemouths could break through the meager security force still present. In a last ditch effort, the duo had collapsed one of the largest attacking statues right inside the gate, but they had been trapped inside Boomtown as well. Even with their strength and power it would be many hours before they could get through.
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The tide of the battle in Nemesis' control bunker was finally turning in the heroes favor. Psiearth, Star Granite, Mutai Kid, and Billyboy were all making headway through the troops. Several units of 5th column had been buried beneath a ceiling collapse caused by Star Granite who had jammed his club into the ceiling bringing down tons of concrete, rock and debris. Mutai Kid and Billyboy had moved in, mopping up the few stragglers who survived the fall, while Psiearth buffed up their health and defense with his auras.
Valiant and Hellcat had appeared almost simultaneously from different directions and leant a hand with a couple of particularly large Jaeger units who were massively armored.
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At the moment that the last giant Jaeger fell to the ground Psiearth spun around to the heroes standing nearby and shouted "Nemesis! He's right there, LOOK!" As the group turned they saw the form of Nemesis a scant 100 feet away directing a series of Fake Nemesis' at Iron Fist and Lord Dire who were approaching the Archvillian from opposite directions.
"Everyone watch yourselves!!" Psiearth said this as he cast out an aura revitalizing all the heroes giving them renewed strength and vigor.
"Can you believe those meglomaniacs!?" These words came from Mutai Kid. From his perspective he could see Lord Dire build up a massive amount of energy preparing to blast the Fakes approaching him. With a great shockwave of energy, the Fakes almost disentegrated.
"Yeah, wanna take bets on who's left standing?" This from Billyboy who could see Iron Fist dealing with the Fakes in his path.
At that moment Nemesis turned toward the approaching group of heroes. "Well well, Positron couldn't make it? The worthless scrap of tin! I'll deal with what's left of him once you're out of the way! And here's a little present for those two dunderheads who think they can master the Prussian Prince."
Nemesis pressed a series of buttons on a console nearby, at that instant a previously invisible portal materialized and a figure walked through. "I'd like you to meet a recent acquaintance of mine, Nemesis Rex...." The two figures standing side by side looked identical, right down the the color of brass armour gleaming in the overhead lights. "Rex was kind enough to assist me in this little project after having had a group of heroes infiltrate one of his bases in his universe. I was fortunate enough to capture an engineer from Portal Corp who was kind enough to give me the coordinates before he expired." Nemesis seemed to be gloating and glorying in his suprise, and the stunned faces of the heroes did nothing to reduce his pleasure, and in fact greatly increased it. "Rex, what's your pleasure, hero or dunderheads?"
"I'll take those two screwballs, they'll make nice trophies to add to their counterparts already on display in my headquarters back in my universe" Nemesis Rex said this with a bone chilling finality as he turned and prepared to face Lord Dire and Iron Fist.
"This ain't gonna be pretty! But the big boy's gotta go!" Valiant said with a smirk on his face as he prepared to charge the automaton leader.
"Right there with you Val!" Psiearth, Mutai Kid, and Billyboy said this in Unison.
"Heroes step forth and fight this dishonorable repubate!" This came from Hellcat, the hero brought back to life earlier in the day.
"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
Iron Fist looked at Toy and said smoothly, "Of course there isn't. It would be unhonerable." Fist then glared at Physic with his single eye. If looks could kill, Physic would be in a crumpled , twitching heap. "Hero. Your name is Physic, yes? I am a, what you call, 'villain.' But my goal is not evil. Oh no. It is for the good of humanity! My mission is to bring about a new world order! An order of peace, happiness, joy, and love. A slice of Heaven if you will." Suddenly, Fist's eye lost its wonderful shine. An almost visible gleam of hatred, cruelty, and... possibly sadness? All that swam in Fist's eye as he said, " And I will destroy anything and everything in my way to do it!"
Iron Fist's eye went back to its normal, expressionless stare and he said, "So now you know hero. Many have tried to destroy me. All of them have died." His voice became a menacing whisper and the cruelty came back in his eye. " I suggest you stay out of my way.
He swept around and diected his troops to carry on marching.