((Yeah, I guess they are still subsonic after all...go figure.))
With their primary source of extreme cold removed, the magi went to another - their frozen comrades. The fire tanker, still somehow apparently invulnerable to everything, was casuing havoc to no end. They had to stop him!
As for Ryuji, the magi hadn't a clue of what to do just yet - how the heck was he dodging both blades and energy blasts while still returning fire and never taking a single hit?! - so it was the psi-corps' turn again. A duo of mentalist took it upon themselves to try and dominate his mind while a third concentrated his willpower into a painful psionic lance...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Pariku on the other hand was having quite a lot of trouble with the Rikti gunman aiming down from the catwalk.
An energy blast tore into the young magepriest, then another. Looking up to the catwalks, the redheaded boy glared behind his glasses and waved a hand, engulfing the gunmen in fire cages.
Nena noted most of the Rikti going after Wielder and El Guapo. She took a moment just to stare at El Guapo. The guy was HUGE! ....And indecent! But at least he seemed to be on the side of justice.
What had occurred to Hotaka seemed to pop up in Nena's otherwise scattered mind as well, and the strong girl suddenly accellerated towards the area between Wielder and Guapo with a loud battle cry. She body-slammed into one of the tombstones with all her strength, whirling her sword to smack the Rikti to the side of it right into the portal circle.
"Once all this is over you should put some pants on!" she yelled over the roar of the energy to Guapo.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
"FOR GREAT JUSTICE!" Wielder roared as he spun around in circle, bowling over the Rikti nearest him with the Painpipe.
Spinning the lead pipe deftly around in his hands, Wielder slammed it into the ground, causing a wave of ice to shoot up his body and cover him. The next several shots from the Gunmen up above reflected off this new armor and shot harmlessly into the ground. Spinning his pipe around again, Wielder caught a charging Rikti Conscript in the jaw, rocketing it up into the air until it limply fell to the ground.
"THE PILLAR OF EVIL CANNOT STAND BEFORE THE MIGHTY JACKHAMMER OF JUSTICE!" Wielder shouted as he dove at the same pillar Nena was smacking, bringing his Painpipe back for a devastating blow against the rock.
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: Well anyone who regularly PVPs knows how much of a pain in the [censored] ice tankers are to hit 
The whole 'dodging everyone's fire' would be a lot more believable if I could actually put him in action. It's not as simple as just "magically dodging bullets," if anything the way he's moving should have the Rikti shooting each other.)
Ryuji felt the intrusion of the mentalists. It actually startled him for a moment and almost stopped his momentum long enough for a laser blast to hit him.
The mentalists would be just as startled: tapping Ryuji's mind, a mind already full of hundreds of years of sorrow and teenage angst, would be an unbelievable shock to them.
A shock long enough for Ryuji to vault over the annoying Rikti with a blade and hop over to the telltale head clutching Rikti to freeze them solid too. There were only two of them.
Then he noticed the third. Focusing a 'psionic lance' the Rikti were oh so proud of. It wasn't that he knew 100% that he was doing that, he kind of figured it out when he noticed a third Rikti focusing on him and clutching his head when one Rikti was frozen solid and the other was still trying to dominate his mind.
So he gave both of them a little present: a 'lance' of his own, right in the neck between the ****** of armor.
As he was holding the lance in the 'lance' throwing Rikti, watching it struggle, he spoke to it, using it as a shield against other Rikti like he had been doing for the entire fight. Either they didn't shoot him at risk of hitting their comrade, or they did shoot him and shot their comrade.
"I'm letting you in on a secret," he said, "This is NOT your world, you come to our world, attack our people, and don't even have the decency to try something unique enough to provide me with a challenge? I fought you [censored] in that war, I learned your tricks. People DIED fighting you, good people. Now you're going to die, I hope you enjoy it."
With that the Rikti's brain froze solid.
Only one mentalist left, and it was still trying to assert control over something far older and far stronger than it was. The Rikti went into Ryuji's mind expecting a normal human mind. What they found was the focused, unyielding mind of a true fighter. Cold.
El Guapo Grande was still channeling max heat. He couldn't turn it off! The ground beneath him began to melt, so he started moving. By chance, a catwalk he was standing on melted through and he fell, hit his head on another catwalk, and hit the ground. He stood up and saw others running towards the tombstones. The glorious El Guapo Grande thought maybe this would be a good idea, so he charged them as well, ramming into one of them (and, if it fell, continuing on into the shield) with all his bulk and intense heat.
El Guapo Grande had fought the Rikti in the war. Just as Ryuji had studied and learned from the Rikti, El Guapo Grande had just been shot so much he developed an immunity to Rikti energy weapons, as strange as it sounds. Similar to how a player develops an immunity to pepper spray. Sure they still kind of tingled, but they probably felt even more tingles when his burning fist slammed into their chests.
((Well, at least we've got an explanation then. It just looked a lot like godmoding for a while there, especially with Ryuji having taken his shields down and popping elude or something. 
))
With the would-be snipers distracted for a few moments, Hotaka took the opportunity to barrel out of cover, degrading a pillar with his toxins and having Waziri slash it through, taking down a catwalk and one or two Rikti not fast enough to jump to another.
Freaking jumpers! I swear, next time I'm stocking up on web grenades!
As he rounded some manner of storage container, he ran into another blade-wielding soldier, who wasted no time stabbing his weapon at him - and into a spray of vile venom.
Momentarily blinded, the Riti missed Hotaka diving down, the blade only slicing into his shoulder. But Ryuu got what he was after - the soldier's weapon.
Not spending time to chat, Hotaka blasted the armored attacker back with his own gun, then continued on to Pariku, who had become the target of a few more gunmen. Apparenly, Rikit were a lot like bees - tick one of them off and a lot more came at you.
Snatching the mage with him and diving behind cover again, Hotaka handed him the rifle.
"I think you'd do better with a little firepower." he smirked, pressing the gun into Pariku's hands, "Oughta have a few shots left. Old street proverb - watch your back, shoot straight, conserve your ammo, and never, ever cut a deal with a dragon."
He seemed thoughtful for a moment before adding, "On second thought, scratch that last one."
With that, he bolted to another cover, some manner of weird-looking cylinder with something spinning inside. All he knew is it was taking the fire for him, so it was good enough.
Now how to...?
Suddenly, the Rikti were screaming bloody murder! What the heck had happened?!
Peeking from his cover, Hotaka grinned as he saw the metal 'tombsone' under attack sway and fall over, right into the swirling energies of the circle, causing a flash brighter than the sun to cover the room.
Not to mention squshing the mage tied to it. But he'd looked pretty dead anyway, the magics having seared and torn at his flesh this entire time.
The entire room shook with the force of an earthquake as the arcane energies backlashed, the disrupted forces at work seeking some way out. The cannon was their first choice, quickly throwing a fit and quitting its duty in a shower of sparks and flames before exploding completely.
Other machines fell victim as well, and several of the shaken catwalks came down, crushing a good many of the enemy under them.
The portal, however, was still going, and the surviving Rikiti quickly made a beeline for it, carrying several boxes of who-knows-what as the first troop jumped into the gateway.
Others scrambled up and picked up their own loads, covering one another with fire more vicious than ever before and countering melee opponents with their blades...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
El Guapo Grande, being one of the closest to the portal and most magnificent of all, rushed the portal, stood in front of it, and began executing his Luchadore skills in bringing down one Rikti after another.
Some got through, but boy would they have scars to talk about.
"EVIL SHALL NEVER WIN!" Wielder shouted as he jumped forward, barreling into one of the Rikti carrying a box into the portal.
Throwing his arms wide, the tanker caused an aura of pure cold to emanate from his body, slowing the movements of all the Rikti around him which, coincidentally, were the Rikti struggling to get to the portal.
"THE FRIGID WINDS OF GOOD SHALL EXTINGUISH EVEN THE BITTER FLAMES OF EVIL!" Wielder explained as he started beating on a Rikti with his mace, ignoring the frantic shooting that was going on against his back.
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.
Pariku staggered under the weight of the large Rikti energy rifle.
"Dear me." he scoffed, adjusting his glasses with his left hand as he used his elbow to hoist it up. "What an unweildy device."
He soon discovered, however, that he was a crack shot, easily picking off foes one after another. Quite proud of himself, he would have been decidedly less so if he'd have known that he would have not hit a single one if it had not been for the autotargeting system.
"Yaaaaay!" Nena cheered, throwing her hand into the mix as she planted herself in front of the portal next to Guapo and Wielder, impaling a good number of the Rikti that managed to get past either of them.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
"Get away from there," Reginald said as the Rikti headed for the portal. More grenades attached to arrows exploded in their path. . .
"Damn. I am almost out of Vegan grenades," Reginald said as he nocked another explosive arrow. "I hope this primitive culture has an equivalent. . ."
Several Rikti clattered to the ground, the crates they carried crashing to the floor and opping open, spilling various devices everywhere. Strangely, they seemed to be mostly cell phones, radios, and just about any sort of device that communicated wirelessly.
And though several Rikti made it over the heroes and into the portal by jumping, many did not, cut off from their retreat.
But the Rikti weren't out of tricks quite yet.
Though their portal technology didn't take the easy way it, it was close. Conduits of negative energies surged back and froth from the portal, and there were many redundancies.
Being thus, several of them near said conduits tore them from the wall and attached the feed lines to their rifles, the bright shimmers of energy becoming dark and twisted-looking as they charged with negativity.
They fired relentlessly on the heroes gathered in front of their portal...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Ryuji facepalmed. He had made his way a short distance from the portal, but far enough away so he wasn't a chief target.
So...
The Rikti thought tethering themselves to a conduit was a good idea...WHY?!
Ryuji judged the distance, judged the amount of Rikti near the portal. And began throwing ice spikes at the conduits connected to the Rikti's guns.
Meanwhile, the glorious El Guapo Grande executed another powerful flaming hand clap while the Rikti were busy installing their negative guns. After all, they had to actually stop firing, reach down, pick up the conduit, plug it into their gun, lift the gun up, and continue firing. Not to mention this essentially tethered them to the portal. Even if their guns were slightly more powerful, they were sitting ducks.
((Actually, they more ripped the conduits out than anything else. ))
As the lines severed, the negative energies sprayed all over the room, combining with the loose magics to form a thrall of shadows and malevolence, clouding the area in darkness.
The Rikti magi quickly manipulated the shadows, forming the darkens of nights about the heroes as they covered the escapees.
However, the coduits weren't necessary to fire. They'd merely served for a charge. Sure, they had a limit of dark ammo now, but the Rikti didn't mind - all they wanted to do was jump through the portal.
Which they now attempted relentlessly, blasting everyone in range with negative energies - though not all of them had managed to convert their weaponry - and slicing at foes in melee range as they barreled for the gateway...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"I suppose it is about time someone actually attacked me," Reginald said, dodging negative energy blasts flying everywhere. "If not directly. . ." He scanned the area, trying to find a target, but the Rikti Magi's spell was too difficult for his sensors to break. . .
"They're getting away!" the Oracle said, looking as though she was watching an exciting film. "Oooh, I don't like this part. . ."
". . . Mommy, I don't understand. What are the alien people doing?" Reginald muttered under his breath.
"I'll tell you when you're older," the Oracle replied.
"Uaagh!!" Nena was blown backwards by the negative energy, completely overwhelmed. Instantly a stack of Rikti were on her, aggressively slicing at the paladin's flesh with their weapons.
The wounds were not as bad as they should have been, however, and though she screamed bloody murder, kicking and flailing and slashing with her sword, it was more of an angry scream than one of pain.
"Nena!" Pariku shouted, the mage's gaze darkening. Curses, man, Lord Apollo will never forgive you if you let his sister's Paladin fall. he thought disconsolately.
Magical energies washed over the group in front of the portal, stabilizing and strengthening them, bolstering their health.
"Get up, moron!!" the young man snarled.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
The room was totally shrouded in darkness, which actually worked to Xanders advantage for two seperate and ditstinct reasons; One, his father could no longer see him. And two, Stelleshand could operate freely.
The Nictus rebel teleported Xander beside Nena, just far enough away to avoid errant sword-strikes. Xanders body imploded into the Dark Nova form, and began blasting Rikti with extreme prejudice.
"JUSTICE CAN NEVER BE DEFEATED!" Wielder shouted as he vanished under the darkness and a apile of Rikti. "THE LIGHT OF GOOD SHALL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER THE FLICKERING DARKNESS OF EVIL!"
But with the pile of Rikti effectively blocking the numbing cold swirling from Wielder's armor, the other Rikti were taking their oppertunity to dive into the portal uninhibited.
"GLADYS INFORMS ME THAT I REQUIRE AID!" Wielder shouted as he headbutted a Rikti that was on top of him. "FOR EVEN THE MIGHTIEST FOCE OF GOOD MUST SEEK ALLIES AGAINST THE DARKNESS!"
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.
The Rikti suddenly felt their charge slowed as After-Image manifasted a large patch of nether energy in front of the portal. Looking at them, the ghost focused and all the Rikti in front of her were suddenly convinced that nothing but death awatied them ahead.
((Tar Patch and Fearsome Stare))
---
"Bolsheme." Svetlana tapped a few controls on the side of her suit. Dropping near the largest group of defenders, she infused light radiation that would quicken them before cranking another dial. The power within her suit went into overdrive and burst from her in a massive electromagnetic pulse.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
El Guapo Grande moved to the side of the firing Rikti, forcing a few of them to cease fire or risk hitting their comrades. He then charged full steam at the Rikti guarding the portal, glancing off their energy blasts (in his mind, negative energy was just energy that didn't feel good about itself) and even seeming to absorb some of them.
Ryuji, meanwhile, had gathered a few Rikti rifles from his frozen adverseries.
One notable thing about energy weapons was that they required a charge, and if it requires a charge, it means its combustible. and if there's no way for the energy in the rifles to release...well...boom.
It wasn't that difficult, he had done something similar during the war. It just meant turning on the gun's charging component and enabling the charge, then freezing the barrel.
He then began throwing his makeshift bombs at the Rikti below.
And all the lights in the room went out. Well, not all of them but all the major sources.
"Ack!" Hotaka grumbled, "Can't...see...squat...!"
Luckily, he didn't need to see to fight - his other senses gave him plenty of data, and he at least managed to avoid being massacred by the Rikti storming right by him and his Jounin now.
Taking quick action, said Rikti switched their suits to alternate vision modes, as the lack of light combined with the swirling darkest night would give them quite an edge.
Indeed, just about everything seemed to be missing them right now, and on after another, they hopped into the portal, which was now the main source of light in the room.
The quivering squadand a few othrs were now all that was left, and one of them managed to get to a red box labeled with a strange symbol group.
However, the blocked lever attached to it made it more than clear what the thing was, if anyone could have seen it - the fire extinguisher system. The Rikti had blocked it off to favor their development, but now it was no longer necessary, an it would certainly give those pesky heroes a run for their money.
The soldier pulled the lever down, and a harsh hissing echoed throughout the room as inflow pipes discharged their fire surpressant.
Halon!
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
Halon!
[/ QUOTE ]
Poisonous?
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.
((Very. So much it was banned by the Montreal Protocol.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"I BELIEVE WE SHOULD RETREAT!" Wielder shouted as the last Rikti on him jumped off and made a dash for the portal, only to be brained as the tanker threw his pipe, nailing the alien on the skull.
Quickly dashing forward and snagging his mace, Wielder looked around, for once at a loss of what to do. He knew the gas was dangerous, his own experience and Gladys were telling him so, but he didn't know how to stop it or even how to escape it. The only option looked like a mad dash through the gas, hoping that he could hold his breath long enough to escape or....
Going through the portal...
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: Oh, uh, keep in mind that El Guapo Grande is still on fire. Very, very hot. He's a walking torch.)
Ryuji wasn't afraid for himself. He couldn't die, but he could still feel pain.
His compatriots, however, could feel pain.
"Grande, let's get out of here," Ryuji called.
"But, the Rikti are still there! El Guapo Grande must inflict swift justice!" he called back.
"Just go, lead the others out you walking jalapeno. I'll deal with the Rikti. Or rather, we'll deal with the Rikti," Ryuji held up a whistle covered with chinese characters.
Blowing on the whistle, no sound apparently came out. There were, however, mists forming around his feet. The mists coalesced and became the shape of a great white wolf. In truth, she was the last wolf of Japan, named for her master: Hyouma, the Spectral Frost Wolf.
"We're going after those Rikti, it's not often they leave a portal open. You get the others out," Ryuji 'ordered'.
El Guapo Grande nodded reluctantly and signaled to the others to follow him.
Two other made no effort to leave. After-Image, being dead already, had nothing to fear from Halon. After giving the chemical a glance, the spirit had gone back to harassing the Rikti heading to the portal.
Rad Spike had a little bit of concern about the Halon, but her suit's filters would allow her to stay in an oxygen deprived environment for about twenty minutes before she would have to leave.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
(OOC: I guess I forgot to write the line "Ryuji deftly dodges Rikti energy blasts by standing right in front of them" lol. And it actually works too)
Ryuji felt the shift. He felt even more insulted and just shut his shielding powers off while he turned another Rikti into an ice bucket.
These Rikti seemed strange. Ryuji knew about their telepathic abilities, he and El Guapo Grande had both fought in the Rikti war and had learned their tricks. Their overreliance on technology was slightly compensated by their new use of the mages (that Ryuji was freezing solid one after another) but it still wasn't enough. El Guapo Grande was constantly doling out punishment with his Super Ball of Rikti Doom, and Ryuji had been dodging bullets since they were fired from single shot rifles and were about as accurate as throwing a rock over your shoulder. It was part of the reason he disliked them: even back when they were inaccurate, they were still predictable: any gun, no matter how powerful, no matter how accurate, couldn't hit something that wasn't there.
And the only time Ryuji stopped moving was to freeze someone solid.