Prior to The Beginning
Doc T materialises in the middle of Galaxy Plaza looking like he's had seven bells knocked out of him. Efforts to prevent his mechsuits powercore from breaching fail but do prevent any collateral damage from affecting the local area, and he appear to be vaporised. Those that have known him for a while will remember that this isn't necessarily an ongoing problem for Doc, but further investigation reveals that the severe damage was done by a chronoweapon of nictus-magitech design which may prevent his usual reconstitution: most people leap to the logical conclusion: Requiem. Shortly after, as people blink a bit in shock and then firm their resolve to continue the fight, Requiem gives them the chance to display that resolve all too soon:
Sitation Reports - Day One
CIRCE-01: Alert. Dimensional distortions detected.
CIRCE-01: Distortions occurring nationwide.
CIRCE-01: Shadowmaker suppression neutralised.
CIRCE-01: Philadelphia is under assault. Chicago is under assault. Los Angeles is under assault. Denver is under assault.
CIRCE-01: New York is under assault. Minneapolis is under assault.
CIRCE-01: Paragon City is under assault.
<The sound of artillery fire can be heard from the shattered districts of the city>
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Baumton.
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Faultine.
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Dark Astoria
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Hollows
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Peregrine Island.
<Across the city, the sounds of automatic weapons fire rises all around>
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Eden
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Crey's Folly
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Perez Park
CIRCE-01: Portal Detected: Terra Volta. Reactor under assault.
<In the skies above paragon, contrails of launching missiles slash into the sky, the launch sites appear to be Perez Park and the Hollows.>
<Portals are disgorging Requiem troops in every hazard zone of Paragon, and all across the world. Missiles are being fired at key sites from Hollows and Perez.>
<World militaries are responding, but erratically, due to infiltration and psyops by Requiem>
<In Peregrine Island, a flood of peacebringers are attempting to protect Portal Corp, seemingly a primary target>
<In TerraVolta, RC and the PCPD forces are struggling to stop Skyraiders and council striketeams from shutting down the TV reactor, clearly they are trying to destroy the war wall systems>
<Missile fire is pouring onto key hero bases and city sites from mobile launchers set up in the Hollows and Perez, Molok and his crew bashing their way to the sites>
<Requiem is spending his forces like water, using up his nictus talismans to give them extra oomph. Clearly this is his slamming-fist to stop the Heroes interfering with his plans>
<Dark Astoria is now the site of a massive battle between Zenith Mech Men and the Free Clocks>
<Perez Park is the site of the construction of what appears to be a large launch pad for biochem weapons, Inago is entereing this Zone and encountering heavy resistance>
<Across the city, people are starting to wake up to the threat, although at present it hasn't spilled into the inhabited streets>
<In TV, RC sees several teams leaving with what looks like an unpleasantly nuclear warhead from the looted TV armory>
<In PI, Requiem appears to have committed the substantial part of his Turned Kheldians, the screams of energy beasts fighting each other rocking across the zone>
<In the Hollows and Perez, resistance to the heroes is stepping up as time passes, as more and more troops flood through from hundreds of Requiem-dominated worlds>
<Screaming contrails start to tear across the sky as Requiem Faction fighter aircraft pour through a portal set up at Paragon Airport and launch, darting through the sky to duel the loyalist air arm.>
<Across the city, Knives of Artemis and Malta forces begin a counterassault against these Requiem interlopers, but half the Crey security forces sent to assist turn on their comrades and begin cutting them down>
<Red Commissar and his team see the warhead from the Armoury being airlifted out over the city towards Perez Park. Meanwhile, they continue to struggle to defend the reactor. Not one step backward!>
<Minutes tick past, then hours. Requiem's forces are strong, and being constantly reinforced. Paragon City appears to be the brunt of the attack, however, the other assaults merely there to prevent a unified response from global military and hero forces>
<Inago leads a force of Dark Clowns into Perez and succeeds in breaking through to one of the launch platforms, where they gleefuly smash things>
<In PI, the battle is bloody and hard-fought, the kheldians of earth striving to save their new home, the Turned Kheldians seeking to serve their new Dark Master.>
<In Dark Astoria, piles and drifts of smashed metal and pulped zombie bits pile up as each side struggles against each other and the Banished Pantheon strikes everyone>
<Reports come in across the city as the city forces, hero and conventional, begin to respond to the threat. The fighting is fierce, but so long as the TV reactor stays online, it will not spill into the inhabited city zones itself as the warwalls prevent much of it other than the occasional collateral damage. Naturally warwall entrances become vital chokepoints. RC calls on APs home defense troops to rally to the defense of the reactor, while General Hammond starts to bring through troops from the Shadow Shard to defend Portal Court>
OOC
Righto. The plan is that this battle (unless someone does something really stupid/innovative/both) will continue over the next 72 hours or so. Some might call this a bit railroady, but I have to try to make sure that mission times are available for everyone, and so that plenty of people can participate in the developing story. Naturally, the fighting will get bogged down, and heroes will thus get to be rotated out into the safe areas of the city (eg to let people get rest at GG or PocketD ) before going back in to the Hot Zones.
Stuff like people posting fiction stories into the thread or in the GG thread about what they've been up to would be really cool. Be innovative while staying within the descriptions of whats occurring above. I will be updating it with progress probably Saturday Night and Sunday Midday.
From the GoDComm Files: Excerpts from Hero deployment reports.
"...Sylpheed, the self-identified "High-Manouvreability Combat Simulacrum" is currently and continuously engaging in skirmish actions throughout the hazardous terrain of Overbrook. Backup recommended..."
"...current roster of kheldians in defense at Pereguin Island:
[Abridged]
Starforge: Portal Corps Building. Liaising with science team.
...
...
Penumbral Song: In zone. Whereabouts unknown due to stealth operations, stated purpose "Nictus Annihilation."
...
Baumton Zone Surveillance Systems, Multi-Camera Synthesised Footage
Machine fighting rages across the zone. Requiems troops, and machineries of war throw themselves in unceasing waves at the drone armies of Doctor Temporis's Lab. At 1:12am, 29/07/06, a hero in combat armour, with oceanlike blue-green hair, identified by files as Arachidamia, is first seen in zone, systematically decimating a Requiem patrol. As the night unfolds she is everywhere, lending the mystic might of her sword arm to tip the balance in the favour of the defenders, moving with uncanny speed to take out commanders. healing grievous wounds like they were nothing. The situation slowly settles down into a fluid stalemate.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Portal corp, 3:00am
Portal access authorised, subject: Fridan
Fridan burst out from the portal to the Shadow Shard at top speed, closely followed by 10....30.....60.... 100 men. The soldiers kept coming, lining up in formation in front of Fridan.
"Alright men, you heard the briefing, we're on auxiliery defense force here. You've all been linked up to my teleport system so we can react where we're needed." Fridan took a short moment to analyise the men under his command, the battle hardened troops of the Shadow Shard, he couldn't have asked for a tougher group of soldiers. "Those of you that have served with me before know that I fight with my men, we can defeat this threat together."
With that he actived the teleporter and joined the battle outside portal court.
An island 3 miles NW of Peregrine, one hour earlier
"The automated defenses are holding up fine father. I've dispatched one heavy assualt unit to assist each zone underattack.... no, I had to build some more..... yes, I'll get on it." Cadmia dashed from one side of the lab to the other, red lights glaring all over. "I've managed to intercept quite a few of the missles, but there's no way to intercept all of them.... yes, I'll keep trying. Father? Will you be here soon?"
Portal Corp, 01:15 am
Ellie crouched behind the sandbags in front of the Portal Corp's north building, panting heavily from exertion, her armour covered in grime from the battle, and torn in several places. Checking both sides to check the status of her squad, fellow PeaceBringers all, she peeped over the barrier.
Before her was a wall of Requiems troops, and dotted amongst them, Nictus; both Dark Nova, and Black Dwarf forms. As she watched, several squads of Peacebringers swooped from the sky, opening fire on the enemy.
Looking back at her squad, she spoke, "You guys set?"
Around her, her squad nodded in acknowledgment and they all powered up, ready to re-enter the fray.
With a nod at her squad, and a glance over at her fiancé's position, Ellie let loose a wordless battle cry and lept over the barrier with her squad, and charged at full speed into the massed enemy.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dark Astoria 2200 hours
The Clockworks continued their atempts to push back the resilliant Council, but their numbers matched the Clocks, and they were stronger in general though something was up...
As they waded through the Clocks, smashing, grabbing, blasting, their numbers didn't seem to thin. Well they were, but they wern't doing so at any great speed. Their caculations were that they wiped out the Clockworks who attacked Striga Isle, all of them.
But theres were not ordinary clocks, the Requiem forces had seen them before. They were not made out of rusted metal, they were made from solid sheets, and they happened to be powerful. Very powerful. They had a terquoise glow to their eyes rather than a green one, and each had a backpack to them that seemed to store some form of energy.
The BOW Clocks had arrived on earth to replace the Earth's clocks until more could be manufactured, which they were. Clockworks continued to pour out of the makeshift backup portal in Dark Astoria, under Moth Cemetary while what few clockworks had managed to escape from the assult on Striga now worked hard to build new Earth bound Clocks.
"FOR THE KING!" They shouted as the continued to rush out.
A Paladin crashed against a giant warcry, the pair fighting for control over the battlefield, their blows ringing out as shards of metal were scratched off the Paladin, and a lightning encased mace delivered a devistating hook.
Clockworks were blasted and destroyed, but new ones took their place as groups oof seven all ganged up and dogpiled Mechmen before stripping them of parts and repairing their fallen comrades.
"It would seem this will take a while." A mechman spoke, watching the battle calmly. He wasn't of the council though, he too bore the mark of the Free Clockworks of Dark Astoria.
"Don't worry Gustaf, what could they posssibly do to them?" A Skyraider jumpbot indicated too the armies. Indeed, things seem to be going well... seemed to be...
A red blast shot across the sky, as wide as a building with enouh cracling energy that Clocks near it were fried. It was a beam from some sort of energy weapon, and it was aimed straight at Paladin.
Paladin MK II stumbled back a bit with the sheer force of the blasst, before lighting crackled around him. Paladin bust in to two Babbages, then ten princes and collapsed to the ground, a rain of Clockworks just falling. Falling.
Failing.
The Giant Warcry went about his business and started to lay seige to the forces of the Clockworks, as drones of them attempted to repair the damage done to Paladin, sometimes sacraficing their own arms, legs, heads to do it.
"Okay, Now we worry." The Jumpbot comented.
"Lets do it!" Reignforcements poured out of the buildings around the battlefield. Every kind of android, robot, machniation, machine, any form of free artifical life had come to the Clockwork's aid. Former servants of vile masters, such as Gustaf the Mechman, Jump bots, Arachnos Spiders, two Malta Hercules Titans, a Nemesis suit reprogramed and any other robots I may have missed. Even the gardians of Talos; Lummerai and Citidel. The quicker this fight could be fought, the sooner the Clocks could move on to other areas.
A battle for the ages indeed... Lets just hope the heads of the city doesn't decide to let off a huge EMP device in Dark Astoria, it would be effective, but catastrophic.
Rouge Isle - Cap Au Diable - 0300 (3am)
Villains.
That is what they were, they were nothing more than villains fighting the wrong way, doing what they wanted to do and nothing else.
This time they had been drawn in to the battle for good, againts their will. It would apear that the forces of the Council have tried to infiltrate the ranks of Arachnos and disrupt any major counter-attack they had planned. Fortunatas fought against Wolf-spider defectors while Arbiters guarded feircely the Lords and Ladys of the island collections.
Wolf Spider Rika, or rather Fortunata Rika blasted at a Council member with a telekenetic blast, throwing him backwards while her own private taskforce of thugs and ex-mercs went to work, filling him with more holes than a wire fence.
"Rika! We can't keep this up!" Shouted one of her thugs, the weakminded Dan.
"We have to! We have to find the rest of the crew! If we find Shadow-girl, Greenbuck, Darkanimator, anyone we'll be able to actually do something!" She took up one of the council's fallen weapons. While she looked odd, a Fortunata with a weapon, she had spent the better part of half a year carrying a weapon to defend herself when her powers died. Now they had come back, there was no stopping her.
In theory.
"Get back to the base! We'll stock up on weapons and Wake Loraine there!"
And with that, they ran.
Rouge Isle - Port Oaks - 0349 hours (3:49 AM)
Over by the entrance to the nightclub, Pocket D, a man in green Fatiges stood, tending to the wounds of others. His mind was a sharp one and his attatude towards work was increasingly so.
"Get this one inside!" Dr Westminster shouted, over the body of a wounded villain.
"Then this one! Stat!" Kold Fusion shouted. He didn't know as much medicien as Doctor Wesminster, but he knew enough for triage.
"Arcthia!" Dr Westminster shouted to a plant girl in a green leather straps and spines protruding every so often, her eyes closed lightly, but never opening. "Tell Dr Macavity or whatever his name is and Dr Apokolypse they're on! If they don't show up we'll start loosing villains!" She nodded and ran off. "LETS MOVE PEOPLE! WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASTE!"
((Sorry about the spelling. A random insight in to the villains side of things))
Portal Corp, 10:42
The Grav Mistress and Tiger White stepped out a wormhole into the Portal Corp courtyard, staring down quite a few barrels of assault rifles.
After a moment looking around Grav spoke: We have Kheldian reinforcements coming in soon, whos in charge so we can coordinate?
The soldiers on the inner courtyard looked to their sergeant, the sergeant looked around a bit nervously before speaking his hope: Uh, you are Maam
Glad her combat goggles hid the look of horror that would have been apparent in her eyes, she began giving orders I need to now whats going on.. Tiger, go have a look, let me know whats going on, help where you can turning to the sergeant, as Tiger White took to the sky, and about to speak as masses of Peacebringers arrived through teleportation, most already entering the battle upon surveying the situation for a moment.
Taking up a com unit, Grav declared: This is Grav, Im coordinating the defence for Peregrine now and with that, began the slow progress of bringing order to the chaos.
Luckily, the Shadow Shard troops were able to send reinforcements, with them came General Hammond and at 11:45, Grav turned over command to the much more experienced general.
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
03:12am
The Nightbreaker teams stalked Pereguin. The combats were happening across pretty much the entire island, as scattered troops fought to stop more of Requiems forces joining the assault on portal corps. Nightbreaker was the warshade response. Teams of 10, cloaked, energies muted, moved amongst the buildings, striking strategic points, fighting then fading to fight again.
Penumbral Song, designated Commander of Nightbreaker Squad 3, ghosted at speed through the ruin of a demolished building. A cluster of troops, normal and nictus enhanced, including a handful of full nicti, was ahead. The signal was silent, unseen, but at her command, Nightbreaker 3 moved to encircle.
As they moved up, unseen, unheard, thoughts flitted across the dual-mind of Rachel. Her team were united by common cause, a hate of the nictus, a hate born of disgust and remorse, that they had once been like this too. Still, there was the Song, underlying everything. The wave she had most recently experienced in the Shadowmaker chamber was here too, more diffuse, but that energy signature was a subtle pull, a seductive Siren Song, inviting those receptive to it to return to its dark, warm arms. Each of her troops had felt this call, felt their dead pasts calling to them. Each had chosen to stand firm, holding to their words, to their promises and consciences, and above all to the Path of the Warshade, their road to repentance. Some had not resisted, and they were also the enemy tonight.
NB3 encircled their target, which was marching towards the front lines at a forced pace. Three more seconds, and the attack began. Ten warshades, decloaking around and within the formation, began to power up and shapeshift, waves of dark energy syphoning out of the soldiers, power stolen from the foe heightening their strength. Several of the warshades where hit by weapons fire, both mundane and dark energy, but none serously enough as to be unable to deliver the coup de grace, multiple overloaded dark nova detonations, Quasars and dark blasts, the nictus's own energies and weapons turned back against them and apmlified a thousand-fold. Some assumed the dwarf shape, and battered down the defenses of those foes still clinging on, absorbing any return fire. The discharge of dark energy was immense, soldiers dropped where they stood, overwhelmed, nictus simply evaporated under the intense bombardment.
At the clearing of the air, the ten standing, but battered and exhausted warshades assumed human shape once again, and another burst of energy occurred, the stygian techniques of their race syphoning vitality and strength from their fallen foes' energies, refreshing the team.
Rachel/Silent Song, the unity that was Penumbral Song, looked around at the faces of her team, nodded once in grim satisfaction, and gave the order to cloak and move out. This would be a battle they would have to repeat many times, this night. A dangerous stratagem, but they faced the danger gladly. Against this foe, all risk was worth facing.
Purple blurs faded into empty air, and only a hotspot of dark energy residue was left to indicate the passage of Nightbreaker 3.
That and the fallen foe.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Perez Park was ablaze, the fire sparked off by the flamethrowers of Reqium's forces. They had formed a defensive perimeter around the missiles, protecting them with all manor of weaponry. The flames would keep most out and the vast array of quantum weapons and miniguns would shred anyone else to pieces. These men had been well trained and were ready for anything. A quiet confidence filled each and every one of the soldiers.
A breeze swept singed leaves and embers into the air, carrying them across the darkening sky. Shadows seemed to move and creep towards the men. They gathered in dark pools around their feet unnoticed. All eyes were focused ahead, waiting... A sudden yell and a piercing scream shattered any certainty of victory. Troopers were engulfed by clouds of gloom, fighting for their lives. Infront of them the flames parted to show the approach of a twisted horde of hellish clowns. The Circus was in town...
Skidding round the corner of a building Solar stopped for a rest, his costume battered form the onslaut. These men were very well trained, nothing like the forces of this world. Glancing at the smoke rising from the fire he noticed that more seemed to be surrounding the large structures that had appeared after the forces had arrived. Wether they had been built then or in foresight was unknown to him.
Solar ducked round the corner as the trooops caught up with him, bullets ricocheting off the concrete. It seemed if he could get into the blazing forest that he might have a chance of losing the determened troops in the heat. "How ironic" He thought "They always said that a fire would do a world of good for Perez."
A smoking shell came soaring to the corner, a grenade. Solar tried to jump out of the way. And started to run towards the blaze. Just a little further.
((Is this a good post? My first time posting a bit of a plot, got involved yesterday with Doc's bit at GG 
))
[ QUOTE ]
((Is this a good post? My first time posting a bit of a plot, got involved yesterday with Doc's bit at GG ))
[/ QUOTE ]
(( Yup, good post! And welcome on board 
))
I've added a piece of fiction, and put it up on Creative, it's found here: A long day...
Boomtown, 22:37:
Clearing out some of the area, the blue colossus Tower of Power was fighting the good fight, or rather, doing some light exercising with a group of Trolls when something ran past him at great speed
followed not long after him with what sounded a lot like swearing.
Turning to where the hero came from, Erik didnt have to wait long to see what had the hero so spooked: a rocket propelled grenade soon hit him in the chest, the explosion sending him hurdling backwards.
Getting up and lifting up a large slab of concrete, Erik was resolved to delay the group of council at least a while longer to give the speeding swearer time to alert
anyone.
As guns were being fired, Erik jumped up high and got on top of the concrete: The longer he could prevent getting hurt, the longer hed be able to hold them off. About 10 feet above the ground, he jumped off into an other group, mumbling: Im going to feel this in the morning
and hoping to high heavens the hospital beacons would hold true.
Galaxy City, near the GG statue, 22:03
Woken up from a catnap by a lot of commotion by the statue, Attomic Kitten crept closer to observe. From her position in a tree, she could hear just about everything said.
After all had left, she was wondering
who would keep the more local groups in check?
Dropping off the branch, she ran to search for Chop Fooey. Disappointed as always to abandon his mighty meal, he took up his axe with glee none the less to assist the Kitten in her patrolling of Steel Canyon.
Skyway City, GHOST Corp building, 22:45
Listening to the reports on official channels, CEO Peter Ghost decided to call in and ask his pilots Felicity, Vivian and Elena to report for deployment.
Not long after, Shadow-Ghost and his Angels F, V and E hit the streets of Skyway in not fully tested battle armours to dissuade local gangs to take advantage of the heros preoccupation.
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
Nova Prospekt - 2200 hours
The hum of the four, brand new computers and the clanging bells of landlines and mobile phones - Kata looked at the television set again, nervously. Still no reports, which meant no panic. She picked up the phone.
"Kata. You paged me?"
"Open the gates, Gregor, it's time to let our baby loose."
She hung up one telephone and picked another one up.
"Kata. I believe we must act now."
"Yes Ana, agreed. Are you charged up, as it were?"
"I can fight if it become necessary. Where are we meeting?"
"Steel Canyon. I'm bringing a friend, or two"
"I will wait at the Southern station. Good luck."
Two more phones were ringing. This time Kata picked them both up.
"Zoullar, CB - It's time. Steel Canyon. Prepare for a struggle."
She hung up before either even had a chance to speak. Now wasn't the time for manners.
29/7/6 - 20:00 hours
Emergency Medical Center - Galaxy City
Minako went to brush the hair back out of her face, leaving a trail of blood across her forehead. The bed in front of her was empty now, she couldn't even remember the face of the hero who had been lying on it, or if it had even been a hero or one of the city police troops.
Either way, he'd be back in the fight now. She looked around, room spinning slightly as she looked for the next victim, wondering how long it would be before those she sent back out would come in again, or if they'd make it this far at all.
A hand on her shoulder stopped her, something white and damp pressing at her face and hands, wiping away the blood. Minako blinked, and looked up into the face of one of the nurses, an empath like her, but one who's powers extended as far as diagnosis, not healing.
"Don't know if you prefer Minako or Hikari right now, but either way you're exhausted. You've been here since this all began, and you didn't look too fresh then. You need to go home and get some rest, before we end up with you on the tables too."
Minako blinked at her again. "Home..." She bit her lip, tears starting to form in her eyes. Home wasn't a place of safety any more, home was where he wouldn't be, where the counterstrike against Requiem was being prepared, where once she'd been happiest, able to pretend she could be normal again.
The nurse frowned at her, pulling her into a hug briefly. "Heard about your dad, I'm sorry. You want me to call you a taxi?"
Minako shook her head numbly. "No, it's ok, it's not far to walk..."
Minako stumbled out onto the street, heading for the statue, and the faint hope of finding some peace inside herself, or at least somewhere safe to cry.
The shimmering spirit portal vomited the barely conscious form of Andre Kraft, better known as Coile, back to reality. He stayed kneeling, retching but his stomach contained nothing further to be spewed out. The brief war in the spirit realm had been very taxing but was over for now. He wondered how many of his companions had survived. He wondered how he had survived.
His thoughts were cut much like the tree he was close to. A laser sliced the tree trunk in half and an exploding shell that hit the ground no more than twenty paces away threw him to his back. Dazed he tried to glance around. It was a warzone. A squad was closing in on him fast. He tried to get up but something in the air made his muscles liquid.
He thought his arms would come off their sockets as he was yanked up by something whoosing by at incredible speed and banking before the tree line quickly taking altitude. A familiar voice spoke to him.
"Good evening Coile, I am pleased to find you yet intact."
"Steel? Steel Guard, is that you?"
"I do hope your senses start serving you better fast. We are in a middle of a war in here."
"Yeh, I saw that. What the blazes is going on? Wait, weren't whose...?"
"Yes, Requiem has started a major assault all over the world and especially here in Paragon City. Multiple zones are under attack. I actually came here to find you since you stubbornly refused to acknowledge my contact attempts."
"I was in the spirit world, Steel. What about the rest of the team?"
"Miss Subaiku is still in a light coma. Xan has been fighting the tide in Crey's Folly. I got one word from Miss Coila when this started, she is fighting Requiem in the subterranean. Miss Dawn, I have not been able to contact since she left on Friday."
"I didn't drive her away!"
"I did not say you did."
"We just had a professional argument, there's *nothing* more to it!"
"If you say so."
"Steel, how bad is it?"
"I would say as bad as it gets but I would be lying. Most inhabited areas are still not under direct assaults but that can change at any given time." Having flown to his intended target he descented back to ground level. "This portal will take you to Galaxy City. Visit our base, learn all you can of the situation. We need our leaders up with all possible details. When you are ready I am at your call."
Then Steel Guard finally let go of Coile's hands giving him a directed swing that sent him through the portal. Then he checked his sensors and picked a location. The war was still on and just as unrelenting as it had been the whole weekend.
Situation Reports: Day Two (Saturday), Day Three (Sunday)
Combat Zone: Baumton
Fighting in this zone intensified in the later part of the Saturday as the Laboratory came under direct assault from Requiem-Council forces in an attempt to sever the co-ordinating GoDNet. A hero team comprised of Lyn-Legend, Inago, Shadowe, Hikari-Hime, Molok, Sara Aegis and Grav Mistress fought off the invasion and restored the mainframe system at heavy cost in injuries.
Combat Zone: Faultline
Repeated assaults on the dam have at present been beaten back by conventional forces, though there is no organised hero presence in this area at this time.
Combat Zone: Dark Astoria
The ongoing conflict between the Free Clocks and Requiem's Mech Men continues, with the spiritual forces of the Banished Pantheon revelling in the destruction. Requiem's troops appear to be attempting to secure an area for the construction of immense machines of war.
Combat Zone: Hollows
The Hollows is a warzone, one of the key fronts in the ongoing war due to its proximity to Atlas Park. The Council beachead is now firmly entrenched in Eastgate heights, with house to house fighting occurring in Cherry Hills and Four Seasons.
Combat Zone: Peregrine Island.
Requiem-Council forces hold Cutlass Isle and Tempest Quay and are using this to launch incessant attacks on the Portal Corporation facilities. It is clear that they seek to possess the large portal systems there to facilitate their invasion, and perhaps deny the city's heroes the ability for swift dimensional travel. General Hammond and his men are defending along with much of the city's peacebringers, but the Shadow Shard bases are thus undermanned and coming under heavy Rularuu assault.
Combat Zone: Eden
Aveda Towers and the Serpentine have become chaotic since a hero team including Sara Aegis stirred up the Devouring Earth against the council facilities being set up in Aveda Towers. REquiem's forces are now resorting to chemical defoliants to hold back the insane plant tide, and as a result of this distraction heroes were able to destroy a Vampyrification Plant being set up in the Utopia Complex.
Combat Zone: Crey's Folly
Tangle Town and Portal Industries are the site of a large Council beachead, with fierce fighting occurring in the Water Works and Crey Factories. Tactical analysis indicates that Council forces are attempting to break through to Brickstown and secure control of the Ziggurat. Further, Requiem's troops appear to have some sort of agreement with the denizens of Carnival Town and the Circus, who have been providing them with shocktroops.
Combat Zone: Perez Park
Perez Park is aflame, smoke rising from the centre of the city high into the air. The fighting here is heavy, though Inago and Dark Clowns successfully destroyed the chem/bio rocket site that was being set up on the Evertt Lake Island. Luckily the Hydra are immune to the toxis gas which now blankets much of the lake. Still, Requiem's forces are constantly reinforcing here, as it allows them to strike hard at exits to much of the city, trying to push their way into the inhabited areas.
Combat Zone: Terra Volta
The situation at the Reactor has quietened, since the city has deployed heavy forces here to ensure that the warwalls, the thing keeping the city together, stay operational. Accordingly the fight here has become one of shadow, of knives and sileenced bullets in the dark, as Requiem's shadowtroops try to infiltrate the facility.
Combat Zone: Croatoa
The city of Salamanca has been captured by Requiem's forces, who are currently using the residents as human shields while they set up command and control systems in the town itself. Certain of the Cabal have been suborned by Requiem and they are leading mind-controlled squads of Tuatha and Redcaps against the remaining defenders. The PTA line has been cut by an air attack, and the council appear to be moving heavy grading equipment in to construct some sort of airbase.
Steel Canyon, 0500 hours
Wiping sweat from her eyes, Kata checked her equipment once again: Her trusty sword was looking even more battered than usual, tiny flecks of blood visible on the shaft. Her golden battle-armour shone in the early light, reflecting the cluster of bodies that lay before her. Her kit-bag, a battered old Gladstone that smelt now of burnt rubber, containing coils of corded wire, a sharp wire-cutter and a number of 'interesting' devices - It was amazing what you found in Council bases and Sky-Raider hideouts!
Kata cut a long length of the thick cord and began tying the Council soldiers together, intertwining it between limbs and torsos. Then, when she had finished 'packaging' her captives, she attached one of the small devices to the bundled men.
Time to test the theory she thought, grabbing hold of the men and activating her emergency medi-porter...
Nothing! Kata thought she heard a dull beep as the teleportation field failed to activate. Then the device must have kicked in and jammed the signal. The Russian heroine allowed herself a smug smile of satisfaction - not only was she about to unleash the robot on Requiem's troops, she had also managed to prevent The Ziggurat from being overrun by a limitless supply of Council thugs. This war was going to be a lot more fun than she had first thought.
0800 The Zigurat
Deep within the bowels of The Zig, The Mutant known as The Rotting has awoken. Sensing the Dimensional disturbances has somehow broke her coma. Guns are firring streams of bullets outside and although she has been servely de-powered by the chemical Inhibators, she is clear enough of mind to know when the hell to get out! part one of her escape plan is about to come underway.
Sunday
After having no sleep since friday, Inago almost collapsed in the hospital bed hew as being treated in for his wounds. He'd led the counter attack in Perez, helped rescue the Doc's Lab, and sent forces to fight in Croatoa.
He joined the fight in Croatoa this evening and through the night after stopping on Peregrine to wish people good luck. After tonight he'll need some sleep or collapse from exhaustion.
Sunday
Having missed the call to the battle lines Veskitsoon found himself something useful to do. The combined forces of the Freakshow and the Tsoo had decided that with, the majority of Paragon's hero population busy, the time for them to take over was now.
Their plans hit a slight snag however, as Ves, in the truest fashion of the FA hurled himself into them with reckless abandon, often fighting them alone though being joined by Mephiston for a period and meeting up with a young warrior of the Cirque as she laid waste to the ranks of the Tsoo while uttering many dark curses (that sort of language is most unexpected from such a young lady, she really could cuss like a trooper, put Ves and Meph combined to shame)
Eventually the trio managed to break the drive of the gangs, those that didn't end up in the Zig were pushed back into the sea, though they were few in number. The small team then went their seperate ways to tend to their wounds and ready themselves for any further trouble, hoping that the next time there wouldn't be quite so much damage to the surrounding area (those Freakshow Tanks can make quite a dent in a car when slamming a half crazed cyborg into the side of them, and windows break far too easily when the afore mentioned cyborg gets up and slams the Freak Tank right back)
"Understood Doctor. I have detained some 'regular' Council soldiers. I'll ask Mr. Blade to deploy some of his troops to Perez and the rest to Independence Port."
Kata hung up. Her initial excitement at testing out the teleport-jammers was quickly superceded by the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to deploy the giant robot in the way she had wanted. From all accounts Baumton was under control, which left Perez. She made a decision and contacted Gregor and Zoullar over the comms.
***
Two hours later and Kata stood by the gate to Perez, watching the last of the defence force disappear amongst the trees. She looked up at the giant robot, then to Gregor and Zoullar.
"Take care of yourselves. Just keep patrolling - no doubt the gangs will be diving out of your way when they see that thing coming."
The two men nodded and marched off into the park. Kata left to the sound of heavy gunfire and screams and made her way back to Nova Prospekt, allowing herself another smile.
***
"This is Azuria. May I ask of whom I am speaking to?"
Kata replied, giving her hero name. "I need to be teleported from Galaxy City to Terra Volta. Is it possible?"
"Of course. May I ask the nature of your trip?"
Kata thought back to a story Jakob, otherwise known as Red Hammer, had told her: The time he had gone up against the Sky Raiders who had been trying to destroy the reactor core. It was plausible enough.
"Very well, Arctic Princess. I would like to know why you feel unable to make your own travel arrangements, though. As a matter of personal interest."
"I...er - look, the Reactor may be in terrible danger. I must get there as soon as possible." Kata rallied, trying to bluff her way out of a difficult situation.
"Of course. Well, I can perform the teleportation spell now if you wish?"
"Over the phone?"
"Miss Bromovich - magic is a very strong force in this city. You should know."
Before Kata had a chance to reply, or even consider this, she was enveloped in a brilliant white light. When she rematerialised under a silo in the Coroman Manufacturing plant, it took her a few moments to catch her breath. Then it happened - all those times she had been 'ported by colleagues and her body decided that now was the time to do it:
Katarin-Marie Bromovich, known to the public at large as Arctic Princess, resplendent in her golden battle-armour and carrying one of the Red Commissar's spare rifles in place of her battered and blunted sword, threw up.
When Kata looked up, she did so into the barrels of ten Council rifles.
"Put your weapon down!" barked one of the men: He looked the Sergeant type. Kata complied, resting the gun on the floor. Another soldier kicked it away from her.
"Well, what have we here? Little woman decided to come and play hero, eh?" The man's accent was definitely Italian. Perhaps the reality he and his men had come from was one where Requiem had been particularly successful.
The gruff, arrogant sergeant spoke again. "Bromovich, show this little girl here what we think of her."
Kata felt a sense of unease as a soldier stepped forward and removed his mask. She stared directly at hi--
"Oh my--" Kata stared at the woman. Her eyes were a little more drawn than Kata's, and she was somewhat thinner in the face. On the woman's forehead was a branded mark of The Council. Before Kata could even say another word the other woman pursed her lips and spat in her face. The spittle hit Kata on the forehead of her mask and ran down her covered cheek.
The company laughed. Kata felt sick again, but not from being teleported this time - she knew that this was her time. She was facing her doppelganger and only one of them would come out of this alive, if the old story had any element of truth in it.
"Lousy American pig!" snarled the 'other' Bromovich. Her accent was unmistakeable - pure Belarusian.
Kata's eyes flared up. Although she felt weak inside she drummed up the courage to get on her feet. The men surrounding the pair raised their rifles but the Sergeant, sensing an interesting fight, bade them to stop. The two women circled each other, the 'other' Kata cast her rifle aside and spat on the floor by her opponent's feet. Kata II spoke, in Russian:
"Look at you. You are nothing. You are despicable. I would not touch you if you were something on the bottom of my shoe. Why do you not simply turn around and run back to your mother and climb back inside her?"
So it was coming to this, was it? Insults? Well, our Kata could trade insults all night, but she had a much better plan:
"I warn you, I am a powerful psychic." Kata II's eyes narrowed when she heard her adversary speaking Russian. There was something hauntingly familiar about her, too.
"Oh yes? Well then why don't you just crush my mind and be done?"
"I would, but you see Princess, I don't think I have it in me."
Kata II looked a little shaken. Princess? Nobody had called her that since her--
"Father?" Kata continued. "I'm guessing you never got the opportunity to work in the CIA, Katarin-Marie Bromovich. But I'll tell you this for nothing, I bet you lied and cheated and stole your way to the top?" Kata turned her gaze to the Sergeant and the man shuffled his feet uncomfortably. She smiled and nodded. "It is as I thought." Kata tapped the side of her head, noting that her adversary was shaking a little and the company surrounding them were uneasy. She took the opportunity to reach for her back-up weapons in a small, concealed pouch on her left thigh. The small, sharp blades were a comfort.
Kata II's throat was far too dry now. She had been told, as every other soldier in her troop had been, that these Americans were weak. They were unworthy of attention and were to be crushed. Now she was facing a Russian psychic, one who knew all about her. She longed for home, a place which made sense - a place where The Order took care of her and everyone else who was fit enough to serve Requiem.
Kata looked her double straight in the eye and with a swift and graceful movement she pulled back her mask.
"You! You're--" Kata II fell to the floor clutching her throat as an elbow connected with her larynx. Kata grabbed her dirty blonde hair with her right hand and time slowed down:
The men surrounding them were stunned into silence and inaction, giving Kata time to practice her throwing skills. She wrenched her double up by the hair in front of her and fired several blades from her left hand. They found their targets, causing a few of the men to reel away and drop their guns, clutching a bleeding cheek or sliced finger. Kata grabbed her captive firmly and walked slowly backwards, eyeing a dark alleyway. The last thing the men heard was what sounded like their own colleague shouting, "Look behind you, Fascist pigs!"
It was the last thing the men heard purely because when they turned around to look behind them they saw a nightmarish figure - a metal man with facial piercings and what appeared to be a robotic arm with a buzz-saw attached to the end.
"Welcome to Paragon." It said, with a lascivious smile. "Time to get Freaky!"
Richard Huntinton III, known in the media as Shadowe, stared hard across the vast expanse of the Terra Volta island. Since his near death the previous day his power had, though not grown, become more refined than ever before. He couldn't see very much on this dark and cloudy night, but he hoped his other senses would aid him more in any case.
Closing his eyes he expanded his awareness to fill the area enclosed within the War Walls.
A thousand thousand ripples of energy struck his mind - the brilliant roar of the reactor beneath him, electricity arcing through cables, lights burning brightly throughout the region. He blocked all of these out. Of far more importance to him right now were other energy signatures - the twisted fabric of half-a-dozen portals tore at his mind, and the slowly moving heat signatures of dozens of Council troopers. Occassionaly he sensed the sharp burst of heat and light from gunfire, and even less often, the steady hiss and roiling tympanic percussion of a flamethrower.
He snorted as he realised he was getting almost poetic in his mental descriptions of the things he sensed. He only wished that he could sense things beyond the Electromagnetic spectrum, Bosons, Fermyons and Leptons. That was a lot, granted, but some things in this crazy world couldn't be explained by physics alone, and Richard and his powers were firmly grounded in real physical phenomena.
He sensed a cautiously moving platoon of Council soldiers approaching a squad of unaware PPD SWAT troopers who were pinned down by machine-gun fire from behind a gas conduit.
"Time for action." Richard closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, and his battle-armour appeared to fade into nothingness around him. It was actually stored in a frozen state extra-dimensional holding pen attached to Richard's wristwatch - a stroke of pure genius on his part, even if he did say so himself.
Replacing the armour was a skin-tight, matte-black body suit, with a full mask covering every inch of Richard's face. A dark cape, every inch blacker than a clouded winter night, fluttered in the breeze.
Drifting silently down from his observation point, he dropped quietly to the ground just ahead of the Council soldiers, in a deep shadowed recess.
As the first Council soldier drew abreast of him, he spoke, in a clear ringing voice.
"Fear the darkness, soldiers of Requiem. In Paragon City, the darkness fights back!"
Unleashing a devastating explosion of solar energy at them, he shifted his body into, and moved, darting away from his original concealed spot into another shadowed cubby-hole slightly further on.
He watched as machine gun fire ripped into his first hiding place. As it did, he released a ball of energy that raced into the middle of the troops before exploding in a shower of force.
By this time, the PPD had noticed the commotion, and turned around, realising that there was another threat here.
As one, they opened fire on the few Council soldiers who were still conscious.
Richard smiled, a tight grim smile, and swept into the night sky in search of new prey.
"Beware, Requiem," he muttered. "Darkness is coming for you. You never know what might be hiding in the shadows."
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise ; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
Three days, Fridan had been fighting constantly for three days. His unit had made their way to every front, providing a stong extra defense force for the forces at Peregrine, leading a central assualt on the enemies based in croatoa, forming a line against the advance on Terra Volta, storming the streets of Talos and Steel to slow the advance of the gangs. They'd seen every front of battle, lost friends at each.
Fridan had orginaly been granted one thousand men as the advanced unit from the Shadow Shard, with General Hammond coming later to back up the forces in Peregrine. Now he was left 463, another 212 behind the lines waiting for his order to advance.
He looked out at the state of the battle. His troops had set up an falcon formation, one of Fridan's tricks from home. It was having the desired effect, his men had divided the enemy lines perfectly. Taking a last look at the situation from his vantage point, Fridan teleported into the center of the battle, turning the tide again.
-----------------------
Three days. Akkarin hasn't moved in three days. In the Arcane room of the Fletched Alliance tower he sits, perfectly still. The only movement in the room is the steady rotation of the power crystal and the pacing of a small black cat, a look of concern in her deep green eyes.
In the dark parts of the city, where the battle rages and emotions run high, things are stirring. Every now and then, shadows can be seen lunging for Requiems troops, cutting deeply.
April was enjoying her vacation, picking up the latest Jeffrey Deaver novel, she leaned back on her sun lounger, and left the endless paperwork and caseload of the Agency behind.
Her life had been good since returning to Paragon City, as good as it could be without Diana, but time was healing her sense of loss.
April's reverie was disturbed as the sun lounger lurched. Jumping to her feet, she was instantly relieved to see it was one of the Pumicites from the tribe which revered her as a goddess, forming in the earth.
Turning to the creature, April asked it, "What can I do for you stony?"
In it's guttural tongue, the creature ground out the word "War".
Picking up her Agency communicator, the Prize activated the device, instantly recognising the jittering sound at the other end as belonging to the Demondim.
"Elijah, is there anything wrong in Paragon?"
"Lady Prize, big trouble in city. Big battle."
Cutting off her communicator, April turned to the Pumicite messenger, "Earthport me now".
Allowing the Pumicite to completely envelop her, the heroine known as the Prize, melded into the Earth and began her somewhat unorthadox trip to the tunnels which permeated the area of Paragon City known as the Hollows.
If things were as bad as Demondim said, then the Prize and her Pumicite tribe would be entering the fray.
Tilting her head to the side, Ana moved along beside the bookshelves looking at the spines of the various volumes collected there. Her steps stopped briefly now and again as she paused to clear the dust that obscured the titles. Blowing the dust away revealed little, however, and she soon reached the end of the bookcase.
She turned away and looked around, her eyes sliding past the bodies on the ground. She ran a hand idly through her hair and frowned. Things were not going well. It was over two weeks since shed found a tome that had been even remotely useful and her searches and interrogations since had yielded only one possible avenue of investigation it was bad enough that she had considered it, let alone accepted
Moving away from the books, she forced that line of thought out of her head.
Stepping over the robed figure on the floor, she left the chamber and made her way to the nearest exit. Oranbega had suddenly left her feeling cold and the desire to leave for a time was overwhelming.
The wooden doors opened easily and the lack of any great noise from the hinges spoke of frequent and recent use. Ignoring this, Ana looked out across what was left of Eastgate, not truly seeing the battle that raged there. She did notice a group of mages gathered below her, however, and, hefting her axe, started toward them.
The Circle members ignored her until she spoke. I am searching for some information. I would greatly appreciate if you were to provide me with what I seek. The mages looked at each other and then back at Ana. They began chanting and, assuming an offensive stance, Ana moved among them...
Afterward, one lay on the ground in front of her and, kneeling, she made her request again, specifying what she was looking for. The mage was silent and a noise made Ana look up. A squad of Paragon City police were under fire from a group of Council soldiers. Frowning, Ana looked around and finally saw what was going on.
Stepping away from the lone mage, she stalked toward the nearest Council soldiers.
I have been negligent, she thought, I believed aiding Kata would be enough, that such an action would allow me to resume my search. The soldiers hadnt noted her presence yet but some of the policemen had and seemed to take heart from it. I must make amends. She stopped and braced herself.
I must do more.
A soldier turned and Ana moved
I will be idle no more.
((This is the thread, to avoid the original Requiem thread getting even more confusing, for all stories, pictures, summaries, condition reports, and such on the worldwide War against Requiem. I'll have something for it by tomorrow, with luck.))