Glimpse - The Art of Warlords (Story)

((Yo. This is the thing that inspired Ravenswing's Future Imperfect, and thankfully it's a bit more upbeat than the mixture of dark and light offerings he added! Not too happy with the way the fight scene was written, but I just need practice there. Most of the dialogue in italics means it's taking place over commslinks, with other members of the team or the AI's.

So hopefully you shall enjoy the humour, and the somewhat cute endscene. Those who aren't partial to man on man action in the none wrestling sense -may- want to skip that, but it's just regular domestic stuff. So for the first tale from the Glimpse timeline, set 22 years in the future... here's The Art of Warlord.))

---------------------------

[u]Glimpse – The Art of Warlords[u]

There was panic on the streets of New Baumton. Civilians ran to take cover as far away from the conflict as possible, cars were left littering the streets and dust filled the air. At the central crossroads of the Cannonade, a huge crater had been blasted into the earth by a terrific impact, and fighting raged on in and around it.

It had been a peaceful Monday morning in Paragon City, the rush to work had finished, children were in school, and the pedestrian areas of the Cannonade had been lined with tables and chairs for people to sit at as they sipped 'designer' coffee and caught brunch. The impact of a trans-dimensional flight capsule into the centerpiece of the Cannonade, a monument dedicated to those heroes who gave their lives evacuating people during the Rikti Invasion twenty eight years ago, brought some peoples brunches to an abrupt halt.

Dimensional aliens... so inconsiderate.

The villain of the day was the self-proclaimed champion fighter and feudal fetishist Warlord Krom, an imposing figure at twelve foot tall and about half as wide. Clad in the latest in alien technoarmour fashions, all an unsubtle paint job of black and red, the dark haired and bearded brute had wasted no time in some mindless property damage and in calling out the city's heroes to 'come get their [censored] kicked'.

Eloquence left a lot to be desired in some dimensions.

The blue skinned 'Slayer of Supers', other than having a horrible sense of colour co-ordination -Who wears red and black with that skin tone?- was in the process of chewing the bonnet off a sports utility vehicle, the popular Voulden Motors 'Rancher' 4X4 Model H, when a sleek black aircraft began to hover overhead.

“At last, some action! I don't know what to say about Earth, but your canapés are awful.” Warlord Krom bellowed up at the aircraft before, in a fit of bad eating etiquette, chucked the inoffending car at it.

As the SUV sailed up, the air around it shimmered, causing it to come to a halt before it was fired back down at him. Drawing his arms up, Krom laughed as the vehicle smashed into him and exploded, shrugging off the impact.

“We don't play with our food here!” Someone shouted up from above, as the hatch at the rear of the plane opened up.

“Did you see that thing detonate? Looks like Good Morning Paragon's always been right about those cars being unsafe.” Another voice said, a small crowd gathering on the rear loading platform.

“Why the hell did I ever let Azure Arrow start teaching a 'Heroic Banter' class...” Cindersnap sighed, the forty year old hero switching controls over to the AI before walking to the back of the Unity Wing.

Twenty four years in the business had changed the former teen actor and [censored] icon. Scars crisscrossed his arms like a convoluted road map of past injuries and skirmishes, several on his face, a broken nose that had refused to set properly and a small chunk taken out of his ear after an attack by mutant werekittens. Twenty -five- years of training though kept him in top, if now slightly battered and battle weary, form.

Dressed in a long black and gold overcoat, he nodded to his team, the New Vigilants. “Alright, fight to gauge his strengths and weaknesses at first. We're on the defensive here. Triage and Mindsync, you two are on crowd duty. Get everyone clear, then come and join in. Mediport those who are injured.” The veteran hero trainer said.

“Are you going to come down here, or am I going to have to find some more things to destroy?!” Krom called out form below.

“OH HOLD ON A MINUTE!” Cindersnap yelled down. “Patience, learn some!”

With a disgruntled mutter, he shook his head and looked to the team of eight with him. “Chaingang, Aconite, you're on control. Try and get him locked down. Silver Saber, try and flank him. Energen and Energette, ranged assault. Fletcher? Hope you got your trick arrows with you today. Remember your training, look out for each other, don't do stupid things. Got it?”

His students nodded. This batch were rather well behaved compared to some of the others he worked with. “Alright, hands in.” He grinned, putting his hand out to the middle of the circle. With all hands in, they brought them down to a fist before rising up.

“New Vigilants!”

“Let's move!” Cindersnap called out. “BODICIA, activate gravity geysers!”

”Gravity Geysers enabled, launching. Good luck, and please try not to sprain anything on landing.” The AI's voice came from around the rear hatch.

The platform they were standing on started to glow with an almost lilac hue, before with the sound of a heavy energy discharge it launched them towards the ground.

Even in midair, Cindersnap facepalmed as some of the students behaved like this was an appropriate time to act like they were on a roller coaster. Excited whoops, hoots and hollers weren't exactly the image of a select team of teenage heroes.

... Well, maybe it was. And if so, that image needed to be changed.

“Finally, some action, and a chance to...” Warlord Krom trailed off, looking at the heroes he'd be fighting. “... Kids?! You send kids to do a man's job? What kind of [censored] is this?!”

Krom was soon shut up as Energette grabbed Energen's hand and blasted at the tall titan with a stream of bright blue energy.

“Oh shut up!” Energette yelled, firing another blast. “Calling us kids is bad enough, but 'a man's job'?! Talk about discrimination!” The dark red haired girl, dressed in the uniform of the New Vigilant's in a tasteful black and blue, was not happy. Kelly Rolando had inherited some of her mother Tessa's temper. Cindersnap idly wondered if it was a red-head trait, or simply her playing to the stereotypes.

“Oh come off it girly...” Krom spat out a glob of blue blood. “You call that an energy blast? Go back to school, where you should be!”

“Don't talk to my sister like that!” Michael Rolando, AKA Energen snarled. The darker haired twin had none of his other mother's restraint, bringing his hand up to fire a blast at Krom's chest.

“Sister? I would have thought she was your girlfriend, walking around holding hands like that.” Krom chuckled, before launching himself at the pair, fists ready to smash.

The mass of chains rushing up from the floor Krom didn't -quite- expect, nor did he then plan on having a Chinese dragon made entirely out of slightly rusted heavy duty chain surging towards him to smash into his chest. From the sidelines, Chaingang kept his focus, exerting his extremely selective telekinetic control over the links of metal. Dressed in black and grey, the young Iranian, his real name not even known to Ryan, had a determined look on his face, trying to force the man down.

From underneath, several dark green branches of thorns rose up from the broken ground, lashing out with limbs covered in thick thorns to try and snare the invader's legs. Crouched to the other side of the crater was Aconite, the pale skinned, pale haired and rather handsome young son of Alraune.
His arms surged with ripples as he fed his internal vines into the ground, enlarging them ready for combat. Torsten Ewers took his position and work seriously, with much the same work ethics as his mother, the Unity Vigil's Personnel Officer.

Flanking the Warlord and probing at his defenses was the black and silver wearing 'Silver Saber', nimbly darting back and forth and jabbing with her namesake weapons. The young woman's face was hidden behind a polished steel mask, finely forged with an expression of patience and calm.

”Alright, that's good. Fletcher, watch your arrows in use, don't want you nicking one of Aconite's vines again.” Cindersnap broadcast over his cybernetic commslink to the others.

“You had to bring that up now!” Fletcher called back, the black and red wearing young man leaping out of the way of a chunk of thrown rubble, before notching and letting loose several arrows. The tips pinged off Krom's armour.

“Is this all you've got? PATHETIC!” Krom roared, flecks of spit on his lips. With a massive bellow of rage, he wrenched one foot out of its bindings, his hands holding off the blasts from the Rolando twins.

Aconite grunted in pain as he was pulled in to the floor, trying to keep his grip on the vines that were being pulled out of the ground.

”Triage here, all clear!”

”Alright, go aid Mindsync, then both of you get back here to join in. Come on guys, you can do this.”

Cindersnap stood back from the battle, observing with keen eyes and the inbuilt cybernetics Zortel had given him. Data and combat analysis flashed up into his view, noting possible weak points and the style of Krom, which was mostly akin to 'smash it, if that doesn't work, smash again'. He didn't like standing back from battle, especially not when the New Vigilants were involved, but... doctors orders for one. For two, having the group reliant on the 'Pyrokinetic Powerhouse' as some newspapers had called him later in his career, was something he couldn't stand by.

Ryan winced in pain as he saw a backhand from Krom send Silver Saber flying, before groaning as Aconite stood up and started to let loose barrages of thorns and sharp tipped vines.

”Aconite, watch that temper! Silver Saber, report!”

”Ow... I'm fine, Boss. Just a few bumps... and one of my ribs is aching too.”

”Triage, go help Silver Saber, Aconite, work with Chaingang to get him back under lockdown.”

Blasts, explosions, and the occasional arrow-delivered burst of ice rocked the Cannonade, his team getting back up and hurling themselves, and other objects, back into the fight. Krom's stamina and resilience was impressive, and the teenagers were soon beginning to tire.

”Girls, status report. Can we get any other heroes down here?” Cindersnap sent his thoughts back to the towers.

”ALICIA here. Currently all group affiliated heroes are in operation elsewhere and cannot divert. Sorry Ryan... we can dispatch Vigilants if required?”

“This is BODICIA. As Ellie would say, you are 'on your todd' as it were. You may have to fall back.”

“CLAUDIA calling in, nearest ETA for hero support is ten minutes at best, a team is operating in Siren's Call fighting Twilight Men.”

Ryan muttered a not particularly nice word, rubbing his chin as he watched Krom pick up the Rolando twins and hurl them over his shoulders. Teamwork was a powerful force, but Krom was simply overwhelming them with sheer force and grit.

”Girls, begin monitoring vitals. Display warnings at heart rate disturbances. Audio and visual. Bring essential monitors to right side of HUD.”

“Ryan, please tell me you are not contemplating-” BODICIA was cut off in reply.

“Yes, yes and yes. Time for new tactics, and looks like my work isn't done yet in the field.”

“Your husband is going to kill us.” ALICIA sighed.

“Zorielle is going to chastise us.” BODICA groaned.

“Hey, at least your kids will think it's cool.” CLAUDIA giggled.

“CLAUDIA! Don't encourage him! Don't make me log out of my AI Core and spank you!” ALICIA threatened.

“Promises promises.” CLAUDIA could be -heard- grinning.

“Why did I ever decide to saddle myself with these two...” BODICIA lamented. “Alright Ryan, you win this one. Take any foolish risks and I swear I will have you out of your bed every morning for the next month to do crossing guard duty.”

“Thanks girls. Wish me luck!” Cindersnap said, before switching his comms link to broadcast to the team. “Alright. Change of plan. Fall back and recover, Triage, get Kelly and Michael on their feet ASAP, then get them to Krom's transdimensional ship. Tell them to send him somewhere nice on vacation.”

”Mother's going to shout at me for letting you do this, isn't she?” Aconite replied as they began to fall back.

“Oh yes.” Ryan grinned.

“Hey, Krom!” Cindersnap called out, beginning to walk towards the hulking giant. “News flash just in, not bad, but not good either. You've got strength on your side, and you're tough, but man, are you dumb.”

“WHAT?! You dare call me names, after I kicked your little kindergarten class's [censored]?” Krom growled.

“Oh yeah, I mean, no style whatsoever. It's all 'Krom Smash' and 'Krom Bash'. That shtick went out of style with Lou Ferigno!” Cindersnap laughed.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines...

“... Who the hell is Lou Ferigno?” Chaingang remarked to Silver Saber.

“Not a clue. Must be some old villain? One of those Family guys?”

“Ouch... no... that's Peter Griffin.” Energen said, hauling himself up.

“She means a member of The Family, not that lowbrow show.” Aconite facepalmed, shaking his head in despair.

“I knew that.” Energen grinned.

Back to the fight. If a fight could be considered a slanging match of banter...

“So, I think that's all the formalities out of the way with.” Cindersnap grinned, unzipping his trenchcoat and casting it to the side. Underneath, he wore a sleek black and orange bodysuit, various devices clipped to his belt and tucked into pockets.

“You're right. Time to mulch you!” Krom charged, bringing his fists up. There was a slightly puzzled look on his face as he saw the blond haired man charging back at him, grinning pretty much like a teenager.

Slugging a fist out, it missed with the space Cindersnap's head was in, the hero ducking in close before leaping up in an uppercut. Twenty four years of hand to hand combat experience and training from different heroes had left him a skilled fighter, though his blows were mostly ineffective against Krom's size and armour.

“This all you have? No wonder I creamed your kids!” Krom laughed, before a boot caught him in the teeth. Backflipping away from the kick, Ryan landed on the ground. “Actually, yeah, about that, see... you basically suck. You want to know why?”

“Enlighten me.” Krom grinned wickedly.

“Sure thing.”

From the heavens, a bright flame shot down, coalescing into the form of a long, fiery winged phoenix. Darting about, the flaming bird plummeted straight into the Warlord, clawing, pecking and flapping its blazing wings over his body.

“... Did you just see that?” Energette remarked, the young woman working with her brother at hacking into the ship's control unit.

“Okay, that? That is schway cool.” Mindsync grinned.

“I didn't even think the boss -had- powers anymore.” Fletcher remarked.

Cindersnap had leapt back from the phoenix's descent, flames coursing around one scarred arm. “I don't think you're deserving of my other fighting style, so... you get this one.” He remarked offhandedly. Then that off hand raised up and exploded with flames, a Chinese dragon constructed out of white, yellow and orange fire surging out to drive into Krom's chest.

The Warlord raged inside the inferno, lashing out ineffectively with his arms, his screams unable to be heard over the roar of Ryan's attacks.

”How's that alteration coming?” Cindersnap threw his thought over the commslink.

”Almost ready here, Kelly, get that relay primed. If we... remember Mom's lessons right, we should be able to send him somewhere he won't bother anyone. Ever again.”

”Keep going then. I can't do this all day.” Ryan remarked. His heart rate was stable for the moment.

Raising his hands, he began to lash out with construct after construct of fire-formed creature. Blazing tigers dashed forwards to go for the throat with fangs of pure flame, while smoldering wolves snapped and tore at the back of Krom's knees. Sweat prickled on the hero's forehead, but practice makes perfect, right?

”Done!” Energen called out. “Set to autopilot, next time the ships door closes.

“Excellent. Michael, Kelly, get over here with me. Triage, Mindsync, Aconite, Chaingang? Your goal is to get that door closed. Silver Saber and Fletcher? Get clear please.” Cindersnap sent the message across. They moved without question, following his orders. He was glad that they didn't argue.

“Right, Kelly, Michael? Time to blast this guy back into there. After the Liberty Kick, 'kay?”

“Got it!” Energette called out, grabbing her brother's hand.

“Count on us.” Energen replied with a nod.”

With a flash, the flames around Krom died out, even as Cindersnap began his charge into super-speed.

”Heart rate increasing. Chance of palpitations rising.” BODICIA reported.

Gritting his teeth, Ryan pushed forwards with all his might, before propelling himself through the air at top speeds. With years of practice, having adapted a technique from Liberty Girl, the move was devastating. His foot, braced by kinetic shields and supports in his uniform, hit Krom's chest at the speed of sound, flames shooting around it in an almost bell shape.

Krom blinked in surprise as his feet left the ground and he began sailing back. The twin blasts from Energen and Energette pressed against his body to guide him towards his ship, slamming into the cockpit. The ready members of the New Vigilants lashed out with their abilities to slam the door shut, before getting clear.

Hammering with his fists against the door, Krom cried out in rage, the ship's engines charging up before it blinked out of sight, sent hurtling across the multiverse.

Cindersnap had dropped to the floor, clutching at his chest. His heart pounded behind his ribcage, missing a couple of beats before finally starting to settle down. He laid on the broken concrete and rubble, staring up at the sky as he caught his breath. A pale hand was offered to him.

“Ryan? You are certifiably insane for trying something like that.” Aconite sighed, shaking his head a little.

Accepting the hand up, Ryan climbed to his feet. There was a sheen of sweat on his forehead, but aside from a slight trembling of his hands, he was okay. He flashed a grin at the young man he'd trained. “Torsten? I'm insane for still doing this job. Heck, most people who become heroes are a little nuts to do so, but... we still do it. Kelly! Michael! Where the hell did you send him too?”

“Pocket Dimension, with the ship set to destruct on landing.” Kelly grinned, dusting some debris from her uniform.

Cindersnap was supported rather discretely by Aconite as he looked around at his team. “You all did good... sorry for honing in on your action, but we were a few members down today, and he was -really- tough.”

“Hey, don't worry about it, Boss.” Fletcher grinned. “That was totally groady.”

“Groadsome, even.” Chaingang added. “And schway. I mean, big giant Phoenix?”

“And a wicked dragon too” Triage added, grinning up at the leader of the organization and group.

“That must take some control, to make those fire creatures so detailed...” Mindsync added quietly.

“Oh yeah. It does. And thanks guys... anyway. BODICIA? Let's get back to the Tower and get a clean up team dispatched here. And order in some pizza for these guys.”

Thankfully, for his ears, the loud sound of the teens and young adults cheering was cut off as they were teleported away.

----------------------------------------

Ryan Andrew's Unity Puma, the black car with the orange stripe that Zorielle had provided for him after he passed his test all those years ago, pulled up in his driveway in the outskirts of the city. The car, twenty one years old, was still going strong and had just started to be out-performed by latest vehicles for consumer use.

He'd changed into a black shirt and dark blue jeans, comfortable yet rather attractive on him. Feeling comfortable was important, Dinah and Torsten often took turns to drill into him, and right now, being in a comfort zone was something he needed. He began the walk round the front of the three story detached house, keys in hand. He had a happy, and rather well off home life. Two incomes, two cars. Three kids. Ryan carefully stepped over a skateboard, not wishing to break his neck in a reenactment of 90's sitcom plot points. With the front door open, he wandered through to the kitchen, past the living room that had the TV blaring out the latest kids shows, in search of his husband.

“You...” Robert Judge said, putting a hand on Ryan's shoulder. “What were you thinking, Ry?” He demanded.

Turning round, Ryan pecked the dark brown haired TV presenter and celebrity on the lips. “The usual when you speak to me in these tones of voice. Doing the right but stupid thing.”

“You could have killed yourself out there! I came off doing the morning show to find my crew gawking at you fighting some alien warrior!” Robert raised his voice along with his shoulders, before slumping. “You scared me, Ryan...”

Drawing his partner into his arms, Ryan brushed his cheek against Robert's, whispering in his ear. “I know... I'm sorry too. You know I made that promise to only step in when needed to, and that's what I did. I had to distract him long enough for the twins to get to work, and there was no way the rest could have got enough force to drive him back on their own.”

Placing a hand under Robert's chin, he guided his husband in for a gentle kiss. “I've taken the rest of the week off work, I booked tickets for us to go to the theater and at that place in Founder's you love, and on Saturday I'm taking the family out to Paragon Plaza Theme Park.”

“We're going to the Plaza?!” A young boy said excitedly from behind the pair.

“Schway! Dad, you should totally do stupid stuff more often if we get this.”

“Lina!” Robert raised his voice at their daughter, an eight year old girl with long blond tresses. “Don't encourage your father.”

“You were cool though, really. I mean, cooler than you are in the cartoon and comics.” The oldest boy, around ten years old, said as he grinned up at his parents. He made a bit of a face as Ryan ruffled his hair.

“You bet, Nick! In the comics, I don't even do half the cool stuff I...” He glanced at Robert, “Used to be able to do. But thanks.”

“Daddy!” The youngest girl giggled, running up to hug Ryan's leg.

Moving back from Robert, Ryan lifted her into his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead, before brushing some brown hair from her eyes. “Hey Natalie,” he smiled to the six year old, giving her a hug. “Right, you kids go and play nice, I need some help from your other father in the kitchen. We're having spaghetti bolognaise tonight.”

Setting Natalie down, he watched with a smile as his children went back into the front room, before slipping his hand into Robert's and pulling him into the kitchen to get a start on dinner.

“Hope I didn't interrupt work too much today.” Ryan apologized.

“A little, I took a quick break to worry about you...” Robert replied, slipping his arms around Ryan's waist, his chin resting on his shoulder. “You sure you're okay? No chest pains, anything?”

“Zori checked me out. I'm fine.” Ryan grinned, abandoning cooking to turn around and press his husband against the large silver refrigerator. “I'm back home, my kids are home, and my handsome lover is right here.” Ryan dropped his voice to a whisper, breathing into his partner's ear. “That helps keep me ticking.”

Whatever Robert was going to say probably didn't matter as Ryan cut it off with a passionate kiss. When a guy grew up learning sign language, what you do tends to be more important than what you say.

Fin.

---

Excellent.

---

Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.

Schway!

---

'Schway' by the way, is a word that I picked up from Batman Beyond/Batman of the Future. Groady according to FFM is an 80's word, and Groadsome is some kind of evolution of that. Thankfully nothing is gnarly or bodacious.

And apparently 'groady' means gross and yuck. So following the fact that if something is sick it means it's good, and the case of a certain part of a dog's anatomy, it's not too unfathomable to think that language would swing that way.

---

Groady did sound familiar, but Schway... had me there.

---

Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.

*I* loved the banter, gotta pick me up some of that. Nothing wrong with the fight scene though it was immediatly obvious there would be no students colapsing with broken spines and heads torn off.

Which is good in my book, I'm all golden age where heroes win, get old, marry and have kids.

---

Thank you, banter, fluffy stories and sad fluffy stories are the things I do well, with a tendancy to focus on the times that characters -aren't- heroing. The man makes the powers, rather than the powers making the man.

I can be cruel to my characters, and others, but... well, Ravenswing covered that quota. Some say I'm a little cruel for having Cindersnap's decline like that, but a guy can't run around at high speeds for so many years and not start to wear down. Injuries build up, people age...

To quote the great and powerful Amanda Waller:

"I saw him save the day dozens of times, with nothing but his wits, body and will. But I saw something else as the years passed, he was getting older, slower, soon he'd have to retire or more than likely, someone would finally manage to kill him."

---