Bedside Manner (Open RP)

Still seated and fiddling with his string, Jase bit his lower lip as he focused on weaving the right string between the right fingers. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, “Ah ha! Like this..” he mumbled as he took a ring finger into another gap in the string and pulled. The string stretched to reveal a spider pattern woven between his hands. Not wasting time to admire the expert pattern work, he destroyed it by clasping his hands together and the string disappeared in a smoky shadow.

Eyeing the Merry Urban kid heralding the widow’s dagger, a smirk inched across his face. “Hey, want to play a game?” he asked, his smile curling up into a grin. “It’ll be fun and the rules are simple.” Pushing his hands in front of him in a Zai hand sign, a shadow bubbled in front of him and out of it, a trio of black spiders as tall as a large dog with long spiny legs rose up. Besides their red glowing eyes and the red stripes along their abdomen and cephalothorax segments, they were completely black.

“The game is called ‘Whack-a-spider’,” he continued as he reached the fingers of one hand toward the freakishly large arachnoids. A dark strand emerged from the ninja’s fingertips and locked onto the spinnerets of each spider. “All you have to do is…SQUASH ‘EM!” The last part, he shouted as he slammed the hand he tied his anthropoid minions with on the ground which signaled to the spiders to ‘Go’. They blindly scurried around at enormous speed, one crawling up the side of the hospital and leaping onto a nearby street post, another crawling up the leg of Acid’s large robot and another weaving around those standing between the widow and congressman.

((Jase *is* a stalker and he choose the patron pool Mace Mastery. Notable powers from the pool are Web Cocoon and Spiderlings. Although in-game he doesn’t have the spiderlings yet, he’s got the cocoon but eventually he’ll have both.))

Acid quirked an eyebrow at the summonees, most notably at the spider attempting to crawl up the assault bot's leg, but not quite being able to do so due to some manner of unseen force that kept it from making contact with the machine. If the spiderling cared to pattern its attempts, it would eventually find said force to be roughly spherical in nature, encompassing the mechanoid upon which it was centered.

He didn't otherwise outwardly react, though covertly was performing an analysis of the summoned entities that complemented the same course of action taken by his entourage quite well. Their sensors could pick up some things his senses couldn't and vice versa, so among the lot of them, there were few things that could manage to hide their nature.

What did they find?

Joy meanwhile couldn't help herself, feeling appalled at the notion of what this...this lout dared call a game, and reached down to the spiderling closest to her in an attempt to pick it up and cradle it safely in her arms. Strangely enough, the fire that composed her head and torso wouldn't harm them even a lick so long as she didn't want it to, despite being a textbook example of a raging inferno...

Dire seemed impassive to the events around her , still her magics rolled over the protected form of the Congressman , but otherwise she just hung in the air ....

Then slowly her slack face broke as her lips parted , gone was the deep voice , now what came out seemed almost chanting , and strangely it sounded like eight part harmony ...

..stranger still where the words spoken ..(( to the magically talented it is a spell ,cast in a pure arcane language ....a summoning ))

..the sound of the chanting hung in the air after even after Dire stopped speaking ....


Dire's head tilted to onside , the face became relaxed and a faint smile crossed it ...

“ Lucy has friends too ...”

Widow Frost jumped as arachnoids leapt around her. Then as Dire began to chant her own magical senses kicked in.

She spun on her heels and saw the figure of Jase, having just summoned his allies, and then clocked the scythe stuck into the tarmac.

"Was all your talk just a distraction? Were you all intending to subdue me with words and then strike me down?"

The look on her face was pure bewilderment but telltale signs of anger were returning.

She regretted dropping that dagger. She regretted even further letting her guard down, allowing the spirit that she saw in a brief flash as it stole her power to interrupt the blizzard she had been preparing.

But the congressman didn't look like he was going to get out of this without serious payback for the souls he'd stolen and the pain he'd caused. Perhaps she should just leave them to it.

Ah but then Dire Lament had witnessed what she was capable of - the lengths she had been prepared to go to in order to catch the congressman. And the dark, spirit girl's words, no matter that they were issued from such disturbing lips, had hit a nerve inside 'Frost.

Subconsciously sharp icicles formed from her fingertips like claws as survival instincts kicked in. She spoke to everyone but her main focus was on Dire.

"I'm prepared to make a deal here. I can't hope to fight all of you. And perhaps you're right - perhaps you're the better option for the congressman."

She turned sideways, pointing her left hand towards Jase and her right hand towards the group assembled around the congressman.

"But you have to let me go."

((I PM'ed Paradigm to see if he was going to react. Should I just post?))

((Still contemplating HOW I would react. Methinks he would just completely ignore Jase, what with his new dagger toy. And just replying to say "He ignores you" isn't quite worth it. :/))

((Should probably give him a little time to reply. And just to get this snippet in...))

This time, Acid couldn't help it. He facepalmed. With the characteristic sound of air collapsing into a vacuum, he then disappeared. About a second later, he was back having nabbed what he needed right in the wake of the first teleportation.

A whiteboard and corresponding marker.

A wipe of his hand and a few quick squeaks of the marker later, he set the thing against the detention field for all to see. Though he had a horrid claw when it came to his handwriting, it was fairly easy to make out what he's scrawled onto the board.

An arrow that pointed up.

And scraggly blue capital letters that ostentatiously proclaimed 'DET FIELD'...

Dire moved slowly to the board Acid had set up ...

she places a hand upon the boards and started to leave a red smugged trail..artfully she made the words appear

..yes , Forever and Ever and Ever more , here and now..

..a nasty , cackling , giggle escaped Dire's lips as her whole body snapped around to face west ..a huge misshaped figure was slowly approching , something much smaller flitted just behind the giant man ..

..just at the limit of hearing Dire , begain to sing , badly "...down our way the horror trots , lost in mind , dumb in speach , forever on the road , always ..just one pace behind ..a arms snatch away ..he comes to play .."

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit, not being one to deny any given situation from going utterly insane from all the nonsensical and inane activities ongoing within it (with or without his input) added to the fun. The dagger vanished in an explosion of confetti, and from the same explosion the boy produced two cans of finger-paint. He then ran over to the whiteboard Acid had conjured, completely ignoring both the writing and Dire Lament, and began to create red and blue hand-paint-prints on it. Either he wasn't aware whiteboards were not made for that kind of thing, or he didn't care...Not to mention the same thing could have been said as far as his awareness of the entire situation went.

The spiders scurried, crawled and jumped, seemingly randomly. But the obvious aftermath of their movements was the black thread they left behind them. The black thread Jase had attached to them at the start stretched and ran along the floors and wall. Although the single 3 strands weren’t much alone, after a few moments of weaving, the shadow web around them grew more elaborate and dark.

As widow came to a realization about her situation, Jase simply smirked a sinister smile. “I usually work alone but their help in drawing you out was most helpful.” He reached for his scythe and yanked it up with a delicious metallic sheathing noise. “But it’s too late for negotiations. I’ve already accepted payment for your deaths.” Deaths. As in, more than one. “But go ahead, we’ve got time before arranging your execution.” He lied to feed the cornered widow's confusion. Perhaps he could weasel some information about the amulet he was tasked to retrieve.



((Sorry about the late response. Got caught up in work and all.))

"Yeah okay, this is getting lame." Acid remarked with a huff and a placed hand on Joy, stopping the composite elemental's repeatedly failing attempts to protectively pick up one of the spinderlings, "Leave it be. These guys can handle it."

"Rosie," he turned to the were-human, "call he once you guys finish up here and I'll bring Politicus Slimus back. You've got my number. Number Four, pickup please."

Nothing happened.

The reptilian raised an eyebrow, "Number Four?"

"The ship is currently nearing apoapsis." the protector bot to his left answered, declaring monotonously, "Fictive transmitter out of range. Teleportation will commence in seventy-eight seconds..."

(( sorry but you cant TP the congressman if he is in a detention field ..and if he is not you need to say so ..as other effects will be effecting him ..))

((Ya, you can't just go "I'm board" and then leave with a major plot point! That's just not even cool and you know it.))

((Actually, since there's no one that seems to be trying to stop me, I can. But okay. I'll give yalls another chance. Countdown started.))

(( well as the Congressman is being covered by dire's death shroud , when the detention field goes down he is going to yelp in pain ..which is a bit of a give away ..and as he is not grouped with you you have to TP then TP him which all takes time for the rest of us to react .. so are we all agreed the Detention field drops ....then we all start yes ? no ? ))

Samwise deposited the woman and the unconscious workers in empty hospital beds, leaving Knuckles and Moose to guard the spell casting woman. The burly mercenary went back to where he had left the boss, and was surprised when the bed was empty.

"Boss!"

Shocked and scared, for he wasn't ready to lead these mercs much longer, Samwise ran around looking for the one person who gave order to his life.

Soon enough, he spotted her looking out the glass doors and he ran up to the purple haired mercenary commander--quite possibly to hug her in a most unprofessional fashion. He stopped short at Sev's glare.

"Boss?"

"Just watching the show Sam." Her voice was back to its hard and flat tone, seriousness oozing from her posture.

"We gonna get the man like we said?"

"I think not. More going on here than I could have guessed. No more favors for your brother's girlfriend's Uncle. Okay?"

"Right boss."

That was it. The final straw had been removed from Widow Frost's sanity as Acid Zero announced some sort of countdown and the boy behind her picked up the scythe.

"Show's over!" she screeched, the wind again picking up and carrying her voice.

The icy claws that protruded from her fingers lengthened. They were brittle and barely capable of making an impact without shattering, but then they weren't intended to cause any great harm. Much like the twin swords she had hurled at Dire Lament in the morgue, Widow Frost turned her back on the group covering the congressman and viciously swung both her arms towards Jase. Icy needles, laden with cold magic designed to slow the opponent down, flew towards him and some of the strands of dark magic he had weaved in a wide arc.

"If you intend to kill me, boy, you had better do so quickly." Her voice soughed in the wind.

As the projectiles of ice carried on their path towards Jase, Widow Frost drew in the cold air around her. Her hair flew out behind her dramatically as swirls of cold energy danced around her slight figure. The cape she wore also billowed in a magical wind and her eyes, now back to their full cruel potential, blazed black.

"What a shame that you don't appear to be wearing cold-weather clothing."

Widow Frost smiled.

The growing web of shadows pulsed as a shadow zipped through it like an electric signal through a power line and straight toward the widow. Out stretched a pair of arms from the darkness, a kunai knife in his hands and quickly stabbed at the ground. The target was the woman’s shadow to hold her in place supplemented by the arms revealing the figure they were attached to being the ninja’s shadow who then gripped the woman in a lock to bind her. Jase’s shadow melted into a formless cocoon of blackness that would keep her bound for his next attack.

Jase, himself, deflected a few of the ice projectiles with a spin of his scythe but several made it through, stabbing him in the shoulder and arms. A jolt of cold rushed through his body but he simply smirked. “The bleak blackness of a human’s heart is far colder than ice…something you should be all too familiar with,” Jase returned and drew up his scythe which took in the woven shadows around through the hilt of the weapon. The dark metal of the weapon grew hazy and its form not quite solid, for its edge was teeming with the blackness of another world.

“Sorry for the quick execution, but it seems my friends are on a schedule.” He lunged with the shadow scythe but, for Widow Frost, it seemed to be an unseen blur. Jase disappeared just before the attack (placate), only to appear behind her with the scythe’s blade resting at her neck. A simple pull is all it took.

Dire seem to focus on the Congressman , so Jase and Widows fight passed near unnoticed ..

As the field protecting the Congressman slipped away , allowing the drak swirling tendrals to snap and bite at the Congressman , Dire's face took on a far away look ...

" just one stabb say the Deadmen , they have spoken the fate of the soul stealer ...no mercy , no pity ..just exsistance .."

Instantly a long jagged spine of magic shot from Dire's right hand , crossing the gap to the chest of the Congressman , ..deeply it drove into his flesh , plused a deep dark red , and was gone , leaving but a small wound , that dripped a single drop of blood ...

..with that Dire again transfered her whole attention ..this time to Jase ..

"didya 'ave to ..she was just a loony ya know ....booger thats really gonna complicate stuff..."

Dire stopped short turned and waved to the two still approching figures ..they halted , the huge man seemed to give a shrug , waved back , his arm ending in a large hook ..and then turned away ..slowly withdrawing into the distant night .

Jase was a highly skilled stalker-type super human. Yet WHY he thought he could get away with what he was doing while within a veritable CROWD of super humans was somewhat vague and perhaps entirely lost. That said, The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit would not stop him from ending Widow Frost's life. That did not mean Jase was in the clear.

A scant moment after Jase reappeared and did as he did, a paintcan brimming with red goo was hurled at him with a surprising amount of force, a wide spray of red paint exploding in every direction, but mainly in his. And as the paint made contact with everything, such as the ground, and possibly Jase if he wasn't fast or clever enough, it was made apparent that it was not so much paint as it was molecular degredation acid designed to weaken defenses and resistances - even though just a moment before it had been used to make entirely harmless hand-prints on Acid's whiteboard.

"Shikimaru is being a huge meanie." The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit whined, a picture of innocence and virtue, with a small pout planted on his face. "If you keep being mean, it'll mean a time out! And time outs stink, because you can't do anything and everybody laughs at you." As he spoke, he pulled out a red yo-yo and seemed to be holding it like somebody would hold a gun. A grip of tension...

***

Not so far away...

There was this THING about Paragon City.

Everything was a Nemesis Plot. Which isn't saying much. It would be more appropriate to say that everything is a plot. It would be more exact to say that everything happens for a reason, because something else caused it. Everything that happens throughout Paragon City and, indeed, the entire world happens because something else happened to cause it ad nauseum. The Counselman was an evil soul-stealing dark-magic wielding corrupt executive and criminal. This caused several people to be exposed to tragedy. This in turn prompted the gain of immense power, the hiring of assassains with immense power, the involvement of powers and being beyond the ken of mortal man, the attraction of the adventurous...In the end, everything was caused by something which caused something else.

In this case, it was caused by proximity and exposure, not to mention that the group as a whole was not exactly being what one could term as 'subtle.'

Images flashed and illuminated a darkened room with the splendor and majesty of their being within the nothingness. Manipulative fingers tugged at reason, and all was set in motion. The present was painstaking recorded, the past meticulously used as precedent, and the future haphazardly predicted. A single thread was found, a single thread that, when pulled gently...Would have things fall apart.

"Lock."

And with that single word, a new chain of events was set into motion.

The scythe sliced through Widow Frost.

Several things happened at this point. All of them, thankfully, repeatable to an officer of the law. Although not, perhaps, to be immediately believed even in Paragon City.

Widow Frost screamed. It was very loud. So loud, in fact, that the glass on the doors of the hospital and several other buildings in the immediate vicinity vibrated almost to the point of shattering.

Then, in an act to defy the laws of physics and nature, the light appeared. It was a bright light. Very bright, in fact. It issued from the clouds above the Widow where, had she been given time to complete her spell, they would have issued forth a contained yet epic blizzard.

But nothing came. At least, not at first. Not until the body of Widow Frost spasmed and she let out an almighty scream, louder than the first. In its harsh tones were contained all the anguish and bitterness that she had felt in her relatively short life. ((in effect, a large area of ground has been covered by Anguishing Cry and all that entails - enjoy!))

That's when the shadows danced.

The light sparkled down on her in an over-the-top, dramatic fashion. It was no longer deathly cold and so Jase, a footstep away from her, would have felt nothing. And through the light - perhaps it was just a trick of the eyes? - danced a small sequence of shadows, who looked as though they were re-enacting her life. Well, the interesting bits anyway:

A young woman meets a young man and they dance. Another male figure interrupts them, tearing them apart and tries to dance with the woman. There's a struggle. Then demons appear and consume the young man, then the woman who emerges from the scene, covered in jagged edges. Then...

And that's when the paint can hit her.

After the fates had arranged such a swan song for her, they decided to have fun and make her very last moment of consciousness a humiliating one. The acid fizzed and popped and burned. Her clothes dissolved and a nasty smell filled the air.

((Hm. While I don't appreciate you not waiting for me to have time to respond to a question and instead godmoding away my detention field to suit your whims, I guess it's too late to change now, so don't worry about it. However, please don't do this sort of thing in the future. It's horribly rude behavior.))

Concentration requires attention. Attention requires concentration. A vicious cycle. So easily broken, too.

"Dammit." Acid snarled as he lost one due to diversion of the other, the action of taking aim at Jase with the heavy combinatorik he carried snapping off just enough to make the congressman vulnerable.

Acting immediately, he threw over one plan in favor of another, once again expanding his force bubble and hurling an additional bolt of force at Dire Lament, hopefully hurling her back and away while his robotic entourage took up protective formation around the congressman. If not, the assault bot would attempt to swat her away with one of its massive arm cannons. They didn't fire just yet, but would if the woman performed any more actions that they deemed a threat - and while their paralyzers couldn't take down supers in a single shot, enough of the bolts that attacked the motoric nervous system could take down even the toughest tanker.

Surprisingly enough, the Khelari didn't do anything to directly help the congressman aside form putting another field of force around him. The tiny machines still in the human's bloodstream could take care of that. Long as those things were operational, he'd be pretty hard to kill, at least by human standards.

63...

Balgair turned from the mess outside, shaking her head. It had been such a good opportunity too. Oh well. If the congressman survived this outlandish assault on his person, he'd probably end up somewhere easier to kidnap than surrounded by a half dozen meta humans.

Samwise looked out the door, holding his large assault weapon tightly. She didn't even wait for him to speak, "No. I'm sure you'd love it if I got all covered in red paint, but its not going to happen. C'mon."

The mastermind found Moose and Knuckles guarding the woman in black. "Wake her up. I want to know what's going on."