The Two Six: Season 3 ((Open RP))

Looking up at Warpshroud and her complete immovability, Darkgloom slowly maneuvered herself to put her back to a wall, to limit the angles of attack. The other heroes were focusing on the Skulls, which made her happy to know that those useless twits had some uses.

Still, that left the problem of the Kheldian in front of her. Keeping her shield high, Darkgloom lashed out with a quick series of punches infused with negative energy. Cross, uppercut, cross, a sickingly quick combination.

After that combo, she shook her hand befor closing it back into a fist.

"Ah, its like punching a brick wall, darling." Still, She was confidant that as long as it remained one vee one she would be the victor.

Quex leapt over a crate, her sword flashing brightly as she tried to bring it down on Darkgloom's head. Darkgloom did block it, but the impact dropped the brute to her knees. Quex tried to follow through, but with that preternatural quickness, Darkgloom was back on her feet.

"La Blue Girl or Lovecraft?" Darkgloom asked as a throng of dark tentacles sprung from her hand, wrapping around Quex. Three more quick punches bloodied the swordwoman's face and a kick sent Quex tumbling back.

Satisfied, Darkgloom attempted to turn her shield back to Warpshroud.

"Clarence, what did I tell about this room? Didn't I tell you to clean this room? Boy how many times do I have to tell you...you know what, doesn't matter. Cause in a few minutes, you won't have any of it!"

Mr. Bones forgot about the pain in his leg for the overbearing female voice that shouted in his head.

"Mom?!" Mr. Bones searched the warehouse frantically for where her presence was coming from, but all he could see was everyone who was there to begin with.

A small bed, unmade with a Statesman sheet set and Back Alley Brawler pillowcases, materialized in front of Mr. Bones.

"Clarence!"

"Mr. Bones nearly shook out of his skin from the voice that sounded like it was coming directly above him. One look up and he saw a towering figure in a purple robe and black slippers. A belt was in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

"Mom!"

"Look at this mess," Clarence's mother eyed the bed and almost seemed to make an entire room appear with every direction she looked. Clarence sat back on the floor in shock and fear for what his mother might do to him...or his room. As Mrs. Clarence's Mom approached, he scooted back onto a pile of clothes, unsure if they were dirty or clean.

"Boy!" The belt raised high in the air.

"No mama, please! Please don't. I'll clean. I'll clean! I promise. PLEASE," tears began to stream down Mr. Bones' face as he waited for the leather strike across some part of his body.

As far as anyone else could see, a young boy of eighteen was rolling around on the ground, crying and calling for his mother to stop.

Meanwhile, Josiah took his new opportunity from the distraction Dreg provided and ran forward as Quex went crashing into the wall. He was there immediately with a hand to get her up while mentally recalling the number of bullets he fired again

"Dreg seems to be handling the Skulls well. If he can keep that up, we can turn in on this heffa over there," Josiah nodded towards Darkgloom, "and help Warpshroud bring her down."

Darkgloom threw herself backwards, slamming her back into the wall to avoid Warpshroud’s claws. She prevented having her head slapped around, but two jagged cuts appeared on her face and the woman gave a snakelike hiss. Keeping her shield up, the villain threw herself into a barrage of punches against the Kheldian.

Quex let Josiah help her up, then she ripped herself free from several of the murky black tentacles that were clinging to her. Most of them were taking liberties that Quex was decidedly not comfortable with.

“I’ll finish off the Skulls.”

"Fair enough," Josiah sidestepped towards the Abbie as Quex switched positions with Dreg.

Plucking a drawstring bag from her belt, Quex opened it and tossed several arrest tags onto the floor. “Just grab one when you want the pain to stop.”

Man, that's hot, Josiah thought, lost in the scene Quex displayed with the Skulls. he shook himself free of the moment and turned his attention to the rest of the team.

Mr. Bones finally had been freed from the terror that was his mother and rubbed his eyes of any remaining murky visions. When he could see clearly, he noticed the arrest tag at his feet. There wasn't much time to consider lock down before a tall brute of a woman charged forward with a sword.

"Augggh," Mr. Bones screamed over firing bullets as he scooted back on his butt as far as he could get, "Augggh! Augggh!"

When his clip was once again empty, he threw the semi-automatic in Quex's direction and looked for an escape. Hopefully by the time they got to him, he'd be forgotten or long gone. He was banking on the latter.

A body flew past him and slumped like a ragdoll. A small vial with green liquid rolled out of the fallen man's pocket. It came within inches of Mr. Bones and he grabbed it up quickly and read the contents. SPRD 2.6? Holy crap! Superadine? Two point six? This stuff isn't even supposed to be out yet. I've been mixing the old version in the durgs we sold. How did h-

Another body flew past him, this time closer to his head than he would have desired. Mr. Bones immediately, without a second thought, opened the vial and started to drink. The regret tasted like a mix between something gross and a hint of green apple. Mr. Bones rolled over in pain while everything happened around him. He tried to make his way around a corner. Screams of agony escaped his lips and the bullet in his leg popped out and onto the warehouse floor. The red blood that seeped out had a bright green tint. His body increased in size, but not enough to come out his clothes, just make them look like it was time to do a little shopping.

"Oh...God...," Mr. Bones mouthed out through convulsions of pain.

Meanwhile...

Instead Dreg went with just pure mental energy sending a mental blast at the brute.

With proper timing, Josiah retrieved the weapons from his side and shot two bullets to arrive within Dreg's energy blast and hit Darkgloom at the same time. Hopefully it was enough to give Abbie a break.

Emily Darkgloom noted that more heroes were turning their attentions to her. They didn’t seem the type to get close, which meant she would have to expand her circle of defense. Believing heavily in showmanship, She tossed her hair and made her move.

Her taunting smile twisted into a sneer when her head throbbed in pain. A lot stronger than the Fortunatas pumped out. Bullets whizzed by her head, and she barely got her shield in the way in time, the mental pain slowing her reflexes, why, they probably could have seen the shield move.

The cloud of darkness that she had summoned dissipated, clearing the vision of the hall’s occupants. Pointing her arm, Darkgloom launched a giant spectral skull at Dreg.

Crates and plates of metal turned into fortifications had seemed like a fantastic idea a few hours ago, but when all she wanted to do was jump over the impressive Kheldian and smash the face of that psychic, her options were becoming limited.

--

Quex got shot at quite a bit. It was not an unexpected outcome of her chosen profession, and she had created a few techniques that helped her not get perforated. Turning her family blade to its side, she held it diagonally from shoulder to hip to catch most of the well aimed bullets.

Of course, when fear powers were at work, there was no such thing as a well aimed bullet. Most of the shots would go wild, but her step staggered when her leg was shot. She tried not to dwell on the pain, and partially succeeded—releasing her pain in a guttural curse in her native language. She corrected her charge and brought the sword down on a Skull’s arm, severing the limb at the elbow. She kicked the screaming man towards the pile of arrest tags and lunged for the next nearest.

"Dreg, try that confuse on her. She seems a little weaker," Josiah tried to speak directly to Dreg so as not to let their opponent in on the attack.

Josiah took what might have been a possible opening from one of Abbie's attacks and shot two more bullets at Emily Darkgloom's knees.

A low and loud growl came from around a corner near where everyone was fighting. A large seven foot tall green body rampaged through the mass of Skulls, knocking over whoever was in his way. Shreds of clothing fell from the man's body as he made a furious beeline like a linebacker in Quex's direction.

The gloom had hit and Dreg staggered back as darkness seeped into his soul drawing up the horror and pain of seeing his apartment building topple over.

His mind snapped back to the now thought he could feel his spirit being ripped apart. "You want to play rough! I SHOW YOU ROUGH!" Dreg was pissed off and with that and with that anger came a rush of power Domination.

"Dreg, try that confuse on her. She seems a little weaker," Josiah tried to speak directly to Dreg. He nodded and focused his will on Emily Darkgloom trying to confuse her mind.

The Kheldian was good. Emily couldn't get a good shot in at those other hooligans at all. And they still apparantly had no such problems. Moving the shield again, Darkgloom was beginning to think that maybe magical invulnrability powers would have been a better choice. Didn't need to make the kind of decisions like Claw to the face, or bullet to the kneecap.

Dropping down onto her knees, She caught one of Josiah's bullets on her shield, but another pierced her leg, blood gushing from the wound. She cried out, only to have her voice muffled by the giant fist of the Kheldian.

Putting her hand over the leg wound, Emily felt...odd. She assumed it was the psychic somehow, but knowing where it came from didn't change how he was affecting her brain chemistry.

"Okay, okay! I give up. Surrender, white flag, quit whatever."

The black shield flickered and winked out of existance, revealing a magical bracer on her arm where it emitted from. Darkgloom then began to apply more pressure to her leg.

--

Several more Skulls were crippled and arrested and Quex had began to rise past her previous wounds when she heard the growl. Quex glanced up at the charging...Troll? Strange. Still, charging opponents were some of her favorites. She growled in return and gave him a come hither motion.

She waited until the last possible second, then spun out of rampaging man's path, the tip of her sword scouring the ground as she brought the blade up low, aiming to take the man's leg off at the knee.

Without waiting to see how that attack fared, she swung her Vangaurd sword at the man's back, aiming to sever his spine.

"Okay, okay! I give up. Surrender, white flag, quit whatever."

The black shield flickered and winked out of existance, revealing a magical bracer on her arm where it emitted from. Darkgloom then began to apply more pressure to her leg.

"Should cuff her and remove the shield mechanism on her wrist," Josiah stated as he looked around the warehouse to find a small pile of rags a short distance away. He ran over, picked up a couple of the longest ones and brought them to Darkgloom.

"Tie that around, or whatever you want to do."

****************

Several more Skulls were crippled and arrested and Quex had began to rise past her previous wounds when she heard the growl. Quex glanced up at the charging...Troll? Strange. Still, charging opponents were some of her favorites. She growled in return and gave him a come hither motion.

Mr. Bones growled even louder and pressed forward headfirst toward Quex.

She waited until the last possible second, then spun out of rampaging man's path, the tip of her sword scouring the ground as she brought the blade up low, aiming to take the man's leg off at the knee.

A wail escaped Mr. Bones lips. His now green skin felt like it had been seared by the blade. Blood seeped out of the wound in green splatters of green. The serum had worked itself through his body quickly and the pain had subsided rather quickly. However, the cut to his spine brought him to his knees, hunched over and breathing heavy.

The deformed ogre looked behind him and then forward at the rest of the group. He was in between everything that had been going on. Given the situation, a small part of his brain still resided and he was left with a decision: fight or flight.

The wounds were slowly healing, but nowhere near quick enough to withstand several blows in succession. A low guttural growl emitted from the monster and his body sparkled in the warehouse lights so brightly that it looked like a piece of the sun got lost and landed in the room.

He used whatever temporary distraction may have been caused and grabbed Darkgloom by the waist and jumped atop some of the crates and leaped through a skylight to the roof. His speed across the rooftops was surprising, but he knew something would have to be done fast before the heroes caught up to him.

She was flying low over the Kings Row district on her way to talk to one of Paragon's many representatives when the skylight below her exploded. A fast, green skinned blur streaked at her. Without a thought to the swirling Dark energies cloaking her form she attacked. Two swords materialized, one in each hand, and they swung down in a collision course for the thing.

At the same time the demon bonded to her soul shouted unnecessarily in her mind, [look out!]

If she had any lips she might have grunted with the effort of halting her momentum and swinging at such an awkward angle. Instead the whole scene played out in relative silence to those who weren't in Lady Duskblade's head.

"Owwie, ow, ow ow!" Darkgloom whined as she found herself landing hard on her leather clad butt. The sudden stop from moving really quickly had her head spinning.

She took the rag from Josiah and began to wrap her leg up, except that she couldn't seem to get it right. Stupid spinning fuzzy head. Owwie...

Except for that one Skull/Troll thing, Darkgloom's hirlings were dispatched, most of them with injuries that would prevent them from holding weapons or engaging in street gang activities for a long time. Approaching the group, Quex watched Darkgloom fumble with the rags before she sighed and reached down to do it herself.

"Clipped artery. Needs doctor." Quex said as she fastened the rag as a torniquet. "Wish Kasoh was here. Probably hitting on Cat-fed. Figures."

Quex also removed the shield producing bracer and replaced one of her spiked gauntlets with the magical device. She put away her Vanguard sword and waited to see if Abbie could retrieve the escaped criminal.

Outside Scarlet Phantasm saw the Troll bust out of the skylight. "Damn so the cops got here." She backed up and looked around the corner counting how many cops were about. Her hand rose up and fiddled with an amulet around her neck.

Resisting the urge to go in and fight she turned and headed south. There were other Skull hang outs and she needed time to plan.
------

Dreg looked around as Darkgloom reappeared "Lets get her sent to the Zig before big green and Ugly gets the idea to come back."

"Clipped artery. Needs doctor."

He turned to look at Quex "Damn perhaps the cops outside have a medical unit."

Neither blade connected, though the hilt of the left sword came down on its right shoulder and the right hand guard hit it's left pectoral muscle. Unfortunately for her, Duskblade's one hundred-fourteen pound frame could not halt the creature at a full sprint and she went skidding to the edge of the roof next to the currently surrounded building.

She barely kept her feet in the air through flight, and her Cloak of Darkness dropped. She appeared first as a heat wave, then as a smoke-like red shadow, then became fully visible. She wore loose gray robes so dark they were almost black and a voluminous hood all trimmed in dark red. Even in the heat not an ounce of flesh could be seen, and nor could her swords, which had evaporated.

The troll-thing, slightly hurt by the previous battle and seriously confused by a patch of apparently solid air veered violently into a large air conditioning unit, smashing it flat as a pancake.

((Hope I'm not intruding here, I don't really see an order to the posting so I just dropped a few.))

Mr. Bones, who hadn't thought much past escape, fell witness to a few things happening at once.

"And you can't have her!" She made a sort of grabbing gesture in the air in front of her, grabbing nothing physically but rather latching onto Darkgloom with the same energies she used to teleport herself around, attempting to neatly rob the Troll of his prize and deposit the villain back at her feet.

Without a thought to the swirling Dark energies cloaking her form, Lady Duskblade attacked. Two swords materialized, one in each hand, and they swung down in a collision course for the thing.

Quex glanced down at her leg. The entire apendage was flexed, Quex using her own muscles to keep the wound closed. It boardered on the physically impossible, but Quex didn't pay it anymind.

"Fit to fight." she responded to Josiah.

Some of the glassiness faded from Darkgloom's eyes and the brute looked around again, then at her leg before reaching a hand out.

Absently, Quex reached down to grab the woman's forearm while looking for Skulls.

A brackish cloud and a bright green flash distorted Quex's vision as Darkgloom pulled something out of Quex and into herself. The cuts on the brute's face filled in, and her leg stopped bleeding. The brute untied the torniquet and handed the rags to Quex, who stumbled against a crate.

"Ah. Much better. Thanks love."

Quex punched Darkgloom in the face.

Like a chain-reaction, Darkgloom's head fell back into Josiah's hand, that had moved into position the moment he saw the deception begin to happen. He grabbed a handful of hair, pulled her back and pushed the barrel his pistol into her right eye.

"Give me a reason," he scowled, "...not...that I don't already have one."

Having recovered from the considerable impact with the troll, Lady Duskblade witnessed it stand, almost untouched. [Oh crap,] She thought to herself, touching down lightly on the roof and bringing the two shining blades to bare.

[Let me have control! I can take him, easy!] The demon sounded impatient, excited, unlike her usually droll and unhelpful self.

The heroine grunted while she dived to the left, her swords going up and right to deflect the missile harmlessly into the solid brick building next door. [No way,] she thought hurriedly as she charged the thing, [every time I give you free reign you don't know when to stop.]

[I only sliced one cop, he was in the way! Besides, you were in no shape to argue, I jus-]

Duskblade juked left, then rolled right, one blade missing it's target by less than an inch. she took two glancing blows, one on the right shoulder, the other on the left hip. [Smoke! Shut up!] She interrupted, then spun away from a blow and brought a sword in under it's arm.