(Open Season) Isla de la Muerte Inslito ((The big fight thread))

Island North Shore

With nothing moving to get in the way, the unidentified vessel approaching from the NNW made swift progress toward the isle, seemingly ignorant of the passive defenses below the surface. Indeed, it didn't have much to worry about from the mines due to its nonmagnetic hull. Furthermore, even if someone decided to loose the mines to simply bump against its keel, the thick armor could simply shrug it off. There would be shaking of course, but it was an annoyance at best, not an actual threat.

On the bridge, the only living being aboard perched in thought at the curiosities observed through the craft's sensors as well as his own perception. It seemed he wasn't the only one who'd brought along some help. He wondered if the defenders on shore would be able to take down the zombies and feral vampires Lucard had deposited on the beach. They certainly had plenty of the proper hardware, and a small number of zombies going against a large number of bullets tended to concede victory to the flying lead. He wasn't too sure about the hunters, but if he were to go solely by logic, he'd have given this one to the island's defenders.

The attackers in the sky, though...well, actually he wasn't sure what to make of them, or whether to even call them that yet. There hadn't been any hostilities on their part, though whether that would remain was of course highly suspect. They were certainly of interest though, especially the one that he couldn't detect in the band humans liked to call visible light. A forward observer, perhaps? Or some kind of spy?

The latter wasn't too likely, the number of scrying beacons he detected popping up all over the island making first-hand observation redundant. True, there could've been more than one organization interested in covert observation, but the chances of it all fitting together like that came out of calculation as remote. In any case, he had other priorities at the moment.

The first was of course finding Tomb. Being unable to rely on telepathy around here would make that difficult. Fortunately, thoughts weren't the only thing that could be used to find someone directly. There were also individual impulses, commonly called double-Is. Un fortunately, he didn't have Tomb's double-Is. That meant the best he could do was sweep the whole island, plot the position of each person he found, and compare them to patterns and parameters in an effort to guess the most likely place she'd be. In short, the sweep's first result would be the largest concentrations of people in the island.

What did he find?

The second was actually an extension of the first. Tomb had a lab, and it was probably here. If it was, its location and layout would be most useful. Inside the mountain was both the most likely and unlikely spot at the same time, depending on who one asked, but it would've been where he'd sink a secret lab into the underground, so his scan for voids and hollows beneath the island's surface started there. Regrettably, it wasn't detailed enough to differentiate between materials, such as granite and steel, but he felt that finding the subterranean spaces and their distributions was a good enough result.

What did the scan reveal?

The third technically wasn't his. It was that of the ship. As it sailed into sector A5, the vessel began to project a field about the isle, the unseen sphere of energy enclosing the land and quite a bit of the surrounding sea. It wasn't solid though, presenting no hindrance to anyone wishing to pass through - at least not so long as the anyone was material. What it did present itself as an obstacle toward was teleportation, and a very specific kind at that: out of the area. Anyone who attempted to teleport away from the island would be violently hurled back to where they'd started. He didn't intend to leave Tomb any way to escape.

Naturally, this would also inhibit the functions of mediporters and such (if they worked this far away from Paragon City and the Rogue Isles in the first place, that was), but he didn't really worry about that. Just about every super-being he'd run into around here was far too 'badass' to take a defeat, and he was sure that the presence of the blockade field wouldn't change a thing in that respect.

Of course, none of this went to say that it made jumping off the island impossible - just very, very difficult. Anyone attempting a teleport away would have to get pretty clever if they wanted to succeed while the field was still up...

The power of the gust of wind left behind in the wake of the Priest's descent cleared a path in the fog for the parachuting Altair Mary Stevens to follow through. The Maiden of the Layline glided gracefully after the holyman and at the sight of approaching rocks, the two flared their wings, breaking their fall. Altair Stevens unclipped her parachute at the last few seconds of descent and allowed it to flutter away down the mountain. The three stood together against the snow, garbed in the black and white Nighthunter's uniform as they set their bearings.

"Alright then Codename" said the Priest, now wrapped up to the neck in sweeping feathered wings. "Do your thing"

"One step ahead of you Father" she replied, staring into the fog. "I've scanned the area in three detailed sweeps and err... we have some good news and some bad news. Good news is, there is something here. Bad news is, its all the way at the foot of the mountain. By the old Insidium mines."

Blade looked back at his wife, his Corrander armour obscured his face but he smiled anyway and said "I know, Tomb isnt stupid enough to leave it under protected, but i have an idea." With a spin the Corrander armour flew off Blade and reformed itself. Blade stood in his nighthunter armour instead. The Corrander suit said "MARTHA here, complying with orders". The Corrander suit began to walk itself out of the stealth field and into view of the buildings. If there was someone waiting for them, all they would see was Blade Racer walking into the open.

++++

Lucard, floating above the jungle floor and staying out of phase to avoid the trip wires he knew would be around, stopped infront of Elizabeth's mirror. "Good evening Jack, and good evening Countess, a pleasure to see you here. My plan seems to be working if the sounds from the port are to be judged. Jack, I would watch your step, seems to be some rather nasty traps around." he said with a smile, one that only just hid his seriousness at the mission. "I'm afraid someone woke the feral's early Elizabeth, seems they may have turned some of the crew into ghouls. Still I doubt it will be an issue, we are heading for the old mine, as it seems to be the perfect place for Tomb to hide. I will update you when we know more, I assume you wont be joining us after all?" he querried.

++++

On the beach, the Ghouls were cut down by the mines and the gunfire. The ferals behind them slinked back slowly, hiding in the surf just on the edge of the beach. They look to either side of them, sniffed the air, then ran along the shore front towards the port.

B4, Jungle-border

"Lucard... I gather you have control of the nosferatu?! In no way they should spread out... yet!", Elizabeth explained... "You know we need to destroy the blood virus first... be careful. You, me and the Nosferatu are vulnerable to its effects!"

She turned to the werewolf... "Jack, the beach needs to be cleared first. Best thing is to use brute force. Stand clear I send in something to manage that."

Back in Cap Vladimir directed three zombies... rebuild and enhanced Abominations... to the portal. "Countess.. the abominations are ready!", the Lich said. "They will not be stopped by a trap or two."

The three creatures stepped through the portal and started sweeping the beach almost instantly... Three meters of Jack one activated a anti-personal mine and its leg was blown off. The creature just crawled further doing its best to find more traps while the werewolf was holding his hands on his ears. The sound was just too much for his senses.

"Lucard... secure the perimeter! I intent to send more over then this.", the blood countess screamed out over the sound of the screaming of the abominations... and the occasional explosion.

Lucard grinned at Elizabeth. "the ferals will hunt as they please, and will make a mess of things. Attacking from the rear of those pillboxes is best. I suggest Jack and his pack take care of them. I think the feral's are heading into the port itself now in anycase."

Lucard flew a little higher to get a better view of the beach turned battefield. Body parts had been sent flying in all directions and the hail of gunfire seemed to have ripped the zombiefied crew completely to shreds now. He drew his pistols and began to let fly at the enemy on the beach.

H3

Bullet immediately began to hit the armour as it walked forward, somewhere in the ghost town, snipers opened fire from cover.


B5


Figures dressed in full camo gear began to move towards the source of the explosions, in the trees something wicked this way creeped.




A9





Only a few figures moved on the port, and they ran from building to building, delivering ammunition, medical packs and status updates, the port itself had its large corrugated iron, rust pitted buildings reinforced with sand bags, guns poked from any sizeable hole.

E1

Erez'Zul steps through a portal, one from his own pocket dimension to the Island, the sound of the sea smashing against the cliff walls behind him.
Five more figures stepped through the portal, 2 small imp like demons, 2 larger demons, hunched over on all fours, and one last figure, a man with glowing green eyes, tall green hair and a dark blue armored suit on.

Erez'Zul looked at the green eyed man then at the portal as it closed.
"Screecher....where is Destroyer?"
The green eyed man, Screecher, looked behind him where the portal was just a second ago, looking around the area all he saw was a seemingly endless field of grass, having a quick look over the cliff edge just in case he looked at Erez'Zul, shrugging to show he had no idea where the red eyed Destroyer was.

Erez'Zul looked around, walking to the top of a hill he saw a massive structure in the distance.
"Theres something in the distance....the portal we used to get here, something was wrong, if Destroyers around he'll meet up with us eventually, until then...we move out."
The demonlings ran ahead a few metres while the other two larger demons kept close to Erez'Zul, walking slightly ahead of him, Schreecher walked by Erez'Zul's side.

D7

Destroyer stepped from the portal, looking around it took him a split second to realise he was not only completely lost, but also seperated from the group.
Looking behind him at the portal he tried to step back through it but it was too late, the portal vanished leaving him stranded.
He looked around as the freezing wind swirled around him, not really knowing what to do he stood still for a few minutes.
Finally he decided to move, putting one foot at a time down the mountain he intended to climb down, unfortunately after three steps his footing slipped, falling down the side of the mountain, hitting the cliff edges as he fell down.

Miranda Payne sat in the sub that she had managed to borrow looked over to the werewolf shaking in the corner "Almost there Conall then you can vent your fear" Miranda stood up and walked over to the Sub pilot and muttered to him a moment. The pilot smiled and nodded at Miranda and she turned around to her boys and Conall "Alright we are almost there... Are we ready to kick some *** in the name of the Nighthunters." Miranda's boys all cheered and started checking thier weapons, the one called "Crazy Ivan" muttered to himself and giggled manically. "Remember try not to kill anyone if you can help it guys... Conall that means you too" Miranda said with a smile

Conall stopped shaking and gave Miranda a thumbsup.

"Dont worry, i wont kill anyone. I might break a few bones, but no killing."

He then started to make himself ready for the upcoming fight.

"I guess i will take up too much space if i shapeshifted in this small tub" He muttered to himself

D7

The arrival was quiet and subtle, the three figures stepping out of thin air and standing there, apparently shunning gravity for now.
"Well. Quite the caffufle, this time," Leon smirked, twirling the cane he held in one hand idly as he looked around. Out of the three, he stood out the most, still wearing the white suit that he had become increasingly attached to.
"Are we going after the girl, the rest of them or the hag?" Maria asked bluntly, checking the network of scabbards that were strapped across her back and waist, jet black trenchcoat whipping in the wind as she did so. Lawrence simply smiled faintly, adjusting the mirrored glases he wore before putting his hands in the pockets of his own trenchcoat, which was dark red in colour.
"We wait until the other start to congregate. That way, we know where our targets are for certain," Leon explained, walking forward a few steps, still on thin air. "For the girl...I get the suspicion that we're just a tad late to lay any dibs there, hmm? Personally...Bathory, that headcase Lucard and the demon-thing Erez'Zul. They'll make the best examples. Nothing fancy, just lop off a limb or trinket that's hard to get. We want to make a lasting point, after all," he added with a faint grin.
"Fine, you deal with the hag," Maria snapped. "That prat Lucard is mine. If he thinks those little pea-shooters of his are going to impress, he's going to be in for a shock..."

C4

Something moved inthe shadows of the forest.
He knew he was in the right place. He could sense the others, Hero and Villain alike.
They were an irrelevance at best, an annoyance at worst. He had his goal, and he would achieve it. One way or another.
After all, any fool knew that death was by no means a permanant factor.
"Now, Miss Tomb...let us see your worth..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Square H3

Blade smirked as the bullets began to fire. The Corrander suit could take a few minutes of this kind of punishment, but not much more without the chance to repair. Blade moved as fast as he could. "Suraya, Buzzclaw, Maria, move now! Take them out fast! Keep to cover". Over the comms he said "Pious, we are moving now, the city is full of gaurds, but i can here the disturbance in the port from here, sounds like something big is going down." and with that said, he dashed out towards the nearest building, his superspeed letting him clear the distance easy and crashthrough the door. Swinging his blade around neatly, he brought low the merc inside with ease, moving too fast for them to respond as he hit them with his laser sword, set to stun so as not to kill them.

Buzzclaw and Maria moved quickly, Buzzclaw rasing a wall of ice to protect from the gunfire as they moved to the nearest house. The scared but eager Maria bursting in and releasing a shower of spines in all directions, pinning the gaurds inside. As Buzzclaw moved inside, he sent a wave of ice out so that anyone trying to hit them from behind would slip up.

Sector A5

If he'd been able to frown, he would've. So much for the simple way - finding this Tomb person via tracking the location of the underground position that held the least number of people, i.e. the girl and the strongest of those she trusted to guard her. Instead, it seemed every human concentration of the island was practically teeming with people.

Well, he supposed that if it had been easy, someone would've already done the job. He'd just have to go looking up-close then.

Shifting his weight forward, he spread the black-lustered skeletal 'fingers' of his wings, then powered the projectors, fields of burning-orange energy flaring to life between their material supports, instantly vaporizing a few droplets of ocean spray that had come too close.

He performed one more self-check of all systems, then leaped from atop the ship's bridge and into the air, winging himself higher with powerful, yet somehow graceful strokes that quickly and efficiently carried him inland...
__________________

Sector D7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderrar Finally [Destroyer] decided to move, putting one foot at a time down the mountain he intended to climb down, unfortunately after three steps his footing slipped, falling down the side of the mountain, hitting the cliff edges as he fell down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pious "Right well, let's hope its not a hostile" said Altair as the Priest flew closer to the mountain face, coming in fast to intercept the man's fall.

And he wasn't the only one - though whether the burning orange eyes of the thing Pious spotted in the fog headed toward the figure tumbling down the mountainside with the same intents as Altair and he was a very good question. While in fact they were, there was certainly no obvious external way for this to be determined, the piercing screech he roared into the air to make himself known to the falling Destoyer not exactly much of a conversation starter.



It didn't exactly sound friendly either, but it was just about the only sound he could make - and being currently unable to contact Destroyer telepathically, it really was the only way he had in trying to tell the tumbling man that he was approaching...

D7

Destroyer didnt really have emotions, no joy, no fear, no anger or hate, if he did however, he would be incredibly annoyed right now.
His body was able to withstand massive amounts of punishment, able to stop bullets with relative ease and fall from great heights without so much as a scratch on him. Falling down a mountain however...he finally decided to try and stop himself.
His first attempt immediately failed, trying to grab a cliff edge while falling didnt work, simply making the rocks crumble. His second attempt was to dig his fingers into the wall, slowing himself gradually....this did not work either.

Destroyers only chance was to dig deeper into the wall. He was starting to roll in the snow now, knowing he would come to another cliff edge soon he had to take drastic action, the roaring wind and snow obscuring his vision of anyone who might be around him.
He decided to punch as hard as he could into the ground, as he did his body flipped up, dangling in mid air for a second, he brought his feet down hard, cracking the ground as he did. Perhaps a little too much.

The ground began to crack, a loud roaring sound could be heard as the snow began to shift, Destroyer tried to stand up and get out of the way as the snow shifted down the mountain but found his arm was still stuck in the floor.
He pulled harder, breaking his arm free from the ground, unfortunately the ground seemed to crack in two making Destroyer fall backwards, the snow and ice ran down the mountain like a waterfall now, picking up speed until he came to a cliff edge.
As he flew over the edge with the snow and rocks flying around him he punched as hard as he could into the mountain side, kicking both of his feet into the side of the mountain as well to remain stable.

This time the damage was a lot more severe, after a moment of calm the entire cliff edge started to fall, breaking off from the mountain, a full blown avalanche.
Snow, ice and rock fell down the side of the mountain covering the entire area around it up to around 5 metres deep surrounding the entire mountain.
Underneath it all, mouth, ears, nose and eyes full of snow, Destroyer wondered if punching a mountain wasnt a great idea after all.

((M'kay then, was gonna wait for more people to get a chance to post, but since nearly half of Saturday will pass for you guys while I'm sleeping on this side of the pond...))

He looked toward the bickerers, not certain whether to disregard or marvel at their ignorance. Energy-based? Alien warship? Ugly? Kill it? Weapon? Owns it? Had it been in his nature, he would've facepalmed. Had he been able, he would've told them he was standing right here and asked them if they knew he could hear them. Regrettably, neither was in the cards.

Not to mention the woman was already on the attack.

Normally, he probably wouldn't have minded getting into a fight, but right now Tomb occupied top spot on his beef list. This would have to be dealt with quickly. Thus he reacted with little thought, rising to his hind legs with much greater swiftness than his size let on, a proportional double-barreled artillery piece snapping from its storage compartment in his lower left arm. It locked back in with muzzles above his wrist - each easily a meter in diameter - aimed squarely at the approaching Damsel in an attempt to intimidate her into backing off.

If this didn't work, he wouldn't hesitate to fire, the combi-cannon already dialed in as a heavy paralyzer; a nonlethal, direct-fire energy weapon whose bolt could've laid out a raging bull elephant for a decent few hours. It directly affected the target's motoric musculature, leaving struck victims awake and fully aware, but utterly unable to move. Unfortunately, at least when dealing with 'tanker' type heroes and their related sorts, the weapon was often not quite so effective, dealing the target a sharp lash more akin to a psychic scream - a really, really vicious one, but not something that tended to knock the resilient types flat with just one application.

Good thing the weapon had dual barrels.

Regardless of whether or not he'd have to use it however, he attempted to analyze the incoming Damsel's basic capabilities, starting with the dancing lighting and what she intended to do with her fist there, and moving on from there in the direction of surface down.

What did he find?

And if all else failed...well, that black luster of his armored exoskeleton wasn't just for show. While it wasn't able to reflect attacks, it was fairly decent at deflecting them...

E1

E1 is mainly grass, small rolling hills, in the distance a large steel and concrete building can be seen, though it is clearly a little damaged and weather worn even from this distance. To the west the sound of waves hitting cliffs can be heard, looking north the jungle can be seen, to the south a few of the taller apartment blocks in the ghost town can be made out. To the north birds scatter upwards from the jungle.



C4

This jungle is home to many traps, mercenaries and far stranger creatures, like the one that charged forward at the sound of a voice. It looked to be the offspring of a rhino and a particularly vicious type of dog, it charges forward with long talons ripping chunks of jungle soil up as it charges towards the figure with a bellowing roar.




H3

Unable to fight back, the mercs went for the next battle plan, attrition, each of them unhooked a flash bang from their belts, dropping them to fill the room with light and sound.



G8

The perfect, white sand of the beach ends, to be replaced with grass and dirt, to the north the dark jungle sits, with a few visible tracks, mostly animal, though one leading to the north west (G7) is clearly a track left by some sort of caterpillar tracked vehicle, several large rocks have scrapes of dark green paint against them, and several trees have deep gouges. The whole jungle seems silent, the heavy tree canopy creating a dusky form of light and snuffing the sounds from around the island.



A5

Ocean gives way to cliffs, cliffs to heavy jungle; most of the south is dominated by the mountain, down which an avalanche is falling.



D5

The mine entrance wasn’t in the best of shapes, firstly it had been quite some time since the wood had been placed, and it was starting to rot and mould, several large mushrooms and fungus growing from the dark wood, secondly a large amount of snow, rocks and people had just bounced down from above it, making the pitch black tunnel echo with rumbles of the Earths upset.

In places several abandoned pieces of machinery lay rusting, wild flowers and grass growing where they can.