Moreover, I certainly do hope you're wearing the mask, or the poison gas would already have ended your otherwise ignorant life.
Indeed, he had put on the purple mask, and had been breathing through it for quite some time. The moment he'd found it on the end of the steaming sword, letter stabbed into the wooden floor at the point, he'd snatched it up, pulling it down over his face just as the gas had begun streaming into the room. Long ago, Klaus had concluded that his father was insane, but even he had underestimated the depths of his depravity. He'd been allotted all of ten seconds before the poison had begun coming into the abandoned study; suppose he were sick that day! The Lichter family line would've ended right then and there.
@lichter: Was fit to include the whole thing. I dont usually read those but I'm glad I caught that one. Zemo is a boss look (and character), its cool to see his archetype done properly.
Braveheart had a long and epic underdog fight with an antagonist of their creation, cementing a very satisfying moment in an actuality quite appealing and entertaining fight to read. A very classic "David and Goliath" fight with a Silver age tone. (Gotta go to the thread for the whole thing :P)
On his right was Nemaz, the Maverick soldier, and on his left was Jack, a wounded comrade, who had just engaged an intense fight with Nam. Both allies spoke to O'Connor with words that motivated him to continue to fight, as he was beginning to lose hope within him, becasue Drakhart proved to be a living weapon of mass destruction and seemingly invincible. It was truly a touching and emotional moment for O'Connor watching Jack dissolve in the air as he spoke his final words after having given all he had in his fight with Drakhart, and left behind his magnum holt. The whole group bared the weight of Drakhart's threat throughout the battle, but now, it was only O'Connor. To think that the fate of an entire country would ever rest on the shoulders of one man, he never thought that he would be the one. The only thing that kept alive his willpower was the suffering of the Henoshan people under Drakhart's tyrannical rule, and watching his allies overwhelmed. As Nemaz had stated, someone had to stand against tyranny.
Taking Jack's gun, the commander now stood face-to-face with Drakhart once again. Although with his body still recovering, he prepared his next move. Nam drawed his hands back and gathered up the radioactive energy within him, then thrusted his palms forward and discharged a massive green beam of energy toward O'Connor. In response, O'Connor raised his shield at the perfect position that the attack would be deflected off in a path aiming towards the hills. Having an opportunity to fire back, covering himself with the shield and stretching out his right hand with the 35 pound magnum gun, O'Connor open fired on the dictator, who was hit as he flew back from the impact of the bullet. Drakhart was able to get back up to his feet, but O'Connor pulled the trigger once again, slowing down his momentum. Now wounded, emerging on his knees and realizing that the soldier had a powerful weapon in his hand, Drakhart desperately began to release hand blasts, throwing his hands forward one after another as he rapidly fired as many energy blasts as he could. Due to the attacks, O'Connor was not able to aim at his enemy with the gun. Therefore, taking a life-risking move, he charged towards Nam, and stretched out his shield to protect himself from the blasts and stormed through them. As he approached the dictator, the star-spangled hero gripped his right hand tight upon his Shield's handle and with an upward motion, he swung his arm with enough force in a way that his shield faced Drakhart's chest and placing the sharp edge of it under his chin, bludgeoning him and launching him in the air flipping backwards.
Drakhart could not believe how a human with no superhuman abilities was giving him a difficult fight. The gun and the shield were two huge advantages for O'Connor in this fight and Drakhart was aware of it. Lying on the ground, he began to gather energy within him, preparing to unleash an explosive wave as O'Connor walked closer to him, armed with his shield and the magnum holt. He would usually begin to glow ominously before causing an explosion, but this time, due to his semi-human form, he did not show any signs, which made it impossible for O'Connor to predict his next move, or even suspect that he was preparing another attack. As the soldier got close enough, the dictator once again self-detonated. Caught within the explosion, O'Connor's wounded body was launched through the air and lost Jack's weapon in the attack. Although it was not as powerful as the omnidirectional blast he launched before, it was enough to inflict a large amount of damage on the patriot. Had it not been for his protective suit, and his nearly indestructible shield which only covered part of his body at the time of the detonation, the explosion would have killed him.
In extreme physical suffering, it took the man nearly two minutes to get up from the attack and was barely able to stand. One of the villagers that were being evacuated from the island, bearing a riffle in hand, rushed his way into the scenario and offered the wounded O'Connor his help. "No." He responded, trying his best to hold his composure despite the pain. "You people have fought enough. It's our fight now, we *places his hand over his injured ribs* we're going to win."After listening to his words, reluctantly, the freedom fighter returned to his people, leaving the American soldier by himself.
"I had enough of you!" Drakhart shouted as he slowly rose from the ground after recovering. "Now it's time to destroy you all once and for all!" Raising his hand to the sky, he gathered the radioactive energy in the form of a menacing, giant green energy sphere, easy to see from a far distance. Just by seeing it, the commander knew that the radioactive sphere was going to cause great destruction."Now, to exterminate the plague!" In the moment he was about to launch the attack against O'Connor, in the attempt to prevent Drakhart from launching the energy ball, the commander threw his shield with all the strength he had left within him toward's Nam's exposed torso, and the sharped-edge vibranium shield penetrated through Nam's body, slicing him in half. Although Nam was still alive, as his separated body was on the ground, unable to protect himself, the energy ball slowly fell upon him. Meanwhile, two fellow American soldiers rushed out of the transport aircraft in O'Connor's aid and in a two-person arm carry, they took him back into the helicopter before the energy sphere would land. As it hit the ground, a huge explosion followed, expanding across an incredibly wide range, destroying everything caught in its path, with Drakhart the only one in the island. Combined with the full-on earthquake caused by the nanobot explosion mixed with the volcanic eruption, most of the island was eradicated.
Maverick had sent a small squad with a simple, but dangerous mission from their base in china. To tag the mutant known as Apex. That in itself wouldn't be too difficult. A group of soldiers started towards him ready to intercept. The M.S.C's jumping through the trees as if they weren't clad in body armor. It wasn't too soon until he was in sigh approximately 500 feet away from their target. Hidden among the forestry one of them took aim behind their target, out of eyeshot, as the rest of them simply stood by to watch their teammates back as he extended his rifle from the bushes. His finger slowly and without hesitation pulled the trigger as he fired at the seemingly unstoppable mutant.
The round flew through the air at speeds greater then the speed of sound, as a majority of bullets did. Should the round hit him, he would find that the round is actually....a paintball it would seem. Simply splattering some viscous liquid along his back The shot would have at best caused a human being to stagger. Once they took their shot, regardless of whether or not it would hit, the M.S.C left, merging seamlessly into the forest, nowhere to be found with no real signs of even broken branches or moved debris to indicate they were ever there.
Not even 30 seconds after a shadow seemed to loom over the air. One would know how the Spartans felt in the battle of 300 when the sky had been blackened with arrows. An artillery strike released hundreds of thousands of beehive artillery rounds raining from the sky. The sky littered with small super sonic armor piercing nanocrystalline tungsten carbide flechettes as in compressible as diamond that would soon tear the forested area apart. Tearing through trees like clay and apparently having no concept of "cover" as they pierced through any conventional substance that covered 500 feet in radius as it would bath the area for around 10 seconds. Their associate was just outside the radius, but not by much. With sharp darts spearing into the a mere 5 feet away from him. But none of them endangering him.
Maverick Incorporated methodically deals heavy damage to Aleksei Smirnov during Envy's attack on DC. This post highlights perfectly how Maverick adapts to a foe's strengths through research and strategy. Apex, who was invulnerable to any conventional military assault, was attacked with nanocrstalline tungsten carbide flechettes, which penetrated his kinetic-absorption field. While the attack didn't kill him, it was by far one of the deadliest he'd ever faced (beaten out only by Anthony Stark teleporting the two into space a post before this one happened), and it really accentuates what Maverick does best.
I narrow my eyes at his first question. Such a ridiculous question, I know that more than most people. He's mistaking determination to succeed for arrogance. I shouldn't be angry at him, he just doesn't understand.
"You mistake confidence and determination for arrogance." I tell him quite plainly, none of the previous pleasantness in my voice. "Solar Hawk is far more powerful than I am, she simply chooses to keep that power in her back pocket. She's also the one who loves him...because she's still capable of romantic love in this life time. I already lost my chance until life 83. I assure you that the scenario you mention is neither insurmountable nor impossible to defend against...especially for a White Lantern. We have both faced off against gods in the past and both of us would do it again. If something did happen? If someone did hurt or kill him? The fires of Pompeii would look cold in comparison. Neither of us would stop until every individual responsible was dead or dying at our feet and I promise you, we are not as arrogant nor as simple minded as you might think."
I collect myself for a moment, shaking my head. "If you think for a moment that we don't understand loss or how fragile life is, you do not understand us very well at all. I have lost more loved ones in 82 life times than I care to recount. The order is supposed to be I die, then they die later on...but it's happened before that they die first, sometimes because people have used a loved one to get to me. The emotional pain that comes to a Hawk Lord when they must bury a loved one is indescribable because not only do we lose the loved one, we lose the ability to feel romantic love until we die and reincarnate again. Life...human life, is a fragile and precious thing and I understand that very, very well. I have left in my wake a lot of graves...I still visit all of them."
Luna Hawk smacks down her interviewer in this RP. It's this sort of IC emotional response that highlights what makes Hawk's writing so good. The rest of the RP is filled with great quotes like this one interspersed with Luna's own thoughts and reasoning. I have a better time reading their character-development-related posts than their action-oriented ones, and I think that's a testament to their writing ability.
@sabre_eres: It's not about being better at writing! I just appreciate Luna's character choices. I find them very interesting. It's never a competition on here! Except when KOV rolls around
Hey, it's not like a fan-fic contest, it's all about collaboration here. Certainly things can become competitive when it comes to Empire Claims, but stuff like debates IC should never be taken too seriously. After all, people ought to have very different opinions or ideas than their characters (in general), otherwise things can get a little personal.
KOV is a combat contest, and it is judged based on writing and selling and all that. That is pretty competitive, but it's all in good sport.
@lichter: I didn't mean competition. I don't take it personally. I just was saying I thought I wasn't one of the better writers. So my characters wouldn't seem to be some the more interesting ones as well.
@lichter @tatsumaki: Oh! THAT'S what that is. Thanks!
One woman leaves as another enters, the apex archer entering despite her lack of resources and support. Maverick was about working as a unit but each was supposed to be able to also be a one person army. Maverick trusted she could handle herself deep inside the Shogunate and alone.
Apex can very intuitively and easily understand Maverick and it's workings, in general slipping into it with little trouble and garnering higher rank than most of the others who joined, who might of course fit, but so far, few fit and perform as well as she does.
From an OOC standpoint, Apex never actually asked to go spy on the shogunate or anything. She simply went and did it. And it's great.
Each portal led outside of the town looking to direct the public away from the danger surounding them. Again and again she used the goggles of Maverick and all their sight assistance to identify where these people were. Alex had been able to teleport vast distance and amounts of people without effort. The amount of portals casted were actually beginning to show strain on her body. Sweat built up from a strenuous attempt to lend a hand to the people in a situation where she could. Soon enough the archer landed beside a fellow soldier doing her best not to gag at the sight before herself. "Need me to take you to the ER for some stitches? Granted you could of been shooting while prone don't be lazy." As horrific as the sight was Alex tried to provide a smile and calm demeanor to a friend and brother in arms. It probably wasn't the end for Nemaz however trauma could develop psychologically from such a wound. Her hand checked his pulse and worked on bandaging the sound with haste to try and prevent blood loss. Useful as teleporting was it still was easy to bleed out while cut in half. Meanwhile Alex's thoughts lingered on staying alert not to far from them was the man who'd inflicted such harm, who'd also soon be engaged with a hand full of powerhouses. It'd be easy for two soldiers to get caught up in the various collisions of combating titans.
Smartly positions herself away from the conflicts of higher powers. Despite the fact that people casually demolishing buildings all around her, she simply stays out of the way and focuses on the mission of her mentor while focusing on her given task. She isn't intimidated by the fact that people are casually wrecking blocks and destroying skyscrapers. She simply focuses on what she's doing.
Helps Maverick troops and civillians all about her away despite the strain and cost to her own
A shot is fired a grazing shot do to blood loss, most people would have been dead by now. It was only the companies technology and stubbornness keeping the veteran gunman alive. "Compensate about two inches to the right if you fire. Mostly just focus on the crosshairs though to stay awake old man." As a marksman rarely rivaled her pointers were some of the sharpest usually. Some of the snipers were talking about forming a unit with her, with a focus on black ops and infiltration. Mostly though the wise cracking and pointer here though was just to keep the mind busy. She didn't need cover fire so much as for her mentor to stay awake, letting oneself rest with such wounds on the field was particularly hazardous. Alex needed the area to be clear before getting the soldier out. Her portals for someone injured so grievously had to be more large and encompassing more precise rifts were to straining on the body.
Then came the car thrown their way, bracing herself Alex readied her exosuit diving slightly into the sidewalk under the pressure. Both hands out the archer caught the vehicle her hands jolting back faintly from the impact. She cared far better then the car which buckled inwards metal twisting from the pressure. Ripping the door free with her free hand Apex flung the metal forward with as much force as the exosuit could provide. With four ton strength when putting the suit under strain the frisbee throw was a terrifying forceful through. Edge of the door hit first into the ribcage resounding with a sickly loud crack as bones shattered. And then the rest sunk into flesh with a mulching sound and a resounding thud as the target was pinned to the wall. Next duo was coming around the corner, and sadly they to went for the TK car technique.
"Training bests power every time." Alex commented assuring in tone as she drew two arrows. While not one for combat commentary things like conversation and orders could help give the wounded something to focus on. Familiar thwack sound of the bow sounded off as an arrow impacted the gas tank of a car and then detonated as the arrow let loose a plasmic discharge. High energized exsplosion resulted in little more then scattered molten shards dancing through the air. The second arrow, was released barely a second after the first but had already been compensated for the blast wave of the first arrow. Alex barely having to even use technology for the shot that passed through an exsplosion. As for the arrow itself it hit the palm of one of the two psionic followers. The arrow impact wasn't fatal but care was taken to maximize the blast radius of the plasma discharge. Two bodies flopped to the asphalt one missing almost half of himself the other missing a good third. Their skeletons were charred and their muscles and organs sizzled as blood boiled. A ghastly end, yet strangely not phasing to the archer even though she practically saw it in slow motion. It became clear to her it wasn't so much as the sight of war that got to her, just the visuals to those she cared for or who didn't deserve it. Perhaps the most haunting part of the job wasn't what you saw or even what you did, but what you got used to.
Rather easily counters a telekinetic picking up a car and throwing it at her.
Kills off numerous telekinetics in quick succession with brutal efficiency.
Continues to fight despite seeing her mentor got ripped in half and that she is fighting people who are mostly innocent.
Continues, true to Maverick's way, to actually save people and help lessen human casualty, inadvertently contributing to weakening Asmodeus.
Still no sighs of reference. Worse yet my resources are running low, I already ate my waifu pillow due to lack of rations. I've emulated the styles of both Impero and Gambler but still not a soul on the horizon... or atleast I think I did. Maybe I just messed up somewhere, probably in the vocabulary section. Anyhow, it looks like I'll have to continue working harder on my dank writing skillz. This is xXxDaPenmanxXx, signing out.
When Jean was struggling with the disappearance of his clone Alexandra, Inner Demon manipulated him into succumbing to his vampiric nature. This interaction was the first between the two. It resulted in Jean murdering at least one person and eventually culminated into Dr. Quentin’s disappearance during his presidency and the events of Executive Action where Inner Demon got in the heads of several powerful US officials and affiliates including Anthony Stark, Julius Jones, Hound of War, Lichter, and Damien Bonaparte.
[RP is abridged. See the whole interaction from this page to the next.]
Id: “You suffer, and you wish to act. Why do you hesitate?” The words were not spoken, but rather projected directly at Jean’s tormented mind.
"Weakness is a matter of will. If you are too weak to act, then what torments you must not be quite so dear to you as you seem to think." A hint of mockery was laced through this last statement.
"Yessss...." the voice hissed, a hint of a hulking, inhuman form appearing behind the eyes. The deadly shards of glass passed harmlessly through the incorporeal presence. "Crush them. Crush them for her, Jean. She justifies everything. She is all that matters."
Psy: His eyes widened, and his body trembled though he was uncertain why. He wasn't afraid as the voice of the dark figure spoke. He felt possessed. "What… NO!" The white knight pressed his eyes shut, clasping his fists to his temples, the glass falling in shards all around. "This isn't… me. I can't be that person. I will save her but not this way. It can't be this way." His eyes opened again, and he flung himself out of bed with a snarl, his feet cut on the glass. "WHO ARE YOU?!" He shouted in anger. The smell of his own blood wafted to his nostrils, taunting his sensibilities.
Id: "Who am I?" the Demon echoed, contemptuously. "I am the child of nightmares. I was born of the darkness of the first minds, which is why the darkness in your own beckoned me to your side. This is you, Jean. Those who would deny their own darkness are those who inevitably become enslaved to their own repressed desires." He was now clearly manifested, his grotesque, armored form nearly filling one side of the room, a fanged, inhuman rictus of a smile spreading across his visage.
Manipulating a capable psionic and the President of the United States. Some badass writing from Inner Demon.
@soterichor: @the_psyentist: Supremely high praise, especially coming from two writers who consistently raise the bar for quality, themselves. If I am successful, it is because I am privileged to collaborate with such artists.
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