Giving a bow to his friend, Jack quickly went to work. Snap four times, he created four tiny orbs of fire and ordered them to begin etching runes around the buildings perimeters. The warding marks wouldn't stop a full on assault and the weak flames would work slowly, but it would stop any collateral damage from the fights.
Next, Jack commanded earth magic and formed several large, stone golems. He ordered them to find innocent civilians, rescue them, and keep them safe. The golems would not attack their enemies as long as they stayed away from the civilians.
With an adjust to his scarf and a deep breath, Jack began following Myres Voorhees. He found the skeleton trying to make peace with the "thunderous colleague" and another person. Deciding peace was the better solution, he let loose a gust of wind magic stong enough to blow away cars. Hopefully it would seperate the two. Jack would then say, "The boney gentleman has a point, let us end this battle, hm?"
Still reeling from the loss of an innocent teenager, the matured Rook stood in front of his computing system, monitoring the events of the world as they transpired. He had lost a plethora of innocent people he had intended to save, but none had died from lack of trying. Until the other day.
The gruesome images of the scene plagued him, and her final words haunted his thoughts. He refused to put it to the back of his mind however. He would hold onto the anguish and remember it as his greatest failure. Harnessing the pain and manipulating it into a weapon to be used against his foes.
He crossed his arms in deep thought, analyzing the images before him. Just as he had predicted, a man of god like power was now exerting that said force onto a large city. A city that Vengeance had a prominent footing in before his own disappearance. A move that he did to retreat back into Blüdhaven and live the rest of his life in seclusion. The titan like figure was presumably doing ‘hero work’, to cut out what he saw was an infection.
What a fool
Vengeance thought to himself while rubbing the stubble on his chin. The charcoal colored turtle necking making a subtle swishing sound as he did so.
He was only going to displace the crime while leaving inhabitants without a place to shelter themselves. Sure, the crack dens and prostitution warehouses will be leveled, but these criminals will only find another hole to crawl in to spread their filth. The closest city? Blüdhaven. Then what? Then another caped crusader doing God’s work will repeat the actions of this one. They needed be restrained, or even neutralized.
Raindrops from the cavern opening pattered off the tapering stalactites and onto the jagged teeth below. Some causing the growing creek below to splash a bit. Bats shrieked in the distance and the sound was much more boisterous than normal, reverberating off the walls.
Jay had been pacing the city streets accompanied by the Outlaw's hired man @xeril_blacktail. He had seen the Warden approaching them, but in the time it took to move into position with his companion, who seemed unsteady on his long legs, several others had joined the Night Warden in his area. The Ghoul took each in at a glance, based mainly on their bioelectric compositions. There were a few anomalies in some of them, like Jay himself, apparently suspended somewhere between life and death, but they appeared to be allies of the Warden. He heard the Cobra give a small hiss from under his helmet, as if he recognized them somehow. By reputation, no doubt. These appeared to be the mercenaries Chase had been considering hiring. He wouldn't say it aloud, like Xeril, but they seemed rather...unprofessional. He had a hunch that if the fight ended before they were ready, they would prolong it for the fun of it. Nonetheless, they were here to help, for now, and if they proved to be trouble they seemed reasonably within Toyman's and Blacktail's abilities. So Jay answered Warden.
"We'll get the infantry moving. Some people are willing to fight for what's actually right here. Jesse's got a few packs of Denizens on her side, we'll try some guerrilla methods and see where that gets us. If you need anything, just signal us."
As cliched a place as ever to stand, the peak of the tallest mountain in the world certainly did offer a great view. Unconcerned with the moral lapses of the everyday man, he was content to simply stand statuesque at the snowy tip, gazing out at the valley beneath with eyes that could crackle with power at a moment's notice. He breathed in, the thinness of the air of no consequence to his advanced biology. Exhaling, he heard the cries of combat, the crackle of lightning, the sounds of banter and devastation...all from the other side of the world.
It had been three days since Mega Justice's ultimatum, and knowing in advance of his attack on the city, Nemo had attuned his senses to that area, focusing in on it just as one might selectively listen to one instrument in a massive ensemble. Though sound took time to travel, he was still receiving constant updates of the situation, the violence perturbing him as it always did. The figure who menaced the city demanded his attention, yet so far, he had not given it. Grim was said to be evacuated, but could the fighting spill out into nearby cities? What of the criminals who had flooded its streets, denizens who threatened the stability of the entire coastal economy with their antics?
Yet he deprives them of their agency. Lords over them, a tyrant, he thought, and he sullies the term 'justice' with wanton overuse.
Perhaps he could be of aid, somehow, to those who challenged Mega Justice in his conquest. He had equal distaste, though, for them. Opportunists, he reasoned, who would time and again reject US aid in favor of their own interests. Where was the US, he remembered them reasoning, when Grim burned? They let us go, and now we won't go back. Then they'd turn around the moment they'd rejected aid and complain that the US had abandoned them to their fate. It was a cycle that could not be rectified due only to the pride of the pack, the metahuman ego which controlled Grim. It was a city of vigilantes, they said, and they ran the streets. They knew that going back to the States would mean less violence, less freedom; they wouldn't let order stay in the way of their chaos.
Not that he was a great proponent of order for order's sake. Humanity was imperfect, and so were human systems of order. The answer, he supposed, lay in balance.
Taking off from where he stood, he approached the East Coast of the United States, space practically bending around his body as he "flew." He did not create thrust, but rather, changed his position through force of will, altering his location through an intrinsic connection to the universe that he himself could not explain. He passed closer to Grim, but settled over Bludhaven instead, not wanting to get too close to the mayhem lest he be compelled to interfere. His eyes rested on the city beneath, searching absentmindedly for anomalies.
Wait, he thought, his brow furrowing as it settled over a hollowed-out cavern, his signature atomic sight enabling him to peer past the atoms composing the city streets. He unconsciously focused in on the solitary figure standing in the cavern, a variety of electromagnetic signatures indicating computer screens and advanced technology. He smirked. The urban legend himself - Dark Vengeance. He could tell from the way he stood, the way he brooded, that this was no imitator. But what was he doing here, away from his trademark city? What had driven him out? Surely it couldn't be cowardice...despair? Dejected, perhaps, by Mega Justice's declaration of the city's imminent demise?
If I can save one soul tonight, let it be his, he thought, blinking to return his sight to relative normalcy. Descending rapidly, he landed over the cavern, decelerating before hitting the pavement above so as to avoid cracking it. Such displays were needless.
"Excuse me," he said neutrally, his super-senses searching for an inevitable security system that would record his presence, "Is everything alright?"
Dark Vengeance, sequestering himself in the face of danger, a threat to his city? Perhaps he was unhealthy. Perhaps he just needed someone to talk to.
Amy ha chosen not to join her friend when he vanished out of existence, leaving him to forge his own path in the late battle. Instead her eyes were locked on the fight escalating above, a person in a grey robe being assaulted by Justice before he was interrupted by a familiar girl in pink. Amy knew there wasn't much time to be lost as she stepped out of the car an watched Justice drag Gaige into the air. Her heart raced, as did her mind. Nothing he could project that far wouldn't hurt Ms. Leet. No, wait. Only one thing. Amy rummaged through the Bag she had slung over her shoulder as she exited the vehicle. She drew out a water bottle and rubbed her fingers on the condensation. There was a flash of light, which caught the attention of the grey-robed being atop the structure, then Aly was back in her Water form. She focused her attention strictly on Justice. When she ha a clear shot, a Shadow Ball would form in her hands. It was a special attack, not a physical one, so she hoped it would hit him and not just tick him off. She waited until the precisely right moment, then hurled it upward, praying its accuracy rating was enough to keep it from hitting Lizzy instead of Mega.
The words broke the natural sounds of the dismal grotto and caused the canine sentinel of the domain to perk up, letting a low, but aggressive gnarl. Vengeance turned his attention to the monitor that had pulled live security footage of the immediate area and brought it to full view. The pressure coming from the surface above caused the walls to rattle and even the hung cowl of Dark Vengeance to tumble off it’s mantle and roll onto the grated floor.
“That’s improbable.”
He muttered to himself, examining the figure that stood directly atop his own position. The teal hue of his garb and the clashing sanguine of his cloak glistened against the moonlight as the dust of the forest whisped from his feet. The words he spoke came from the security system, but they felt as if they were louder than that. The voice felt like it carried the polite intrusion directly, but gently to Vengeance’s own ears. His arms twitched in annoyance. He felt content in his seclusion, and now that someone broke that solitude, he was no longer content.
Vengeance pivoted his head towards the body armor that stood along the scaffold above and clenched his fists.
“Not even now.”
He whispered before turning away from the attire of Dark Vengeance.
Above
THIS IS MY SWAMP!
"Leave."
The tone augmentator in his cowl deepened his inflection far below the normal human range. He was adorned in a simple obsidian gear that bore no symbols or signs of wear. The cowl was absent of horns and had no opening for skin or life itself to be revealed to those who laid eyes upon it. The crimson goggles bore an imposing sight, but offered a highly informative HUD.
Vengeance examined him up and down. There was a clearing of brush and leaves beneath the interlopers stance, indicating that he is either far more nimble or lighter than he appears; The former seeming more likely.
Despite the shadows of the night casting their tendrils upon his apparel, it was just as brightly colored and dazzling as the video stream showed. The most noteworthy aspect of the man wasn't his calm demeanor, nor the capacity for power that he suggested to suppress, but it was the considerably large emblem blazingly stitched across his chest.
Vengeance stood unwavering and unimpressed, but cautious as always. This was his SWAMP home and fortress. If there was anyplace or time he would have a prepared edge, now was it. He held back the measures implemented to dispose of raiders and trespassers, but was ready to utilize them.
Seth's voice rang out over the Grim City dock, as he pressed the button on his earpiece delicately. A bagel loaded with cream cheese in his free hand, he bit into it hungrily, his feet hanging off the edge of the pier as he sat. "Defend the city, tag 'n bag Mr. MegaJustice?" He questioned, with a sigh. It was almost too predictable. No radical change, just get the bad guy and keep everything to the status quo. Boring, boring, boringboringboringboring... he repeated the word in his head a hundred thousand times, rolling his eyes once as he did so. Grim City was overcast, but early in the morning, and thus the idea of doing much of anything was stale in Seth's eyes, at least temporarily. "Or walk away?" Another common tactic - leaving events alone. Not exactly the 'superhero parole' he anticipated, but then again, he was not necessarily a superhero. With a grunt, he released the button on the earpiece and now used two hands to grip his bagel, taking a bite. A glob of thick cream cheese fell from the rear end, heading toward his clean and crimson costume, but at a hypersonic speed, he caught it, and ate it, satisfied.
No. You will assist Mega Justice. Incapacitate any metahuman threats to his cause - do not kill.
Killing was not a part of the deal anyways, but Seth was reassured by the fact that he would not be expected to. Cracking his neck, he stood, eating the rest of his bagel in a microsecond, before getting ready to go, channeling the speed force within him. Across the city, people were already starting to tense up, maybe even fight. Which means that Seth would have to be quick...
Never an issue for the McStorm.
_ _ _
Within a second he was across Grim City, feet skidding across the concrete and leaving skid marks as friction failed to stop him immediately. Before him, battle ensued. Mega Justice crushing the mech suit of some young heroine, a tense battle being fought at the Port of Oblivion, and mercenaries spreading through the city to hinder MegaJustice, both of the zealous and satanical variety.
"Um... I wanna help you out, so, er, awkward to ask, but what ya want me to do? Anyone resistin' ya that you're havin' a hard time stopping?" He chuckled, keeping pace with the giant of a man, @megajust. He made sure to either dart around or incapacitate any oncoming threats, whether mercenary, projectile, or otherwise. "Seriously, even if you just need a cup of water, I'm your guy. Here to make sure you don't die. Hehehthatrhymed" He finished, talking at an accelerated pace, before finally shutting up, turning back to the mech suit that he was crushing.
Nemo hadn't watched the man change out of courtesy, but had kept his senses tuned to his approach. Even though the man was remarkably silent, John could feel the air shift when a man walked, disturbing the fluid atmosphere and signalling an approach. Even a silent footfall altered a man's surroundings, and it was these alterations that John specialized in picking up. He turned his attention to Dark Vengeance as he appeared, expression serene. His eyes scanned the man up and down, his trademark atomic sight picking up -
Oh.
It was atypical for Nemo to express emotion when holding himself back, for he had the time to process everything in excruciating detail. A second was a minute to him, or more, if he needed it; regardless, he could not entirely hold back his incredulous reaction to seeing the missing Vice President of the United States, presumed deceased, beneath Vengeance's mask. His reaction? A grand raise of an eyebrow.
"Vice President Rook?" he asked, squinting. This was an interesting turn of events, alright. What ought he do with this information?
“Two and a half armies just to fight two people… Unbelievable.”
Some ways away from Grim City, Kaija sat alongside a young blonde man, just sitting in the grass and listening to the nearby carnage as though it were music. She laughed to herself as the branches of the tree at her back swayed in the wind and the shadows danced over her body. Despite the day, she was not in uniform. No, she was wearing civilian clothes and wore the face of the average blonde, blue eyed girl… albeit a bit more healthy.
This wasn’t a mistake, and she hadn’t forgotten the date. Her outfit was nothing more than a security measure. A self-imposed restriction to keep her from running headlong into the fight. She had thought long and hard about how best to assist her companion in her campaign to save Grim, and she had come to her own decision without informing the young girl. She turned to the man at her side and spoke.
“Lizzie is insane. Or at the very least, she hadn’t put much thought into it. I’ll do whatever I can to help her, but… well, I know myself and my abilities. I’m great for assaulting a base, intercepting a superweapon or, you know, killing a giant monster. But you don’t call a Kaiju to not break stuff, it’s just not a good idea, you know?” Kaija gazed out over the city and paused for a moment before continuing, “She’s gonna be pissed, haha. Maybe when she sees your face, she’ll realize that I’m not abandoning her. I don’t really care about Grim, tbh. Not at all. But I do care about Ms. Leet. Fight for Grim if you want, sure, but honestly I just want you to look out for her. Make sure that my engineer comes back home after this, that’s all I want. Thank you for doing this for me.”
She leaned over and gave him a kiss, then turned back to the warring city. She had no intention of joining this particular fight.
It was some what disappointing for the hero in pink, to know that her significant other would be coming in soon to assist instead of the giant. It was for the best however, three hundred foot tall women weren't exactly good at minimizing collateral damage. This was also a good time to see what the fellow officer of the UNKD could do, perhaps learning what kind of suit would be best to craft for him. Designing and inventing was something she lived for and working with others was a way to channel that. Now wasn't the time however, she needed to focus in on the enemy and how she'd lay such a foe to rest. With the symphony of destruction that was Lizzy's ordinance dispatched she maintained fire while observing. How did her attacks land and what was the optimal way of using what she had to generate results? The answer was not well and she needed to quickly rethink what she would do.
Despite burning like a star the laser fire did minimal damage at best, up the charge it'd take a moment but she had an alternative warming up for now. She had hoped it wouldn't require something of such potency so soon. That was frustrating, she'd need to hit the drawing board tomorrow, couldn't be jumping to what she considered the ace in the hole. For now however prep one weapon, warm up the other focus on the other results. They were also falling short, by stopping the slipspace before it could suck an individual into a pocket dimension the bullets had a way to rip through most matter. Like miniature black holes they peppered Mega's body, they were only taking flecks of flesh and small amounts of the costume. They could work at least, she'd need to focus fire however to make it worth while. "Ali I should have his attention if you want to try anything sneaky. Granted you do you," The smiling man declaring to be here for justice but planing to level a city closed the gap between where he was and the flying one girl army.
She could track him, maybe even evade that went against the plan however. Launched into the air a grip strained against her over shield. Designed for her to endure some of the heaviest of attacks it fought against his might rather well. The strength behind his palms was impressive it was a hold however against a shield designed to let her get hit a few times by someone of his might. He pushed and the shield sparked flashing tangerine in protest but not breaking it at least not yet. Meanwhile he was holding her, point blank range and her bullets while not working quick did work. As he squeezed she took aim for his stomach. "Can't eject theres a Mega Douche holding the door closed" she countered as she let the guns continue to scream. Two hundred rounds a second, virtually no space between the two and bullets enough to peel at the skin. It might take a round or two to get a result, she however spent ammo like an entire armada, she could absolutely just hold the trigger down. Four Hammers of Dawn on her mech twelve more as hovering drones they would all converge on where the bullets had been converging. Over a dozen lances of energy looked to connect at that one point, burning like the sun she tried to blast a whole through the body with the slipspace exploiting bullets and then with any luck drive that wound wide and deeper by planting a sun equivalent of energy within his guts.
Her overshield reaches a critical low, and instead of letting it continue, the gamer activates Overdrive. A program that allowed for a negation of friction. That made her unnaturally dificult to hold on to as the grip was reppelled. Much like the matching ends of magnets. With this the Mech could skid along a surface for example instead of its weight making it sink into the soil. In this case, the crushing vice on the shields would allow the mech to slip away. The Onix units hovering in wait but deployed on arival closed in, while the Overshield recharged the Onix units would provide shields in it's place. The mech tilted a bit to side, a target recticle hovering over Mega's flawless smile as the gamer made her next shot. The BFG, a Maverick Issue Hellical Cannon an electromagnetic propelled weapon system blending rail and coil gun technologies to allow for a projectile on a whole other level. At speeds that quickly accelerated to Mach fifteen the projectile sought the jawline. A flechettes nanocrystallline tungsten carbide the munition could upon entry typically rip apart most things. And the initial impact landed with a high megajoule class, or in the terms of tons caped crusaders liked to refer to thousands of tons of force. If nothing else at least Gaige could test his dental plan and had his attention. While her other attack was arming up and a chance was given for a coworker.
Shot after shot struck the incarnation of justice's chest as Gaige unloaded onto him. Each one doing minimal damage by themselves but stacking up quickly, it wasn't doing enough to cause significant pain but it was enough to blast a hole in his suit and sting quite a bit. He kept the pressure up on the suit however until his opponent slipped cleanly out of his grasp. So suddenly that it nearly took him by surprise on how his hold had been so broken, seemed he couldn't just crush the oversized mech then. He would deal with that in an instant, but first, he had something to deal with.
A new arrival had entered the scene and at speeds so fast that he's hardly noticed he was coming before he'd already arrived. The speedster had quickly disposed of a few of the mechs and an odd looking ball that had been sent his way. It seemed he had acquired a new ally, and with the Lightning Lady coming under attack from what looked like all directions the more help the better. While a normal man would have to wait for the fight to end before he could dispatch commands this was a unique situation. The man was a speedster one that was likely able to hold a high-speed conversion, something that he could use to his advantage. A slight mental adjustment was all it took as his Justice Force focused on enhancing his speed over all else. In an instant, the whole world slowed to a snail's pace as his reflexes caught up to his increased speed. He felt a pounding in his skull as his brain raced to process the speed of which information was traveling to his brain. This was not something he could maintain for long, yet it was enough to get the job done.
As the world seemed to move in slow motion he turned to face the speedster who he assumed would likely catch on quickly. Opening his mouth he struggled to find the right speed in which to talk under this altered perception of time. "III- nnneeeedddd- yooou... Ineedyouto.." Mega Justice stopped before taking a calming breath and focusing his mind. "I.. need... you... to... help... with... them..." He said at a speed that was likely to be painfully slow on the speedsters ears. Raising his hand slowly the Justice Force negating the negative effects on the surrounding area that his high-speed movement would otherwise cause. His finger pointed to Angela who was being engaged by multiple combatants. "Then... clear... the... robots..." Mega Justice got out this last few words before his concentration wavered slightly. The altered perception of time he had forced himself into broke with a start. This might haven't had been a bad thing on it's one but before Mega Justice could readjust himself he caught a blast of energy to the face.
His Justice Force not having fully boosted his defenses yet he took more damage from the attack than would have seemed likely. The micro crystals flechettes tore into his flesh and nearly gouged out his eyes. Instinctively dropping to his knees and clamping his hand to his face Mega Justice felt something warm on his face, a feeling that he had nearly forgotten. Even before he pulled his hand away from his face and looked at the red blood on his hand the know what it was. He could hardly remember the last time anyone had drawn his blood, and to think that it had been here of all places. He'd made a slight error and had paid for it, but he could still see and a bit of blood wasn't going to take him out of the fight. Instead, it acted as an eye opener, this mech wearing 'hero' was firing on all cylinders in hopes to beat him. He was done holding back with flicks and carefully planned shows of strength.
Wiping the blood off his face Mega Justice arose his smile stayed steadfast as there was a noticeable shift in the air. While nothing visable happened Mega Justice had turned of the Justice Force that he was using to prevent collateral damage. While it was something that was useful at times, it was a waste of power that could be better directed towards raw power. He could feel the surge of energy in his veins as he finally reached out and tapped into the feeling of justice being sent from people across the globe. Balling his fist he looked dead at his opponent before yelling out his signature cry. "JUSTICE..." Mega Justice braced his body as his fist grew brighter as pure Justice Force flowed into it. While the hero was aware that tactically calling out moves was a bad call it had never worked against him. For even though they knew what was about to come, there wasn't much anyone could do to stop him. He was a force for justice, and he would not let anyone get in his way.
"PUNCH!" Before the sound would have time to reach his opponent Mega Justice had already arrived directly in front of Lizzy at speeds that far exceed some and nearly approached that of light. Aiming his strike right at the glass on her cockpit he threw his concentration blow. Miss or hit the energy wrapped around his fist would detonate casually leveling any building within a block's radius of them. And that was without accounting for the shockwaves that his movements would create, combine both of them and you had the bomb that was his Justice Punch.
“Two and a half armies just to fight two people… Unbelievable.”
Ali agreed with his beloved. This was a ridiculous amount of manpower and firepower being used to deal with a situation and just two people. The sky crackled with fireworks from the one they called Lightning Lady (@angela_), while the city seemed to emanate shockwaves, the likely result of the power display by the hero they called Justice (@megajust), explosions and rockets by the engineer @_gaige_ and the sisterhood of a religious cult @katraya seemed to resonate throughout the city as they did battle.
Ali heard them all. He noted them all, friend and foe alike. He had his ears open. Bio-electric signals, emotions and thoughts seem to flood into his head as he stared at this almost desolate city with intrigue. Why did humans fight where there were no apparent rules or repercussions? Wars in his opinion should be something controlled and determined by the highest authority. Yet, Outer World did not seem to have one. It was a lawless and crude land. And yet, this was the very land that accepted his presence.
By birth, Ali had been pronounced the future Lord of Shea. He was the grandson of the Heavenly King Abomination, Micah Outsider, and the son of the Rage Fiend Ahmed Outsider. By the age of 16, Ali had become the only living successor of Lightning God, and the inheritor of his title by default. Ali had also become a seated member of ruling council of Shea, the prime authority which handled most all affairs as appointed by the country Lord. All this power, all this prestige, Ali had left behind. He chose an escape. He had been far too immature to handle all that authority, all that power.
Ali realized it himself. He had no sense of responsibility, no desire towards anything. And that, he was willing to change. He must change, He started making the effort after he met the love of his life, Kaija. He loved her dearly, and for her, Ali was willing to stay in a world that did not recognize his birthright. He was willing to start at the very bottom. Getting the job of a security guard at UNKD played into this. He was going to earn everything that he would in this world. He wanted to Kaija wanted to let Kaija know that she was not wrong in choosing him.
“Lizzie is insane. Or at the very least, she hadn’t put much thought into it. I’ll do whatever I can to help her, but… well, I know myself and my abilities. I’m great for assaulting a base, intercepting a superweapon or, you know, killing a giant monster. But you don’t call a Kaiju to not break stuff, it’s just not a good idea, you know?” Kaija gazed out over the city and paused for a moment before continuing, “She’s gonna be pissed, haha. Maybe when she sees your face, she’ll realize that I’m not abandoning her. I don’t really care about Grim, tbh. Not at all. But I do care about Ms. Leet. Fight for Grim if you want, sure, but honestly I just want you to look out for her. Make sure that my engineer comes back home after this, that’s all I want. Thank you for doing this for me.”
With the kiss to seal the deal, Ali got up and smiled. He knew Kaija's mindset. She was a strong girl, with an unbreakable resolve. She was not one to back down from a fight, however she also knew her own strengths and weaknesses, what she could do best, and what she could do worse. "No worries Uma, your engineer will come home, safe and sound," He said, laughing. Time to get to work, he thought to himself.
This would be Ali's first time he actively got involved in a human conflict. He had to make sure to present his best qualities to everyone involved, to both sides of the chess board, because he really was a newcomer in the scene after all. Ali let out a massive sigh, letting go of all his hesitance, before starting his casual walk towards the city, at a very human and normal pace.
"Ali I should have his attention if you want to try anything sneaky. Granted you do you,"
The engineers tiny voice came from the other end of the UNKD comm device Ali wore on his ear. "Right," Ali said, nodding. And then, he had hyper accelerated. The world seemed to twist as he sped up, leaving behind only a trail of lightning as he entered the city. It wasn't hard to locate Gaige. Ali had been following the engineer's bio electric signal all along. By the time he reached the spot, Mega Justice had already arrived at Lizzy's pink mecha, and had already launched a punch towards her in the cockpit.
Despite what Lizzy said, it couldn't be denied that she was her first priority, and so, without question, he would be trying to keep her out of trouble and danger by any means possible.
"Okay Ali, think, how can I do this?" He asked himself, standing next to the both of them. Currently, he was accelerating himself to be at least three times faster than the speed of light. The world, mega justice, the engineer, almost everything seemed to have come to a halt. Time itself appeared frozen for Ali. Such was the speed he was going at. After a while of thinking, Ali decided that the best course of action would be to try and move miss Lizzy and her mech elsewhere. Channeling lightning through every inch of his muscles, Ali would attempt to lift Gaige, and carry her and the mech and place it somewhere far behind Justice. If he succeeded, then time would resume, and Mega Justice would only find that his target had disappeared from spot.
Just my luck. A speedster. I HATE speedsters. Sure, the only ones she'd fought were chasing her, trying to catch her for her bounty, but that didn't change the fact that overall, they were annoying buggers. Water was one of my slower forms, too. Looks like you've got to devolve. She did so, and rummaged again in her bag, wrapping a hand around an electrical charger. For some reason that always worked, and with another attention-drawing flash of light she was her Thunder form. A little tired, but that wouldn't do too much harm. Now to deal with the speedster.
The trasmutant used DoubleTeam to increase her speed, projecting several mirror images of herself as she watched the Speedster and Justice talk. She caught just about every word of their conversation. I now know what you're going to be doing. Great. Now what? Simple. Get behind him and Thunder him so hard he'd be numb for a week. It was a simple plan, really. And a good one, hopefully, if she was able to keep pace with him. With Speed as her highest stat, and Special Attack her second highest, it should do the trick. So Eviolite started running, no, racing after Seth McStorm, intending to knock him on his butt or knock herself out trying.
I watched in silence as Justice and Ms. Leet battled below. My astral projection returned to my mind, re-shifting the Balance as I bound Dark and Light back together. Five sets of eyes watched from our physical one as several of my old students appeared on the scene. Amy Earheart, whom I taught the art of thievery and the basic control of her powers. Ali Outsider, my padawan from the Sanctum of the Force. I wondered, vaguely, if he used what I taught him regularly, or if he relied mostly on his own powers. But the thought vanished as Justice released his Justice energy across the city. Gaige was the first target, of course, but there was nothing stopping the sheer power from decimating half of Grim.
Nothing except me.
I closed my eyes, shutting out every distraction as I lifted my hands as if bracing them against something. I saw the Justice Force and knew I had little time. I let all five voices in my head think at once, and released five thick tendrils of my own invisible energy. There was nothing I could do for the people down there; it would be up to them to defend themselves. But I could keep the buildings from crashing down on their heads. My balance met his justice outside the buildings, and the energy I was putting into the effort nullified any power behind both, making their meeting nothing more than a calm breeze. I hadn't felt this powerful...well, ever. I knew I could not keep this up indefinitely, but for now, it was my self-appointed duty to defend my city and my allies. This was how I intended to do it.
@megajust: @icefire_outlaw: @amyearheart: @megajust:@nightwarden17: I finally climbed over the wall of the building and stood over the rooftop that horned god fellow now gone while I breathed a sigh of relief. But at the same time I felt a pulsing energy throughout the city telling me Justice was now what we feared... hopefully it was attempted murder and had failed to kill whoever he was trying to kill. But at the same time I now had a new plan I was given a notification that Astrid had made a speech about Justice it had failed presumably but I had something of my own a video that would play if anything ever happened to me. Of course it needed several edits now," Edit video," something I usually forgot about is that the armor actually does have some recording equipment probably was supposed to be used by my captors but nonetheless it's time I used it. I began running to the side of the building and jumping off onto the ground. Well this ought to be fun...
It would take me several minutes to reach the courtyard or wherever this was that Justice was fighting at I liked how little damage there was to the city but something felt most definitely off about that to. Either way there was the fight going on between the hero known as Gaige and Mega Justice. I had finished the video a moment earlier it would tell a partial and maybe enough to change Justice slightly but that would have to be enough for now anyway. Looking around I saw several people that I know but all of them to busy to help me in my crazy plot so instead let's try this. I attempt to contact the Warden on my comms and when he picks up I explain," I see the fight isn't going terribly well I think I have a plan do we have a media team in the city or can you connect to the networks directly? Either way I'm sending you a video that may change some hearts and minds just make sure to get it on the air." Once I'm done with the conversation I send him the video explaining a partial truth and prepare mentally for what I'm about to do.
Okay Landon let's do this and your a fracking idiot you know that. Yep, now if you don't mind we need a plan we could get the AI's help? No that's off the table so your ready to go in there and poke the goddamn bear with a stick?!?!?! Yep, isn't that what I do most day's anyway and that's why you drive Maoli crazy with worry Landon are we sure you want to do this it's possible he kills you... Yep... Fracking idiot... That's why I always enjoy our talks, Mind. I looked up at Justice who appears ready to start killing people notably at the moment Gaige and now it's my turn," JUSTICE, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME LET'S TALK YOU BIG, OLD AND UGLY PUNK." Poking the bear is always fun it just sucks what happens afterwards. I draw my sword and put it into the ground and wait for him to come to me.
Jacob issued orders to his team over a secured comm line:"Stop the speedster who is interfering with our repair droids, it's time to release our inhibitions, do whatever it takes to take down our opponents, no limitations, don't hold back, use full force, and prevent this battle from spilling elsewhere. See if Xai can release her genetic projects as well. Unleash your true potential."
Gloria Woods landed on the rooftop with nothing but the sound of silence, her padded feet absorbing the impact from her fall, with no scratch left on the roof. She had just arrived on the scene, the landscape of Grim City laid out before her. The Straight Edge was a little late to the party, it being well past 7:00. Oh well, I can make up for lost time. Gamma had recently received an anonymous request, asking for her services. Naturally as a freelancer, Gamma had accepted the offer. She was apparently being offered a large sum of cash if she managed to complete this one, very simple assignment.
Gamma straightened her posture, edging towards the roof to get a better view of the surrounding area. It appeared as though she was later than she had anticipated, with war raging throughout the city. In the streets below an army of robots rummaged around, and the sound of war cries could be heard. In the skies lightning rained down, enveloping the area in a luminous glow as a battle was waged between the lightning goddes @angela_ and an armored warrior @katraya. And there, on the building across from her stand lied the one and only Megajustice, in all his glory.And it appeared as though he could use some help.
He was currently entangled with a girl in a mech suit @_gaige_, and shooting towards his location another warrior @lowlaville. The straight edge was certain that if there was a place where her efforts were needed, it was here. Rising to her full stature, a loud, thunderous roar shook Grim to its very core. The Lioness launched her body forward at speeds exceeding light in order to intercept the new incoming combatant. She pounced onto her prey, legs extended forward to put maximum weight behind her attack. The claws on her feet bled red with the chaotic powers of Element-H, seeking to cut through the electron attraction that held his atomic structure together, and stunt any healing factor were one present.
If Straight Edge landed her claws would dig into his sides and she would crash down on top of him. She would continue the assault with a powerful palm strike to his temples in an attempt to daze him. She didn't dare go for a lethal strike, not yet. Either way she would then leap to the side of Mega Justice and his other alley @seth_mcstorm. "Hey, here to help." She kept it brief, no time to elaborate.
"[Bzzt] that your fight is with me" Lizzy remarked hearing the statement of the aquatic hero below. Right now it was not the time to talk. That was the press conferences, and those had gone nowhere. Salvation of this city couldn't be through philosophical debate, this was a threat and that alone. There was no getting through to Mega he wasn't looking at the people hiding in fear of what he was going to do just saw people to squash a city to level. Might made right and his was a almost all consuming thing. Talking this out would just open a window for more collateral damage to draw things out for a needless duration of time. She readied the Hammers of Dawn and programmed her Onix units to come in to assist with the strike that was about to come. It came almost faster then she had the time to prepare a reaction. However rather then her accomplice the romantic partner of Kaija diving into the offensive he moved to help her. It was horrendously disorienting to say the least.
Moving at three times the pace of light it wasn't even fast or instantaneous but something else entirely. Her sensors were freaking out adjusting to a change that seemed physically impossible. The mech's metal groaned in protest of the action as the nature of such movement said it should break apart like glass. If Lizzy had to guess Mjolnir and herself had survived do to Overdrive and additional abilities of Ali's to combat the side effects of such motion. Even then though the gamer had begun to sweat and her mech glow. The heat of such speeds having side effects, safe but present. As for where the nerd had been the fist impacted a drone and the other drones had tried to cover additional space around Mega. There shields just as strong as the ones on Mjolnir if not more had endured the decimating force and tried to limit how much escaped into the world. Between what the unknown figure that Lizzy figured may have been the Outlaw, and the Onix defenses the damage had glass raining cars tossed about and various numerous little side effects. Buildings however had yet to properly come crumbling down. "Thanks, but we're here to be the heroes for the city don't be mine." She was grateful for Ali's help but that wasn't the intentions behind today and it did spark a bit of rage within.
Three drones lost their shields, the other four were fine. Each Onix unit came back to Mjolnir to play defense for what ever attacks came next. Intended to give her a chance against WMDs and kaiju the shields had done their job well. With the four left and the overshield back they had a chance to keep fighting and give the three additional Onix units a chance to recharge. Lizzy also commanded her Kratos units to start making their way toward her, if her next attack didn't work she had another idea she had toyed with in the past but not explored properly. With any luck this would end the situation right now, this was arguably the biggest attack the engineer had. Against the godly prowess of types like Mega though how efficient things would be was entirely debatable. "My advice go home, your not welcome in mine." She quipped as the laser dispensing drones gathered about her pink mech took aim and then dispensed an attack of a terrifying class range.
Range between them, probably no more then twenty yards, the speed of light crossed a hundred and eighty miles in a second. Unless he was moving much much faster then what appeared to have been happening it should hit directly square in the chest. As to what looked to hit, that laser she'd put such faith in it was something hard to even comprehend in power output. Blending salvaged technology to try and create the strongest weapon she could without using the highly destructive abilities of a ammunition source. It would do little more then scorch the walls of near by structures black and boil the asphalt controled into a finite laser. Bursting from Lizzy's weapon systems came a laser that had in the past punched a hole clean through the arm of a giant. It was an amount of energy that didn't care about what a metal was, adamantium would become liquid under it, vibranium would explode most times daring to try and absorb it. Energy manipulators or consumers probably would pop like balloons, those who could manipulate heat miight have a chance but even then it was only marginal odds at best. Because the lance of heat blazed at Planck temperatures which was to say approximately one point four one six multiplied by ten to the thirty second power kelvin or one hundred million million million million million degrees. This was a heat that despite its almost over the top grandure was something that happened. Lizzy just found a means to sustain it in a weapon source show casing just how far a human girl from Grim had gone.
"Give up yet" she remarked readying her next plan just in case. She'd need to divert energy back into the Hammer system for it but that was okay. For the brief moment between attacks however she took a second to marvel at her work. While the Planck temperature laser had lasted no longer then two seconds, it created what looked like starlight shimmering within the street. As if the stars so rarely seen in this city had become a glitter bomb on the road. So hot was the weapon Lizzy had used that its glow basically caused a scar its light not fading even now. Bringing it into being for seconds left a lasting impression on the street. However even if the laser could be tanked by such durability, Lizzy had drawn blood. She had made an opening in the skin away to get inside the individual. And unless his blood was also somehow some absurd durability Lizzy thought she might have had a chance of ending things. As such a energy weapon should turn the blood within the body into little more then steam at best.
The quizzical timbre in the interloper’s voice implied a question, but Vengeance knew that this man was fully aware of who stood before him. He was astounded that he his identity had been deciphered quickly, but held back whatever expression of surprise as he could, remaining stoic instead.
“Who are you?”
He knew that it might have been pointless asking so directly, but the straightforward strategy seemed to work on rare occasions. Besides, if this cerulean suited person desired to harm him, it seemed like he was capable of doing so prior to their encounter. Either he was a detective of sorts in his own way, or he maintained some way of cross referencing information at inhuman speed. Meta human seemed more likely.
“You’re not welcomed here.”
The tone modifier doing extremely well to conceal his natural voice, as moot as that might seem now given the circumstances.
"Just call me Nemo," he answered, deadpan, eyebrow lowering back into place. Former President Donn's Vice President, who had gone missing some time ago, standing in the flesh before him. It could be a double, or a shapeshifter, but he doubted that. His eyes glazed over the man's suit, checking for any hidden weaponry out of habit. Beneath that, he took in the man's health and heartbeat, analyzing his body for any abnormalities. He was extraordinarily healthy.
Having the luxury of ultra-fast thought and senses meant that John could turn seconds into minutes to consider his responses, particularly to sensitive individuals like vigilantes. They could be triggered at a moment's notice, he remembered, drawn into violence at the drop of a hat.
"Are you feeling OK?" he asked, checking Rook's heartrate. While the figure that was Dark Vengeance would never quite be associated with the pinnacle of mental health, John felt he ought to ask. Why was he hiding from the fight? While John wasn't one for violence, and actually thought the move was quite sensible, he also noted that it was unusual for someone in his position to ignore conflict, especially on his "home turf."
The Exemplar of Justice was strong, but that didn't make him stupid. Even though he would likely surive the beam that his opponent fired at him, he wasn't going to walk away unscathed. Straight up dodging the beam as it was fired would be hard, if not impossible . Luckly he was able to see the attack coming before even the slightest flash of light. That was the thing about robots they could nevet just fire a blast like that without any warning. Of course what really helped him read the attack was his supersenses picking it up. He felt a sudden spike of heat from the mech and had quickly uses his X'ray vision to figure out what was happening.
He wasn't a robotics expert but it only took a bit of common sense to realize that it wasn't something he wanted to sit there and take. From there it was fairly simple to dodge the blast bases on where she was aiming. It didn't matter the insane speed of the attack when he knew where she was aiming it. Still even with extreme amount of steps he took to avoid the attack he'd still underestimated the sheer heat coming off of it. He felt the heat waves wash over his body searing his hair before he moved back even farther to avoid anymore damage.
"Not even close." He responded to the young gamers premature gloat. His eyes flicked down to look at a man wearing orange armor who was trying to pick a fight with him. He wasn't that easily provoked, especially while already engaging a combatant, so he ignored him for now.
Instead he called out to his second surprise ally of the day. Glad to have a additional assistance he pointed out where the woman would be most useful. Point to the glowing figure that was standing on the roof who he now was confident was the outlaw. "Either take het out or distract her, whatever she is doing is severely hampering the damage I'm causing."
With his order given he faced back off with Gaige. Tapling into his energy once more he felt something was off, there was less of it now. Not much but it was steadily declining, something he'd have to deal with, hopefully he could finish the fight before it became a large issue thought. Cracking his knuckles Mega Justice flung himself at the mech driving hero striking down as many of her drones as he could before turning on her. Honing his senses on her he made sure to read her for any signs of a incoming attack before charging in. Once he got close enough he attempt to grab on of the guns mounted on the mechs arm and tear it clean off. He would follow that up with a strong fist strike aimed to shatter her cockpit and rip her out of the suit. Having sized up the girl at their first meeting he'd realized he had a frail bone structure. So while he'd attacked the mech with his herculean strength he'd make sure to grab her gently enough to avoid killing or severly harming her.
"Thanks, but we're here to be the heroes for the city don't be mine."
Ali sighed mentally, "You forget, I am a security guard of UNKD. It's my job to protect you," Well of course, those duties never entailed actions beyond UNKD grounds, or under matters unrelated to UNKD by any means. Still, to Ali, it was an excuse he could make use of.
Gaige open fired at Mega Justice again, and Ali decidedly stood there, watching, not really intent on fighting Mega Justice just yet. Amidst the chaos, Ali sensed something approaching him, fast. His pupils dilated as his senses sharpened, slowing the world around him. Someone was approaching his direction at somewhat astonishing speeds, but it was nothing Ali could not react to. He simply walked a fair distance away, and watched as the woman streaked towards Mega Justice.
Were they going to team up against Gaige? He thought with a bit of alarm. Pointed towards someone standing on the room. Ali cranked his head. Maybe standing idle wasn't going to help Lizzy, and like she said, heroes of the city, "no reason I can't do both," Ali smirked. He removed his sword, the Lightning Cutter that was on his back, and started channeling his power through it. Ali took flight, taking no time in reaching the being standing atop the building. He figured if Lizzy really needed his help, he could just go back to her aid.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ali asked the being, suppressing Lightning Cutter's wild aura on to himself, not letting any of the wild surges, capable of stunning those around it, not letting the aura leak towards friendlies.
The moment her opponent disappeared from sight, Angela moved. She moved forward, in the blink of an eye, appearing where her opponent had been standing, and turned around to face her as she had pulled up an apparent sword meant to go through her. Angela kept a calm. She simply raised the hammer into the air, calling down bursts of lightning to strike at the robed religious cultists.
She did not need to hold back. Do as much damage as possible. Lightning in and of itself did little damage, but it was enough to start fires, and the winds would aid in spreading the fire from building to building. "Judgement day has come. Warning was given." Angela wouldn't offer anymore explanation than this.
The world slips away, no noise no muzzle flashes concentrate on the objective at hand. The moment the technologically gifted teenager fired the weapon of choice, considered acting with such grandeur she understood a surplus of additional actions had to be taken. Before and after her move were small windows of time to take advantage of. Everything had to be exact as possible and made as precise as she could the aid of, seven Onix units, ten Kratos units this was all she had to manage her attack in collaboration with the Killzone weapon systems. It would place Gaige at risk, everything had to go into this counter measure.
Onix units moved to flank the street she commanded at the last minute, expanding their shields to their fullest extension. They had used the same energy that Gaige used to generate the particular attack nowhere near as potent and destined to fail. It would be just long enough to hold the energy into a more contained space. The Kratos units flanked the area, each equipped with an AK47 they didn't dispense as much ammo as the Killzones in the second before the attack they could get a hundred rounds down range, combined with the Vulcan Cannon weapon system able to dump two hundred rounds out. Add them the two seconds of the attack and for one second after and you had a total of over a thousand bullets spilling into the air. Lizzy changed her tactic to fire slipspace ammunitions, each bullet generating an area of effect designed to suck an entire individual into a pocket space. The technology used didn't last long either their properties good as they were had no real way to ever feasibly endure the laser in use. The effect typically lasted a second by default before closing he bullets amusingly were gone before the tactic was even complete. Together however with the rounds before during and after, assisted by energy shields designed to tank nuclear attacks trying to box the energy in the radius of her attack would be marginalized.
This pocket dimension of empty space Gaige was so fond of would consume the blazing heat dispatched upon the streets of her home town. The side effects of this weapon however were one that lasted already in its influence, it was simply much to her disappointment beyond what she was able to accommodate for. Every Kratos unit was turned to molten slag, the shields eventually burst and the Onix drones were ripped apart, their scattered remains turned to blowing dust. Assisted by Mega's efforts to strike them down and her own attack the drones were erased in entirety in the end. With his furious actions made against her machines control was one that slowly was cut down. By the time the attack ended, between the inferno and might of justice not all of the heat would be contained. Four buildings would be vaporized the ones on each corner of the street they were simply gone. The portion of the city may have been clear of lives now it was clear of structures. Simply purged from the face of the earth. The ground, it was honestly no longer asphalt and concrete, sewers below, rather the road was like a pool of plasma. Within all the efforts to contain some of it just could not be stopped and so a puddle wide and deep of scorching heat was briefly given form. In short roughly the space of a city block was nothing but an exceedingly hot scar, and easily could have become so much more. With just the most marginal of errors. And in all sincerity there was no attack the nerd could make, by default of Mega's own actions there kind of was one however. As the arm mounted twenty millimeter guns poured out rounds the misguided hero had tried to grip such a weapon and crush it. The barrels brushing against his sculpted arms maybe just maybe the titan would be pulled into that universe of heat. That was it however, everything her mind could handle, assisted by acceleration from her Triforce technologies that worked to allow her human mind to be as quick and alert as it was, focused on containment.
A fist strikes her mech, its speed to fast to dodge. Its force to much to bare, made on a regular machine. It wasn't the metal that made Mjolnir great but the upgrades and love she'd poured into it. For eight months and twelve days she had been working to change her image of the fragile boned failing student into a hero worth taking note of. In that one punch, made at just the right time it was all brushed aside with about as much ease as the buildings Lizzy had leveled. Layers if magnesium alloy they didn't stand a chance. Allumina infused into the glass it did well but was nothing compared to the strike that was given. Mech and teen were tossed down the street like the thrown toys of a child so easy to break before the man the pilot had dared to go a few rounds with. And given how much she had to give into making her attack survivable on the city this did no favors. The pink machine going black and dripping iron as its structure struggled against what it'd been in proximity to.
Skidding to a halt Lizzy clutched her side as she climbed from smoldering wreckage. Her ribs were broken, her mech was done. Every electronic was burned out, its weapons crushed, its paint job ravaged, given a few minutes it'd be nothing more then a puddle of slag nothing salvaged was possible. Gaige was done in this fight, and it hurt. Eight months, this had become her life. She had left this city all this time wanting to know she would return as the girl who could defend it. Odds were she had failed however, she didn't trust the others to stop Mega. And perhaps worst of all the first ounce of genuine destruction on the city it'd come from her. She wasn't the hero she demanded herself to become yet. Getting to her feet she sighed breath a slight sting one last glance at her mech, Mjolnir now gone and she turned her back on where the fight was. "I'd love to pitch in Ali, I'm kind of low on resources however. So you'll just have to win to protect me, because even now I ain't leaving. I won't abandon these people even if I can't fight for them at the time."
Lighting strikes against the Sisters as upgraded as they were did no damage to their bodies. Their armor was another matter. The Hard Light constructed armor simulated the properties of Vibranium and as such it absorbed the energy of the lightning and most of the heat was shunted away. What it didn't do was protect the inner workings of the true armor beneath the simulated armor from the resulting close range EMP burst created by the lightning. The end result was the armor flickered. Some of the sisters found their armor systems were able to survive, but those struck directly were soon robbed of their armor, left standing in their traditional clothing. This still left them with super human durability and so robbed of their armor they remained combat active.
Their immediate task was to put out fire and contain damage, so they went to that work swiftly, preparing to defend the physical elements of the city rather than attack the metas fighting it out above the city. Such attacks would prove ineffective until an opportune moment presented itself.
Down below one of the squads of Sisters came across @_gaige_ the Teen Technician's wrecked suit and found her clearly injured and standing alone in the desolation caused by her own weaponry. The Sister Superior of the squad motioned to her squad-mates to form up around the injured teen. "Do you need medical assistance?" The Superior asked.
Up above Katraya was surprised by the apparently completely inhuman reaction time of her opponent, since she'd been able to not just avoid but completely avoid an attack that happened at instantaneous speeds. Katraya heard the words of her opponent's new ally and glanced over at @myers_voorhees with less than feigned concern. "Remind me to let the local criminal element know that if they break into your house you don't believe in self defense. Next time you screw with my aim with your mental powers, I'll scatter your parts across a half mile of the city." Nothing pissed Katraya off faster than someone trying to screw with her self control, she'd spend most of her life under someone else's direct control, she wasn't about to let it happen again.
gene-lock telepathy level three, gene-lock telekinesis level three. Katraya didn't care about the pain that would result later anymore, she was tired of playing everyone else's game while they tried to destroy her recruiting grounds.
Katraya was suddenly struck with a huge burst of wind generated by one @dr_halloween. She was sent careening away, her jetpack struggling to regain control and very nearly slammed into the side of a building before she was able to gain control of her flight path again. For once there was an opportunity to go after the only foe she thought might bring this conflict to an end. Mega Justice now stood alone, his opponent dispatched for the time being. She narrowed her eyes and focused, reaching out with her telekinetic power.
The mistake people often made was to try and throw very large objects at people of high durability...Katraya didn't need a large object. She understood the power of something like a rail gun, a small object thrown at sufficient speed could do significantly more damage. Unlike the others, though she wanted to preserve Grim as a concept, she didn't mind if a few buildings fell. A single piece of metal rebar from a destroyed building floated up and she bent every ounce of her considerable will and control into the object.
The object left the space directly in front of her to fly at speeds just short of the speed of light. It accelerated instantly, traveling so fast the re-bar heated to the point that the friction of moving through the air melted it into a mishappen glob, but the shape of the glob didn't matter, only the speed with which it passed through the air. At such high speed the sound barrier was laughably shattered and the building she had aimed the glob through found its wall punched straight through, the heat wave and kinetic force that had once been a piece of steel tore apart everything it passed and the pieces were sucked along behind it. Katraya focused her will on those as well while it was still in her range of control and they soon became meteors of kinetic devastation in their own right. The glob and its six followers punched through the other side of the building and sailed straight for the back of Mega Justice.
At the speeds the objects traveled shape and size meant nothing, they brought with them enough kinetic punch to easily crumple the greatest of tanks followed by a heat wave potent enough to melt steel into goo and a concussive wave strong enough to pulp organs. Super human durability alone might be enough to survive any of these or even all three combined, but unless Mega Justice also weighed as much as a building, the impact, or even the mere close passing of the objects should be enough to hurtle him through the air and off his current perch.
Jacob, entrenched inside of the city near a ruined cathedral, decided that different tactics had to be used so he said,"Myers and Halloween, switch to full on offensive tactics rather than defensive, the rest of the team should keep applying pressure to our aggressors and shielding to Grim, as much as I tried to find another way, killing is now allowed. Help the religious cult members, they're on our side. I've placed mines, turrets, and other defenses inside the perimeter. We can't afford to lose."
The one known as Mega Justice spoke plainly, and pointed out the enemy to him, giving Seth a quest of sorts. Perfect, he thought. A quest. He looked around at all the chaos, and decided to make a quick change to his body, rewiring all of his nerves. This was done so that no physical pain may come to Seth in the fight to come, pain being a common factor in some metahumans' incapacitation. Blinking rapidly, he finally caught something worthy of note, as @amyearheart was charging towards him, an armada of clones all looking like they were out for his blood. "Woah," He commented, slightly surprised that he had already aggro'd an enemy. "Who the hell are you?"
Rolling his eyes, he realized that he was no longer in the place where he could negotiate with the likes of the enemy, as the heat of battle had already swarmed the meta community, and thus, he simply turned back around and started running. Everything he would do would be lightning fast, and to most without near lightspeed perception time, he would merely appear as a blur. Seth narrowed his eyes, spotting his first chunk of prey, in the form of @katraya's so called 'Sisters'. A pack of wild mercenaries with too much strength, he set his sights on a squadron of them, and darted forward, fists flying in an absolute flurry. With each one he touched (IF contact was even made), he would first activate their nerve receptors within, increasing the pain they took in by a tremendous amount before then using his punches to take advantage of said pain amplification. Hopefully, this would lead to a quick defeat of the certain squadron, but if not, it did not matter too much, as they would still be hurting from what he had done to their nervous system.
Glancing back behind him, he noticed Amy Earheart gaining ground on him once more, and darted off again, hopefully so that she might run into the squadron of Katraya's goons and leave them all in a crumble of bodies.
Next on the agenda, the mech-using woman who Mega Justice had been fighting earlier, her mechanical armor now in ruins before Seth's eyes, as @_gaige_ stood right next to @lowlaville. Ali was not a threat at the moment, and thus, he did nothing toward him - he seemed absolutely harmless. So Seth charged over, lightning streaking behind him as he darted around Ali, and made to swiftly jab at Gaige herself, his hand vibrating so that it may bypass her armor without any complication. After this, he would attempt to run off once more, circling back so that he could go up against the entire defending team once more, unless they reacted in a way that could stop him. Seth grinned, triumphantly.
If they couldn't catch him, they couldn't take him out. And if they couldn't take him out, he'd do everything he could to make sure they didn't take out @megajust.
"Your inquiry is clearly derived from my lack of presence in the ensuing conflict ravaging Grimm."
Vengeance paused, contemplating the next words he would say. There was no need to continue the ruse of anonymity given the circumstances. It would do nothing, but make himself look like a fool in denial. Instead, he offered an answer.
"That behemoth of a man has deluded himself and genuinely believes that he is serving justice. He offered the residents an ultimatum and allowed them to exit what would soon become ruins."
Vengeance turned away from Nemo, bringing his eyes from down the ridge that the duo had stood upon and down below onto Blüdhaven.
"The heroes 'defending' obliterated architecture were merely doing that. Nothing more. What will happen to those uprooted I wonder? They'll swarm here. They'll consume our natural resources and shift their criminal enterprises to this already suffering city. Overwhelming an already overtaxed police force."
He returned his goggled gaze to Nemo, crossing his arms in defiance.
"The defenders of that skirmish, as lengthy as that list may be, are fighting a losing battle. I'm needed here, but that begs the question. Why aren't you there? Given your demonstrative talents, you're undoubtably qualified."
@straight_edge_: @megajust: @icefire_outlaw: @amyearheart: @megajust: @nightwarden17: I tried and I failed damn it the video will be playing soon. Oh were still alive that's surprising... Shut up I need a new plan... How about this if you can't screw Mega Justice over directly at least make sure you stop the destruction of the city we know that the outlaw is up there on top of the building we should make contact and help her out in anyway possible. Right you are and I think I know how to do that so I broke out into a run towards the building that the Outlaw was on and hoped I would make it in time.
I climbed the stairs up the building and eventually made it to the top of the building seeing the outlaw still standing but I didn't know how she was protecting the city or even standing but as I approached there seemed to be some kind of energy I just think it's magic and go with my life." Ms. James you probably remember me from a month ago or so well I'm here to help what ever you do don't move from that spot I think I have a plan." I released the water in my armor and began spreading it over the rooftop freezing it as I did so that I would never slide on the surface at all. I could just attach and reattach myself to the ice by command preventing the slide the only spot on the roof not iced over was where the outlaw continued to stand and I planned to protect her for as long as I could." Let's hope this works Outlaw or else were screwed."
Elsewhere several hundred miles away in a News Studio
A young man walks into the room carrying a dvd and puts it on the desk," Sir we just got this from the Warden who as you know is defending Grim." The young man continues to stand there quietly while the person sitting behind the desk picks up the disk and looks at it for a moment," Another one of his damn speeches no doubt... Why did you bring this to me you know the studio at the moment is covering the destruction of Grim in favor of Justice. That's what the bosses want and that's what I want." The man puts the disc back down onto his desk while long ago having lost most of any sense of optimism and justice for this work. The young man speaks up having not lost his yet," Sir, I know the studio's policy but imagine what happens after the fighting is over will he come after us because we didn't play his video to the planet. I suggest that we play the video and appear to be on both sides of the issue and downstairs right now they just keep talking about the same thing anyway. Oh look at that punch the hero Mega Justice just delivered on the female teenager in the mech that was great stuff wasn't it, Bob. That's literally all that's going on down there right now so let's do something different for once and show the people the video so that we can keep the illusion of being fair." The studio boss signed for a moment and realized the young man may be correct," Very well put on the air but I'm wiping my hands clean of this if it comes back to bite us." The young man nodded and took the disc to the media room to get it ready to be shown to the public.
Nemo listened in silent agreement with Dark Vengeance, posture dignified but not tense. He glanced to his side, hearing a voice cry "JUSTICE PUNCH!". He didn't even need supra-hearing for that one. What drew greater interest was the approaching patpatpatpatpatpat of a speedster's feet, the distinctive gait belonging to none other than Alacrity, a friendly face who Nemo himself had given his moniker. He was tempted to look over towards Grim and see what sort of trouble he was getting himself into, but his attention was better focused on the missing Vice President.
"I'm not going to become part of the problem, Vengeance," he replied, having chosen his words carefully in the time he was afforded. He was careful to call Rook by his alias, not his real name. People usually seemed to prefer that. "Grim is a disaster area because extranormals think they can run it better than its citizens. It changed like that over time. If it were just left alone, it'd get better. Toronto doesn't have these issues. Neither does San Francisco, or Phoenix. It's when supers take leadership positions that everything inevitably goes wrong. Biology aside, any time any being in a costume decides to run for office, or take over a gang, or otherwise assert control over regular society...it just falls apart. Conflict escalates. Case in point," he said, as the loud sound of a superweapon going off somewhere in the heart of the city echoed around them. Red light, visible not just to him, but to the entire surrounding territory, cast shadows across their environment, flickering out as quickly as it'd come. All routine, apparently. Perfect timing.
"What we need is normal leadership. I don't mean people without powers...I mean people unrelated to the world of masks and capes. Social inequity, war, scientific progres...time and again, it's been shown that these are issues the caped community just can't tackle. It's not our responsibility to take over regular peoples' lives, directly, or indirectly."
He shook his head.
"So what do I do? I do what I can, on a day-to-day basis. I talk to people. I step in where I'm absolutely needed, to fight world-ending threats, or costumed fools the locals just can't take care of. But I don't sell my image, or make provocative speeches, or run for office. Not because I can't, but because I feel it hurts society. It's ruining humanity. Look at how they've handled this Mega Justice affair. It's just business as usual at this point," he said matter-of-factly, no real trace of frustration or disdain in his voice. It was just an observation.
"That's why I'm not in Grim, fighting a war that shouldn't be. I'm not going to be part of their game, their hubris-fueled power fantasy. I'm just a simple man, doing his best to help out here and there."
He offered a small smile, and would then hover forward, landing in front of Rook. He'd extend his hand.
"Everyone official calls me Supra-Man. Used to go by Savior, a long time ago. My name, though, is Nemo," he'd say, simple, and to the point.
@_gaige_: @katraya: @seth_mcstorm: Mega Justice sighed as he looked down over the edge of the building he was standing on at the fallen girl and mech on the streets below. She had put up quite the fight, he'd give her that this had been the first time he'd bleed in a while. Even in the end when she blew her whole arsenal on containing the cataclysmic laser she'd shot she still had attempted to take him out to. The only reason he wasn't sucked in along with the raging inferno was the amount of caution he had exercised before going in. Realizing what the bullets she had been unloading were doing he made the smart decision to release the arm mounted gun before he had been tagged by a single one of the bullets.
Still, the fight was long from over as the first of the melted rebar struck Mega Justice's back transferring its immense force directly into him. Had his durability not been what it was the Exemplar of Justice would have been destroyed on impact. However, instead, the force knocked him off his feet and in the same direction the slag had been traveling. He was shot several yards into the air before slowing down slightly just in time for the next one in the volley hitting him. It launched him even further into the air and away from the battlefield. this happened four more times before he struck by the final one and dumped nearly a mile out from the Grim city limits. This was one of the times he wished he could fly, unlike most of the heroes like him Mega Justice was nearly helpless when in the air.
Slamming into the ground outside the city Mega Justice rose from his crater his smile washed away. He was done with this fighting, while he had sustained no injuries more than a wounded pride it was clear he'd forgotten why he was there in the first place. He was fighting against a swarm if he took them all on one by one. However, he wasn't here to beat them in a fight he was here for Grim. Bending his knees in the blink of the eye he was off heading back to the city.
A faint glint could be seen in the air as Mega Justice hurtled towards the ground and landed on a building. Looking down at the building he'd already cracked with his landing Mega Justice drew his fist and slammed into the roof. With a deafening boom, the building shook to its foundations as the shock wave coursed through it and it began to crumble. Taking that as he cue the Hand of Justice leaped from the building he was on and moved to the next one over. Seconds later the entire thing started to fall in on itself and it was downhill from there. At the end, the once tall building was reduced to a pile of rubble with one punch. Mega Justice looked on at his work, good, but it was only the start. Raising his fist once more he delivered another building crushing blow to the one he was on before watching that one too crumble to the ground. It was finally time to bring it all down, with the walking weapon of mass destruction that was Lizzy Leet out of the way he didn't see much point in fighting the rest.
The figure strained as she struggled to hold the buildings up, her entire barrier wavering as Gaige destroyed the adjoining block with her attempt at stopping Justice. Her chest heaved under the cloak as she reinforced her energy, but not before Mega Justice began his rampage against individual buildings.
Ali was here. I could sense him at my side. My Padawan stood beside me, not recognizing me or the Force eminating around us. I took another shaky breath before replying to his question, minimizing the effects of Meg's attacks as much as I could and straining my body almost to it's limits.
"One...thing. Find the vampire godling. You and he...will be the only...ones...string enough to continue this. I am weak but you two, my students, are...strong. You and the Angel can hold the city.... When I fall. Go. Bring...him back here...and take my burden. I am counting...on you, Outsider. May the Force...be...with you."
Someone else was present. Orange. Orange Water. He knew me at a glance. He was smarter than most would take him to be. He would protect me as long as it took Ali to find Erik, return, and reinforce the defense. If he and I survived that long, there may be hope.
Still... It wouldn't hurt to have some Offense. I knew a gal. Someone who might be strong enough to stop Justice. To finish this war. I broke my focus into two parts again, one to create an astral projection to my ally's location, the other to continue upholding my barrier until she arrived. It was just a matter of time...
It was late already. Changing the world, it seemed, favored those who could get places quickly and make their opinions known. Sometimes it wasn't the opinion that was most right or most supported that swayed the minds of people, but merely the first one that they heard.
Just because you couldn't speak first, though, didn't mean that you should not speak at all. And actions spoke louder than words. In Grim City, a girl stepped out of a car, dismissed the driver with a pleasantry and a courtesy, and scanned the horizon, where in the near distance flashes of light proved that somewhere, people were fighting.
Kaede Mitsuri was not in Grim City to fight. She was here because her friend had asked her to help save the city. Admittedly, Lizzy's idea of saving the city was to fight for what was right, but different people felt different ways. Kaede was not a fighter. So, she shifted the little cloth bag over her shoulder, and started walking. Grim City was too much a slave to its name. Kaede wondered, sometimes, that if it had a different name like Pleasantville, if things would have gone differently. Maybe. Maybe not, she didn't know anything about how cities were named. This one was suited to its name, or its name was suited to it.
She thought, maybe, that she could help to change that. She slipped a hand into the bag and came up with a small handful of seeds, and started scattering them, wherever there was a bit of dirt that needed something lively. Bright red menardas, to attract hummingbirds in the summer. Delicate penstemons nodding their heads above purple-green nests of leaves. Inauspicious milkweed, that would bring back monarch butterflies. Where there was more space, roses of Sharon to form hedges of pink and white blossoms. She emptied her hand, nudging each seed to spring up and blossom, and trailed her hand along a broken chain-link fence as she walked, morning glory vines twining through the fence and opening tiny white flowers to the bright sunshine.
Kaede wasn't a fighter, but she went towards the fight anyway, because that was where everyone would be. Because that was where things needed to be changed. And somewhere in there, she had a friend.
Lizzy, who had taken very sheltered Kaede under her wing and helped her grow. Who had taught a girl who was completely clueless about the wide world how to make use of technology, and how to pay attention. And so it was that Kaede had quietly watched the speech about Grim City and how it was going to be destroyed, because people wanted it that way.
Because they had heard that it was a bad place. And maybe that opinion was right. But opinions could change.
And anywhere there were these fights of superheroes, there were cameras and newscasters, safely out of the action, but the world was watching nonetheless. So, Kaede would see what she could do about them. Maybe, with a few touches of beauty, she could help show them that the city didn't have to be all bad. Maybe she could change their minds. And maybe that would help things.
So, she walked towards the fight that she didn't intend to join, and made Grim City a little less grim. One small change at a time. Little things, but they would grow. Everything could grow. Everything could change.
She smiled a little to herself as she approached the epicenter, mostly because smiling was a little better than being terrified, which she was, but she was doing her best not to show it. The amount of raw power being slung around here was dazzling. Kaede couldn't even really keep up with what was going on, and had no idea how everyone coped with it. She tried to pick out the little parts that she could understand. Find Lizzy.
Except she couldn't really find Lizzy easily. A bright pink mech should have been easy to find.
It turned out that a smoldering wreck of one was just as easy to find, once Kaede looked for it. Oh. No.
She approached with caution, but thankfully Lizzy was not in the wreck, but beside it, talking quietly to a young man and a woman, neither of whom Kaede knew, but neither of whom seemed to be trying to harm her, so that was something. "Hi, Lizzy," she offered softly, on arrival. "Sorry it took a little while. I wanted to help you. But I don't know what I'm doing. Are you... no, you're not okay." Of course not, Lizzy's bones snapped like twigs, and she was definitely favoring something. "I think you should go somewhere safe, but... well. You'll do what you think is best, I suppose. Just try to stay safe. I'll do what I can."
Kaede looked over to where the man who'd made the announcement was smashing buildings, took a breath, and sent out a vine beneath the earth, sparking things to grow. Beside the rubble and in between the bits of smashed debris, bright yellow narcissums broke through the earth and offered him a gentle wave.
"One...thing. Find the vampire godling. You and he...will be the only...ones...string enough to continue this. I am weak but you two, my students, are...strong. You and the Angel can hold the city.... When I fall. Go. Bring...him back here...and take my burden. I am counting...on you, Outsider. May the Force...be...with you."
Ali honestly did not recognize his master when he had first arrived at her side. However, when she spoke, his eyes widened in shock. It had been so long, and how didn't he recognize this aura? It was so utterly stupid of him. "Master Icefire....it really is you!" Ali had to be honest, he hadn't really been practicing and using Force, but he knew how to use it nonetheless, and perhaps his senses regarding force had indeed dulled over time, but definitely not forgotten.
Ali nodded, she was his Master after all, he would do anything to carry out the order given to him. He reached out via his bio-electricity, attempting to search for the one she called Angel, mentally probing every single person within the city. There weren't a lot of people, so it really was not that difficult for Ali to find his fellow desciple under Icefire's tutelage. If he was successful in his attempt, Ali would succeed in adding his own mental thoughts into lighshade_angel's brain, enabling him to communicate with him. Ali would then relay the message he received from Icefire through the bio-electric link.
Ali then went to Gaige, the one person he came to Grim for, his sole purpose for being in this accursed place to begin with. Ali had been careless, and his carelessness lead to the destruction of Lizzy's mech, Mjolnir. A pile of grafted metal was not important, but the person inside was. And Lizzy got out of the wreckage fine. Ali let out a sigh of relief. SHE WAS FINE!
"I'd love to pitch in Ali, I'm kind of low on resources however. So you'll just have to win to protect me, because even now I ain't leaving. I won't abandon these people even if I can't fight for them at the time."
Ali came to a halt next to Lizzy. He frowned. "Lizzy. You are in no condition to fight like this. Let's me get you back to Boracay, where you will be safe," Ali argued.
He was somewhat shocked when a streak of lightning had whizzed past him and appeared to launch a fist directed towards the teenager. Ali reacted, getting in between the teenager and the lightning speedster, "I...kind of cannot allow you to do that, my man. You see, she is under my protection," Ali said, smiling as he let the guy's fist connect with his open palm. The vibration effect sought to tear his arm apart, but Ali only kept on smiling. His entire body turned into lightning for just a brief second before Ali threw a full force punch at his full physical strength towards aggressor. His intention wasn't to kill or even manage to land the hit, rather, he just wanted this newcomer to take a few steps back.
Those few steps would allow Ali to safely make an escape to Boracay, and then return to fulfill his Master's orders. He glanced at Lizzy, "This place is dangerous, let's leave!" He said, again, legitimately fearing for the teenager's life. The people here weren't compassionate about life. They were violent. They sought death. In such a crazy environment, anyone who did not possess the ability to defend himself would be susceptible to fall.
I nodded along, each bit of info that Alexis gave driven deep into my mind, storing it like a file. If there was one thing I planned on not doing, it was going headlong into the conflict. I'd made that mistake before, and let's just say it hadn't turned out quite how I wanted. So I allowed Alexis' grasp on my shoulder, but it comforted me little at this time. Simply being here was infuriating, I felt my nerves completely on edge, a loathing deep inside, but no way to properly express it. There was so much to do, but so little time. "Don't worry," I turned to face my lover, a glint of a smile tugging at the side of my face. My silver eyes reflected the morning light, the orbs almost like individual moons,. "I forgot what pain felt like a long time ago." Perhaps a little melodramatic, but it wasn't completely false..
I turned my attention back to the battle, watching every movement, every tactical decision, every failed attempt to hurt this Goliath. But he still stood strong, even when the streets themselves were liquefied by the mech girl's most powerful weapon. She was on the streets now, with the cultist people watching over them. "These people are weak," I scoffed, ever fiber of my being simply ticked at how inefficient all of this work was turning out to be. "They're uncoordinated, even when one of them's trying to get things together, it's a disjointed." I glanced up and saw the skeletal figure myself. "Some of them aren't even doing anything."
But when Mega Justice was sent flying over the city, I knew this was our chance. "Let's go show them how to do "teamwork." I leaned towards Alexis, whispering a plan and asking for her to follow my lead. I'd been watching the battle, observing every move made, every power thrown, and every strike absorbed. This Mega Justice was tough, and not only that, but pretty damn fast too. But I could bring him down. I placed my hand on the ground, a green hue enveloping my body, the Heart of the Warrior taking its effects. I willed the ethereal energies to go straight into my speed. It had been weeks since I'd gotten a proper meal, and I needed to make this fast.
My acceleration would be silent, the sound of my departure unheard as the speed of sound was left behind to eat my dust. I zoomed forward, approaching Mega Justice from behind. From my pocket I grabbed three Ash rounds, these ones specializing in gravity. Right when I was almost within his range I slowed down. I needed him to hear my approach. Dropping just below the speed of sound I continued my movement forward, jumping up and flying towards the titan, both fists clenched to appear as though I was going to go for a punch. Rocketing through the air I would hopefully appear as a threat. In reality though, both of my clenched hands held the gravity rounds, the capsules so small so as to be unnoticeable.
The third one? Well that was underneath the front of my shirt. The moment I got close enough, my plan would go into work. If he grabbed me, if his fist so much as connected, the canister in my chest would erupt, and the two of us would be forced under extreme gravitational forces. If I got close enough anyway, or if he went for some kind of ranged attack, my enhanced reactions would pick up on it, and both vials would launch forwards and impact near him, the cloud of ash all that was needed to enact the intense gravity. The level of intensity would be powerful, more than 500x normal gravity, so much so that it would flatten a class 100 person in strength. This effect would either seek to stop Mega Justice altogether, or slow him down considerably. If I too was caught in the attack, that was okay.
I would...probably survive.
Hopefully at that point, Alexis would listen to me, and go in for her attack.
-----------------------------------------------
Mr. Megadeth scratched his chin, looking along the holographic image.. While he his restraints didn't allow him to physically look at the world around him, he was still more than aware of his surroundings and the actions that took place."Alright, killing not advised, but at the same time not discouraged, just our kind of job." His voice echoed, around him, not coming from his mouth, but very much still heard, almost as if it emanated from his whole body. "Don't worry sir, we'll have this done with in a few."
Snapping his head to the left, he pointed towards Disturbed and Quiet-Riot, who were still riding off on their motorcycle. His words reached their ears and theirs alone, for it rang out in their mind. "You heard the man, custody is preferred, but kill if you have to."
Disturbed looked down at Quiet-Riot in the sidecar, his red burning eyes wide, and his smile like that of a crocodile's. "So we're just gonna go for the kill right?"
"Yep."
"Just the way I like it," the vengeful one laughed wickedly as suddenly the motorcycle began to rise into the air, suddenly no longer bound by the laws of physics. Shooting upwards, they sought for their first target, which they found rather quickly. "Awesome," grinned Disturbed, the wrath of god's grip tightening around the handlebars of the motorcycle. "I love speedsters." @seth_mcstorm.
Swooping down the pair of mercenaries came, aiming to blindside the the scarlet man by ramming into him. While duo on foot were not quick, it was a whole other story while on the bike. The sound their bike emanated as they charged the attack was left far behind, and the natural affects that would normally happen as a result of the speed they moved at were turned to a minimum as an unholy glow surrounded them, a blue flame-like aura taking control of the bike.
If they successfully rammed into the speedster, they would immediately fly up vertically, shooting straight into the air. The main thing about speedsters were that, once in the air, their ground speed basically went to hell. Or at least, that's what these two knew about them. Once that happened, Quiet-Riot would take out a double-barreled shotgun, aiming towards the man, and firing.
Meanwhile Mr. Megadeth stayed put, his hands now behind his back. His job wasn't to be out their with his crew, rather he was their to keep a leash on them, so that they never go too out of control. Turning his head, he saw a new arrival come forward. @j_the_toymaker. Again he would reach forward, ready to introduce himself just as he had to Night Warden. "Hello, I'm Mr. Megadeth."
@icefire_outlaw: @lucia_aurelius: @kaede_: Mega Justice had just finished leveling another building when something caught his eye. A small flower sat on top of the rubble, not the regular Grim flower but one that was bright and full of life. Oddly enough it seemed to be swaying opposite to the wind, almost like it was trying to signal him. Whatever it was he took it as a sign that his work was already paying off, he'd only destroyed one building and beautiful life could already be seen underneath.
However as he took his eyes off the flower a small sound alerted him to and attack from the side. A young girl coming out of seemingly no where was charging at him. It was clear she'd been moving faster then sound before, after all he hadn't heard her approach him. Whatever her reasoning for alerting him to her attack wasn't relevant, it was a mistake she had. She leaped into the air aiming to attack him with her fists. She must have not been watching the fight if she thought that would work on him. Extending both his hands to the side The Exemplar of Justice shouted his second favorite move while slamming his hands together. "JUSTICE CLAP".
A shockwave of raw force rippled out from his clap likely slamming into the airborne girl and flinging her away. A wave of force would easily rupture the hidden vials she had covering her body. Most of the ash would be scattered throughout the air from the sheer force of his clap but he could still tell that some had made contact with him. However even if the full cloud of her attack had effected him it wouldn't hamper him very much. For a hero of his caliber lifting over two hundred thousand pounds was nothing to him. It would take more then that to stop him. So even if his attacker was able to avoid getting knocked away with his clap and strike him, Mega Justice would simply dash off toward another building using his increased weight as an advantage and attempt to smash into another building.
Kaede took a breath and let it go, slowly and carefully. I had hoped the indirect route would work. I guess... I guess I have to be a little braver than that. She dropped a seed into the ground near Lizzy, pulling up a tiny little maple tree, red-leafed. Small for now. It would grow, if it was allowed. That would have to be enough. She set the bag down, brushed the dirt off of her hands, and started walking towards the man attacking the city.
"Mr. Justice," she said, in a voice that was just enough to carry, though she didn't raise it and her tone was gentle. "I watched your video. I'm sorry we weren't able to meet under better circumstances." She offered no attack, only a smile, and spread her hands, empty. "I'm Morning Glory. I... um.... I don't usually come to these things." Breathe easy, just keep walking. "My name is Kaede. I'm fifteen years old. I'm a noncombatant. I've never hurt anyone. That matters to me, because it's part of who I am."
Hopefully he was paying attention. "I think it matters to you, too. I think part of who you are is a person who cares very much about what other people think. It's not my place to tell you how to do things. But I do wonder if somewhere in there is someone who would like to think for himself. If there is, I would like to meet him some day. But only you can decide if that's who you want to be. Right now, you are who you are. And you care about what other people think."
She smiled again. "People like me, Mr. Justice. Most of the people I've met have liked me very much. Since I started accepting who I was, eighty percent of the people I've met in context of my abilities like me, and the remaining twenty percent find me neutral. I think you like numbers, so I figured it out for you on the way here. I like me, too. It turns out there aren't a lot of superheroes that can say that. I try to help, where I can. Now, I might be making a mistake, but I don't think you're going to hurt a fifteen-year-old noncombatant who most people find likable."
She brought her hands together and cupped them for a moment, then opened them, holding a white lily - a peace offering, maybe. "This is for you, if you would accept it. Because I don't know much about you, Mr. Justice, but I would like to like you. Whoever you decide you are. And I would also like it very much if you would leave the city alone, and let it grow."
I'm putting Neuromind and Elitex01 in the "Neutral" category, but Teen Team (The Custodian, _gaige_, Renegade84), Vael, The Enforcer and the Adjucator, Xae, and Contingency all really like Kaede. I totally ran the numbers.
Humans have a saying, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I wish I could say this was the first city I'd seen in this state...or that I hadn't caused most of them in my life time. I used to operate in Grim some, back a few years ago. Now it's even worse than ever and someone is trying to literally flatten it. I've watched for the last hour as both sides fight each other. At first I came to see the city and let it pass. Then I stayed because I could feel Time shifting...a temporal conflux, weak though it is, is forming at the heart of Grim City.
It seems that this time, there is change, real change in the air. It could all come to an end, or it could keep going, the sort of paradigm shift that hesitates, that lingers in the air until one side or another pushes it off a cliff and something happens...or it doesn't. Already I can feel the echoes of time that could be, the Could Have Beens, the Probably Wont Be's...they're gathering, imperceptible to everyone else here. If I was still hungry I could push it, I could force it to happen and at the right moment crack open time and space and feed on all the could be's. I'm not though, so I will simply watch and should something catastrophic happen t to threaten the stability of the fabric of time and space, I'll make sure it stays whole. These people would never survive a raw Temporal Conflux.
My eyes shift to a girl, braver than all the rest, standing alone against the forces that seek to trash the place and standing not with weapons or powers...but a flower, a single, white flower. You can't buy that kind of bravery. She probably thinks she's a coward, they always do.You'd be stunned how many people like that stood up to me over the years, they always thought they were cowards, sometimes they were trembling but while everyone around them withered to dust, they would stand there, un-armed, simply defiant.
She's offering peace, an end to a hilariously unnecessary conflict. She doesn't know it, but she's got a guardian right now. If anyone moves to hurt her, they'll be surprised what happens next...but only briefly. I think maybe it's time we give peace a chance.
Alexis nodded her head in agreement then took off with Lucia, the plan seemed reasonable and of course there were things that could go wrong yet fortunately for the both of them Alexis's danger precognition gave her hindsight on what could go wrong. Alexis copied Lucia's action and took off faster than the speed of sound too but she wasn't by Lucia's side instead Alexis was parallel to Lucia running up buildings that were reinforced by her own powers before jumping roof top to roof top in order to maintain her high vantage point. Alexis saw Lucia's danger line through multiple buildings and even that of Mega Justice's which allowed Alexis to track both with out ever having to see their bodies bless my eyes they're invaluable, I can see what happens oh...well would you look at that looks like plan didn't go as planned time for me to improvise.
Alexis had a few precious seconds to intercept a counter attack meant for Lucia with her own, Alexis picked up speed and dived down between Lucia and Mega Justice a moment before he launched his attack "Full Counter!" she shouted as her movements came to a sudden halt and the inbound shock wave rebounded away from Alexis and Lucia before commencing to track Justice as he relocated away "are you okay Lucia?" Alexis asked for a concerned moment as the shock wave attack took shape of a nigh invisible sphere then began turning around corners to track and attempt to hit Justice with twice the velocity and strength he displayed in his original attack.
After her inquiry Alexis gestured her head towards the direction Justice last left "Come on, we'll get him next time Red" Alexis gave Lucia a determined look then took off once again to track Justice's danger lines, she moved opposite side of where the Full Counter sphere was attempting to hit Justice and whether if it hit or not she would leap into the air silently as the distraction transpired then attempt to get Justice in a head lock from behind.
While Justice often required acts of force to keep there where always moments that didn't require that. As the young girl approached him bearing a single flower in hopes of talking to him, Mega Justice realized she truly bore no ill will towards him. He accepted the peace offering before shaking his head. He wasn't going to cause any civilian casualties, and as far as he was concerned a non combatant such as her was on the same level. However, that did not mean he agreed which her, this wasn't going to change his mind. His mind was set on what he planned to do to Grim, but that didn't mean he had to punch everyone he saw. "Kaede, was it? While I hear what you are saying I'm afraid I won't be able to honor your request for the cit-"
Mega Justice had been talking with the girl when a ball of pure force collided with him detonating on impact and sending a wave of force an directions. Towards the hand of Justice, but more infuriating to him his opponent had recklessly trigger an explosion directly in front of the pacifist he had been talking to. He felt arms grab his neck as his opponents attemted to grab him from behind. In a roar of anger he reached to grab her arm before her grip had time to tighten and throw her off of him. He looked at the small white flower he'd just received, now a crumpled mess in his palm. Seething with anger he turned to the girl who had tried to grab him and pulled back his hand. There were acts that defied nearly everyone's sense of Justice. Attacking an unarmed child rated pretty high on that list, and such a act would not be tolerated. Charging forwards he aimed to strike Contingency in the chest before grabbing her and launching her clear out the city.
"Well, I don't actually have a house," deadpan as always, shrugging off her comment with no real interest. @katraya "In fact now that I think about it, I actually don't own anything, minus the clothes on my back, and the slippers on my feet...and even then I'm pretty sure I just stole them." She probably wouldn't be amused by the small talk, but hey, its gotten me out of a lot of situations. Don't fix it if it ain't broke.
A gust of wind killed the mood though, sending the girl careening back. I drew an exasperated sigh, looking to see the pumpkin man @dr_halloween standing beside me, apparently trying to keep the peace as I was. "Hey thanks for the backup and all, but I don't think that's gonna help negotiations." I glanced back towards the armored woman, who had just managed to gain control of her own actions again. She didn't seem to care about either of us anymore though, instead I watched as her attention turned towards the center of all this conflict, Mega-Pecs himself. A shift in air gave away her intentions...that plus I was looking right at her.
*POP*
I appeared beside the hovering woman, watching as the metal rebar morphed and shifted to her will "Yeah, sorry for getting under your skin, I don't have a bone to pick with you, I'm just trying to keep things-" the object shot forward mid-sentence, metal liquefying from the friction. The heated projectile made its way through a building, punching a hole straight through the structure. I didn't need to look through space/time or the warp to see the things weakening support. With but a subconscious thought several bone appeared around the building, providing just the necessary support to keep it from collapsing. "Heh, stable." The sludge at this point had connected with Mega Justice, throwing the bulky man outside of the city. "Nice shot," I quipped up, watching as he flew farther and farther.
I waved my hand in the air in front of me, and for one brief moment, that for anyone else could have looked like an eternity, I let time take a break. The normal flow of time continued everywhere else except for around me, where it had come to sudden and complete halt. I disappeared from the eyes of everyone else now alone in an barren land. I always did this whenever I needed a moment to collect my thoughts, while at the same time not wanting to pause the time everywhere else, it was much easier this way.
The source code appeared before me, displaying the fabric of events that continued to transpire outside of my time. Through a logarithm of 0's and 1's, I saw it all. Somehow, with all this destruction, there appears to be a little bit of light, shining onward. Now normally that gave me a good feeling. But...Somehow there's also a massive black-hole threatening to swallow everyone's good intentions, I thought sarcastically, waving away the code. My presence wasn't doing anything here, I needed to go for another solution. But that's when I heard someone, someone who apparently knew my name, @nightwarden17. It was coming from the warp barrier, between my time and normal time. Whoever this was, they must've heard my name from the party awhile back. And apparently, this person thought I was on his side of things.
I snapped my fingers, and my time bubble dissipated, returning me to the present. I ignored the man's order, turning away and thinking of a new objective. Maybe if I just talked to Mega Justice, that would work? Honestly, talking with these people didn't seem to be getting me anywhere, all their minds clouded with thoughts of battle and mayhem. But it was the only option I had left that didn't involve me getting...involved. A quick look at the time and space code informed of Mega Justice's location...but someone...and something, else was there too. Hopefully, with no fighting involved. With a-
*POP*
-I appeared near the people's location, hovering slightly in the air and looking down towards Mega Justice @megajust and some kid @kaede_. But where was the-oh. @timesiphon. Literally right beside me, although not hovering in the air like me, was the other thing I had felt. It appeared humanoid, normal like any other woman, but it was far from human. Far from metahuman too. I saw time and space drawn to her, naturally gravitating around her. A timesiphon? I cocked an eye brow, the sudden development bringing a completely unforeseen element to the table. What is one doing here, at Grim City of all places? I racked my brain, trying to decipher a reason for such an anomaly to find its way out here. Unless.
"Do you feel it too?" I asked the creature beside me, not bothering to turn my head. Instead I kept my gaze down below towards the kid. It was the first time I was giving the situation any notice, but now, watching, I couldn't help but smile a bit, which was weird since the smile kind of fought with the frown I was having earlier. Anyway, the girl down there was speaking to Mega Justice with talks of peace, even handing out a flower towards the hulking man. I breathed out a long sigh of relief (despite not having any lungs). This is what we needed, more than any weapon or show of power.
Courage.
But apparently, not everyone agreed with that.
A massive force slammed into the man, a shock wave flying out in all directions, more than likely ending all and any hope of a peaceful solution. But more importantly, it also may have hurt the pacifist. Instinctively, I-
*POP*
To the ground, appearing beside the kid. Whether or not they had been affected by the blast, I still took a knee beside them. "Hey, buddy, you alright?" But I didn't wait for an answer. Instead, I took up a defensive position, around the kid, and several bones appeared in the air, hovering around me as my eye glowed an ominous blue. The commotion between Mega Justice and the purple haired woman @contingency looked serious, but I refused to let it get to close to the kid.
Turning his head to the skeleton, Jack rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, forgive me, I thought it would be best." Feeling a little at fault, he let Myres go to deal with @katraya: and with a pop, the skeleton was gone. "Right, minimal magic..." Jack trailed off as he remembered who he was with.
The armored lady was clearly a warrior, probably could bench press six of him with one hand. Jack, however versatile, was a class cannon without his barrier. Even then, the barrier would break under the force of multiple building busting attacks. "Minimal magic." he gulped before placing the magic barrier around his tall form.
Flying up using wind magic, Jack put on his best, genuine smile and said, "Forgive me m'lady, that attack was meant to stop the fighting." He held out his hand respectfully, "My name is Jack Halloween and how about we talk this out?"
"I do." I replied to him simply, not surprised when the skeletal man appeared...well...ok maybe a little surprised. Before much else could be said he was gone again and for good reason. A thunderous detonation of raw power was heading straight for the girl with all the courage and hope. Some abilities I can do from galaxies away, others required more...presence. I stepped between time, between the moments of a heart beat and emerged again directly in front of the girl with my back to her. I held out one hand for dramatic affect and the blast wave slowed, came to a crawl and then stopped entirely long before it could ever reach her.
Everything paused around us, debris kicked up from activity hovered in the air, clothing ceased to move from the wind...everything stopped. Once, this would have taken a great deal of my temporal reserves but not any longer. My temporal reserves are infinite thanks to certain events in Spain. I seize control of time itself, wrap it around my will and age the halted portion of the shockwave to the point where it simply dissipates, advancing the flow of time for it to the point where it loses its energetic cohesion and simply vanishes to nothing. Once this is accomplished I allow time around us to flow normally again.
It felt good to be back in the action, but this wasn't the time and it certainly wasn't the place. I turn to face the girl and those gathered near her and I drop down into a crouch and place one hand on the ground.
"Once, this city was a beautiful place."I explain and reverse the flow of time for just one little patch of ground around my hand. Decades of squalar wash away in the blinking of an eye and are replaced by a beautiful cement sidewalk upon which some local girls had at some point used chalk to draw a children's game out on the sidewalk. "Children played here once, before people like me ruined it." I stood slowly and smiled briefly, it was a smile weighed down by guilt, tens of thousands of years that would take tens of thousands more to repay. "Make it beautiful again. It's easy to lose your faith in yourself, it's easy to give in to the animals that surround you, believe me, I know. Don't let it happen. This city will never be fixed with violence. My name is Raeyn...and we'll meet again." I told her and stepped between the moments of time again. I needed to leave before I became too involved.
Kaede smiled a little bit when the stranger took the lily from her. She'd been fairly certain that he wouldn't hurt her, but still, with everything happening, mistakes were easy to make, and she hadn't been completely certain. She'd guessed. But she'd guessed right, at least in part, and he'd taken the flower.
"Kaede, was it? While I hear what you are saying I'm afraid I won't be able to honor your request for the cit-"
He'd been speaking, which was a good start, and more importantly, he'd been listening. She'd been ready to listen to what he had to say, but he'd been cut off by a sudden nexus of explosive power. Kaede was surprised by it, especially since she knew the pink-haired caster from when they'd met in Japan. "Alexis-?" she'd managed to start, fully expecting to be caught inside the blast radius, but then things went... weird. Everything seemed to stop. And then there was a woman. And then things went... backwards.
The effect kind of made Kaede's head spin a little, but she tried to keep up with this person, or at least keep up enough to listen to the words that went with the pictures she painted on the canvas of time. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it entirely, other than the quiet sense of confirmation that, to someone at least, she was doing the right thing. She had questions, though, so many questions, but time started again, and the woman was gone, and there was a skeleton in a hooded sweatshirt making inquiries as to her constitution.
"I... um. I think I'm all right," she answered the question. "Thank you for asking." She gave him a bit of an odd look. "I'm sorry. I've never met a talking skeleton before." The funny thing was, in fact, that she had actuallymet other skeletons, down on the swamp plantation in New Orleans. They hadn't been very conversational, though, but they'd been very nice hosts. "But it's nice to meet you anyway."
There were other places that needed her attention, though, like Alexis taking a counterstrike. "Mr. Justice, please. Let her go. She's my friend. It was a mistake. She didn't mean to hurt me. She's just worried about someone she cares about."
Of course, whether or not anyone else believed that was true was uncertain, but Kaede believed it. She trusted people. It was strange how rare that was.
Jacob, seeing the child near Myers Voorhees nearly become eviscerated in the squabbles of war, caused Jacob to know he had had enough of the violence, and that his aggressive strategy had to be reconfigured.
He had a daughter too, once, before she had left his life to forge his own path as a hero, and a son, who had become his mortal adversary the JailBreaker through the machinations of crime, a son he still hoped could find redemption someday.
He had the best of intentions being involved in this conflict, but things had gone too far when a child, one who had their whole life to live for, had their life nearly snuffed out.
He was more than comfortable in any combat scenario, but there were lines even he wouldn't cross.
He told his team via comms that he was considering tactically retreating and to get the girl to safety, and he told MegaJustice via speaking and having his words picked up by MegaJustice's hearing that he personally would deactivate Grim's defenses that he had arranged and cede if and only if he and his compatriots were granted amnesty and if they and other Grim advocates could help with Justice City and offer their input, even in some small capacity, and that truly, amidst all the conflict, both sides wanted peace, much like the girl that had given MegaJustice the flower.
He told MegaJustice that he personally had taken a defensive stance throughout the fight, not personally choosing to engage him after their one altercation and that he largely was a noncombatant throughout the fight, more of a strategist.
He didn't shut everything down yet, but waited to see what the others would do, especially MegaJustice, before Jacob made his decision.
His finger hovered over the shutdown button on his gauntlet keypad, as he waited for responses.
It had been several minutes before Amy realized she couldn't keep pace with Seth. Every time she got close, he just seemed to speed up. Thankfully what she couldn't match with speed she could make up for with familiarity of territory. She knew Grim like the back of her hand, having spent a month or so here under Jesse James' care. Vi stopped chasing, instead taking a detour around some new arrivals and weaving her way between buildings and around debris. Panting slightly, she made it to her destination, and making a quick calculation of speed and time, would sideswipe Seth eith another Thunder bolt if he didn't notice her or wasn't stopped by someone else first.
He was waiting for the Vice President's response when he made the mistake of looking over at the city once again, time slowing to a crawl as he inspected the devastation. His atomic eyes focused in on the action as it occurred, a pang of discomfort searing through the Universal Man like nothing else could. He sighed, turning back to the Vice President, his expression apologetic.
"Hold that thought. There's a child," he said, taking off from where he stood. Before, he hadn't quite noticed Gaige's size, but the newcomer, out of the suit? She'd nearly been atomized.
They're surrendering? he thought, a radio's whine echoing around his inner ear. His brain worked overtime to decode it, the final transmission enough to lower his spirits even more. He sighed, space warping around him as he approached.
Grim City
The nature of his powers made it possible to appear without a sonic boom, nor a flash through the air. The field around his body made it seem as though he flew, yes, but his movement was more comparable to teleportation without his atoms being destroyed. A subtle blur of red and blue, devoid of momentum, would be the only herald of his arrival, face serene, cape fluttering in the breeze as he paused on the ground before the girl. Scanning her with his atomic sight to confirm she was safe, he turned, his attention shifting to Mega Justice, presently engaging another defender.
He simply stood there, statuesque. Silent, though he yearned to speak. His presence would usually deter conflict...but he was growing more concerned that he'd have to intervene. What was his purpose, if not to step in, to protect? But he couldn't enforce his will over others, either. Would that not be what he was doing?
There was one move he could make. Scanning Mega Justice with his brown eyes, he sought to ascertain the secret of his powers, his amazing biology, to find what gave him the strength to perform these great feats. Perhaps he wasn't even human, simply a weapon let loose on the Earth; the answer, he reasoned, would have the greatest impact on whether or not he'd engage the man.
Xeril repeated a barely audible hiss as Megadeath extended a hand of... Well, not friendship but it was still irritating to see his partner the Ghoul so eager to shake the extended appendage.
"Ghoul," the idiot said, "And this is the Cobra."
It was obvious he heard Xeril but the moron didn't heed the merc. The Cobra hated working with other mercenaries. He didn't have a good reason.aybe it was because he was a reptile, without typical mammalian pack instincts. Whatever the case, he had heard of Megadeath's crew before. Only though a very long grapevine, but the rumors were out there. Xeril wished to pull off his medallion and pop the creature's head clean off with his tail. Seeing as that wasn't an option, he nudged his partner with his "foot", blasted appendage might as well serve some good. Jay didn't even seem to notice, and finally Xeril turned his attention to the battle raging around them, instead of listening to the conversation the two apparent Undead were having.
The Superior God would not interfere in this conflict. As he hovered above the clouds, over the battle-torn city and those below, he looked down on anyone and everyone, his features wearing his vanity and ego well. Arms folded before his chest, an omnipresent aura of twinkling virtual particles glowing from his body, Valhala kept his chin high and his gaze smug. Below him, mankind was all but confirming his thoughts, that humans were an inferior species, lesser beings at the mercy of their instinct to take part in cycle after cycle of pointless wars. "If only..", he thought, "I could be bothered to play the role of master to this inferior species, and shepherd them, the lesser stock", the New God paused his thoughts, his face wearing a smirk of derision, "Or perhaps..".
His smirk widened into a smile, of amusement, his eyes pleased at the familiar sight of a red and blue streak. Of the ultrahuman he'd predicted would indeed intervene in the conflict for Grim City. "He should", in Valhala's eyes, Supra-Man was a being of wasted potential, one who could have easily accomplished what was needed; the guidance or annihilation of mankind. "But he is more concerned with preserving the moral fabrications of animals than assuming the role he is fit to as mankind's superior", his mind scoffed, his regality and eloquence subtly giving way to the venom of disdain. "Oh well", the Prophet of Perfection concedes in thought, descending from the clouds till the soles of his boots touched the top of a skyscraper, his eyes peering at Supra-Man, at Nemo, his mind wondering just what would come of this encounter between Mega Justice and the man once known as the Savior.
"Hahaha.. what business does a philosopher have on the battlefield?", he wondered, amusement and curiosity guiding his thoughts.
Flying up using wind magic, Jack put on his best, genuine smile and said, "Forgive me m'lady, that attack was meant to stop the fighting." He held out his hand respectfully, "My name is Jack Halloween and how about we talk this out?"
Angela glanced at the man who came up to greet her, apparently. "No," Angela almost felt like swinging her hammer at the guy, then thought the better of it, sighing.
It seemed like @megajust was doing a lot of damage to the city. All she was apparently doing was playing around and doing nothing to help him. She'd shrugged, "Maybe if we met under different circumstances, I would have loved to chat around, but I have no fancy in someone who opposes me," Angela said, before she took off in a streak of lightning.
At a different part of the city, She'd soon reached the building where @orange_water and @icefire_outlaw were hanging around. Whatever the two were planning, she decided to put a stop to it. "DIE!" Angela yelled, hyper accelerating towards the building, she would throw a giant hammer down towards it, with enough might to not just bring the whole building down, but accompanying shockwaves that would decimate everything in a 3 block radius.
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