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War and Monsters (CVnU)
@shield-maiden: (OOC: You forgot to tag us. ~_^ AWESOME POST as I knew it would be. ^_^) @mister_surreal@dwronin
The Vanishing...
Superion:
It was finally over and Superion looks out over Metro City with a heart full of sadness. Nemesis had done a lot of damage when she attacked the city, but thankfully it still remained standing. Still, a lot of work needs to be done and Superion vows that he will help rebuild the city. But before he can even think about doing that, he finds himself enveloped in magical energy as Ares kidnaps the Man of Steel.
The Blue Ghost:
The Blue Ghost is not pleased with Nemesis. The Cyborg had harmed not only her, but her adopted daughter as well. She wants to punish Nemesis for it by trapping her mind within a prison inside of her head. But Paragon didn't allow it. Pity. As the Blue Ghost heads towards a building downtown to resume her identity as a citizen of Metro City, she, like Superion, finds herself whisked away in a beam of magical energy.
Seriously?! She thinks to herself, WHAT NOW?!
Green Sentinel:
Green Sentinel's job is done, but no doubt his superiors in the Green Sentinel Corps have been wondering why their rising star hasn't checked in for hours and hours. So, he says his goodbyes and heads off into space.
While Hal heads off to the planet Mogu, he thinks of the latest recruit in the GSC, Jessica Jordan. She's a scientist, but so a naive. Soon enough, she'll learn how the world works and then it'll be interesting to see how well Jessica handles any given situation.
For now, though, Hal sees Mogu just ahead as he comes out of hyperspace. But the planet disappears...no, not the planet. Hal disappears. He sigh's, "Not again!"
Thunderstorm:
Thunderstorm better check with King Thor before she decides to head home to see how her friend Paragon is doing. So the palace it is. She arrives in good time and is promptly stopped. She cannot see the King so she relays a message. A message is sent back to her. Was it from King Thor or someone else? Who knows. Either way, it read an order to find Heimdall immediately.
Thunderstorm reluctantly accepts the quest as she would have preferred to simply leave Asgard and return to Earth. However, she will perform her duty. And so it is, Lara begins her search for the missing Asgardian. The first place she begins is the bifrost bridge, but she finds no clue as to where Heimdall might be. Not one.
So far, this is proving to be a fruitless search but Thunderstorm decides to then question some warriors in a bar who were the last ones to see Heimdall before he vanished. Here, Thunderstorm gains her first lead. So, Lara decides to follow it. But then, Thunderstorm vanishes as well, having been kidnapped by Ares, the god of war and right from under the noses of the Asgardians...
Warrior Angel:
Warrior Angel feels nothing but rage towards Nemesis. First, for shooting her in the head. Second, for keeping her in a coma for nearly the entire time she was kidnapped. Karah had wanted so much to exact a little payback. She is not one for revenge, but in this case she felt a little entitled to at least a little payback. Just put her in a room alone with Nemesis. Is that too much to ask?
Justice is done, so Warrior Angel has to be satisfied with that at least. So, she heads home, hot on the heels of the Blue Ghost when she sees the alien vanish before her very eyes. Where did she go?! Was this Nemesis again?! Warrior Angel finds herself bathed in magic energy and now she is vanishing as well. "Can't you cut me a break?" She screams out to the universe as she disappears.
Zephyr:
Hi. My name is Zephyr and I'm the fastest woman alive. As soon as that mess in Metro City was taken care of, I went back home to Glade City. I don't know about you, but when I come back home from an adventure, I'm starved! Restaurants are way too slow for me, so I run home. It's just a little over a second before I have a mountain of food prepared for myself. Hey, I have to eat a lot you know! High metabolism and all that. So, I'm busy scarfing it all down when I notice I can see through my hands. Whaaa?
And then I vanish. Well, good thing I got to finish my food first. Shame I didn't get to the dessert, though. Now I wonder what I've gotten myself into this time.
Apex:
It's only Apex's second night out on the job when something unexpected happens. Although it was Theron King, the Apex Predator, who helped defeat Ares on a past mission, it's Mary Wayne who trained him. Plus, Theron was dead and that means Apex gets kidnapped by the god of war.
In a flash of magic light, Apex disappears right before she can leap on top of some bad guys and ends up in a place she never expected.
The Dungeon...
One by one, each hero arrives in turn beginning with Superion and ending with Zephyr. Each one is laying on a bunk, but they all get up because they are puzzled as to where they are. Those with enhanced senses are repulsed by the foul odors and smells. Superion is the one who notices Shield-Maiden first. For a second or two, he's taken aback by how remarkably beautiful she is. But then then he snaps out of it, noticing how she's dressed. Looks like some kind of warrior outfit. But before he can say anything, it's Zephyr who tries to vibrate through the walls of their cell only to find she gets a nasty shock when she tries. Screaming in pain, she falls on her back, but Green Sentinel catches her with a green glowing construct of a soft bed. Hal checks on his hurt teammate.
In the meantime, the Blue Ghost discovers she cannot phase through the walls, Thunderstorm can't break through them with her hammer, Superion and Warrior Angel cannot break through with their fists. Even Apex, a master escape artist, cannot see an immediate way to escape from the cell. So, once that is established and Zephyr is able to stand on her own again, everyone starts noticing Shield-Maiden. Naturally, they all talk at once except Apex, asking who are you and all that stuff. But it's Superion who has the voice of command, of respect and of leadership. He gently calms his friends down and then approaches Shield-Maiden himself.
Superion has a very commanding presence. Handsome, tall, well built. It's easy to understand why the others follow him. He's gentle but decisive, polite but assertive. "Hello." He says with a rather charming smile, "I'm Superion and these are my friends," He introduces his friends in turn, each nodding their heads, waving, some smiling and saying hi in turn. Most offer to shake Helena's hand, especially Warrior Angel, who has taken an immediate liking to Helena for some reason. Superion continues when the pleasantries are done, "May I ask who you are and do you have any idea why we are here, perhaps even who might have taken us here?"
Superion knows about the sounds above, he can hear it all. But he can't see through the walls here. His X-Ray Vision is being blocked by too much magic. Thunderstorm, being an archaeologist, knows the cell has a roman touch to it. Late 1st century, perhaps a bit later she guesses. Thunderstorm mentions this out loud even as Apex stands in a dark corner, watching Helena with the eye of suspicion.
@shield-maiden: @mister_surreal
When Helena introduced herself by saying:
"My name is Helena Troy, Princess of Atholis, and daughter to Queen Athenais."
Each of Superion's friends say variants of 'nice to meet you' and similar phrases. Superion, above all notices how nervous, and perhaps a little fearful, Helena appears to be. Mostly because he can hear her heart rate increase and he, more so than the others, can detect a thousand different things about what she is feeling by using his super senses of sight, smell and hearing. Apex, to a lesser extent, detects the same thing but she deduces it as well simply by observing how Helena reacts to their presence, ever the detective. Apex is the only one who refuses to shake Helena's hand. Not to be rude, but it's simply who she is. Everyone else, however, shakes Helena's hand in turn with a polite smile on their faces.
Like Helena, Superion also seems to sense some kind of connection with the young warrior standing before him. Standing at 6'3", Helena was only one inch shorter than him. He's the last to the shake Helena's hand, choosing instead to let his friends go first. But when he does take her hand, it seems...so very right for some reason. Perfect, actually. It's like his hand belongs in hers. And when Superion looks into those electric blue eyes of hers, it's almost like a spark passes between them and for a fleeting moment, time seems as if it doesn't exist. Helena's face draws him in, every contour of her face, the shape of her eyes and lips, the way Helena's braid falls over her back. The feel of her hand in his, so soft, yet with the firm grip of a woman accustomed to war. He thinks he feels callouses on her hands from hard work, possibly because of the training she has undergone with her weapons. But the moment passes and Superion no longer feels Helena's hand in his as she pulls away. And the way she does it, it comes across as if he just made her uncomfortable.
Superion is about to ask something about it, but before he can get the chance, Helena speaks first.
"Ares, the God of War, has brought you all to this wretched place, as for why, I do not know. All I know is that he wishes to use my death to plunge humanity into a conflict so great, it would make both World Wars look preposterous."
From her dark corner, Apex narrows her eyes. More than anyone else in this room, she knows full well the horrors of both World Wars. She should know, she's fought in both of them and suffers from PTSD because of it. Before anyone of them can comment further on it, however, another man enters the room and introduces himself, offering a way out of this prison cell. But Helena sadly informs him that he is now trapped as well.
As with Helena, the heroes introduce themselves to Mr. Surreal and if the Sorcerer tries to escape, he may discover that Helena is correct. A few of them ask Helena a question or two, but for the most part, everyone seems to wait around for something inevitable to happen. An hour later, it does. Superion and his friends exit the dungeon cell and find themselves surrounded by strange beings. But thanks to Helena whispering their name, they know what these things are called.
"I've had there kind before, but I can't wait to feast on these two, brother," The twin giant pointed to Superion and Blue Ghost while licking his lips like a creep, "Mmm, alien, brother." He said as he sniffed the two alien heroes, drool dripping from his mouth.
The Blue Ghost raises a black eyebrow and Superion crosses his muscular arms. Both are tempted to put their chances to the test by smashing some teeth in. But they are completely unaware of how powerful these beings are. Best to play things smart for now and they start moving once the command is given.
Apex notices what Helena mouths to them in silence:
"Do not do anything rash, I will get you all out of this."
Through the telepathic link the Blue Ghost has established with her friends, with the exception of Helena and Mr. Surreal, Apex passes the message along to her friends. They are all in agreement about not doing anything rash. However, they also agree to work as a team to get themselves out of this rather than trust Helena alone to do it. They just met her, so why trust her alone to get them out of this? Apex suspects why Ares is doing this, but she isn't sure yet.
As the heroes followed their captors, those with any enhanced senses are assaulted with the foul smells of animals, blood, urine, feces, and much more. Superion, Blue Ghost and Warrior Angel have to breathe through their mouths instead of their noses because the smells bother them more than most. Even Hal and Thunderstorm can smell them, but not nearly as powerful, but even they they have to plug their noses.
At the blessing that Helena bestowed upon them, Superion glances over to his friends and notices that they are all as determined as he is to get out of this. To defeat the purposes of Ares and watch the disappointed looks on their captors faces as they are denied a meal out of them. They say nothing as they each enter the arena.
As Thunderstorm observes the arena she finds herself in, she surmises that she is correct in her assumption this is from the time period she previously determined, being an archaeologist and being skilled enough to know these things. The blood and guts just make Superion and his friends all the more determined to get out of this. But then Helena screams above the roar of the crowd:
"Lord Ares! I am willing to play your games, but all I ask is that you grant these heroes their freedom. They should not have to suffer because of me."
The crowd, unsurprisingly, boos and throws things at them. Most of which miss. And then Ares speaks, saying his piece and what will happen to Helena should they do anything foolish. Superion glances over at Helena, not wishing to see anything bad happen to her. He will do anything to protect her and he finds that thought strange since he's only met her an hour ago.
When Helena says for them to escape, that she doesn't care about her well being, Superion tries to respond but the ground begins shaking and reveals...the Sphinx.
Then Helena says to Superion:
The Sphinx. She is of no threat if we answer her riddle correctly. In ancient times, Oedipus bested her, but do not expect her to be bested easily again or to be told the same riddle," Helena whispered to the heroes before turning to Superion. "You are the leader of this team, you should order your warriors to leave at once. Ares is toying with us, which gives you the opportunity to escape. I can hold the Sphinx, trust me."
Superion looks at Helena with those baby blues of his, but with a determined look that says he will go through heaven and h*** for her before he will leave her side. He speaks what is all on their minds, "We can't do that. We 'all' will escape this place, including you. You heard Ares, if we attempt to escape, you die. I cannot, and will not, let that happen. We're in this together and together we will win." No one dies, not under Superion's watch. Superion smiles, his eyes twinkling. He is entirely confident they can make it out of this.
With their decision made, the Sphinx asks her riddles but not without one final plea from Helena:
Helena gave one last glance to the heroes. "The offer still stands." She whispered before getting ready to answer her riddle.
At which Warrior Angel interjects and whispers to Helena, "And we aren't going anywhere. I stand with you, sister. Today," She says with a warrior's heart that sings with pride, "is a good day to die. If I must, then I do so proudly."
"No one dies today." Superion whispers to Helena. And then they all hear what the Sphinx says to them next.
"Now remember children, you answer my riddle wrong, I get the chance to devour you with no resistance."
At that, Zephyr wonders if this strange being ever suffers from indigestion. She can't help but to smile at the thought.
As the leader of the Justice League Alliance, Superion answers his riddle first, "The answer to my riddle, Sphinx, is Darkness."
Next, the Blue Ghost answers, "And the answer to my riddle is a secret." It was a good riddle, but the Sphinx really shouldn't have posed that riddle to a woman who knows all too well about keeping secrets from those that she loves.
At the riddle posed to Green Sentinel, he almost says snake. It can lay relatively flat and it has no arms and legs. But a snake is not truly flat. Then he snaps his fingers because the answer has just occurred to him and he smiles smugly, "A coin is the answer to my riddle."
Thunderstorm thinks about her riddle for a moment, but then she catches a glance at Helena's shadow. The answer is obvious, "To answer your riddle, Sphinx, my shadow is the correct answer."
Warrior Angel is literally a kid inside of an adult body. She is scared in this situation, but she hides it well. She calms herself and focuses on the answer to her riddle and then she gets it. At least, she hopes she gets the right answer, "A mirror! That's the answer to my riddle!" She practically beams in delight.
Apex hears the riddle posed to her and it's not a difficult one to figure out, "An anchor is the answer to my riddle." She says in an annoyed tone.
Zephyr literally paces back and forth as everyone answers their riddles. She's very impatient as she waits for her turn to answer hers. She is about to die of boredom before it's finally her turn to answer. Relatively speaking, she's thought about the answer to her riddle for hours even though only seconds have passed. "Words is the answer your looking for." She says with a smirk.
The heroes wait with baited breath.
@mister_surreal: @shield-maiden: (OOC: Helelna, dear, you forgot to tag us. ^_^)
When Helena answered the riddle so easily, Apex is not surprised. From the way the woman dresses, her accent, the way she carries herself, how she smells, how she seems to know Ares, the way she seems to take all this on her shoulders, the way she seems to think she's the leader here instead of Superion and many other things all point to one thing. Helena is a demigod. Being the detective of the group, Apex has pieced it all together, plus she knows her history. Out of all of them, she's possibly the oldest one here. Plus, she's studied Greek history, myth and legend. Helena would not be here is Ares didn't think of her as threat so she has to be demigod. She passes this information to her teammates.
~Neat!~ Zephyr chimes in with the Telepathic channel the Blue Ghost has established, ~Think she's related to Hercules?~
~You can ask her later, right now we have more important things to worry about.~ Apex shoots back.
~Oh, your such a spoil sport.~ Zephyr seems to pout, but she knows Apex is right.
When the Sphinx moves in front of Apex looking hungry for a meal, but feeling cheated she doesn't get to feed on any of them, the Detective knows the Sphinx has chosen her to chow down on. Then when the Sphinx's muscles flex, Apex knows the abomination before her is about to pounce. Apex narrows her eyes, clenches her hands, her muscles preparing to defend herself from the inevitable attack, adrenaline shoots through her system, she takes a slow breath before letting it out and she shows absolutely no fear. She's faced worse nightmares than this.
The Sphinx leaps towards her and Apex begins to get ready, but in a flash of motion, Helena is standing before the Detective. The Demigod moved with a speed that even Apex had trouble following and the Sphinx is denied her meal. Not that Apex was worried because she's tougher than she looks. But she surmises the Sphinx must have chosen her above everyone else because she's the least powerful of them all. That was the Sphinx's first mistake, but not something the abomination will likely learn from since Apex won't get the chance to teach her that lesson. The lesson of never underestimating your opponent.
When Helena turns towards Apex and nods to her, Mary does the same as a simple way of saying thank you. Then the team prepares for the inevitable attack from Ares' henchmen and Apex is not disappointed as a gate opens. Then when the Centaurs come in, Helena gave a command:
"Focus your attention on the Centaurs. Aim for the barrel and legs, I shall personally deal with the Sphinx."
Apex, along with the Blue Ghost, Green Sentinel Thunderstorm, Warrior Angel and Zephyr, all look to Superion to see what the leader of the Justice League Alliance thinks of the command. Superion simply smiles and communicates across the telepathic link they have established, ~Do as she says, she knows more about their weaknesses than I do. Stick together, though and fight in pairs. No one is to be left alone. Work together.~
With that, Superion moves close to Helena, determined that he will help her in her fights. As she deals with the Sphinx, he tries to help her. But then he feels a chain around his neck as a Centaur attacks him from behind. Whatever material the Centaurs are using for their weapons and armor, it's obviously enchanted with magic, one of Superion's few weaknesses. Struggle as he might, he cannot break the chains. Elbowing the Centaur doesn't work either. So, he tries a new trick. Superion flies upwards, causing the Centaur's face to have a look of utter shock and surprise. There must be some kind of force field covering the arena and he's right. The Centaur hits it, getting a rather nasty shock, but it spreads to Superion too and he gets hit as well. Both combatants fall back down to Terra firma, but it's the Centaur who has the worst of it because he's knocked out cold and Superion brushes the sand off his costume, eyes flashing red, "Who's next?"
Apex teams up with the Blue Ghost and the two work in tandem to overcome their attacks. The Blue Ghost cannot phase through the enemies weapons, but she can phase through the ground. She does this when a Centaur tries to stab her and then when he is wondering where she went, the Blue Ghost phases back up out of the ground and right behind the Centaur, landing a punch in his backside. Apex flips acrobatically, throwing flash bang grenades to blind the Centaur attacking her and then with a SNIKT, she summons her claws and ruthlessly takes out the legs, where there is no armor at the joints, and disables the Centaur from ever getting back up. The Centaur will live, but he'll be a cripple for life.
Thunderstorm teams up with Zephyr and the two also work in tandem as they have before in the past. Zephyr uses her speed to run along the wall of the coliseum in order to build up speed. Here's a Zephyr Fact: The faster an object moves towards the speed of light, it's mass increases exponentially towards infinity. Then when she has enough speed built up, Zephyr launches herself at the Centaur that tried to attack her and lands a punch. At this speed, her punch carries the weight of a city. Even through the Centaur's near invulnerable armor, Zephyr knows her enemy feels that punch. It sends her enemy careening out of control and into the opposite wall where he is embedded inside of it, legs kicking out in frustration. The poor thing is still alive, but he's going to need help getting out. Zephyr can't help but see how comical the Centaur looks and has to utter a giggle. What? It's FUNNY!
In the meantime, Thunderstorm smiles at the Centaur charging at her. At the last possible second, she uses her hammer, known as Lightning Strike, to create a lightning storm. Even magic armor is made of metal and guess what makes an excellent conductor for electricity? Metal. And the Centaurs are covered with it. Body twitching uncontrollably, the Centaur is knocked out with a hammer under the chin. Thunderstorm smiles as she glances around, "Please, give me a real challenge."
Green Sentinel and Warrior Angel fight back to back with Mr. Surreal since he'd be left all alone. Warrior Angel blocks thrown spears with her indestructible bracers while Hal erects a force field to defend himself before creating a green construct of Hercules, which proceeds to knock the heads of two Centaurs together.
Warrior Angel does not see the Centaur coming at her and Mr. Surreal, but when she does, she sees that Helena has wrapped her lasso around it and takes good care of it. Warrior Angel smiles, pumping her fist in the air, "Thanks!"
But it's not a moment later when Warrior Angel sees another Centaur charging Mr. Surreal from behind, "DUCK!" Warrior Angel throws her shield at Mr. Surreal, but she hopes her warning to duck works on time. If Mr. Surreal does duck, then the shield slams into the charging Centaur's face, knocking him out. The shield automatically returns to Warrior Angel's arm and she smiles at the Sorcerer Supreme, "Your welcome."
@apex_predator87: @shield-maiden:
Matthew had just fished answering his riddle with little difficulty. It was almost as if the Sphinx wasn't even trying. "It would seem that her time being imprisoned had relinquished her abilities.", he thought. But besides the reason why she had seemingly decreased greatly in skill over time, there was also the matter of Helena's part to play in all of this. She was the one who had issued out instructions about what the group in this situation, and it has remained that way up to this point in time. She was clearly the most knowledgeable of all the events that were unfolding. So what was the explanation?
Before he could think any any further, Apex begins to disclose her findings with the other members of the group. "A demigod? Of course! Her mannerisms and knowledge of what was happening should had me realize this sooner.", he said to the rest of the group telepathically. While he was the Sorcerer Supreme, he was not the World's Greatest Detective. After everyone had fished answering their riddles, the Sphinx reacted rather poorly to how they evaded her toothy maw. But that would only be the case if she had actually kept her promise of sparing them if they answered her riddles correctly. Based on the way that she was eyeing Apex, that didn't seem to be the case.
His eyes were filled with horror as he watched the Sphinx lunge at Apex with her jaw wide open and ready to feast on her flesh. Fortunately, Helena had defended her and stopped the the attack in a swift manner. Matthew sighed in relief after what he had just witnessed. But that would be far from the last assault that these heroes would have to endure in this very real battle arena. After one door to the arena is opened, a large number of centaurs quickly came stampeding out with a great lust for blood. Things were only going to become more bloody after this.
"Focus your attention on the Centaurs. Aim for the barrel and legs, I shall personally deal with the Sphinx."
Matthew did as he was told and prepared to attack. He knew that these creatures were wild and often sadistic, they would want to inflict as much harm on the group of heroes as possible. While he did not want to have to do it, Matthew realized that killing his enemies was a very real choice that he would have to make. One that would come in a matter of seconds now that the centaurs were rushing at them.
He quickly broke free of his chains, he had been deteriorating them to the extent where could rip them ever since they were put on. He looks over to his side and does the same for Zephyr who nods in appreciation to what he done, only to run off before he can finish blinking. One centaur charges at him with an axe in hand, ready to slay him where he stood. Unfortunately him, he was dealing with one of the most powerful magic users in the nine realms.
Mister Surreal went to conjure a weapon, but found that he was not able to. It would appear that its was another ability he could not be able to activate while here. Again, raising the question as to what could be powerful enough to decrease the Sorcerer Supreme's power. But that was no question that he had time to ask because of the centaur charging at him. He then went to choose a different pan of attack.
He ran at the centaur as he got closer by the second, ready to draw blood from. It raised its axe over its head and was preparing to bring it down on the skull of the sorcerer. But Matthew slid through its legs as the axe crashed down where his head was a moment ago. As the centaur pulled on the handle to get it unstuck from its position, Mister Surreal sized his opportunity. He grabbed chain lying beneath the creature and pulled on it with every ounce of strength that he he had.
The centaur had now fallen and while it was on the ground, Matthew used his telekinesis to pull the axe over to himself. The centaur rose up and once again charged at him, this time filled with extreme rage. Once it was close enough for him to attack, Mister Surreal swung the axe as hard as he could and hit the creature in the side of the head with the blunt side of it which knocked it out immediately. He levitated with the axe in hand, as he raised his other hand and pointed it in the direction of some other centaurs who had noticed what had happened. "Let's get started!", he said they began to dash at him.
He began to launch a series of mystical bolts on his enemies, not lethal ones, they were only meant to sun temporarily. He went on bashing the sides of their heads to knock them out which would render them no longer a threat to him, but then another one was rushing up to try to land an attack. Before it had the chance to kill him, a large green blast sent the centaur flying back and out knocked cold just like the ones that Mister Surreal had just dealt with. He then saw Green Sentinel levitating in the air along side Warrior Angle. "Thank you for the assistance. Lets continue.", said as they prepared to take on more enemies.
After agreeing to what he said, the three assumed a defensive position where they would be able fend off the centaurs from all sides. About a dozen more off the centaurs began rushing at the trio with in an attempt to claim their lives. The three attacked all of the enemies that had come charging at them, swinging swords, axes and spears at the group in a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand in the battle. The three made quick work of them as Warrior Angle knocked back the opponents with her sword, Thunderstorm casting lightning down on them and Mister Surreal launching them away with different magical spells.
The three kept striking down all of the opponents with great speed and power as kept on coming. The power of the three was practically unmatched against these creatures coming at them. But at one point, on centaur came charging at Mister Surreal while his back was turned. Warrior Angle screamed "duck" as she threw her shield at him. He got down just seconds before it come and take his head clean off his shoulders. The centaur was hit right in the face and taken out of the fight right at that moment. After regaining her shield when it ricocheted off the centaurs face and back into her hand, she simply looked at him and said "your're welcome".
@mister_surreal: @shield-maiden:
As Helena battles the Sphinx, Superion fights off any remaining Centaurs sent to stop her. He keeps them off her back so she can focus on her fight with the Sphinx. Unlike some of them, Superion would rather not kill if he can help it. Thus far, he hasn't needed to and he likes it that way. But as former cop, he knows that sometimes it's necessary. He glances back at Helena's beautiful form as she continues to fight the Sphinx, but then focuses on the task he assigned himself by fighting anyone who dares try and attack her. Any thrown spears? He catches them and throws them away. Arrows? Catches them and buries them in the sand. He could help fight the Sphinx but knows that Helena can handle it on her own. With his super hearing, Superion knows that Helena is being choked by the Sphinx and he is about to go to her aid when he has to deal with another Centaur. By the time the thing is dealt with, Helena had chopped off the tail of the Sphinx, so Superion stays where he is: Guarding the pathway to Helena. When Helena re-emerges into the arena and finally kills the Sphinx, he smiles at her, giving her thumbs up.
The more and more, Helena thought about the hammer, the more she felt "worthy" as if the hammer was rightfully hers; her electric blue eyes emitting small amounts of blue electricity, words speaking in Old Norse whispering in her ear, all before fading.
Thunderstorm did not fry and Centaur, she didn't apply enough electricity. She knocked him out, as most of the other heroes did as well. Nevertheless, as she fights on, she feels something strange pull at her hammer, almost as if something was calling it. She has never felt, or seen, her hammer react that way before. But a moment later, it passes and Thunderstorm will have to wonder about it later as she smacks some Centaurs aside with her hammer.
Some might call Hal Knight a man without fear, but he will be the first to tell you that isn't true. He is a man who 'overcomes' fear. During this entire exchange, his heart rate might be the calmest. He shows no fear in the situation he is in. He looks over at Mr. Surreal, "Your pretty good at this, Mr. Surreal. Glad to have you with us."
Green Sentinel creates a green construct of a mini gun, with an ammo pack on his back, and begins to shoot the Centaurs. Not enough to kill but enough to knock them senseless. As he fires on them, he screams, "NEVER BRING SWORDS AND SPEARS TO A GUN FIGHT!"
As Hal and Warrior Angel keep fighting alongside the Sorcerer Supreme, guarding his back, there seems to be no limit to the kinds of constructs Hal can create with his ring. And the Centaurs don't know how to deal with such a weapon. They seem...confused and lost. Some of them try and flee only to get booted in the butts with a giant foot.
Warrior Angel fights like a typical amazon; Swift, powerful and graceful. She cracks the air with a battle cry that gives even the mightiest Centaur pause before she locks into battle with them, expertly dodging spear thrusts and returning attacks of her own with the skill of an ancient warrior. She works in tandem with Mr. Surreal, taking advantage of any situation he creates with his powers and puts an end to a fight with a Centaur whenever she can.
But finally, the battle seems to ebb and stop for a time before Helena walks over to them with Superion trailing behind her a step or two. That beautiful voice with a Greek accent commends them. While Hal feels some attraction towards Helena, it's not as much as Superion. Sure, Helena is a beautiful woman by Hal's estimation, but he already knows she isn't the one for him. Somehow, he knows that and he's not sure how he knows that. He just does and he's fine with that.
"These creatures do not seem to like you very much. Are you hurt?" She asked with a protective tone as if she was the girl's mother.
Warrior Angel is an empath, so she senses Helena's desire to protect her, senses her drawn towards her. And honestly, Karah feels drawn to Helena, as if the woman was destined to more than just a stranger, but someone to protect her and keep safe. "I'm fine, thank you." She says to Helena, adding a smile for good measure.
And then Ares does his little light show and declaration. But the heroes aren't afraid of him. But they don't know what Mr. Surreal thinks, but good bet the Sorcerer Supreme doesn't fear Ares either.
And then Helena speaks through the telepathic link the Blue Ghost established among them:
"How long could you all sustain yourselves? I fear the worst is yet to come. Ares is not bluffing when he says he will release his true wrath upon us, so we need to hold out for as long as we can until I figure out a plan, unless one of you figured out something?"
Apex replies, ~We wear down the enemy until he has nothing left to throw at us. We make him angry, angry enough to make mistakes and then we take advantage of that. Sooner or later, Ares is going to slip up and without realizing it, he's going to provide the way to escape. We just have to look for it when it happens.~
Apex points to what Ares is doing.
And sure enough, the heroes observe the giant scorpion being summoned and the laughter from Ares. As an empath, she senses Ares's attempt to manipulate Mr. Surreal's emotions. She places a soft hand on his shoulder, speaking through the telepathic link, ~Ares is trying to manipulate your emotions, I can sense his attempts to control you through them. Please, resist him.~
Apex narrows her eyes at the skeletal army and the giant scorpion. Every enemy can be beaten. But weapons forged by the gods... They don't have any of that. Unless, the weapons dropped by the Centaurs. Those seem to be magically enchanted, strong enough to resist their attempts to escape their cell since they are made from the same material in those dungeons. What harm will it do to perform a test? Apex picks up a spear, takes aim and throws it at the head of the nearest skeletal soldier.
Since the spear was forged by the gods, then the skeletal soldier's head explodes and he will 'die'. Apex glances at her companions, "Arm yourselves, we have a fight to win." Apex picks some swords and Superion, Blue Ghost, Green Sentinel, Thunderstorm, Warrior Angel and Zephyr do the same.
Warrior Angel asks, "How did you know that would work?"
Apex looks knowingly at Angel, "Those weapons are made from the same material keeping us in our cell. Stands to reason they must have been forged by the so called gods."
Zephyr whispers in Warrior Angel's ear, "And that's why she's the detective."
Superion speaks through the telepathic link, ~Watch out for the giant scorpion, but take out his little army first if you can. Coordinate your attacks and work together. Aim for the head. Once the skeletons are taken care of, then we'll focus on the giant scorpion. Go for the legs first. If it's not mobile, it can't move.~
Zephyr smiles, ~Your thinking of that Star Wars movie, aren't you? The part where that Walker was taken out by knocking it over, right?"
Superion smiles in return, ~Yep.~
Then Superion glances at Zephyr, ~You think you can distract the big giant scorpion while the rest of us fight the skeletal army?"
Zephyr practically gulps, ~Why do I have to...?~ Then she looks this way, then that way as it dawns on her as to why she is going to have to distract the big giant scorpion, then she has to smile and nod, ~Riiiiight. Because I'm faster than any of you and I should be fast enough to dodge it's attacks, distracting it while you guys take care of the freaky bone army. Okay! I can do it!~
And soon, the heroes are busy fighting off the skeletal army with the weapons they picked up from the Centaurs. Superion, Blue Ghost Green Sentinel and Zephyr don't have any skill with such archaic weapons, but they seem to do good enough. Apex, Thunderstorm and Warrior Angel on the other hand seem to be the warriors who know a thing or two on how to fight with such things.
In the meantime, Zephyr tries getting the giant scorpion's attention by running up it's legs and between them and under it's body and out of the way, making loud noises and such. She does what she can to distract it and to dodge any of it's potential attacks.
@green_sentinelx: @shield-maiden:
Mister Surreal went on battling the blood thirsty hoard of centaurs that were continuously charging at the trio of heroes. They worked together in near perfect harmony as they went on taking out all opponents that charged at them. As this went on, Matthew noticed that Helena was battling the sphinx all on her own at this very instance. One part of him felt strongly inclined to help her, he knew what it was like to go up against such great threats on his own, but the dominant aspect of his character knew that he would need to stay with warrior Angle and Green Sentinel due to the sheer number of enemies that were coming at them. Warrior Angle would strike down any and all foes that jumped at the group, she dashed quickly at each of them as her sword and shield glistened with silver glory in the sunlight. Green Sentinel rapidly made different weapons to fend off the centaurs. From guns, to hammers, to boxing gloves, there didn't seem to be a limit to what he could create. His ability to make constructs were far beyond Mister Surreal himself.
"Your pretty good at this, Mr. Surreal. Glad to have you with us."
Matthew appreciated the compliment, that was high praise coming from a hero as impressive as Green Sentinel. "Thank you. I am glad to be here fight alongside you and Warrior Angle",he said as he launched one of the incoming centaurs a couple of meters away from the group. It landed on top of another one that had been coming up to the group. The two of them crashed into each other as their swords flew into the air as the spiraled uncontrollably in an extremely dangerous fashion. Mister Surreal went to launch the swords away from himself as well as Green Sentinel and Warrior Angle, doing so with the quick flick of the wrist as green energy from his own hand imbued the swords and sent them flying the opposite direction. Two more centaurs who were running in the direction of the group abruptly stopped and fled in the opposite direction as the swords were now going after them. This elected a some small chuckles from the group of three. Helena soon returned with the sphinx, who was now badly wounded thanks to her.
"How did my slaves enjoy their warm-up? Because for here on out, you will feel the wrath of the God of War!"
Mister Surreal glared at Ares as he began mocking the group yet again, he clenched his fists subtlety as Ares had continued to make fun of the group and all of their efforts. Matthew became more angry with each word that Ares would coughed up, it was almost as if he was choosing words to specifically make Matthew angry. Ares may have been the Greek god of war, a being who's power and brutality was matched by very few beings, but he was by no means an all powerful being. If the heroes were not stuck in this arena in the condition that would make them not threat to Ares' being, what happened here would be a very different story. Just then, Ares stuck out his index finger and circled it in the air, the ground began trembling as it seemed that something was coming up from the surface of the sandy environment. An enormous scorpion monster had risen from the ground and was now making its way towards the heroes. "It must be at least 30 feet long!", Matthew thought to himself.
"That's not all, kids."
Ares was not finished with implementing this new attack that the heroes would have to endure in this unholy arena. Again, the ground slowly spat out numerous enemies, skeletal warriors that were rising up from the depths of the sand like the undead menace that they were. "Good grief!", Matthew said as quietly as the number of these enemies never ceased to rise with each pair of hands clawing their way up to the surface. These soldiers would not go down as easily in battle as the previous wave of enemies, the centaurs, had. "The soldiers appear to be supernatural in nature.", Mister Surreal said through the telepathic link to the other heroes as they started to circle the entire group slowly. He could feel an unnatural presence around each of them, they were by no means any normal enemy that they would have to face. Helena even explained the origin and told the group that they could only be destroyed permanently by weapons forged by the gods themselves.
"Hello, Sorcerer, your reputation precedes you on Olympus, but I can't say that I am impressed by you at all. You call yourself, Sorcerer Supreme, and yet you can't even escape my paradise, how disappointing. How do you expect to stop me from stirring up a little conflict in the Middle East that involve little pig children being slain, if you can't even save your own self?"
Matthew's blood was now at boiling point, he didn't know what to do with himself after feeling this much rage inside himself. Ares grinned at the scowl that he was being given by the sorcerer, his detest for him was exactly what he wanted from the magic user, it was integral to his plan. Matthew's face was slowly turning red as the rage within him grew exponentially, his subtle emotions were becoming more and more apparent by the second. His normally stoic visage was quickly being replaced with a stern expression that had his flaming eyes burrowing into the skull of the god of war. "How Dare you!", Matthew said through the telepathic link. Ares saw that he had finally gotten to the so called "Sorcerer Supreme". Ares saw that the next step of his plan was coming together nicely. If he kept up his current nature, his goal would be all but guaranteed by the end of it. However, Warrior Angle could sense how Mister Surreal was feeling and was not as eager as Ares was.
"Ares is trying to manipulate your emotions, I can sense his attempts to control you through them. Please, resist him."
Warrior Angle's soft voice was able to break him out of the mode blind rage, his mind was beginning to reach the amount of clarity that it normally had. Matthew brought his hand to hers while it was still on his shoulder, "Thank you", he said as she smiled back at him. For some reason, when he looked into Warrior Angle's eyes it was almost as if he was looking into the eyes of his dear Brenna. But he quickly shook the thought as he assured himself that she was the only one that he had eyes for. However, he was still thankful that he was among a group of people who were willing to look out for one another as well as they had thus far. It was almost as if this group of people was destined to meet here as they faced Ares side by side.
"Those weapons are made from the same material keeping us in our cell. Stands to reason they must have been forged by the so called gods."
Apex's deductive abilities had once again amazed the group with her advanced logical reasoning, especially Mister Surreal who was impressed with her abilities. "Excellent deduction.", Mister Surreal said telepathically. It was a good thing that they could actually be defeated, as demonstrated by her when she sent a spear flying straight through the skull of one of the first skeletal soldiers to attack the group. If those warriors were truly unbeatable, it would only be a matter of time before they overwhelmed the group of heroes, resulting in the death of every last one of them. Fortunately, that was not the case. Superion gave orders of what tactics the group would be using to deal with this new threat. Zephyr would distract Scorpio while the others would battle the skeletal army. Mister Surreal took his position with the other heroes as the skeletal army had just made their assault against the group of heroes. Even though Matthew had felt that he was ready for this next battle, the lingering presence of Ares still filled his thoughts.
@mister_surreal: @shield-maiden:
Apex did not forget Helena’s situation since she is focusing on more immediate problems. Helena did not know these heroes, but each one will be willing to do whatever it takes to help her seek the answers as to what Ares did to her and free her from whatever it is that threatens her life. But that is a problem for later.
In the meantime, Warrior Angel knows that the moment she decided to help Mr. Surreal, then she would become a target. Her instincts have proven correct as she feels Ares communicate with her in her head and trying to stir up her anger. ~I never claimed to be an Amazon, I cannot control what people have chosen to call me, Ares.~
As Ares tries to manipulate her emotions, to anger her, she has to grit her teeth and fight the horde of skeletons even harder so that she won’t let her defenses slip, ~I never pretended to be her, if I had, I would have called myself Diana and not Warrior Angel. Your attempts to control me through my rage will not succeed, Ares. Especially since I have Diana’s memories and it’s through her, I know how to resist you.~
As Warrior Angel keeps trying to resist the rising anger, she does not elaborate on why or how Diana once resisted Ares. She let’s him wonder, to let it gnaw at him in the back of his mind. ~I am an empath, Ares, I know how to control my emotions. You WILL not control me through them.~
But then Warrior Angel begins to feel Ares expand his angry aura all over the battle field and she feels anger well up inside of her, threatening to boil over, but she barely manages to keep it in check and follow Helena’s advice. Apex is used to a heightened sense of anger because of her berserker rage that she sometimes feels so she is able to keep her rage in check as well, perhaps better than most. The Blue Ghost practices mental calming techniques in order to help her deal with Ares’ attempt to control her through rage. Green Sentinel is nearly overcome with rage since he is human, and perhaps the most vulnerable, but when Helena gives her advice, Hal finds the will to focus his rage on the enemy. Thunderstorm is used to dealing with the rage of hurricanes and wild storms. But even she has a hard time dealing with the newfound rage inside of her, but she manages. No matter how fast she runs, Zephyr cannot outrun her rage that is suddenly inside of her. She nearly begins to attack her friends, but Helena’s words break through just in time and she turns her rage on her enemy. Superion is nearly overcome by the rage, but thanks to the recent death of his father, he’s had to deal with a lot of rage lately. He focuses on that to help him deal with this newfound rage, even if he wants to slap Helena down for daring to give him and his friends orders as if she’s the queen of the universe! All the heroes are feeling rage, with some barely controlling it. The right push in the right direction and any one of them can go off.
Before being hit by the wave of anger, Zephyr keeps dodging every attempt from Scorpius, even taunting it with laughs and giggles, “Missed me” She says as it attempts to hit her with it’s stinger, “Missed me again!” She giggles, blowing it a kiss.
As Scorpius tries again and again to hit Zephyr, she purposefully dodges at the last second just to taunt it further, “Almost got me that time, just a little faster and maybe you’ll get me!” She laughs, having a great time. Then when it tries to hit her again, she dodges at the last second, “Missed me, missed me, now you gotta--” She stops herself before she can finish and crinkles up her nose, “Ew, no, I do NOT want you to kiss me!”
By the time the wave of anger hits Zephyr, Scorpius had changed it’s strategy. If it wasn’t for Helena’s advice, Zephyr might of began to attack the warrior for daring to intrude on her business in dealing with the giant monster! But instead, she runs along the sides of the arena, like she did against the Centaur, but faster this time. As she builds up the speed, her teammates begin to attack the legs when Helena gives her the warning Scorpius will adapt. So, Superion gives the order to attack the giant monster, ~Go for the legs, then attack it’s head but be careful of it’s stinger!~ Superion says through the telepathic link.
~WE KNOW!~ Hal angerly snarls in responds.
Then, all at once, the heroes attack. The Blue Ghost tries to hit some of the legs with devastating telekinetic force. Apex tries to chop off some of it’s legs at their thinnest point with her claws. Green Sentinel creates a construct of several Star Wars Jedi with lightsabers in his attempt to cut off a leg or two. Superion tries to use his sword to hack off some legs with superspeed. Thunderstorm throws her hammer with such force that her hammer tries to poke some devastating holes in a leg or two before trying to hit the same legs with bursts of lightning. Warrior Angel tries to chop off it’s pincers so the monster cannot use them in self defense.
Should the heroes attempts work, then Zephyr has finally built up the speed she needs and is now running almost as fast as light itself before focusing all her rage and anger into one devastating punch that will feel like being hit by a dwarf star. She tries to hit Scorpius in the head with the power she packs into that punch, hoping she succeeded. If she succeeds, then she hopes she manages to either kill it or leave Scorpius weakened enough to be finished by the rest of the heroes.
@sarah_and_lara: @shield-maiden:
Matthew could feel the rage in his heart quickly coming back up to the surface, it was like a fire that was being reignited at an unnatural rate. His years of meditation taught him to keep his emotions in check, but all of that mediation seemed to be failing him now. While he was able to think in a clear fashion for a few moments, all hope of rational thinking was running out by the second. He tried to think straightly, but simply wasn't able to achieve such a task, all he could truly think about was how much anger and malice that he felt. He then began to feel a burning sensation in his skull, one that was beyond mere anger.
He eyed Warrior Angle who herself was slowly but surely succumbing to the rage as well. He glared at her disdain as his thoughts became cloudy and emotions surely with each passing moment. "That girl had the gall to even touch me, as if I were some child in need of guidance.", he said as he directed his burning thoughts onto her. He then stopped for a brief second and thought about how he was feeling, he realized how irrational his behavior was and was able to calm himself for a few moments. But burning feeling in his head returned with even more vigor that it initially came with. And with it also came back the feelings of anger that he had tried so hard to fight off.
He put his hand to his head in great pain as he went on to feel this sensation begin to take over the very nature of how he was thinking. He looked around and saw that everyone else in the arena was also becoming more aggressive and unstable than they previously were. He looked up and saw the sadistic expression that was highlighting Ares' face as he looked down at what was coming over each of the heroes, but it was something more than that. Mister Surreal could naturally feel the aura that was being put around the members of the group, to the extent that he could even begin to see aura itself. It was jagged and gnarly, connecting everyone that was affected by it. "What? But how am I able to see this? I haven't-GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!", he screamed as he got down onto his knees.
He had his hands glued to his forehead now, the recurring pain that he felt was now stronger than ever before. He got down onto the ground as he continued to scream in pure agony as the pain worsened. It had now become so unbearable that he had tears streaming down his face. "Help me! I ca-AAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I can't take the-GAHH! Pain!', he said in both anger and hope that someone would come to help him. He managed to look around and saw that all of the other heroes were now fighting were now fighting Scorpius without him, not even noticing that he wasn't there with the rest of them. He cried out for their help a few more times, but they were all so focused on defeating their current opponent that they didn't even recognize his screams for help. Even if they did hear him, they would likely be indifferent to how he was feeling.
He didn't even know that they were given orders to fight the creature, he was far to wrapped up in his own thoughts to hear what was happening around him. He was in so much pain that he had now completely fallen to the ground, standing in of itself was difficult for him to do. He lay there in the dust, consumed by his own anger and pain, laying their like a helpless animal that would be victim to any predator that happened to come by. That was in many ways what would be the case for the magic user in this case. Ares was sitting on his throne as he watched the heroes battle Scorpius with all of the might that they had. He also looked at the sorcerer in the corner who was away from them on the ground as he was seizing and shaking with pain that was as stroke above inhuman. The side of Ares' mouth curled with glee as he watched the Mister Surreal spasm and shake like a broken toy.
Matthew's thoughts were now in a state of which he could no longer make sense. But at that moment, as he lay there feeling that torturous sensation in his head, he heard a familiar voice. "It's been a long time since I've been here, but it was only a matter of time before you brought me back.", said the voice as to Matthew. The feeling in his head then dissipated in an instant, along with Mister Surreal's normal thought process being restored. "No, you can't be.", Mister Surreal said in disbelief. "Oh, but I am. And it is time that make things how they should be.", the voice said as it began its work again. In that moment, the feeling returned but was now strengthened to levels that were truly beyond what humans should even be able to feel. Matthew shouted even louder than before as his forehead was being ripped open from the inside. It only got worse as an eye slowly formed on his forehead as it squeezed through the whole that it made.
Mister Surreal collapsed as his mind had gone blank and his senses were now gone. He lay there for a few moments before rising up from where his face had been in the sandy pit that he was still in. His normal facial expression which was calm and plain was now twisted into a malevolent look that could only been seen in someone's worst nightmares. His eyes were orange, his lips contorted and the eye in his head now fully grown. Any remnant of his true personality has been completely erased by the transformation that Ares wanted to happen, that Ares MADE happen. The only thing that come from this rearrangement of character were the ill-intentioned words of the being peering through hole is his forehead:
"This is going to be fun."
@shield-maiden: @mister_surreal:
"Yes, mother." Hal says in a frustrated tone, creating green glowing constructs of very thick chains as he attempts to hold down Scorpius. His first instinct was to tell Helena off and don't tell him what to do. But controlling his anger is about willpower and if anything, Hal is very good with willpower. So, he focuses on doing all he can to keep Scorpius down.
Superion looks at Thunderstorm, speaking through the telepathic link, ~Slice it open, maybe that will kill it!~
Thunderstorm nods, swinging her hammer in circles before she throws it and latches on to it's leather thong and letting it carry her as high as it can before she dives back down towards Scorpius. With her hammer in her right hand and a sword dropped by a skeletal warrior in her left, she slams right into the belly of Scorpius. The Master of Thunder and Lightning slices away, Scorpius screeching like mad, and Thunderstorm keeps slicing until the screeching stops.
Warrior Angel watches Mr. Surreal make a startling change as she half listens what Ares boasts in her mind. She nearly loses her tight control of her anger, but she closes her eyes for a brief second before opening them again. She calms herself, seeking the control she feels is gradually slipping away.
Now that Scorpius is taken care of, Superion commands them all to focus on knocking some sense into Mr. Surreal, but then the Man of Steel looks at Helena, "Can you please do something about that angry aura Ares is producing?" Helena might be able to tell that Superion is barely holding it together since he is vulnerable to magic.
Warrior Angel launches herself at Mr. Surreal, trying to slam her shield into him like battering ram, "Mr. Surreal, get a hold of yourself! This isn't you!"
Superion tries using his freeze breath to encase Mr. Surreal into an ice cube, but only from the neck down. The Blue Ghost tries to assault Mr. Surreal's mind with images of peace and calm, in an attempt to calm his mind. Apex throws a flash bang grenade in order to attempt to blind the Sorcerer. Green Sentinel creates a construct of a boxer to slam a fist in Mr. Surreal's face. Zephyr tries to give Mr. Surreal a few dozen punches at super-speed, faster than the human eye can follow, choosing to hold back instead of unleashing her full power upon him. If Mr. Surreal is knocked down at any point, then Thunderstorm tries to lay her hammer on his chest in an attempt to keep him there and immobilized since her hammer has a worthiness enchantment on it and he might not be worthy to lift it.
@shield-maiden: @warrior_angel:
Mister Surreal's body had now become completely taken over by this demonic entity who craved the power that he held, undoubtedly apart of what Ares had planned right from the beginning. The entity slowly rose from the ground as it began laughing in a twisted manner that could only mean the most sinister of intentions. Ares was watching this process the entire time, waiting for his true weapon of mass destruction to come as a product of what he had been doing to all of these heroes. He knew that all of his actions would lead to this in the end, one way or another, his sorcerer would be corrupted and overtaken by the influence of the God of War. "Hello, Sorcerer. Why don't you show these heroes, why they call you, Sorcerer Supreme.", Ares said Whispered into the ear of the mage as he go to his feat. "Withpleasure.", he said as he began to make his move.
The other heroes had now dealt with Scorpius, but they would need to fight against this new threat. "I think I'll take the big one first.", said the entity he slowly went to Superion. However, before he could launch any sort of attack, it was quickly intercepted by a hero that had lunged at him. Warrior Angle had come out of nowhere and hit him like a truck going at 100 miles per hour. He tried to fight back at her, but her physical strength was far too great for him to have a chance of overcoming. She repeatedly bashed him in the face and chest in an attempt to call him out of this state of mind. "Mr. Surreal, get a hold of yourself! This isn't you!", she said as he repeated this assault. While he wasn't able best her on a physical level, he was able to best her on a magical one! He demonstrated as much by holding her with his telekinesis and launching her off him as few meters away. "Foolish girl, your friend is gone.", it said as it rose up.
Superion quickly flew over to the entity and used his frost breath to hold him in place and freeze him from the neck down. "RELEASE ME!", it screamed as Superion had finished his work. It struggled to for a couple of of moments, but quickly realized that it couldn't brake out of its icy prison. Before it could go on to cast a spell that would free it from its imprisonment, it mind was filled with images that were meant to calm Mister Surreal, courtesy of Blue Ghost herself. "Do you think that these disgusting images are going to do anything to me?!", it said as it refused the attack on its mind. It then began sending counter images into Blue Ghost's mind as a way to incapacitate her and take her out of the battle. It was taking affect on Blue Ghost as shown by her clutching her head in pain, but this was quickly interrupted when Apex launched several flash bang grenades at him as a way of blinding him.
"MY EYE!", The entity screamed in pain as the blinding light immediately took affect on the it, much to the satisfaction of Apex. As this was happening, Green Sentinel created a construct of a boxer and gave Mister Surreal a few swift hits across the face to keep him stunned. Between punches, a red blur sped by and increased the effectiveness of this assault had by giving a few punches of her own. This caused Mister Surreal to spit out a large amount of blood after the first couple of hits that she had given him. The pure amount of force that each hero was unleashing on the being was enough to break him out his frosty confinements and throw him right back onto the sand. It was at this point that Thunderstorm would seemingly finish off the attack by resting her hammer on his chest, only those who are worthy would be able to lift it.
The heroes all stepped back to see what had happened to him. With the eye that appeared Mister Surreal's head closed, they believed that they had saved their friend. But after a couple of seconds, the eye reopened and burned more brightly than it ever had. "ENOUGH!!!", screamed the entity through Mister Surreal's mouth. The affect was a massive blast of demonic power going over the heroes like a bomb that had been set off. Everyone, even Superion, was off their feet after this attack. "Don't you see? Your powers are nothing compared to mine. Your friend is a mere gateway into this world, a way of looking through the key hole. But with this body, I can bring some of my power into this realm. By the time that I'm finished, I will have every ounce of my true power in this universe", It then used its telepathy to command Thunderstorm to lift the hammer off of Mister Surreal's chest, resulting in it levitated back up to its feet.
The creature then floated up into the air and put a force-field around itself where it could safely preform spells away from the heroes. Superion was the first to get up, he flew up to Mister Surreal and punched the force-field, only to be sent flying back. Mister Surreal fired and energy bolt at the group, but missed due to Zephyr speeding everyone away at the very last second. Superion fired a blast of heat vision at the shield, Mister Surreal raised his hand in direction of the attack to strengthen the side that was being brunt. While this happened, Green Sentinel created a jet and fired three missiles at the shield, but they were destroyed with a destructive spell from Mister Surreal. He then tossed Green Sentinel to the side of the arena with a hand gesture, which caused him to be knocked out as soon as he hit the wall face first. Apex could only stand by and give out orders of how the team should attack.
"Sweet dreams!", the being cackled as it mocked Green Sentinel for his failed attack. Blue Ghost was still trying to distract Mister Surreal through the use of telepathic images, Apex and Warrior Angle was standing next to her as to make sure that she stayed safe. Superion and Thunderstorm were still trying break the shield with their range attacks, bu the shield repaired itself faster than the could damage it. Warrior Angle leaped up, and with all of her might she stabbed down on the shield. The result was her sword making a very small puncture on the top of it. "Impossible?!", said the being as it was shocked with this attack. At this time, all Zephyr could do was run around in circles thinking of something that he she could do, but it was when Apex saw that the shield could be broken through that she got an idea. She called over Thunderstorm and Zephyr to explain her plan.
As all the other heroes attacked, Mister Surreal casted all sorts of spells. He paralyzed Warrior Angle, he trapped Blue Ghost within her own mind and began to burn Superion alive. He didn't bother with Apex because she was just a "powerless mortal". But Apex then told Zephyr and Thunderstorm to begin their combined attack that she believed could turn the tied in this fight. Zephyr grabbed Thunderstorm by the legs and began to run around the arena and in order to build up as much speed as possible. Zephyr then ran the side of the arena as she was reached half the speed of light. Mister Surreal attempted to disintegrate the wall, But Zephyr was agile enough to stand on all of the stable sections. In annoyance, Mister Surreal looked at Apex and picked her up using his telepathy. "Apex, your bothering me.", he said as he began to tear her apart.
Her friends were forced to ignore the screams as they were getting closer and closer to the speed of light. Mister Surreal grinned sadistically as Apex's eyes began to role to the back of her skull. Right as Thunderstorm and Zephyr were about to crack the speed of light. In one final breath, Apex told them to launch the attack. And with that, Zephyr released Thunderstorm as she flew at the barrier. Thunderstorm drew as much lighting as she could into the hammer, before throwing at the shield protecting Mister Surreal with all her might. With an unfathomable force and energy and that the hammer carried, it came down on the shield and shattered it with a ball of electricity crackling in all directions over the arena. This caused Mister Surreal to drop Apex as he himself was sent flying back. Thunderstorm and Zephyr collapsed due to how exhausted they were.
Mister Surreal looked was knocked out cold by this attack, luckily he wasn't actually hit by the hammer, or there wouldn't be anything left to be knocked out. While the heroes rose to see if their friend was okay, he himself quickly rose up with his eyes literally on fire. "IS THAT THE BEST THAT YOU CAN DO?!", he said as he went into the air once again. All of the heroes were out of power and out of ideas, their only hope that was left was Helena turning off the aura.
@mister_surreal: @shield-maiden:
As a any runner will tell you, it's possible for someone to gain a second wind and to become energized enough to keep going. Superion and his friends get their second wind and are ready to keep dealing with Mr. Surreal. They have faced bigger threats than him and beaten them. He cannot stand against their combined might for long even as powerful as he happens to be. Superion and his friends have a habit of holding back and so they didn't want to kill the Sorcerer. Unfortunately, that meant that Mr. Surreal proved tougher to take down as he has successfully withstood their attacks. But Superion knows the possessed Sorcerer couldn't keep it up forever.
"Who do you think you are?! You think just because you are in charge of this little band of warriors you can hand my strategy to someone else?! I was going to slay the creature myself, which is why I told the green warrior to use his sorcery to entrap the mighty beast in the first place!"
Superion's eyes blaze red with barely contained fury as Helena screams at him, questioning his orders. As he speeds his way right in front of her in the span of an eyeblink, hands clenched at his sides, he is about to rip her a new one when Helena suddenly says,
"Superion, I-I did not mean those foul words, forgive me."
Superion folds his massive arms across his chest, giving her a look that speaks volumes: Don't let it happen again,he tells her with the sheer amount of rage written all over his handsome face. His expression is such that there is simply no arguing with him and if one does, then the expression on his face let's that person know, in this case Helena, that he is definitely implying 'or else'. But that was thanks to Ares' angry aura and not what Superion truly feels.
"Stay strong, Heracles. We need you in this fight." Her tone was worrisome, but she managed to give him a warm smile before moving quickly toward the center of the arena.
The gentle smile and kind encouragement manages to shred away some of the anger from Superion as his expression softens. Why Helena called him Heracles, he doesn't know. Perhaps Superion reminds her of him. Either way, Superion regains enough sense to regret giving her such an angry look.
As the angry aura increased, Apex cannot take it anymore. Not a moment after she rises to her feet, she flies into a berserker rage and unsheathes her claws. Her first target, Mr. Surreal. Screaming with unholy fury, she lunges herself at him, slashing at his force field with nearly unbreakable claws with a speed that no human eye can follow as she tries desperately. Superion also cannot take it anymore wither as he is overcome with rage. As he flies over to Mr. Surreal's force field and begins unleashing mountain shattering punches upon it, his fists moving so fast that they break the sound barrier. In the span of seconds, he's already unleashed thousands of blows as he attempts to shatter Mr. Surreal's defenses. Hal Knight follows suit with his own uncontained fury, using his ring to launch missile after missile on Mr. Surreal's force field.
Warrior Angel, Thunderstorm, Blue Ghost and Zephyr look up at their friends attacking Mr. Surreal anew. But around this time, the angry aura weakens thanks to Helena's efforts. Able to think more clearly now, Warrior Angel speaks through the telepathic link, ~STOP! Physical force is not enough to stop him! Maybe eventually, but I know of a better way. Blue Ghost, I'll need your help with this. I have a plan. The rest of you, I need you to distract him.~
So, Thunderstorm flies up in front of Mr. Surreal as the rest of the heroes stop attacking and the Master of Thunder and Lightning smiles kindly at him, "Your not Mr. Surreal, you have possessed him. To whom am I speaking with?"
Superion hears Ares rage at Helena, but keeps watching Thunderstorm do her thing. As she does, hopefully garnering a response from the possessed Mr. Surreal, Warrior Angel comes up from behind the Sorcerer, hopefully unnoticed. With the Blue Ghost's help, Warrior Angel uses her power of Empathy to try and establish a connection with Mr. Surreal. Should this work, Warrior Angel looks at Green Sentinel, who has calmed down enough to listen to reason, ~Add your will to mine, in fact, everyone lay your hands on Green Sentinel and on me. Our combined will can help me do what is necessary.~
With everyone but Helena's will added to what Warrior Angel is attempting to do, she tries to speak into Mr. Surreal's mind, ~Remember who you are. This is your body, you must fight this possession. Ares aura is weakened and you must fight this, Mr. Surreal. Our strength is added to yours, combined we can beat this monster who has possessed you and banish him back to where he came. Mr. SURREAL! REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND FIGHT!~ Warrior Angel has managed to calm Mr. Surreal down with her power before. Now that her power is being amplified, she is hoping she can do so again and bring Mr. Surreal back from wherever it is that he's been banished to.
Hopefully, this tactic works and if it does then it's just in the nick of time as the next wave of enemies hit. And not a moment too soon either since Apex is still lost in her rage, being held back only by restrains made from Green Sentinel's power ring. Now he throws her at the nearest Cyclops and where Apex unleashes her fury upon him by taking out his single eye and the monster screams in agony. The giant's eye heals and regrows before it retaliates and the two enter into an epic battle.
As the rest of the Cyclops enter the fray, Superion notices they have the same powers as as his friends. Superion takes on the one that seems to have his powers and his friends all do the same. Superion thinks of something, ~Just because they have our powers doesn't mean they have our experience, use that against them.~ He says through the telepathic link, ~And if they possess our weaknesses, use that against them too even if you have to switch opponents.~
It is a sound strategy and Superion and his friends enter the fray with renewed energy and a new sense of determination. Should the Cyclops possess the same weaknesses as our heroes, then Green Sentinel uses his ring to re-create Chrysonite to beat the one who has copied Superion's powers, the Blue Ghost uses her telepathy to disrupt the Cyclops thoughts who has copied Green Sentinel's powers. Unable to form a coherent thought means the Cyclops cannot use his powers and the Blue Ghost KO's the giant with a single uppercut. With their numbers dwindling, it's only a matter of time before the others are taken down as well. That leaves only two left: The Cyclops who has copied Mr. Surreal's powers and the one who has copied Helena's powers.
Meanwhile, the Cyclops that has the same powers as Mr. Surreal, should the Sorcerer be free of possession, comes after him, using powerful magical energy to try and defeat him.
The Cyclops that has copied Helena's powers comes at her with sword and shield, trying to land a killing blow upon the young heroine.
(OOC: Feel free to control the Cyclops who have copied your guys powers).
@shield-maiden: @superion_prime:
The being flew into the air once again as it prepared to unleash yet another devastating attack on the heroes, its power being decreased only in the smallest capacity. "Did you truly believe that you could defeat me so easily?! Your abilities are inconsequential to mine!", it shouted without giving so much as an amused smirk as it had before. The creature didn't even give off a smirk of condescension as it scorned the group's efforts to defeat it. It had now run out of patience with the heroes as far as dealing with their attacks had gone. However, before it had the chance to make the first attack, it saw an infuriated Apex launching at it. It quickly raised its arms in a defensive position before the blades had the chance to make their mark by burrowing deeply into his flesh. "I see that the mortal has come to reclaim their place in the group, such an attempt will sadly fall short.", said the creature as it repelled Apex's numerous slashes with nothing but a few hand gestures. Superion then flew at the creature and began a barrage of punches that were likely faster than any machine gun that had ever been fired. This did notable damage to the force-field, but wasn't great enough to break through it.
"This is pathetic, your deaths will be swift.", said the creature as it fired back at the two superheroes who were viscously attacking his defence. As this went on, the sound of the air being ripped apart could be heard by both entire battlefield and the stadium. The sound was soon followed by an explosion that had covered a large portion of the shield held up by being controlling Mister Surreal in a blaze of green fire. The creature was surprised by this attack and was momentarily stunned by how sudden this next wave of threat had come. It was however able to get over the feeling and mange to swat away a large number of the attacks sent by Green Sentinel. The attacks wouldn't stop though, as shown by the number of missiles that would keep on falling down the shield as more progress was being made to set destroy it. But all of these attacks proved to be meaningless in the end, with all of the damage that she been done to the shield being reversed and even less damage being brought to the being who controlled Mister Surreal. However, a more effective strategy was being formulated.
After a noticeable amount of time, Thunderstorm flew up and went directly in front of the being that controlled Mister Surreal as it raised its arms, ready fend off an attack. She asked if he was possessed and who the being in front of her actually was, the answer being one that she certainly did want to have receive. "My name the Voljhim, The Scourge. And it is an honor for you to be acquainted.", it said as it bowed in a theatrical manner. "Your friend is not so much being possessed but is having who he truly is revealed for all of you to see. And the appearance must not be quite as pleasing as you had hoped it to be." Yet another cruel expression had emerged and found its way on the face of the being, almost as if to make Thunderstorm herself angry. Fortunately, the next step of the plan was being enacted at the time that this exchange between Thunderstorm and Voljhim was taking place. Warrior Angle made a mental connection to Mister Surreal in an attempt to bring him back to being in control of his body, making this a very difficult mission to accomplish.
Mister Surreal could here the voice of Warrior Angle calling for him in the depths of his mind. "Warrior Angle, is that you?", he said as he heard her voice bounce around the abyss that he was stranded in. Once he got conformation that she was in fact who she stated he was, he listened to her instructions to the best of his abilities. Even though he was in a greatly weakened state, he could still muster enough energy to do as he was instructed. He joined his will power of everyone else so that they could muster as much power as possible. "What are you doing?!", shouted Voljhim as it made a failed attempt to break the connection among the group of heroes. "Getting my body back!", said Mister Surreal to Voljhim. In one final blow, the group launched their will power through each other and in turn into Mister Surreal. Voljhim was sent out of his mind promptly, only to return to the dimension that it had come from, followed by the eye leaving and the hole in the mage's head gone as well. Mister Surreal who had now returned to his body and was exhausted from the whole ordeal, which lead to him falling down in a collapsed state.
After he regained a good amount of strength, he got up and went to his allies. "I am so sorry for all of the trouble that I have caused, this was not the intention that I had in mind. This was my fault." The sorcerer had a face that disclosed the shame that he felt in every sense, but a prolonged conversation would have to wait. A group of cyclopses had now entered arena, just as menacingly as any of the opponents that the group had met before. It was also revealed that during this time that these cyclopses also had the abilities of one respective member of the group. Which would be something that should have be investigated later in order to discern more information about how this worked. Superion gave the strategy of what to do to each member of the group, which had them agree to his orders and them understand what they were going to do. They were battling opponents who mimicked their abilities, but they knew how to defeat them. All they had to do was play on the weaknesses of the enemy that they were fighting. Seeing as how these heroes knew their own capabilities and weakness thoroughly, this was something that they had an advantage in.
Mister Surreal would be battling another magic user with powers that defied logic and reality itself, but this opponent was in no way and omnipotent. Not only that, but the mortality that this opponent had would also work in the favour of Mister Surreal. The very first thing he did when his enemy came towards him was transport them to different dimension. This dimension existed in the same physical space as the battlefield but was not able to interact with it, so they were still in the arena. The sand could be seen and audience could still he heard. The other combatants were facing their own enemies at this time and had no idea where Mister Surreal had disappeared to with his. The cyclops started the battle by firing a later blast of magical energy to immobilize Mister Surreal, but wouldn't be able to defeat him that easily. Mister Surreal was able to deflect the attack and follow it with his own. The air around the cyclops would condense, making it hard to breathe. But it put up a shield that would allow it live survive under the conditions for a limited amount of time. This was what Mister Surreal was hoping for.
The cyclops rose into the air and fired a beam ofenergy, one that would turn anything that it came into contact with into concrete. Mister Surreal held the beam back and curled it backwards as a way repelling the ability back onto the person who had sent it. This had the cyclops stop and change the form of attack, but Mister Surreal was was already making an assault with another attack of his own. Several portals opened up around the cyclops, all of them being ones that Mister Surreal had sustained. The sorcerer the fired dozens of mystical bolts through the portals as the cyclops defended itself. The number of bolts blast as that were coming at it were to much to handle, so it left its safety of the shield and launched itself at Mister Surreal. It's fist was covered with a cloud of pure mystical energy that would vaporize its enemy with ease, only to have Mister Surreal dodge this attack before any attempt to respond to it could be made. Mister Surreal then tripped the cyclops with some magical strings as it quickly made its way up to regain a proper position in this battle between them. The creature fell with little coordination and was enraged at the entire matter having happened in the first place.
It attempted to defeat its enemy by having the ground beneath it open up and sink Mister Surreal in its depths. But the attack was quickly made useless by the fact that Mister Surreal could easily propel himself upwards and away from any sort of danger. He hovered in the sky as he threw down a series of mystical weapons at the lumbering cyclops, but was deflected by yet another shield created by the enemy. At this time, Mister Surreal would see that the cyclops was quickly becoming tired by the battle that was taking place. It them decided to throw the shields as a weapon and hit the opposing mage. Mister Surreal then spread his hands and shattered the shield on impact, but at the same time feeling the pain of the impact as he clenched his jaw to deal with the force the attack. He twisted arms and began to sink the cyclops into the ground, encasing it in the environment in a way that would take a large amount of soffit in order to get out of. The cyclops went to confuse Mister Surreal creating a vibrational effect the in environment that would function the same way that great heat would work on air molecules.
This however would not work on Mister Surreal who soften this effect and cause it wither away as he cleared the air with a quick wave of his hands, clearing the air with great effect. He then went down and set a new bunch of attacks onto the cyclops. He crafted pads of mystical energy and set out numerous kicks and punches with swifts bursts of power. The cyclops was having great trouble in this case, the intensity of the attacks was more than enough for Mister Surreal to finish off his opponent in a way that would make sure that it would not be able to enter battle again. The cyclops could barely move, it was drained of too much energy to stop Mister Surreal from
attacking, proving that his plan had worked. Mister Surreal had attacked it in such a way that it used enormous amounts of energy to counter those attacks. Mister Surreal then used this state to give more attacks that would wear down the cyclops and lead it to being helpless to threat of that would needed to fend off against. Mister Surreal raised his hand again and made his final attack. After creating the proper spell, he sent his enemy crashing into the previous dimension with everyone else.
Mister Surreal stepped forward and looked around the battlefield, hoping that his allies had defeated their enemies.
@superion_prime: @shield-maiden:
Mister Surreal looked around the battlefield just moments after defeating his own cyclops counterpart and launching him into ground, hoping that his friends had managed to defeat their own enemies. He looked around only to realize that the battle was far from over, with the other cyclopes still attacking the heroes. "I need to do something.", he thought as he mind turned to finding a way to deal with the immediate matter at hand. He thought of joining the other heroes in their skirmish with their enemies, but realized that there was likely another way to deal with these enemies rather than facing them head on into battle. Attacking them would likely make little difference due to Ares always having another plan in order to give the heroes even more trouble. As Matthew kept thinking, he quickly felt a large force bash against his face at extraordinarily speed, causing him to fall to the ground as a searing pain began to set in. Mouth filled with sand as his vision became blurry and disoriented along with the rest of his senses.
It was very difficult for him to go through this experience so soon after have his mind imprisoned and his body taken over. The amount of the pain the had felt in his head after the entire event was realizing itself once again, no doubt because of the massive impact that he felt after without even seeing what it was that hit him. He lay in the dirt as blood slowly poured from his nose and stained the dirt, the sun beating down on his head as the battle raged on without him. "I must find a different way.", was all that his mind could manage to muster with the immense amount of disorientation that he was feeling after the most recent assault on his physical being. He lay there for a good couple of seconds before getting of to his knees and raising himself so that he was now standing. He began to wipe the sand off of his face with his hand waving gently on his own cheek in an effort to clean himself, but was met with the help of his cloak that as it wiped the blood stains from his nose before it became to difficult for it to be removed. "Thank you.", he said as his cloak finished wiping off what was left of the residue off of his face.
He flew into the air as he scanned the area beneath him, wondering if there was something that he could do from that height to help the other heroes as they went up against their enemies. While he initially planned intervene when he saw that any of them in particular were having trouble overcoming the current threat, he thought of a different way of helping the people down there and ending the conflict. His eyes turned to the God of War who was still stitching on his throne that allowed him to oversee the battle from the top of the colosseum, his face looking no less amused by the events of the battle than they did when this entire situation set into motion in the beginning. Matthew knew that this was his only chance to be able to make s true difference in the fight against the monsters that they were dealing with, it was this or fighting a battle that would only end with heroes somehow escaping the grasp of Ares, or them falling victim to the battle that they were being forced to fight in. If he floated there idly by as all these heroes were facing their own opponents, then he would be no more useful than if he was still in that different dimension. "I hope this works.", he thought to himself as he floated up to Ares.
Matthew was no stranger to negotiating with powerful beings of sinister nature, it was after all apart of his job to to settle disputes that any beings of supernatural had between Earth or anyone who was concerned with it. But Ares would be the most one of the most difficult enemies that he would have to deal with in his entire carrier, not only because of the fact that he was a Greek god who felt that he was entitled to do whatever pleased him, but also because of the fact that this was the god of war who was that he was talking to. Ares was undeniably one of the most stubborn gods in all of the Greek pantheon, which was a true testament to how incredibly headstrong he was due to having siblings like his younger brother Zeus, someone who was greatly flawed in his own right. He was also extremely sadistic and short tempered in nature, which was a trait that was only expected of someone in his position power as well as the domain that he ruled over. Mister Surreal floated up to the god of war as his cloak trailed behind him in the breeze, his displayed a looked of great seriousness as they were matched by Ares who countered his look by giving the sorcerer an unconcerned look of apathy. "I would like to have a word with you.", the sorcerer said as he stared down the deity.
Ares didn't seem to be particularly interested with whatever the sorcerer has to say, he seemed to be far more mentally engaged with the "glorious" battle that raged on beneath the two with each passing moment. "I need to speak with you.", Mister Surreal demanded as he he stood his ground without any hint of fear on his eyes, confidence was an important thing for him to have to if he wanted to gain any amount of success with the god of war and his agenda. Ares's eyes lazily rolled over to the sorcerer's as he kept his hands pointed together in an upside down "v" shape, the lack of interest in what the mage had to say was made even more evident with glazed and mildly irritated look that he had in his eyes. "I want to negotiate a way to settle our problem without any violence being pursued further.", Mister Surreal said as he kept his brow lowered and his eyes darted ahead of himself. Ares on the other hand didn't show that he took the matter as seriously as sorcerer did, if he did take the matter seriously in any measure that was. Ares looked back at the sorcerer with a somewhat passive look in his eyes that expressed how little he cared about the issues that the magic user wanted to resolve, but he decided to humor the sorcerer just for the sake of hearing what he had to say. "What is it that you want.", he asked.
"All I want is for you to let these heroes go free.", Mister Surreal said as he began to make his case. "You don't need to continue your current plan.", he continued. Ares' eyes had now gone from as passive look to one that has now been awakened by an infuriating presence that was all to familiar to the heroes, with them having suffered due to the amount of rage that he felt on a regular bases. Ares had now his eyes burn with a blaze of anger as his eyes stared back at the sorcerer, his face further helping displaying an unamused look of fury with the sides of his mouth curling downwards with a look of anguish. "I have grown so very tired of you urchins coming to me with your pathetic bargains, as if I would be one to take interest in your diplomacy.", the god of war said as his words were now seeping with hatred. "But even if a were interested, what could you possibly give me.", he asked as he glared at the magic user. Mister Surreal was now looking at a very infuriated Ares who was in no mood to be dealing with any nonsense that the sorcerer could throw his way, or at least anything that he would perceive as being nonsense. Mister Surreal knew that he would be making an enormous sacrifice with major implications of he carried on, but made his case none the less. "If you let them, go I will become your slave.", he said with a solemn tone of voice.
Ares' eyes cooled and his brow was now raised after hearing the offer made by the a avid user. "I'm listening.", he said he sat up with intrigue.
Upon being surrounded, Superion and his friends begin to get ready for the next round, but then Helena proposes a plan. That's when Superion chides himself for not thinking of it earlier, but he compliments her on such a genius idea, ~Good thinking, Helena. Let's try that.~
Superion's commanding voice cracks the air, more than loud enough for Ares to hear it, "ENOUGH! THIS ENDS NOW!"
Superion crosses his arms, smiling at Ares. The first step in getting under his skin, "The last time we fought, Ares, you lost. But now, like a brazen coward, you hide behind others to do your dirty work." Superion speaks loudly enough for the crowd to hear this as well and since they are already filled with rage, Superion hopes to turn that rage against Ares by painting the God of War as a coward in the eyes of his own followers.
Superion keeps speaking, keeps smiling. He even crosses his mighty arms over his chest, "Your afraid of us, Ares. Afraid to lose because you know we can beat you. So why don't you come down from that high position and kill us yourself?" Now Superion twists the symbolic knife he has thrust into Ares by using pride against him, "Wouldn't it be far more satisfying to kill us yourself? To prove to all you are superior?"
Superion smirks, then gives a bit of a chuckle. His friends follow suit and snicker themselves. All part of the plan to wound Ares' pride and enrage him to the point of challenging them himself. "Oh, I forgot. Your a coward. Cowards don't do the fighting, they let others do the fighting FOR them while boasting they are the better man. Your nothing to me, Ares. Your nothing more than a spoiled brat with the maturity level of a 5 year old and your not worth my time."
Superion purposefully turns his back, almost as if to ignore the God of War. Another step to enrage him and get him to fight them himself. Superion's friends do the same, turning their backs too. But Superion keeps one eye over his shoulder and his super senses on Ares in case he tries anything. His friends are on alert as well.
@mister_surreal: @shield-maiden:
Ignoring Ares' temper tantrum, Superion is glad Mr. Surreal and everyone else plays along. But once Ares shows up on the battlefield, that is when Superion and his friends turn to face him. With the sun setting behind the Man of Steel's back, his eyes burn with red hot anger. But unlike Ares, Superion keeps his anger under the finest control. One slip and they all could be in danger. One hand on his hip while the other hanged loosed down his side but clenched in a fist. A slight gust of wind makes Superion's cape flow majestically to the side. But the image on Superion's face is one of determination. There is no fear there. In fact, Superion has faced gods before and he's beaten them both on his own and with his friends to help him. But unlike most, he makes no boasts of his achievements. He chooses instead to let history make the boasts for him.
"Our best course of action is to overwhelm him with enough force while keeping our distance if that is possible," She told the team through the telepathic link. "If we provoke him to anger and deceive him into thinking we are afraid to physically strike him, he will grow over-confident and reckless, giving us the advantage to incapacitate him."
Superion replies through the telepathic link, ~Let's do it!~
No jokes from Zephyr, no strategic advice from Apex, no other comments from the others as they all, in their own way, prepare for a fight.
The Blue Ghost feels a tinge of fear but she's faced Ares before so she swallows it down. Apex unsheathes those deadly claws, teeth baring like some wild animal and showing no fear at all. Green Sentinel's jaw clenches in determination as he readies his willpower. Out of them all, Hal is the most human and the one who is more afraid than anyone there with the exception of Warrior Angel. However, Hal is very good at hiding it. Part of the reason why he wears that ring is the ability to overcome great fear and he's doing that now by facing Ares and not backing down. Thunderstorm can feel her hammer hum with electricity, almost as if a storm is about to come down upon them all but held back by unseen hands. Warrior Angel prepares her sword and shield, getting ready for battle. The child inside of her screams in fear, begging her to run. She doesn't want to face Ares again. But Warrior Angel swallows down the fear because she has the power of an Amazon and strength enough to help her friends to win. Zephyr's eyes sparkle with speed force lightning as she readies herself to fight the one being that has made her more afraid than even her own father.
Like the titans of myth who are about to shake the very Earth beneath their feet with the sheer might of their battle, Superion and his friends are about ready to attack Ares when something unexpected happens.
"ENOUGH"
An rather beautiful looking owl lands in the middle of them, preventing the heroes and Ares from meeting in combat. The owl morphed into an armored glad woman. Superion and his friends take one look at her and immediately they see the resemblance between her and Helena. Apex keeps her thoughts to herself, So, I was right. Helena is a demigod.
"No. I do this to preserve the fate of Olympus and humanity." Athena replied as she calmly placed her spear on one side of the cutout circle from the shield. "Bah! These heroes will not be the savior of the Olympus. That girl will bring the destruction of--"
At this, Apex has to narrow her eyes. She doesn't believe in prophesies or oracles, but Athena and Ares definitely know something they don't. Athena would not intervene if it wasn't vitally important and she knows enough about Greek Mythology to know that the so called gods of ancient Greece rarely took a hand in human affairs. At least in modern times anyway. But Ares seemingly hatching another scheme doesn't bode well for Apex's friends, but a problem for later.
Superion watches Ares disappear in a puff of smoke reminiscent of a mushroom cloud. "We'll be waiting Ares." He says, knowing that the god of war will be good on his promise. Ares may be childish, easy to anger, but he always keeps his word. Well, most of the time.
Now that the danger, for the moment is passed, Superion dares to approach Athena, the goddess of wisdom but also the goddess of war. Approaching as far as he dares to, he inclines his head in a very respectful way but he doesn't bow, he doesn't worship. Respect, however, he does give her because Athena is the goddess of wisdom. No doubt that she already knows Superion is not a believer, he doesn't worship her, has never said a prayer in her name. But he still shows her respect for a woman of her position and rank. Superion hopes that is enough to please her. "Am I to understand you are Athena? Thank you, Athena, for your intervention. No doubt you are aware of who we are already. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Apex says nothing, choosing instead to let Superion handle this. The Blue Ghost does the same as Apex, as does Green Sentinel, Thunderstorm and Zephyr. Oddly, Warrior Angel feels the Amazon inside of her almost bow before Athena. But instead, like Superion, she bows her head in respect and puts away her sword and shield. She keeps her head bowed, too timid to even look upon Athena unless commanded to do so.
Superion glances at the shocked Helena and smiles inwardly at his next thought before he looks back at Athena, "Your daughter, Helena, was a great help to us. She was the perfect Shield-Maiden."
In Scandinavian folklore and mythology, a Shield-Maiden was a female warrior. In Superion's mind, the name fit Helena perfectly. But what does Athena think of the name? Or perhaps Helena herself?
@superion_prime: @shield-maiden:
(OOC: Sorry that it's so short.)
Ares' temper had finally gotten the best of him, like a volcano that had been waiting for centuries, it now had festered to the point where it would erupt and destroy everything in its path. His eyes grew red with rage and hatred, they were practical smoldering with the amount of anger that the God of War had built up over the period of time that he had dealt with the heroes. As he made himself ready to die battle with the warriors of the arena, everyone else seemed to be getting ready for the fight of their lives. Mister Surreal in particular was preparing himself for a battle that would require him to pull all of the stops in order to give their attacker a real challenge. He clenched his fists as he stared up at the god in a solemn and focused state of mind. He knew that whatever came next would certainly not be pleasant. He listened to Helena's strategy with great attention as he explained her plan of attack on Ares, after what she had shown she was capable of doing, no one else seemed to be a better candidate to lead the group in this upcoming battle. "I'm right behind you. You just say the word.", he said to Helena as he waited for orders.
It was when Ares cried out for them to finally begin the battle that Mister Surreal activated the first of many spells that he intended to cast upon him, but all of the heroes were stopped by a booming voice before any of them could launch their attack. A beautiful owl was seen gliding down gracefully to the arena as all of them looked up to see what is was. After a few moments, it began changing shape and took the form of a humanoid woman, someone that Mister Surreal felt as if he had seen before, somewhere. She had beautiful crystal blue eyes, dark brown hair and a face that looked like it was carved by angles. Her armor was well crafted and seemed to be made from some of the most talented blacksmiths that he heard of, but that could mean only one thing. He then heard Helens refer to her as being her mother, it all became clear to the sorcerer who she was, Athena the Goddess of Wisdom. He looked back at Helena and immediately saw the resemblance that Athena's daughter held towards her mother, it was as if he was looking at a slightly younger version of Athena herself.
Athena's attention was on Ares, who returned said attention by making flaming remarks that demonstrated how spiteful he was to all those around him, including his siblings. The magic user watched with great intrigue and fascination as the two gods engaged in a verbal battle, never skipping a beat on the types of arguments that they would hurl at the other. It became heated to the point where Athena had even gotten Ares to leave near the end of their dispute, an act that Mister Surreal did not foresee taking place at any point. But the piece of information that Mister Surreal focused on the most were the supposed "plans" that Athena stated Ares had in store for their father Zeus. While that was definitely a question that he should try to find the answer to, he figured that it would be for the best that he didn't go digging for it, at least not for now. He turned back to the discussion among heroes and Athena, only to find that it was Superion who was leading conversation. When Superion was finished, Mister Surreal found it only fitting that he took part in the in the conversation as well. "Her being you daughter makes a lot of sense, it tells me where she gets her exceptional abilities from. I thank both you and your daughter for what you have done.", he said in all earnesty.
@shield-maiden: @superion_prime:
Mister Surreal was quite thankful that Athena had arrived to aid the heroes as soon as she had. If she had not gotten there in time, there could quite possibly have been much fewer heroes in the arena at this moment who were still in the land of the living. Fortunately, Ares' wrath and malice was countered by Athena's divine wisdom and calculation, something that Matthew was profoundly fond of after the events that had transpired that day.
He waited patiently as Athena and Helena talked over the terms of their relationship, going back and forth in a heated conversation that reminded him of the one that Athena had with Ares only minutes ago. While the conversation had peaked the interest of the mage, Mister Surreal wanted to respect the privacy of the two and was sure not to let himself get tempted to ease drop on what they were saying. He simply kept his head down as the mother and daughter exchanged words.
Once they had finished speaking, Athena turned back to the group and called over Superion, Thunderstorm and Mister Surreal himself so that she could have a private conversation with them. As he walked over to her, Matthew wondered what Athena wanted to talk about about, as well as what the reason why it was those three heroes in that she decided to speak to. Even though he was almost sure to get the answers that he sought shortly, his mind was still a buzz trying figure it out.
Athena took the three aside so that they could speak in private about the affairs that she needed to disclose to them. "If I may ask, why is it that you have called us?", the sorcerer asked in his normally polite and respectful tone of voice. "The reason why I have called you here alone is so that I could speak of matters that greatly concern youthree.", Athena said with a sense of urgency in her voice.
She spoke to each of them about the roles that they would play in the prophecy and how they were all vital to the safety of Helena. After informing Superion and Thunderstorm of their specific positions, she turned to Mister Surreal to give inform him of her. "My daughter is at this very moment in grave danger, for spiteful eyes look upon her as we speak. The Norse Gods have aimed their anger towards her and crave nothing but her complete annihilation. I need you, Sorcerer Supreme, to protect her from that anger.
Mister Surreal was shocked when he heard this, it was almost too much for him believe, if that were still possible that was. Nothing seemed to phase him anymore, but this was something that actually had the ability to take him by surprise. "But...Why me?", Matthew asked earnestly. "You are the appointed protector of the nine realms, are you not? It is your duty to help maintain the balance and peace within these worldsand the beings that inhabit them. Helena is being targeted by Gods of the Greek and Norse Pantheons, so it is your responsibility to be there to protect and guide her when I cannot."
Matthew looked down for a moment, thinking deeply about all that he had just heard flow from Athena's voice and into his ears. He was used to have great responsibility on his shoulders as the Sorcerer Supreme, but this somehow felt even greater than what he was used to. Protecting a demigod from the gods that are partly responsible existence was one of the most important duties that he had ever received, as well as one of the greatest burdens.
"I am more than honored, my goddesses. What is my first step to protecting Helena.", he said with a noble tone of voice. "Helena is currently plagued by a powerful disease that could prove to be fatal. I would remove it myself, but these parasite, these worms, they are imbued with powerful magic and you are the only sorcerer that I have access to who can remove them." said Athena with a serious tone of voice.
Mister Surreal glanced at Helena at the corner of his eye, she seemed to be perfectly healthy, but many people with sicknesses often did. He closed his eyes and began focusing all of his attention onto the worms that were currently eating away at Helena's insides. Athena was not joking, the worms were full of a powerful magic that could only be removed by a master magic user. He struggled to use the medical spell that he was accustomed to as he tried to kill off the creatures.
As he went on, he felt that he was slowly making progress as he fiddled and contorted his fingers in every way that he knew how. Until, with one final blow the worms began dying out into nothing but dead skin. It was now matter that Helena's body would break down and consume them, like any sort of food product. Mister Surreal's brow had once again been filled with sweat as his head began pounding once again with a familiar beat that he felt before.
"I am finished.", Mister Surreal said as he wiped his forehead in angst. "I thank you. Ares has tried to take my daughter from me by using sickness and disease, but you have saved her. And for that, I am in your debt, sorcerer.", Athena said as she bowed her head momentarily. The magic that Mister Surreal was facing off of against was not by just any normal magic user, in fact, he didn't even believe that they were mortal. "Loki...", he thought to himself as he frowned.
"However, while I could not cure Helena of her disease, one form of magic that I can affect is the one that keeps you here." In that moment, Athena's eyes began to subtly glow, almost as if she were casting a spell of her own. After a few moments, Mister Surreal could feel every bit of power that flowed through his veins once again, his space-time magic in particular. "Now, you are free to return home.", Athena said with almost motherly compassion in her voice.
The "heroes three" joined the rest of the group and prepared to make their leave. "Stay strong and do not give up hope, my warriors, days of greater struggle are rapidly approaching. Find strength in yourselves and in each other. And never forget...", Athena looked at Helena. "...I will be watching over you." And with that, Athena turned into the beautiful owl that she had first arrived as and took to the skies.
Mister Surreal created a portal and offered to take all of his fellow heroes to their desired locations. As they filed through the portal to wherever it was that they wanted to go, Mister Surreal couldn't help but reflect on all that Athena has said. All he could do was wonder what was about to come next.
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