Over_kill

@theflashfire: I'm sorry about the wait, was a little busier than I thought. Made a post from mobile at work, hope this works out.

In the vast army of hell, the aspiring Horseman who now identifies himself as Herocide was simply a soldier demon. Nothing special, as far as demons go, but he had one specialty. For some unknown reason, he could 'smell' a sentient being's morality. An ability that made him particularly good at hunting and killing good natured Angels and other would be enemies of Satan spawn.

Even still, he was not the most powerful demon in the ranks, and ended up on the wrong side of a few banishing spells and exorcisms. It drew the unforgiving humor of his superiors, but it also created within him a deep hatred for any do-gooder's that he came across. He spent most of his time on earth killing any good natured soul while they slept as to not leave things up to a test of strength.

This time, it was different. He happened to stumble into the body of earth's mightiest mortal. A titanic powerhouse able to lay waste to possibly anything before him. But of course, it was in the middle of a fight against a hero. Worse, a hero who smelled of brimstone and darkness. It made Herocide sick. Regardless of the back story, this blasphemous demonic presence was a traitor to his own kind. Demons often did deals that would undermine one another, but helping a blue? Unacceptable.

The traitor was leveled by Herocide's hellfire infused rocket. As the smoke cleared, the Hero-hating Heretic grinned while watching Flash Fire's missing flesh begin to regrow around his bones. But, in the same moment that the hero disappeared, Herocide felt an incredible pain in his right elbow which was followed by an explosion. The energy released by the explosion was absorbed by his vessel's abilities, making the demon feel stronger. The wound in his elbow began to heal, another basic demon ability.

Herocide tried to catch a glimpse of his attacker. The fraction of a second that the Guardian of California stopped to change direction was barely enough to allow the vengeful demon a chance to see that he was armed with some kind of sword. A quick look at his elbow revealed that the armor was missing where Flash Fire nearly removed his arm.

A second slash without warning, this time to his left knee, again, followed by a small explosion. Herocide fell to the ground and roared loudly as his leg was hanging by nearly an inch of muscle. As it also began healing, the demon used his vessel's knowledge of energy to guess that his blade had something to do with antimatter due to the fact that anything it touches explodes and subsequently is destroyed.

Quick thinking on the demon's part, he coated his armor in the fusion of Overkill's energy and hellfire just before the next strike connected. As antimatter reacts with matter, and energy is not matter, the concussive power lying in Peter's energy was enough to repel the blade before it made contact with his armor. Herocide had enough time to grin in satisfaction before the next sword attack followed. A more direct attack, the blade was only slowed down enough to make the deep slash into a glancing blow to the infraglium armor. Another explosion, but the blade didn't connect with skin.

As Herocide regained his balance, he knew that this defense would not hold out forever. He needed to counter. His opponent's main strength was his speed. He moved faster than anything that Herocide had even heard of. He could clearly fly, but at the moment, he was running along the ground. So, the hero killer would have to time his attack perfectly.

Another sword attack was the trigger, this one cutting deeper than the last and tearing skin from his chest. If Herocide thought correctly, he would now be able to perfectly time his counter. He raised his right arm over his head as high as he could, likely timed with Flash Fire's pivot before turning for another pass at the demon. The hero's bane then brought his fist down as hard as he could, energy coursing through his muscles, aiming to hit the ground just before the speedster made contact.

The impact was immense, cracking the earth and causing a tremor. The idea was to hit hard enough to actually move the ground downward. A speedster moving fast in a straight line and being so close to the epicenter, would cause them to lose their footing and tumble forward until their momentum stopped them. Whenever you fight a speedster, make it so they can't run, even if it means removing the very earth from their feet.

When his opponent would tumble uncontrollably, Herocide would teleport into the air above where the hero finally stops. He would then release a large blast of energy downward at his opponent. The impact would likely cause a lot of damage. The next attack would be Herocide dropping out of the sky and slamming both his fists into Flash Fire's lower torso. This attack would be focusing on attempting to incapacitate the hero's legs, taking away his ability to run.

Now, in a dominant position, the demon would begin what he thinks will be his final assault. His first swing with his left hand would try to knock the sword from the hero's grip. Next, three punches to either side of Jaired's head, each accented by a roaring taunt. "FILTHY! HERO! SCUM!" Lastly, Herocide would stand up and try to stomp down on Flash Fire's face or head, literally attempting to grind the hero trash into the dirt. The ground beneath them would quake from the force as the destructive demon roared loudly in the hero's face.

Most would not survive this onslaught, and those who did would likely flee in terror. It was time for Flash Fire to show his true colors.

@hank_huntington: @theflashfire@_ebonyzephyr_

COVEN BASE: LOCATION UNKNOWN...

A dark room, lit only by computer monitors. Many features obscured by the shadows, but some are made known. A young man, known by the surname O'Reily. A light complexion, covered by thick rimmed glasses. Messy hair, and a dress shirt were illuminated by the screen before him. He was an analyst for the Coven. A brain behind the secret operation, and today, 'jockey' for Project Overkill. His job was to monitor Peter, assist his systems when asked, and in some cases, would be needed to override certain decisions that Overkill makes. Like, for example, breaking free of mind control.

Behind him, at a large mahogany desk, revealed by it's own separate monitor, sat Alianette, Lord Coven. She sat turned away from her computer, the light shining on the side of her fierce features. She twirled a pen out of boredom, using the force to levitate it a few inches above her palm. She wanted to oversee the tournament personally. After all, this was an extremely huge event.

"Has the battle begun?" She spoke, not making any gestures or glances in O'Reily's direction. He leaned closer to his computer and cleared his throat.

"Yes, Lord Coven. He's currently searching for his target and uploading everything we have on this 'Flash Fire' character." O'Reily continued typing commands into the program that linked Peter's suit to the Coven database. A small blip appeared on the screen and he raised an eyebrow. "Correction, he's found his target."

Alianette decided to turn toward her screen. Now things were interesting. A graph to the left side of her screen suddenly spiked off of the scale before falling down again with several smaller spikes following it. She tilted her head slightly. "What's this graph to the left reading again?"

"Physical trauma. Whenever the suit takes a hit, it's registered in the system for future analysis." O'Reily nodded.

Ali widened her eyes slightly. "That was an impressive attack then."

O'Reily shrugged. "He's been hit hard before. It's an occupational hazard. He's programmed to know how to recover and retaliate." As he finished his sentence, another blip appeared, this time saying 'WEAPONS SYSTEMS: ENGAGED.'

Ali nodded slowly. "Are you worried about the outcome of this battle? You've jockeyed for the Coven's Shield more than anyone else, you know what he's capable of."

O'Reily drank some of his coffee as he supervised the screen, now registering a critical damage from Project Overkill's minigun. "He's never failed before. So much is thrown at him and he just levels it and flies away. It's kind of... Hang on a sec..."

At that moment, a warning flashed on the computer screen. It told both members of the Coven that the Black-metal Brawler had been attacked by fire and an undefined element. Ali read the warning carefully. "What does this mean?"

"I-I'm not sure. If he was attacked with fire, he should've just absorbed it. What's going...?" More warnings, now informing them of physical, and mental damage. Then, a larger warning, this one reading 'WARNING: MENTAL SUPPRESSION COMPROMISED'

Alianette looked shocked. She decided to use a less technological solution for deciphering what was wrong. She turned from her computer and closed her eyes, beginning to meditate. O'Reily, on the other hand, opened more programs to try and analyse the attack that Overkill was suffering from. The analysis appeared to him in binary code, thousands of zeros and ones scrolled by on the screen. As he tried to read them, something terrifying happened.

00100000101110000010000001000000010100000000100001000111001110010100011000100100100100010010010000000111110010100010010111111111001101110110111111111111111111111111001001001010001100101001001001001010000000000000001010010001110101010100100101010666066606660666066606660666066606660666066606660666066606660666066606660666066606660...

"Oh my God..." O'Reily read the omen before him and his face drained of color. Suddenly, Aliannette opened her eyes and gasped, at the same time as both monitors exploded. O'Reily backed away from his desk as fast as he could and stood up. "Jesus Christ!"

"No..." Ali shook her head slowly. "This had nothing to do with Jesus..."

FIGHTING HELLFIRE WITH HELLFIRE...

Overkill had begun his onslaught on the speedster known as Flash Fire. A barrage of energy blasts peppered the area that Jaired had been standing, but of course, he was took quick to let any of them meet their mark. As Peter passed over his location, the young hero did something unexpected. He began running on air.

-EVASIVE MANEUVERS-

The tactical prompt advised the Black Knight of the Coven to dodge. Without question, he barrel rolled to his left, changing Jaired's sword attack trajectory from his upper torso to just over his right shoulder. This spared him a deadly blow, but it caused Flash Fire's blade to meet with his minigun. The antimatter coating the blade met with infraglium and destroyed it on the atomic level. The resulting explosion threw Peter from his flight path, cartwheeling through the air. As he attempted to recover, a blast of fire came his way.

This was part of the plan. Let the hero spend some energy in attacking while Peter absorbed it and fired it right back at him. Overkill allowed his body to be fully engulfed by the flames and his body and his suit began to absorb the energy. But, immediately, the Black-metal Brawler felt something strange. He did not know that this was hellfire, a magical flame that targets the body and the soul. Peter's body absorbs energy, and the energy is normally converted into his own energy, which is his life force and some might say, his soul. Hellfire practically begs to be absorbed by him.

But, this was wrong. Fire did not burn him when it touched him. But this hellfire... It made his head feel like it was going to explode. The magical and demonic properties of hellfire were mixing with his life force and changing his physiology. His armor began to shift, having the demonic energies flowing through it now as well, his body changed, becoming a more sinister stature and growing small horns and claws. His eyes glowed with both his violent red energy, and the burning light of hellfire as a battle waged in his mind...

THE MIND OF PETER MATTHEWS...

A large dark room, the walls made of black metal, all surrounding a familiar egg-shaped cell made of the same metal. It was an exact replica of the containment cell that Peter was kept in while the Coven harvested energy from him. In front of it stood Peter Matthews, clad in the regular garb of a Coven soldier. Light armor, medals across the left breast, boots shined to perfection. This was the Peter that the Coven wanted in control. The real Peter was still in that cell, trapped for the foreseeable future.

A third figure appeared. A tall warrior, clad in demon armor and wielding a large claymore. His eyes had a fiery glow to them as he walked up to Coven Peter.

"I must say... This is the most unusual way for a possession to take place. Just filling a body with hellfire until a demon can't help but hop inside? Gutsy." The demon stabbed his blade into the ground and crossed his arms.

"You're not welcome here." Coven Peter lifted his hand and unleashed a large blast of energy at the demon, but it disappeared before he could make contact. Peter turned to find the demon standing by the cell, placing his hand on it and inhaling deeply through his nose.

"Hm... So this is the real homeowner here, huh?" The demon sniffed the air again before shaking his head as if smelling something he disliked. "He reeks of good intentions and a pure heart... Disgusting..." The demon turned and shrugged at Coven Peter. "I think I like him there as well."

"Who are you?" Peter looked at him strangely. The demon scratched it's chin, as if deciding on who it was.

"You must be a soldier. You smell like you've done terrible things, but not for yourself. You're just following orders. Like mint. Like you're trying not to smell bad... But no one can cover that stench, my friend." The demon smiled and chuckled quietly.

"I'm not you're friend, now what are you doing here?" Coven Peter raised his hand again.

The demon looked at him, right in his eyes. "I'm here looking for a promotion. You know... Something ranking around... I don't know... A Horseman?" The demon grabbed Peter's hand and squeezed, breaking every bone inside of it. Peter cried out in pain and fell to his knees. "And with this meat suit, I could take all four of them on. Have a seat, boy. I'll take it from here..."

NOW...

After the transformation was completed, the mechanical demon slowly lifted his head, his back turned towards the Guardian of California. His armor had changed, his wrist mounted machine guns growing larger, his shoulder mounted rocket launcher still functional, and his suit's overall form looking more toned and defined. The demon inhaled deeply through it's nose.

"Ah.... I smell... Hero..." The Demonic Titan slowly turned to look upon his enemy, then he nodded. "Who is this? ...Oh, Flash Fire? Is that what this... Overkill guy said? Ha! Flash Fire, Overkill. I forgot. Everyone up here needs a super cool nickname to brag about." The demon laughed a little and shook his head. "Well then, thank you for waiting. For tonight's episode, the part of Overkill will be played by... Wait for it... Herocide."

The demon chose it's name from the Latin term of the mass killing of heroes. A fitting moniker, he thought. "Now... On with the show!"

Herocide was now a demon possessing the body of Peter Matthews, who was wearing a powerful mech suit. Now, Flash Fire would be fighting a demon, wrapped in a superhuman, wrapped in an advanced suit of armor. Herocide decided that he would try to surprise the hero. A common demon ability, Herocide was able to teleport behind Jaired, keeping his distance. Once in position, he would fire one of his rockets. The cracked infraglium shell would fly through the air and explode upon impact, releasing hellfire and red energy in a large explosion. The game has been changed, for now. Will the Guardian of California be the first victim of the demonic herocide?

-_-

That is MY job!

Btw, posted.

-LOADING FILE: JAIRED MCSTORM-

-ALIAS: FLASHFIRE-

-SUMMARY: RICH AND POWERFUL PARENTS, SPEEDSTER, PYROKINESIS, DEMON FORM-

The words appeared on Overkill's HUD, showing him all the information that the Coven had on his opponent. The Coven probably knew more about Mr. McStorm than he would want anyone to know. Peter read the file as he walked through the crowds of the theme park, his facial recognition software running, scanning all the people around him, looking for his enemy.

-WARNING: POWERFUL ENERGY SURGE-

The Black-metal Brawler raised an eyebrow as he turned to where his HUD was pointing out a random energy surge. He saw before him a tall young man, a dark red aura around him, wearing an orange cloak, white hair, and piercing red eyes. Overkill assumed that Flashfire decided to use his demon form. A bold statement.

-ANALYZING ENERGY SIGNA-- ERROR-

Peter knew that his systems would not be able to process their analysis fast enough. The speedster hit Overkill with a powerful punch before Peter had decided to prepare for it. Flashfire had planned a barrage, but he may have over-estimated his strength as the first punch sent the Black Knight of the Coven flying backwards through several buildings, innocent bystanders, until ultimately burying him in a nearby hill.

Fortunately, infraglium is a wonderful metal. Normally extremely brittle, once the metal has a chance to absorb Peter's energy, the energy fills in the gaps between atoms and makes it a truly solid object and nearly indestructible. The armor took the brunt of the damage, after all, the Coven aren't slouches when it comes to making tools of war. However, it is just a shell, and Peter bounced around inside that shell like a super ball. While the event was fairly painful for him, the Coven's training taught him to ignore pain and keep fighting.

The Titan of Power shook his head a few times, shaking some rubble off of his helmet. After he stood, he leapt to the air and engaged his flight system, heading back towards the park.

-TARGET LOCKED: INITIATING COUNTER ATTACK-

The Shield of the Coven had a plan in place for the Guardian of California. He would play the range game, using his air superiority to control the fight. Overkill flew over Flashfire's location, machine guns and minigun firing in full force and raining energy blasts all over the area. If Jaired were to counter attack now, it would likely be in the form of a fire attack. This would be advantageous for Peter, who could easily absorb the fire and become stronger. A tactic that he would not advise his opponent to try and steal, as Peter's energy could not be contained in Jaired's body.

Anyone who knows anything about tactics knows that you can't just pepper a speedster with machine gun fire, they're too quick for that. But, Overkill was a lot smarter than that. He had a plan. 'Brain before brawn.' It was his deadliest attribute. His plans would come to fruition. There was always a weakness...

haha, thanks. I'm always nervous about using other peoples characters in posts. I always feel like they're gunna be like "they would never do that..."

FIRST!!!

Earlier...

In an undisclosed location, secret to everyone accept those who are allowed to be there. Abandoned for the recent past, now footsteps echo in the halls, dust circulating through the now disturbed air. A pair of individuals could be seen making their way toward an elevator door. A man and a woman. The man was not attention worthy in the slightest, a plain suit and tie, plain hair, plain everything. The most vanilla human being you could imagine, and he looked terrified.

She, on the other hand, was very unique. An average height woman, sporting dark robes. She had a strange aura about her. Her dark red hair cascading down her shoulders and back. And her eyes. Her piercing orange eyes.

"L-l-lord Coven... I-I have some, uh... R-r-reservations about this plan." The man spoke to her and she made no indications to any interest in what he was saying. The elevator doors opened automatically, and they stepped inside. The doors closing behind them, then the elevator began moving without anyone touching a single button, like it knew it's own purpose. And that purpose was in the basement.

The man was alarmed. "I-if this facility was abandoned... Why is the-the p-power still on?"

The tiniest smirk formed on her face as she spoke softly. "Because... He couldn't let the power go out... Even if he wanted to."

The door opened after reaching the desired floor and they both stepped out, the floor was dark, a small computer screen lighting a desk in the distance. "Y-yes... He... H-how do we know that, uh... He-he... Will be agreeable after all this time?" The man gulped afterwards, as if he knew that this man he was talking about was a force of nature.

"He has been active, on and off, for quite some time now. After taking the Coven, I was able to use him for concentrated strikes on basically anything I needed or wanted out of my way." They reached the desk and she began typing on the computer.

"I've been able to give him targets remotely, but this is a bigger task. I wanted to give him this mission in person." She pressed another button, and a glass box became illuminated in front of them. In the center of the cell was a large black-metal figure, with a basic humanoid shape. Arms, legs, of course. Small dark slits in the face that were made to represent eyes. Large cables were connected to this suit, leading to the walls. Alianette and her underling both knew that this giant metal suit had a powerful man inside of it.

Another key was pressed, and a door opened up, Ali smiled and made her way to the door. The man chose not to follow her. She entered the cell and stood directly in front of the man. "Project Overkill?" And with those two words, the eyes lit up, a bright red. The man outside the cell fell backward to the floor from fright. Ali remained unchanged. The man's head slowly rose to look her in the face. A deep voice echoed inside the suit.

"Awaiting orders... Lord Coven." Ali approached the Black Knight of the Coven, leaning down to meet his gaze.

"There's a reason you're not dead. I expect you to continue to live up to those standards." A testament to the man's ability to level anything she pointed him at. Overkill slowly stood, the cables falling from his armor to the floor. He stood at least a foot taller than Alianette, and looked down to her, emotionless.

"... Awaiting orders." The closest to a cocky comeback that he was allowed to muster. Ali smiled bigger.

"There's a dying star that I need you to retrive..."

NOW

The tournament had many quirks about how things were done. The man formerly known as Peter Matthews didn't care for those quirks. A man who calls himself Phillip Ziev had been trying to entertain an emotional robot. Overkill's facial recognition was telling him that he was the son of the former President, however, the man standing before him was definitely not the person his files were telling him he was. The final judgement was a dimension hopping version of our universe's Phillip Ziev and one that was far more charismatic.

"You're gunna love the arena that has been picked for you, I think it'll appeal to your inner child." Ziev smiled at the Titan of power, who made a simple reply.

"Awaiting target." Ziev's smiled faded and he cleared his throat.

"I don't like it when people don't laugh at my jokes. Just for that, I'll bet on the Flash Fire." Phillip smiled and opened a portal that Overkill was meant to walk through. The Black Knight began walking toward the portal, but stopped and turned back at the last moment, looking at Ziev.

"Chosen prediction of gambling outcome, unwise. Advising a reconsideration." And with that, he turned and stepped through the portal. Phillip chuckled softly.

"I guess that hunk of junk actually has a sense of humor. Hm..."

On the other side of the portal, the Titan of Power was presented with a setting that was rather unfamiliar to him. He knew of the basement facility that he was kept in and the various military and commercial targets that the Coven gave him. Now... He was in Disney World.

His systems scanned the area, hundreds of tourists littered the streets, some of them in costumes of various characters. His facial recognition didn't recognize anyone around him. These people weren't real. Not that the Shield of the Coven would feel remorse anyway. He began making his way around the park, looking for his opponent. It was simple. Overkill stood out like a sore thumb, his opponent could easily find him.

People took pictures of him, children thought he was part of the show. It didn't matter... They would all be ash soon.

"Computer, load all information that the Coven has on the individual known as the Flash Fire..."

@shootout: