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Tales of the Legendary/Riot Force 6.1: Sending a Message (Updated somewhat)
Tales of the Legendary/Riot Force 6.1: Sending a Message (Updated somewhat)
#1
"Look at you all! Mere sheep, following through the motions of your lives, because you know nothing else!" It was a sadly familiar sight in Steel
Canyon. A Vortex Adjutant and a squad of Nebulas standing on a street corner, harassing those that passed by with the propaganda of the council, insults, and
even outright threats. The modern day version of a press gang. The fact that an organization born from the Nazis and the second world war could openly walk the
streets of Paragon City was depressing, yet all too common in a world still healing from the Rikti Invasion.

People didn't look at the Council soldiers as they walked past as fast as possible without drawing attention. While mere cannon fodder by the standards of
the Council, the Nebulas were still deadly to the everyday citizen. With so few police officers left in Paragon City, it was safer to keep your head down and
not get noticed. After all, what if they decided you'd make a good addition to the Council and there wasn't a hero nearby?

The Adjutant stepped off his box suddenly, marching towards a slightly overweight man in his late twenties. "You are exactly the kind of failure I speak
of," the Council solder said, voice nearly dripping with disgust. "You have wasted your life. Your body has been neglected, mistreated. Now it slowly
rots away, just like your mind," he said as the man backed up, visibly terrified by the Nazi, but at the same time, drawn in by the sheer force of his
words.

"It is not your fault. It is the fault of a society that teaches the lesson that 'close enough is good enough.' They tell you not to try, not to
find your limits. Just sit back, watch television, and buy things that make you feel better." The disgust seemed to fade as he placed a hand on the mans
shoulder. "I was the same way once, before the Council opened my eyes. They helped me to rediscover who I was meant to be. They could do it for you
also..."

"After the invasive surgery, mind-altering drugs and mental reprogramming," added a new voice. "Then you'll be all set for life as a Nazi
henchman, threatening people, shooting innocents, and generally being the scum of society."

The Adjutant scowled, turning, then paled at the sight of a trio of heroes standing there. Well, two heroes and what looked like a Lost Headman, mutated
features hidden in the hood of his jumper and a face mask. The voice had to belong to the man in green power armor, as it obviously didn't belong to the
fairy girl in rather decorative formal wear.

"Kill them!" the Adjutant ordered, grabbing his flamethrower and pulling it up. The trio scattered instantly as the Council squad moved to obey. As
he opened fire on the fairy, the squad leader identified two of them. Lady of the Peace and Sell-Sword, founding members of the somewhat new supergroup Riot
6.1. Against the 'children' he was leading, not good at all.

Lady jumped into the air, wings lifting her even higher as flames appeared around her hands. Smirking, she threw the flames like a baseball into the Nebulas,
scattering them across the street. One didn't have a chance to get up before Sell-Sword nailed him in the chest with a short burst.

Ignoring the seeming death of one of his men (The death of a mere Nebula was the Councils 'survival of the fittest' at work' ethic after all), the
Adjutant unhooked a grenade from his belt and tossed it at Sword. He leapt clear, but was stunned for a moment as he caught the very edge of the blast. The
Nazi smirked coldly, stepping forward, only to find himself lifting into the air, feet danging a foot off the ground as his whole body felt like it was being
held in a vice. Forcing his head to the side, he saw the 'Lost' standing back, a hand held out in front of him.

Seconds later, Lady dropped, fists glowing with arcane energy as she slammed them down on his head. The world seemed to explode for a moment, then spun as he
tried to get his bearings. "He's a durable one," Lady mused.

"Boss, move please," the 'Lost' said in a surprisingly normal voice. Lady stepped clear, then the Vortex saw a trash can pick itself up and
fly towards him at high speed.

Lady of the Peace winced as the Nazis body made a rather nasty sounding crunch at the impact, bouncing along the ground. "He's not getting up
soon," she said, pulling a teleport tag from out of nowhere and walking over to him.

"This one is," Sword noted as a Nebula tried to get up. Raising his rifle, he took aim.

"Sword, alive."

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"He's easier to question then Vortex boy."

"Good point," he agreed, walking over and punching the Council goon in the face. He dropped back to the ground, out cold.

As Lady secured the Council goons and teleported all but the one Nebula away, the 'Lost' walked over to the man the Vortex had been harassing. "My
apologies for that sir," he said, nodding his head respectfully. "A few minutes sooner, and you wouldn't have had to deal with their abuse."

"That's quite alright," he managed. "I... I thought you were a Lost at first," he admitted, embarrassed.

The giant chuckled. "Understandable," he said. "Sadly, there are very few clothing options for a man of my size. It's made for some..
interesting encounters." The friendly tone in his voice made the man smile, despite the situation.

As Sword walked up, he paused, looking at the armored hero. "Invasive surgery?" he asked.

"Oh yes," Sell-Sword replied. "They pump you full of combat drugs, tweak your DNA and thought patterns, and suject you to brainwashing until all
you can think of is serving the Council and their quest for world conquest and Fourth Reich." The man looked slightly horrified. "Scary, isn't
it?"

"...yes," he said after a moment. "Very. He made it sound so... appealing..."

"He's a fanatic that knows the right thing to say," Lady of the Peace said. "Blame everything on things outside your control and tell you he
could make it all better. He had a lot more stuff to feed you," she added. "Not your fault. He's trained to mess with peoples heads." The
man looked thoughtful as he thanked them again and went on his way. Lady watched him for a moment, then turned to Sell-Sword. "You know a bit about the
Council."

The armored hero nodded. "They gave me a job offer back before I got this gear," he admitted. "Had potential, then it fell apart when I took a
closer look. I'm a mercenary, not a fanatic. Turns out they don't do contractors." He glanced over at the giants snicker. "What's so
funny Horizon?"

Iridium Horizon shrugged. "Just love the fact you dislike villain groups based off their hiring practices," he commented, drawing a giggle from Lady.

"Whatever," he said, going over and picking up the one Nebula they hadn't teleported. "Lets get started on questioning this guy
already."

***

As the Nebula woke up, he realized a number of very important details in short order. One, he was upside down. Two, he was utterly naked. Three, he was
floating a few meters from the edge of one of Steel Canyons many skyscrapers, the ground far, far below him.

"Oh God..." he managed.

"Morning sunshine," said a cheerful voice. Looking at the rooftop, he saw Sell-sword and Iridium standing there, Sword looking through the Nazis
gear, Iridium reading a book as he held out a hand, obviously keeping the Nebula floating there. "You know, they really don't give you grunts much in
the way of decent stuff," he mused. "A glock ripoff they must make in one of their own factories, some armor..."

"Whatever you want, I'll never talk!" the Nebula said, voice rather squeaky.

"Right..." Sword said, sounding rather amused as the rooftop door opened and Lady of the Peace came out, having grabbed drinks from a vending machine
(With a straw for Sell-Sword). "Sorry it took so long, it's like this is the only building in the city without vending machines everywhere..."
she paused. "Did you have to strip him naked?"

The mercenary shrugged. "Best way to make sure he's not carrying hidden weapons. Why, distracted?" he teased.

"No, just noting that the rumors about the Council enforcing sterility among its troops must be true." Iridium snorted as Sword laughed, and the
Nebulas face went bright red.

"I haven't had any gene-treatments yet!" He paused, then processed what he said. "... Wait!" All three heroes cracked up laughing.
"That's not funny!"

"It's a little funny," Iridium said, chuckling. "But not really important."

"Here's how it is," Lady of the Peace said. "We ask questions, you answer them honestly. Lie to us or refuse to answer, and we drop
you."

"You wouldn't dare! You're heroes!" he protested.

"And you're a Nazi," Lady said. "And if we drop you, you'd be the first naked suicide in Steel Canyon since... help me out here..."

"That stock broker last year," Iridium replied casually, relaxing his grip and letting the Nebula drop slightly. The Nazi made a slight shriek.

"Okay okay okay!" he yelled.

Lady grinned and leaned forward. "Let's start with wherever your Archon is resting his head these days."

***

"Whatever this is Ellis, it better be good," Lt. Conner said as he stepped into the bases control center. The Sky Raiders resident intelligence
officer looked over his shoulder with a grin.

"Better then good Boss, gold. Just verified some info the Council sent us. Now hear me out," he said as the Porter gave him an unamused look.
"It's been verified. Remember that dustup the Legendary got in over at Chiron Medical about a few months back? First appearance of Lady of the
Peace?"

"Yeah, Space Mage said she was Knights sister. What about it?"

"Well, the Council realized something we didn't. Those wings and ears? They're not a magical transformation. She's got them full time."
That got Conners attention, as he leaned over Ellis' shoulder for a look at the screen. "Ifrit Barnes, got herself a decent apartment in Atlas, blah
blah blah... But, with her, we get..." he opened another window, revealing photos of a man in his mid twenties with orange-red hair. "Robert Barnes,
or as we know him..."

"Knight of the Peace," Conner said, smirking. He'd ended up with a broken arm and some time in the Zig before the Raiders had used an Arachnos
attack as a distraction for a breakout of their own, thanks to Knights patrols in Striga. "He's a tech hero," he mused. "It's all in his
armor."

"Yep. And one more little gift... The Council sent his address." Conner looked at him. "They raided the FBSA offices in the Canyon last week.
Guess they managed to get some info out."

Conner shook his head. "Too easy. Why would they give us that?"

"Because he's been pissing them off as well, but he's living right here in Faultline," Ellis grinned. Conner grinned as well. "Right on
our doorstep. Our people can get there a lot easier then the Council can."

"Nazi pricks are using us," the officer said. "But this time, I don't mind. Don't tell anyone else Ellis, I'm taking this to
Castillo." Ellis grinned, turning back to his workstation as Conner ran out.

***

Robert Barnes pulled his head out of the shower stream at sound of the doorbell. "Just a minute!" he yelled, spinning the taps and climbing out,
grabbing a towel. "Every single time lately," he grumbled, speed drying before wrapping the towel around his waist and heading out of the bathroom.
Reaching the front door, he checked through the spy hole, then smiled and opened the door. "Oh, it's you. Should have spent a little more time in the
water."

His younger sister grinned. "You waste enough of that anyway," Miranda said, stepping inside. The bodysuit she wore to contain her electrical powers
was mostly hidden under street clothes, leaving only the shocking blue hair that most people would assume was a dye job as a clue to her other life as Miss
Lightning. "Go and get dressed, I'll be fine," she said, heading into the kitchen.

Robert came back out in casual clothes a few minutes later, finding Mir waiting for him with a fresh cup of coffee. "Did you just get up?" she asked
curiously. As he nodded, she raised an eyebrow. "Rob, it's nearly four in the afternoon."

"And I was up all night dealing with the Devoured over in Talos," he said. "Kidnapping scientists for some reason for another..." He
shrugged, sipping at his coffee. "Who knows how those things think."

Mir chuckled, drinking her own coffee. "Don't look at me. I'm still working on Hellions and Skulls."

Her brother gave her an amused look. "You know, Ifrit's leaving you in the dust," he teased. "Not to mention that kid she's taken
in..." Miranda rolled her eyes and waved a hand at him, small electrical arcs crackling in the air and making Robert back up slightly with a laugh.
"Touchy!" he grinned.

"Unlike you two, I'm too busy to run around in spandex full time," Miranda said. "The perils of a more conventional career."

"A Freedom Corps technician is conventional?" he asked, getting another zap for his teasing. "Ow ow okay I give!" he laughed, holding up
his hands in surrender.

Mir smirked, making a pistol with her fingers and 'blowing the smoke away'. "Smart boy."

***

"Dammit, I can't see anything. If he's there, he's not opening the curtains," grumbled the Sky Raider trooper sitting at a window in one
of the broken skyscrapers in Faultlines crater.

The Raider Engineer with him sighed "Just be patient, would you? We set up this surveillance an hour ago, you can't expect miracles."

"Look, if Knight does live there, why not sneak in, plant some cameras and bombs, and blow him up when he comes home?"

He looked up at a short laugh from the Engineer. "Christ, you are new."

"And what the hell does that mean?" he scowled.

"Two things newbie. One, He's a registered hero. Which means, if that is his apartment, the Freedom Corps have added their own layer of security on
top of the already impressive shit you see in any of the new buildings in this zone. We try and sneak in or plant bombs, and they'll know. Hell, waiting
for him to step on the balcony and sniping him would leave a pretty ripple pattern on the forcefield generators and not much else." The Engineer chuckled.
"They may be cape-licking little snots, but the Corps do good work."

The Trooper looked up to him. "What's the other thing?"

His amused look shifted to a scowl. "We're not making this shits death quick. His interference has cost us a lot, in money, men and equipment. Captain
Castillo is going to make him suffer before the end."

There was an amused snort. "You mean he wants it to be dramatic and make him look cool." The Engineer paused, then nodded, conceeding the point.

***

"So if they'd been better with the pay plan, you would have worked for the Council?" Horizon asked as he used his powers to blow the warehouse
door inwards, flattening the rather shocked guard in the process. Lady of the Peace followed up with a fireball through the opening that set the other people
in the room on fire.

"Sure," Sell-Sword said as he stepped in, firing a short burst at one of the guards. "I've worked for worse."

"Worse then Nazis?" Lady wondered as she followed him in. Flames flickered around her hands as she whispered an incarnation. A moment later, flames
formed just below the rooftop and dropped on the Nazis running towards them. As they tried to find cover or just charge through, Horizon picked up the door
again and threw it at them.

Sell-sword tagged the guards still breathing and teleported them to the Zig. "You'd be surprised," he said.

"And now?" Horizon asked as they walked into the warehouse, ignoring the sirens wailing.

"I'm under contract to the FBSA and Riot Force," he shrugged. "And the pixie pays well. One of the kids better habits."

The gravity giant chuckled. "And you hired this guy?" he asked Lady. Before she could answer, a pair of Nebulas emerged from a side room. Lady
knocked the first ones gun away from her with one hand, formed a sphere of magical energy around her other fist, and punched him in the face. As he flew
backwards and collided with a wall, Sword swapped modes on his rifle and unloaded a shotgun shell into the other Nebulas chest.

"Two reasons," Lady smirked. "One, he's worth the contract. Two, I don't want to go up against him." Horizon considered this, then
nodded, moving on ahead.

"Gee fairy princess, I'm flattered," Sword laughed.

"Just go earn your paycheck mercenary," she said, rolling her eyes. The armored hero shot off a mock salute and moved on. She took off her glasses
and wiped them on her coattails, then jogged after them.

This particular Council safehouse was relatively well-defended, but with more Nebulas then any other type of soldier. The trio of heroes were deep inside the
base and causing havoc before the Nazis could get organized, and showing no signs of slowing down. "Factory floor," Lady noted as they passed through
a break room and onto a balcony looking over the large room, filled with crates, conveyor belts and Nazis.

There was an amused chuckle from behind her as Iridium Horizon stepped past her. "Mind your head," he said, raising his arms. Even as the Council
soldiers below raised their weapons, their surroundings went wild. Crates flipped up into the air and down onto unlucky men, tools flew in all directions, even
one or two Nebulas found themselves airborne.

It only lasted a moment, Horizon having his limits, but it was enough to throw the gathered villains into chaos. As he backed up, trying to get his breath
back, Lady of the Peace and Sell-sword jumped over the railing and took to the air, floating over the factory floor and launching their own all-out assault.
Flames, grenades and gunfire rained down on the Nazis, sending the survivors running, and by the time the pair were done, Horizon was ready to go again,
finishing off those left standing.

"Quick, brutal, and effective," Lady smiled as she landed back on the balcony. "Now, to find their computers and find out just what they've
been up to," she said.

"That won't be needed, Miss Ifrit Barnes," replied a new, stern voice. The trio turned to find a Council Archon standing there with nearly ten
Vortexes standing behind him. "Had you asked, I would have been more then happy to tell you about our recent operations," he continued, a cold smirk
on his face. The three members of Riot Force didn't move, given the number of weapons aimed at them. "After all, they did involve you somewhat."

"You know this guy?" Sword asked.

Ifrit shook her head. "Not really... he does look familiar though," she replied, thinking.

"He knows you," Horizon pointed out.

"Yes, but she lacks a secret identity," the Archon smirked. "Most troublesome. My name is Cartney-"

"Now I remember you!" Lady interrupted, snapping her fingers. "Faes PiƱata!" She was rewarded with a slight twitch from the Nazi,
confirming her theory.

"I remember that story," Sell-Sword said, a smirk clearly in his voice. "She was after candy, and Wide said-"

"Enough!" Cartney snapped, his calm facade cracking somewhat. "There are more important things for you to worry about right now."

"Like the fact you're smirking about knowing my name," Ifrit replied. "I'll admit it's a concern, but it's a fact I've had
to deal with from day one."

"Actually, you are still new enough to life as a costumed 'hero' that you are of little concern," the Archon said, the knowing smirk
returning to his face. "The Council is more interested in your brother, Robert. Or does he prefer Knight of the Peace?" he smiled. Ifrit flinched
slightly. She'd seen it coming, but even so... "Unlike you, I believe his powers are based in his armor, correct?" he asked, in the tone of a man
that already knew the answer.

As Ifrit glared at him, the smirk widened. "In an odd twist of fate, even as you entered this facility, I received word that the Sky Raiders have stormed
the medicomm facility in New Overbrook. Until they are driven out - an hour at the most, I expect - there will be no medical teleports there. So when they
attack your brothers apartment..."

"You son of a bitch," she growled, flames flickering around her. The Vortexes readied their weapons - then one of them jerked suddenly, his yelp of
pain taking on a slower tone then what would be expected. Cartney spun, only to duck as a red blur leapt over his head and landed in front of him.

"Hey guys, check out the new upgrade!" said the small woman in red power armor. All three heroes recognized her as Net Sabre, one of the supergroups
subteam called the Sabres of Paragon (Ifrit also recognized her as her girlfriend, but hey, secret identity). Cartney growled as a pair of Vortexes fired on
her, only for Net to use her stolen speed to slip out of the line of fire - and it took their attention off the other three heroes for a moment.

Cartney was reminded of this critical fact when an almost solid blast of flame slammed into his chest, knocking him back several feet. His attention refocused
on Lady of the Peace just before she flew at him, a glowing fist colliding with his face and throwing him backwards. At the same time, the other three members
of Riot Force opened fire on the other Council soldiers.

***

"So the way Star tells it," Miranda said, snickering at the memory, "is that it was about her third day at the job. She's checking out a tip
from MAGI about a Hellion warehouse, so she takes a shortcut, jumps a fence... and lands right in the middle of some Vaziloks. The reapers are having a smoke,
and they're all surprised, then..." she grinned. "She notices one of the Cadavers has a weird backpack mounted."

"Oh no," Rob said, a grin forming. "You're telling me..."

"There's a click, a boom, and the next thing she knows, she's in a medical teleporter at Chiron," Mir laughed. Robert laughed, leaning back
into his chair. "I'd call it the most entertaining of all the first medicomm express trips," she said. "The best part though? She went back
to that back alley and found all the Reapers out cold. Caught in their own blast."

Rob snickered, before being distracted by the insistent beeping of his phone. Still laughing slightly, he stood up and went over. Flipping it open, he paused,
laughs fading. "What's up?" Mir asked, noticing the expression.

"Sky Raiders," he replied, reading the text message. "They've hit the Faultline Medicomm, taken it off line." He backed out of the
message and dialed a phone number. "Serge? Knight here, what can you tell me about the Medicomm mess?"

As her brother talked to his contact, Miranda pulled off her civilian clothes, revealing the dark blue bodysuit underneath. She closed her eyes and
concentrated, a network of circuits woven into the suit beginning to glow with a faint golden light, before she took a blue domino mask from her belt pouch and
put it on. When Rob flipped the cell phone closed, Miss Lightning looked over at him curiously.

He put the phone back on the table. "All the staff got out and the police department has the place sealed. They're waiting for Longbow and powered
suit support before they go in, but they are asking for hero assistance."

"Of course they are," she grinned. "Poor buggers couldn't keep up with it all without us-" She was cut off mid-sentence as explosions
erupted outside the apartments window, held back by the blue-green forcefield that had sprung into view. At the same time, a loud, attention-seeking wail
pulled their attention to a holodisplay that emerged from the wall, showing just how long before the Freedom Corps defenses failed.

The siblings didn't waste any time, sprinting for the nearest door and slamming it behind them. For a moment, the explosions suddenly got closer, ripping
through the kitchen and living room of Robs apartment and destroying anything they touched. As they died down, Rob moved away from the door and went across the
study to where his armor was hanging on its hooks. While he pulled on the thick cargo pants and shirt, Miss Lightning opened the door slightly and peeked
through.

Nearly a dozen Sky Raiders and several of their assault skiffs were moving towards the exposed room, weapons at the ready. "Raiders," she hissed. Rob
swore as he zipped up the under suit.

"Explains the medicomm attack," he growled, grabbing his rocket boots. "Two minutes, and be careful. No hospital." Lightning nodded,
opening the door and stepping out, raising a hand. Electricity arced from her fingers and sped across the destroyed room, tagging a Raider as he tried to land.
He yelped, then screamed as his raptor pack died and he fell to the street below.

"Private property, traitor boys," she spat, hands crackling as she took up a ready pose. "So why don't you just turn around and be on your
way?"

"I am afraid to be telling you that such a thing shall not be happening," replied a voice that sounded like it was attempting to be dramatic.
Lightning blinked as a Raider in a... unique costume descended into view. She'd never seen a Sky Raider with epaulets and what looked like flame patterns
on his flight suit before. "But you are not to be the one I came here seeking," he said. "Although I admit, you are to be a fine example of a
woman... no doubt you are admiring me, for I am a dashing example of a Sky Pirate," he smirked.

"Captain Ernest Castillo," Lightning said, wondering at how he honestly thought that was appealing. "I see the stories about you are true."

Castillo seemed to straighten up slightly, the smirk widening. "Ah, you truly are to being as intelligent as one is to expect from a woman."

"Actually, I was talking about how Doctor Stein was so utterly repulsed by you she went to the trouble of making a restraining order against a worthless
traitor," she responded, smirking as Castillos eyes widened in rage. She knew what was about to follow, but frankly, getting her ass kicked was probably
less painful then listening to this.

"You dare to-" he growled. "Teach this foolish woman to be remembering her place!" he spat, raising his flamethrower. Lightning grinned,
electricity arcing off her as the Raiders charged.

***

Archon Cartney dodged to the side, barely avoiding Ifrits glowing fist as she tore a hole in the wall. Reloading his gun as he rolled, he came up firing, the
salvo tearing at the heroines barrier jacket and forcing her to back up a few steps.

That move gave him time to glance across the room and assess the situation. What he saw was actually rather unsurprising. These new heroes were better then
their security rating suggested, and were rather quickly tearing the Vortexes apart. The gravity controller that looked like a Lost trying to hide was throwing
the surroundings at the Council soldiers, Net Sabre seemed to have activated a repulsion field that let her scatter her enemies just by getting close (Which
explained the battle cry of "Bowling for Council!" he'd heard earlier). And Sell-Sword...

As he watched the green armored figure launch a taser bolt into a Vortex, then unload a shotgun shell into stomach, he realised that the man was a LOT more
competent then his offical security rating suggested. Perhaps reports that Sword had mentioned a previous career were more accurate then suspected?

Flames whipping around him pulled the Archon back to his main opponent, as Lady of the Peace took to the air and opened up with a full salvo of fire spells.
Cartney didn't dodge fast enough, screaming as a flare bit into the side of his face. Falling onto his back, he clutched a hand over his left eye and
cheek, while a part of his mind noted he had the worst luck with flame based heroes.

"I am going to tie you up, hang you from the roof, and give Fae an axe," Lady growled, landing on the walkway again and moving forward, arcane
energies wrapping around her fists. Cartney winced, then pulled out his holdout weapon. Twisting his wrist, he launched a small web grenade from his gauntlet,
which impacted with Lady and detonated, coating her arms, chest and wings in a thick gel. As she stumbled back, surprised, Cartney used the chance to run for
the door, leaping through it a moment before Iridium smashed a desk against it.

"Archon's running!" the massive figure said.

"Let him go," Ifrit scowled, calling up the flames around her to burn away the gel. As that bubbled away and fell to the ground, she pulled her cell
phone out of thin air and dialed. "Come on Rob, pick up..."

***

The sudden sound of Yoko Kanno coming from the burnt couch caught Castillo by surprise. He looked over at it in confusion, turning his attention away from the
woman he'd pinned to the floor. Miss Lightning took the opening, releasing her hold on the power contained in her body. Castillo screeched as electricity
crackled along his body and armor, releasing her and falling backwards. "A cowardly tactic!" he managed, stumbling. "Now I shall be teaching to
you a lesson-" He was interrupted by a plasma salvo that nailed two of the remaining Raiders in the destroyed room, slamming them into a wall and knocking
them out.

Knight of the Peace stepped through the doorway, firing on another Raider as Lightning tagged the last one, dropping him near the one she'd taken down
before. Castillos eyes lit up at the sight of the hero. "Ah, at last you are showing yourself, Knight of the P-" he was interrupted yet again as
Knight fired up his boot jets, launching himself across the room, tackling the Raider captain and throwing both of them out the missing wall, where they
collided with one of the circling Raider skiffs. Both bounced off in different directions, before Knight got control of his flight and went after Castillo
again.

Lightning finished standing up and watched, somewhat amazed, as she got her first good look at her brother in action, darting through the air, gauntlets
blazing. His targeting drones darted around the area, even as he occasionally became a faint blur, cloaking device throwing the Raiders into confusion. She
stood there for a long moment, before the ringtone of Knights phone caught her attention again.

Unable to just let it ring through to the message bank, she darted over, picked it up - then flipped it open the moment she saw Ifrits name on the outer
screen. "Sis, we've got trou-"

"Raiders?" Ifrit replied.

"How'd you-"

"Council jerk was gloating about it to us. How bad is it?"

She leaned out the window as Knight appeared on top of a skiff, unloading both gauntlets into its engines. He didn't dodge fast enough as several Wing
officers opened fire, knocking him off the staggering craft. Lightning winced as her brothers forcefields flickered under the strain. "Bad," she
replied. "I'm seeing a lot of Raiders here. You better bring backup, gotta go!" She flipped the phone closed, then went over to one of the Sky
Raiders scattered around the apartment and pulled the flight pack off.

The electrical hero stopped for a moment, hissing in pain as she moved in just the wrong way. Carefully, she twisted, frowning at what little she could see of
a burn on her back from the Raiders flamethrowers. The thought of pressing a large heavy flight pack against that made her pause... then she heard the roar of
her brothers gauntlets and made up her mind, forcing the pack on and tightening the straps.

***

Lady hit the end call button and put the phone away. "They're already there," she said, pulling another object out of nowhere, this one a Freedom
Corps communicator configured for Riot 6.1 and the Legendary. "This is Lady of the Peace to any heroes availible. The Sky Raiders are making a hit on
Knight of the Peace in Faultline. Medicomm is down, we could use some assistence."

"Eight, ten minutes to the base portal," Sword said. "Take the Legendary teleporters to Faultline-" He paused as Lady pulled a small card
out of her costume. "Or we take the dance club solution," he shrugged, ripping the hard drive out of the computer on the desk (Given it had a Council
screensaver, it was a good bet).

"The Raiders are doing what?!" Net asked, pulling her own Pocket D pass from a belt pouch. "They have to know what the response would be!"

Sword laughed as he stored the hard drive in a belt pouch that should have been too small for it. "Dreys lot might, but Castillo tends to dislike having
people smarter then him under his command. Most of his lot are mercenaries recruited after they went traitor, and they suck at long term planning." He
shrugged as their passcards began to glow. "They bring it on themselves... wonder who else is coming," he said to himself as all four vanished in
warped space and time. For a moment, it felt like they were nowhere and everywhere, then they were walking into the Tiki Lounge of Pocket D, the
interdimensional nightclub for heroes and villians.

Behind the bar, a Pantheon Spirit Mask looked up from cleaning glasses. "Evening folks. Party or shortcut?" he asked.

"Shortcut," Ifrit said, running towards the other door.

The mask bobbed up and down slightly, his equivilent of a shrug, picking up another glass. "Such a frantic life they lead..."

The dance floor was relatively quiet at the moment, with only a few heroes and villians enjoying themselves. One Crab Spider paid attention to the group of
heroes in a hurry and went to taunt them, but stopped at a warning look from the mysterious DJ Zero.

"Only in Paragon," Sword mused as they reached the secure elevator to the hero exits.

***

Knight was an experienced hero, who'd taken on the Sky Raiders plenty of times and won. He knew their tactics, weapons and equipment. But he'd been
beaten by them before, only saved by the Medicomm system that watched over Paragons heroes. This time, there was no chance of escape, being teleported to a
hospital emergency room if he was badly injured. To his credit, that didn't seem to worry him, as he matched the Raiders blow for blow, but it did wonders
for the Raiders morale.

For every one of them he took down, another was there, charging in with guns blazing. His personal forcefield held out as best it could, but all too often he
had to use his emergency power cells to pump it back up, and he was showing a number of bruises and cuts from when the field hadn't been strong enough.

Cloaking device, web and smoke grenades, tasers... he used the lot, at one point grabbing a sledgehammer from one of Faultlines many construction sites for use
as a melee weapon. But eventually the mercenaries forced him down to the ground near the donut shop. As he tried to pull himself out of the concrete, Castillo
landed nearby, several of his men covering him as others took aim at the police officers emerging from the store and coming from the Zone gates.

"You fought well, Knight of the Peace," he taunted. "But, in the end, you had to be knowing that you could not be standing against the might of
Casti-" he stopped talking as something bounced off his head. Catching it instictively, he looked at it in confusion.

It was a stuffed kitten, somewhat scruffy from a rough life, and with the occasional stain that didn't quite look like food or drink. He looked at its
adorable face for a minute, then turned to see where it came from...

And was blasted across the parking lot as a massive bolt of radiation slammed into his face. As he came to a halt, he lay there, stunned, his face tingling
like really bad sunburn. The concept of his wonderful face being damaged snapped him back to reality as he sat up, and found himself looking at nearly a dozen
heroes in various costumes approaching, one of them grabbing the cat from where it had landed and hugging it tightly.

"You do the best ambushes Mister Whiskers!" Emerald Blast declared, placing the stuffed kitten back on her shoulder with a satisfied look. "He
never saw it coming!" The cat, naturally, did not seem to reply.

Castillo moved to a kneeling posistion, only to freeze as a pair of arrows slammed into the ground near his foot. He glanced at the two archers standing on the
roof of the donut shop, scowling.

"He doesn't look happy," Purrfect Archer mused.

"As it should be," William Bishop replied, watching the other Raiders dart about, most of them either falling back or taking cover. "This could
be interesting," he said softly.

"Castillo!" Evangelia declared from the center of the core group, raising her sword to aim directly at him. "Stand down and surrender!"

"I think not, little girl-child," he said, arrogant posture returning as he stood up. "For now, the Sky Raiders will be disposing of many more
of you hero folk! Attack!"

A slightly evil smile passed over the magical girls face. "They never learn," she said softly, before raising her voice. "Legendary, take them
down! For love and justice!"

"Hey Rob," Gamma Emission said, walking over to him. "Hate to say it, but you look terrible."

"I feel just as good," he admitted with a weak grin. "Don't suppose you can help a guy out, oh atomic nurse?" She gave him an amused
look before starting to glow, odd energies rippling out of her body and over him. Knight let out a relieved breath as the bruises under his battered chestplate
responded and shrank considerably. Even his visor, slightly cracked and drained of power, powered back up as Lisas bizarre radiation recharged his power cells.

He smiled, standing up. "You're a champion," he grinned, before turning and blasting a Raider trying to take them by surprise. "And now, no
time for talk!" Knight said, firing up his boot jets and taking to the air again.

***
Reply
 
#2
Nice. Looking forward to the fight now.

One quibble. As both a Scrapper and a Group Leader, Evangelia would be at the front of the crowd, not the center. Even if she can just jump out and at her target.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#3
She was at the front. But there were a fair few people on each side of her. Tongue
Reply
 
#4
***

Lady, Horizon, Net and Sell-Sword emerged from the trans-dimensional manhole cover to find a small war going on. "I think the others beat us here,"
Net Sabre mused as she watched Wide Receiver charge a group of Raiders, carrying another unlucky mercenary like a football. She leaned back with a pained
expression as the Tank hit.

Next to her, Lady paused, watching the fight with a rather stunned expression. There were dozens of heroes, from both the Legendary and Riot, attacking the Sky
Raiders without hesitation or fear. Given the fact that there would be no last moment saves from advanced medical technology, it was rather amazing to watch.

Then Sell-Sword grabbed her by the collar and pulled her out of the way of an energy bolt, snapping her back to reality. Flames wrapped around her hand and she
launched a large fireball back at the Lost Headman that that tried to blast her. "Not just Sky Raiders," she blinked as she watched a swarm of
Clockwork chase after a giggling Space Mage, who sped through a group of Raiders and start a cross-villain fight.

"Pretty much any trouble makers in Faultline are out to make trouble," Net Sabre said, cocking her head to the side slightly. "I'm gonna go
see if Silicon and the others are here."

"Have fun sweetie," Ifrit smiled as Net bounced off, before looking at the other two. "We should get to work."

"Any preference on who to beat up?" Iridium asked, warping time and space around him and pulling out a toilet. It floated there for a moment, then
flew over and smashed the Lost in the head again, putting him back down.

"Whoever we find," Lady of the Peace replied, raising her hand and causing it to rain fire. As always, the flames missed her allies and burned her
enemies. "It's a target rich environment," she giggled, taking to the air.

***

Faultline dodged behind a steel support frame, letting the acid vomit spray across floorboards harmlessly. When he stepped out the other side, he'd become
a massive stone figure that marched up to the Vahzilok zombie and pulped its chest with one punch. "Get out of here!" he yelled at the construction
workers, who finally got the message and ran. "Anywhere else, monsters would be a reason to quit your job and move interstate. Here, there's union
rules for time wasted by them."

"Only in Paragon," Leon McNicols agreed as he slammed a Reaper to the ground and handcuffed him. "This is crazy. The Sky Raiders start a massive
fight, so the Lost get involved because they're violent fanatics, and the Clockwork make a run for all the debris... What're you lot after?" he
asked the organ thief.

"What are you, stupid? Medicomm is down!" the Reaper said. "Have you seen how many heroes are here that we could-"

"Okay, you can just shut the hell up right there," Leon scowled. "Talk to a whackjob, expect a 'quality' answer..."

"Detective!" one of the SWAT officers called out. Leon moved from the Vahzilok and went over to the edge of the half complete building. "I think
we've got more trouble coming," he said, pointing.

Frowning, Leon looked, then pulled a pair of binoculars from his jacket and looked again. Several dozen men in dark, spider themed armor, marching along the
edge of the War Wall where the highway hadn't caved in completely, heading right for New Overbrook. "Aw crud."

"What?" Faultline asked.

"Arachnos."

"Did we kick puppies in a past life or something?" the districts local champion asked with a sigh.

***
Reply
 
#5
... somehow, it seems fitting -- even though I'd never imagined such a thing before -- that Leon and Jim would get along like gangbusters.

(Ahgahd... wasn't Leon's gun in BGC called the Earthshaker? Doh!)

And, Atomic Nurse. I'm gonna be chuckling over that one for a while. [Image: smile.gif]

It worries me that the various villain groups pick up on Medicom being down faster (it seems) than the heroes. It's not gonna be a good day for the
zone...

Good stuff. Want MOAR! [Image: smile.gif]

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
Reply
 
#6
Might I suggest 'Helloooo Atomic Nurse!' as a method of greeting Lisa? 8P
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin
Reply
 
#7
Quote:She was at the front. But there were a fair few people on each side of her. Tongue
Ahhhhh. Misunderstood what you meant by "center". I was imagining a mob; you had a line in mind. Okay, objection retracted.
Quote:"Did we kick puppies in a past life or something?"
And a great line for the win, too.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#8
The Wide scenelet made me chuckle. [Image: happy.gif]

If you want to make it REALLY chaotic, you can let the Infamous in on the act...
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll
Reply
 
#9
***

The Sky Raiders hadn't taken the sudden arrival of a large group of heroes in Faultline as a completely bad thing. After all, the purpose of this mission
was to actually kill some heroes while they had Medicomm offline, this just provided more targets.

The problem was these heroes were good at their jobs. They were used to facing overwhelming numbers and coming out on top. The loss of the safety net Medicomm
provided was worrying, but it didn't stop any of the Legendary or Riot Force from entering Faultline to stop the villain rampage.

A short distance from Yins shop, and the supergroup base teleporter beacon it contained, a squad of Raiders readied their weapons and waited. A porter scowled
as he checked his backpack harness again. "Castillo just had to jump the gun," he muttered. "If he'd just waited-"

"Stow it," his Wing Officer replied with a stern glare. "I won't tolerate that talk about a superior officer. Just get ready. When the next
heroes come through that thing-" he was interrupted as reality tore open above them and a Warshade Dark Dwarf appeared, slamming down onto them and
crushing the squads engineer and Inferno underfoot. A moment later, the slender yet busty form of Valles dived down, cosmic energies rippling around her fists
as she punched the Wing Officer square in the face, hard enough to smash through the visor and cave his face in. As he hit the concrete, unconscious, the
Peacebringer landed next to him and blasted at the Porter, only to have the bolt pass through empty space as the soldier vanished. The darker Kheldian
collapsed in on itself, reforming into Twilit Blades human form as she spun, searching for the Porter.

The last Raider reappeared on the roof of Yin's Market, raising his rifle and opening fire on the two Kheldians, only to have another figure appear next to
him. His shots went wide as he spun, catching a glimpse of Braende raising a hand before flames engulfed him. The mercenary's suit protected him from the
worst of it, but he still stumbled back and fell off the roof. He rolled over the ground to try and put out the flames, only to stop as he bumped against a
leg. He looked up and paled at the sight of a number of Clockwork standing over him.

Penelope Yin watched as her friends dogpiled the Raider, stripping him of all his equipment before throwing him over the edge of the cliff and down into the
ruins. She smiled, then waved at Valles and Twilit Blade.

"Well, that was different," Twilit chuckled as Braende jumped off the rooftop, making sure to go around the Market guards that were now neatly
placing all the Porters equipment near the wall. "I'm guessing we don't need to worry too much about defending the teleporter," she mused,
drawing a laugh from Braende.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Penelope called out. "My friends appreciate the help, but they'll make sure none of the bad guys will get over
here." She paused for a moment, looking like she was listening, then pointed towards the hospital. "You might want to go that way," she
suggested. Braende looked at the others, then shrugged and flew down the street, the two Kheldians following. They had to stop occasionally to blast a Raider
squad of some of the Lost, but soon enough they were closing in on the central fight, only to stop in surprise at an odd sight.

A squad of Raiders had attempted to surround Jackie Frost, only to find her more then capable of fighting them one on one. Now, some were out cold on the
ground, some were frozen in place, and others... As she dropped out of her latest teleport, Twilit honestly couldn't tell if it was meant to be a fight or
a vertical make-out session.

The all-but-naked heroine was dancing around the Raiders, sliding up against them, hands roaming as she overwhelmed them. Twilit watched for a moment as Jackie
actually managed to undress one of the Raiders she was toying with, then sighed. "There are no words to describe this scene," she said, rolling her
eyes.

"I can think of a few," Valles replied, disgust clear in her voice as Jackie convinced the Raiders to make lust, not war. "We could blast
them."

"And have her throw herself at us?" her Warshade girlfriend replied.

"Point. Lets leave them to it and focus on the task at hand."

***

"Banzai, tally-ho, everyone into the pool!" Superball yelled, the Legendarys professional nutcase diving out of the sky, tackling a Jump Bot mid
leap, and heading for the fountain, only to have the Raider Robot clip a statue, sending them bouncing across the pavement and into a collection of chairs and
tables outside the cafe. "Only a two from the Arachnos judge, but the Freakshow gives a ten!" he declared from his crash point.

From above, Fusionette watched him pry himself out and take to the air again, yelling something about square dancing. "That guy is totally bonkers,"
she muttered, before darting to the side and unleashing her atomic energy at a Sky Skiff that tried to fire on her. As it lost an engine and dropped towards
the ground, she dived to deal with some Lost that were going after some construction workers that hadn't gotten inside yet. They went down fast, bringing a
grin to her face as the workers quickly thanked her and ran to cover.

"Bad situation," she said softly, rising up into the air again, heading towards the central fight. "But at least I'm on a good run,"
she admitted with a slight grin, watching her boyfriend slam into the Wolf Spiders trying to add to the chaos.

It was a fair statement. Fusionette seemed to have two kinds of luck. The kind where she kicked ass, and the kind where things just went annoyingly wrong and
she got taken prisoner. It was a pain, and terribly embarrassing, but moments kike this, where she was winning, overcoming the odds and taking out the bad
guys, all made up for it. As she stopped near the warehouses however, she had a sudden cold chill run down her back, even as she heard the sound of mechanical
limbs behind her. Without hesitating, she spun-

***

"'Nette's in trouble!" Purrfect Scrapper called out as Fusionette flew backwards down the street, crashing into a car and staying there.

"Help her," Evangelia ordered as she sliced off a Crab Spiders backpack arms, sending the Arachnos soldier scrambling backwards to get away from her.
The magical girl didn't get a chance to break away though, finding several Bane Spiders more then happy to take their commanders place.

Scrapper nodded, speeding down the street and skidding to a halt in front of the blue-haired heroine. "You okay?" she asked, leaning in to take a
closer look. "I mean, something hit you pretty hard and you went all this way pretty fast..." she stopped and looked over her shoulder, then yelped
at the sight of the war bots emerging from the warehouse. "Gah! Evil spy combining brainbots of doom!" she yelled, grabbing Fusionette and kicking in
the superspeed to get out of the way. A moment later, two heavy plasma bolts blasted through the car and melted it to slag.

"Sammy, what're you doing here?" Purrfect Archer asked as her friend and biggest fan appeared out of nowhere halfway across New Overbrook.

"Alice! Malta Titans!" she exclaimed, still holding an unconcious Fusionette. "They're blowing things up and they've probably got
Sappers and those mean guys that think they're Matrix Cowboys and that's on top of everything else around here, next those weird steam guys will show
up, and it'll all be one of his plots, like a really mean Dumbledore-" She stopped talking as Archer help up a hand.

"Malta?" she asked. Sammy nodded. "Back near the Zone gates?" Sammy nodded again. "Okay, get 'Nette to the Hospital, then I'll
meet you there," she said. Purrfect Scrapper nodded and raced off again.

On Archers shoulder, Neko looked amused. "Was she always so..."

"Oh yes," the catgirl grinned, leaping into the air.

***
Reply
 
#10
I have to say I'm loveing reading this, sure I'm poutin bout lack of screentime for me *grin* but knowing Terr if no ones told him bout this..he's
at home watching anime or playing video games blissfully unaware of whats happenin. Still the Medicomm being down..thats pretty harsh makes things alot more
intresting via it really is do or die one thing is if terr was there and was dealing with malta, you could pretty much guarntee that he 'would' be
holding an unconcious..or hell even concious malta gunslinger/some other random shmoe as he strikes with his other hand..head, feet...or any random object he
could tear out of the ground to swing at them. the purpose being he -would- use enemies as liveing sheilds to block sappers shots..most other things he'd
be wililn to accept hits from, but sappers he'd fight dirty.
Reply
 
#11
I'd love to be in on this as well - Pooky, for one, fears no death. Rise of The Phoenix > Medicomm. Mag, like Terrence, just Doesn't Die.

very good writing - I'm looking forward to more of this!
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
Reply
 
#12
Oh wow, that's -great-! I've not got the mental image of a wide-eyed blurry Sammy towing a flapping-in-the-breeze Fusionette behind her while Giant
Robots! destroy the car they're running from. Very anime-ish. VERY nice work.

Every time you update this, it's like a buildup... it keeps swelling. Each of these micro-fight-scenes just underscores the overall impression. Something
BIG is going down. [Image: smile.gif]

Absolutely freakin' LOVING it. Keep it up!

Edit: on a re-read, it occurs to me that a chance for Snark(tm) has slipped by. When Scraps says "Nette's in trouble!", the proper response from
ANY experienced hero is "This is news?"

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
Reply
 
#13
"That Castillo thinks he is god's gift to women." Brande snarled as the smug Sky Raider leader vanished in the flare of a teleportation
field.

"He is cute, but dumb." Jackie opined. "He is also quite incorrect."

"That he thinks, or that he is god's gift to women." The fiery redhead shot back.

"Both counts ma petite." Jackie smiled. "He reacts, he does not think."

"And the other; she asks suspecting the answer, but foraging onwards with a due sense of expectant dread."

"He cannot be god's gift to women." Jackie said with one hundred percent conviction. "Because I already am."

(Nice Jackie Cameo BTW- Well done!)
Reply
 
#14
Quite true. Phoenix>Death. Only thing we need to complete the scene here is some Confuse from Amber and we'd have utter and complete CHAOS.

...I like it.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
Reply
 
#15
***

"Man, listen to this," an Inferno Raider grumbled, tapping his helmets radio. "Fight of the year, and we're missing it."

"Would you quit bitching?" said the engineer next to him. "Those guys may get the fun part, but if we didn't take Medicomm down, it
wouldn't matter, would it?"

"Exactly right Richards," their officer replied, listening to the sound of gunfire from across the building, where the PPD SWAT teams were trying to
get in. "How's it going over there John?" he asked.

"It's goin' fine Simon," came the slow drawl of the Wing Raider Officer handing the front door of the Medicomm facility. "Boys in blue
don't seem to have the powered suits to back 'em up, so they're not really getting anywhere. Guess the Capes are a mite busy with the big fight to
come and fix the actual problem."

"They're Capes," the officer chuckled. "Thinking's not their strong po-" He was interrupted as the wall exploded inwards,
scattering his men across the hallway. The Engineer didn't waste any time, powering up his force field generator, even as the Inferno hosed down the
opening with his flamethrower. This proved to be utterly pointless as a figure in sleek blue power armor leapt through the smoke, fist connecting with the
Infernos chest, small explosives in the womans gauntlet blasting the Sky Raider back into a painting. His now broken body armor saved him from a caved in
chest, but the near shattered rib cage took him out of the fight.

The Engineer tried to open fire on Street Sabre with his rifle, only to yelp in surprise as massive thorny vines emerged from the floor, wrapping around him
and holding him on place, as a black armored figure shot past and cut the Officers rifle in half with her sword. Before he could go for a backup weapon, Edge
Sabre lunged again, blade carving through armor and flesh with equal ease. As he slumped to the floor, she knelt down to check he wasn't going to die, then
pulled off his comm gear and tied him up, even as Street knocked the Engineer out with a backhand. "Clear," the duelist Sabre said, looking back to
where the rest of the Sabres of Paragon were entering, the smoke dispersing around them.

Silicon Sabre nodded, turning to Net. "What way?"

The red-pink Sabre tilted her head to the side, studying the map her suit had recovered. "Down the hall, left, right, right, elevator," she said.

"I think they know we're here!" Range Sabre snapped, opening fire on several raiders sprinting around a corner. Nano Sabres emitters popped open,
launching a stream of nanites at one of the Raiders as Silicon and Demolition Sabre charged ahead, colliding with the Raiders with armored fists and blades.
The other Sabres were close behind as they forced their way through the building towards the control room.

***

"Sapper!" Amberlee yelled, taking to the air as the Malta soldiers charged into the massive brawl.

"The hell are they doing here?!" Ifrit said, calling down the fire as Enynns fire storm ended. Inyme W'tin ducked past her, launching a psi-storm
into the approaching black ops specialists that scattered a number of them, before leaping for cover as the Malta Sappers opened fire, white energy beams
ripping into the gathered heroes. Ifrit screamed as one of the beams glanced her, sending a numbness through her body as her magic seemed to slip away. Another
beam hit Quicksilver Nano head on, causing her nanotech structure to ripple in agony as she dropped to her knees.

A moment later, the Sappers fire was interrupted by a thrown park bench connecting with one of them. The other spun, only to see Terrence Knight leaping at
him. The Legendarys most famous tank ducked under the Sappers shot, ignored the weapons fire of several other Malta operatives as he grabbed the deadly device,
ripped it from the Sappers hands, ducked under a swing from the mans sapp stick, then grabbed him by the arm and twisted. There was a aubile crack as the
Sappers arm snapped, and he dropped to the ground screaming, until Terrence knocked him out with a swift kick.

The man turned to the other Malta Operatives, eyes almost burning with disgust. "Next," he said. As they raised their weapons to fire, they came
under fire from above, a dozen arrows falling into their group with impressive precision, punching through advanced armor and flesh. Purrfect Archer was right
behind her attack, landing in front of them as magical flames whipped around her, forming a defensive shield.

Tearing an arrow from his arm and slapping a med-patch over it, the Gunslinger looked at her for a moment, then gave a short, clipped order. The soldiers
dropped back, some providing cover fire, others going for grenades, even as the Gunslinger vanished in a teleport, trying to flank the heroes. Terrence went
for the soldiers while Archer leapt clear of a grenade salvo, only to be blasted by energy bolt from the war bots moving up behind the regular Malta troops,
throwing her back down the street.

She flipped, landed on her feet and skidded to a halt, regarding the two Hercules class Titans, and the lobotomized minds that Maltas obsessed science used to
control them. Then she was moving again, sprinting towards them. As she got close enough she held a hand out in front of her and concentrated, calling flames
into being around one of the mechs. Fire and smoke seeped in through the cracks, nibbling at wires and hydraulics, virtually paralyzing the war bot. The other
mech targeted her and opened its missile hatches, only to be driven to its knees by a psi-bolt from Inyme, Archers girlfriend going for the human mind at the
beasts core. There was no anger or rage coming from Inyme towards the creature, simply a warriors duty, and the fact that she would be doing the Titan a mercy
by ending its life.

Purrfect Archer summoned an arrow and nocked it, taking careful aim and infusing extra magics into the arrow before releasing it. The Titan made a high-pitched
noise that could almost be considered a scream as the arrow punched through the armor and right into the brain at its core. With the organic CPU gone, it was
now a multi-million dollar statue. "I'm sorry," she whispered sadly.

"Alice!" Neko yelled, leaping off her shoulder. Alice spun in time to see the Gunslinger duck under the lunging cat and raise his two pistols at her.
She threw a hand forward, a wave of telekinetic force throwing the operative back nearly twenty meters, but not before he got off several shots, some of which
managed to get through her flame shield and natural damage resistance. The catgirl gasped, clutching at the large wounds in her left arm, even as she saw
Emerald Blast sprinting towards her, while a furious Lady of the Peace nailed the Gunslinger with a magically enhanced punch.

***

Miss Lightning swore as she dived towards a Raider Sky Skiff, launching arcs of electricity at it. It began to drop as it's systems overloaded, giving
Lora'lai a clean shot at it, her energy bolts blowing one of its engines clean off, sending it into a death spin as the pilot ejected.

Working the controls of her stolen Raptor pack to try and get some speed up again, Miss Lighting tried to get her heartbeat under control again. She'd
dealt with Hellions, Skulls, Lost, even a few Thorns... but now she was going up against trained soldiers with no Medicomm safety net. She'd heard stories
from her brother and sister, along with her adopted neice (Whose rapid progression as a hero had given her a lot of stories), but none of them seemed to convey
the utter terror she was feeling right now. The burns on her back and the bruises she'd gotten from Castillo certainly didn't help.

As she rose up to about a hundred feet again, Lora'lai hovering nearby, things went wrong fast. A bolt of Quantum energy launched from a nearby rooftop,
hitting the Peacebringer in the back, drawing an agonizing scream as the twin halves of her being were pulled apart for a moment. She dropped towards the
ground, transforming into her White Dwarf form to absorb the impact, while Miss Lightning came under fire from the ground below. She didn't even have time
to react before one of the raptor packs thrusters died, sending her spinning out of control. The scream that tried to escape her throat was cut off as her head
was slammed against the thruster pack, and then she hit the ground, managing a pained shriek as she felt bones break, the single working thruster dragging her
across the ground, finally ending with her buried in a pile of construction supplies, gasping and sobbing from the pain.

"Over here!" called out a voice, and Miranda Barnes forced her eyes open, looking up to see a squad of Arachnos Wolf Spiders running towards her.
Gasping for air, she tried to call on the electricity that a run-in with an experimental power source had granted her, but was only able to muster the
concentration for a few weak sparks.

"Group effort boys," the squads Huntsman smiled, taking out his sidearm. "Excellent shooting. At least one hero is going down today." With
that, he aimed the gun at her head and fired.

***
Reply
 
#16
Oh crap. O_O

Now would be an excellent time for a high-speed save from Cyberman 8. (I hope) ^_^

(Edit: Incidentally, Lora'lai has the "Self-Rez " power from the Peacebringer secondary. So if you want, you can show a "kill" on her -
the bad guys start to celebrate, the good guys look horrified, then light starts collecting aroung her and she performs her own version of "Rise of the
Phoenix"! Bad guys: "I didn't know they could do THAT!?" )
Reply
 
#17
***

Even more pain tore at Mirandas broken body as reality tore itself apart around her. A moment later she was on the floor of what looked like one of Paragons many office buildings. The part of her mind that wasn't screaming noted she was bleeding all over the rather ugly blue carpet.

"My apologies. While I understand that your condition makes teleportation unwise, I would not have been able to intervene in time otherwise," said a new voice. It was odd, somewhat blank and stilted, as though being produced through a speech program. Miranda pushed the pain aside enough to look up, and stared at the sight before her.

A glowing ball of what looked like purple and black mist floated above her, tendrils drifting out occasionally. "Nictus," she croaked, the words slurred slightly around her bruised face.

"Indeed, for now," the creature replied in that same blank tone. Miranda tried to call the lightning to her, only to find that the power had left her utterly. It seemed that the somewhat uncontrollable electricity her body housed had its limits in this nightmare. "Calm yourself child. I mean you no harm."

"you Nictus," she managed. "Lif thef... Monster." The last word came out clear, laced with more then a touch of hatred. The blue-haired Barnes sister had never seen a Nictus before, and she didn't have a problem with the Warshades really, but she read reports, spoke to those that had fought them, both now and in ancient Cimerora. She knew evil when she saw it.

"Yes. I am," the alien replied. "I was desperate to survive, and I took the path of my ancestors. But no more. I believe..." it paused, the mist pulling in on itself slightly. "I believe the path of the Nictus is wrong. I have come to this world to seek... redemption."

Miranda looked at it for a moment. "safing me 'elped," she managed.

"It was but a momentary reprieve. Your injuries are severe, from what I understand of beings such as yourself. Those I saved you from are coming. If I was to teleport you again, it would likely kill you. I can only present one option." It pulsed again, and Miranda got the feeling that it was... nervous.

"I wish to become a Warshade, with your help." The humans eyes widened in slight surprise as it continued. "I believe I could repair the damage when we merge."

She managed an annoyed glare. "You got me in a... bad spot ta refuse," she managed to say.

"I know. I apologize. That was not my intent. But I believe I can save you... and myself." Miranda paused and looked at him intently, before her vision began to blur.

"cyst?"

"I have left it behind. If I had remained, the others would know and turn on me instantly. To survive, I must risk my life. I do not have long left hero. We are the only hope each other has."

Miranda tried to look at the alien through increasingly blurry eyesight, then managed a weak nod. "'kay." She didn't really have any other options right now honestly, and for some reason, she trusted the creature.

"I believe this may hurt," it warned.

"'ey, tha's not new..." she croaked, before the Nictus spread out over her body, and she screamed.

Her mind was assaulted by new memories, dark crimes across the galaxy and across the centuries. She saw wars waged, lives taken, all in the desperate quest to not burn out in a few short years. Battles waged for so long without reason that they became the reason for living. For the Nictus, there was only war and death, lives taken for the purpose of living to take more lives. Her broken body convulsed as the Kheldians energies flowed through her, repairing bone and muscles, organs and blood vessels.

At the same time, she could hear the screaming in her mind, her new partner being overwhelmed by memories unlike anything it had encountered before. The academic understanding of its crimes, created by self-consideration and glimpses of other societies in the moments between wars, was buried under Mirandas understanding of life and death. It saw the Rikti war, of civilians doing their best to survive in the dark days. It saw the rebuilding. It saw her working on her brothers armor, meeting Ifrit for the first time, movie nights in the Legendarys base, basketball games in the Row, visiting her mothers gravestone every mothers day...

For the first time in over five hundred years, it experienced living.

The pain stopped, and Miranda slumped against the floor, gasping for air as tears flowed down her face. In her mind, her new partner sobbed, torn apart by the perspective she'd never had. "It's okay," she whispered, feeling the exhaustion start to fade, even as she felt like she could sleep for a month. "It's okay..."

No it's not, the Warshade sobbed. I'm sorry I'm sorry oh Gods I'm so sorry...

"We'll make it better," she said. "You'll have to earn it, but..." she paused, hearing the sound of footsteps, running up the stairs. "We can't worry about it now," she said, forcing herself up. "There's work to be done."



I... you're right. I'll handle the senses new to you, you handle what's new to me.


"Atta girl," she said. "Give me a status."



I can not sense the boosted electrical condition you previously had. The blending may have undone the accident. My own abilities remain intact, if somewhat limited at the moment. We have access to minor Umbral energies and Shadow Step.


Miranda nodded, feeling the new powers gather. She looked down at her tattered costume and concentrated, calling on her new shapeshifting powers. Quickly, it altered and repaired itself, going from a dark blue circuit-laced body sheath to a black bodysuit, orange star patterns on the legs and back, Riot Forces star logo on the front. "Can you sense who's coming?"



Three humans, no unusual energy signatures. I recommend we retreat.



"In a moment," she said. "Ready Umbral energies and be ready for Shadow Step."

Done.


The Warshade smiled, and as the first Arachnos soldier charged around the corner, she attacked, launching bolt of dark energy from her hand. The wolf spider had been expecting a broken and crippled woman, and caught the blast clean in the face, snapping his head back and nearly flipping him over as he dropped, the darkness spreading over his body lightly. Miranda charged, hitting the next one with a hard punch in the stomach, doubling him over.

Huntsman to your left!

Mir dodged as the Wolf Spider Huntsman opened up with his rifle, tearing a chunk out of the wall where she'd been. Jumping back into the other corridor and out of his line of fire, she scowled as she saw the first Wolf Spider getting back up. Shadow Step! she ordered, and reality ripped around her and took her away, leaving a furious group of Spiders behind.

***
Reply
 
#18
I quite like this take on the Warshade AT..
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
Reply
 
#19
Yes... might make it easier for me to try to play one. I haven't yet been able to wrap my mind around either the Warshade or the Peacebringer ATs yet, as
far as roleplaying is concerned.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#20
you've heard my mini-guide for slotting your Kheldian, right boss?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
Reply
 
#21
It doesn't ring a bell -- you probably posted it when playing a Kheldian was in the far distant future for me, and I ignored it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#22
Ahh, I'll repost it then.

Quote:Don't roll a Kheldian.

There we go!

; )
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
Reply
 
#23
***

Evangelia jumped, flipping over a Wing Raider and slicing off one of his jets, sending him out of control. "Okay people," she said as she landed
lightly on the street, rising to a ready pose again, "what's our status?"

"Looks like the Lost are bugging out," Mag Flashlight responded. "They're all moving around the edge of the fight and heading for Skyway or
their shanty town."

"Body thieves are trying to keep fighting," Daley Wong reported, "but it looks like they annoyed the Clockwork... I have no idea how, but
they're both a bit distracted from us right now."

"I'll take that as a result," Lady of the Peace said, moving up to burn the Raiders focusing on Eva, Knight alongside her. Scrapper sprinted past
them, intent on dealing with a Sky Skiff (The one-man aerodynes apparently being shiny enough to class as flying mousies to the catgirls - Alice was thinking
much the same thing). As the Fey fired off a tight beam of concentrated flame that cooked a Raider and took him out of action in one shot, Alice let loose with
a rain of arrows, her powers letting her aim into a group of heroes and villains safely. "What about Arachnos?" Riot Forces leader wondered.

The amused voice of Detective McNicols responded to that. "Looks like the Freaks got their act together and decided to join the fun, but found that the
Spiders were blocking the road. I've got a buttload of SWAT here with me. Once they're done kicking each others asses, we're gonna go have a
friendly discussion with what's left." There was a pause. "And a robot threatening to hold me down and apply stitches. Bossbot, a little
help?"

"Reminder: I assigned him to you for a reason," HE-AT replied promptly.

Knight chuckled, blasting through a force field and taking out its generator. "So, all that's left is these morons," he said as Scrapper and
Archer took out the few Raiders left at their current location.

A moment later, Purrfect Scrapper skidded to a halt on the edge of the cliff face that marked the end of New Overbrook and the start of the ruined area
commonly called Aftershock. She took a look out over Aftershock, before her ears and tail shot straight up. "Uh, guys, about the whole only-Raiders-left
issue," she said in a nervous tone. "There's a slight problem. Well, not a slight problem, more a lot of little problems that come together to
make a bigger problem, like addition or multiplication and all that stuff..." her voice trailed off as Archer stepped up beside her and placed a
reassuring hand on her shoulder. The other heroes moved up as well, getting a good look at what looked like well over a hundred Sky Raiders moving towards New
Overbrook, flying below the cliff face and staying in the caved in zones to avoid detection.

"Well," Neko said from her position on Archers shoulder. "This would seem to confirm suspicions that the Raiders have managed to make tunnels
under the Dam War Walls."

"That's an awful lot of Raiders," Ifrit managed. "Castillos not taking this well."

"Well, he did royally cock up," Knight said. "He's the sort of man to solve a mistake like that with more dakka," he quipped, before
frowning and zooming in with his visor, finding a squad of Raiders on the ground, gathered around an oddly proportioned body in a pool of blood. "But they
have taken down at least one hero. Looks like Pooky is dead." To one unfamiliar with the Legendary, the amusement in his voice would have seemed uncalled
for, even cruel.

Behind him, Terrence snorted. "Yeah. That'll last. Lazy demon's probably using the chance to take a nap."

Knight chuckled, then nodded. "And I found Castillo. Over near the eastern edge, surrounded by Skiffs. I think he's a bit upset."

Evangelia took out a small pair of binoculars and looked. "Ah yes. There's his custom flight suit," she noted. "What do you think? Take him
down, use him to make a point to the other Raiders?"

"If nothing else, it will work wonders on damaging their morale," Neko agreed. A moment later, their conversation was brought to a halt as Miranda
appeared next to them in a flash of warping space.

"... Mir?!" Ifrit exclaimed, taking in her sisters new look and energy pattern with more then a little surprise.

"Oh, hey 'frit," she smiled, waving. "I thought you were around here somewhere," she added, before her eyes rolled back in her head and
she passed out, Scrapper darting over and catching her as her legs shut down.

"Guys, little help here cause she's not oh thanks," she said as both Knight and Lady of the Peace grabbed their sister and lowered her to the
ground carefully.

"EMMY! GAMMA!" Knight yelled out, his voice reaching the atomic duo about a hundred meters away. Both were there almost instantly, kneeling down next
to Miranda, Gamma pulling a medical scanner from her belt.

"She's unhurt, just exhausted," Gamma said, holding out a hand over Mirandas chest and emitting a faint green glow. Emerald Blast did the same as
the former nurse continued. "I'm not sure what did it, but I think I can provide some basic energy to... hold on. This is odd."

"What?" Knight asked as he knelt down for a closer look. Bullets raced overhead as the front of the next wave of Sky Raiders closed in. Purrfect
Archer responded with an explosive arrow, Terrence with a phone booth. The bullets stopped for the moment.

"Her energy signature's changed completely. No extra electrical charge, more of a... Kheldian?"

"... Are you serious?" Ifrit gasped, eyes going wide, before jerking back in slight shock as Mirandas eyelids opened, revealing a misty black energy.

"She had no choice," the Warshade said in an odd, almost ethereal voice. "She was injured, dying. By merging, we saved both our lives, but
repairing her... took energy we could not spare." The voice began to waver, exhaustion ripping through the Kheldian half as much as the human.

Her sister looked at her for a moment, then smiled faintly and brushed a hand through Mirandas bright blue hair. "Go ahead and get some rest," she
said softly. "And thanks." The Kheldian smiled faintly, then slipped back into unconsciousness again. Ifrit looked at her for a moment, expression
darkening, then stood up.

"'Frit," Knight said, recognizing the expression. Behind him, Archer went slightly pale, recognizing her mothers anger taking hold. Before either
of them could do anything however, the Fey literally vanished into midair, and they both barely heard her wings beat as she lifted up into the air and out of
sight. "...Shit."

"Wonderful," Evangelia sighed, readying her sword again. "For Love and Justice!" she yelled, leaping over the cliff and towards the
Raiders, the catgirls right behind her.

***
Reply
 
#24
Such a cool story. You're good at balancing action and humor!

Though I'm slightly disappointed that none of my characters has made an appearance. (don't mind me, I'll be over here, sulking and being annoyingly
emo...)
Reply
 
#25
Matrix Dragon Wrote:"Yeah. That'll last. Lazy demon's probably using the chance to take a nap."
Hee!
Loving it.
(That is all)
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
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