What Happened in Portland

[Edgedancer]

With one last leap Nighthound landed in the museums parking lot. The place was littered with cars that had spikes mounted on them and the entry was hit by an explosion, seems like Funtimes already arrived.

 

Scratching his head Nighthound made for the entry. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. With a growl Nighthound whirled around and grabbed… nothing? Not directly nothing, he caught something but he couldn´t see it. An invisible Epic, huh.

 

He was stabbed again right in his chest, blood and mist seeping out of the wound. Great, the clothes are already rusting ruined; at least he could still wear them.

 

While Nighthound contemplated the state of his clothes he was stabbed again right in the eye socket. The Slontze is asking for it now.

 

Tightening his grip on whatever he was holding he hurled the body around until he could feel that it hit the ground. With a wet crunch his victim became visible again; head crushed, multiple burn marks on the body and wrist held by Nighthound.

 

Nighthound made for the entry again, one hand dragging the corpse behind him and the other in his pocket.

                                                  

 

Headshot found the turret on one of those rolling constructs that resembled shelves. Pulling a lever he brought himself into the hall the intruders where in. Apparently, all of them gathered in the gift shop on the other end of the hall and barricaded it with stone walls. Although, the two he could see didn´t look like anyone Blindside described. At least four intruders by now.

 

He could also see two of Hotwire´s cars driving towards those walls; did she attempt to ram them in? That would seem like that crazy chick.  Quickslide left his view as quick as he entered it, as he was thrown across the hall. Wonder if he´s still alive, if he is something will start to slither soon.

 

Pushing down the turrets trigger Headshot send halve the bullet towards the elephant that was standing again and the other halve for the intruders. Stone walls aren´t going to help you against guided bullets.

[Voidus]

Unfortunately it looked like the other Epic had only been knocked down as he still wasn't visible, not giving him a chance to get back up Purple Phoenix sprinted towards the door.
"He'll at least be a bit more cautious about following, hopefully I can take out whoever is controlling the cars and then get some help against him on the way out, Calamity but I hate Illusions."
Well that's what you get for trying to kill people with superhuman powers, some of them are a bit hard to kill. His voice said.
It seemed to be unusually chatty today, beyond just the regular bits of warning and advice, perhaps it was being near so many Epics again, he'd been out in the country for a while.

Bullets ahead. It warned. Sounds like a machine gun almost.
"Doesn't matter how many rounds it fires, I do have a magnetic shield you know."
Yes but it hasn't been tested against anything like this.
Ignoring the voice he sprinted through the entrance, immediately spying a man in a turret firing towards a giant wall next to a gift shop.
"Hey Slontze!" He yelled towards the man.
Handful of glowing pebbles in one hand and his pistol in the other he fired a couple of quick rounds towards the turret, although they flew wide and then took cover behind a nearby Tiger exhibit.
"I hope these Epics appreciate all the work I'm putting in for this." He muttered under his breath.
Well most Epics aren't particularly known for their sense of humility.
"Well then maybe they're insane like you" he shot back.
The Voice laughed inside his head.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Voidus

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

A hail of bullets flew from an unseen turret, turned at the wall, and sped through the open door, where they split into two groups—one for Nathan and Funtimes, and one for Lightwards. Nathan, who had learned quickly that bullets are something to be avoided, spun away, but they followed. 

 

Funtimes, who had never needed to take that lesson to heart, waved her hand. A cascade of gummy bears rained down on them. A quick glance at Lightwards revealed he had not been included in the gummy bear rain; rather, his bullets became a volley of ibuprofen. "Sparks, Doctor, we don't want the guy to OD." 

 

"Picky, picky." Some of the pills merged with a broken snow globe to become a bottle of water. 

 

Through the glass, Nathan could see three things that he would have rather not seen. 

 

First: Two cars, both driverless, heading on a collision course for the gift shop. 

 

Second: A glimpse—just a glimpse—of a gunner's turret, little but the barrel of a machine gun visible from where he stood. 

 

Third: A tall, solid figure, dragging another and trailing blood. The tall one looked like...

 

Calamity.  

 

Nathan nudged Funtimes' arm and pointed to the turret. "What say we finish that guy off?" Before Nighthound has his fun with him. There were precious few Nathan would say deserved some quality time with Nighthound, and the gunner, whoever he was, almost certainly did not qualify. 

 

She giggled as a sports car and a pickup collided, cutting off all but a teleporter and leaving Lightwards alone with his ibuprofen. Was burning in acid really better than time with Nighthound? 

 

Yes. Sparks, yes. 

 

A second later, they were in the turret. The gunner had just enough time to look up in shock before Funtimes took the stick Nathan had brought. "Nighty night!" 

 

One blow to the head and he fell. 

[Mailliw73]

"Pancakes for everyone, I guess," Altermind said. After assigning Travis to study the photos and try to work out what Corpsemaker's weakness is, Altermind decided they should know Scorch's. "The fire Epic that Corpsemaker recruited, Scorch, if you didn't know, used to be in my employ. As such, I know his weakness. If you've seen him, you've seen that he wears outfits similar to so-called "superheroes" of comics from the days before Calamity. His weakness is a certain type of comics, the ones created by DC, especially the 'Watchmen' series. It cancels out his fire abilities which turns him into a regular human." Altermind took in the looks on the group's faces. Not much surprise. He figured, it did make more sense than some Epics' weaknesses. It was similar to his own weaknesses: something important from his past.

"As such, I'm putting out an announcement to my citizens to bring me any DC comics they have, particularly the Watchmen ones. After that, I decided that we should take control of a costume store so that we can create costumes or dummies of the characters from the comics to activate Scorch's weakness," Altermind said. He had already sent a scribe to put out the announcement that any DC comics, especially Watchmen, have a reward bounty on them if turned in to his HQ. Unlike other Epics that had taken over after Calamity, Altermind had never banned such stories. His people didn't have the courage to put up a resistance. He made sure to squash any signs of rebellion immediately.

"Unless you i-," Altermind stopped himself from calling these Epics idiots. He'd have to remember to treat them nicer. Some of them were powerful. "Unless you have better ideas, I also came up with the idea of a large store to ransack. Sportsman's Warehouse. It is a large store with hunting gear and lots of other useful things. If you want hunting knives, guns, bows, anything to replace your current weaponry, it's a good place to do so. We can also outfit my guards with better than they have currently. There are also outdoor vehicles there. We will need all our resources to fight the other Epics in town and this store is a good place to increase what we have. It's in the south part of town. I propose we make the trip there soon. Any objections?" Altermind asked the group.

[Matrim Bloody Cauthon]

Psy-fi looked up at Altermind and asked him one question. "What can you tell me of the epic who calls himself Nighthound?"

[Mailliw73]

"Nighthound? I don't know much about him. Why do you ask? Voidgaze here brought him up yesterday and mentioned how he is a strength Epic who can gift. My spies reported about a battle last night. In a suburb to the east, three Epics took on this Nighthound character. The street was demolished and Nighthound survived it all. We're going to need tough weapons to defeat him. Another reason to go to the hunting store. The result of the battle though, was that the four Epics teamed up. Two were the insane lady from the bouncy castle and her friend, the teleporter. The third was a necromancer. We may need to fight them at some point," Altermind responded to Psy-Fi.

[Matrim Bloody Cauthon]

"Strength epic? But that doesn't fit with the way that Luke died. Mason said..........

 

Have you seen Mason this morning?"

[Mailliw73]

What was going on? Mason told Joshua that Nighthound had killed someone? Why? Altermind realized he hadn't noticed Mason not showing up in the room. He must've put a thought in my head that everyone was here. "No. Come to think of it, I haven't."

[Matrim Bloody Cauthon]

Psy-fi leaped from his chair and sprinted out of the room. He yelled to altermind as he was running by. "Close the gates. Tell the guards to stop mason."

As soon as the words were out another thought was forced into his head. Maybe i shouldnt do that.

[Mailliw73]

Altermind reached for his mobile. They had a potential traitor in their midst. One who could read minds, too. He'd know exactly what they were up to. Altermind just had to hope that his powers had a small range. "Guards. Shut the gates. NO ONE leaves for the next hour. Even me. Don't let anyone out and double the guard. If you fail, you will be punished." Altermind had to hope that his forceful orders would help prevent Mason from manipulating his guards' minds.

[Edgedancer]

They ate the pancakes, alright. Satisfied Voidgaze listened to Altermind´s plans and ate some pancakes herself. She rose her hand with a clear “I have some of those”-gesture, when Altermind explained that they could use them against Scorch, wasn´t that the poor guy that got humiliated in the bouncy bank? She couldn´t really get anything useful from a weapons store, though. Oh well, take one for the team.

 

The next point on the order was apparently that Mason told Psy-fi something about the Epic that attacked her that wasn´t true and now they looked down the base to search for him…. and did she miss a step there?

 

“Okay, I´m not entirely sure why you immediately jump to the worst case but I remember being the only one not to trust the mind manipulation guy just after he showed up Would it be rude to say `I told you so´? I always wanted to say that to someone. Anyway, do you want us to make some kind of patroles or do you have a more effective way to locate him?” Voidgaze said, while she set the pancakes aside, she did however not stop scratchimg the chin of the cat on her head.

[Mailliw73]

"Good idea," Altermind told Voidgaze. Gesturing to his scribe, he said, "Go set up patrols to search for the Epic Mason."

 

"I'm going to find this man myself. There is no room for traitors in Thoughttown. If any of you are harboring traitorous thoughts, leave now. Sightline, go teleport around HQ and see if you can find Mason anywhere. Flashpoint, you're on sky duty. Psy-Fi and I will roam the halls. You others can search where ever you please. Or stay here," Altermind told the group. Flashpoint nodded and took off. Sightline teleported away, and Altermind headed out of the room with Joshua on his tail.

[Voidus]

As soon as the hail of gunfire had started it stopped, peeking out from the cover Purple phoenix took in the scene before him, hundreds of small brightly coloured objects littered the floor, the teleporter and matter manipulator were just behind the turret, one of them hold a stick after it seemed having knocked out the gunner.

"Good thing I didn't try to blow him up, those two have a bad habit of nearly getting turned into a pile of purple ash."
A man strode across the room dragging someone behind him, he seemed to be moving faster than should naturally be possible, however two of the spiked cars were roaring across the floor towards him.

Scanning the next level quickly he saw a woman sitting at the restaurant through the window, carefully watching the cars and looking incredibly nervous.
"Found you" Purple Phoenix whispered.
He set off at a run, closing the distance as best he could to get in a better shot.
That looks to be the technopath, if she looks that nervous she probably won't have any invincibilities, just stay away from the cars and anything else electrical. His Voice advised as he sprinted across the floor.
He carefully aimed one pebble to the underside of the floor the Epic was sitting on, disintegrating it in a flash of purple. He heard a shrill shriek as the Epic fell through the hole in the ground and onto the ground floor, collapsing in a heap. The sound of the engines died as soon as her eye contact was broken.

Running towards the rubble he pulled one more pebble out of his pocket and tossed it towards the dazed Epic, setting off another explosion which tossed her a dozen feet and knocked her out.
"Well, that's that dealt with, shall we go say hello?" he said to his Voice.
Well I suppose, but where's that weird animal Epic disappeared to?
"Good point, and why is there a dead elephant here?"
That's when everything went even more insane as a dinosaur burst to life.
 

[Kobold King]

Quickslide gingerly removed himself from the pile of broken glass he was laying on, brushing off the razor-sharp dust as he rose to his feet. He looked around warily, poised to defend himself from that elephant.

The loud sound of gunfire brought a smile to his lips. Headshot had obviously found the turret, and a stream of guided bullets plunged themselves through the pachyderm's hide. Blood splattered on a slick floor as the elephant let out a dying bellow and collapsed to the ground, shaking the surrounding exhibits so much Quickslide thought they'd fall over.

His smile disappeared when he glanced towards the entrance desk. There was a new Epic entering the building, a triumphant sneer on his face. In his hand he dragged a bloodied Blindside. Obviously, unmistakably dead. Quickslide let out a curse and started heading for the turret. Headshot and I can take him out, he thought determinedly. No question about it...

He got a brief impression of that ridiculously outfitted woman slamming Headshot in the head, knocking to the floor with a loud cracking sound.

Sparks!

Quickslide looked fearfully from side to side, weighing up the Epic who slaughtered Blindside and the woman who'd cheerfully murdered Headshot. His options were not enviable.

Then he saw a dusty professor clutching his side, limping his way towards the dinosaur hall.

Perfect, he smiled nastily. You're not taking this museum without a fight.

---------------

Lightwards drank down the ibuprofen gratefully, though rather annoyed that Traveler assumed he'd overdose. What am I, a toddler? Ignoring his more offended side, he climbed to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain. The sound of gunfire had faded--with luck, Funtimes and Traveler had succeeded in bringing down Headshot. So he walked out of the gift shop clutching his side as he did so.

He was pleased--or rather, not completely terrified--to see Nighthound dragging a savaged corpse into the building. With any luck, the unfortunate soul who'd attacked Nighthound would be Mr. Blindside, and not some random pedestrian who'd had the nerve to speak with him.

Lightwards walked straight past his dead elephant, walking in a beeline for the part of the museum that specialized in dinosaurs. If any resident Epics were still engaging in active hostility, he'd need far greater firepower than an elephant to combat them.

And so with a smile and a grimace, Lightwards walked through open doors into a hall that made his bruised heart sing. Skeletons were everywhere. He took it all in, naming species as he went. Carnotaurus. Homotherium. Allosaurus. Styracosaurus, Triceratops, Megatherium...

With the smile of a toddler reaching for candy, Lightwards reached out to touch the ribcage of a particularly large predator.

He slipped.

The floor's solid surface lost all traction beneath his feet, depositing him painfully onto his backside. The fall alone would have smarted. But his hurt rib smacked hard against the tiles, making him scream loudly with the pain that burned through his body. Now thoroughly panicking, he tried to push himself up, only to feel another spike of agony erupting through his chest.

He rolled to his side, panting heavily as he clutched at his increasingly shattered rib.

Quickslide stood over him, his pistol contemptuously placed by his side as he slowly pressed his boot into Lightwards' side.

"I'll say this much for you," the friction Epic said coolly, ignoring Lightwards' cry of pain. "You've got good taste in allies."

Lightwards was flipped onto his back, eyes watering with the sensation of his injuries.

"Blindside and Headshot are dead," Quickslide continued, glaring. "I don't feel too bad about it. They were insufferable people, really. But those allies of yours... they scare me."

He grinned as he stomped Lightwards' chest, earning himself a desperate howl of torture.

"Your allies are pretty great. You, on the other hand, are just a flimsy little miracle worker who can heal a dead elephant. Big sparkin' deal."

Lightwards grabbed the side of a display case, trying to pull himself up. He was halfway up before the case became slick in his hand, causing him to lose his grip and crash back to the floor with a shot of pain.

Quickslide pulled him up by the collar and smiled into his face. "I lost my allies. The knife-wielding psychopath and the ace shot. But I'll make sure the brute and the crazy lady lose their pet professor."

He pushed Lightwards into a wall. He leaned against it, his eyes closed and his chest pumping up and down with ragged breath.

"Stop," he mumbled pleadingly. "Just stop, leave me alone..."

Quickslide laughed and let loose a hail of bullets into the crippled professor. The man shuddered as his body slid against the wall, and the laughing Epic fired a final shot into his head. The red spray that splattered over the carpet confirmed it. Lightwards was dead.

Quickslide chuckled to himself and turned away, thinking of how best to go about defending the museum from the other Epics.

-----------------------------------------------------

It would not be accurate to say Lightwards' life flashed before his eyes. Rather, his deaths flashed before his eyes. All of them.

The first one, back in Sacramento. Students ran screaming from him, his fellow professors dropping dead with gunshots. He'd never forget the looks of panic and confusion on their faces as Thomas Cardinal walked among them, picking them off one by one with an assault rifle as he randomly pulled fellows from their number and brought them back to life, puppets to their murderer. Most of these students had never seen an Epic in person before, only having heard of the phenomenon on the news or in scientific journals. Back then Epics were an object of study. A scientific curiosity.

Now they fled before one for their dear lives.

Lightwards squatted to restore Sam Hodgie, a young man who's grades had never been particularly high. He'd be far more useful as a tool for Lightwards than as a thinking human being. Sacramento would soon be a place of superb efficiency and grandeur--

He cut off as another lad stepped into the room, an assault rifle of his own clutched in his hands. Jake Subbly. Wasn't he the boyfriend of that one girl Lightwards had shot? He was pretty sure. They were always smooching in the halls, it made him sick--

"Professor Cardinal," Jake said nervously.

"That's not my name anymore." Thomas Cardinal took a step forward, eyeing the young man cautiously. Surely he wasn't planning on using that weapon? "I am called Lightwards now."

Jake Subbly watched him back with a look of anguish, fear, and revulsion. "Why?" he breathed.

"Because everything I taught you is right," Lightwards explained softly. "Nature is predicated on a delicate balance between life and death. A major disruption could ruin everything. But I form a link, a bridge if you will, between life and death. I can stop nature from falling. I can minimize the damage done by all these other Epics rampaging about. But to do that, I need bodies." He pointed his own rifle at Jake. "You can help."

Jake Subbly was too fast. Before he could raise his own, Jake lifted his own rifle and fired.

Lightwards was shocked as the crack of a gun broke through the air. He was even more shocked at the large hole now in his immaculately cleaned professor's coat. Finally, he was most shocked of all at the bullet that now resided in his heart. He looked at Jake Subbly with a look of fury, raised his weapon--

And collapsed from immediate heart failure.

----------------------------------------

Lightwards was falling. He had the vague sensation of being high within the sky, falling through clouds and whooshing towards the ground. But before he ever reached the ground, he found himself high within the sky again.

It was a Mobius loop. His fall started sky high, and before he ever hit the ground his fall began anew. Lightwards let out a scream of terror. Was this what she intended to do? Let him fall forever in one of her loops, with nothing but the whooshing air surrounding him?

Through his own screams he heard her laughter. He must have thoroughly annoyed her for her to do this--she usually avoided direct confrontations.

"Stop!" he screamed as he fell. "Please, just let me be! I've done nothing to you!"

"You tried to kill me," a taunting voice shot back. "Shot at me, as I understand it. As if you thought that would do any good."

"I was a fool," he let out as he fell. "Just let me down--"

"Feeling weak, Lightwards?" The voice seemed to come from all around his narrow, never-ending fall. "You always are, you know. Most of the Epics I kill are at least able to defend yourselves. When you don't have any of those idiot zombies with you, you're just an average, weak little human."

Mobius laughed again, the harsh sound of it overpowering even the sound of Lightwards' constant shriek. "I don't even have to use your weakness to dominate you, Lightwards. You're a pathetic little man."

"I am!" Lightwards screamed. "Truly, there is no one as powerful as you! Not Regalia on the east coast, nor Steelheart in his city! You are the most powerful Epic!"

"This isn't about assuaging my ego," Mobius replied with a hint of disgust. "Honestly, if you're going to just scream the obvious from the top of your lungs, maybe I should just leave you like this."

"No!"

"The point is, Lightwards, that I want to kill you. You will die. If I just let anyone annoy me and walk away, I wouldn't have a kingdom now would I?"

"Just put me down," he yelled, pleadingly. "I'm begging you, don't leave me like this."

"Fine, fine. You want down so badly? Have it your way."

Lightwards' vision showed him the ground rushing towards him. He expected to once again find himself looped through space to the height of his fall, but instead it continued rising up.

"Wait!" he cried. "This isn't what I--"

Lightwards collided with the rocky ground, his body bouncing across the hillside with a series of cracking sounds. All the momentum he'd builtup in his constant fall discharged at once, spreading a cloud of dust from his impact crater.

A dark-haired woman wearing rugged attire walked over to the broken corpse. She nudged it with a booted foot, satisfying herself with the jelly-like feel of the man's skeleton.

It wasn't until long after Mobius left that Lightwards' bones restitched and he got back up, head swimming with new concepts.

---------------------------------------------

These visions flashed through Lightwards' mind as darkness pressed around him. His head felt so terrible. The pain in his side was so great it seemed to consume the entire universe.

He was dying. And a part of him wanted to, just so the pain of death and existence would be over.

Fortunately, it was a small part. There was a light at the end of a tunnel.

Lightwards moved towards the light, like he'd done twice before.

---------------------------------------------

Quickslide peered out of the dinosaur hall, watching the next level. Sparks, there was another Epic there. A purple one wearing a bowler hat. As far as he could tell, he'd just blown up Hotwire.

He was preparing to go out and fight the new Epic when he heard a shuffling sound from behind him. "What the Calamity--" he began, but never finished.

Lightwards, the broken professor, was standing upright, his stance showing no sign of a broken rib and shot-up ribcage. For that matter, there was no sign of a bullethole in his head. Lightwards smiled at him, his expression showing a slightly smoother expression and more pronounced confidence than before.

"I am Lightwards," the man said, taking a step forwards. "I am never weak. Weakness is my strength. Death is my life."

His hand touched the boney leg of a dinosaur skeleton.

"And this is my Warrior."

Quickslide's eyes nearly popped as he watched the fossilized dinosaur start to shake, the metal wires that framed the skeleton dropping to the floor with scattered clinks. Thin air was obscured as marbled flesh grew up around the bones. Grey scales with black stripes appeared, and an enormous head filled with razor-sharp fangs began to rear itself.

There was a massive predatory dinosaur standing before Quickslide. He scarcely let out a scream before the animal lunged forward, catching his body in its powerful jaws. It ran forward with the frightened Epic screaming in its jaws. There was a crunch as Quickslide's body lost all structural integrity, quickly swallowed in bite-sized giblets that disappeared in the reptiles' gullet.

The animal, a fully grown Allosaurus , let out a triumphant roar that echoed through the museum halls.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Kobold King

[Edgedancer]

What to do. What to do. Voidgaze was searching for an Epic that could mess with the thoughts of others in a place which´s layout she didn´t knew properly yet.

 

Where could Mason be? No clue. Flashpoint would most likely see him, if he manages to get outside. Altermind would know more about actual hiding places. That leaves roaming around aimlessly and searching the only place here she knew, the cafeteria.

 

And there she found him. Big Al, the man she wasn´t looking for. “Hello Al. You don´t happen to know where that Mason guy is,” Voidgaze asked him, “Apparently, he´s trouble and I have no clue where to find him.”

“Nope, haven’t seen him,” Big Al replied, “Want a McMuffin?” He held one of his McMuffins up to her.

She took the Muffin. “Thank you. Say you worked here for a while, think you could help me searching.”

“Yup.”

 

They continued their search together.

                                                           

 

Nighthound walked into the entry hall. It seemed like most of the fighting was already over. Then he noticed two cares trying to ram him. He was about to get some more fun after all. Where exactly was the Epic that controlled them.

 

A sudden flash of purple collapsed a part of the upper floors, causing a body fall down and the cars to stop. Looking around Nighthound found the source of the purple explosion not to be Funtimes but some unknown man. Who is that purple twit and why did he steal my kill?

 

Before he could find an answer to those questions a saw a sparking dinosaur eating some random guy. Lightwards delivered on his claims.

 

Tossing aside the corpse he eagerly ran over to the necromancer. “Calamity, you really did revive a dinosaur. That completely makes up for standing me up. Now, where are the big carnivores?”

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

After his first six months at the casino, Nathan had learned there was a difference between a surprising event and a jarring one. 

 

Most everything had been surprising, at first. Epic murders and quarrels had happened at some distance. Faultline's betrayal and swift death had not been personal. It had affected him in the sense that sinkholes were a less common cause of death from that point onward, but he hadn't seen her rebel. Hadn't heard her defiant words to Newcago's dictator, hadn't heard his reply. Hadn't seen her broken body fall to the ground. 

 

At the casino, things were different. The air manipulator who declared war on the shapeshifter could very well have been sitting at one of his tables. The chances of being drafted into the feud to fetch knives or broken glass or some other sharp projectile were high, the stakes of being made a part of that war even higher. And, as with most of those feuds, the likelihood of carting a body out to the nearest alley was almost a certainty. Only luck determined whether that corpse would be human or Epic. Death had ceased being a surprise, but it always shook him. Always made him think. Sometimes made him cry. 

 

Lightwards' death was not surprising, but seeing anyone drilled with enough lead to slaughter a police unit was always jarring. Nathan let the sight of blood unnerve him, but he didn't let it show. Four years had forced him to develop a good poker face. His thoughts, however, disturbed him. There was the requisite pity—being shot was painful, Epic or no—but the clearest thought in his head was, At least it's not my fault. He can blame me, but I didn't get him shot. 

 

Funtimes clutched his arm, but whether in fear or shock he couldn't tell….until she started singing, bouncing from foot to foot. "Here he comes, Mister Fairy U-ni-verse…." 

 

"That's the song you pick?" he muttered. For better or worse, she didn't hear him. 

 

Lightwards' resurrection wasn't surprising, either. Nathan burst into applause when Funtimes did, although he refrained from cheering. 

 

Watching anyone eaten by a dinosaur that had just ceased being a fossil—that was surprising. Seeing him chewed to bits and swallowed piece by piece—that was jarring. 

 

You signed up for this, he chided himself. This is what you got yourself into, so you'll just have to deal until you can get yourself out of it. 

 

Nathan kept clapping, covering his disgust with a grin and his horror with a two-fingered whistle. 

--------------------------------------

Scorch was enjoying himself. 

 

There was something immensely satisfying about charging into a crowd, fists blazing and fireballs flying. Were he more sentimental, he might have said there was something magical about tossing flame here and there, not having to worry about whether or not the injured party would be useful later. Altermind had been concerned with that sort of thing, but not CorpseMaker. 

 

He let out a laugh as a fireball soared through the open window of a school bus. It would take a moment for the upholstery to catch, but that was all right. He could keep an eye on it so long as he—

 

Something lashed around his foot, and before he could burn it off, he was on the ground. 

 

A girl, a pretty teen with long red hair, lifted her hand. The vine holding his ankle lifted him as the tree attached grew another ten feet. Scorch's scowl matched hers. "Layla. Didn't think you stayed." 

 

Another vine wrapped around his other leg, holding him fast. "I heard you did, so I did." 

 

"Aw, that's sweet." 

 

The vines tightened around his legs, making him wince in pain. "You know that's not what I meant." 

 

"I thought you didn't believe in violence, sweetheart." 

 

Layla smiled. "Not unless it's fun." 

Edited August 13, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Mailliw73]

Electro yelled for Corpsemaker to come over. Once he did, Electro severed Commander's head from his torso, while the Commander was still smashed under the hunk of metal, trying to squirm out. CorpseMaker had given him the death-stare too. All three killing factors lead to the Epic's death. The body stopped squirming and was finally crushed completely by the metal. His head rolled off. If he hadn't been swarmed by soldiers, Electro would've cut the limbs off of the man too. Seeing that the two Epics were dead, Electro wondered why the National Guard didn't flee. Then he saw Scorch fall to the ground, pulled by vines. More Epics. Sounds like fun. Electro saw a large school bus decked out with guns and spikes coming towards him. He Scrambled the driver and used his electricity to cut the tires, bringing the bus to a halt. The bus driver tightened his cap and pushed a button on the dashboard. To Electro's surprise, the War Bus' tires rein flared and patched themselves up. He heard a voice yell out the window, "Don't mess with Ron Wilson, Bus Driver!"

Electro smirked and proceeded to cut off the ends of all the guns. He ran towards the bus, slitting the tires again to give him a second to charge around the side. Using his Power Cutter, he ripped the side of the bus open. Hopping in the hole he made, Electro received a blow to the face. Ron Wilson, bus driver, was standing there ready to hit any Epic who came through the hole. Electro fell to the ground with tears in his eyes. His nose was bleeding. He looked up at the bus driver and angrily snarled, "You'll wish you didn't do that." He cut off Ron's hands and left him with bleeding stumps. Scrambling the bus driver, Electro hopped to his feet and ran to the controls of the bus. He hit the button that said "Fix" and nothing happened. This bus driver must've been an Epic and in some weird way, this bus was his power. Electro collapsed the man on the shoulder, giving him a jolt of electricity and hopped off the bus, running back out towards the guards. The bus driver wouldn't be able to operate with his hands cut off. He'd die from the blood loss soon enough.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Mailliw73

[Kobold King]

Lightwards strode into the other Epics' view alongside his Allosaurus, beaming from ear to ear. It had been a tired, weary Lightwards who had entered Portland just the previous evening. A weak Lightwards. He felt like a new man now, his head ablaze with new ideas. And with those new ideas, an even stronger conviction to his cause.

 

The Allosaurus was even more magnificent than the bones had led him to believe. It stood twelve feet tall, and was almost forty feet long from the tip of its tail to the nostrils on its snout. Its hide was thick and pebbly, but graced with delicate black stripes like those of a tiger. The general dull coloration was starkly contrasted by the pair of short crests that were sported on the animal's head, which almost seemed to shine with a bright shade of scarlet. Possibly designed for attracting mates during the breeding season; it made Lightwards wonder whether he could launch a dinosaur breeding program to give him a constant supply of bones--

 

Reluctantly he pulled his attention away from the dinosaur and faced his fellow Epics. Funtimes was cheering, Traveler was whistling, and Nighthound was already pressing for a predator of his own. Lightwards soaked up the admiration before his eyes settled on Traveler's face. The teleporting Epic was whistling and applauding, but his face seemed distinctly uncomfortable. Lightwards recognized that face at once; he fancied that all professors, regardless of species, could recognize that face. It was the face of someone who wanted to seem more eager about something than he actually was.

 

Jealousy, Lightwards thought dismissively. That's what it is.

 

"There are all kinds of large carnivores here," Lightwards told Nighthound with enthusiasm. "I bet you'd love to own a Utahraptor of your very own, or a short-faced bear..." His face lit up. "No, I know exactly what you want."

 

Lightwards half-ran, half-skipped towards another skeleton, a similarly large skeleton mounted by a potted plant. Its mouth was posed in a gaping maw, and a pair of horns jutted out from its skull. Lightwards put his hand on the rough stone skull, closing his eyes and focusing. It took only a minute for the feel of stone to vanish--instead, his fingers rested on coarse reptilian skin. The Carnotaurus shook itself to life, its eyes first wild and confused, then submissive.

 

"Go nuzzle your new master," laughed Lightwards. The massive theropod bounded to Nighthound in three huge steps, thrusting its knobby snout into the Epic's face. "Do what you like with him," Lightwards told Nighthound. "He's yours. Let it never be said that Lightwards does not keep his promises."

 

He turned to face the ludicrous duo, still smiling. "And I suppose you'll want something too." He glowered briefly. "Though you lost the last Warrior I loaned you. Alice Regway is probably still waiting in the car back in that suburb." He smiled again. "But then, I am suddenly a wealthy man, who worries not about returns on his loans."

 

Lightwards snapped his fingers, and the Allosaurus flicked its head upwards, knocking a series of pterodactyl skeletons to the floor with a resounding clatter. He stepped among the shattered bone fragments, picking up a handful of skulls and using his miracle. A trio of Tapejara, large and ridiculous-looking pterosaurs, fell to the ground and began making confused alarm sounds. Their crests were comical in appearance, and all three seemed to sport a different color--one was orange, one was red, and one was bright yellow. Who would have guessed they have such a high degree of individual variance? Lightwards thought curiously. He relished the thought that he was the first human being to witness these creatures in the flesh, much less control them.

 

There was only one thing still bothering him. When he'd first entered this place, he'd seen that strange purple man watching him from the shadows. He was not among the museum casualties, nor did he appear to be among the established members of the gang. So who was he and where had he scurried off to? But Lightwards brushed that thought to the back of his head. 

 

There was a part of him that warned him away from this cheeriness. That voice told him to be somber and dignified. This was, after all, the first day of a glorious empire that would soon cover the whole of Oregon, if not an even greater area. Surely such a momentous occasion warranted respect. But standing with living dinosaurs at his beck and call, basking in the glowing admiration he percieved (real or not) from the other Epics, feeling the strange sense of giddiness and power that filled him after each death...

 

Lightwards found that he simply couldn't stop smiling.

[Matrim Bloody Cauthon]

As they were headed down the halls Psy-fi kept trying to wrap his head around what had happened. When they came upon a turn in the hall, he immediately thought to go right. Apparently Altermind had the same thought, he turned right without hesitation. Psy-fi reached over and grabbed Altermind.

"Dont go that way. Let me lead, i know the feel of a telepath distracting you better than you do."

[Mailliw73]

Altermind noticed that both he and Joshua turned the same way instinctively. Realizing that it was probably the mental push of a telepath, Altermind agreed to let Josh take the lead. "Agreed. Do you know what the range on his powers is?"

Altermind hadn't roamed these halls aimlessly in a long time. Since before Calamity. As a high school student, a friendless one at that, he had walked these halls many times over. Joshua had been his only friend, but even he wasn't great friends with Altermind. Luckily, the day Altermind had killed the students in the school, Joshua had been sick at home. After leaving that day, he realized what he could do and began taking over the area. He used the high school as his HQ to remind him of his past. He had been made fun of, bullied, beat up, emotionally tortured. He needed these halls to remind him that he wasn't invincible, but also to remind himself of how far he had come.

[Matrim Bloody Cauthon]

As they walked Joshua avoided traps until he stood in front of a door. If his memory served it led to the roof.

"Through this door is Mason. I have no doubt that he has also picked up some of your guards by overpowering their minds. You take out the guards i will handle Mason." As he spoke Psy-fi set his rifle off to the side, and drew his dagger. He then took a deep breath and charged through the door.

[Voidus]

Purple Phoenix looked on in awe as dinosaurs were brought back to life, the unknown professor looking Epic seemed to be responsible, merely touching a piece of the skeleton and moments later flesh had formed around some very alive looking pterosaurs but he'd never heard of a necromancer Epic before.
You have been hanging out in the middle of nowhere for a fair while now, maybe if you rejoined society more often then you'd hear about more kinds of Epics, not to mention being able to shave, this thing itches you know. His voice scolded.
Wait, itches? That would mean it could feel his body, he'd never realized that before but it seemed useful information so he filed it away.
"Well, what's the plan, do I try to take on the four of them, escape or go up and introduce myself?" he whispered back.
Are you serious? Did you SEE that guy get eaten? No fighting, no running. We don't know how to deal with immortals, so you march yourself up there, be polite and try not to get eaten by a t-rex.
Sighing deeply, Purple Phoenix began to extricate himself from the rubble and slowly walked over to the group of Epics, juggling one of his larger pebbles just to be ready.
"Hello!" He bellowed, sketching a bow.
"Excellent fight by the way, hope you didn't mind that we joined in, I just thought the exercise would be a good way to wakeup. Purple Phoenix at your service"
As he was talking, the glittery lady scowled at his glowing pebble turning it into a small cupcake. Actually it looked pretty good, he was just about to bite into it when-
WAIT! Take a good look at it you idiot! His voice screeched.
Taking a careful look he saw that the cupcake was still glowing slightly, looked like the transformation didn't completely stabilize the particles again. Throwing it nonchalantly to the side where it exploded in a slightly smaller than expected puff of purple energy he continued.
"So, where do we go from here?"
 

[Mailliw73]

Altermind put a hallucination up of a horde of guards charging up in front of Joshua. Might as well worry Mason. He drew the long knife he had had his guard procure for him the night before. The throwing knife was in a scabbard at his waist. Altermind also drew his gun. He didn't want to kill any of his guards, but if they attacked, he knew he might have to. Running right behind Josh, he created hallucinations in Mason's brain of high pitched screaming. Seeing four of his guards on the roof as well, he gave two of them the hallucination as well. One dropped to his knees, covering his ears. Altermind threw up a white screen hallucination for the other two guards. They could see nothing now. He hit one on the back of the head with the butt of his gun, using his telekinesis to thrust it even harder. The man collapsed, unconscious.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

As the dinosaur finished off the friction manipulator, Lightwards gave Nathan a long, appraising look. He continued to clap and cheer, fighting panic. He had seen that look before. He had received that look before. It was the sign of an Epic who was trying to decide what to do with the human before them—draft him, chide him, or punish him? Maximus had stared at him that way before he tossed him through a window. City Girl had given him that look before sending him to the kitchen for all the empty glass bottles he could carry. Fortuity had looked at him that way for a good twenty minutes before summoning him to his table. 

 

Lightwards looked away. 

 

Nathan nearly collapsed with relief. Whatever thought had flitted through the necromancer's head had not been worth his consideration. He let Funtimes teleport them out of the turret and onto the floor, where Nighthound was learning about the various types of lizards present. A massive horned beast took the place of ancient bones and, at Lightwards' command, nuzzled the feral Epic. 

 

Then it was their turn. "And I suppose you'll want something too." His glare flicked Nathan's frayed nerves, but vanished quickly. "Though you lost the last Warrior I loaned you. Alice Regway is probably still waiting in the car back in that suburb. But then, I am suddenly a wealthy man, who worries not about returns on his loans."

 

"So sorry," Nathan muttered with more than a trace of sarcasm as Lightwards turned to the dinosaur he seemed to have claimed for his own. A snap of his fingers, and the beast knocked three winged skeletons from the ceiling—skeletons that were soon covered in flesh and brightly colored skin. 

 

Doctor Funtimes put her hands to her cheeks and knelt beside them. "Aw, they're so cute!" She began mimicking the loud chirping and squawking noises they were making, drawing a smile to Nathan's face. 

 

"They're probably terrified, darling," he told her. "They've been dead for millions of years." The thought soothed his nerves, filling him with…not quite excitement, but wonder, at the least. These creatures were older than civilization, and they belonged to Funtimes—and him as well. Lightwards had called Nighthound the horned dinosaur's master, so it followed that the bright, crested, winged lizards were under a similar arrangement. 

 

The notion triggered something in his head—a connection he wanted to make, felt he ought to make, but something blocked it. Perhaps it was the blood, or the dinosaurs, or something else entirely. 

 

He turned to Lightwards with a cool smile, not because he wanted to, but because he needed to keep the appraising look from making an encore appearance. "I must say, Lightwards, I'm impressed. I wasn't expecting—" 

 

"Hello!" 

 

The wildest, longest, most impressive beard Nathan had ever seen stood in the doorway. He had no idea who the man attached to it was, but he wore a friendly smile. "Excellent fight by the way, hope you didn't mind that we joined in, I just thought the exercise would be a good way to wakeup. Purple Phoenix at your service."

 

"What do you want?" Nathan asked. A glance at Funtimes showed her scowling at Purple Phoenix's hand, but when he followed her gaze, he saw nothing but a cupcake. Purple Phoenix tossed it aside. An explosion of purple followed. 

 

The Epic from the museum entrance. "You tried to kill us," Nathan began, but Funtimes had other concerns. 

 

She drew a long gasp, her hands fluttering beside her cheeks. "Your. Hat. Is. Amazing!" With a squeal of pleasure, she snapped her fingers. A display stand became a neat pile of bowler hats, each a different size and color. She scooped them up and danced back to her pterodactyls, placing one on each head, accompanying each hat with a name. "You are Trogdor, and you're Kajagugu, and you get to be Seamus." Lightwards' dinosaur was given a red bowler and the name Vincenzo. 

 

At Nighthound's dinosaur, she waited for it to lean its head down, then placed a yellow bowler between its horns. "You are Phteven." 

 

"Phteven?" Nathan echoed. 

 

"Yeah! It's Steven with a Ph!" 

 

He chuckled. "It fits." 

 

Lightwards was her last stop. She paused, dancing from foot to foot with the last bowler held behind her back. "Sorry you couldn't find the zombie in your neighborhood," she said. Nathan wondered if Lightwards caught the insult in her words—she was in your neighborhood, you should have found her, moron. With a flourish, she presented a forest green bowler with a colorfully embossed leather hatband. Bright gold stars were embedded in the band, and a daisy was balanced on the brim. "This is for you. It won't look good with your clothes all red, though. I can make them better." 

[Matrim Bloody Cauthon]

Psy-fi met Mason steel against steel. Being precog does nothing if your enemy knows your thoughts. As they neither could touch the other. They struggled on the rooftop. Psy-fi shoved Mason back. "How could you, he was my brother."

"You were always the stronger more impressive epic. No one dared go up against you. I was jealous, but then it said to me, "Mason work smarter not harder." So thats what i did, i made you my own personal attack dog," Mason replied.

The fight continued a whirling duo fighting over a reason dead for ten years. They moved back and forth across the rooftop.