What Happened In Astoria

[Voidus]

Bioterror left the window open as he left the car, orchestral strains following him as he walked up to the couple who had just left a bizarre looking outhouse with stained glass windows and were smiling in what seemed to be halfway between relief and fear.

Remember, new city, can't keep killing people. Got to make a good first impression to show restraint.

"Hello" He said, altering his voice to a slightly gravelly tone "I seek the rulers of Astoria for a meeting."

He altered the pigment in his eyes to a dark red, one of the simpler alterations he could make but one that showed the couple what they were dealing with.

"It would be wise to tell me where to find them."

The young man pointed back to the building they'd just exited with a trembling finger.

"The Financier helps Lucentia, he could help you."

Bioterror looked back at the building skeptically before glaring at the man.

"Was that your idea of a joke? Little bugs like you don't get to make jokes."
In his anger at the idea that the rulers of Astoria could reside in such an absurd place he let a thread of his power out, destroying lung cells, he managed to hold back from killing him. Just.

"Teach him to mind his betters." He said to the young woman, who managed only a tearful nod before picking up a limp arm and dragging her partner away.

Bioterror headed towards the ridiculous building, might as well see if anyone here had any idea, if not, well he couldn't be expected to show too much restraint could he?

"Anybody here?" He yelled as he approached "I'm looking for the rulers of Astoria."

[Edgedancer he/him]

The tendrils Bloody Mary send towards the other Destructors stopped when they hit something in the air. Judging by the faint blue shimmer see could make out, it was the work of Smasher. Taking the chance she coated the force fields in a layer of her blood, turning their protective domes into a prison.

 

Two of the Destructors were still free from what she could see, one of them the new one pushing away her blood with gusts of air and the other Smasher, which wasn’t surprising given his powers.

 

After she cut of Metalmech’s sight the remains of Smasher’s jeep lost its course. Mary raised a wall of blood in front of it. As it drove through it the vehicle resurfaced in front of the flying Destructor. Instead of crashing into him, it was simply reduced to dust. Annoying as it was, at least she knew more about his powers.

 

On the edge of the battlefield someone introduced himself with an explosion. He was apparently some fire Epic here to pick a fight. Why did these Epics just all creep out of their hiding today.

 

She thought about what to do next, as she saw that her reinforcement was finally approaching in the sky.

She used the flask Deathgale carried to transport herself inside their cover just in time to hear Winterspell’s question.

 

“Quite simple really,” she said” most of the Destructors are in those blood covered domes you are seeing, one that apparently just joined them is in the air,” a tendril of blood pointed towards him, “and possess at least some form of wind control and disintegration.

 

“Smasher is still walking around, so as a failsafe.“ She flicked a bit of blood on each of their clothes. “This is in case I  needed to get one of you out of a force field. “Lastly, we have the Epic in that burning armor that seems to intend to pick a fight with Lucentia but didn’t seem to recognize me, meaning he probably doesn’t know who any of us are.

 

“Any wishes concerning who you want to deal with?” She pair of blood discs raised on her palms. “I can take you to them directly.”

[Edgedancer he/him]

(I have the honor to present you with collaboration from Winter, Voidus, Sirce and myself.)

 

The Adventurer watched Lockvault’s hands blur into rudimentary fingerspelling. He obviously knew the signs but his awkwardness made it seem that he was unused to actually speaking to anyone this way.

One of us will need to play deaf so they don’t get suspicious. Lockvault signed.

Sure, well we could just go with the old broken mic excuse but I suppose then only one of us would need to sign. The Adventurer signed back, hands moving slightly slower than normal to make sure Lockvault could keep up. If we’re going to both be on this server for a while remind me to teach you proper signing, fingerspelling takes too long. What should we do about that guy who’s yelling? I think he has some kind of noclip hack because he was flying and moving way too fast.

He looked out the window to confirm that the newest arrival was looking straight at them and seemingly growing impatient. Well at least he hadn’t fast traveled, only one of them seemed to have figured that out. But then he had that flying trick...
 

Even with at the slow pace at which the Adventurer went, Lockvault quickly fell behind. Leaving his eyes open to continue feeding his Memory, Lockvault went back and translated the message, getting faster as he went along.

Broken mic? Is that one of us playing mute? That would be good so that they can’t test to see if we are really deaf. It would also speed up how long it would take to go back and forth between us. Good thinking. As for the other guy, he looks like real trouble. I suggest that we don’t make him mad. I think we can risk going down there if we always keep ready to bug out.

Instead of actually getting out of the building the two of them started waving their hands around, sign language probably. The idea was pretty cute, and could almost work if not for the fact that he could just pin down their hands whenever he wanted. “You know, excluding me from your conversation is pretty rude. Anyway, if you’re not coming I’ll drag you out of there,” as he talked the Metal again made sure the other two could hear him.

 

The Metal put pressure on the wall they were hiding behind. With barely any resistance it erupted towards the open street. He was about to give them one more chance before getting aggressive. The Metal himself slowly started crossing the rubble filled street towards them. “Consider this your last chance before you’re starting to get hurt, pals.”  

 

Now, what music to play? He settled on something that goes with everything, Rules of Nature.

The Adventurer watched the wall blow out in front of him in surprise, then growing dislike.

Oh please don’t let this be a Quicktime event boss-fight, I hate those, there’s no challenge to them.

He was about to pull his rifle up and start firing wildly when he realized Lockvaults last frantically signed message.

I suggest that we don’t make him mad.

Did that mean Lockvault had played this boss before? Did he have an Aggro meter or something?

Following the wall out onto the street he walked towards the Epic calmly with Lockvault.

Play dumb. He signed as they moved. Let me know if there’s anything I need to do.

“Hello.” He called as they approached. “Sorry about that, my friend here’s muted so we needed the signs. You guys having fun with the game so far?”

The wall exploded outwards after the Metal warned the Epics. Brightdeath turned her head to look at the Metal. He seemed to have expected it and the fact that it happened right after he said something seemed to be a sign that he did it.

Then the Metal threatened them. So far so good. Brightdeath thought, toying with a piece of light with her fingers. Some music started playing. Brightdeath liked it. It was loud.

The two Epics started signing each other quickly. One Epic started to pull up a gun. A gun. That means he probably doesn’t have any directly offensive abilities.

“Hello.” One of the Epics told them. The one who did not aim the gun. The Epic with the gun was holding it by his side now. “Sorry about that, my friend here’s muted so we needed the signs. You guys having fun with the game so far?”

His friend was dumb, huh? Hadn’t Brightdeath heard them both talking earlier. She started to say something, then she thought about it again.

Had she heard them both talking? She thought that she had heard both of them talking, but was she paying attention that much? She tried to recall what she had heard. She had definitely heard one of them speaking and hadn’t really thought about much but getting back to the Metal.

Brightdeath heard the rest of the statement about a game. Brightdeath wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘game.’

She turned to the Metal to ask him his opinion.

“What should we do?” She asked, putting emphasis on the we. Brightdeath wanted to make sure that if they brought down these two Epics, she would be given part of the credit. “Not sure if he’s actually dumb. But he could be.”

It seems like destroying the wall did the trick. The two started walking and meet the Metal halfway. One of them claimed that the other was mute and if he was enjoying the game, as he put it. Judging by that introduction these two are quirky enough to justify a visit.

 

Brightdeath seemed rather hostile against the two, although with her he wasn’t sure if she actually noticed something or if she was  just generally abrasive.

Responding to her question the Metal slightly bemused raised an eyebrow at her, “They came out, so obviously we’re going to talk. No reason to start insulting people immediately either.”

Then he addressed the two newcomers, “In case you mean your little attempt at hide and seek, it was way too easy to be entertaining. Anyway, what are you two up to? Little Sunshine here was a bit harsh but you two aren’t exactly showing your best behaviour with all the hiding and pointing a gun at me. Almost as if it might be simpler to simply kill you and be over with it.” His smile grew slightly broader after he finished talking.

 

With the last statement from the Metal, Lockvault felt the Adventurer shift next to him. Casually looking over at him, he saw his finger still restlessly moving along his trigger guard.  If he makes a single wrong move, this is going to get blown to Calamity faster than we can handle.

Thinking quickly about what would convince his companion, Lockvault turned to him and quickly signed a message. Don’t aggravate him. He is a tough boss to beat and we don’t have enough XP yet.  Besides, if we can get out of this situation without ticking him off, there is an extra unlock that we get.  The new game engine lets you go through some situations in multiple ways rather than a singular quest line.

With his advice, and his life, in the Adventurer’s hands, Lockvault turned back towards the other two Epics.  He had joked before Calamity about not being able to act to save his life.  Hopefully the smile he gave them wouldn’t put that speculation to the test.

Multiple ways huh? Well non-linear storytelling always was better. The Adventurer mused. That probably means a persuasion option, so we just need the right dialog choices. Tricky with no save options though, so we only get one shot at this huh?

Lowering his rifle he looked back at the two enemies, it seemed that one was the boss the other might be another player who’d beaten him.

“Kill us huh? Well you could try but I wouldn’t advise it. We were just talking about setting up camp together. Dangerous place you know?”

Now, do we go for a persuasion or intimidation? Well the first choice is usually a test anyway, should be ok as long as I don’t get aggressive again.

“Still, we can look after ourselves. What exactly are you two doing here?”

Need more information first, then choose the corresponding conversation tree that relates to their goals.

He wouldn’t advise it, huh. I wonder, if he could actually deliver in a fight.  

“Oh you know, ask newcomers who they are, teach them not to cause any trouble and generally whatever I want to do.”

The Metal’s power crushed down on the Epics elbows. His arms fell down to the ground, ending in two bloody stumps, bone fragments protruding from it.

Disappointed the Metal tilted his head to the side, “Pity, I was hoping for that to be harder.”

Pain flared in both of the Adventurer’s arms as the boss stared at him.

“Argh! Sparks! Woah they really went all out on the haptics for this didn’t they?” He said with a grimace, his mind instinctively distancing itself helped limit the overwhelming pain, though the throbbing in both arms was still far from pleasant.

I’m going to have to reload aren’t I? Sparks! I was hoping I could perfect this without needing to reload.

“See you in a second” He whispered to Lockvault as he shifted himself through the ground once more, aiming this time not for the sewers but something far deeper and less pleasant.

For a brief second searing pain engulfed his entire body, his eyes, his limbs, his lungs were filled with a burning substance. Then it all faded to black once more.

A few moments later he reappeared next to lockvault, picked up his weapon from where it had fallen with his now functioning arms and faced the boss once more.

Let’s try this again shall we? Try for the diplomatic option this time.

“Hello! Sorry about that, my friends muted you see. I hope you’re enjoying the game so far, is there anything we can help you with?”

[Sirce Luckwielder he/him]

This is the first part in a collaboration between Sirce, Edgedancer, Mailliw, Mail-mi, and Blackhoof.

 

 

Slightly peeved that Mary had ruined his shirt with her blood, Winterspell resolved to have this fight over as soon as possible.  Turning from them to survey the scene, he began formulating a plan for his men.

 

"Dustdevil, try to keep that flying Epic off balance. What will you need to do that?"

 

"That diamond wall o'er yonder looks like good ammunition, I suppose you wouldn't mind me scraping some off the top?" Dustdevil asked Mary. In response, she sent him away, causing him reappear beside the city wall.

 

"Disruption, I want you to go for Smasher. If you can take him out, great, but try to at least distract him for a while until we can pile on him."

 

Disruption looked miffed at that last piece. "We'll see who needs help from who when I take him out."

 

With that, Mary thankfully sent him away.

 

"Kinesis, you're with me. I want you to distract that fire yahoo over there while I come up. It shouldn't take too much to take him down with my water, but I want to get it over with as soon as possible so we can move onto the other Destructors.

 

"Sure thing. Mary, set me on that small hill over there. There are lots of peices of metal and some rocks that I can use as ammunition."

 

Pursing her lips, Mary sent him on his way.

 

She turned to Winterspell. "Anything I can help you with?" she smirked. Her tone like that of an adult talking to a little child.

 

"Yeah. You owe me a new shirt." With that, Winterspell melted his ice shield. He began to move away, using his water like tentacles to advance him towards the blazing fire Epic.

 

Deathgale watched Winterspell’s soldiers spread out. “From the looks of it I’ll help Dustdevil with the new Destructor. I imagine that there are enough people here now that you can take your leave and not risk yourself out here?” Deathgale asked Bloody Mary. He did want her to get away from the fight but his concern was one of efficiency. He gave an annoyed groan as he pulled out his soaked pack of cigarettes.

 

“It’s really heartwarming to have someone be concerned about your well being, you know? I’ll still keep an eye on the fight though, so I got your back.” Bloody Mary sank down in a puddle of blood under her. Shortly before disappearing she gave him a head tilt and a thin ghastly smile spreading across her entire face, he couldn’t quite tell if she was mocking him or, in her own way, genuine.

 

Still- a new pack of cigarettes appeared out of the patch she just disappeared from and he caught it midair- they did come to an agreement with each other over the years.

 

Lighting one he half stepped through a layer of blood that rose in front of him. He exited the blood that the Destructor was holding at a distance with his wind.

 

Deathgale threw a pair of windblades at him.

 

Hellfire’s mouth twisted into a snarl as he saw that the large blue object had been a ball of ice, carrying several Epics. They had come from the direction of the city…. logically, these were servants of Lucentia. And one was a water Epic. He hated water Epics!

Not only were they a natural counter to him as a fire Epic, but they had a much better chance of accidentally triggering his weakness than anyone else.

 

Wait… this isn’t near the ocean, is it? He thought in sudden panic. Valve would have told me if it is.... wouldn’t she?

 

He needed to kill that water Epic.

He had now identified it, walking towards him with huge tentacles of water. Other Epics seemed to be teleported around the battlefield in the huge tentacles and pools of blood that covered everything, but Hellfire only had eyes for one.

To kill this Epic…. I’m going to need his friends distracted, Hellfire mused.

 

He turned to the scattered forcefields, each utterly covered in thick sheets of blood. With a grunt, he threw his arms forward, and a massive gout of flame shot from his whole body, rolling across the field and over the forcefields. A monstrous hiss like a thousand angry snakes filled his ears, and huge pillars of reddish steam rose into the sky as the blood was literally boiled and evaporated off of the forcefields within a second. The folks in the armoured vehicles suddenly found their vision clear, and their movement unencumbered as all the blood within a large a large area of the vehicles had been turned to vapor.

 

Winterspell glided towards the Epic, smiling with euphoric glee. That smile turned into a slight frown when he saw the fire Epic sling waves of heat at the blood around the Destructiors. Some of water began to evaporate with the blood, but he quickly brought its temperature down, adding it back to his water base.

 

Turning towards Kinesis, he placed a shield of Icesteel around him in a bubble. With his spacial awareness he wouldn't need his vision to hit the other Epic. He used the blood splatter on his shirt to address his team. "Kinesis, take some of the diamond refuse from where Dustdevil is drilling and send it at that fire Epic. Keep teleport it in close and hit him with all the speed you can muster. Try to be unpredictable and keep him off balance while I deal with him." Feeling a moment of pride, he quickly added a last snippet "If he looks to be going down, hold back slightly. I want to be the one to deal the killing blow."

 

Turning back towards the Epic, he quickly formed some of his water into Icesteel spears, keeping them cold and hard with his mind. Let's see how he responds to this. He sent the spears flying, smiling at the surprise the Epic would get when they didn't evaporate.

 

Desolation managed to repel the blood from him with his wind powers. he couldn't manage to get a clear shot at Bloody Mary herself though. He steadily moved closer, fighting her blood. A capsule of ice landed near the fight. As Des watched, various Epics took their place in the fight. Apparently, Mary had called for backup. Wimp.

 

A man, dressed in a fancy suit and smoking a cigarette, appeared on the blood Des was pushing back. Des propelled himself to the side as soon as the snob appeared. Just in time, it appeared, as some strangely distorted wind flew past him, quicker than he could manipulate it. Desolation began to sporadically switch the direction of the wind propelling him to make himself harder to hit. He slung one of his assault rifles into position and shot at the suited slontze.

 

Jag heard a muffled voice yell for Lucentia through the blood bubble he was now trapped in. Smasher reported that the voice belonged to a fire Epic who had just appeared on the scene. He wanted to know who fought for Lucentia so he could kill them. While Jag tried to contact Des to make contact with the fire Epic, the blood surrounding the force field began dissipating. It was evaporating into the air. Jag looked around to see the blood surrounding all the force fields was evaporating. The fire Epic had decided to help them of his own accord. "Smasher, drop my force field now."

 

Lightwrought sat on a balcony, looking across the town, imagining that she could see the battle taking place. Winterspell was kind to worry about her, but she knew she could hold her own in a fight. She consoled herself with thinking that the Keep needed her in case something happened while he was gone.

 

Coming out of her thoughts with a jolt, she realized that the sun was now below the horizon. The last rays still lit the sky, but soon it would be night. Perhaps there was something she could do in this fight.

 

Using all of her strength, she changed the sky to be a light cream. Pushing as much as she could into it, she noticeably brightened the sky. It wasn't much, and it wouldn't last long, but it would have to do for now. Hopefully Winterspell would make use of the brightened sky and deal with the invaders quickly.

[+Slowswift]

 

 

He hadn't even been in the city an hour before someone tried to shoot him.

 

They should have known better. Timelock's danger sense kicked in, and the world around him froze, allowing him to see and avoid the bullet that had been speeding towards his head.

 

He glanced around, noting the sniper on a nearby rooftop, then casually stepped to the side. As soon as he was clear of the bullet, time sped back to normal and the projectile flew past his head.

 

Timelock pulled out his own firearm and carefully fired three shots at where the gunman had been hiding. He missed, of course. You could hardly expect to hit anything so far away with a pistol. That hadn't been the point. He was sending a message: I know you're there. Don't mess with me.

 

Timelock, an Epic once known to the fine people of the world as Charles Frederick Williamson, had entered Astoria, possibly one of the most dangerous cities this side of the Rocky Mountains. He noticed with some confusion that the sky, despite it being late evening, was tinted a peculiar shade of green, and that various chunks of the city seemed to be crusted with what looked like diamonds.

 

He strode forward, ignoring the oddities for the time being, and surveyed the buildings ahead. He could see the faces of the plains as they huddled in their homes, watching from behind curtains. Those faces vanished as he drew close.

 

Such fear, he thought. Turf wars among Epics had not done good things for the state of Oregon.

 

He walked up to one of the buildings, a nice hotel, and walked in, passing the check-in desk by. The receptionist looked as though he was going to object, but something in Timelock's demeanor convinced him otherwise. Timelock walked over to the elevator, hit the button and waited.

 

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing a group of plains who started at the sight of him and rushed out. Amused, Timelock stepped in and hit the button for the highest floor.

 

Minutes later, he was at the door of a handsome suite. He knocked.

 

A man in a black suit trimmed with red answered it. Gravitas, otherwise known as Caleb Johnson, one of Timelock's old college friends. Upon seeing Timelock, he showed a rare smile. "Frederick!" he said. "Good to see you! Good to see you. Come in, please."

 

Timelock did so.

 

Edited April 20, 2015 by Slowswift

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

"Anyone here? I'm looking for the rulers of Astoria." 

 

The Financier heard the voice, muffled as it was through the sacred walls. No vanillas would seek the rulers of Astoria. No Epic with a brain would seek the rulers of Astoria. So the voice calling for the rulers had to belong to a brainless Epic. 

 

The worst kind. 

 

The Financier lifted the candle, still lit, and tucked the zucchini under one arm before ducking out the door. The brainless Epic met his gaze with dark red eyes. That, in itself, proved nothing; eye color was independent of the One's influence, but the fact he sought the Diamond Queen made him suspicious. 

 

"I'm afraid she is away," he said in the businesslike tone he used with the Queen. If he served the One, this Epic might despise chanting as much as his master, but it was better to save that for later. Best to appear as amiable as possible. "Can I help you?" 

 

He wrote an equation in his head—1 zucchini times 40,000 equals 40,000 zucchinis—and held it there. If the brainless Epic started a fight, the Financier could summon the Metal. An exponentially growing pile of forty thousand zucchinis summoned everyone. 

Edited April 15, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Voidus]

Feeling somewhat irritated that he'd have to keep looking Bioterror nearly tried to kill the man who'd exited the strange building on the spot, he managed to reign himself in when he realized that this man seemed to speak as though he at least knew something of Astoria's government.

Yeah, murdering officials is probably not the best idea is is?

Given the appearance of both the man and his accommodations Bioterror almost dismissed the notion that he might be an Epic out of hand, a normal Epic would not live in a place like this and most would leap at the chance to show off their powers to a stranger. Nevertheless he sent out a tendril of power, attempting to destroy the nerves in one of the mans arms, it would hurt noticeably but shouldn't do any lasting damage.

Nothing happened. No cry of pain, no clutching at his arm. Which could only mean...

An Epic? Well that makes things easier.

Bioterror had always hated the limitation that meant he couldn't murder Epics as easily as he could everyone else, something to do with the way Epics cells produced so much more energy to power their abilities messed with Bioterrors ability to destroy the cells. But it was a handy way of detecting Epics.

"Away? Ah, that is a shame. I'm looking for somewhere to settle in, somewhere that can make use of my... talents."

He altered his eyes back to a light blue color so he didn't appear quite so ominous. Making sure other Epics knew to fear him was all well and good but he was trying to secure a more permanent position here, it wouldn't do to have to murder one of the city's Epics unless he had to.

"I don't suppose you could show me to whoever is ruling in her stead? I've already had to reduce the population of one town down to 0, I'd hate to have to do something like that again just to get myself noticed."

[+Slowswift]

 

Upon entering the suite, everything seemed to get lighter. He jumped softly and sailed a good five feet. Gravitas was messing things up as usual.

 

Inside the suite, two people were sitting around a card table. Timelock recognized both of them. They were Epics who served under him in California. He and Gravitas took a seat around the table, settling in to the reduced gravity, and one of the Epics dealt them both a hand.

 

Timelock cleared his throat as he glanced through his hand. Three of a kind. "So, do we have any plans for this stormydd-melltithio city?"

 

“Calamity, Frederick,” said Avatar, placing some chips. “I forgot you did that.”

 

Timelock smiled. “Et je ai oublié ce que vous avez été une douleur, James. La vostra offerta, e non truccare le carte.” he said, slipping easily from French to Italian. “At any rate, this city is one of the more challenging ones we’ve come to. Lucentia's a nasty one; you've seen what she's done with the city. We had best tread carefully.”

 

There was a murmur of agreement from around the table.

 

"What do you propose we do about it?" asked Avatar.

 

"Well," the other Epic at the table, Architect, said thoughtfully, "this is one of the most stable cities around. There's a working infrastructure, and the people aren't starving. They're still terrified, of course. Who wouldn't be? But this city is one of the most secure in the region. I can count on one hand regions this stable, including the Bay Area."

 

Everyone nodded. The Bay Area of California, known now as the Quadrangle, was the group's biggest achievement. After the four Epics had battled it out on the Golden Gate, they realized the benefits of collaboration. They had banded together and created a stable region of land, where people had basic necessities and could live their lives in peace. It might have been stable, but they were still Epics. They made sure from the start that everyone knew they were in charge, and they dealt mercilessly with invaders Epic or no. After all, what was the point of being an emperor if you had nobody to rule?

 

There came a knock at the door. "Caleb?" Timelock asked. "You invited someone else?"

 

The solemn man nodded. "I felt it best to have someone who could spy on the city for us," he said as he stood. "Keep an eye on the city, gather information, that sort of thing. I called an old acquaintance who's... gifted in that particular field."

 

Realization dawned on the others. "Please tell me you didn't call the Inquisition," Avatar begged. "Please."

 

"You have a problem with Henry?"

 

"Not him, not necessarily," amended Avatar hastily. "It's just that he's a little, well..."

 

"Insane?" Architect supplied helpfully. "Mad, crazy, unhinged, unstable, mental, deranged --"

 

"Yes, thank you," cut in Gravitas. "He might be a little strange, I grant you, but he's good at what he does."

 

"Maybe a little too good," muttered Avatar under his breath. 

 

The knock came again. Gravitas walked calmly to answer it. 

Edited April 18, 2015 by Slowswift

[Sirce Luckwielder he/him]

As the Metal finished the conversation, Lockvault breathed a sigh of relief. He had come to a meeting with three High Epics and nobody had even tried to kill him. With his parting words said, the Metal turned away from them leading Brightdeath away. Lockvault followed suit, turning the Adventurer away and leading him back to the building where they had been before the Metal had shown up.

They walked through the open wall, dust still streaming from the cracked mortar. They got up on a table and the Adventurer phased them through the ceiling to the floor they had been on before. Looking out through the wall, he noticed that the Metal and Brightdeath had left view. Looking to the Adventurer, he signed to him a quick question. Are they gone?

 

He received the quick reply and breathed a sigh of belief. “From now on, whenever we are in public I should keep up the façade, maybe when we are in private too.”

 

"Sure, I'll let you know if anything crops up on my minimap. Remind me to teach you proper ASL too, my fingers are cramped and if I'm going to marathon this that could be a problem. So! Time to find a base somewhere?"

 

"Sure. A base would be great. Also, I have a language key installed so you will only need to show me different signs once. After that I can use them without needing to be retaught. Before we go find a place for our base, let's find that reward for beating that boss nonviolently."

 

"Oh yeah! Loot, almost forgot about that. Hmm... I can't find anything on the minimap, must need to look by hand. Do you have any idea where it dropped?"

 

Lockvault walked around the room, placing anything of value in to Storage.  As he went, he looked through the open wall into the street below.  Nobody had yet come out of their homes with the Epics still around. He withdrew an old trunk that he had found in a museum and placed it in the center of the street below with a large rifle inside.  It was one of the fancier models and much better than the Adventurer’s current weapon.  It would be enough to please him.

 

“Wait, I just got something, there must have been a time limit, clever designers.”

 

Lockvault smiled at that. The Adventurer may have been odd, but at least he found joy in the world. It would be enjoyable to stay with him, at least for a while. Besides, he might need somebody to keep him out of trouble. Until it becomes too dangerous, I’ll help him live his fantasy.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Sirce Luckwielder

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

"Away? Ah, that is a shame. I'm looking for somewhere to settle in, somewhere that can make use of my... talents."

 

His eyes changed to a pleasant shade of blue, the color of the Financier's favorite tie. 

 

How did he know about that? Or does he? Some people just like colors that happen to be the same as your ties; his eyes prove nothing. Then again, they might prove something….

 

"I don't suppose you could show me to whoever is ruling in her stead? I've already had to reduce the population of one town down to 0, I'd hate to have to do something like that again just to get myself noticed."

 

Down to zero. 

 

Zero. 

 

0.

 

The Financier looked into the strange man's pale, pale eyes. His powers were useless when it came to discerning truth from falsehood, but he saw no lies there. No evidence of the One's influence. Just the eyes of a man who had brought an entire town's population down to zero, providing one less hiding place for the One. 

 

Questions brimmed in his mind. Which town was it? Is it nearby? Were their bodies found? Why did you reduce the population so? Do you know of Savior Zero? 

 

But now was not the time. This stranger had asked for the one ruling in Lucentia's stead, and the least he could do was grant his request.

 

The equation was still in his head. He'd pushed it to the back of his mind, so as not to bring it out if it wasn't needed, but he brought it to the front. 

 

One zucchini, times 40,000. 

 

He tossed the zucchini into the air. Ordinarily, he wouldn't risk damaging an image of the Prophet, but this was no ordinary moment. The Metal had to see what he saw, and the only way to show him was to summon him. 

 

While still in the air, the zucchini multiplied. There were two zucchinis—then four—then eight—then sixteen—then too many to count. The original zucchini was soon lost in a pile that grew and grew, spreading up and out. The Financier backed away so as not to be overcome. 

 

"There!" he cried with a laugh as the vegetables piled over one another, hollow thunks turning to a small roar. "The Metal should be here in a moment. You'll have your wish." 

[Voidus]

Bioterror thought the Epic was attacking him before he realized he'd just thrown a zucchini into the air.

Well there's definitely something wrong with this one, with any luck I won't have to work with him.

He watched, confused, as the zucchini began to multiply, soon hundreds of Zucchini were falling down around him, creating a massive pile that threatened to bury him.

Either he has some bizarrely specific zucchini related abilities or he is completely insane.

 

He directed his powers inwards, strengthening his muscles and bones so the mountain of vegetables didn't crush him as he clawed his way out.

 "The Metal should be here in a moment. You'll have your wish." 

"Well I hope he's less sparking insane." Bioterror muttered as he finally climbed out of zucchini mountain.
 

Lockvault shifted himself back onto the street, legs absorbing the slight shock from his landing. He walked over to the trunk as a beam of golden light surrounded it.

"Sweet." He said as he opened it and found a new weapon "Upgrade. I wonder if there's any weapons modding? Well I'll find out later I guess."

Fast travelling back up to Lockvault he showed off the newly found weapon. He'd decided to hold onto the old weapon for now too, if they were setting up a base he could keep it stored there and then if he died and lost his new weapon at least he wasn't back to square one.

Placing his hand on the ground, the Adventurer closed his eyes briefly as he concentrated on his minimap, searching for somewhere large enough that he could use as a base with Lockvault. He found the sewer tunnels he'd used easily enough but that wasn't exactly a fitting place for a base. Perhaps there was an area off to one side? Somewhere for lower levels to start out?

A moment later his eyes burst open as he found the perfect place.

"Found it." He exclaimed, reaching a hand out to grab Lockvaults shoulder he shifted them both down and to the side.

They appeared again in a bricked off room to one side of the sewers, it was warm, dry and large enough for two people to stay there comfortably. He mentally marked the location so he could fast travel there more easily in future.

"So." The Adventurer said, turning to Lockvault after he'd examined their surrounding "What do you think?"

[Edgedancer he/him]

Assuming that Brightdeath would follow him the Metal turned his back to the two odd balls. For a moment he pondered where to go next. The night hadn’t even started yet and for some reason it seemed the Lightwrought was getting as much light out of the day as she could… not his problem as long as they don’t tell him.

 

All of that became unimportant though as he glanced in the direction of Finnegan’s outhouse, there a gigantic pile of something was quickly growing. That’s a signal if I’ve ever seen one.

“Meet you at the giant pile of something,” he said to Brightdeath and pushed himself of the ground and towards the outhouse.

 

He could get a grasp of what was going on as the situation moved in his range the pile was made out of zucchini or maybe cucumber, not that it would make much of a difference, and someone was clawing his way out of said pile.

 

Finnegan was looking rather relaxed, if anything he was enjoying himself. If his grasp of the situation was correct, there were a lot of new people he had to greet today.

 

"Well I hope he's less sparking insane." The Metal could hear the zucchini victim say, even if he was only muttering it.

“Given the competition is Finnegan over here, so do I,” the Metal said, even though he was still a distance away and projected his voice over to the two.

 

Once he was close enough to them he slowed himself down again and pushed against his own face, causing him do multiple somersaults in the air before actually landing. From this close he could tell that it was actually a pile of zucchini. A pity, cucumbers actually taste good even raw.

 

“You zucchinied and here I am. I assume you want me to meet your new friend here?” The Metal turned to the new newcomer, “Hello there, I’m the Metal and there’s probably a gal coming any moment now that’s also new in the city.”

[Voidus]

The Metal? I'm sure someone mentioned him once, seemed pretty strong. Oh yeah it was that Slontze who spilled my drink. Shame he didn't get to tell me about his powers before he died.

Pulling the last of the zucchini's off, Bioterror introduced himself.

"Bioterror. I'll get to the point, I used to own a small town some ways across the border but unfortunately I emptied it in under a month. I'm looking for a city where I don't have to kill a few dozen people a day just to make my point. In exchange I can provide my services to kill those who you do actually want dead."

Bioterror glanced at the nearby pile of Zucchini's. Under his gaze the cells inside briefly came alive again, rapidly metabolizing their surroundings they literally ate themselves. The pile of vegetables withered instantly, decomposing into a pile of green mush.

"Plants are a bit harder than people" Bioterror explained. "But I'm sure you can see the idea."

[Sirce Luckwielder he/him]

Lockvault's companion teleported them beneath the surface to an old room. Lockvault pulled a flashlight from Storage, shining the beam through the dust in the air until he found a lightswitch. Flicking it up, a faded yellow bulb illuminated the room with a musty light.

"So." The Adventurer said, turning to Lockvault. "What do you think?"

Looking around, he saw that the room had enough room for anything that they may need to hold. It would require a bit of an fixing-up, but it wouldn't be too hard with Lockvault's powers.

He closed his eyes, seeing the full room in Memory alongside what he carried in his Inventory. He placed all of the dust from the room into Storage, cleaning everything up. He then placed all extraneous furniture and any broken objects along with the dust.

He exchanged the old lightbulb for a new fluorescent one, then began to make some other changes to the room. He placed several tables, chairs, and anything else he thought they would need around the room. Going over to some stairs that likely led to the surface, he set up a small four traps to dispell any curious would-be visitors and covered the entrance with a massive peice of concrete.

Turning to the Adventurer, he smiled. "I like it. Anything you think we need here besides beds? I don't have any of those in my Inventory right now."

[Mailliw73 he/him]

 Part 2 of a compilation post between me, Edgedancer, Sirce, Mail-mi, and Blackhoof.

 

Deathgale's opponent barely managed to dodge the first set of windblades by pushing himself in the right direction. More luck than the maggot deserved. To retaliate the Destructor started throwing himself around in the air and wildly firing around his assault rifle. Nothing Deathgale had to worry about, even if one of those stray bullets managed to hit him by accident it would just pass through his body and if he kept hitting himself so hard with wind gusts to change directions he would probably end up unconscious within minutes.

 

Still no reason to let him continue to waste his time until then. Timing it with his next direction change Deathgale threw another Windblade. It connected but didn’t cut the Epic; instead it seemed to collide with the air in front of him. There was a shattering sound in the air and the Destructor was thrown backwards by the resulting force. Again not dead

 

Slightly annoyed he spoke to the blood, counting on Mary to create the connection, “Dustdevil, are you in position to restrict this guys wind?”

 

Dustdevil gleefully destroyed the Astoria wall, smashing into crystals of different sizes. The largest ones were spikes that he placed in a large pile, one that fluctuated in size as Kinesis began using some to distract the fire Epic. The smaller splinters and diamond dust he would use for himself.

 

Through the blood that Mary had splattered on him, he heard Deathgale's question. Speaking into the patch felt odd, but he quickly got his reply out.

 

"I have some ammunition and I am heading over now. Let me know if you need any specific manipulations or restrictions for me to perform."

 

With that, he changed himself into dust, blowing himself and his diamonds with him. Once he got close, he reformed, just as the Epic began firing his assault rifle. He felt a bullet pass through his shirt, nicking him slightly, but causing no great amount of harm. Quickly he changed into his dust form. This form made it harder to concentrate since he had to maintain it, but no he would be no help if a bullet took him out before then.

 

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to hear any requests through Mary's glorified walkie-talkie, he changed back for a moment, ripped off part of his shirt with the blood on it, then immediately changed back. Spinning a small pile of diamond dust into motion, he sent a large, expanding shot at the air Epic, determined to focus the air around him so he would not be able to escape the flaying mass.

 

Metalmech almost cheered when the blood evaporated off of his forcefield. Adding his voice to Jag’s, he said, “Smasher, drop mine too.”

 

Surveying the scene, Metalmech saw that Smasher’s jeep was no longer existent, but the others were still in shape. There were several newcomers to the fight, and one of them, a Fire Epic, seemed to be on his side. He was being faced off by Winterspell, one of Astoria’s Epic’s that Metalmech had heard of, and another one encased .

 

Well, Metalmech thought, he’s on our side, and he needs some help. He maneuvered his tank over toward the newcomer, shooting his tank’s guns at both the water Epic and the Epic encased in ice.

 

As projectiles from the tank came toward him, Kinesis almost laughed. Only idiots would send highly explosive rounds at an Epic with spatial awareness and teleportation powers. He sent the shells flying back at the tank, hitting it square on, sending it into flames. Smiling, he turned his attention back to the fire Epic.

 

Hellfire saw the water Epic frown as his fire boiled the blood off the forcefields, then turning to encase one of the other Epics in a ball of ice. Hellfire squinted his eyes in confusion, “Why would he do that, unless…. whatever that Epic can do doesn’t require vision”.

Confusion turned to surprise as a rock the size of his fist materialised a foot in front of him and instantly shot towards him. Only his heightened reflexes allowed him to react quickly enough, and intensify the flames surrounding him enough to melt the rock into a sludge that splashed uselessly on his armour. “What the hell!” He thought, but he had no time to think further as he felt something hard smash into his back armour, staggering him slightly. Without turning, he raised a shield of solid flames behind him, to stave off anymore rear attacks.

 

There was no time to consider his next action, as the water Epic formed icy spears and flung them at him. With a grimace, Hellfire threw a wall of flame at the spears, confident that they would be melted easily. With barely a hiss, they passed through unscathed! At most, the icicles were slightly thinner, but no less deadly, and they were now mere metres from impaling him. Hellfire started and sent solid flame clubs to bat the spears to either side, where they stabbed deep into the ground. Once again, his supernatural reflexes saved him.

 

A pointed shard of diamond appeared in front of him, at high speed, and Hellfire deflected it at the last second with a tendril of solid flames, diverting it so it flew off to his side. Growling in frustration, Hellfire threw a large fireball at the smiling water Epic, altering it midair so it would explode with great force on contact.

Des's shots flew around sporadically. They were meant to keep the Suit dodging and unstable, not to hit him. Another shimmer of wind smashed into the wind shield Des had made. The power behind it was incredible. If Des could control winds that fast, he'd surround the suit in a tornado that would suck the air right out of the man. It looked like he was limited to the blade things though. The suit spoke into his jacket, strangely, and a few moments later, some dust flew upward, defying gravity.

 

The dust briefly flashed into a man, who then ripped his shirt, before turning back into dust. Desolation felt the winds around him slip out of his control. They weren't responding as usual. They were sluggish and fought his commands. Something the new Epic was doing was taking his control. The winds shaped into a vortex, cutting him off from movement when a large cloud of diamond dust flew to Des. He closed his eyes instinctively as the dust vaporized around him.

 

"Hawk," he called on his mobile. "Get ready. I may need some distractions. One of these guys can manipulate wind too and I can't get control unless I focus on it entirely." Hawk responded in the affirmative and began shooting buckets in quick succession at the suit.

 

Winterspell smiled when the fire Epic threw a fireball at him. Even a simple water Epic could have deflected it. He raised his hand and a large tendril mimicked his movements, forming a hand that reached out towards the fireball to extinguish it. As the water came into contact with the fireball, the flames exploded outward, destroying the hand and sending streams of water flying outward. While the explosion was far away having detonated with his water hand, the force and heat still buffeted Winterspell.

 

Growling in frustration, he quickly brought the water back to him, cooling down any amounts that had been evaporated.Apparently this is no normal Fire Epic. No more playing around.

 

Winterspell began to fire more Icesteel spikes at the his enemy, partially to hit him, and partially to distract him. As they flew away from him, he propelled himself and his remaining water base towards the other Epic. As the distance closed between them, he formed interlocking links and plates of armor out of Icesteel to combat the other Epic's flaming armor. As he went, he kept the temperature on most of his water down so they didn't evaporate. He didn't succeed with all of it, but he kept most of it in a liquid state. Determined to end the fight, he formed a massive hand and a half broadsword, determined to destroy this troublesome Epic once and for all.

 

Even if his attack wasn’t very effective, it was good that Dustdevil was in position now. Shortly after the Diamond dust was deflected a couple of pullets shot through Deathgale’s body, trailing little wisps of smoke behind them. The holes in his body reformed themselves as soon as the bullets exited his body.

 

Looking up, Deathgale could see that Hawking was freed from the force field and he now aimed for Deathgale. Dismissing him as a non important thread for now, he quickly surveyed the battlefield. All the forces of the Destructors were free again. Time to step up the game then.

 

After throwing a set of five windblades with an offhand swing at Hawking, Deathgale stepped back through the blood, so he stood on solid ground again. At the same time Mary raised several tendrils of blood forming a circle around the disintegration Destructor.

 

“To everyone,” Deathgale said, while speaking into the blood, “the forces of the Destructors got out of their prison. In case you need someone to deal with the foot soldiers, I can cut them down easily. Dustdevil, with his disintegration field using projectiles like that won’t have much effect. On my sign I’ll throw the next blades to both of his sides, I want you to restrict his movement and weaken that shield he made for himself.”

 

Keeping his target busy, the bartender pushed his hands into a pillar of blood in front of them, his hands reappeared out of two different tentacles and he threw windblades at the other Epic. Then he pulled his hands back and repeated the process, each time his hands appearing from other tentacles.

 

After hearing the command from Deathgale, Dustdevil quickly sent his remaining diamond dust at the Epic who had been shooting Deathgale, hoping to to distract him. Even if it didn't kill him, he would have enough time to turn into a solid form without needing to worry about getting shot.

 

Placing his legs shoulder width apart, he concentrated on Desolation. Now that he was in solid form, he could exert all of his mental capacity to keep the Epic from moving as Dustdevil fired his windblades.

Desolation growled. Mary had surrounded him with blood again. He was trapped in a circle of pillars of blood. Stupid woman. Des saw the Suit mumbling to the dust Epic. Des warily ducked and missed the first two blades of air, but hands kept appearing around him and the wind wasn't his to control. "Hawk, the dust Epic. Now!" He was dizzy. Barely able to keep the wind in a cushion around him, his neck felt like it would snap. He had been tossed around too much and now he was feeling the effects. He hurled the contents of his stomach into the air, where they were spun around in the cyclone of wind.

 

Des lit his fists on fire in anger, and through his haze of confusion, he managed to disintegrate the black cargo pants of the attacker who was suddenly underneath him. The bare legs looked familiar. Confused, Desolation began punching with his flaming fists at the legs of his attacker. If only he could find his head. Then he'd end this mysterious attacker. Des vaguely felt pain in his legs and roared in anger. His last remnants of clothing disintegrated, leaving him nude in the wind. He finally lost his last vestige of control over the wind. Seeing an air lads heading toward him, he reached out to punch it with his fists blazing. Red stuff spurted out instead. Confused Des realized that it was his own blood. That was the last thing he thought. A blade of air caught him in the neck and separated it from his torso. Desolation died, nude, while being held in the air.

Hawk saw a cloud of sparkling dust come towards him. Based off the appearance of the other things on the city, it was likely diamond and therefore sharp. While he could resurrect, he didn't relish getting cut to pieces, so he flew up out of the way, dodging most. A couple shards of diamond ripped through his arm. Hawkwing heard Desolation's desperate cry and laughed. The new Epic had thought he was so powerful, and now he called on Hawk for help? How ironic. Hawkwing complied with his demand and as the dust cloud transformed into a man, Hawk took aim and fired thrice. Once in the shoulder, once in the side, and once in the neck. The man was as good as dead. Too late. Too late. Hawk rushed forward to see Desolation fall to the ground, head and hand severed from his body.

 

The mess of the remnants of a man littered the ground. Hawk was reminded all too well of the Epics in Connell whom Des had killed much the same way. Hawkwing dove down to the suited Epic, likely the one called Deathgale, based off of the rumors from the city. After the dust one had died, Hawk wanted to avenge his fellow Destructor. As he shot at Deathgale, the bullets just went through his body and he was patched with smoke. Hawk felt his foot cut from another of the windblades that the suited Epic preferred. With the pain from that as well as the bloody holes from the diamond shards, he welcomed death.

Hawkwing didn't even reach Deathgale. Before he was close enough to lock talons on the Epic, he felt pain arch through his back. Then his vision went black and his wings failed. He fell to the earth, pain enveloping his consciousness. Then blackness swallowed him.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Mush. 

 

He turned them—

 

​—forty thousand zucchinis—

 

—with a touch of his hand—

 

​—beautiful perfect zucchinis—

 

—to mush. Great green gobs of mush that smelled like the One's morning breath. 

 

So—harmless. 

 

So—innocent. 

 

Dead, all of them dead, dead, dead—

 

A scream of rage tore from the Financier's throat. 

 

"HOW! COULD! YOU!" 

 

They were looking at him now, all of them—the Metal, the golden stranger, and Bioterror, Murderer of Zucchinis. 

 

"You killed them! All of those poor zucchinis—they were doing nothing to you! Not a thing except sitting there and being zucchinis, and you killed them! You killed them all!" 

 

He stooped and lifted a double handful of the mush. Those poor things, their marvelous greenness reduced to something resembling rotten oatmeal. Tears welled in his eyes. That the magnificent bearers of the Prophet's image should end like this? 

 

"YOU DESERVE THEIR FATE!" He pointed a mush-covered hand at Bioterror, his top hat askew. "THOU DESERVEST WHAT THOU GIVEST, AGENT OF THE ONE! THOU MASQUERADEST AS A DISCIPLE OF THE SAVIOR, BUT THOU ART…." 

 

His rant trailed off as a flash of golden light caught his eye. There, floating toward him, was an orb of light. 

 

Round, like the Savior. 

 

The woman smiled. "I'm also looking for a job here." 

 

"You," he whispered. "You bring the Savior to this place of death! His golden light covers you in an aura of beauty!" 

 

The Financier straightened his top hat. "Hire her," he told the Metal. "And fire this….heathen." 

[+Slowswift]

 

 

A tall, thin man in a rumpled gray suit stood at the door. His expression was condescending. His eyes were stormy gray, and he regarded the group with one eyebrow raised.

 

Timelock stood and walked over and grasped the man's hand. "Henry, nice to see you. How've you been?"

 

Henry, or The Inquisition, lifted his head in acknowledgement. "Well, thank you. Though I do not appreciate being made to wait." He aimed this last part at Gravitas.

 

The gravity lessened noticeably as the two glared at each other.

 

“Caleb...” warned Timelock.

 

The gravity returned to normal -- or, well, to what it had been before -- as the three walked back to the table.

 

Gravitas pulled out a chair for the Inquisition. "You have news?" he asked.

 

"I have indeed," The Inquisition said, his accent slipping now that he wasn't undercover. "I assume thou knowest of the Epics who rule this fair city, what they do ?"

 

"'Course we knew," said Architect gruffly as he bet. "We do our research. Raise you ten, Ricky."

 

"Enough with trivial news," ordered Gravitas. "I want to hea--" He cut off abruptly as there was a rumbling noise outside the window.

 

The Architect leaped from his chair, striding over to the curtains, which parted on their own as he drew near.

 

"Um, guys? You're going to want to see this. There appears to be a pile of ... zucchinis. An it's getting bigger."

 

"You can't be serious," Timelock snapped. He stood and walked over to the window. His eyes widened. "On the other hand, there does appear to be a large amount of zucchinis. And a group of Epics." He looked back. "I'd better go take care of this."

 

~~~

 

Timelock dashed through the lobby, shoving through the doors. Everywhere around him, objects stood still as he sped up his own time. He ran, stopping a block or so from the giant pile of vegetables, which was surrounded by Epics. 

 

That's the Financier with the top hat, he thought. And I don't recognize some of the others, but that's the Metal over there. Well. This was going to be fun. He slowed his time back down just in time to see one of the Epics melt the pile of veggies into mush. 

 

Oh, dear.

 

He started walking over as the Financier started screaming at the other Epic. The Financier calmed down a bit as Timelock drew near, and he could hear what they were saying. "...her. And fire this… heathen." 

 

Timelock cleared his throat. "Ég meina ekki að trufla, but may I ask what is going on here?" 

 

The Epics turned towards him. 

Edited May 7, 2015 by Slowswift

[Edgedancer he/him]

The Metal noticed Brightdeath when she popped into existence behind the outhouse. He played along with it but her just standing there was getting weird… actually thinking about how she acted until now she was probably waiting for a dramatic moment for entrance. 

 

Not exactly a sentiment that came natural to him. Sure he wasn’t subtle about his entrances but he didn’t need to wait for the right moment. His entrance alone was as dramatic a moment as any could hope to be.

 

"Bioterror. I'll get to the point, I used to own a small town some ways across the border but unfortunately I emptied it in under a month. I'm looking for a city where I don't have to kill a few dozen people a day just to make my point. In exchange I can provide my services to kill those who you do actually want dead."

 

The Metal couldn’t help a quick chuckle. Can’t blame a man for being honest, nor for killing a town, I suppose. Refreshing, really.

 

His next move wasn’t that smart, though. The pile of zucchini fell down into an undistinguishable pile of rotten compost. Shame, Finnegan really likes those.

 

Still, how terrible a nickname would Mushy be?

 

Glancing over at him, the Metal could see him being at distraught as he guessed, maybe even more so. Keeping his mood up, is gonna be a pain.

 

Now was apparently the moment Brightdeath judged as suitable and she appeared next to him. Funnily enough, her entrance was pretty much ideal, for reasons she couldn’t even have guessed at. After some demonstration of her powers she ended up having a zero made out of solid light hanging in the air and just in time to stop Finnegan’s rant.

 

Said rant was a string of angry screaming at Bioterror that would make some vocals of a heavy metal band jealous. Once he noticed Sunshine’s light made zero, he shifted. Not exactly happy given the situation but there was something almost reverent in his behavior towards her.

 

Just as he was about to deal with Finnegan as he noticed something flicker at the range of his powers and then it was already there next to them. Not instant but fast enough that it may as well have been.

 

"Ég meina ekki að trufla, but may I ask what is going on here?" The newest new arrival- how much of those were they getting today? - a man in an admittedly fine suit, bursted into the scene. He had no clue what the first part of what he said meant but he didn’t care either.

 

“You wait until it’s your turn,” The Metal said to the newcomer, muted him and put enough pressure on his body to keep him from moving but not enough to hurt him, probably, he at least didn’t notice any bones breaking.

 

Postponing the new comer he casually walked over to Finnegan. He used the time to speak to Bioterror, manipulating his voice so he was the only one that could hear him, “Don’t worry. Just because he’s throwing a tantrum doesn’t mean doesn’t mean we’ll send you away. I’m just humoring him for now.”

 

Just in case Bioterror wanted to blurt out anything that could hurt the situation he prepared to manipulate his voice so only he could hear, for the time shortly after the Metal finished talking.

 

Once he was next to Finnegan he put a hand on his shoulders, “She effectively is hired anyway, we just haven’t decided where to put her. Little Sunshine’s name is Brightdeath by the way. Don’t be that sad for the zucchinis, though. Just think of it as them being reduced to zero, uniting them with the Savior for eternity. You can’t tell what number they used to have, not what they have been at all and soon even that will never been found again.  Maybe it was too early for them but they had a good end.”

 

Finnegan still didn’t look exactly pleased but at least calm enough not to try anything bothersome. Then again it would still be insane; just about everything Finnegan did was insane.

 

Over time the Metal had learned how to deal with him. Spending time watching his so called sermons and the like helped understand him, at least to the degree that broken brain of his allowed itself to be understood. He did not however specifically care about keeping his mood up, for Finnegan's sake. His antics were simply a lot more entertaining if his mood was good.

 

Having dealt with that problem he turned back to the newestcomer and released the restrictions he put on him, except a little bit of pressure that could easily be confused with sheer presence weighting down on him.

 

“It’s quite simple really, new people trying to get on my good side and a place in the city. I would really encourage you to at least follow them on the part where they are giving introductions to the guy that can own you. “

[Voidus]

"So Sunshine, sorry Brightdeath here is new, so am I and now another new guy? What is this orientation day?" Bioterror said scathingly, attempting to ignore the insane man sobbing over the mound of dead zucchini.

I wonder if anyone would notice if I supressed his immune system, not lethally just give him some pneumonia or something, it'd only take 10 minutes. No, best behaviour, you need to stop killing people that's why you're here remember?

Turning back to the new arrival, Bioterror contemplated the problem. Epics tended not to move around much unless they had to, most settled in at a city, either taking over, getting killed or serving under someone else, now three new arrivals in one day?

Shrugging his shoulders, Bioterror dismissed it as a coincidence. Stranger things had happened since Calamity had appeared than Epics accidentally coordinating their arrival.

 

"Ah whatever" He said dismissively.

Bored, he held a hand under his face and focussed his powers inward once more, causing his eye to pop out of its socket.

Holding it up to his other eye he changed the color of the iris to a blend of red and yellow, forming the pupil into a reptilian slit, might as well look nice and intimidating for the newcomer.

Once satisfied he changed his other eye to the same form before allowing the detached eye to rush back into it's socket.

"Anything else? Well I'm sure we can find something. You've got an inventory, I can fast travel. Care to do a little shopping?" The Adventurer said with a smile.

He'd generally preferred the more hardcore games like shooters, tactical RPGs and Real time strategy but he also doubted there was a gamer alive who hadn't at least tried the sims once.

Decking out a new home with the best furnishings was always fun, and now that he had a companion who could store large objects, well that beat the old Rosebud cheat anyday.

"Shame there's no pool though, I always did like removing the ladders." He mused to himself as he took another look at their new base, mentally planning out the layout.

"Ah well, ready to go shopping? There's some building over that way that's pretty big, I'm sure we'll find something there." He said, addressing Lockvault as he pointed off into the ceiling.

[Blackhoof]

Part 3 of a compilation between me, Mailliw, Edgedancer, Sirce, and Mail-mi

 

 

 

After looking for Smasher for last few minutes, Disruption gave up the effort. It was like playing hide and go seek without anybody actually playing but him, something he had experience with.

 

He was out looking for this "almighty and powerful" Epic while everybody else got a piece of the fun. It sounded like a ruse to him. It seemed to him that everybody toyed with him. He stopped his train of thought, small as it was. He didn't have the time to think and walk at the same time. Some things were just too hard.

 

He turned towards the nearest fight, seeking someone to fry. He watched as one Epic in the air fell to the ground, landing with a sickening crunch. He sprinted towards the fight, only remembering his blitzing power once he actually got to the scene.

 

Dang it all. Why didn't I use my powers? I'm a freaking Epic with a blitzing power and I just ran here. I did all of that effort for nothing!

 

He sighted on an Epic who had wings, shooting blood red lightning from his fingertips. Not a single bolt hit the Epic.

 

Running closer, he tried to maneuver for a better shot, realizing once again that he hadn't used his blitzing power. Gosh dang it. He fired a couple more bolts, but the winged Epic dashed off towards Deathgale, not even seeing Disruption. Probably trying to give him a K.O. instead of me. Real mature.

 

Frustrated with how little of an effect he was getting, and seeing that the rude Epic from before was close to taking the enemy Epic out, he began to fire bolts as fast as he could, running along behind the Epic to keep him close. Tripping, he continued to fire bolts of lightning from his fingers. Almost like magic, one actually connected, more by luck than skill. As the Epic tumbled to the ground and began to burn, Disruption jumped up from the ground, beating the dust from his pants. He looked around, blushing slightly and hoping that nobody had seen him turf it. Reasonably satisfied, he pumped his fist. K.O. for Disruption. Take that everybody.

 

Looking around for another target, he again began to run towards where he had seen a tank earlier, once again forgetting about his blitzing power.

 

Hellfire grimaced as his fireball was destroyed, too far away for the explosion to hurt the water Epic. Pity.

Another diamond shard appeared next to him, and he punched it away with a fist of solid flame. The shield behind him had succeeded so far in stopping rear attacks, but that damnation Epic was still teleporting thing at him from the front and sides.

 

The water Epic suddenly threw more ice spears, and they glinted in the sunlight as they soared towards Hellfire. Realising that it would be too hard to deflect or block them all, Hellfire opted to dodge, projecting fire from his hands and feet and surging into the air like a rocket. The ice spears harmlessly flew under him, and he saw the water Epic now had ice armour, and a huge sword in his hand. Well, if it’s close combat he wants….

 

Gathering fire in his hands, Hellfire formed a sword of solid flame in one hand and a long, plasma whip in the other. With a battlecry, he shot towards the water Epic, raising his sword for a downward swing, simultaneously throwing the whip at the Icesteel shield that the annoying Epic was encased in. The whip turned into a napalm-like substance, and coated parts of the bubble in flames that burned without fuel. As long as he kept them alive, they would burn, weakening the shield and hopefully destroying it. Hellfire didn’t think there was much chance of that, though.

 

As he reached the water Epic, who stared up at him, Hellfire brought his sword down in what he hoped would be a killing blow.

 

Winterspell swung his sword from the side, deflecting rather than blocking the fire Epic's blow. As his momentum carried him past, he reversed his grip and brought his blade down with a respectable thud to the back of the other Epic, further sending him sprawling.

 

Apparently that flaming armor wasn't for show however, as the Epic stood back up, defiance in his flaming eyes. A challenge then? "Continue to amuse me boy. You only dig yourself deeper with every pinch of dust you throw at me."

 

It had taken long enough but the unknown Destructor was cut down by the windblades. His end was unsightly to say the least, certainly not something that spoke well of the other Destructors for associating with him. As the body hit the ground it got swallowed by one of the blood tendrils and transported somewhere else. Better to be safe than to be sorry.

 

At about the same time Dustdevil was hit by several bullets. Judging by the angle they were shoot from they came from Hawkwing. Deathgale contacted Mary, “Dustdevil got hit. Nothing instantly fatal but he’s losing a lot of blood.” Bullets pierced his body and Deathgale offhandedly waved in the direction he was attacked from, while he calmly continued talking, “He might not make it anyway but take him to a doctor.”

Mary gave him a nonchalant reply and Dustdevil sank into the blood puddle that had seeped out of his wounds.

 

Turning towards the direction he was shoot from, he saw Disruption standing over the charred corpse of Hawking. Dismissing his celebration over having killed an enemy Deathgale turned towards the remaining fight. With two Destructors down they had taken the advantage and it was time to clean this mess up.

 

Jag saw Desolation fall in a ruined heap of flesh. He had heard the flying Epic's call on the mobile and looked to see him destroyed. The Epic hadn't been given much time to enjoy his superiority. Poor kid. It had been his desire to come to this town and now he'd never see the takeover happen. Jag himself might not even see it succeed if he didn't retreat soon. But not yet. He shot at the suited Epic, but as expected, the holes turned to smoke. Jag growled in anger. These Epics were destroying his team.

 

He roared in anger when Hawk fell too. Jag knew now that they'd absolutely need to retreat. He watched as his friend's burnt and bloodied body quickly burned, leaving only a pile of ash. The ash would then burn bright and strong for a minute or so before dissipating, revealing his friend again. Jag ignored the ash, as he had seen Hawk resurrect before. Now he was really mad. One more kill and then they'd retreat. He charged for the dome of ice. He called for Smasher to come help with this last casualty.

 

Hellfire grunted as he was slammed into the ground by the frost sword, but fortunately his armour held. Landing in the dust, he scrambled to his feet, and turned quickly to the water Epic, glaring his defiance and assuming a combat stance. The Epic spoke, "Continue to amuse me boy. You only dig yourself deeper with every pinch of dust you throw at me." Hellfire’s eyes widened with anger, and his breath turned into little bursts of flame as he exhaled. This pathetic Epic was going to die. As he always did, he took his anger, and mastered it.

 

With a gesture his sword broke into two smaller ones, and Hellfire surged forward, swinging with precision to end the water Epic for good. His first swing connected with the broadsword, blocking it while his second bounced harmlessly off of the icey armour of the Epic’s side, only a tiny burst of steam implying any contact at all. This Epic was good. “His water must have a decent amount of salt in it, to be so resistant,” Hellfire thought with a shiver.

 

Kinesis had been a slightly annoyed when Winterspell had ordered him back. Not having anything to do while his leader fought the fire Epic one-on-one had been frustrating. That was, until one of the other Epics began running across the ground at him. He smiled, closing his eyes and feeling everything around him. It was glorious, being able to feel every movement, every tree rustling, every Epic breathing. He felt like a god. Breathing in the euphoria, he dropped a tree in the running Epic's path, giving it a large burst of energy to send it flying at the Epic as soon as the tree popped into existence. After falling down, the Epic stood back up. He seemed a little bit disoriented, but otherwise unhurt. He even picked up the tree and wasted time trying to throw it at him.

 

Smiling, Kinesis sent the tree back at him. The Epic jumped over it, dodging it handsomely. With a scowl, Kinesis sent the tree flying again, this time hitting the Epic in the back, sending him forward into the ground. This time as the tree hit, it shattered into many fragments of wood. As the Epic again got up and began to sprint for him, felt around for another object to throw, then chuckled as he found his next projectile.

 

The Epic was almost to the dome when he became very well acquainted with the inside of someone's house. It slammed into him, crushing in upon itself and covering him in dust and bricks. To Kinesis, with his spatial awareness, the effect was amazing to watch, the house and Epic meeting as it fell over him like a wave. Complimenting himself on a job well done, he mentally kicked back to watch the show of the Epic try to uncover himself.

 

Jag bounded across the ground, his enhanced legs propelling him at swift speeds. He ran, suddenly knocked backward by a log, no, a tree, that had come out of nowhere. Angry, he stood back up and threw the tree back at the dome as he ran. He took a few steps when again the tree flew at him. Ready this time, he jumped over it and laughed.

 

The tree hit him from behind, throwing him forward. Sparking Epic! Who did he think he was? Jag would rip him apart. Smasher's mostly transparent body sprinted past. But Jag wanted this kill for himself.

 

Winterspell had slightly been winded by the other Epic's quick retaliation. He wasn't a young man anymore, and this massive broadsword wasn't doing him any favors. He threw the sword at the Epic, giving him a moment to form a rapier in one hand a and something between a dagger and a sword. Using his mind to move the water in his Icesteel weapons, he moved them forward faster than he should have been able to, matching the other Epic parry for parry and blow for blow. Smiling into his opponent's eyes, he caught one of his opponent's swords on his knife, melting and reforming his weapon to wrap around the blade. It was a tug-of-war game now.

 

Sheets of metal flaked off of Metalmech as he jumped from the burning tank. Swearing, he picked himself up, just in time to watch the tank in front of him be hit again and explode in a fiery inferno. The shock wave washed over him and the shrapnel coated him in deep gashes that were quickly healed again. Slontze! he thought at the Epic inside the ball of ice, and started to storm his way toward him.

 

Suddenly, he stopped. He heard someone approaching behind him and saw, as he turned around, a deep red lightning bolt shot from the someone’s fingers. Sparks! Metalmech ducked down, hoping to avoid the bolt, and--

 

--and the bolt hit the ground five feet away.

 

Surprised by the horrid miss, Metalmech raised an eyebrow at the Epic as he took control of Jaguar's truck and aimed it towards him.

 

Disruption saw a beefed up truck with a massive gun on top turned toward him as he continued to run. He fired a few bolts of lightning at the metal monster. One actually hit the thing, but after barely more than a pause it continued to rotate its barrel at him. Disruption began to run the side, hoping to dodge whatever came his way. The cannon merely turned and continued to follow him. Risking his focus, he turned, while still running, to fire another set of bolts at the tank. As he did so, he again tripped, falling to the ground into a face full of dirt.

 

Freaking freaking frak! You have got to be joking. As he cussed to himself, he felt the whistle of shells go over his head, smacking into a tree several feet away. "Haha," he yelled, getting to his feet. "Take that! That was totally a dodge. And besides, you have bad aim too!" You weren't even-"

 

He cut off as another burst came hurtling at him. In that moment of panic, his visceral nature overwhelmed him, activating his blitzing power and letting him literally dodge a bullet. Based on the path, it would have hit him any other way. Keeping the blitz up for as long as he could, he began running for the truck, hoping to get to its occupants before they fired again.

 

Deathgale descended upon the Destructors’ soldiers. The little maggots tried to squirm away from him with no avail. A simple flick of his finger was enough to cut them down, some dying instantly others bleeding out on the ground after they lost their limbs.

 

Their bullets simply went through him, spreading smoke in the air over the bloodied corpses and cut of limbs. He shortly stopped as he finished his current cigarette and let them continue to empty their clips in him as he lit the new one.

 

Some slontze tried to use the moment the moment to close in on him and slashed at him with a knife. Letting the blade pass through him Deathgale exhaled a mouthful of smoke. It grabbed the attacker’s face and creeped into his mouth and nose. The maggot scratched at his throat, slowly suffocating as the smoke filled his lungs.

 

He turned back to-

 

A brick went through his head, obscuring Deathgale’s vision with a bout of smoke.

 

The one that threw the brick was Black Jaguar, standing in a half collapsed building.

 

Deathgale whipped a set of windblades towards him, also cutting another piece of debris out of the air. The blades hit the other Epic, unleashing a heavy gust of air that blew away the dust and parts of the debris Jaguar was using as ammunition.

 

The Destructors leader himself was thrown back by the impact. However he quickly stood up again unscathed, apart from his clothes hanging down his body in tatters.

[Blackhoof]

Part 4/4 of a compilation between me, Mailliw, Edgedancer, Sirce, and Mail-mi

 

He was almost to the dome now. Jag felt his body thrown to the side, flying across the field. He tumbled across the grass and looked over to see not a tree, but a ruined brick house where he had been. The Epic had thrown a house at him! Jag snarled and roared. He leapt for the house and pulverized a still-standing wall with his fist. He dismantled the building, throwing pieces of it soaring up towards the smoking Epic, and growled in triumph. But Smasher had beaten him to the prize. A couple of blasts of air hit him from behind. The smoker again. It tore through his body armor, but didn't penetrate his skin. He stood up and continued to destroy the house.

 

Hellfire grunted in exertion as his arm was jerked unexpectedly- the water Epic had wrapped one of his swords with his own! Hellfire’s eyes narrowed as the water Epic smiled smugly, and he tried to wrench his sword free. “Wait, why am I wasting my time doing this?” He thought as he realised he could control the shape and very existence of his sword. He pulled as hard as he could and suddenly dissolved his sword, freeing his arm and allowing him to throw himself forward in a brutal stabbing motion with his other blade. His strike was true, and it hit the water Epic straight in the centre of his cold chest.

 

The blood-lightning Epic--Blood seems to be our absolute enemy today--fired at the truck as it fired at him, and both of them missed horribly; the truck because the Epic dodged, and the Epic because...well, because he was a sucky shot. Metalmech fired one last shot, and smiled as it headed straight for the Epic’s forehead, and...

 

...the Epic became a blur. Sparks! He had a speed power too?! The Epic was at the truck before Metalmech could fire another shot, and Metalmech could see the grin on his face as he ripped open the door, probably with the intent to kill the people inside. The Epic’s grin faltered as he saw what was really inside the vehicle: nothing. It was completely under Metalmech’s control.

 

Frustrated, the Epic started to fire lightning inside the vehicle. Metalmech’s face contorted in a rage. He’s going to fry the circuits! That sparking little--but wait. Maybe it isn’t a bad thing...

 

Rolling up his sleeves, Metalmech stomped up towards the distracted Epic

 

Winterspell smiled inwardly as the fire Epic went to ram his sword in his chest. Rather than try to take the blow, he opted for another option. He used his morphing power, just in the region of his chest. He peeled his chest plate away and turned the middle of his front into a liquid and moved it to the side. Expecting to meet resistance, the other Epic put too much force to his blow, losing his balance and embedding his full arm through Winterspell's chest and stumbling into him. He quickly closed his armor around the Epic's arm, trapping him for a moment. He kept his physical body around the Epic liquid for now, but kept its temperature stable so it wouldn't evaporate contact with the fire Epic's skin.

 

Having the other Epic off balance and trapped for a moment, Winterspell looked for a gap in his fiery armor, and rammed a quickly-formed short sword into the chink beneath his shoulder.

 

Smasher heard Jag's call for assistance and began rushing toward the bubble of ice too. He was still fully incorporeal, so he was only barely able to be seen. He tried to move as fast as he could before someone took the time to notice him. To stay hidden, he had to leave his shield behind, since he couldn't make other things incorporeal too. His fists would be good enough for this job, though. It was a race between him and Jag to see who'd get the point for last kill.

 

Smasher chuckled as he ran past Jag fighting a tree. He didn't bother to help, since he knew from experience that it wouldn't hurt Jag at all. He'd be angry though. War Smasher ran past, straight at the bubble. He ran past a puddle of blood. Blood. Mary. Smasher pulled up short, just outside the bubble of ice. If he got too close or caused any type of bleeding, Mary would come. She'd ruin any solid part of his body. Irritated, Smasher decided to use his boring move. Boring, but effective. He created a large forcefield around the bubble and rapidly shrunk it. It sped towards its center, crushing the ice dome on its way.

 

Kinesis was startled as blood began erupting from his shirt. He began to fight it, preparing to get away, until Mary issued a warning through his shirt.

 

“War Smasher just pulled short of your little dome here. I’ll do you the favour and assume you don’t want to just stand here doing nothing, while he kills you.”

 

She poured more blood out of the patch on his clothes, spreading it out over Kinesis’ body and connected it to her pool of blood in the castle. It flowed down his body but before she managed to completely envelop him the ice dome around him suddenly shattered.

 

The body of the Epic should be next to be crushed. But when the forcefield shrunk, Smasher saw a blur of movement after the ice was destroyed. Stopping the rapid contraction of his bubble, Smasher was left with a small hand-sized bubble of ice and blood. Plenty of blood for one person, but Smasher wondered what that movement had been. He ignored that thought and reveled in his victory.

 

He stood triumphant, but disappointed with his resorting to desperate measures. The Epic hadn't even had defensive powers. But it worked. He thought. But a human had much more bone in them than the bubble contained. There had been that flash of movement when the bubble broke the ice. Smasher gave up on figuring it out. If the Epic came back, he'd kill him again. Smasher found Jag tearing a house apart. That hadn't been there before Smasher had run into the ice dome, had it?

 

Disruption found the vehicle to be empty. Empty! Why doesn't anybody face me? "They cower before me, that's it!" To vent a little of his frustration, he fired several blightning bolts at the truck, frying most of the electronics.

 

He turned, seeing a massively brutish-looking Epic coming towards him. "Thinking you can challenge me? Ha! Think again puny worm!" Accompanying these words he began firing lightning bolts from his fingers. To his pleasure, a few of them even hit the other Epic.

 

Blackness was replaced with a glow of orange. Eternal fire restored the phoenix again. Hawkwing didn't enjoy dying, but this was his favorite part: Being reborn in a blaze. The glow brightened into a large flame and soothed Hawk's pains, restoring him to his original Calamity-blessed body. The flames burned away and Hawk felt rejuvenated. Rejuvenated, but wary. He had already been killed once this battle, he didn't want it to happen again. He flew up high, away from the smoker, Deathgale. He stayed away from the battle, assuming Jag would call a retreat or tell him where to assist.

 

Jag growled at Smasher taking his victory, but stifled the fury for now. "Retreat now," he said into his mobile. Hawk flew past, lifting Smasher by his neck with his talons. Jag saw his few Commandos take the Lightning with Metalmech inside and drive off and Hawk's couple remaining did the same in their Escalade after picking up the scrap metal Smasher called a shield. Jag bounded after them.

 

Metalmech was barely affected by the first blood lightning bolt. His invincibility easily took care of that one. With a grim smile on his face, he kept walking towards the Epic, with the intent to kill.

 

That’s when the second one hit.

 

It hit in exactly the same place as before, coursing through the metal that had yet to flake off his body and zapping the burned skin underneath. Metalmech cried out in pain as his entire right side spasmed, dropping to the floor.

 

SPARKING STORMING SPARKING SLONTZE!!

 

“Retreat now,” Jag’s voice said through the radio. Struggling to move, Metalmech moved one of the cars over to himself--the Lightning--and climbed inside.

 

I will get you, little Epic, he thought at his attacker. When we return, you’re dead.

 

Disruption, seeing the other Epic recoil from one of his hits, jumped for joy. Literally.

 

Unfortunately, he was still running at the other Epic. When he fell he landed wrong and tumbled to the ground, smacking his knee into a rock.

 

"Ahh! Acht! Sweet mother of Calamity!" Whimpering into the blood on his shirt, he called for help from Mary.

 

"I'm down! I'm down! Get me out of here! I already hit a couple Epics, but now I'm done!"

 

His words were thankfully cut off as blood enveloped him.

 

Hellfire cried out in shock as he fell forward, a hole forming in the water Epic’s chest before his sword even touched it. His right arm and sword went straight through the newly-opened hole, and the chest- and backplate of ice reformed behind it, trapping his arm in the Epic’s chest. “What in the EVERLOVING F-” Hellfire’s thought was interrupted when the smirking Epic jabbed a short sword made of ice into his left armpit.  Hellfire’s eyes blazed as the pain shot through him, and his arm fell limply to his side. He suddenly remembered the salt in this water, and it was touching him. From the corner of his eye he saw armoured vehicles driving away and Epics fleeing. “Cowards! Useless mugs! Nothing was going right!”

 

With a roar, Hellfire sent fire blazing all along his arm, but it was weaker than it should have been. Simultaneously, he blew a stream of flames into the smug Epic’s stupid face, and created solid flames from his very skin inside the Epic itself. The Epic didn’t seem to burn or evaporate, but his water could be pushed, and with a mighty roar, the solid flames filled the Epic from the inside out, spikes of it coming from his every exposed surface, blowing him apart in a spray of water and ice. The plates of ice were still attached to his arm, but they were no longer attached to the now-dead water Epic, and Hellfire wasted no time projecting fire from his palms and feet to get airborne.

 

He felt blood running down his side, and he quickly plugged the wound with cool, solid flames. But it hurt like hell, and he knew he needed medical attention. Sparing a quick glance downwards at the body of his fallen foe, he smirked, but the smile fell from his face as he saw the shards of ice and water melting, and reforming. “The stupid Epic is a High Epic! The cheat!” Finally Hellfire melted the ice plates off of his arm, and he flew higher and further away, following the armoured convoy. It was time to introduce himself to his new allies.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Blackhoof

[Sirce Luckwielder he/him]

 

"Sure, but let's make sure to not make the admins mad. Keep casualties to a minimum, not break too many things, you know. I probably should use ASL whenever we're in public, just in case we run back into those hooligans again. Unless you have some special signs you want to show me, I'm ready to go. You only need to show them to me once."

 

 

Kinesis was legitimately terrified for one of the first times since he had been granted Epic powers. In his perfect little world, a world where he was omnipotent and nothing escaped his notice, he had just been show up. First, an Epic had come within inches of killing him, all without him noticing. Him; the ultimate sentry, the omnipotent god. Second, blood had erupted out of his shirt. Matter teleportation wasn't something that he hadn't seen before, but the unexpected covering of blood had caught him off guard. It had felt like Mary had turned on him. In that moment, as blood began covering him, he had thought he was going to die. The worst thing was just standing there. When the shock had worn off, he hadn't even moved to shake off the blood. He had tried to use his teleportation power, but something about the blood made him unable to move it with his mind. In those seconds, he hadn't been the god he had thought. He hadn't even been an ant. He had been less. And it scared him beyond belief.

As he came out of his thoughts, he looked around him. Diamond glistened everywhere. A pure, flawless mass of it. Flawless except for one thing. On the ground around him was a mass of blood. He wondered how Mary could have been so sloppy. The blood was all over, and it seemed to be spreading. Looking around for its source, he started. The blood emanated from where his legs were. No. Where his legs should have been. Where he had once had long, strong, and powerful legs, there was now nothing but two stumps and a mass of skin and blood.

With a horrible rush, he finally perceived the pain. It overtook him, and in that sickening, biting, bitter moment, he knew he would never walk naturally again. Not only had that Epic snuck up on him, but he had handicapped him forever. If that cursed Mary hadn't stepped in, he would be dead, he would be nothing. He owed his life to that witch. That horrible monster that Winterspell so disliked, and Kinesis with him. She was responsible for saving him, even with this handicap.

He would have rather died.

Someone ran past. He yelled at them, almost in primal way drawing them over.

"I can't do anything with this pain. Give me some morphine, sever my spine, I don't care. Just get me a bandage for this wound, get rid of the pain, and get me out of here!"

He yelled the last sentence with fury, angrily shooing the person way. He felt them running away, hopefully to summon a healing Epic or a surgeon.

Looking at the blood that coated him, he growled out through the pain. "Mary, as soon as I can get out of here, you better put me in the fight again! You hear?!? You hear?!?"

Quietly, almost to himself, he shed a tear. Not from the physical pain, but the mental and emotional pain. As soon as he was in the fight again, he would pay that Epic back. He wouldn't kill him, no, that would be too easy. No, he would make him suffer. A hundred times his agony wasn't enough to satiate this pain. Once he had destroyed him, he would once again be the god he knew himself to be. Thinking of his revenge, he cackled manically and hoarsely to himself as someone came in to attend to his wounds.

[Edgedancer he/him]

The body Mary pulled out of the ice-dome was still mostly intact, apart from a lack of legs. Acceptable loses. She pulled Kinesis out of her pool and set him down on the diamond ground.

 

Turning her attention back to the battle it she-

 

Screaming from outside distracted her. She dived out of her pool, resting her arms on its edge. Like the entire chamber it was colored in different shades of red. Lucentia made the chamber under the castle specifically how Mary wanted it.

 

The blood pulled out of her clothes and was flowing back into the pool without leaving a stain. Not letting her dress get stained with large amounts of blood or even a little bit was one of the things Lucentia had insisted on very much and once she insisted on something there wasn’t really a point to try and disagree.

 

As much as she loved her, sometimes Lucentia could be a bit demanding.

 

Kinesis was lying on the ground, moaning about his pain and scared away a maid. Mary signaled her to get medical treatment for the weakling. Like all the other maids the woman was of average height, wore a loose robe hiding her features and a mask covering up her face and hair. They simply lasted a lot longer, if Lucentia couldn’t tell them apart from each other and Deathgale made sure that the replacements were as average as possible.

 

"Mary, as soon as I can get out of here, you better put me in the fight again! You hear?!? You hear?!?" For a moment she just impassively stared at him, until he had enough time to finish his internal groaning.

 

“Nope,” she bluntly said, “it seems like they are retreating anyway and I’ve better things to do than simply throwing you out there without thinking about it first. Now excuse me while I deal with those more important things.”

 

Without further notice she dove back down into the pool, barely seeing a medic heading towards Kinesis. Just then she heard Disruption screaming for her help. Immediately she pulled him into her chamber as well.  Surveying the situation afterwards it looked like the Destructors were already retreating and Disruption wasn’t injured at all… the idiot would have to give a proper explanation later.

                                                                  

Deathgale watched the Destructors retreat. Pursuing them was an option. However it was getting late and even Lightwrought’s control of the sky was reaching its limit.

 

“Mary, how exactly are Winterspell’s men doing?” He asked into the patch of blood, while moving over to Winterspell.

 

“Dustdevil is hospitalized like you asked. However, I have no idea if he’ll make it. Disruption is an idiot but otherwise not injured. Concerning Kinesis, I managed to pull him out there fast enough to save his life but it seems like his legs gut crushed.”

 

Kinesis should still be usable without his legs, Deathgale thought, and they could probably get him prostheses, even if Dustdevil didn’t make it this battle wasn’t a bad trade.

 

Having lost their newcomer, the tank and most of their soldiers there was a good chance the Destructors had learned their lesson. Otherwise, from what he’d seen putting them down for good shouldn’t be too hard.

 

The bartender reached the other High Epic, “Winterspell, good work. Dustdevil got injured.” Deathgale delivered the information matter-of-factly. He didn’t care in the least about Winterspell worrying about his subordinates or the man himself but he hid that behind a mask of politeness that didn’t let any of his disdain show. Personal affect wasn’t a reason to hinder business. “In case you want to witness whether or not the doctor can save him.” Deathgale made a gesture to the side and a blood portal connected to the same place Mary send Dustdevil raised itself in front of them.

                                                    

The newestcomer hesitated for a moment and that was all the time needed for the Metal to take interest in something else.

 

Bioterror popped something out of his face and upon turning towards him he could tell that it was indeed one of his eyes.  Still attached by the sinew even. Not exactly appetizing but he had seen worse. Mostly what was left of people after he killed them.

 

Once he finished with his eyes back in his skull they had a quite interesting look. They’d make good dragon eyes, the color between yellow and red, reminiscent of fire, and the pupil in the fitting reptilian slit.

 

Most definitely an interesting sight.

 

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said without bothering to hide his voice from Finnegan, who was apparently hugging the solid light zero, “those are some sparking awesome eyes you’re rocking there. Got any other nice tricks like that?”

[Blackhoof]

Hellfire glided closer to the ground, his armpit wound hurting like Calamity. The Epics below him were still retreating, the diamond wall having vanished long behind them.

Too tired to continue flying, Hellfire gave himself one last boost before landing roughly. The boost had taken him a dozen metres ahead of the group, and they slowed to a stop as they approached him.

Gripping his side in pain, Hellfire staggered towards his battered allies. They were on guard, but could see he posed little threat. "I am Hellfire." He stifled his annoyance at them for retreating, although by that point he had already been losing anyway.

"I came here from Australia to punish Lucentia for attacking my fortress. Figured you guys could help me. I reckon you want to get even as badly as I do, eh?"

[Mailliw73 he/him]

 

Jaguar sprinted beneath Hawkwing, next to the Escalade. They left the fight behind quickly. The fire Epic who had joined the fight landed in front of them. Jag gripped his machetes, weary, but ready for a fight. As they approached, Jag realized he was in pain. Hawk landed and released Smasher when they reached him. 

"I am Hellfire. I came here from Australia to punish Lucentia for attacking my fortress. Figured you guys could help me. I reckon you want to get even as badly as I do, eh?" He said. 

 

Jag nodded. "I'm the Black Jaguar. Call me Jag. These are my partners, War Smasher, Hawkwing, and Metalmech. We're the Destructors." He introduced them. "We came to take the city, but now it's a matter of vengeance. They killed Desolation and Hawkwing. Luckily, Hawk's deaths don't last long. If you care to work with us, we're going to camp out for the night once we cross into Washington. Our vengeance will be repaid another day."

 

Hellfire agreed to accompany them. Jag took off again, heading east so they could cross the river without going through the city. At the coast, away from town, Hawkwing picked Smasher up in his talons and began flying. Metalmech would drive around to the east until he could loop around on land and meet them on the other side. Smasher began creating forcefields in the river for Jag. He took a running leap and soared off the coast. A bubble expanded at his feet, and he used the momentum to propel himself forward with another jump. Another force field expanded beneath him just before he hit the water and he bounded across the river, bouncing on bubbles. Once on the other side, they went a bit further to the nearest town, luckily without any real Epics. They found an empty hotel and moved in for the night. 

 

Once Metalmech showed up, Jag gathered the group. "Hawk has heard of an information broker up north a ways. He can also provide equipment, rumors say. We'll head that way in the morning after we get a few new commandos." The others agreed and they all spread to their rooms. 

 

Edited May 25, 2015 by Mailliw73