The Wastelands

[Blackhoof]

 

Day 3 

 

Tribourne: Laserbolt

 

 

"My Queen." Laserbolt looked up from the reports she was reading, annoyed to read that Quakezone had successfully quieted dissent in his district. Slaughtering an entire crowd.... almost genius in its simplicity. Laserbolt would have to take inspiration. "What is it? I am busy."

 

The Epic bowed deeply. "I am sorry for troubling you, my Queen, but I have just received word that a messenger has arrived for you."

"From Quakezone or Foundry? Just tell them to wait and-"

"No, mistress.... from Necropathy."

 

Laserbolt raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued. Necropathy? The ruler of Adelaide? She knew that she had been quite focused on Tribourne, but surely he could not be interested in expanding so soon? Could his rule be so stable?

 

Frowning, Laserbolt pondered this information for several more seconds. Finally, she replied. "Direct them to the lobby, and tell them to wait. I will meet them in person."

"But mistress, there is something... strange about the messenger. They could be an Epic, are you sure going in person is a good idea?"

Laserbolt smiled, and ran, fast as lightning, behind the Epic, appearing in the blink of an eye to whisper in his ear. "Boo!" The Epic jumped and flushed, obviously forgetting how fast she could be. Laserbolt laughed in derision, and dismissed him. It wasn't often that my powers are displayed, she thought to herself. Perhaps some more.... demonstrations are in order.

 

But first, there was the matter of this "strange" messenger.

 

 

.................................................

 

 

 

Bushfire

 

Bushfire looked out across her desolation... and smiled.

 

She had just recently cleansed this area, burning every tree, every bush, every building to the ground. All around her was ash and cinders, and the hot, dry air seemed to threaten another conflagration. She breathed deeply, and sighed. This was why she did it. The peace, the quiet... the serenity of a wasteland. 

She was not a powerful fire Epic by any means, as many assumed her to be. No, although she could create small bursts of flame, her real power was weather control. 

 

With her mastery of the temperature, she made everywhere around her unseasonably hot. With her mastery of the air, she prevented and diverted rain, drying out the bushland and woods. And when the conditions were perfect, she started a small fire, and with her control of the winds, directed it, fed it, fuelled it. A natural bushfire needed these conditions, and could thrive on them. But with her will behind it? She could burn half a state. 

 

And indeed, burn half a state is what she had done when she first came into her powers. Over several months, her fires had raged from central Victoria to eastern South Australia, killing thousands and burning small towns into ash. 

 

Behind her were dozens of vehicles and crude tents, filled with her Raiders. They were rough, harsh men, mostly ex-criminals that she had broken out of prisons across the state a year ago. Ever since, they had travelled the countryside, burning and pillaging as they went. Many of them had donned elaborate costumes, dressing in leather and wearing spikes. 

 

She did not care what they wanted to wear, or how they acted. As long as they obeyed.

 

She heard the sound of engines in the distance. "Excellent," She muttered. "My raiding party has returned."

 

Another successful raid on Wendigo's caravan. A few more of those, and the witch herself would come forth. Bushfire planned to fight her, and Bushfire planned to win. She would take Bendigo for herself, and pillage everything it had. More importantly though, she would get rid of that depressing and frustrating pall of cold weather and snow hanging around the middle of Victoria. Did you have any idea how annoying it was, trying to burn Victoria when cold weather got in the way, messing with her control?

Very.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Blackhoof

[Voidus]

Day 3

Powervault stretched as she stepped out of the car, Adelaides air transports were all saved for emergency uses and apparently dealing with Swift was not considered emergency enough so she'd had to drive out here with Crowbar.

"Stay in the car dear, if one of them finds Swift I can just follow the bird. No need to put your cute little face in any danger."

She left the still-sputtering Crowbar in the car, pulling the motorbike off the trailer in the back. Not exactly as elegant a mode of transport as she preferred but trying to catch a speedster on foot was an exercise in futility.

A cloud of black birds spread in all directions as Crowbar finally remembered his job, Powervault blew him a kiss before kicking the bike into gear and heading off, surrounded by sparks as she prepared herself to deal with Swift.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Legolas sat in a room waiting for his meeting for Laserbolt to finally take place. He should have just slaughtered the messenger who'd directed him to wait here but leaving a good first impression was part of this mission. If he didn't return with promising news then he'd likely have to go through some kind of punishment. The best he'd be able to hope for was getting demoted and placed with the new batch of recruits. At worst...

Well he didn't want to even think about that, instead directing his mind to this latest batch of Immortals. They were a larger group than either of those that had come before and apparently one had even been selected for special training to become the captain of all the Immortals. That grated on his nerves but then again it was better than having an Epic put in charge. The Immortals all shared some last vestiges of humanity at least.

He remembered his own training, he hadn't been the most promising member of bravo team but his experience with archery had given him something of a head-start over most, though it had also unfortunately lead to the code name based on some Elven archer from the Lord of the Rings movies. But it kept the others in good spirits and a few had even asked for some basic lessons on the bow, whether out of some belief that it looked cooler than guns or some desire to be ever more efficient.

He was so lost in his own recollections that he almost didn't notice the second messenger until they were right in front of him.

"Laserbolt will see you now." He said quickly, eyes averted from Legolas' own dead gaze staring out from sunken sockets.

Legolas nodded. About time. He stood up to follow the messenger, preparing himself for meeting the ruler of another city. He would need to be on his guard, but not seem to be, be courteous but not weak, insistent but not come on too strong.

This is going to be difficult. Why couldn't they have sent a diplomat instead? Someone actually used to this stuff?

But he knew already, his own presence was part of the negotiation, a reminder that while other cities had more Epics in them, Adelaide had an army of immortal warriors.

[Blackhoof]

 

Day 3

 

Geelong: Bloodmaker

 

Bloodmaker drew his large knife across the throat of a struggling vanilla, licking the blood off of his lips as it spurted out, covering him head to toe. Blood from a dozen weaklings covered him, dying his shoddy clothes red. It tasted good.

 

Skipstep was nearby, slitting the throat of another. But he teleported away before any blood could touch him- he considered it a mark of skill that he could kill and disappear before the victim even realised that they had died.

 

A loud shot echoed through the room, and Bloodmaker felt a lance of hot pain take him in the kidney. Growling in anger, he turned and raised his own handgun, blowing away the raggedly-dressed weakling. His side continued to send shock-waves of agony through him, but they rapidly diminished. He knew without looking that it was healing, and soon his flesh would be as good as new. He felt his reserves of health slowly diminish as the wound sucked them up to heal him, days of sickness being used up in seconds.

 

Bloodmaker looked around, seeing the last weakling fall, one of Skipstep's daggers in her heart. The room fell silent. Skipstep appeared next to him, and began cleaning his knives on a weakling's clothes. This group had been hiding in a partially ruined building in the mostly ruined suburb of Corio. Most Geelong residents had moved, or been moved, south when Warplock took control. Things had been a lot less fun for Bloodmaker and Skipstep since that had happened.

 

"Well," Skipstep chirped. "That was fun! How are your health reserves going?"

Bloodmaker frowned. "They are getting quite low. Another bullet wound would drain them dry." Skipstep shrugged.

"We can risk it, that family was pretty lucky to have a loaded gun, after all."

"Yes... one more family, and then we are going back to base."

 

Skipstep jumped and clapped, giggling in joy. Bloodmaker never understood the idea of laughing at the prospect of killing. It was more of a.... need, than a fun past-time. The duo left the house and went on their way, Skipstep teleporting wildly into every building they past. Eventually they found a pair of hiding survivors... and the fun began again.

[Blackhoof]

Day 3

 

Tribourne: Laserbolt

 

Blackhoof takes black

Voidus takes red

 

 

Laserbolt entered with her super-speed, zooming through doors held open by her servants, and appearing on her throne above the waiting messenger. All he likely would have seen was a blur in the air followed by her sudden appearance. In fact, if he had of blinked, he would have missed even that. She smiled as she looked down on the arrival. She studied him- tall, strong….. and strange. There was something odd about him, something unnatural in his eyes.

 

Laserbolt’s smile weakened, turning into a frown. Was this….. one of those Immortals? She had heard rumours that Necropathy could gift his powers, and he had created an army with them. She didn’t know exactly what his powers were, but if this was one of those…. there must be a reason it is called an immortal. Then again, it could be an Epic, but sending an Epic as a messenger seemed wasteful.

 

Finally deigning to speak, she raised her voice, “Greetings, messenger. What brings you to my humble third of Tribourne?”

 

Legolas almost missed the sudden blur which entered the room, even his enhanced eyesight registering it as little more than a streak of light which suddenly resolved itself into a human figure sitting on a throne.

He forced his hands away from his hips, where his pistol would usually be had he not left it behind. Reflex-motions like that might save his life in a battle but in here they’d be more likely to get him killed.

He bowed to Laserbolt as she greeted him, remaining only a hair above the depth he would offer to Necropathy or Severance out of respect.

“Greetings my lady.” Legolas began, trying to force some manner of charm into a voice more used to barking orders. “I come on behalf of Necropathy of Adelaide with an offering, and a proposal.”

 

“Interesting. Please, go on.”

 

Legolas nodded politely before continuing.

“My lord Necropathy would like to pursue an avenue of partnership with you in particular as well as the Triumvirate in general. I shall request for you to later schedule a meeting with the others to discuss the potential of our cities in helping each other, but my lord feels that a city as divided as Tribourne is not as strong as it could be, if one of the Triumvirate were to rule the whole city rather than merely a third then it would be far more productive and strong. To this end I have been instructed to place myself at your disposal while I am here. The Immortals of Adelaide have many… unique abilities that you may find useful in defeating the other two.”

 

Laserbolt raised an eyebrow and smirked as the Immortal offered, in a matter-of-fact manner, to help her overthrow the rest of the Triumvirate. She laughed lightly, “Well Necropathy is a bold one, isn’t he? Your offer certainly is tempting, but I need to know more. Please, may I have a demonstration of these abilities of yours? Here, have a servant to kill.” She looked at a nearby servant, and engaged her laser vision.

The servant screamed as twin beams of light grabbed her, pulling her closer to Laserbolt and then angling her towards the Immortal, dropping her within arm's reach of the warrior.

Legolas nodded once more as one of Laserbolt’s servants was dragged towards them. Once she was close enough he reached out gently, one finger extended and ever so lightly grazed her cheek, inflicting the lightest of scratches. The scratch reddened almost instantly before fading into a line of deepest black.

 

Then the screaming truly began.  

A patchwork of black lines sped across her face, seeming to grip her tightly as they did their horrible work. Within seconds her entire face had turned to black, the faintest smell of rotting flesh began to rise from the wound. The servant choked out her final screaming breath before finally stilling. The spread of black halting now that the victim had died.

To complete his demonstration Legolas raised his other arm before scratching it deeply, identical black lines sprang into being as he held it up for Laserbolt to see, but this time the lines of decaying flesh slowed and stopped before running in reverse, healthy flesh replacing the black and even the deep scratches he’d inflicted healed themselves.

“I also have extensive training in most forms of combat, even the slightest wounds that I inflict will decay as you saw whether I inflict them with my body or a weapon.”

He left out the slight physical enhancements afforded to him, if Laserbolt thought that his accuracy with bow and gun were the result of training rather than another ability then she’d be even more wary about crossing Necropathy.

 

Laserbolt smiled with glee as her servant’s flesh melted in seconds. Such power! The Immortal demonstrated its healing abilities and her smile grew wider. This could be a very useful asset indeed. And Necropathy has an army of these? He will be a valuable ally indeed.

 

“Thank you for the demonstration.” She said, as some other servants dragged their colleague’s body away. “I would be glad to accept your proposal, and shall inform the others immediately about a meeting for an alliance.” She gestured to her scribe, leaning in to whisper. “Send a messenger to Quakezone and Foundry. Tell them that a diplomat from Adelaide has arrived, and wants to meet with all three of us as soon as possible.”

She raised her voice, gesturing to her servants and guards. “Leave us!” They shuffled out, leaving only herself, the Immortal, and Windstorm in the shadows behind her. “Now, discussing the matter of overthrowing those two egomaniacs that I rule with…. That will be a difficult task. They both possess powers that make them near invincible. I should know, as I have tried very hard to kill them both in the past. So far, my plan has been to undermine their realms and weaken their power base, hopefully causing them to either leave in frustration or surrender to my de facto dominance once I control their territory. It pains me to admit that I am unable to defeat them in combat, but were I to receive a force of Immortals to help me…. their armies could never stand a chance.” Laserbolt’s smile would have put a crocodile to shame.

 

 

 

Tribourne: Quakezone

 

The Emperor of the western district of Tribourne sat in conference with his advisors, seated around a large table. "I call this meeting in session", Quakezone announced. "Dreadbearer, what is your report on Project Watchful?"

Dreadbearer, a mental Epic who could create and enflame fear, leaned forward, addressing the group. "My lord, it is nearing completion. The tracking devices are all prepared, we just need to wait for Miniaturisation to finish shrinking them. The needles and "vaccines" are also prepared, awaiting the insertion of the miniaturized trackers. Once they have been prepared, I estimate it will take a few days to distribute them and have the entire population of the third on record and being tracked."

 

Quakezone smiled. "Excellent work, Dreadbearer. Now, Grenadier, give us your report on the state of our military." Grenadier nodded his head, and began. "My emperor, recruitment and training are both going extremely well, and we now have some 16'000 Quakers, with a further 30'000 conscript militia. Our troops are well-armed and well-equipped, although we still rely heavily on exports from Foundry. These imports total 16% of our small arms, 34% of our heavy weapons, 22% of our military electronics, 38% of our vehicle spare parts, and 40% of our miscellaneous equipment."

Quakezone frowned, and replied, "Work on getting those percentages down, but work harder at stockpiling equipment. If war breaks out, it likely won't drag on for too long, so we should prioritise our resources in places other than increasing our ability to supply our own forces." Grenadier nodded and wrote in his note pad. 

 

Quakezone then turned to another Epic. "Darkpyre, what is the state of my city's stability and order?"

"Well my lord, the riots and demonstrations have stopped, although random vandalism is still occurring, despite the vandals you executed the other week."

 

The meeting continued like that for another few hours, until finally Quakezone dismissed his ministers and called to meeting to a close. As he left the conference room, he saw his secretary at her desk to the side, and he approached her. "Did I receive any messages during my absence?"

The secretary stood, and bowed. "My emperor- you received just one, from Queen Laserbolt." Quakezone grimaced. He hated that irritating woman. What he wouldn't give to crush her skull as he did to other challenges to his authority. "What did the message say?" 

"She is requesting a meeting of the Triumvirate, to discuss important matters of state. Her message did not elaborate."

 

Quakezone rolled his eyes. A meeting? What could she possibly have to discuss with him? Things had been tense lately, with Quakezone and Laserbolt in particular trading clandestine blows through their proxies and agents. They both knew the other was responsible for the issues in their kingdoms... they just couldn't prove it.

"Very well," He sighed, "Tell her that we will meet tomorrow at the Circle at 10am." 

 

Quakezone turned without waiting for a reply, scowling at the prospect of meeting with his co-rulers. Foundry wasn't so irritating- the former factory worker was a blunt man, and preferred to keep to himself mostly. But Laserbolt? In Quakezone's eyes, her arrogance, vanity and ineffectual rule were clear markers of weakness. But weakness that he was unable to exploit to her demise. For long, at least. He met up with Glasstorm, and the two Epics walked together in the corridors of Quakezone's fortress. 

"Have you ever read Hobbes' Leviathan, my dear deputy?"

 

Glasstorm shook his head.

"Well, recently I have been paying greater attention to it. In fact, I have started modelling my rule on his theories. Hobbes wrote that what people wanted above all else was security, not freedom. They will always choose the former over the latter. And to guarantee security, and thus some small measure of freedom, and safeguard against civil war, a single, absolute sovereign was needed. One man, or body of men, with complete power. Not limited by morality, weakness, conscience or a constitution. The government needed to be a leviathan, a beast so terrifying that none would dare trespass against its laws."

"I offer this to my people- security. This latest meeting confirms that my strategy is working. More people are immigrating here than ever before. Laserbolt offers some freedom to her people, giving the gangs free reign. And they hate her for it, despite her attempts to appease them with spectacles and blood sport. Foundry works his people like slaves, giving them all jobs and a purpose, but a purpose that he cannot even pretend serves them. Perhaps this seems smart, but many of his people die from exhaustion, or flee from the harsh conditions. People need more than jobs, they need hope. A tiny light, that they will never reach.... but something to strive for."

"I give my people this. I offer them the protection of the leviathan and they accept it. They work, they serve, they obey. They have just enough freedom to content them.... but not enough to overly damage my productivity. I will win this stalemate, when I control the most populous and most productive third of the city. The other two will surrender to my authority, and I will emerge as the undisputed ruler of Tribourne." 

 

Quakezone smiled. "I will win."

[Blackhoof]

Melbourne, 16 months ago

Quakezone

Quakezone frowned as he watched the fierce, gale-force winds rip through Melbourne. Rainman, somewhere nearby, was doing this, causing winds to tear through the streets, strong enough in some places to rip roofs off buildings and knock over trees. The Epic was also responsible for the huge, angry clouds gathered over this suburb, lightning striking continuously, lighting fires and striking down any foolish enough to leave the safety of their houses.

How was he supposed to conquer the city in weather like this?

Another shock of wind caused the house to shudder, and he turned away from the window with a frustrated sigh. He wore all black, with a white cape. He wasn't sure if he wanted to keep his uniform like this though.... perhaps invert the colours? Ah well, he could worry about it later.

"Send another scout out, I want to know exactly where Rainman and his thugs are hiding." Quakezone ordered.

His assembled gang of thugs muttered among themselves, and Grenadier looked up, him and the pther Epics separate from the humans. "But sir, the last sc out we sent got fried three steps out of the door-"

"Then send two! At least one should make it! And as long as they carry their mobiles, they can give us the location before they die."

The humans he had conscripted into fighting for him looked nervously at each other. Quakezone abruptly pointed to two of them. "You two! Go! Or I will rip you into little pieces!" The thugs paled, and slowly made their way to the front door. "NOW!" The thugs almost bolted, pushing to be the first out the door. The pair for across the street before a bolt of lightning hit one, turning him into a charred corpse. The other, however, avoided this fate as he fled across the street, through the fierce wind, and disappeared around a corner.

Dreadbearer stepped up beside his leader. Quakezone turned to him. "You think he will be back?"

The Epic shrugged. "Probably not. But he might give us Rainman's location anyway. Is it really necessary that you have the exact house, anyway?

Quakezone snorted in response. "You have any idea how stupid I will look, flying into a house and blowing it apart, only to have gotten the wrong place? I'd rather not blow up every house on the block finding the little cretin."

It was another hour before Grenadier got a text, detailing the exact address of Rainman's hideout, and a picture for proof.

Quakezone smiled, memorizing the place. "Ladies and gentlemen! When I return, this infernal weather will have stopped! And our campaign of conquest shall continue!"

He flew out through the closed window, heedless of the smashing glass. In seconds he was in the sky, struggling against the winds and ignoring the lightning bolts that struck him. Soon he had the house in view, and he laughed, unable to hear himself over the wind. He picked up speed, one fist forward, and as he smashed into the wall. He amplified the force of his punch, and the wall imploded. He continued through, blinded by dust and plaster, and he felt it as he crashed through several more walls. Thanks to his invincibility and the way his power worked, he didn't feel them nearly as much as he should have.

The house exploded and collapsed around him as he burst out the other side. Shaking the dust off of himself, he turned to inspect his handiwork. The charming, middle-class suburban residence had become nothing but a pile of rubble. The weather began clearing up, and the wind began slowing. He picked through the rubble, briefly scanning for survivors, but all he found were the bodies of Rainman's gang.

Suddenly he heard a cough, and he turned to see a pile of rubble shifting. He lazily batted the rubble aside, revealing a battered and bloody Rainman. "Please.... I... I will serve..." He whimpered. Quakezone smiled. "Yes... yes you will." He cleared the rubble away from Rainman and let him pull himself up. "From now on, you serve me, are we understood?" Rainman nodded reluctantly.

"Now.... this suburb is secure. Use your powers to cause storms only over areas that I do not control. I will have people know that they are safe, as long as they remain loyal and within my protection."

The clouds abated, and the sun peeked through, for the first time in days. Quakezone grinned sinisterly. "Today is a new dawn, Rainman. I am almost prepared to seize total control over this city, and take what is my due. Yes.... today is when things start to go my way."

Edited December 19, 2015 by Blackhoof

[Blackhoof]

Melbourne, 16 months ago

 

 

Foundry

 

 

"Charge!" Foundry roared as he threw a molten ball of metal hurtling into the air. Around him his soldiers obeyed, dozens leaping out of cover and flowing towards the police station. Most did not have guns, but wielded axes, hammers and swords, crafted with Foundry's powers of molten metal manipulation. Gunfire answered them from the station, angry bullets kicking up dirt and ricocheting from asphalt as Foundry's forces charged towards the main gate. High-velocity fire cut down half the attackers before they had made half the distance, but Foundry was heedless, of both the bullets melting into him and his casualties. He reached the gate, and melted it with a touch. A wall of police vans and cruisers had been created bumper-to-bumper in front of the door, and officers shot at him from what they assumed was safety. They were wrong.

 

With a gesture, Foundry seized the pool of metal that had been the gate and raised it into wall in front of him, stopping the hail of bullets, and adding to the wall as they too melted and were absorbed. He held this as his surviving troops formed up around him, protected by his metal wall and the cover offered by the wall to either side of the gate. More arrived, running in a low crouch as he held the attention of the policemen. With a grunt, Foundry threw the wall forwards, forming it into a barrage of molten blobs, crashing into the wall of vehicles. A hissing sound like a thousand snakes rose up, and men and women screamed in agony as their protective wall melted and was turned against them. It was over quickly.

 

Foundry strode forward, his conscripts flanking him, as he raised his now massive reserves of metal into tentacles that framed his approach. The sharpshooters and policemen in the windows had vanished from view. With a dismissive gesture, Foundry sent a tentacle through one window, eliciting a quick scream. With a through, he had the tentacle rip a chunk out of the wall.

 

Foundry raised his voice. "Attention officers and soldiers of the Moorabbin Police Station! You have fought valiantly, and I commend you for it! However, worms such as you are not worth my time. You will come out and surrender now, and I will let you live, so that I can focus my attention on more important enemies." A good minute of silence followed. Finally, the front door opened, and nervous, unarmed officers exited the building. Soon more than a dozen, many in full SWAT gear, had assembled in front of him.

 

Foundry smiled. "Excellent. Now.... kneel." The officers looked at each other, but slowly, one by one, they knelt before him. "You serve me now. You will go back inside, retrieve your weapons, and join my army. We will be using this station as our new headquarters for now." The officers looked defeated, but slowly they nodded, and headed back inside. Foundry took one look around, at his army, who looked more relieved that they hadn't died than triumphant at their victory, and entered his new base of operations.

[Blackhoof]

Tribourne, Present Day, Day 4

 

 

Foundry

 

Foundry entered the Circle's meeting room, flanked by guards. Quakezone and Laserbolt were already there, seated around the long mahogany table. Each of them had their own guards, one or both of which would be Epics. He felt a growing annoyance as he laid eyes on them. One, or both, he did not know, had sabotaged his food supplies, and a number of his factories. “No-one sabotages MY factories….” He thought to himself, clenching his fists. Thankfully, his expression of anger was hidden behind the fireman’s mask that he always wore on public outings. Appearances were important, and more than that… safety was important.

 

Laserbolt leant forward, a smug smile on her face. “Now gentlemen, apparently a messenger from another city has arrived to make contact with us. I have not spoken with him myself, of course, but apparently he represents Necropathy, in Adelaide.”

Foundry scoffed. “How stupid do you think we are, Laserbolt? Of course you spoke with him, he stayed in your territory last night!”

Laserbolt’s smile ran away from her face. “Your accusations have no merit, we all agreed to only conduct audiences with messengers from other cities ONLY when-”

“Well if I may be frank, you have broken the Unification treaty yourself multiple times, and-”

“I have NEVER, you have no proof!”

Quakezone rolled his eyes and allowed them to bicker for several more minutes, before slamming a fist down on the table. No damage was done, but the other two looked at him. “Enough with your petty squabbling! The messenger is just outside. Lets let him in and present a united front, shall we?” They grumbled in agreement, and with a gesture from Quakezone, the messenger was let in.

“What do you have to say, messenger?” Foundry asked. But he noticed something…. strange about this person. An Epic?

 

Legolas faced the three leaders of Tribourne, letting his eyes rest no longer or shorter on Laserbolt than either of the other two.

Once more he did his best impression of someone who actually cared enough to be courteous, bowing to each of the three in turn before adressing them.

“Greetings to the Triumvirate from Necropathy of Adelaide.” He began.

“My lord Necropathy has sent me as an envoy to discuss potential… benefits to both parties. Quite simply, he seek to form an alliance with the city of Tribourne against the rest of the Wastelands. With the might of five High Epics and the military forces of both cities he believes that there isn’t another city that could pose a threat.”

There was slightly more to Necropathy’s reasoning than that, Legolas had been stationed on the island where the intelligence Epics of Adelaide resided once and he knew that their predictions were rarely off. Necropathy and Severance had likely made this decision to ally with the Triumvirate based off of those predictions.

And if this was a part of the Plan then Legolas had better not screw anything up.

He produced a small book from a back pocket before laying it on the table in front of him.

“A summary of our intelligence on some of the other cities.” Legolas explained. “As well as some drafted strategies for how to deal with them.”

 

 

Foundry leant forward as the messenger gave its report. “An alliance? To conquer the rest of Australia? This is a brilliant opportunity!”  And the promise of information on the other cities? Even better.

Quakezone leant back, apparently almost… disinterested. “A tempting offer. But what does Necropathy have to offer us, besides this information, that other cities could not? I have already have overtures from other parties. Isn’t Adelaide rather…. small, as cities go?” A smirk formed at the edges of his mouth.

Foundry’s eyes narrowed. “He must be bluffing…. I will wait and see how this messenger responds. Adelaide is hardly small though, you are layering it a bit thick Quakezone….”

 

Legolas felt his gaze narrow at the insult to his home city. Adelaide wasn’t quite as big as Sydney or Melbourne had been but it wasn’t what you’d call small.

That one would be Quakezone, Legolas tried to let none of his feelings show through his expression as he responded.

“Information is only one of the aspects that we excel at. We have a large standing army, more professionally trained than most of the other cities, Severance and Necropathy themselves though form the core of our city, jointly they provide an impenetrable defense combined with a completely lethal offensive.”

All this negotiating is not what I was trained for. Legolas sighed internally.

“But perhaps of equal importance are our special operatives. I take it you’ve heard of the Immortals of Adelaide?”

No need to reveal that he was one of those Immortals to anyone but Laserbolt, not yet anyway.

 

 

Foundry watched Quakezone, the black-cloaked tyrant’s expression unchanging in its contempt as the messenger ignored his insult. Turning to the ambassador, Foundry raised his voice. “Yes, we have heard of the Immortals. Their abilities are certainly formidable. Perhaps an alliance would be in our interest, my friends?” He desperately tried to prevent emphasis from forming on the last work, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded. He also had no clue as to what these Immortals were, other than that Necropathy gifted his powers to them, but it did no good to reveal ignorance.

Quakezone and Laserbolt looked thoughtful, but Laserbolt seemed to come to a decision very quickly. How far had her clandestine meeting with the messenger gone?

Quakezone turned to the messenger. “I would like to ask about these…. Immortals. Obviously I am aware of their powered nature, but what specifically are they capable of?”

 

Legolas found himself frustrated once again as Quakezone queried him. Such details were not something that he would divulge before an alliance was even formed. He almost ignored the question completely to try to gain further approval from Foundry, the third member of the Triumvirate.  But he had been asked to make sure that negotiations went well so he have something of the truth to the Epic.

“As the name suggests they are immortal soldiers my lord.” He began as he tried to decide how much to reveal. “Their wounds heal in seconds and any wound that they inflict on another becomes instantly lethal. They are perfect soldiers, unkillable but able to inflict untold destruction upon our enemies.”

A slightly sterner than was smart stare told Quakezone that he did not want to be one of those enemies.

“Other than that they are given the most severe training of any military unit in the world, they carry a wide variety of weapons and can use any of them to destroy their opponents, even something seemingly harmless can become a deadly weapon in the hands of an Immortal.”

Probably a little over the top but Epics are all like that aren’t they?

 

 

Foundry frowned, but his frown soon turned to a smile. “These Immortals seem incredibly useful. What army could stand against invincible soldiers? We need to get Adelaide on our side. At least until the other cities have been subjugated.” And he was feeling increasingly sure that this was no human messenger, not with that look that he had given Quakezone. No human would be so bold.

Quakezone looked irritated, but Laserbolt spoke up before Foundry could. “Thank you for this offer, perhaps we could have some time alone to discuss our decision in private? Then we will give Necropathy our answer and we will happily escort you back to him in one of our own helicopters.”

 

Legolas nodded at this final offer.

“As you wish.” He said before exiting the room.

He looked down at one palm, tiny black lines rapidly receded as his fingernail was removed from the flesh. Luckily it had been hidden during the meeting but if one of them had taken offense at that display of emotion and refused an alliance…

Well there was no point pondering what might have happened. Just focus on the now. Laserbolt would of course support the alliance, although he didn’t know the exact nature of her political struggles so she might need to disguise it at first but ultimately she would be supportive. Foundry had also seemed to want an alliance, his eagerness could be useful while he remained alive. Industrial trade was something he hadn’t even considered going in, but it was something that would no doubt be useful. Adelaide had been steadily increasing its power and stability and had even started some infrastructure projects lately, almost no suburbs had reliable power yet but it might be possible in the future. Yes, he could definitely offer something to Foundry. He would need to have one of his men contact home to discuss terms.

 

The trio turned to each other as the door closed behind the messenger.

“I don’t like that ambassador. Far too impudent.” Quakezone grumbled. “Either Necropathy instills as much fear into his subjects as a six-year old running a tea party, or it was an Epic. Or… it was an Immortal.”

Laserbolt rolled her eyes. “You are imagining things Quakey, why would anyone send an Epic as an ambassador? Unless it was one of those hilariously weak ones, they are all too useful to put in danger like that.”

Foundry interjected. “Regardless of who the messenger is or isn’t, I think that an alliance has merits. We are secure in our power in Tribourne, and as Quakezone proved by seizing Melton and Sunbury, we are ready to expand our influence.”

Quakezone smiled. “Indeed. In fact, I have a number of plans being drawn up as we speak to annex and neutralize the major powers in Victoria. Wendigo and Warplock will be particular challenges, but do not trouble yourselves with that. I will personally take the responsibility and difficulty of bringing these wayward factions under our control.” Laserbolt rolled her eyes.

Foundry spoke up. “We will discuss the specifics of invasion later, currently we need to provide an answer.”

Laserbolt spoke next. “I agree. Perhaps we simply offer trade routes, send some permanent representatives to each other, and and discuss less drastic methods of cooperation than a full alliance at first?”

Quakezone nodded. “Indeed, I want to take this slowly. Bring the messenger back in!”

The servants obeyed, and the messenger entered once more.

Quakezone spoke up. “We have an answer for you, ambassador. We are hesitant to commit to a anything as binding as a formal alliance thus far. But we do desire increased cooperation with Necropathy and his kingdom. We propose that our two cities convene joint meetings to discuss ways in which we can help each other. Perhaps by opening trade routes, or swapping soldiers for training. We also offer to send permanent representatives to Adelaide to speak for the Triumvirate in all matters, and open our city for Necropathy to do the same.”

 

Legolas arched one eyebrow slightly as he heard Quakzones offer.

It wasn’t a sealed alliance but it was certainly something. An opening for negotiations to continue. And sending soldiers for training? Well that was quite the unexpected bonus, an easy method to insert more operatives.

“That… should be acceptable.” He said hesitantly.

It shouldn’t take too much more for something more concrete. A few more meetings with Laserbolt, some new trade opportunities for Foundry. Perhaps a few missions to create a bit more friction between the three. Nothing like a new ally when you’re planning to kill your old allies.

“I will need to send a message back to confirm that these terms are agreeable. But I doubt there will be any problems. In the meantime I hope you won’t mind if I intrude on your city’s wonderful hospitality for a short while?”

 

 

Quakezone began, smiling politely, “I am afraid that-”

“You would be perfectly welcome to stay, of course.” Laserbolt interjected, and Quakezone turned a furious glare towards her. Laserbolt just smiled back at him.

Quakezone tried to seize control of the meeting back. “Of course, you may stay for as long as is necessary. I will send some of my men to make sure that you are adequately protected in Laserbolt’s territory. The gangs have been particularly rowdy over there, after all.” Now it was Laserbolt’s turn to scowl.

Foundry broke in, cutting off her retort. “I think this meeting is at an end. Let us adjourn for the day, and await Necropathy’s response.” The other two nodded, still glaring daggers at each other. The messenger too was escorted out of the room, and all three stood, exiting through the back door, their bodyguards following them.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Blackhoof

[Blackhoof]

Geelong, Day 5

 

 

 

Warplock

 

 

The Empress of Geelong frowned as she listened to Geode explain why he had failed- again- to capture Bloodmaker and Skipstep. 

 

"And so, your majesty, you can see why they managed to escape from my weak, pathetic human soldiers that I sent. They are simply too slow to catch them when-",

Warplock cut him off with a raised hand.

 

Silence filled the room.

 

"I did not ask your humans to do it." Her voice was acid, her face unreadable beneath the thick hood and dark veil she wore. "I asked you to do it. And you did not." Geode's expression of arrogant condescension dropped into a look of almost fear. "You have failed me. Again. You will be punished for this. I am stripping you of half your servants, until further notice." Geode  

raised his mouth to protest, but Warplock cut him off. "And your nice house will go to whichever lower-ranked Epic can find those annoying psychopaths and deal with them. You will be moved to a smaller residence."

 

"And finally...." Warplock waved her hand, and a portal opened underneath the earth-controlling Epic, and he fell through, a startled look on his face. The other end of the portal opened directly above him facing downwards, and Geode reappeared as soon as he vanished. He fell back through the first portal and soon, with ever-increasing speed, he zipped in and out of view, screaming in fear.

 

Warplock turned to Meltbeam and Heavyweight, who had been waiting towards the back of the room. "You will take up Geode's duties, and track down Bloodmaker and Skipstep." The two Epics nodded, their eyes flickering nervously to the screaming earth Epic. Her voice hardened. "You will not fail me."

 

With that, she used her telekinetic powers and pushed Geode away, breaking the portal loop he was in and sending him crashing into the wall with a cry. 

[Blackhoof]

Tribourne, Laserbolt's Territory, Day 5

 

 

Laserbolt

 

 

"Begin!" Laserbolt yelled into the microphone, and the crowd cheered.

 

They sat in a makeshift stadium, deep in her territory. Several blocks of houses had been demolished, and bleachers and stands had been raised by "volunteers" to create this arena. And ever since, she had put it to good use.

 

Two humans stood in the large circle, each men, dressed in nothing more than loincloths and wielding nets and tridents.

 

Laserbolt smiled as she watched them begin circling each other. She turned to the Immortal ambassador from Adelaide, who she had insisted attend this week's round of entertainment. "The Romans were completely correct about at least one thing", she began. "The best way to keep a population happy is panem et circenses. Bread and circuses." One of the gladiators feinted to the right, and nearly caught his opponent with a deft net throw, but the crafty gladiator dodged at the last moment.

 

"As long as my people are suitably entertained between gruelling shifts, as long as they have something to look forward to, they will be content. Content enough to avoid leaving for another's territory. Although, truth be told...." Laserbolt grimaced. "The bread department has been lacking lately. Do you know how many people starved here? When we took over, and transport companies stopped bothering with trucks. For a while, the logistics network that had sustained a city stopped almost completely. The other two didn't notice at first, but I knew that my people would starve if nothing was done. And who can rule over the dead?"

 

"So, I worked with the other two and we re-established the logistics lines, as best we could. We had no incoming source of petrol, so Epics refitted trucks with electric engines, that other Epics could charge. We drated people in their thousands to plant crops everywhere, anywhere we could. Gardens, parks, golf courses, they all became fields for wheat, barley or potatoes. Even still, there was a lot of disorder while we set everything up. Huge riots, outright warfare in the streets as people scrambled for their share of the dwindling food supplies. Rebellious Epics participated, trying to weaken our rule. And as I said, people starved. How many? A million or so, something in that region, not including those murdered or killed in the disorder, or who left the city. But the good thing about dead people.... is that they kill two birds with one stone. They don't need food, and they can be food. Not for me, of course, but when the peasants are hungry they will eat anything, and not ask where it came from."

 

One of the gladiators finally tangled the other in his net, and stilled him with a trident through the throat. Laserbolt raised her hand, and congratulated  the victor. The next round was about to begin- this time, two teams of five gladiators, each armed with a specialised set of weapons. 

 

"Yes...." Laserbolt said, almost to herself, smiling evilly. "This is the best way to keep the population under control. And you know... I think I've though of a way to mitigate our food shortages."

Edited January 24, 2016 by Blackhoof

[Blackhoof]

Geelong, 17 months ago

 

 

 

Sergeant Gordon Pike sighed as he sat at his desk, sorting through the reports he had been receiving from all over the city. A building blown apart by some madman calling himself Lightshow. An unknown, but large, number of people massacred in broad daylight in a shopping centre by a pair of unknown attackers. Several houses and their inhabitants killed, rocks and dirt smashing the houses apart. Looters running rampant. Murder, assault, theft, all violent crimes were skyrocketing. People were scared, and order was breaking down. The barely 200 officers in Geelong were fighting a losing battle, and they were beginning to realise it.

 

He barely noticed as the two Epics entered the station.

 

There was a crash and shouting, and he looked up to see a plump, short, elderly black woman throwing an officer across the room. Everyone exploded into motion, chairs flying backwards and guns leaving holsters. A thin, smirking man stood behind the woman, and with a wave of his hand a room full of drawn pistols crumbled into dust.  

 

Silence descended like a blanket.

 

Finally, the smirking man spoke up. "I think it is time for introductions, don't you, my friend?" The woman nodded slowly, her eyes sinisterly wide and unblinking. "Indeed. I am Warbreaker."

"And I am Ceasefire."

"And we.... we are in charge here now."

 

Silence greeted the claim. Pike and the other officers looked around at each other, confusion and fear in their faces. Finally Pike rose from his desk. "You are both under arrest, for assault of a police officer, and destruction of property." He began approaching them, at first reaching for his gun, but then reconsidering and grabbing his taser. Several other officers followed his lead, cornering the intruders and pulling out cuffs. The two Epics looked at each other, and rolled their eyes. With a gesture, Pike's taser dissolved. His jaw clenched in anger, and he grabbed a lamp off of a nearby desk. He kept walking. Ceasefire waved a lazy hand, but the lamp remained whole. The Epic's eyes narrowed in brief annoyance. "Looks like my powers only work on objects designed to be weapons. Thought so. Ah well."

 

Pike stood in front of the mismatched pair. His voice was firm, despite his fear. "This will go more smoothly if you do not resist." 

Warbreaker smiled, her eerie stare fixating on Pike. "I could say the same to you." She raised her arms, and shoved Pike hard. Her strength was unnatural, and Pike found himself in midair, flying backwards until he crashed into a desk. His head hit the wood hard, and he blacked out for a split second. Dizziness fell upon him like a shroud, and the Epics and officers had become nothing but blurs. Blurs of rapid motion, he now saw, although he couldn't make out any details. 

 

When his head finally stopped swimming, he saw the two intruders standing triumphant and alone, broken bodies surrounding them. Warbreaker tilted her head. "See? I told you it would be easier."

Ceasefire chuckled. "Now, you will all either work for us, as your new overlords, or you will turn in your badges, and we may or may not shove them down your throats. This whole suburb is now under our control." The Epic smiled like a wolf. "And we need a police force to control our new subjects."

 

Pike groggily rose to his feet, barking out a laugh. "You think we will work for you? You think you can just... declare yourselves dictators? You think you won't be stopped in a few weeks by the army, when they come to liberate us?" The pair of would-be rulers frowned, annoyed at his defiance. Warbreaker began striding towards him. "You will have to kill me before I will ever bow before the likes of you." He spat towards the strength Epic, and she puled up short. Irritation became rage on her wrinkled face. 

Ceasefire scowled. "Rip his arms off, and beat him to death with them. That will demonstrate what becomes of rudeness in our kingdom."

 

Gordon Pike, like several of his colleagues, died that day. But every officer afterwards bent their knees and pledged loyalty to their new rulers.

And so began the reign of Warbreaker and Ceasefire over the suburb of Waurn Ponds, that only ended when Warplock seized control of the entire city.

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Day 5 

 

Singularity

 

 

The soldiers died easily. To easily. Singularity frowned, looking down at the bodies. She stood up and pulled the knife out of the armored corpse. So this was the soldier's Bravetitan sent. Tower Iota was her's. 

 

 

As she straightened herself and calmly stood up, a soldier came around the corridor. Singularity moved, compressing space as she stretched out her arm. The soldier died, his windpipe torn apart. From 20 feet away. 

 

 

Singularity continued walking, and came across two more soldiers. She created a small black hole, sucking them into it. They screamed as they went into the Shadow. 

 

The Shadow. 

 

Singularity looked at her wrist and saw the tattoo there. Without thinking, she touched it. The Shadow flowed out. An Epic, probably one of the most powerful in Australia. Her powers worked with his. 

 

You. The Shadow spoke. It formed into what looked like a massive dragon. 

 

​Harbinger of the Shadow. I will destroy this city. 

[Blackhoof]

 

 

Geelong, 13 months ago

 

Warplock surveyed her surroundings as she walked calmly down the street. A year of Epic chaos had not been kind to the city of Geelong. It showed- buildings abandoned, their inhabitants dead or gone. Houses with holes in the walls, massive cracks or otherwise degraded. Buildings, power poles and signs ruined, knocked over entirely or damaged beyond repair. Lawns and streets were strewn with wreckage- some of it of a decidedly human origin. Around her, the ground was pockmarked with car-sized craters, the debris of some energy Epic's brutality. Several houses shared those pockmarks- and others had entire façades destroyed.

 

Warplock tsked. This would not do. Destruction in her new city would be caused by her and her alone.

She continued walking, and eventually she saw someone peeking out from an empty windowframe- clearly much slower than the others she had certainly passed. With a wave of her hand, she gripped them with her telekinesis, raising them into the air. He struggled, terror in his face, as he lifted him through the window and levitated him towards her. 

 

"Tell me, little human, where can I find the leader of this city?" The young man struggled. She sighed, and dropped him to the ground. 

"I won't ask a third time, you little-"

He looked up, hands clasping for mercy. "N-n-no-one rules this city, ma'am! J-just a bunch of Epics, fighting for territory."

 

She nodded- she had heard as much. It made the job of taking the city for herself more difficult... but given her defensive powers, only marginally so.

"Tell me human- what are the major Epics and their factions that you know of?"

 

The human gulped, mind clearly whirring. "Well, uh, there are a heap! Uh, Warbreaker and Ceasefire, I think, rule Waurn Ponds. Meltbeam and Dragon rule Belmont, uh, the CBD has like four Epics and their gangs hanging about, but they have a truce. And you're in North Geelong, uh, Sparkshow's gang is in charge here. And, some other Epics I don't know are fighting over the eastern suburbs, I don't ask any questions. Please, that is all I know, please...."

 

Warplock smiled. "You may go. Tell others that I am generous to those who help me." Them an, grateful, fled.

 

"And now.... time to find this 'Sparkshow' and tell him about the beginning of my reign." 

[Edgedancer he/him]

Truth be told, parties and celebrations were not to Mephistopheles’ tastes. They were however a useful tool to gather everyone important, getting a feel of what tensions were raising and put a few subtle touches on them.

 

Still in his office he studied the scene down in the hall. Most of the servants were moving around on the ceiling, thanks to Fallzone shifting gravity along them along with what was essentially pillars of gravity to lower refreshment to the ground level. It lowered the chance of them disturbing anyone’s amusement. The ordinary people were more and more accepting that they should just bow to their betters like the old government did and Mephistopheles had made sure that each of the servants present today had sworn their life to not making a disturbance but additional insurance was always good to have. It also helped giving Fallzone a feeling of importance.

 

The floor itself was filled with people mingling; the Epics and the faces they considered pretty enough to accompany them. He couldn’t say that he ruled these people. He was however controlling them. His role in the city was that of a lynchpin, making sure that none of the Epics required for keeping Eden afloat got any funny ideas of grandeur, resulting in a failed takeover and leaving their infrastructure crippled. They might not take orders but they listened and in many subtle ways they no longer had a choice but to obey, without them even realizing it, which was all he needed.

 

Deterrence entered and stepped up to him. She wore a decorated dress for the occasion, adorned with symbols and patterns representing various Epics of the city, even if most were barely more than bits of color the Epics themselves wouldn’t recognize. Given her role as a quite literal deterrent, both internal and external, it made a nice show of the ruling balance. Knowing her, it was more of a sign that she considered all their powers fundamentally hers to take.

 

“You ought to dress up for these occasions,” she said, while fixing his collar. It was an incredibly minor matter for her to insist on.

“I told you, a simple business suit fits me quite nicely. I am not trying to stand out in the first place.” Mephistopheles said, taking her arm, the fine fabric was hiding an impressive amount of muscle, and softly pulling it away from his collar.

For a moment she looked eyes with him and then simply signed, “You’re hopeless. Now, if you don’t want to change anything about your sorry state, you should go down to meet the others.”

 

And so they did. Shortly after descended down the stairs they were passed off by Shadow Stalker. As usually her face was covered by a mask slightly larger than a colombina, leaving only her mouth and chin revealed, it was a deep black piece of art, framed by her own black hair. The hem of her dress slit into several black stripes of cloth trailing behind her, leading to the mass splitting around her, to avoid stepping on them. An act that would get most of them stabbed mercilessly. Deterrence mirrored the choice of fashion with what was more of a scarf, wrapping around her neck and running down her back in a single black tassel.

 

“Would you two be so kind to lend me a bit of Mephistopheles time for a dance? A fitting piece is coming up,” Shadow Stalker said. Impressively enough, she only flinched away minimally from the scowl Deterrence gave her. Before Deterrence could stare her down further, Mephistopheles took Shadow Stalker by the waist and led her off towards the dance floor.

 

Shadow Stalker wasn’t an important Epic for the city as a whole but she knew how to make herself useful. Their dance was both a slow and a close one, with the cloth at Shadow Stalker’s feet almost dancing around them on their own, nudged and pushed skillfully by her shadow blades, forming a circle around them that prompted the other dancers to keep their distance. Leaning in close, she whispered into his ear. All the little secrets that someone turning a shadow could gather and he could use to move people into the right directions. Today there wasn’t much she could deliver for him, except Fallzone and Seven Heavens continuing wish for more influence. The usual.

 

With the business side of matters dealt with, he simply enjoyed the dance. The rhythmical movement, two synchronizing into one. He’d be lying if he claimed that it had nothing to do with Shadow Stalker’s skills as a dancer… or the touch of her body. Still eventually the song ended and Shadow Stalker excused herself, softly running a shadow tendril along his cheek like another woman might her hand. A show of power inherent in the gesture that he found more alluring than a simple hand would have been.

 

Mephistopheles rejoined with Deterrence and they moved through the crowd. The first guest of honor was easy enough to find. Fallzone wouldn’t join everyone else on the ground, instead she had covered one of the walls with altered gravity, allowing her to set up her own separated area. While down on the ground the mood was more that of a high class party, her area resembled that of a nightclub.

 

Fallzone herself was slouching on a couch bolted to the wall, to save the trouble of having to move it every time. Different from most other Epics present, she had forgone wearing a dress and simply wore a short skirt and a crop top. Deterrence own unwillingness to show much skin had led her to agonize quite a bit over how to integrate Fallzone into her own dress. What she settled on was replacing a section over her own belly button with slightly see through cloth, colored in the same blue tone that Fallzone dyed her hair in.  

 

Transitioning between normal gravity and the gravitational pull towards the wall was smooth and by now both of them had enough experience with Fallzone to not be disoriented. Once she noticed them approaching, Fallzone dismissed the two men, ordinary both of them, fawning over her. More accurately, she changed gravity around them away from her, so that by the time they had reoriented they had fallen over the back of the couch and were sprawled across the floor.

 

“You two, sit down, have a drink,” Fallzone greeted them rather enthusiastically with outstretched arms. Following the invitation they seated themselves next to her.

“Gladly. Enjoying yourself, I hope?” Mephistopheles asked her.

Fallzone responded with a chuckle and made one of the men fall back towards her or maybe she simply returned gravity back to normal for him, so that he ended up with his body lying against the backside of the couch. With one finger under his chin, she further pulled his face down. “Foodstock found someone tasty for me this time and your hospitalities are as good as always, so yes consider me one pleased guest.” Then she dropped the man back on the wall.

 

“More importantly Mephisto,” she said while leaning towards him, “let’s talk about power.”

The statement drew a scoff from Deterrence and Mephistopheles hadn’t been expecting that amount of bluntness. “Fallzone occasion aside, I can hardly just force anyone to give you more territory, no matter how tempting an-“

Fallzone covered his mouth with a finger, “Now now, taking aside your false modesty and just how much I could tempt you, what I am talking about is the ground. Just think about it, Thanks to me we can be utterly unafraid of retaliations and Deterrence can take care of whatever Epic that could still reach us up here. You can keep out control over a city without the need to investing a constant amount of force, only needing them to bend their knees once. We might as well be predestined for this.”
 

“You’re drunk.” Deterrence matter of fact voice was enough to knock Fallzone out of her enthusiastic speech. Fallzone turned around to look at the other Epic and for a moment couldn’t so much as manage to speak up under her stare.

 

“And you’re the most untouchable one out of all of us,” she managed to say after a while. “What excuse do you have for being such a sparking coward?”

 

“How about I remind you how hard I can actually bite?” By now Deterrence was leaning forward herself. Mephistopheles wondered how far Deterrence would be away from beating Fallzone bloody, if not for the deal he was holding her to, more than that he was calmed by the knowledge that he had enough control over her, no both of them if he was honest, that the situation couldn’t escalate too badly.

 

Actually calming both of them down without making himself the target of their ill will, however, was a challenge all on its own. Deterrence would mostly reel herself back in once Fallzone dropped the topic, leaving him with having to distract her. Something best accomplished by placating her that even if she had a point, they currently simply didn’t have enough information about the situation down below to make any plans on where to actually attack.

 

Eventually, they left Fallzone to her drinks and continued on. There was still at least one person they had to meet today. Similarly to Fallzone, Seven Heavens wasn’t hard to pick out of the crowd. He elevated himself above the other guests by setting up his own dance floor, a layer of clouds suspended in the air. A staircase made out of clouds leading up to it. Walking on the clouds was still a weird feeling. They didn’t encumber them, if anything walking on them was easier than walking on the actual ground, but the way they simply absorbed the force hitting them made it feel as if one was simply stepping onto air.

 

On top of the platform several people were performing a waltz. In the middle of them was Seven Heavens, seated on top of a make shift throne of clouds. He softly waved his hands like a conductor, leading the couples dancing around him. Their arrival prompted him to rose, his white cape billowing around his double breasted suit, that we was wearing with a cravat designed to look like a cloud. Something that Deterrence had included by billowing out her sleeves.

 

As a greeting he placed a soft kiss on the back of Deterrence’s hand and shook Mephistopheles’ hand. “As delightful an evening as always, you two. Oh and Mephistopheles, that Gorg lad you recommended me did a wonderful job.”

“The construction is going well then, I take it?” Mephistopheles asked.

“Splendid. I tell you, the entire city was lacking an adobe actually worthy of me but soon that will change.”

“It is going to be a landmark for the city, no doubt. Anything else you require help with?”

Seven Heavens simply gave a dismissive wave, “Don’t bother. You already had to deal with Fallzone, didn’t you? I don’t even want to imagine how unreasonable she was being. Just go ahead and join the dance, enjoy yourself a bit.”

 

Mephistopheles held one hand out towards Deterrence, “It seems we have reached the point of the evening where we can actually enjoy us.”

Deterrence smiled a little, barely noticeable over her usual scowl, and instead of taking his hand pushed up his glasses. “I think you still have something more important to do today than trying to sweet-talk me.”

 

Just as she said that, one of the servants fell from the ceiling, caught easily by the clouds. It was a girl, a rather good looking one actually, the kind that would already have been forced to stay as entertainment for one of the Epics, if she hadn’t been working away on the ceiling. Mephistopheles took the pocket watch hanging from his belt and looked at the time. Yes, it probably was time for another meeting with Seastrider. “Girl, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

The look on her face was one of sheer terror but ultimately she had no choice but to nod and follow him subserviently to the spring.    

Edited March 27, 2016 by Edgedancer

[Blackhoof]

 

Tribourne, Present Day, Day 5

 

 

Quakezone smiled as a servant massaged conditioner into his scalp, eyes closed in bliss. His baths were his only chance to relax and just.... let go. The responsibility of ruling a third of a city was trying at times. He had had to execute a good fifty people earlier, and his leg was exhausted from all the stomping. He insisted on executing every malcontent and dissident himself- never pass a sentence that one wouldn't carry out yourself.

 

Eddard Stark was wise in that way.

 

This lot had been thieves, mostly- food thieves. Stealing most things was simply punished by amputation or a whipping, but in these times of shortages, stealing food from the government, and thus from their fellow citizens.... it could only be punished with death.

 

"You've had such a long day, haven't you master?" His servant said, smiling.

Quakezone sighed. "You wouldn't believe it, Sarah. These people... can't they see that I know what is best for them?"

"Exactly, they are so blind."

"Aren't they just? Sometimes I just want to kill people until they see things my way."

"But as a merciful lord, you know that that wouldn't work."

He sighed again, and rolled his eyes. "I suppose so. At least I can relax, and just rest after-"

 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Quakezone's eyes opened, and then narrowed. "It better be important!" He snarled.

 

The door opened, and Glasstorm walked in, bowing to his lord. It was a measure of Quakezone's confidence that he allowed his Epics to see him naked, with a servant woman massaging his head, in a bubble bath.

 

"My lord, I have grave news."

Quakezone straightened himself. "What is it?"

"Laserbolt has done something. I'm still receiving reports, and all the details are not clear, but it looks like she is driving people into our district. Foundry's too"

"What? But why? I want people to move here, it is a mark of the superiority of my rule."

"She is sending the elderly, sir. The unemployed, vagabonds, thieves, criminals, orphans. The food shortages have been worst in her district, I believe that she is sending her useless, hungry mouths to us. She is also hosting what appear to be mass blood sports. Randomly selected citizens are being forced to kill each other for the right to remain in her district, and the surviving losers are being expelled. Frankly, I am impressed by her strategy."

 

Quakezone scowled. "This requires urgent attention. Immediately. Servant, dress me and then leave us. Glasstorm, call a meeting of my council. I want their advice on the response I will formulate. This insult cannot be allowed to stand."

Edited April 1, 2016 by Blackhoof

[Blackhoof]

Philip Lanza, Town of Wendigo, Day 5

"And s-so, y-your eminence, you can see that a number of households have been found frozen to death. T-they didn't have enough firewood. Bushfire continues to raid our convoys, and the Snowmen are too slow to-"

Wendigo's frosty voice hissed from behind her mask of ice. "You dare blame my Snowmen for your own failure?"

Philip Lanza, in charge of the city's logistics and administration, gulped, eyes widening. "N-no my lady! It is just that Bushfire's raiders are-"

"I do not care if mere humans die. If they die, then they clearly were not strong enough to deserve to live in my paradise."

Lanza kept his head bowed, to not betray the despair that crossed his face. People were dying and she would do nothing?

Wendigo thoughtfully scratched her chin with a long icy claw. "On the other hand.... Their hardship is due more to that flaming bitch than their own weakness...."

Lanza raised his head, smiling. "Your insights are as wise as you are terrible, my queen. Perhaps it is time to venture forth and destroy her, once and for all?"

Wendigo froze, the temperature dropping rapidly. Lanza dropped to the ground, kow-towing as deeply as possible, sensing her rage. Silence.

Finally, she spoke. Her voice was frosty with rage. "No... I will not be doing that. I am far too important to bother with such an insignificant fly."

Lanza sighed in relief. She would not kill him, then. But still... As unreasonable as she was, why did she react like that?

Wendigo continued. "Even my Snowmen are too important to waste again searching for her gang. Bring my chief of security. I will dispatch her to find the best people to deal with this problem. And extinguish Bushfire at last."

Lanza bowed again, and gratefully left the room.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Blackhoof

[Voidus]

Adelaide, Day 5

Jefferson slammed his hand down hard, smashing the large red button in front of him as his breath came out in quick sharp bursts.

The belt moving underneath him slowed and finally stopped before the treadmills digital readout displayed his time. Sixty two minutes of solid sprinting, his lungs felt like they were made of sandpaper and his legs felt like he'd just been shot repeatedly. (A sensation he was now uncomfortably familiar with). But he could already feel it mending, muscles re-knitting themselves into stronger fibers, oxygen being restored, acid buildup being purged from his system. In under a minute he felt completely healthy again, though still completely exhausted.

O'reilly grunted before ordering him over to the range, the last of Alpha squad to do so he'd managed to maintain his speed for five minutes longer than BrokenNose had.

With a self-satisfied smug on his face he followed their trainer out of the room.

He'd enjoyed the first week of training as an Immortal, yes he'd been shot so many times he felt that his body by all rights should have been made of lead. Yes he'd had to shoot that stupid target so many times that he thought he was going to have a permanent hatred for the colors red and white, and yes if he'd had to endure this kind of pain before spending that time in the basement then he'd likely be insane. But he wasn't. He was better, stronger than he'd ever been. Getting shot in his kneecap barely registered as pain anymore, his squad were the same, BrokenNose now ran headfirst into walls just to re-enact his name-sake for them, the only thing that had seemed to annoy him about it was that he was forced to clean the blood of the walls afterwards.

They were truly becoming Immortals now. O'Reilly assured them all that they were a far cry from the real deal, he told them that he'd seen Immortals drink battery acid for a laugh and spend an hour drowning on a dare. Jefferson was the only one who came close he said. Though he'd been quick to remind 'Captain' as he was always called, that his shooting was still nowhere near up to scratch.

One of the girls had overtaken them all by a long shot in that department, having graduated from pistols to a rifle she could already hit a pigeon through its eye from three blocks away. One of the others had called her Deadshot in honor of some comic book villain and it had stuck, someone had even written it on a piece of masking tape and put in on her door until she got assigned a codename. Ever since Calamity jokes like that had been considered in incredibly poor taste, references to comic books were frequently met with horrified stares. But what was the point in being a henchman for an evil supervillain if you couldn't at least make fun of it?

---

 

Severance patrolled the streets of Adelaide, checking his watch periodically as he encountered other patrols, making sure they were all running on time. He'd been increasing the number of patrols slowly, partially to train up the new recruits and drafts but also to prepare the entire army for the coming weeks. Big changes were coming to Adelaide, they would be expanding soon, and however skilled Necropathys wanna-be Epics were it was the regular soldiers who would do the largest amount of work. With Severance at their lead they would secure new lands for their city.

With a sly grin he headed back to the base, he needed to see if his recon teams had reported in yet, the troupe sent to Tribourne had made regular contact but they'd yet to receive any contact at all from some teams, and those sent to locate Hobart were still unsuccessful.

How hard can it be to find a bloody city?

---

Hobbart, Day 5

Seastrider had just been settling in on her private resort when she felt something, another call, this one coming from what must be Hobbart.

She frowned slightly, the one call that she couldn't refuse anymore, they were some of her most regular and generous clients. But bloody hell did it annoy her that she had no choice in the matter. She prided herself in being completely independent and beholden to no one, but all of a sudden it seemed she had been trapped.

But still, she might as well make the most of it, she should even be due for payment from them soon.

She heeded the call, following the mingling senses of water and gold that she could feel from an entire country away, one of the strongest sensory abilities she'd heard of, albeit very limited. Reminding herself of that fact put a smile on her face once more as the water at her feet rose up to greet her, swallowing her whole before transporting her.

As usual she felt a mix of vertigo at knowing how high she'd suddenly become and also confusion at the lack of any noticeable change in atmosphere or temperature that would usually be found at this height. But she ignored all feelings, adopting her smug smile as she appeared and suppressed her annoyance at being called.

"Mephistopheles." She greeted coolly as she rose up from the water. "What can I help you with today?"

[Blackhoof]

Town of Wendigo, Day 5

 

 

"Of course, my queen." Katherine bowed multiple times as she exited Wendigo's imposing throne room.

 

Turning her back as the servants closed the door, she gulped. Wendigo had given her, the Chief Administrator of Security, an important mission, perhaps the most important in the last year- find a way to kill Bushfire, that didn't involve Wendigo, her Epics, or her Snowmen.

 

What on earth was she going to do?

 

Mere mortals could not hope to defeat Bushfire and her raiders- surely she had Epics too. And they didn't even have any functioning vehicles, how were they going to catch them? This was.... a difficult prospect. She needed to speak to the Administrator for Intelligence immediately.

 

.............................

 

"Hmm..... I'm not sure what I can do to help." 

 

Katherine's heart sank. 

 

Roger sat in his chair, lazily eating a breadstick, as he sorted through some files. The curtains were open but the window was firmly shut- there was little reason to open it unless one wanted to be snowed in.

 

"Damnit! There has to be something! What about other cities or Epics? Can we hire mercenaries?"

 

Roger paused in the middle of a bite. "Hmm.... actually... I do recall receiving a report about something like that." He turned to another cabinet, and began rummaging through it. After a few minutes, he pulled out a folder, and withdrew a piece of paper from that. "Here, a report of rumours of a group of Epics-for-hire. They were sighted around the ruins of Mungo- a little town in New South Wales that got destroyed by some Epic in their rending. Apparently they offer their services to anyone who will make a trade they approve of. I don't have any specifics about their powers, but their human servants seem to be unnaturally fast and strong."

 

Katherine smiled. "Brilliant! They will do perfectly! Hopefully I can get Jetpack to give me a ride there."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Good luck with that."

"Haha well this mission is of vital importance, might as well try. Thanks Roger."

"No problem, just let me get back to me work please."

 

Katherine left, and prepared for her trip. Most likely, she could get a lift with Jetpack, but if not... it would be a week long venture both ways, at the very least.

[Bladestorm]

1-1 looked around the table at his subordinates. The command tent had been one of the first set up, but the monitors around the perimeter of the room were new, as was the long steel table all the 1s were gathered around. All except one. That could have to do with a loyalty problem, thought the one. Maybe he was out plotting with one of the other epics who occasionally passed through his territory. Maybe even now they were moving, and 4-1 would run in at any second holding a knife and he would go to-

4-1 walked in, stumbling slightly as he slowed from a sprint. Snapping to attention, he apologized for his tardiness, blaming it on one of the vehicles breaking down just as he needed it.

"I submit myself for all deserved punishments due to lack of punctuality," he added.

1-1 considered his options. A firm hand was needed to run a base efficiently, but too much harshness could result in treason, which would be unacceptable. 4-1 was his only captain who had not been with him from the start, and was therefore more likely to not know of the absolute perfection that all the captains should show. Also, as it was his first meeting, it wouldn't do to leave a bad impression. In this case, a respectful and kind response might be better than a violent one.

This all passed through his head inside of a split second. His decision made, he replied,

"Don't worry about it, but see to it that it doesn't happen again. You are the pinnacle of the human race; a broke truck had better not be your downfall again."

From the gratified look on the young mans face, he sensed that he had made the right choice. His secondary inspired respect, but that could be turned to the wary respect of an enemy. 4-1 knew that he could have been killed for the minor offence of being late, and the mercy he had been showed would ensure that he stayed loyal for a good while.

Moving on to other matters, he looked at the four captains around him. Today was the monthly progress report, when the captains could look to gain favour for them and their squads. A good report could have your squad doing simple and enjoyable things, such as basic training or running a raid on one of the nomadic groups that still trued to carve out a living in this area. A bad one would likely send half of the squad to mungo for offer watch, and leave the other half digging latrines or providing for all of Sustenances whims, which was the nightmare of many of the newest recruits.

"Alright, 2-1, how goes the intel gathering," he asked.

"Very well, Sir. 2-2 and 2-3 have successfully identified that the immortals of Necropathy live up to their name, as well as being physically enhanced. 2-4 and 2-5 have confirmed that the triumvirate is fragile at best, and we may see an assassination offer from one of them if we continue to spread rumours in their area of our strength. In Bendigo we've entered stage two of the campaign, having placed several sleeper agents to spread word of us." Responded 2-1 confidently.

1-1 mentally checked off intelligence, and turned to 3-1.

"How is the camp's infrastructure doing?" he asked.

This captain looked slightly less sure of himself, doubting his report would be regarded as better than 2-1's.

"The tents are now completely set up, and we have housing for 425 civilians. The squad barrack tents are all up, and the weaponry storage tents are complete. Food is not a problem as we have the sustenance rations and have 120 civilians working gathering food. The piping system is still being completed, and is expected to finish within a month. We have dug a central trench through the camp for now from the lake for one source of water, but it is unclean and the purifying equipment has failed. Also, the tent housing the vehicles was burned down two nights ago and the civilians are not expecting to finish a new one for at least half a month."

"Your squad will be on Mungo duty, 3-1. 4-1, how are the defences coming."

The newest member of the captains cleared his throat awkwardly and began.

" Well, the trench surrounding the landward side of the camp is complete, and has been filled with barbed wire. We have a wall under construction around the camp that is due for completion within 2 months, and a series of concentric walls surrounding the camp planned. There are only two entrances and exits without crossing the wall or trench, one for large vehicles and a hidden one near the southernmost part of the wall. We have lost 8 civilians working during a nomadic attack a few days ago, but we captured the offenders in a truck. However, we may be running into some difficulties as the vehicles are having a hard time on the land, and may soon not be able to perform combat operations or even menial ones. I request permission to enlist 200 civilians for work on the wall."

"And where would those civilians be coming from, 4-1." asked the commander coldly. He would not accept such careless losses from any of his men.

"Preferably, I would take 40 from each of the other squads control, and my own 40."

"And you do realize that squad five only has 40 men? You expect me to put your attempt to impress me with these walls ahead of his raiding parties? 3-1, you're off the hook. 4-1 and his men will be on mungo and menial. You take over defences. 5-1, i want the numbers from your raid report on my desk first thing tomorrow."

With that, he stood up and stormed into the back room of the tent, which was his office. He stood for a moment, calming his thoughts until his dark anger left him. When the darkness receded enough that he believed he wouldn't kill anyone who walked in the door, he sat down and started to do the paper-pushing that was most of the job if being commander. He stood up, and considered stopping and going out for some combat practice with one of the squads, but then sat back down and began looking over the relations between the factions of this sparking continent. He would need to know every towns status towards each other if he was going to ever begin receiving payments for the attacks he hoped he would soon be getting requests for. He had done a few small attacks with his squads before, but soon he would join the big leagues. With the more powerful epics, the pay was better, but so was the risk. The politics were like one big cloud of dust where you had a hard time knowing who was an ally. But he could use that. He would watch the big boys play at war, and help the ones who decided they would pay. And when their wars were over and the dust settled, he would come out on top.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Eden/Hobart, Day 5

 

There was one more stop Mephistopheles made with the servant girl before offering her to Seastrider. A stop he had made her promise to never let any information about slip afterwards. It brought him back to Fallzone’s space, where a group was gathered around an assortment of delicacies created by Foodstock. Said Epic was seated near to said feast, chatting with various Epics.   

 

As her piercing green eyes caught his approach, she stood up to greet him, long dark hair framing her luscious body that she was in no way hesitant to show off with her dress. What was maybe most surprising is that she hadn’t even needed her powers to achieve her current shape. 

“My, Mephistopheles, I should have known that you’re still hiding some gems away. Do you know how much money I could make with a girl like this? But I take it that she’s the new payment?” The tone in Foodstock’s voice was mostly playful, hiding a greedy edge underneath.

“Yes she is. I apologize for doing this on such a short notice but I thought that you could make a little spectacle out of the display of your powers.”

“You sly little devil you. Alas, pleasing the masses is part of my job, so I’ll comply gladly.”

 

Foodstock grabbed the girl much more eagerly than her response would have indicated and started her work. She started with the girls face, changing ever so small details as her hands brushed over her face, the nose a bit smaller, removing ever so slight blemishes of her skin and more little touches that the eye wouldn’t even register. From there Foodstock’s hand traveled down her body, exploring every last piece of her flesh and shaping it like an artist would clay.

 

The watching Epics cheered at the girl’s shame, awkwardly twitching and moaning in Foodstock’s arms, as she futilely tried to resist the feeling of a foreign force violating her body.

Their lesser company instead averted their gazes, clearly uncomfortable at the perverse pleasure Foodstock displayed in her art.

Mephistopheles however did not care either way. It may be true that Foodstock had perfected the use of her power enough to make beauties that looked natural without doubt but to him those alterations still were distracting at best. Not by any fault in her work but simply because his powers made him see right through the changes, covering her products in a layer of falsehood in his eyes.

 

It took Foodstock a couple of minutes to finish but the result was satisfying. The girl didn’t look like a different person entirely, Foodstock’s powers couldn’t make changes that drastic, but the change as a whole was unmistakable. She had gone from an eye catcher to a woman that looked like she was born to attract attention. Seastrider might not know about the procedure but she would be pleased with the result nonetheless.  

                                                                               

 

The spring Mephistopheles used to summon Seastrider was contained in a room within the same building as the one he was holding the party in. The body of water sat in the middle of the room, the remaining space covered in a miniature garden. He pulled out a gold coin, a discount compared to the gold bars she would demand from less frequent costumers, and flipped it into the body of water.

 

Shortly afterwards, the familiar figure of Seastrider rose out of the water, her smile itself doing a good job of covering up her annoyance or at least it would before anybody else.

“Seastrider, a pleasure as always,” Mephistopheles said while adopting a warm smile. “I wanted to ask for another report on what’s happening on the ground, although that may be simply an excuse to invite a beautiful woman for a dance without risking to waste her time. The party is taking place just outside, if it pleases you. First however,” he gave a short clap and the servant girl stepped into sight, visibly having to force herself for every step, “I think it would be better to leave her in your capable hands.”

Edited May 30, 2016 by Edgedancer

[Blackhoof]

Mungo, NSW, Day 6

 

Katherine curled into a ball as Jetpack released the straps holding them together, sending her rolling into the ground. Soaring over her, he landed slowly and gracefully further ahead, smirking at her dust-covered and groaning form. 

 

Finally, she rose to her feet, and dusted herself off. "Was that really necessary?" She scowled at him as he chuckled. 

"No, but it was fun! Hahaha"

"I could have died!"

"Then the mission is a failure and I get to go home. Everyone wins! In fact.... why shouldn't I do that anyway? It would save me the trouble of carrying you back...." He stroked his chin and adopted a thoughtful expression. She honestly had no idea if he was joking or not.

"J-just remember, uh, sir, that I technically outrank you. Wendigo would have your head if I died on this very important mission."

He squinted, and thought some more. "Hmm... yeah, I guess she would. Ah well, you can keep living I suppose."

 

Katherine breathed a sigh of relief, and looked around. All she saw was dull re and duller green, flat bushland with white-barked trees dotting the landscape. She saw what could have once been a few buildings, but they had long been reduced to rubble. She couldn't see any sign of habitation, or life whatsoever. 

 

"Well," Jetpack mused. "It certainly is warmer here than back in Icetown," Icetown was what many people had started calling their home of Wendigo. Trust an Epic to rename a town after herself, and confuse everyone who might want to say the name in general conversation.

"Are you sure this is even a town? Can we leave now?"

Katherine grated her teeth. Out of all Wendigo's Epics, Jetpack was by far the most annoying. 

 

"Not yet, Jetpack, we need to try to find some sign of these mercenaries. Could you perhaps, please fly around, and give us an eye from the sky? You are, after all, the most useful Epic after Wendigo." He puffed his chest out at the flattery. 

"Well, I suppose I can be bothered to render my aid unto a worm like you. I will take a look."

 

With that, he adopted an Ironman pose and fire erupted from his palms and feet. Quadruple jets of intense heat and force slowly lifted him into the air, gradually picking up speed. She watched as he took off into the air, becoming tiny to her eyes as he soared into the sky.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Eden/Hobart, 19 months ago

 

Deterrence walked down the deserted street. A new Epic had arisen in town, sending an annoying itch down Deterrence’s spine, and whatever kind of welcoming rampage was going on had driven people out of the neighborhood. Just another headache for her after some Slontzes had tried to get a sniping position on her for weeks now. At first she had expected them to just give up and stop bothering her but that seemed less and less likely by the day, seems like she’d have to bother properly tracking them down and killing them after all. Given that one of them seemed to be an Epic, that shouldn’t be very hard, if maybe a waste. One way or another, she would have to take care of them.

 

For now however it was time to beat a rabid dog down and show it its place. That and it wouldn’t do if an armed force showed up and killed a potentially useful power battery. Deterrence stopped on the road. The air was downright littered with floating objects. Some were simple objects, cars, parts of broken pavement, backpacks, simply hanging in the air. Others were crushed bodies. There even was a big mass of flesh, apparently made from crushing several bodies together until their bones were utterly broken, hanging in the sky, faces lifelessly starring at the destruction around them.

 

Whatever was holding them in the air wasn’t visible but Deterrence could feel it. The air was covered in the same itch that the new Epic emitted and the back of her head was telling her that she’d go flying after taking another step. The Epic’s powers were lingering. After taking a step to the side to avoid shrapnel, Deterrence canceled. They sky came crashing down again, fragments of broken metal, stone and bone covering the ground, landing safely away from Deterrence.   

 

With the way safe again, Deterrence continued towards the new Epic, all the while keeping up a continuous canceling impulse for the area. The Epic turned out to be a blue haired woman, who was currently venting by kicking repeatedly against a house wall. A rending with effectively no powers seemed to be frustrating more than anything.

 

Eventually blue hair noticed Deterrence approach and judging by the growled insults settled on her as the new target for her rage, probably more fitting than she was even aware. Getting closer, blue hair was about to draw a knife. Before she even could get her hand to the handle, Deterrence punched her in the face, hard. Not giving blue hair a chance to recover from the hit, Deterrence delivered another couple of punches. She only stopped to twist blue hair’s arm and pin her to the ground, using her ability to predict how she would struggle to effectively keep her down.

 

“I don’t expect you’ll remember much of this,” Deterrence said, while moving her free hand to blue hair’s neck, “but in case you do, keep one thing in mind. Your powers belong to me and there isn’t anything you can do to stop me from claiming them.” Following through with on her words, Deterrence took her powers and she wasn’t gentle in the least. The process left the other woman limp under her, still conscious but if she wasn’t careful the first time she took from Epics never left them in a condition to do anything; the lightheadedness upon receiving their powers most likely didn’t help either.   

 

With her battery out of it, Deterrence moved her to a safe house, to make sure nothing happened to her. This one seemed to be a valuable one, Deterrence considered while getting comfortable with the powers. It was gravity manipulation but not simply redirecting it instead setting up fields that interfered and twisted the natural pull of it. Moving herself through the air with it would need some practice for anything resembling complicated maneuvers. The possibilities it offered instead she was about to test out.

 

Shortly afterwards, Deterrence touched down on the roof of the house containing the Epic that had been stalking her the last couple of weeks. Concentrating on this Epic made her feel as if the bones in her right index finger and right eyeball were trying to jump all over the place. Now that she had reached the Epics position, she dismissed the feeling back to the corners of her consciousness. Instead she concentrated on shaping a field of altered gravity. She couldn’t tell if there were other people besides the Epic in the room, so to eliminate risks she would cover most of the room in intensified gravity, enough to crush anyone that would be in the room, although this would require a good amount of time to build up the power. She had the time; none of them were planning to attack her, so they likely didn’t notice Deterrence’s approach. For the position of the Epic proper, she settled for simply making gravity point towards the ceiling.  

 

Within her the power was building up like a maelstrom and eventually it had built up to meet her needs. She released it. There was a crushing sound, as whatever was within the room was crushed under its increased weight. From there she entered the room through a window, dismissing the gravity fields at the same time.

 

Bullet. Ricochet.

 

Without much thought, Deterrence flung herself to the side, to dodge the bullet, tugging her legs along with her to avoid the bullet after it bounced of the wall. She just caught a glance of the Epic, before the landed behind his table, which was left lying with its top towards Deterrence, after it had fallen to the ceiling and back. It seemed that he fired the bullet mid-fall. Her powers told her that the Epic was about to fire several bullets from behind his cover, making them ricochet from the wall behind him, through the room a couple of times and finally towards the tabletop, the side turned towards her, and back outwards, which would leave her no space to dodge. Assuming she approached directly.

 

In the other parts of the room there actually weren’t any corpses, instead only crushed furniture littered the room, its fragments more imbedded into the floor by the force of gravity pulling on all of it, instead of strewn across the room like a more ordinary impact might had. This left the table the gunman was crouching behind the only proper cover remaining in the room.

 

Cancelling the gunmen’s power to stop the bullets from ricocheting, so that they simply imbedded themselves in the wall, was an option but it would also mean that Deterrence would lose her grip on the gravity power. Instead she ran, not directly forwards but also towards the left of the room, making sure she wouldn’t cross path with any of the bullets and build up the power again. Then the shoots rang through the air.

 

Just in time the table and Epic behind it entered her range. Making it fall upwards would be the easiest solution but also risked the Epic getting shoot, depriving her of a resource. She made gravity shift towards the left. The desk grated against the floor shortly, the Epic further being thrown against it, so it shifted slightly with its top facing to the right, which was enough to either avoid the bullets or make them ricochet harmlessly into the right of the room.

 

Deterrence threw herself into a roll as gravity shifted and dismissed the effect again, allowing her to catch herself. The gunman wasn’t that lucky. He was sprawled across the ground a short distance away from the ground. She sprinted over to him and kicked his gun away.

 

“Wait, wait!” The Epic on the ground said. Deterrence didn’t sense any danger from him, so she let him get back to his feet. It was a chance to get a better look at the man, He was dressed like a cowboy, if a rather well kept one, duster and gun belt included. “Now, no reason to stare at me like,” Deterrence’s glare intensified by a fraction, “…to be fair, you do have a reason to be angry at me. I am Shalashaska and you Deterrence,” he made a flourish with both of his hands and pointed at her, “You’re pretty good.”

 

It was a pointlessly showy introduction. More importantly, it did not give her any less reason to get rid of him. “I was expecting a reason why I shouldn’t kill you and not pointless theatrics.”

“Ah but you already do have a reason.”

Not reacting to the flourish Shalashaska ended with, Deterrence simply continued starring him down.

“Killing me would have been easy for you; you squashed everything else in this room perfectly fine. What you want is power, mine included.”

“Assuming it isn’t too much of a bother to keep around,” Deterrence said. “You have been bothersome for quite a while now.”

“Think of that more as me attempting to schedule a meeting.”
“A meeting?”
“Exactly. You’re not an easy woman to track down for a private meeting and I would have hated a more direct approach. Staging an assassination attempt however? Discrete and you would react eventually, admittedly it took longer than I expected.”

“Clever, I’ll give you that. Still doesn’t explain why you just tried to shoot me right now.”

“Think of it like a job interview. Avoiding traps and all that is fancy but not worth much if the first real gunshot is enough to take you out.”

“Not appreciated,” Deterrence said, “but I’ll at least hear you out.”

“Smart move. Now I could get out of this is simple, protection, but you, that’s a bit trickier. You’re a big fish, you can track your prey, render it defenseless but there’s something a predator like you can’t do, make your prey let its guard down. That’s where I come into play.”

“Interesting,” Deterrence said and took a step to the side, so Shalashaska could reach his gun. She stopped scowling.

An offer that he took gladly, giving it a couple of spins after picking it up and ultimately tossing it into the air. With a casual motion he pulled his coat to the side and twisted his hip a bit. The revolver landed in it with perfect accuracy. Then he turned back to Deterrence and held out a hand, “A pleasure to work with you, boss.”

Deterrence punched him in the face, "Consider yourself on probation."

Edited May 30, 2016 by Edgedancer

[Voidus]

Hobbart, Day 5

The offerings of Hobbart were perfect as always, Seastrider examined the girl from head to toe, and as usual found no fault.

"Delectable as always M." She said, her tone a mixture of pleasure and annoyance.

However good the girls were she couldn't help but be slightly annoyed that she couldn't at least complain about this deal. But she quickly chided herself for thinking that way. She made the deal in the first place to get this, she shouldn't be getting annoyed that the terms of the deal were met perfectly. After all Mephistopheles' deals always were.

Water started to pool around her feet before lashing out at the girl.

"Someone will see to you when you arrive, don't wait up for me dear." She said in farewell as the offering was sucked into the poo with a short scream.

"Now then, a party you say?" She continued to Mephistopheles, offering up an arm for him to take. "Well I couldn't say no to such hospitality could I?"

He escorted her as they talked, to all appearances just another sophisticated couple strolling through the party.

"So, the ground. The ground has been somewhat... volatile, of late. The south has been trying to expand lately it seems, and tribourne has been going through their usual struggles."

Strictly speaking she wasn't asked about the other cities but then it had been a particularly lovely girl tonight.

"So, any details in particular you had in mind?" She asked with a coy smile.


Tribourne, day 5
Legolas watched the arena displays dispassionately, it was a somewhat senseless waste of life but he'd seen worse. He'd experienced far worse, days where he'd wished with all his being that someone would simply come up and kill him. 

No, to a well trained mind death was nothing to fear, life was the trial, full of pain and misery. Death was easy.

"But the good thing about dead people" Laserbolt continued from next to him. "Is that they kill two birds with one stone. They don't need food, and they can be food. Not for me, of course, but when the peasants are hungry they will eat anything, and not ask where it came from."

​They'd had to resort to cannibalism? If Legolas had needed any further proof that helping Necropathy to expand into the rest of the Wastelands this was it. Chaos reigned in the other cities.

"This is the best way to keep the population under control. And you know... I think I've though of a way to mitigate our food shortages."

Legolas quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Well there are certain... advantages to be had from forming an alliance with somewhere with a slightly more stable population." He said carefully.

"After all, losing so many people must be damaging to your workforce no?"

[Bladestorm]

4-7 Ran beside the other 4 members of his squad that had been sent to watch at mungo. The trip was around the length of a marathon, but for people with the speed and endurance to sprint almost the whole way, it was only about a half hour sprint. As the ruins came into view, 7's mind wandered to its destruction. The town had been relatively large once, but small enough that most epics had left it alone. It was strange how the same thing applied to regular people; it was better to be small and unnoticeable these days than big and successful.

4-7 had gained his place on the squad because he was too successful. After being taken from his home by some of the pentagons men, he had quickly tried to become useful. He worked hard, terrified of the men who ordered them about and no longer answered to their old names. The numbers gave them a detached feeling, as if they were different than regular people.

He had eventually been noticed by the old, now dead 4-1. He had been recruited, given a number and power. His squad accepted him, and while they weren't truly his friends-he was to new for that-most were happy to have him. The only real difference between them was of obedience. It seemed like most of the other men followed 1-1 without ever questioning him, with unwavering loyalty. They saluted almost reverently when he passed by. 4-7 had never understood that. To him, 1-1 was a powerful epic, and one who had made his life both easier and harder, but not a leader worthy of respect.

Stop it, he thought to himself. This line of thinking would get him killed. And anyway, they were almost to the town, with the piles of rubble taking on shape and definition as they neared them.

They entered town through the standard tunnel, a low trench covered with rubble. it led into one of the few buildings still standing, that had also been disguised with rubble to appear dilapidated and destroyed. As they entered, 4-7 shouldered his rifle and went to the peak hole to look out. He'd been on mungo duty before and didn't really expect anything.

So it was a shock to see an epic blast off, leaving a Vanilla on the ground to start searching.

"4-1! I think we just got our first customer!" He called.

"Excellent," 4-1 said. "Lets head out and meet them!"

[Edgedancer he/him]

Eden/Hobart, Day 6

 

In their meeting yesterday, Mephistopheles as always had suppressed his amusement at Seastrider’s attempt to find fault in their arrangements. People that wanted something to complain about were rare, naturally most people didn’t share her commitment to independence. It was a bothersome conviction but Mephistopheles pretended as if he had nothing but respect for it. She was an incredibly useful individual and more importantly, one of the few ways to gain access to Eden. Risking to scare her away with an open recruitment attempt would have been futile, so Mephistopheles settled for their current arrangement. In the best case scenario, he would eventually manage to wear her down and have her settle down for Eden but it was not an outcome he considered likely.

 

Now in the morning of a new day, he was headed for Seven Heavens. Going by what Seastrider told him, the time to make a move on the cities below was either now, less it passes and gives way either to an unattractive wasteland or organizations too large to threaten successfully. Of course that would suit him just fine, Eden was enough to satisfy him and if Fallzone got her will and they’d force High Epics on the ground to bow to them he’d most likely grow to be a priority target for them to remove. Deterrence was in a similar position, given that the threat she posed made most Epics uneasy to say the least.

 

That left Seven Heavens as the unaligned factor in their politics. Frankly, Mephistopheles considered it unlikely that Fallzone would manage to convince Seven Heavens to take any action but he’d be dammed if she does manage to do something just because he was being idle.

 

Not for the first time, Mephistopheles had to stop himself from looking over his shoulder, a task he was good enough at that for someone watching him it was unnoticeable in the first place. Still, he should feel secure enough in his own city that he didn’t even had the impulse. It’s because of Deterrence absence, having the woman around helped his peace of mind. They were kindred spirits in a way, aligned on most matters of importance, but even more than that her presence was secure. It wasn’t quite the same as her ability to maneuver around trouble before it happened but the presence of Shadow Stalker in his shadow gave him at least some replacement.

 

His destination had been visible long before he reached it, the palace Seven Heavens was building for himself easily loomed over most of the cities other buildings. The tips of the towers were barely more than a skeleton but the parts that had already been finished, encompassing more than enough space to house the Epic, were grandiose enough to fit Seven Heavens ego. The result of stained glass and polished stone however was marvelous.

 

Servants fell in next to him, welcoming him and making their best attempt to avoid anything that might insult him. Demonstrating they were aware of their station in life but without being desperate enough to become an annoyance themselves. Indeed, properly molding men into servants may be Seven Heavens biggest talent. After all, few people were as dependent on others to build up their sense of self as he was.

 

By the time the servants lead him to their master word had already reached Seven Heavens, not that he had put much effort into preparing an reception. What little preparation he did make amounted to a chair, not quite a throne like Seven Heavens created for himself, made out of clouds that was offered to him standing in the pavilion from which the Epics surveyed the construction work.

 

“Mephistopheles, what brings you to me, so soon after yesterday’s event?” Seven Heavens was at the very least direct, although not displeased either.

“Convenience,” Mephistopheles said simply.

“Oh, how so?”

“I take it that Fallzone already approached you about her ideas?”

“That nonsense about taking cities on the ground? I fail to see what we’d actually get from it, although I don’t doubt those fools down there could benefit from proper guidance.”

“Wise words, indeed.”

 

It was about the sentiment Mephistopheles expected from Seven Heavens. Grand measures would do more to have him align with Fallzone out of protest but a subtle push could never hurt. He scanned the scaffolding until he noticed a man jumping around it, carrying huge chunks of stone on his back as if they were mere paperweights. He drew Seven Heaven’s attention to him with a gesture, “I see you’re putting Gorg to good use.”

“Nothing would be farther for me than to waste a useful power and given that most of the local construction equipment was destroyed before our ascension it’s like Calamity himself send him down to build me a humble home.”

Mephistopheles responded with a small chuckle, “Excellent. His services continue to be yours as long as he isn’t needed for pressing matters. No promises in case Deterrence lays claim, of course.”

“Naturally there’s guarantee for that woman. Let us talk about something more uplifting. I acquired a new cook, if I can interest you in a meal.”  

“Gladly.”

Edited May 30, 2016 by Edgedancer

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Sydney 

Day 6

 

 

Apollo twisted in the air, sending a wave of fire 40 feet high at the Seven. They worked together, using Synapse's telekinesis and Darksong's screams to block and slow down the wave so Ghosthorror could phase them through it. They did not counterattack, they just stood still as Apollo launched a stream of fire that split into 7 parts. Most of them blocked it, except Moxie who stepped forward and took the fire with her face.

 

"Continue." Bravetitan called as Apollo fired his next attack.

 

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

 

Adelaide

 

 

Frank was not a fan of Epics. Really, nobody who worked at the in-city train stop was. Necropathy was a sadistic devil, and his soldiers were worse. Evil devils. Unkillable evil devils.   

 

But as Frank prepared for the 10:30 train to arrive, coming from halfway across Australia, he wondered what the sinking feeling in his stomach was. He could see the train. The feeling got worse. 

 

Frank started to run moments later. Several other workers and unloaders cursed at him, a few spit. He ignored them and kept running. 

 

He was maybe 100 meters away from where the train would stop, screaming at the top of his lungs for people to run, when a silver blur shot past him, turned and stabbed a knife into his throat. 

 

Frank survived the next few seconds as the train pulled in. It exploded before it stopped, fire and pressure going right through buildings up to a quarter of a mile away. 

 

On a hill overlooking Adelaide, Swift materialized in a silver streak. 

 

He could see the mushroom cloud from here. 

 

He sheathed the knife he used to kill Frank Elving, then reconsidered and drew it. He was moving toward the city a moment later. 

 

The survivors wouldn't tell their story.