What Happened in Edmonton

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

Finally, they had found her. Epoch watched a pair of enforcers walked up to the now cloakless interloper, who was slumped in front of a bookshop. The description fit. A lot of epics looked impressive in person, but this one took that to a whole new level.

She had been leading them in circles, quite literally. She would have easily lost them with her twisting escape route, if Epoch hadn't been tracking her from afar and giving them updates. She was slippery, probably some kind of mastermind epic.

Epoch couldn't hear it, but he thought he could what one of them was saying.

"Don't move. You're under arrest."

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

Riley Henderson stood in the shade of the old Toyota dealership, looking out at the final smoking tower of the refinery across the freeway. Just over a week ago, two Epics had fought there, reducing the oil refinery to a charred husk. Riley watched the whole thing from his hideout, here in the autopark. It was quite the spectacular battle, with lots of exploding fire and such.

The autopark was a good hideout; Riley had been here about a month. After gas prices skyrocketed after Calamity, not many people were in the market for a new car. And there wasn’t much of a selection now, since everything that was worth something had been stolen by scavengers. Now the three dealerships marked the resting place of hollowed out cars, their own interiors looted and carved out. Not only was the autopark now desolate, but the surrounding area was just trees and grass. There might have been more development planned, but after Calamity, it was cancelled.

Currently, Riley was bored. Usually, he was entirely focused on avoiding the feds, but today had been relatively silent. The autopark really was a good hideout. He stared at the tower in the distance. How he wished to go out there. Why wouldn’t he? He was strong, he was powerful, he was an Epic.

He was a coward.

Riley snarled and shook the treasonous thought from his head. But in his heart, he knew it was true. He was scared of the unknown, out where Epics much stronger than he roamed and fought, just like at the refinery a week ago. It was his grim secret.

Luckily, the sound of gunfire broke his thoughts. He turned towards the sound and strained his vision. Racing down the freeway were the bright heat signatures of vehicles: one large one, with two passengers, and surrounding it eight smaller vehicles, probably motorcycles. He gave the surrounded van a pitying smile. Whoever was in that van was not his concern. He concentrated, and his vision returned to normal color. His eyes widened as he saw the motorcycles more clearly.

The feds.

And they were heading right towards his hideout. His hideout. His first thought was to run, get far away from his mortal enemy. But then the accusing thought poked in his brain: coward. The grimace on Riley’s face twisted into a snarl. It was time to act. This time, the feds would pay.

He leapt to his feet and ran to the hollowed husks of cars in their lots, pressing his hand to the hood of each and drawing the heat from them. When he left, hints of frost crackled in the corners. These cars had been baking in the sun all day, soaking up the heat. They were the perfect “batteries” for Riley’s power, for he could give and take heat all he pleased.

At the end of the lot, the air around Riley’s skin was rippling in the heat from his body. The grass at his feet withered and smoked. He had to focus on stealing the heat from his clothes as it absorbed it, so they wouldn’t burn off in the excessive heat. The energy lost to the air was not his concern. Now packed with heat energy and a growing rage, Riley stood in the road, facing the oncoming entourage.

His lips curled back as his smile turned feral. Bring it.

Liam swerved the van back and forth as they tore down the freeway, heading towards the city. The cycles had to move out of the way to avoid being smashed, disrupting their aim. However, they did not desist, and the lead cyclist continued to scream warnings at him.

“THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING. PULL OVER AND SURRENDER, OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO DESTROY YOU.”

Destruction wasn’t on Liam’s plan for today, but then again, his recent actions weren’t exactly helping that. What had he been thinking when he broke into that storage room? Whatever it was, it didn’t help the present. As another burst of machine-gunfire sprayed the side of the van, Liam decided that it was probably a good time to get a turret installed on the van for situations like these.

Suddenly, Liam’s eyes widened and he swerved to avoid the man standing in the middle of the road. The van spun and lurched over the curb and into the grass beside it. The pursuing motorcyclists circled around to face the now stopped van. Liam grabbed his shotgun and watched the cautiously approaching men through the rearview mirrors. He cocked the gun and held his breath.

The snare-drum-like patter of gunfire filled the air but lacked the complimentary metallic pinging of the bullets hitting the van. Liam glanced over his shoulder. The gunmen were now distracted by something, which he saw shortly when it cooked one of them well done.

With a fist, Riley transferred several thousand kilojoules of energy into one of the feds’ face. It blackened and charred, filling the air with a smell not unlike a badly burnt barbeque. He ducked and rolled towards another fed, avoiding a spray of bullets. Though he could manipulate heat, he couldn’t melt bullets well. He could, however, cook a man inside-out, which is what he was doing.

The man screamed when Riley grabbed his leg and burned through it, his flesh, and the bone. The man collapsed and passed out from the pain. The five remaining feds stared at him from the other end of their gun barrels, looks of fear, disgust, and fury in their eyes. Riley grabbed the fallen fed’s gun and strafed the assembled feds, who returned fire. Riley hit two but took several rounds to his leg.

He gasped at the pain, which turned into fury. He grabbed the smoking barrel of the gun and stole its heat, then flung himself and the nearest fed with his good leg. His finger only just brushed the man’s magazine, but it was enough to transfer heat. The ammo in the magazine combusted as they overheated, causing the gun to explode in the fed’s face. He fell to the ground and stopped moving.

Riley swung his gun around to mow the other two feds down but found them already crumpled on the ground, shiny stars orbiting their heads. What? Instead, an imposing bearded man stood over them, brandishing a shotgun like a club. Behind him, the most ridiculously dressed person he had ever seen stared at him with much more curiosity than he deserved. Sparks, that hair hurt his eyes.

“Should’ve let me finish them off,” Riley hissed, then passed out from pain and blood loss.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

"Vitriol, I need you to spit on this person."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Vitriol replied, looking queasy.

"Even better! Bucket's over there," Quietus pointed. "Try not to melt it."

His mobile ringed. It was Epoch. Quietus scowled.

"Hello?"

"I need you over at Mill Wood checkpoint, asap."

Annoying.

"There are two epics," Epoch added.

Better.

Quietus walked out of the room, leaving his subject still restrained and Vitriol still retching in the corner. Once he got outside, he turned on his power and broke into a full run, moving parallel to a main road. One of the few remaining cars that was still operational drove by him, shuddering violently as it got within Quietus' range, losing significant momentum. The car was considerably heavier than he was, and he could feel the wealth of stolen energy coursing through him, allowing him keep pace with the speeding vehichle.

His footfalls struck the ground hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to do real damage. He was running fast enough that his immediate surroundings were indistinct, but his power slowed the wind to a gentle breeze on his face. He glanced over at the driver whose progress he was riding on, grinning lazily and making a thumbs-ub sign. Predictably, the woman in the driver's seat looked like she was going to have a heart attack. And perhaps she would, if this continued much longer, as her pulse slowly wound down to a halt, extinguished just like any other movement around him.

Quietus wondered who would be powerful or stupid enough to attack the border. Not exactly the most vulnerable part of ERA.

Still, both a rebellion and an epic attack? It was a good day.

He ran on in perfect silence for a few minutes, before noticing that the car was gradually beginning to veer off the side of the road. The driver was slumped at the wheel, passed out from exposure to his power. Well, this is my stop anyway. He shrugged, turning away from the car just before it slammed into a building, watching in fascination as both vehichle and structure were decimated in the impact. A piece of flying debris that should have impaled Quietus tapped him gently on the chest before slowly falling down to earth.

Epoch probably wasn't tracking his commute, and didn't have to know about that.

Quietus walked the rest of the way to the checkpoint, taking in the scene.

One of the epics was already subdued, restrained on the ground and grinning wildly, her eyes stained a deep red. The other epic was hovering imperiously over the scene, completely untouched.

Disgusting. His enforcers were idiots. They had somehow managed to be simultaneously completely useless and irritatingly effective. They outnumbered the flyer ten-to-one but were too gutless to face her, yet they had already taken the one that looked like a good fight out of action. He wished he could kill them for their incompetence.

"Morons. What are you all waiting for?"

He activated his power, and the enforcers scattered, struggling to distance themselves from Quietus. He used their ridiculous efforts to fuel his next movements, hurling his knife at the flying epic with superhuman speed. The challenge should be obvious enough.

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

Jacklyn was just about to stand up when she heard a voice.

"Don't move.  You're under arrest."

Jacklyn froze.  She put her hands up slowly, trying to move as little as possible.  Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two men holding sparking tazers!  They didn't seem to be like the red psycho though, which was a relief.  "O-okay.  Now what?"

Edited October 28, 2018 by The Young Pyromancer
Heh. Sparking tasers.

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

 

Richard pulled out his ringing mobile, hitting the "accept call" button. He wasn't sure what it would be this time. As far as he knew, the most recent rebellion had been fully squashed.

Phytomagnet's voice came over the line, sounding tense. "Get at least two squads moving to the old Toyota dealership. Someone just took out 8 government officers. Sounds like at least one epic is there."

His face, already naturally pale, drained white. "On it, boss. What should I tell them to expect?" Richard said, starting to jog towards his barracks, his mind racing through different possibilities.

"Epoch's busy elsewhere right now, so all we know was from the vidfeed the government sent. Some dude grabbed one of the officers and burned him to a crisp." Phytomanget returned, sounding harried. "I'm going too. I'm going to stop on the way and redistribute our scouts. We'll be too far to keep them armored, so activate an extra squad for guard duty." With a soft beep, the call ended.

A short moment later, Ironwood burst into his barracks. "Move it, trees! I want squads four and five up and moving on the double! Squad seven, we'll be out of armor range so you're on backup for security!"

"Yes sir!" they called out, leaping to their feet. They've learned to not hesitate when Ironwood is running.

20 Minutes later

"Sir!" one of the trees called out, his quiet voice carrying to Ironwood through his earpiece. "I can see them. Three guys and a van."

"Great,"  Ironwood replied. "Phyto, you on the line?" Ironwood could see them through the small copse his squads were hiding in, as well as the eight dead bodies around them.

"Yeah, loud and clear. I'm walking in, gonna see if I can figure out what's going on. Epoch told me the cyclists were following the van after its occupants broke into a research facility. I'm going to stall until we have more information. Armor me up."

"On it, boss." A wave of bark sprung up around Phytomagnet, instantly hardening as he combined their powers and strengthened the bark. He had already done the same for the rest of the trees, guaranteeing that even though nearly thirty people were armored, they would all have the full benefit of its protection.

Ironwood watched as Phyto strolled out from behind the actual trees on the side of the highway, calling out jovially to the criminals.

"Alright guys. Remember, Phytomagnet won't have time to give us a warning if he needs to pull us in, so be ready to engage at a moments notice," Ironwood murmured, his team hearing it through their own headsets.

[Voidus]

Impact waited in midair as the guards subdued the other figure and also began turning in her direction. She considered leaving now that the situation seemed to be wrapping up but the little pests who were watching her were clearly waiting for something. Hopefully that something was what she thought it was.

Finally, Impact watched as a new figure arrived on the scene with impossible speed, paused briefly to take stock of the scene and berate his subordinates before turning to face her directly.

Thank Calamity, another Epic. Someone at least worth addressing now.

She watched the knife the Epic hurled, there didn't seem to be any obvious signs of power usage beyond the sheer speed of the throw, though it did have a strange motion to it, it seemed to slow as it left his hand before accelerating mid air.

Lacking the time to analyse the projectile any further Impact held herself immobile, letting the knife fly directly into her before crumpling as soon as it came into contact.

"Hello to you as well." She said, speaking softly but imparting a force on the air that carried her words, letting them travel father than was natural. "May we have a discussion? Or are you another of those battle junkies?"

After another hour of walking, Scribbler finally reached one of Olympia Polaris' infamous slow zones. One of many that surrounded the city, other than at the allocated checkpoints, the area was faintly discernible by the warping in the air, looking closely she could also see the small breeze seemed to crawl across the space, slowly picking up a section of dust and inching its way towards the city.

Scribbler regarded the whole thing with distaste, a deep crease formed in her brow as she continued to glare at the warping. Habitually she reached into a pocket for some gum but she'd long since run out on the journey here. She'd need to acquire some locally at some point, but first...

"First is getting into the city." She whispered. "Over? Under? Or through?"

She leaned back to get a better view of how high up the area went but the distortion was hard to make out against the backdrop of the sky.

"Could continue underground for a while too, but if I go through I'll lose time. Maybe a lot of time, and they'll be able to prepare inside."

While she thought the problem over she reached into another pocket and pulled out a glass container filled with black liquid, some of it had begun to congeal into more of a paste. Unscrewing the lid and kneeling down in the ground to get some stability, Scribbler pulled a small, sharp needle out of the lid before taking a steadying breath and stabbing it into one of her fingers.

She squeezed a drop of blood out of the small needle prick and let it fall into the container of ink. Swirling it to allow her blood to mix with the rest of the contents, she directed her attention on it, slowly stirring up the liquid, breaking up the parts that had started to solidify.

"No way around it, I'll need to use one of the borders. With any luck they'll have an Epic or two guarding it."

She crooked her finger at the container of ink, causing a small stream to slowly rise out of it, trailing after her finger. She guided the finger onto her arm, shifting some of her other tattoos to make room, and then began to trace out words. The ink followed her finger and began sinking into her skin, creating a semi-permanent mark.

"'Fire' and 'Wind' would be good, show off a little if I need to. 'Light' if I need to blind them. Might need a 'Shield' on this arm too if things escalate too quickly."

Scribbler began making her way to the western border, a line of ink trailing after her as she prepared herself for what would happen in Olympia Polaris.

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

Liam dumped the unconscious Epic’s body into the van. He had laid out a sheet of plastic on the floor to catch the blood, which was already pooling, and prepare for operation. Having an opportunity to collect samples like this was too good to pass up. Liam glanced over at Kokichi, who was watching the Epic intently.

“Keep an eye on him, please,” Liam asked, then he walked around to the front of the van. Though the cycle team was incapacitated, it wouldn’t be long before another team came looking for their missing comrades. And when they did, Liam wanted to be far away. He had decided to leave the bodies where they lie, including the unconscious ones. Moving them would be too much of a hassle.

“Hello there!”

A cheery voice called out from the other side of the road. Liam immediately dropped and brought up his shotgun in the direction of the voice. It was too soon for another fight, Calamity blast it. The voice came from a man, clad in a forest camo military uniform and featuring green hair. Of course, compared to Kokichi’s, everyone’s hair was bland. The man was sturdily built, presumably from his military background, if the uniform was anything to go off of. Yet, what most uneased Liam was the man’s demeanor. He walked with the confident, purposeful stride that screamed “Epic” and his voice, though jovial, was directed towards him.

This man, this Epic, knew about him, what happened, and he was here for him.

And, now that he thought about it, that tree-line behind him seemed much thicker than it was before.

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

As Phytomagnet continued walking over, he saw the shorter of the two carrying a bloodied and apparently unconscious form into the back of the van.

"Howdy! What's up?" the same person--almost definitely an epic by their appearance--called out. For some reason, they'd tossed off their jacket and stuck their hands in their pockets. Likely nothing to worry about.

"Nothin' much, y'know. Could ask the same of you. Seems I missed out on some interesting action." Phyto's eyes swept over the scene again, taking in the eight dead bodies, the raised shotgun, the absolutely absurd look of the younger epic, clearly trying to be 'cool'. But why toss their jacket? 

"Mind sharing what just went down?" With these words Phytomagnet stopped walking, maybe twenty strides away. Sliding his shield off of his back, he set it on the ground, resting his arms across its uneven edge.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Weirdpersonx
Formatting!

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

The military Epic stopped about forty feet away, placing himself in the middle of the road. Wide open. “Mind sharing what just went down?” The Epic inquired as he slung his shield, previously unseen, over his shoulder and rested the edge of it on the asphalt. The shield was large, maybe two and half feet across, and was made of bark, thick and rough-looking, as if it had been sliced off a tree five minutes ago. Maybe it had.

He obviously was trying to set them at ease. From this distance, Liam could blow his head off without much trouble. It might not have any effect, though. Sparks, if only he had intel!

“We had a brief altercation with these individuals here,” Liam said, shrugging in the direction of the scattered motorcyclists and keeping his tone almost sarcastically formal. “They had been giving us a bit of trouble, as you can see from the bullet scars on my van, so it was about time to end the fiasco. I’d prefer if you also left us alone, you and whatever army you’ve brought along.” Liam thought he saw something pass over the Epic’s face just then, but it was gone in an instant. “And if we’ve intruded on your territory at all, don’t worry, we’ll just be going now.”

Liam watched the Epic’s face, watching for any sort of reaction.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

The knife crumpled on contact with the epic's skin, forming an exchange of sorts, each party revealing capabilities to the other. As hilariously anticlimactic as it might have been, Quietus would have been insulted if she had simply died. It would be like going out to hunt tiger, and finding a rat. He sought a more exotic prey. The kind that could endure for a deliciously long time, under the scalpel.

Like Firebrand, this epic that was making a significant effort to communicate, but of course, whatever she was saying died in the air as it got too close to him. She was also gathering herself for either a fight or a flight. Quietus grinned, casting off his power without a concern and meeting her eyes.

"Looking for somebody to talk to, belle?" he greeted her cheerily. "Perhaps get a feel for the local epics?"

"If we're going to have a quality heart-to-heart, I insist that you come a little closer."

[Voidus]

"If we're going to have a quality heart-to-heart, I insist that you come a little closer."

Impact smiled as she drifted towards the Epic. If he wanted her within close range, well that was his mistake to make. Perhaps he thought that someone with flying abilities would naturally prefer to keep a distance, using that to their advantage. Now within 15 feet of the Epic she paused for a moment before continuing onwards, keeping her face calm as her mind continued to spin.

He seemed to be some sort of speed Epic, but if that were the case why would he want me closer? He'd think he could just chase after me if I took off. Maybe trying to get me on solid ground?

She softly touched back down on the ground, still supporting most of her weight with her abilities but she would at least seem to be earthbound for the moment.

"Just passing through." She said, again enhancing her voice so it carried. "Your welcoming committee left a bit to be desired." She jerked her head towards the guards who'd scattered the moment this Epic arrived.

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

"We had a brief altercation with these individuals here," the tall, bearded man said with a shrug. He seemed sarcastic, but that might've just been the way he spoke. "They had been giving us a bit of trouble, as you can see from the bullet scars on my van, so it was about time to end the fiasco. I’d prefer if you also left us alone, you and whatever army you’ve brought along.”

Army?! He couldn't possibly mean Ironwood...right?

"And if we've intruded on your territory at all," the man continued. "Don't worry, we'll just be going now."

Hmph. As if. Though...he does seem far too at ease for a man who just took down several government officers. Calamity, this is annoying!

Phytomagnet smiled. "I'm sorry to say, but I really must ask you to stay a bit. It's quite rare that eight uniformed, motorcycle-riding blokes just up and shoot a van with no provocation. Especially blokes wearing what appears to be government-issue uniforms." Phyto shifted his arms a bit wider on his shield, outwardly relaxing. "That does seem strange, doesn't it?"

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

The green-haired Epic smiled. Sparks. “I’m sorry to say, but I really must ask you to stay a bit. It’s quite rare that eight uniformed, motorcycle-riding blokes just up and shoot a van, with no provocation. Especially blokes wearing what appears to be government-issue uniforms.” Liam stared at him. “That does seem strange, doesn’t it?”

So, he obviously knows about the research facility, Liam thought. How many people did we just get mad? From the look on the Epic’s face when Liam had mentioned “army,” he has some sort of backup waiting. Now, this could get very messy very quickly, if the Epic was somehow in collaboration with the government. Perhaps they’ve placed a bounty on his head. That would be just great.

The Epic still hadn’t made any outright accusations yet, which interested Liam. If he knows the truth, but doesn’t want to admit it, then what kind of game is—

He’s stalling. Sparks, and with the kid Epic in the van, Liam silently cursed. I need to get out of here before he wakes up, and if this Calamity-blasted Epic won’t let us leave, then so help me.

“It is strange, now that you mention it,” Liam said, letting no notion of his inner anxieties show. “From my perception, this area seems to be under the protection of the local government. And, as any government does, there are laws on speeding. I’m not from around town and I haven’t followed the speed limit in nearly ten years, so the change was quite startling to me. The local police tried to chase me down and give me a ticket.”

This was the most ridiculous story that Liam had ever told.

“From instincts honed from living out in the Canadian wilds, I don’t react well to being ganged up by a group of motorcyclists. So, I floored the pedal harder. After a few warnings, the police pulled out their guns and began firing on me! I understand that in this dangerous world, the police force needs to be prepared for any kind of disturbance, but I was not prepared for that. I began to swerve, and I went over the side of the road, right here as you can see. There would not have been any bloodshed if another Epic hadn’t appeared and made short work of the officers.”

If this Epic was sympathetic in any way, and had no knowledge of the research facility incident, (not to mention slightly dumb) he might believe it. Liam doubted that this Epic was any of those.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Hemalurgic Headshot

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

The man paused for a moment. "It is strange, now that you mention it. From my perception, this area seems to be under the protection of the local government. And, as any government does, there are laws on speeding."

Phytomagnet's eyes refocused behind the man as he caught a glimpse of movement, only to realize that it was just the kid--Epic? Kid? Colorblind brat?--just the kid walking back over.

"I’m not from around town and I haven’t followed the speed limit in nearly ten years, so the change was quite startling to me. The local police tried to chase me down and give me a ticket.”

That seems...off, somehow.

“From instincts honed from living out in the Canadian wilds, I don’t react well to being ganged up by a group of motorcyclists. So, I floored the pedal harder. After a few warnings, the police pulled out their guns and began firing on me!"

But why didn't he just pull over...

"I understand that in this dangerous world, the police force needs to be prepared for any kind of disturbance, but I was not prepared for that. I began to swerve, and I went over the side of the road, right here as you can see. There would not have been any bloodshed if another Epic hadn’t appeared and made short work of the officers.”

Phytomagnet felt like he had just been handed a 3D jigsaw puzzle, complete but for the linchpin piece that held it up. But where's the piece... "And that's exactly what happened," the kid added, seeming to...glow?

"Fine," he heard himself say. "Doesn't seem like they'll be a problem anymore." Right...? That seems right... "Bye." He turned, still slightly dazed, heading back towards Ironwood. Behind him, Phyto could hear the sounds of the damaged van pulling away.

*beep* *beep* *beep*

Shaking his head, Phytomagnet pulled out his mobile and hit the accept button. Instantly, Epoch's voice came through his earpiece. "Listen, Phyto, I finally got more info on that situation I sent you to cover. Turns out, they broke into a heavily guarded research station and made off with proprietary technology. The Premier let it slip that the tech was epic-derived." It was as if a cloud had lifted from his brain. "Lock them down, whoever they are." Epoch's voice was calm as he hung up, clearly trusting Phyto to handle the situation.

Phyto blinked. And blinked again. Then he spun around, tearing after the van. He yanked Ironwood and his trees towards him. "One of you shoot the wheels off of that sparking car!"

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

As the van pulled away, Liam shook his head. That will go down as one of the most unbelievable experiences of his life, definitely. Fooling an Epic? Lying to his face? It doesn’t compare to anything he had experienced in any of his years as an Agent. He grinned. Next step: refuge and recovery.

He glanced to the back, where Kokichi was yet again lounging on the sofa, having procured yet another bag of sweets. The other Epic was laying on the plastic sheet, the blood pool slowly filling up. There hadn’t been time to properly bandage the wound before the green Epic had shown up. He was still clearly unconscious and breathing slowly. Having an Epic like this in his van was crazy. Any moment, he could wake up and kill them both, just like he had the motorcyclists.

The van approached the vacant interchange. On the other side was an industrial complex, apparently for processing oil. However, as Liam could see from the trailing smoke and blasted tankers, there had been an accident recently. Somewhere among those stacked containers and industrial wreckage, the van could hide.

BANG BANG

Liam glanced at the rearview mirror. The distant Epic had a cluster of bulky men around him, who were opening fire on the van. Liam smiled to himself. He was right about the army. In response, he reached over and pressed the eye icon on the dash to activate the Parallax cloak. To the Epic and his cronies, the van was now somewhere else. Liam didn’t know or care where exactly it seemed to be. He just floored the accelerator.

Soon the red bullet-scarred van was among the smoldering husks of the oil vats. Ahead, a single singed smokestack rose, surrounded by its refinery complex. Liam thought it would be a good hiding place for the van, distanced enough from Sherwood Park that hopefully, the Albertan Government wouldn’t come knocking. The road diverged to the main entrance, a remotely activated chain-link gate. It had been knocked open by some previous visitor, and Liam drove the van through without problem. Ahead was the tangled mass of pipes and tanks that was the refinery, topped by the smokestack. It appeared to be abandoned, probably when Epic activity made working with a volatile liquid dangerous. Liam maneuvered the van under a bridge of pipes and into the heart of the refinery. With care, he pulled it up close to one of the tankers and parked it.

Liam stepped out and inspected the van. It was quite beat up in some places, with rows of bullet marks marring the paint job. Liam usually kept some cans of spray paint to patch up here and there on the go. He’d have to dig them out sometime. However, he had more important tasks to do.

Pulling the side door open, Liam looked down at the young Epic lying on the floor. The blood was starting to spill off the sheet and onto the floor, prompting Liam to frantically grab a pair of latex gloves, which he put on, and attempt to push the puddle of blood away. Sparks, he needed a mop.

With the blood temporarily taken care of, Liam pulled out a box of surgical equipment. Most of it was only for extracting blood samples, but there was a roll of bandages, a scalpel, and an assortment of narcotics and painkillers. Liam started by examining the Epic’s leg. It seemed like all the bullets had ripped right through the leg, which made his job easier. He didn’t have a good way of cleaning the wound beyond wiping the blood off the leg. He began to bandage it carefully, wrapping the strip around and around the wound. Soon, the wound was bandaged.

Liam looked at the Epic resting in a pool of his own blood. He looked so peaceful, quite a difference from the raging being before. Liam didn’t want to kill him, though it’d be safer to. Sparks, why was he so soft? Hawk wouldn’t even have bandaged the leg! Pushing these thoughts aside, Liam quickly took a blood sample and stuck it in a cooler in the back. Then he dumped the bloody plastic sheet on the ground, tossed the sheet in a corner, carried the still unconscious Epic a few hundred feet before setting him down, then drove the van to another part of the refinery.

Once the van was tucked away into another hiding space, Liam looked back at Kokichi, who had continued to eat candy while they watched the whole operation happening at their feet. “Sorry about that, if you’re not one for blood,” he apologized.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

Finley raised an eyebrow as Cloak agreed to come quietly. That's not supposed to happen. As any self-respecting villainous ruler should know, if anybody interesting ever agrees to "come quietly" then they planned it, obviously. Maybe this entire arrest would be more trouble then it was worth. He considered having her extradited to another faction. Perhaps the Belt. At worst, such action would mean the loss of a potential asset, and losing some face.

Still, he rationalized. Measures could be taken, and he still wanted to make sense of what was in play at the border. And when it came down to it, perhaps throwing Cloak out just didn't feel right. He decided not to stop his enforcers, as they made their way back with the prisoner.

The decision made, he moved on to the next order of business, dialing up Phytomagnet.

"Listen, Phyto, I finally got more info on that situation I sent you to cover. Turns out, they broke into a heavily guarded research station and made off with proprietary technology. The Premier let it slip that the tech was epic-derived... Lock them down, whoever they are."

That these fugitives were near ERA territory was, more or less, incidental. What he was really interested in was the possibility of epic technology. Such devices were rare, useful, and valuable, and the Alberta government couldn't easily take issue if their stolen technology happened to get "confiscated" from "intruders" under ERA jurisdiction. He trusted that Phytomagnet and Ironwood could handle it...

.  .  .

The no-longer-cloaked stranger had just been moved into a holding cell, located in a former police station now used by ERA enforcement. The room had a small table laden with refreshments and a mobile situated in the center, but was otherwise quite clearly a cell. This was, as best as he could tell, the simplest all-around method of mitigating the dangers posed by an unknown power set. Epoch called the mobile on the table.

"Hello. First of all, what do you go by?"

She came closer. Quietus gave his best cheshire cat grin.

"The ordinaries? I always figured they only existed for comparison's sake."

In truth, they had been idiots. Quietus would give them each some choice new motivational bruises, by the end of the day. He wouldn't break them too badly though, as long as people who weren't on his side remained readily available.

"So, what are you 'just passing through' for, chérie? Selling girl scout cookies? Delivering a dramatic ultimatum? Looking to join our gloriously democratic people's republic of tyranny? Or maybe just grandiosely hovering above everything to impress people?"

He eyed her critically for a moment.

"I am, by the way, duly impressed with the flying-brick act. But just to be clear, you're not really my type. Not to put too fine a point on it, but while you've obviously got the stereotypical superhuman powers, you're rather lacking when it comes to the stereotypical superhuman cleavage," Quietus explained frankly.

When the response was not immediate, he looked down at his mobile and feigned a deep interest, temporarily activating his powers to mute her response in case it was superhumanly loud or violent.

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

I can't believe they just walked away...

Ironwood reached up to trigger the mic on his headset. "Boss--" his hand flew back as his body was yanked forward, along with all of his trees.

As Ironwood sailed just above the ground, he could see the van driving away, with Phytomagnet sprinting after it. So why did he let them go in the first place? 

The group landed just behind Phytomagnet, stumbling for a moment before continuing to run after the van. "One of you shoot the wheels off of that sparking car!" he roared.

On command, two of the trees knelt, with the others clearing a firing line. *BANG* *BANG* the shots called out, pinging off of the van, just above the tires. "Don't let them get..." Phyto trailed off, stopping in stunned silence as the car shifted, moving every time his eyes found it. In seconds it was gone.

"What happened, Boss?" Ironwood asked after a moment of hesitation.

"You saw the kid?" *Nod* "He's an epic of some sort. Clouded my head while they spun some ridiculous story about a speeding ticket."

"...oh. Sooooo...what next?"

Phytomagnet grimaced. "I report back to Epoch, let him know they escaped and that we're sending a few trees to scout around. Most of us are heading back."

"You think we can still find them, even after that whatever-it-was?" Ironwood asked, surprised.

"You've got trackers, right? There's a chance the van left tire marks. Give it maybe an hour or two then call it off."

"Yessir." He turned, relaying the commands. "Nico, Kacey, you two scan the area, see if you can trace that van. The rest of us are heading back. Squad four, spread out abreast and watch for anything, keep it to a walk and keep line of sight. There might've been more involved. Squad five, form up and jog back to barracks. The time barrier will let you rest enough to be ready to fill in and start rotating scouts by the time I'm back." His troops nodded along a sharp chorus of yessirs.

Meanwhile...

With a mental groan, Phyto picked up his mobile and dialed Epoch, who picked up after the third ring.

"Yes, Phytomagnet?"

"So, uh. Those criminals you had me after..." Best to get out quickly. "One of them was an epic, some kind of mentalist power. They've escaped. I sent a few trackers after them, but I doubt they'll find anything."

Edited August 16, 2018 by Weirdpersonx
Formatting

[Voidus]

Rolling her eyes at the last comment, Impact watched the Epics mannerisms carefully. There would be some sign, some tell of his intentions. Crass male Epics were not a new experience for her, though she was glad that the most irritating she'd met had been destroyed along with the rest of Oregon.

But while most of them meant at least part of what they said, a significant number also used it as a way to gauge other Epics, or hide their true intentions behind a facade.

Too early to tell, not enough information.

Speaking up again, Impact adopted a cocky smile of her own.

"Yes, I've always lamented how depressingly stereotypical my abilities are. Why you know I think there's another Epic with the same exact powerset." She raised the pitch of her voice slightly, adopting a too-sweet tone. "Flight and impenetrable skin as you've already seen."

Impact looked down and pushed the concrete under her foot, forming a crack in the pavement which quickly became a small crater.

"Superhuman strength."

Holding her arms to either side she began pushing on the air itself, creating a strong gust that tussled her hair and clothes.

"Power over the winds."

She raised her right hand before her face, regarding it carefully for a second before lowering it back down.

"And a few others, but a girl must have her secrets."

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

“Not a prob, though I’m wondering what his deal is and what your deal with him is,” Kokichi replied. Liam leaned back in the seat and looked out at the industrial skyline.

“I’ve never seen him before in my life. Seen plenty of Epic’s like him, though. Consumed by their rage. I don’t know why he didn’t target us, only the officers… maybe he has a bad history with the government. It doesn’t matter to me very much.” Liam paused. Kokichi was obviously referring to why he bothered to clean the Epic up instead of just ditching him. Could he lie? Knowing Kokichi, they’d probably see right through it. The real question is how Kokichi will react.

“I have my own reasons for cleaning him up, but you have nothing to worry about,” Liam said. If he couldn’t lie, then he would just avoid the question.

In the center of the dash was a screen that Liam had installed with the Circle’s funds. He tapped it, and a rendered map of Edmonton appeared. Liam entered the van’s approximate coordinates, and a blinking dot appeared on the map, a bit to the east of the city.

“This is Edmonton, or Olympia Polaris, as I’ve heard it called these days,” Liam told Kokichi. He pointed to the dot on the map. “This dot is where we are. Now, I’m here to shut down a black market operation somewhere around Edmonton. I’m not sure where it is, and I know that it moves around, but either way I’m going to find it and destroy it.” He looked at Kokichi. “I’m assuming you’re cool with this, right?”

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

The thing about working for Epoch was, you started to appreciate the value of time. The epic started showcasing her abilities, and Quietus looked up from his mobile, turning off his power in time to catch the second half of her explanation. He noticed that she made no attempt to account for the way her voice carried.

"...and a few others, but a girl must have her secrets."

"Too late," he announced. "I'm on to all of your secrets, now. You're packing laser vision behind those wide eyes, aren't you??"

He had crossed an epic with actual laser vision before, in fact. The thing about laser vision was, it didn't work so good without eyes.

"Don't worry though, I'm just a common speedster," Quietus confided with a wink. "Simple, but lots of fun applications..."

"So, once more, what sends your merry show traveling into Edmonton?"

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

     Jacklyn was roughly escorted to a small cell.  Then she looked around, surprised. The cell was nicer than a lot of places she’d lived in the past.  It was sparsely decorated, of course, but there were refreshments laid out on a white tablecloth, a padded chair, and a lamp for illumination with an exquisitely decorated lampshade.  A voice crackled from beside her, and she jumped. “Hello. First of all, what do you go by?”

     “Um, if you mean my name it’s Jacklyn and I am really sorry for breaking into- well I guess it’s more like through but you know what I mean- through the checkpoint I just was freaked out by a weird red lady and I panicked and ran and read the brochure and then I got lost and I’m just rambling now so please don’t kill me?” she ventured.  She had been thinking about what to say but it had come out completely wrong. She anxiously awaited the Epic she assumed to be Epoch’s answer.

Edited October 28, 2018 by The Young Pyromancer
Retcon

[Voidus]

Impact blinked in confusion for a moment.

Laser vision? What on earth is he talking about?

Nevertheless she played along, giving a coy smile.

"Most people guess something to do with steel but I'll keep the answer to myself."

The other Epic in the distance seemed well and truly subdued at this point. Another pretender, barely worth the powers that Calamity had bestowed on them. At least this speedster could avoid something like that with all likelihood.

"As for why I'm here, my previous residence was unfortunately obliterated. I'm sure you've heard about what happened in Oregon. So I thought I'd investigate the local real estate."

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

Riley opened his eyes and saw the sky. Lazy clouds with wispy edges against a blue backdrop of unfathomable depth. His hand rubbed the ground.

Concrete. Concrete?

He sat up with a jolt and looked around. Surrounding him were towering metal tanks connected to a jungle of pipes and beams. Metal catwalks jutted out from the industrial labyrinth. The pipes extended down to his right and down to his left. He glanced over his shoulder. More steel spaghetti. There was no grass. No trees. He looked up above the tops of the pipes and saw the towering smokestack. His heart leapt into his throat.

He was in the refinery.

Panic started to creep in. He was outside of Sherwood Park. It was everything that he’d dreamed of and feared of. He also had no idea where he was. Hesitantly, he rose to his feet, then stumbled, pain flaring up through his leg.

His bandaged leg.

Riley stared at his wrapped leg in wonder. Who had bandaged his leg? The last thing he remembered was blood pouring out of the bullet holes in his calf, before the pain and the wooziness became too much and his vision faded to black. He shifted weight to it and hissed in pain. The leg was still too tender to walk on.

Scanning the area again, he spotted a broom in a corner. It was bleached in the sun, and rather worse for the wear, but still Riley hobbled over to it. Heating his hand, he burned the bristles off, then fit the broad end under his arm. Now he had an improvised crutch.

With crutch in armpit, he ventured forth. He had no idea where to go from the refinery, or where in the refinery he was, but he was going somewhere.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

Taya sat in one of the chairs, and waited patiently for Premier Notley to come. She was fairly sure the Premier would want to speak, but she hoped they weren't preparing to arrest her before having that conversation. She half expected to get arrested, but it would go better if she didn't.

Taya drifted off while she was waiting, completely exhausted. Thoughts from the last 24 hours flooded her mind.

.  .  .

"There are two powers we use to conceal South Common. The sight should be fairly self-explanatory; it's how Typhon can always single out epics trying to enter it's territory. There's a little more to it than that, but it's not important. The one you need to figure out is the illusions."

Curator held up her hand, conjuring up a featureless yellow ball in it.

"For obvious reasons, simpler things are easier to craft, so this is a good place to start. It's a little bit like painting, I guess. You need to picture exactly what your doing in your head, and then build it up brush stroke by brush stroke, on top of something else."

Taya held up her hand, willing and hoping for a yellow ball to appear as well. She entertained the idea of succeeding on her first attempt, but realistically she suspected it wouldn't be that easy, if Curator felt the need to teach her about it.

"It's kind of hard to explain, like flexing a muscle you never had before. Your brain'll get used to it though, over time. Just work at it."

.  .  .

"You... Agree?" Taya gave Curator a slightly incredulous look.

"I do. I think you should go through with it. You don't have any serious experience using illusions, and you aren't the most qualified by a significant margin... But we also don't have the people to spare, and more to the point, your survival will depend on the success of this job, whether or not you are the one doing it.

That's actually why I'm here, to explain things. The idea is pretty simple. The group that just surfaced, called Circle of the Shield, has something to do with epic technologies. If you do this right, you get a chance to find a cure, and we get to learn what their agenda is.

We can give you a pic of one of their badges, and we can stick their car with a radio illusion to mess up communications and stop whoever they work for from outing you. That's about it. You don't need to keep them fooled for very long, just enough to find out those two things."

.  .  .

Taya blinked, bleary-eyed. The assistant was addressing her.

"Sorry, what?"

"The Premier has been informed."

"Oh, great. Thanks."

Finley continued listening as he read a message from Quietus. It was a brief message, requesting a barrier. He glanced at the checkpoint, and noted Quietus speaking calmly to the flying epic, who had just landed.

Quietus was fairly easy to control, once you understood the things he wanted. The only caveat was, once you sent him out to do something, you couldn't really change your mind. Knowing Quietus, negotiations were probably completely out of the question by now, even though the epic had been willing to talk. Finley sighed, and absentmindedly started placing slow zones to seal the path further into ERA territory, and then in the space over their heads. Slow zones took much longer to build up than fast zones, though they developed at the same rate from the perspective of anybody inside of one. A quirk of his power. All the while, he continued listening to the cloaked epic.

"Um, if you mean my name it’s Jacklyn and I am really sorry for breaking into- well I guess it’s more like through but you know what I mean- through the checkpoint I just was freaked out by a weird red lady and I panicked and ran and read the brochure and then I got lost and I’m just rambling now so please don’t kill me?"

Finley frowned. That wasn't the response he expected.

She sounded genuinely spooked. Either she was really good at this, or she was telling the truth. He couldn't say which with any level of confidence. Still, her story about the red epic at least gave him something to fact-check, later.

"Hello, Jacklyn. My name is Epoch. You may have heard of me," he explained.

"I would like to avoid killing you if that is reasonably possible," he continued evenly. A little bit of fear was good, but too much and people would just tell you what they thought you wanted to hear. He didn't want her terrified of him, if in fact that terror was genuine.

"Are you comfortable for the time being? I have some questions. For one, what kind of power set do you have?"

A loaded question was often a great way to test a hypothesis.

"Oregon. Yes, such a shame," Quietus answered with a false smile. And she didn't even help destroy the place? Boooooring.

"As for real estate... This is some really excellent real estate. I definitely recommend staying here for a while. We actually make these neat little brochures about it, have you seen one yet? Mostly propaganda of coarse, but there's also a really good summary of the different territories."

Quietus began fishing in his bag. Five.

"Yeah, I think Epoch would probably be happy to recruit you into a good position here," he explained truthfully. Four.

"You should try to talk to him, sometime." Three.

"He's the one in charge of this area." Two.

"Aha! Found it. Have a look. Also I don't recommend flying anywhere on this map." On--

Quietus hurled the flashbang from the bag moments before it detonated, taking care to land it in front of her feet to avoid whatever effect crushed the knife. In the same motion, he activated his powers and averted his eyes. His powers let Quietus do interesting things with flashbangs.

From the way she interacted, he was almost positive she wasn't a high epic, but like with Quietus himself, conventional attacks seemed to fall short. This way, he could test both light and sound in one go. As a bonus, if she wasn't immune, he was pretty sure a flashbang going off that close to her would really hurt. At the fringe of his range, his power wouldn't do much at all to mitigate that.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Drake Marshall
nothing to see here

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

Jacklyn thought quickly.  She couldn’t really deny him, she couldn’t lie in an obvious way, and she certainly couldn’t tell him the truth, so she had to take a gamble.  Quickly, she recalled what the pamphlet said about Epoch.  She could point out that his name sounded a lot like Epic, but that was liable to get her killed.  “Why do you assume I have powers?”

Edited October 28, 2018 by The Young Pyromancer