Part 2 of a compilation post between me, Edgedancer, Sirce, Mail-mi, and Blackhoof.
Deathgale's opponent barely managed to dodge the first set of windblades by pushing himself in the right direction. More luck than the maggot deserved. To retaliate the Destructor started throwing himself around in the air and wildly firing around his assault rifle. Nothing Deathgale had to worry about, even if one of those stray bullets managed to hit him by accident it would just pass through his body and if he kept hitting himself so hard with wind gusts to change directions he would probably end up unconscious within minutes.
Still no reason to let him continue to waste his time until then. Timing it with his next direction change Deathgale threw another Windblade. It connected but didn’t cut the Epic; instead it seemed to collide with the air in front of him. There was a shattering sound in the air and the Destructor was thrown backwards by the resulting force. Again not dead
Slightly annoyed he spoke to the blood, counting on Mary to create the connection, “Dustdevil, are you in position to restrict this guys wind?”
Dustdevil gleefully destroyed the Astoria wall, smashing into crystals of different sizes. The largest ones were spikes that he placed in a large pile, one that fluctuated in size as Kinesis began using some to distract the fire Epic. The smaller splinters and diamond dust he would use for himself.
Through the blood that Mary had splattered on him, he heard Deathgale's question. Speaking into the patch felt odd, but he quickly got his reply out.
"I have some ammunition and I am heading over now. Let me know if you need any specific manipulations or restrictions for me to perform."
With that, he changed himself into dust, blowing himself and his diamonds with him. Once he got close, he reformed, just as the Epic began firing his assault rifle. He felt a bullet pass through his shirt, nicking him slightly, but causing no great amount of harm. Quickly he changed into his dust form. This form made it harder to concentrate since he had to maintain it, but no he would be no help if a bullet took him out before then.
Realizing that he wouldn't be able to hear any requests through Mary's glorified walkie-talkie, he changed back for a moment, ripped off part of his shirt with the blood on it, then immediately changed back. Spinning a small pile of diamond dust into motion, he sent a large, expanding shot at the air Epic, determined to focus the air around him so he would not be able to escape the flaying mass.
Metalmech almost cheered when the blood evaporated off of his forcefield. Adding his voice to Jag’s, he said, “Smasher, drop mine too.”
Surveying the scene, Metalmech saw that Smasher’s jeep was no longer existent, but the others were still in shape. There were several newcomers to the fight, and one of them, a Fire Epic, seemed to be on his side. He was being faced off by Winterspell, one of Astoria’s Epic’s that Metalmech had heard of, and another one encased .
Well, Metalmech thought, he’s on our side, and he needs some help. He maneuvered his tank over toward the newcomer, shooting his tank’s guns at both the water Epic and the Epic encased in ice.
As projectiles from the tank came toward him, Kinesis almost laughed. Only idiots would send highly explosive rounds at an Epic with spatial awareness and teleportation powers. He sent the shells flying back at the tank, hitting it square on, sending it into flames. Smiling, he turned his attention back to the fire Epic.
Hellfire saw the water Epic frown as his fire boiled the blood off the forcefields, then turning to encase one of the other Epics in a ball of ice. Hellfire squinted his eyes in confusion, “Why would he do that, unless…. whatever that Epic can do doesn’t require vision”.
Confusion turned to surprise as a rock the size of his fist materialised a foot in front of him and instantly shot towards him. Only his heightened reflexes allowed him to react quickly enough, and intensify the flames surrounding him enough to melt the rock into a sludge that splashed uselessly on his armour. “What the hell!” He thought, but he had no time to think further as he felt something hard smash into his back armour, staggering him slightly. Without turning, he raised a shield of solid flames behind him, to stave off anymore rear attacks.
There was no time to consider his next action, as the water Epic formed icy spears and flung them at him. With a grimace, Hellfire threw a wall of flame at the spears, confident that they would be melted easily. With barely a hiss, they passed through unscathed! At most, the icicles were slightly thinner, but no less deadly, and they were now mere metres from impaling him. Hellfire started and sent solid flame clubs to bat the spears to either side, where they stabbed deep into the ground. Once again, his supernatural reflexes saved him.
A pointed shard of diamond appeared in front of him, at high speed, and Hellfire deflected it at the last second with a tendril of solid flames, diverting it so it flew off to his side. Growling in frustration, Hellfire threw a large fireball at the smiling water Epic, altering it midair so it would explode with great force on contact.
Des's shots flew around sporadically. They were meant to keep the Suit dodging and unstable, not to hit him. Another shimmer of wind smashed into the wind shield Des had made. The power behind it was incredible. If Des could control winds that fast, he'd surround the suit in a tornado that would suck the air right out of the man. It looked like he was limited to the blade things though. The suit spoke into his jacket, strangely, and a few moments later, some dust flew upward, defying gravity.
The dust briefly flashed into a man, who then ripped his shirt, before turning back into dust. Desolation felt the winds around him slip out of his control. They weren't responding as usual. They were sluggish and fought his commands. Something the new Epic was doing was taking his control. The winds shaped into a vortex, cutting him off from movement when a large cloud of diamond dust flew to Des. He closed his eyes instinctively as the dust vaporized around him.
"Hawk," he called on his mobile. "Get ready. I may need some distractions. One of these guys can manipulate wind too and I can't get control unless I focus on it entirely." Hawk responded in the affirmative and began shooting buckets in quick succession at the suit.
Winterspell smiled when the fire Epic threw a fireball at him. Even a simple water Epic could have deflected it. He raised his hand and a large tendril mimicked his movements, forming a hand that reached out towards the fireball to extinguish it. As the water came into contact with the fireball, the flames exploded outward, destroying the hand and sending streams of water flying outward. While the explosion was far away having detonated with his water hand, the force and heat still buffeted Winterspell.
Growling in frustration, he quickly brought the water back to him, cooling down any amounts that had been evaporated.Apparently this is no normal Fire Epic. No more playing around.
Winterspell began to fire more Icesteel spikes at the his enemy, partially to hit him, and partially to distract him. As they flew away from him, he propelled himself and his remaining water base towards the other Epic. As the distance closed between them, he formed interlocking links and plates of armor out of Icesteel to combat the other Epic's flaming armor. As he went, he kept the temperature on most of his water down so they didn't evaporate. He didn't succeed with all of it, but he kept most of it in a liquid state. Determined to end the fight, he formed a massive hand and a half broadsword, determined to destroy this troublesome Epic once and for all.
Even if his attack wasn’t very effective, it was good that Dustdevil was in position now. Shortly after the Diamond dust was deflected a couple of pullets shot through Deathgale’s body, trailing little wisps of smoke behind them. The holes in his body reformed themselves as soon as the bullets exited his body.
Looking up, Deathgale could see that Hawking was freed from the force field and he now aimed for Deathgale. Dismissing him as a non important thread for now, he quickly surveyed the battlefield. All the forces of the Destructors were free again. Time to step up the game then.
After throwing a set of five windblades with an offhand swing at Hawking, Deathgale stepped back through the blood, so he stood on solid ground again. At the same time Mary raised several tendrils of blood forming a circle around the disintegration Destructor.
“To everyone,” Deathgale said, while speaking into the blood, “the forces of the Destructors got out of their prison. In case you need someone to deal with the foot soldiers, I can cut them down easily. Dustdevil, with his disintegration field using projectiles like that won’t have much effect. On my sign I’ll throw the next blades to both of his sides, I want you to restrict his movement and weaken that shield he made for himself.”
Keeping his target busy, the bartender pushed his hands into a pillar of blood in front of them, his hands reappeared out of two different tentacles and he threw windblades at the other Epic. Then he pulled his hands back and repeated the process, each time his hands appearing from other tentacles.
After hearing the command from Deathgale, Dustdevil quickly sent his remaining diamond dust at the Epic who had been shooting Deathgale, hoping to to distract him. Even if it didn't kill him, he would have enough time to turn into a solid form without needing to worry about getting shot.
Placing his legs shoulder width apart, he concentrated on Desolation. Now that he was in solid form, he could exert all of his mental capacity to keep the Epic from moving as Dustdevil fired his windblades.
Desolation growled. Mary had surrounded him with blood again. He was trapped in a circle of pillars of blood. Stupid woman. Des saw the Suit mumbling to the dust Epic. Des warily ducked and missed the first two blades of air, but hands kept appearing around him and the wind wasn't his to control. "Hawk, the dust Epic. Now!" He was dizzy. Barely able to keep the wind in a cushion around him, his neck felt like it would snap. He had been tossed around too much and now he was feeling the effects. He hurled the contents of his stomach into the air, where they were spun around in the cyclone of wind.
Des lit his fists on fire in anger, and through his haze of confusion, he managed to disintegrate the black cargo pants of the attacker who was suddenly underneath him. The bare legs looked familiar. Confused, Desolation began punching with his flaming fists at the legs of his attacker. If only he could find his head. Then he'd end this mysterious attacker. Des vaguely felt pain in his legs and roared in anger. His last remnants of clothing disintegrated, leaving him nude in the wind. He finally lost his last vestige of control over the wind. Seeing an air lads heading toward him, he reached out to punch it with his fists blazing. Red stuff spurted out instead. Confused Des realized that it was his own blood. That was the last thing he thought. A blade of air caught him in the neck and separated it from his torso. Desolation died, nude, while being held in the air.
Hawk saw a cloud of sparkling dust come towards him. Based off the appearance of the other things on the city, it was likely diamond and therefore sharp. While he could resurrect, he didn't relish getting cut to pieces, so he flew up out of the way, dodging most. A couple shards of diamond ripped through his arm. Hawkwing heard Desolation's desperate cry and laughed. The new Epic had thought he was so powerful, and now he called on Hawk for help? How ironic. Hawkwing complied with his demand and as the dust cloud transformed into a man, Hawk took aim and fired thrice. Once in the shoulder, once in the side, and once in the neck. The man was as good as dead. Too late. Too late. Hawk rushed forward to see Desolation fall to the ground, head and hand severed from his body.
The mess of the remnants of a man littered the ground. Hawk was reminded all too well of the Epics in Connell whom Des had killed much the same way. Hawkwing dove down to the suited Epic, likely the one called Deathgale, based off of the rumors from the city. After the dust one had died, Hawk wanted to avenge his fellow Destructor. As he shot at Deathgale, the bullets just went through his body and he was patched with smoke. Hawk felt his foot cut from another of the windblades that the suited Epic preferred. With the pain from that as well as the bloody holes from the diamond shards, he welcomed death.
Hawkwing didn't even reach Deathgale. Before he was close enough to lock talons on the Epic, he felt pain arch through his back. Then his vision went black and his wings failed. He fell to the earth, pain enveloping his consciousness. Then blackness swallowed him.
I've been thinking about the Rioter role and have an idea. I thought I'd post it here for you guys to use if you wish. I've never really liked how the typical Rioter role works. Rioting doesn't change someone's emotions, it enhances them, and it doesn't remove the Rioter's emotions. So my idea was that the Rioter would cause someone's vote to be counted as double instead of changed. Another idea is that the Rioter could choose which type of Rioting they wanted to do: Enhancing someone's emotions or tweaking them. Either way, I don't see why their vote should be lost. Just an idea if you want it.