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It was supposed to be fun Sunday night. Catching up on homework, blowing off homework, maybe a bit of light training, and then you all decided it would be fun to catch the latest War Star movie, An Awakening Force.
That's when he appeared. One of the most annoying villains you've had to meet in a long, long, looooooong time. Hashtag might especially groan as this is someone he used to know before he started attending Halcyon High and met up with all you guys.
Meet Haxor, the reality hacker.
Wearing a black leather jacket, sunglasses, and fingerless gloves, Haxor may look like a geeky teen punk trying to be cool, but he's got powers that can outstrip any programmer. You see, Haxor doesn't hack computers, he can hack reality. He somehow managed to access the "code" that runs reality and through a lot (like years) or trial and error he has managed to memorize a few useful commands, and a few....dangerous ones.
He smiles that jerkish grin as he meets you all as you make it about a block away from the theater.
"Sup losers! he taunts as he lifts one hand and begins tapping into the air. "Heard you guys are on the way to the big time. That means if I take you out, I'll gain instant cred. So Hello!"
He pulls out what looks to be a high tech lazer gun, and primes it. he finishes tapping on the air, and the gun seems to ripple as something occurs to it.
"And Goodbye!"
He fires, his first shot exiting the gun, then suddenly multiplying in the air as if he shot thirty at the same time. You all are able to doge the blasts, leap to cover, or block the damage, but you are now entering battle against a dangerous foe!
Team Pool. Who's the leader? Does everyone have the same purpose in this fight? If anyone mistrusts the leader, remove a team. You guys are not ready for a brawl, especially those who want to keep their abilities on the downlow, remove a team.
"Hey, aren't you that Reality Star guy that Hashtag was talking about?" says Tycho, then adds "Lazers are so last month." Tycho begins weaving through the lazer fire, continuing to taunt Haxor. "No, it wasn't Reality Star. Maybe the Realtor?" "No?" he says as he dodges another blast.
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Kara had trouble getting in to the movie. Since Transcribing to the past to save the future, she couldn't really get in to historical documentaries.
Imagine, not yet having grasped the concept of subtlety, flies upward to evade the laser blasts.
'No, we are not on the way to the big time. We are on our way to something called "Cheese of Chucky's." But if Bit Time is nice, we may try that also some day.
Tycho, Reality Star was discovered in 24K-U8G by Doctor Brownston when a meteor--Wait, that...that hasn't happened yet.
Nevermind.
Wingblade, is this normal for random strangers to jump out and shoot at us with lasers? Why is he doing this?"
Imagine probes deeply into Haxor's mind, trying to Pierce his Mask.
Ghost Dragon stretched as he walked down the street. He'd enjoyed the War Star movie, but he didn't do well sitting for long periods of time. He liked to move. It made trips to the movie theater a bit long, but his mother took comfort when he went out to do normal, non-heroic things, so he'd leapt at the chance after finishing his homework.
At Haxor's appearance and the laser barrage, Ghost Dragon uses his phasing to dive through a mailbox to the other side for cover. From cover, he begins looking about their surroundings.
Unfortunately, the laser barrage causes him to have to duck his head back, so he can't get a firm grip on everything.
Tectonic had never really seen a Star Wars movie before, which, of course, Ghost Dragon thought was an absolute travesty. Despite her grumblings, Ty dragged Nora out.
As soon as Haxor appeared, though, Nora didn't waste any time. With a sound like stone cracking, craggy rock covers her skin and iron spikes erupt from where her hair used to be. With hardly any effort, she wrenches up the concrete to form a barrier between the wannabe and her.
Tectonic doesn't waste any time on banter, and rips boulders and spikes out of the concrete, launching them at Haxor. While he's distracted by the rocky death currently being flung at him, Tectonic steps out away from cover and forms a tomb of stone around him, leaving him with just barely enough room to breathe.
"But I don't understand. If the Jedi guys can lift objects with their minds, why can't they stop bullets? It doesn't make any sense!"
"It's because they're lasers Tycho. Bullets ruin the whole thematics of the movies, they'd become molten slag and then there would be one dead Jedi." Kenneth murmurs, still eating from the bag of popcorn covered with a mixture of basically everything. Last time he let Imagine and Wingblade choose the flavors of the popcorn.
When they turn the corner and come across the Haxor, the boy who can hack reality. A small sigh leaves Kenneth as he shakes his head and begins to crouch down, hands quickly drawing a pattern into the earth. "Is this going to be a regular thing? It'll make going to the movies real a drag."
The shots rain down and There is a burning blue light as pillars of arcane energy rise from glyphs upon the ground and catch the shots heading towards Eldritch and his slower teammates. The wall fades away as Kenneth steps through it, the markings upon his flesh burning and illuminating within the darkness of his hoodie.
"You hack reality? Listen, third-string, I tear it apart. You don't want to do this and embarrass yourself..."
Hashtag told everyone he'd meet them at the theatre, and that's where you find him. In the line, waiting like everyone else. At the front. With you guys already in line with him.
Now they look quite accurately like you guys, but they don't 'act' like you at all. They kinda mill around, staring off into the distance, and only one of them actually acts at a time. There's a subtle flicker or slightly transparent bit of interference near their feet where they touch the ground.
When he spots you he call over to you and waves a hand. "Oh hey!" he calls out. The other yous look startled, swell up like balloons, and pop into short-lived clouds of smoke and confetti. "What are you doing out of line, chumps!? Gonna get some great seats over here!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The movie was great, and, despite the thought that he might be annoying, Hashtag sits with his large drink and popcorn and watches the movie in utter awe the whole time. When Haxor shows up, Hashtag does a facepalm before the guy opens fire.
"Hey, aren't you that Reality Star guy that Hashtag was talking about?" says Tycho, then adds "Lazers are so last month." Tycho begins weaving through the lazer fire, continuing to taunt Haxor. "No, it wasn't Reality Star. Maybe the Realtor?" "No?" he says as he dodges another blast.
"Real loser is more like it!" Hashtag shouts, disappearing with a crack. He appears to the side of Haxor, unlit cigarette in hand.
"Sup. Do you mind?" He asks, touching the cigarette tip against the burning hot laser barrel, lighting his smoke. He takes a drag and shakes his head, a grin on his face. "So how's it been?" he asks. "Haven't seen you since middle school."
At first, Deputy Atoms hadn't wanted to go to the movie. Not because he didn't like the War Star franchise; he had seen all of them in theaters and was well acquainted with its expanded universe and lore; but because he was afraid of sticking out and causing trouble for the group. Feeling a little bit bummed out about it, Atoms brought up the issue with Deputy Wakefield during their next visit, and that's when Wakefield offered the idea of buying Atoms a costume and dressing him up as the film's masked villain. And so, a very grateful Deputy Atoms went to the movie in full cosplay as Mylo Zen, the leader of the 'Lords of Zen'.
He thought the movie was nothing special, instead seeing it as a diving board for the next War Star movie to come out. On the way back he explained parts of the series' lore that might have gone over the heads of those of the team who hadn't kept up with the books and other media. It was a rare moment, Atoms seeming to be excited, happy, enjoying himself. He was usually a pretty serious person. Though whether he was actually smiling was hard to tell, and not just because of the Mylo Zen mask, but because the head of his metallic Theta Suit was devoid of facial features.
"Actually, Simpson," chimed in Atoms after Eldritch, "They could stop bolts like that if they wanted to. It's just such a complex act that it requires more concentration than simply moving their lightfoil in the way. And not only that, but they have to avoid the dark side too, as they're supposed to flow with and be one with the Force, and not use it and abuse it for their own selfish gains like a Sith would. Like, in one of the books a Jedi student levitates his bag to him from his desk, even though he was able to grab it himself and wasn't in any hurry, and his master chastises him for it."
The Deputy was so lost in thought that he was caught off-guard by Haxor's appearance, and that was a rare moment in itself; his eyes were usually on the horizon, keeping tabs on everything and everyone around him, a product of his police training, and not just for his own safety, but for the safety of his friends too. When the first salvo came, Atoms was intent on taking the blasts head-on, having proved on more than one occasion to be invulnerable to everything but Eldritch's strongest magic (he had stopped actively 'getting out of the way' a long time ago, preferring to act as a shield). But just as Atoms' mind wandered to Eldritch's magic, the mysterious magician conjured blue pillars of arcane power, creating a wall of force that harmlessly dispersed the attack.
While everyone scatters and starts using their powers, Deputy Atoms crouches by Ghost Dragon's mailbox, using his body to provide additional cover and handing him the scarf from his Mylo Zen costume, knowing that he could make a mask out of it. "Here. Unlike the rest of us, you have a secret identity to protect."
The Transformed has influence over...
The Beacon - Ghost Dragon
The Delinquent - Hashtag
The Outsider - Imagine
The Transformed labels themselves as...
Danger : +1
Freak : +3
Savior : +1
Superior : -1
Mundane : -1
Potential: 0/5
Condition(s): Ready for action!
Move: Deputy Atoms DEFENDS Ghost Dragon and spends one Team to help him on his "Assess the Situation" roll, so it turns from a miss to a hit. (I'm unsure whether I get the +1 Influence bonus, as defending Ghost Dragon isn't really "targeting" him. I'll let DM Default make the roll. If it hits, I'd like to "Add a Team to the pool"). If I can't do both, then I'll stick to just spending the Team to assist the roll.
Team Pool: 0, after helping Ghost Dragon (1 if the Deputy's Move hits)
Atoms looks from teammate to teammate, noting their actions: North Star, Ghost Dragon, Imagine, Hashtag, and him had immediately went on the defensive, intent on finding out who and what they were dealing with; Eldritch and Tectonic seemed to be trying to end the battle as quickly as possible; and he wasn't sure what Wingblade was doing yet, but he supposed she was trying to get a better grasp on the situation, and that meant she was likely in the same camp as the majority of the team.
Deputy Atoms focuses his gaze on Wingblade, the unofficial leader of the team. He waits to hear from her while staying aware of his surroundings and the battle at hand.
This trip to the movies was a first for Wingblade. She'd seen movies before, certainly, but had never ventured out in public to one of the grand multiplexes within Halcyon City to see something on the big screen. She folded her wings up as tightly as they would go, and wrapped a bulky backpack around them to hide their deadly appearance. The rest of her outfit was baggy sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt with the back cut out.
She ultimately didn't really enjoy the movie, finding it to be noisy and overly stimulating. The story didn't make sense and Adams' explanations didn't really help. However, she really enjoyed the food -- having a voracious sweet tooth, she marveled over the assortment of candies at the concession stand. She dumped her bag of Skittles, her box of gummies, and her Sno Caps on top of her popcorn so she could grab fistfuls. Really, any food was wonderful compared to the nutrient paste at the lab, but candy was amazing.
==========================
When Haxor shows up, Wingblade is almost glad for the break from the War Stars talk. Wingblade hears her mentor's voice in the back of her mind, warning her that this is a challenge -- a typical villain move of calling out heroes to air out some grievance.
When the laser gun pops out of nowhere and sends its blast at them, Wingblade's backpack is shredded in a hundred pieces as she deploys her wings and brings them around to shield herself. She then launches herself into the air, quickly surveying the area.
"Wingblade, is this normal for random strangers to jump out and shoot at us with lasers? Why is he doing this?"
"I don't know! It's not usually random, and they're not always strangers, but it's normal to be attacked with lasers, I think," she responds to Imagine.
"Fan out! Don't get bunched up for another one of those barrages!" she yells, then as she corkscrews up to sail directly over Haxor's head, she assesses the situation. "And watch for innocents!"
Imagine
What are you planning?
He's planning on jumpstarting his criminal career after coming out of hiding.
What do you intend to do?
He intends on kicking your asses and gaining a lot of street cred, opening a lot of criminal doors for him.
How could I get your character to stop attacking?
Restrain him to the point where he's risking serious bodily harm.
======================
Wingblade
Q1: Are there any people in danger?
As you all have just exited the movie theatre, there is indeed a decent crowd of civilians running, ducking for cover, or cowering on the spot. A bad movie night for all indeed.
Q2: What here can I use to slice/cut with my wings to drop on him, or cause some distraction/misdirection?
There are street lamps that haven't turned on yet, but none right next to him. As you are in the inner city area, most tall objects are entire buildings, not really fitting your needs. There's a lot of signs though, mostly advertising for large department stores and even the movie theatre you just attended.
======================
Eldritch makes a clear declaration of superiority, and Haxor is not having it.
"Guess its time for an override then, freak!" he says. He is now overly conscious of the clear match up in skill. He is going to bring a bit more pain, even if he's a bit reckless in doing so.
And then Hashtag steps in, as cool as cool can be. He taunts Haxor, that mocking smirk on his face as his illusion gets up close and personal. Haxor curses and flings his hand through the air, evident that he knows of Hashtag's abilities to some extent as its a punch to dissipate the illusion or punch a real Hashtag in the face. Two things become clear. Haxor doesn't know where the real Hashtag is, and it becomes evident that he can type with one hand. However, that also means his reality altering powers come directly from typing on his personal interface....so if both hands were restricted....
Haxor places drops his gun and places both hands into the air. You can see the air shimmer and suddenly the keyboard interface that Haxor uses to interact with the world. He types rapidly, a practiced motion as he ensures of string of characters is correct the moment his fingers press into the layers.
"Think you have me outnumbered?" He stops typing, and that familiar ripple that modified the gun, now goes through him. He steps forward, and suddenly he begins to multiply, until there are 4 Haxor's standing before you, that annoying smug grin on all their faces. One of the more useful commands he's learned, Command: Multiply.
"Bring it a@$~!!&s!" they yell as a all four of them begin typing into the air rapidly. Two move to the side of the road and touch cars, and using Command: Propel both send cars flying, one at Wingblade and the other at Eldritch.
The remaining two, keep typing rapidly, setting up string after string of commands. It looks like they're using their most common trick, Command: If-then. Nothing seems to happen as they type rapidly, but you ge the feeling you should be wary.
Each one is programming a specific if-then sequence that will activate if the conditions are met. But only once.
If a Haxor receives a condition, that condition is transferred to the one who inflicted it.
If a person without powers is hurt, then they will be healed.
Wingblade was about to suggest they continue the fight somewhere else when the cars start flying. She has barely enough time to catch a glimpse of the terrified driver through the windshield before instinct takes over. She flaps once, but rather than dodging the incoming sedan, she pierces the hood with one pinfeather and uses that as leverage to slice her other wing across the car's roof. Then, as she sails along with the vehicle and the roof peels away, she grabs the driver and jumps free.
Her wings fan out to catch the air and soften their landing. As the ground races toward them, Wingblade flaps hard and twists to shield the motorist from the chaos below. They both land hard, but the winged girl takes the worst of it. They separate and she rolls several times, coming to a stop right in front of one of the duplicate Haxors.
Tectonic sighs, and with an almost casual shove, launches a wall of concrete towards Haxor. Just before the wave of stone comes crashing down upon him, it explodes into dust. Tectonic leaps out of the cloud of disintegrated sand towards one of the Haxor clones, closing her fists around his hands.
"Thanks," Ghost Dragon says to Deputy Atoms. Holding up his own mask, he grins and says, "I bring it with me most places. Never know when you need it."
He grimaces and curses when two of the Haxor clones start flinging cars into the air, knowing there's nothing he can do for the people in them - but he can stop other cars from joining them.
With the laser shots stopped, nothing stops him from hauling butt straight at the nearest clone who used Command: Propel. He grabs the scarf from Deputy Atoms and rushes forward, phasing through the clone and then utilizing a set of arm bars to tie its hands behind its back with the scarf - and hopefully the other end to a nearby street lamp or signpost.
Hashtag concentrates, looking over the scene. He notes the multiple Haxor's and the immediate environs, including fire hydrants, dumpsters, and similar tools.
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Imagine floats high, above the action, in her default mode of silently observing.
'Is this an ancestor of Borak? she thinks, her mind idly wondering, but certain that his success should be stopped.
'O̡n̷ļi̴ne?
̢A̵f̢f̀. ͏ ̨G͡o on҉e̵.̢
Energy̶ ne̕eded r͏e̡:͡ su̡perhum̴an̴ th͘r̨ea̶t͟. ̷ ͢D̕at͞a̕ ̵póss͟ìb̕le̸. ͟Le̵vel͠ D̕e̵lt͢a̕.̨
̴Áf͘f̷. ̶ H҉old ҉one̕.́ ̧ ҉E ̡tra̴ns n͏ow.̨
Her dragon amulet glows internally, its light barely containing the crystalic fusion transferred to it from a sub-dimensional wormhole three atoms wide.
Patiently waiting for adequate power levels, the Outsider watches the tumult, looking for patterns in the fight, wondering how this relates to...everything.
"Freak?! You're the Neo-Wannabe! Did you cut the fingers off your gloves yourself or did your Mom help?" The fact that four of them then appeared brings a wicked grin to Eldritch's face. There were more of him now, certainly, but that didn't mean that him and his team didn't have the advantage anymore. "Idiot, can't even count right..." Kenneth murmurs, his eyebrows rising as the cars fling through the air at both himself and at Wingblade.
He sees Tycho begin to manuever to try and catch the car, Eldritch's hands touch upon the ground once more. He begins to whisper in a tongue that is more noise than words, a strangeness that makes one's head ache when they focus upon them too much. "⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ❍︎♓︎■︎♎︎ ♑︎□︎♏︎⬧︎ ♏︎❍︎◻︎⧫︎⍓︎". Despite the weirdness of it, there will be glyphs that appear underneath Tycho that seem to shimmer. A sense of calm channels through him, helping focus his power more.
[ooc]Spending another point of Team to give Tycho an additional +1 to the roll.
Eldritch moves directly into the street, burning with power and trying to keep out of the way of most of the innocents. They already have a rough reputation with the city and the last thing they needed were innocent lives weighing down on them. "I need these streets clear, how can I really fight if there is spare room for it?" He looks towards Deputy Atoms for a moment, that burned symbol upon his chest being a reminder of what happens when he lets go and there were citizens still around.
Crouching down, his nails burn into the ground and a quick series of triangles, circles, and other shapes are quickly made to form a strange symbol on ground. "❄︎♒︎♏︎ ☜︎♋︎❒︎⧫︎♒︎ ☼︎□︎●︎●︎⬧︎ ☹︎♓︎&︎♏︎ ︎♋︎❖︎♏︎⬧︎" The glyph would spread out into the earth and the ground would begin to tremble. Like a wave, the earth would begin to roll like the waves along the coast. Catching innocents, allies, and enemies alike, he'd try to push the citizens out of harm's way.
Deputy Atoms gives Ghost Dragon a quick approving nod, "Awesome." He admired people who kept themselves ready and prepared for whatever came their way.
The Deputy turns his attention to the lay of the battlefield. Eldritch had a car coming towards him, but North Star seemed to be in position to intercept; Tectonic and Ghost Dragon were doing their best to bring down the clones; Hashtag and Imagine were on overwatch; there were civilians around, but they weren't being targeted; and as for Wingblade... His eyes widened. She's in trouble! Moving quickly out of his crouch, Atoms sprints toward her. But in that very same moment that Eldritch used his magic again, causing a wave of earth to rise and threaten to block Atoms' advance.
The Deputy would not be stopped.
Leaping into the air, Deputy Atoms crashes onto the side of a nearby building (the one Hashtag is on the roof of) and runs along the length of its wall, his feet creating deep gouges in the stonework and small explosions of debris, before jumping off and landing in-between Wingblade and the duplicate Haxor, his Mylo Zen costume shredded in several places, exposing the metallic Theta Suit underneath.
The Transformed has influence over...
The Beacon - Ghost Dragon
The Delinquent - Hashtag
The Outsider - Imagine
The Protégé - Wingblade
The Transformed labels themselves as...
Danger : +1
Freak : +3
Savior : +1
Superior : -1
Mundane : -1
Potential: 0/5
Condition(s): Feeling protective!
Move: UNSTOPPABLE followed by Deputy Atoms DEFENDing Wingblade.
Team Pool: 0 after Eldritch uses it to assist North Star (1 if Wingblade is allowed to choose her option).
Deputy Atoms doesn't think about such things during the heat of a crisis situation, his police training causing him to follow orders to the near letter. Questions about leadership are for when everyone is safe. He does, however, trust Wingblade. She hasn't led them wrong before.
===================
Ghost Dragon
How could we best end this quickly?
Honestly, the quickest way to end this is to trick Haxor into thinking he's beaten you all, even though it might hurt your pride. All he wants is gloating rights.
Hashtag
How can we best end this quickly?
If Haxor is convinced that he beat the team, he'll leave as that's his only objective here.
And what can I use to restrain him?
You could with Tectonic's route of breaking his fingers. For your talents, not much other bodily harm.
Wingblade rolls to a stop in front a Haxor, though thankfully the bystander is in the clear. Even Haxor seems relieved byt this.
"Knew you 'heroes'had it in you," he says as he places a hand on Wingblade and activates Command: Propel.
A surge of inertia is suddenly introduced as Wingblade goes hurtling through the air at a 45 degree angle, already threatening to leave the fight. And suddenly!
Deputy Atoms is there his arms outstretched and catches you before you go flying off for god knows how long.
You both land safely back onto the ground.
====================
Tectonic makes a play for taking one of the Haxors out quickly, and her surprise attack seems to work until...an unreasonable feeling of ddread seems to fill her.
The Haxor she broke the hands of crouches and whimpers in pain, but none of them look afraid.
It seems one of the sequences a Haxor set up activated, Command: If-then - If a Haxor receives a condition, that condition is transferred to the one who inflicted it.
====================
Ghost Dragon leaps into the fray, and with his deft movements and subtle phasing technique, places himself juuuuust right to try and restrain another Haxor. He goes for the moment, trying to entangle him.
But this Haxor is not having any of it, and he struggles hard, trying to get at you while trying to escape. You reach out and try to phase the scarf through the street lamp you're securing him to when he suddenly throws himself against you.
You fall back, hitting the ground hard. When you look up, you see a gruesome sight. Straight out of the books of Vlad the Impaler, a writhing form of Haxor phased into the street lamp for all to see. You can see the pain and terror in his eyes as he struggles to free himself, possibly doing more harm than good.
====================
Imagine makes successful contact with her home world, and the requested energy begins to flow with her pendant.
====================
Eldritch with his arcane might hastily draws the symbols necessary to safely channel his power. With people fighting and bystanders nearby, he tries to coax the earth into clearing the space.
And it works!
But people aren't the most calm after being thrown, even if thown from danger. You're getting a lot of looks, and lot of them don't understand your intentions. And its making you frustrated.
====================
Deputy Atoms charges forward, letting his costume be torn to pieces in the wake of his force.
[see Wingblade post for rest of scene]
====================
Tycho flies up and tries to catch the second car, and catches it with his face.
Tycho, you take a powerful blow
====================
The mutilation of one of the Haxor's is really giving the other Haxor's the creeps. After all, these guys are all alive and real people.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I did not sign up to play hardball. I'm out!"
The remaining Haxors begin to flee though the one in the lamppost isn't going anywhere and the one who had his fingers broken is moving at a much slower pace.
Ghost Dragon stares in horror at what happened - what he had just done - and desperately racks his brain for what to do next.
She was a little girl again.
The light from the swiveling surgical lamp blinded her, she wanted to cover her eyes from it but her arms were locked in oh god the drill and the bone saw and the-
Tectonic growls, pulling herself back into reality, but her hands are still shaking. Taking a deep breath, she thrusts her arms upward, and rock begins to form around the slowed-down Haxor's legs.
Tectonic stalks forward, fury in her eyes. "We aren't playing hardball because this isn't a g!#%&@n game!" she roars. As she approaches the one that she mutilated, her fists clench. "What the hell were you thinking? Spraying lasers everywhere? Throwing cars? You could have killed someone! You did all of this... all of this destruction and chaos and mayhem... because you wanted some $@!%ing street cred! And don't you dare give me the 'you're just like me,' speech! I don't know what kind of hell you went through to get your powers, but I can guarantee mine was much worse, and I'm not trying to kill people just so that I can get into the big boys' club! You know how much easier it would be for me to incapacitate you if I just... let loose? It wouldn't even be a contest. But I've spent months training so I don't do that! That I don't put people in danger! I am nothing like you. You're not strong because you have powers. You are weak because you can't control them, or yourself." She trains a smoldering glare on him, then snorts in disgust and walks away.
Tectonic stalks forward, fury in her eyes. "We aren't playing hardball because this isn't a g!&#@!n game!" she roars. As she approaches the one that she mutilated, her fists clench. "What the hell were you thinking? Spraying lasers everywhere? Throwing cars? You could have killed someone! You did all of this... all of this destruction and chaos and mayhem... because you wanted some $@!%ing street cred! And don't you dare give me the 'you're just like me,' speech! I don't know what kind of hell you went through to get your powers, but I can guarantee mine was much worse, and I'm not trying to kill people just so that I can get into the big boys' club! You know how much easier it would be for me to incapacitate you if I just... let loose? It wouldn't even be a contest. But I've spent months training so I don't do that! That I don't put people in danger! I am nothing like you. You're not strong because you have powers. You are weak because you can't control them, or yourself." She trains a smoldering glare on him, then snorts in disgust and walks away.
Wingblade scrambles out of the Deputy's arms, staggering to her feet to get back into the fray. She watches the scene unfold as she regains her bearings.
Her mind spins as she sees the impaled duplicate and wars with her instincts. A brief, horrible thought to put him out of his misery crosses her mind, but she shakes that off quickly. She didn't want another name on her list, although she wasn't sure a copy counted. Then she finally looks to the other Haxors running away and anger swells.
She jumps back into the air and speeds forward to cut them off. Landing directly in front of one of the two uninjured Haxors, she points back to the one impaled on the street lamp. "DO SOMETHING! He's your... what? Twin? Copy? Can you help him? Make him go back to wherever he came from?"
"The stares. I hate the way that they stare." Eldritch thought to himself, the irritation growing into anger. When Haxor's confidence breaks, that anger sears through him again for just a moment. It'd be much easier to let it all out for just a moment, make it clear that they aren't the ones to have schoolyard fights.
Yet when he catches sight of the Haxor stuck in the pole, his eyes widen and a quiet murmur escapes him. "Oh s#*%."
He rushes over to the pole where Ghost Dragon and Haxor were, his eyes looking towards his comrade. "What the hell did you do! Jesus..." He looked over Haxor with a look of concern, swallowing the irritation for a moment.
"Stay still. I'm going to see what I can do for you, alright. Just...stay still."
The flare of blue fire would rise as both of Eldritch's hand rested on the pole, the glyphs spreading down along the pole and even over the trapped Haxor's form. "✌︎■︎♎︎ ☜︎❖︎♏︎❒︎⍓︎⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ︎■︎❒︎♋︎❖︎♏︎●︎⬧︎" Eldritch's eyes burn bright blue as he unleashes his power and begins to look at the truth of the world.
Deputy Atoms tears off whatever is left of his costume and surveys the battlefield, attempting to triage those around him. Civilians might have been hit by stray fire or debris, North Star had been hit by a car, one of the Haxors was injured, and another Haxor was literally halfway through a pole.
The Transformed has influence over...
The Beacon - Ghost Dragon
The Delinquent - Hashtag
The Outsider - Imagine
The Protégé - Wingblade
The Transformed labels themselves as...
Danger : +1
Freak : +3
Savior : +1
Superior : -1
Mundane : -1
Potential: 1/5
Condition(s): Normal
Move: Deputy Atoms uses ASSESS THE SITUATION. But it failed!
From the roof, Hashtag will watch the fleeing Haxor's and grin. He had a great idea.
As they are trying to escape, Hashtag creates a simple illusion: He creates a screen over the environment so that what looks like open road is the wall of a building, and what looks like walls are actually road.
Hashtag will then pop into being on the ground, next to the one 'phased in' kid. "Yeesh!" he says, "You done splinched the dude!?" Hashtag exclaims aloud. "Agh. It looks even worse than I imagined!" His gaze still on the unfortunate would-be villain, he leans over towards ghost dragon. "You're... uh... gonna fix this, right? Right?" he asks. "You CAN fix this, right?"
"I don't know! I was just trying to get behind him so I could tie his hands and prevent him from typing and flinging more cars, and we struggled and I hit the ground and then he was through the pole like that," Ghost Dragon answers Eldritch's query, still staring in shock at the impaled duplicate.
As Hashtag lands and asks his question, Ghost Dragon responds, "I can unphase him, but unless one of you can heal him, he's just as likely to bleed out as anything. Maybe. I don't know. I've specifically avoided trapping anyone in a solid object since I don't know what will happen if I unphase them."
"Okay, don't freak out!" Hashtag replies, perhaps freaking out himself. "I think I can fix this, I think."
The punk pulls on his cigarette. "Well, my mom said something about this. I was 'kinda' listening... I think..." he pinches his nose just over his piercings. "Particles are still there, just occupying closer space than they should be... I can do it with pencils, but never tried it with a person... Ah, f%#~ it!"
Hashtag will reach out and grab Haxor, teleporting JUST* the man from where he is into the air over Ghost Dragon.
*By just the man, I mean just the guy. Nekkid, free of anything NOT Haxor.
Tectonic catches up to the wincing Haxor, struggling to pull his legs out of the clutching earth. Her anger is as unrelenting as the shifting of tectonic plates, and she roars her fury at her now trapped adversary.
=========================
The Haxor's that are fleeing stop abruptly as Wingblade comes into view. She lands with such force that each Haxor instinctively flinch, wondering if those wings were always sharp.
"Code doesn't work like that." one sputters in response to Wingblades accusations. They each look at the other, tossing up fleeing versus fulfilling Wingblade's demands.
"Maybe that...."
"But we haven't used it on anything alive, let alone..."
They both glance at Wingblade's sharp wings.
They nod at each other. One clasp hands and before you know what's happening one Haxor is speeding off into the air at the same speed Wingblade was hurtling. The Other begins running back to both stuck Haxors.
=========================
Eldritch tries to reach into the aether, trying to see past this world and isolate the truth to possibly parse it out.
He just needed to look carefully, focus.....focus.......wait...no.....toooooomuuuuuchfoooocuuuusssss!
Eldritch. There is nothing but a pale blue wherever you look.
You are now effectively blind.
=========================
Deputy Atoms, you look to the left, to the right, and you spot one of the Haxors running back into the fray. It.....it looks like he might be attempting to attack Tectonic with her back turned after she's had her say with the trapped Haxor!
=========================
Hashtag does his trick as usual, though the most it accomplishes is scare the Haxor shooting through the air to death as he zooms through what looks like a very solid building.
Heh. Classic.
He joins those by the "street lamp" Haxor, and though he keeps his tone light, the close up look at the spectacle is definitely offputting.
Ghost Dragon is beyond himself. Its hard enough to deal with this part of his power that he's been avoiding, and the still wriggling and moaning form of the "Street Lamp" Haxor is disturbing to say the least.
Hashtag tries to calm Ghost Dragon and himself down in the process. Maybe its his own gusto, maybe he actually knows what he's doing, or maybe he really doesn't care about this Haxor's to the point where he's willing to try something that could potentially kill him.
Whatever the case, Hashtag focuses on his power and tries to separate the man from the metal. There's a sound resembling a pop and squelch, and before is a street lamp, and a moaning Haxor.
=======================
"Guys!" the Haxor that came back yells.
"Emergency command, Reset!"
Okay, just gotta flex as the car comes in and make sure to put one hand on the hood and the other on the...OOF!
Still venting, and somewhat shaking, Tectonic turns towards the rest of the Haxors, and, with the same motion as before, attempts to entrap them in stone. "You're. Not. Going. [i]Anywhere," she growls and concrete rushes towards their legs...
-the blood the pain the lights the voices the measurements the pain the pain the pain-
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Imagine has hovered peacably in the air, eyes wide, watching. She's a picture of purest wonder, taking in the unfamiliar scene: Fighting, swearing, combat, struggle.
None of it makes sense to her. She has never seen anything like this. It's not coherent, and some of it can't be quantified. Even knowing Haxor's mind brings no clarity.
Imagine comes down to the scene where one form of Haxor has been merged with a lamppost, and then ripped from it.
He is bleeding badly. He is in much pain, and most certainly will not survive. She stares at the scene, and thinks of home.
Sweet, innocent, beautiful Imagine.
'He is suffering. Every moment of existence is purest torture for him. The word, 'morality,' dictates that we halt the suffering.'
She extends a hand against the moaning Haxor's head.
'I will end his suffering, so that his thought-shard may be freed from the corporeal-shell and rejoin his people's SoulPool. When he is next Reincarnated he will have learned better.'
A full strength mindbolt shoots out into the dying man's temple.
She turns her wide-eyed innocent look to Ghost Dragon and Hashtag.
'What?'