"I don't want to hurt you, Beebee, but I can't have you whammied and trying to keep stopping me, so..." Distracted with dealing with their best friend and attempting to disarm her so she couldn't act as a barrier again was enough for the thief to rush past the turnstiles and into the subway. "Where's your other street level heroes to help in a team up when you need them?"
At least they had anticipated that the culprit might have another trick to help them escape. And the benefit of being able to slow time to a crawl meant that they could prepare a snare ahead of them to also trip up their opponent. Which was why the platform's security gates were currently shut and locked around the stairs.
Chroknight pulls the taser out of Beebee's hands. "Stay here until your brain stops telling you to stop me!" They admonish her before heading to go and get the diorama back.
On the whole, Digits has been a bit quiet and distant, drinking mushroom tea and tinkering with their portal gun...and just looking off into the stars a bunch. Do I really belong on this planet? No one here really understands the life I've led...
Digits isn't quite sure what to make of the photoshoot at first, but eventually decides they're into it. The energy that DD, Empyrean, and Gui generate with their earnest mugging is electric. When Indy leaves, Digits shifts closer to the center, beside Empyrean.
In the thick of the shoot they reach into a pouch to pull out a greyish puffball the size of a child's fist. They squeeze it upward and suddenly a glitterstorm of phosphorescent purple and lavender spores dance around the whole group, and Digits gives their best grin as they–for the moment–feel like they're genuinely a part of the group.
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The newest drones to arrive have more tricks to them, so when Indarius shows up and throws up a magical shield around Phalanx, the automatons react by shooting globs of rapidly expanding foam that encases Indy's wings! With the already rapid speed of his descent, there's no way the dragon can pull out of his dive before he crashes into the pavement!
Andromeda, Statian, and Phalanx continue to move with the armored vehicle that is still swerving back and forth down the highway, but with more drones incoming! They once more target the armored vehicle, this time foregoing the attempt to latch on and using cutting torches. Instead, they unleash a barrage of missiles at their target!
What do you do?!?
Indy takes the landing hard rolling out of the bone-shattering dive into the blacktop, definitely tearing a few seams in the suit he'd been given by the photo crew. "Auuhgh, that hurt.. where is with everyone getting this heavy expansion foam recently."
Hobbling to his feet and then dodging speeding vehicles to get to the side line Indy thinks he's got time to try one more attack on the drones before the conflict gets too far away. Taking a deep breath he begins weaving his hands in sharp geometric patterns summoning glyphs in the air around him that linger and sizzle. Before a spread of permafrost spears lance out to impale some of the drones pursuing the group.
"Wings are gummed up, keep on the truck I'll catch up after I get this stuff off."
He then looks around for a way to get the goop off, first by testing the now hardened stuff with a his fingers.
Andromeda claws at the air, trying to smash the missiles into one another before they can impact anything vital.
Andromeda sends waves of telekinetic force at the missiles, smashing or detonating the vast majority of them! Archie snipes at the few stragglers and they explode in the air above the desperately swerving armored truck.
Andromeda's concentration in applying her brute-force telekinesis with a modicum of finesse is not conducive to maintaining her ballistic style of flight! She finds herself oriented to blast her and her passengers directly through the blooming fireball of the explosion!
As the truck and drones reach Indarius's longest range, he picks off a handful of drones before working on getting himself airborne again.
Meanwhile, Statian employs a different tactic, trying to hack the drones' target priorities to get them to focus on the heroes and not the truck. She is successful initially and they begin to peel away from their primary target as her threat assessment matrix sounds an alarm of multiple targeting systems locking on to her! Several computer-guided rockets launch from the mobile platforms before their pilots override Statian's interference!
The rockets whiz past Statian, but make a U-Turn and begin pursuing her as they're locked on! You have a panel to deal with them before impact!
The makeup artist giggles and Gui gets to experience her fingers lightly brushing his face. "My name's Kassity," she offers while putting on the finishing "touches." "I have a boyfriend, but we're open." She gives Max a sidelong glance and then him a seductive smile. "Invite her along and we'll make it a group thing."
She gives him a wink and flicks a business card his way as he joins the photo shoot.
* * *
"Yes! Yes! Oui! Yes!" the photographer shouts enthusiastically as he captures image after image. "You are not shy! You 'ave confidence!" His camera clicks as the lighting flashes around the heroes and fans blow to make sure the clothes and the hair wave brilliantly in frozen motion.
"We 'ave zhe digital, so let us go to zhe old school, as zhey say!" He sets down his large and technical camera and picks up a far more retro piece and rolls actual film into its chamber. After a bit of adjustments to the lighting, the photographer brings the camera to his eye and beginning the click-whirr of the snapping shutters and advancing film.
Digits, Empyrean, Aquarelle, and Devil Diva all strike their poses and hold them easily. Too easily! They suddenly realize they cannot move, stuck in a freeze frame!
The photographer moves stiffly, jerkily, as he keeps the camera up to his face. The lens focuses on everyone one at a time, and the heroes get the sense that it's not the photographer but the camera that's looking at them! He steps forward, still holding the camera in front of his face as wispy purple vapor appears and coalesces around him, giving the illusion of faint purple horns and an animated tail, plus an ample bust and womanly hips!
The camera finally focuses on Devil Diva. "Finally. After all these years," the man says, but it's not his voice. It's sultry and feminine, and sounds like Max!
What do you do??
The surprise attack from taser-wielding Beebee causes Chroknight to freeze up, letting the hooded man get away, though straight into their trap. Still, it wasn't fun receiving a blast from a fully-charged taser and her friend's mental whammy didn't have her let up until it was nearly out of juice!
Chroknight finally recovers and disarms her friend, hoping that this time she'll fight off the mental control. But without any further weapon and still recovering from her earlier wound, Beebee was no longer a threat.
They leave her in pursuit of the man in the hoodie, where they find him trapped in the subway platform with locked exits all around. However, in the time they took dealing with Beebee, the man had scrawled an arcane sigil onto the ground with the diorama placed in the center and is now muttering something and gesturing over it!
As Chroknight advances, life-sized shadowy images of the Alliance of the Eighties appear, but they don't look like they're on their side!
What do you do??
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Chroknight: HELP
Chroknight: Fighting spirits of the Alliance from the past
Chroknight: Dropping a pin, get here soon!
The only thing that was keeping Chroknight from getting trounced by the spectres was slowing time as much as possible to dodge laser beams, supersonic shouts, flying punches and diamond bullets. To anyone else it would be a blur of motion as Chroknight manages to get up to the hoodie guy and give him a hard tap on the temple to try and drop him finally - but knowing their luck, that wouldn't stop the Alliance ghosts from continuing to fight them.
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The fire tears into the unprotected human fleshy Sam. Her protective suit she normally tries to don before battle still in her pack, no time to put on. Her threads she would rely on next are wrapped around the seat in hopes to keep her on and alive, so they cannot slam in front of the fire.
So without protection...
she burns
it hurts
so
so
badly
...
her mind kicks in, shunting off the pure agony. Her rerouting of the targets worked, the rockets are headed towards her.
There are kids down in the highway. If the missiles miss... they die.
"" the hacker screams to the telekinetic warrior queen. "save them" she whispers as she thinks of her dad, and she tries to force more targets on herself, raw fingers dancing still on the fire resistant tablet.
---
her tablet pings, showing Chron message. Somehow she has the will to post
Statian: can't help, dying
a pause followed by
Statian: I hope you make it, bye
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Indarius finds picking the lead-like foam off his wings by hand is nearly useless. His wings are still incredibly heavy but perhaps. An idea springs to mind of how he can catch up to the group. Quickly weaving his magic to produce an elastic band held aloft and magically anchored in the center of the parkway he leaps out and grabs one end of it giving one good flap to pull back in the direction opposite the fleeing armored truck and hoping his calculation and spellwork on the fly was as good as Connies.
Then with a cannon-like sound he launches forward, the elastic band disentigrating from the effort. Sending the draconid rocketing towards the group and the truck, like a suit clad silver bullet. Not so much 'flying' over the traffic as flying like an arcane propelled cannoball.
Thanks to his excellent eyesight he can see that something has changed trajectory ahead of the group. "Watch your heads!" He screams, the communicator barely picking it up through the whipping wind.
He opens his wings just enough to grant him some lift despite him having to fight the foam for every inch. Tucking his entire body into a curled ball, along with the small bit of lift from his wings catching the intense windcurrent, it's just enough to take him over Andromeda's head to continue sailing past the group.
He rolls once in the air over them, before splaying all fourteen feet of his wings wide to catch the wall of micro missiles with the foam-crete covered appendages. He had to protect them, all of them no matter what faults.
Despite the rocking blast Indy continues to sail forward, tumbling far less controlled now. Slamming and catching onto the back of the armored truck, his claws biting deep into the metal with a screech. His wings however flap limply as he dangles from the precarious spot. The protective arcane sheath overloaded temporarily.
Max feels her body go stiff as the camera works its foul magic. Her heart is thumping rapidly as she strains against the paralysis, but even with her inhuman might, she is unable to move. As the photographer seems to change into her mirror image, she manages to grate out a few words through teeth clenched in a frozen smile. "Who..are...you?!?"
All the while, her mind races as she tries to figure out a way out of this predicament...
The dark eye of the camera lens zooms in more on Max as the sultry voice answers her. "I'm you. I'm Violet."
The photographer leans back as Violet's voice rasps, "And I'm about to be whole again." The camera clicks, causing Max to feel like a piece of herself is sheared off and stuck to a piece of film! In a matter of a few clicks, Violet will be in her body an Max will be trapped inside the camera!
What do you do?
The man in the hoodie is using a shield of minions, so Chroknight finds themself unable to get in a solid hit on him! However, when the shadowy Praetorian interposes himself between them and the man, he poofs out in a single hit!
The shadow-Yeoman flings out his flexible arms to try to grab Chroknight in a vise, as Blue Laser throws a cascade of neon lasers that block the Janus' escape route! Material Girl aims her diamond gun at Chroknight's head, as Tristan Shout and Glasnost converge!
”N...n...no!” Max growls. She exerts every ounce of her inhuman might to will her eyelids to close, just once, just enough to break the camera’s hold!
Andromeda's gaze flickers between the missiles as they detonate, and her sheath quivers with frustrated anger. Another escalation. Precision strike isn't enough; you bring in heavier ordnance. But they can't escalate past me.
The field wrapped around Phalanx and Statian doesn't passively await the missiles' destruction, it matches violence with violence, coruscating with surges and flashes of energy as it smashes through the force of the explosions. She's unhurt, of course, but knocked badly off course, unable to stop herself from using a flailing tendril of telekinetic might to smash into the pursuing drones instead of correcting her trajectory...
A dragon tears through the sky, making Sam blink in wonder as the missiles shatter the sky around him. "interesting..." she breathes as she mentally records all the statistical analysis for later.
With the danger having passed, she says to the one holding her in the sky "Statistically the sacrifice of one over the harm of many is a sound strategy... but I do appreciate your disregard of the sound tactic."
Sam speak for thank you for not dropping me.
While it had taken Digits a while to relax into the photo shoot, eventually they find themselves having fun camping it up.
When it turns nefarious, they're caught off guard. Unable to reach for their portal gun or omniprocessor sporebelt, they sigh inwardly. Then they do their best to tune out the surface world around them and tune into the deeper mycelial network.
How am I gonna get out of this one?
Statian screams and nearly panics at the enormous light show caused by the explosions against Andromeda's telekinetic barrier and reflexively urged her to be tossed to the ground! However, the force fields hold and Statian and Phalanx emerge unscathed even though Andromeda is now wildly off course.
The rockets that were launched to home in on the Brain veer towards them, but Indarius's Conflux-like spellwork sends him in their path, eliminating them as a threat and shearing off the heavy foam from his wings in the process! He lands hard on the armored vehicle, digging his claws into the rents in the thick metal made previously by the first wave of drones.
Andromeda's wild swing of a telekinetic punch manages to cripple the last of the drones, but even as they spark and begin to fall out of the sky, powerful magnets activate within them and they veer to the armored truck and stick fast!
Before anyone can react, they self-destruct with a concussive boom! Indarius, being closest to the blast, takes the shockwave entirely through his body!
Photo shoot
Devil Diva sets her will against the power of the spell and manages in a desperate gambit to keep her soul to slam her eyes shut! Just like that, she feels she can move again!
"Hold still!" she hears her own voice shout, even as her ears pick up the suddenly sinister sound of the camera advancing the roll of film to get ready for a new shot!
Frozen in place as they are, Empyrean, Aquarelle, and Digits are forced to watch this strange play unfold in front of them! Digits decides to retreat into the mycelial network to find the solution, and they quickly space out so that they lose track of everything going on around them!
Empyrean and Aquarelle watch as Devil Diva suddenly starts moving again, though they see that her eyes are deliberately squeezed shut, just as the photographer winds up to take another picture of DeeDee!
Sending your consciousness into the fungal strands, you sense a distinct resonance that sparks a deep memory. You remember Fruubas going over some of the star systems when you asked if xe would let you try your hand at navigating. Xe had to take over and do some fancy flying when one of your courses ran uncomfortably close to a netherrealm access point. Fruubas explained that where there's sentient life, there are parasitic entities that are drawn to, or perhaps created by, the darkest and most vile impulses of the living minds. This entity that has taken over the camera sets off the same alarm bells in Digits as it did on the Madcap!
"You want to give up now? Praetorian's the best of them, how-"
Ah. Blue Laser. As fast as Chroknight is, they haven't cracked lightspeed yet. So they put up their guard as they are suddenly boxed in and take a walloping from the rest of the old Alliance. Chloe is stressed out as the armor gives a little red flashing indicator that something was functioning beyond its parameters. And it was already a minute in and they had only dispersed one damn shadow clone.
"I'm not letting you ruin a shop for some freaky cult, you diet magician," They huff, focusing now on finishing off the bodyguards. It would just take one solid hit each, right? Easy. Right.
"Are. You. Not. Entertained?!" Chroknight shouts as they punch through Blue Laser, Tristan Shout and Material Girl as hard as they can muster. This was more effort than fighting the damn ninjas!
Archie looks on as Indy gets flung backwards with the concussive blast of the drones self destruct sequence.
"Damn! I'm gonna go check it out." Phalanx calls to Statian and Andromeda
Archie unbuckles his harness and pulls on a backpack from nowhere and with a snap of his finger the metal cage Archie was in vanishes, leaving Andromeda holding just Statian. Archie begins to fall backwards to the ground, before impact he pulls a ripcord which causes the backpack to rapidly expand into an inflatable crash pad. Phalanx bounces unharmed from the 20 foot fall sliding off the backpack, he pull a bulletproof vest over his shirt and while running towards the armored truck he crafts an M249 SAW light machine gun. Once he approaches the van he slows down his pace and stands on guard waiting for more backup unless anything happens.
Making sure to avert her gaze, Max grabs a nearby desk and hauls it off the floor! She maneuvers it between the photographer and her teammates, blocking their line of sight to the camera.
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As the desk drops in front of them, Gui can move again. "What was dat?" He turns to Devil Diva. "She looks just like you!"
As he says that, he remembers of the countless movies and comic scenes where copycats pretend to be the heroes after they get entangled in melee and then they both claim to be the 'real one' while the other heroes have to figure out. Not today, so a tattoo of a devil horned Jessica Rabbit appears on DD's nape. And yes, Kassity's offer was for sure taking over his subconscious.
Aquarelle then bolts for the desk, hiding behind it while creating an illusory mirror between the desk and the camera, just in case the camera could act against the other DD.
Andromeda's stomach roils as the shockwave of the explosion brushes past the rest of the world. This isn't a failure. The mission was... The mission was unclear. The problem is that the mission was unclear. If they fail to retrieve the package though, the mission might be a success."
She swallows the acrid burning, forces herself to unclench long enough to let her teammates go, and Looks.
Where's the trap?
Oh, beans, Sam's stomach seems to say, wanting to spew them out at the motions. For a moment, she considers following Phalanx, but is unsure if the parachute was made on the fly on not.
Better to stay here. Sam's burned fingers twitch, but then get back to typing.
"Several fires. Potential for mass injury. Are there more drones incoming?" the hacker pours over data, too much, so she asks Andromeda as well.
As the echo of the blast fades into the distance, the armored truck appears in Andromeda's estimation to be no longer driven with any sort of control! Archie sprints ahead, and working with Andromeda's telekinetic power and Statian's calculations the trio can arrest its forward momentum with only a slight crumpling of the vehicle's front grill.
Statian does not detect any more incoming drones for the moment.
Indarius takes the blast full-force, but his draconic toughness weathers the concussive waves well enough. As his vision clears and the truck is brought to a halt, he sees that the armored vehicle's back storage compartment has been ripped apart by the explosion! He can now see inside and whatever it was that needed such protection.
Indarius sees a dirty stuffed rabbit that he distinctly remembers. The toy is surrounded with magical runes that he recognizes are the kind to contain and block access to ley line aether, clearly ensuring that the spirit trapped within the bunny is not able to become the giant golem that menaced Rustside.
What do you do??
While Digits continues their trip, everyone's freed from the spell by the large desk blocking their view of the camera lens. Aquarelle, seeing how these scenes play out in movies, tags the real Devil Diva with a temporary tattoo in case there's a question of identity later.
The photographer's body tumbles over the desk, still holding the camera out like it's a gun! "I can only possess objects! Objects!" Max's voice screams like it's the greatest humiliation. She dive-tackles the Star, throwing one arm around her neck and bringing up the camera into Max's face!
"Time for your close-up!"
Either these replicas of the Alliance heroes are a far cry from their 1980 counterparts, or Chroknight is a true badass. After surviving their combo attacks, the Janus retaliates with a series of sped-up punches, kicks, dodges, and dashes, eliminating them one by one!
They shout into the subway station in elation after finally the shadowy bodyguards are no more! Only then do they realize the man in the hoodie had slipped away in the chaos.
Thankfully, the diorama remains in the same circle of arcane sigils. Only -- the figure of Ahk'nathal is missing from the set!
What do you do??
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Indarius groans and slowly uncurls from his position, the suit he had been given for the photo shoot definitively ruined. As he staggers to his feet trying to shake sound back into the world around him he notices the old familiar rabbit.
Stumbling towards the halted wreck he looks into the armored vehicle. he speaks far louder than he thinks the drumming in his head still hammering out most outside sound. Immediately he clutches his head regretting his choice to speak outloud.
"How'd you get here.... away from what was her name...La’Quesha?" As close as he can get he looks at the doll's glass eyes. "Don't worry...hnnng, I'll get you back, back safe."
He leans on the side of the vehicle in the entrance for a bit waiting for his head to clear up first. "Just gotta see straight Indy still half drags his wings, the entire time as they hang rather lax and partially numbed from being tossed around.
"Indarius. You're seeing a stuffed rabbit, correct?"
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Indy turns to look at Andromeda and nods wearily, "Yeah, but more importantly what's in the stuffed rabbit." His hands start feeling over his own body for potential breaks or missing scales finding himself rather fine other than the splitting headache.
"A spirit from the other side of the veil that I've encountered in Rustside. It belongs to a little girl, which makes me wonder why it's here. No reports of further incidents have been made to my knowledge, and it's safe so long as it's satisfied... or locked up like this. But this is no way to love."
He looks closer at the runes trying to decipher how to safely remove them.
"G-get away from me!" Max wails, feeling the pull of the soul-sucking camera. She struggles in her evil duplicate's grasp!
Sam's feet want to curl into the cement at of sheer relief when she stands out of that chair. The rabbit looks... cuddly. "I had one similar" she says out loud, the dead pan voice rising just a touch. A small shake of her head puts her mind back to rights though.
"Is there an acceptable location to take the receptacle once you have determined the best way to 'love'?" she seeks information, as she turns away from doll to check on the drivers.
Both for their health, and for their identities, using her tablet to take facial recognition. Searching for their employers.
She tries to look forward at the possible futures and find the one where she catches sight of the culprit, but it's so much to take it all at once and she can't find him. The devastation hits Chloe all at once.
She had ruined the store. And she had to get back and bring the diorama now worth less than half what she had paid for it without its centerpiece, and she wanted to vomit in her helmet.
Ans then she remembers Beebee and one point three seconds later Chroknight is there with the diorama in hand. "Please tell me you're not whammied and you saw where that bastard ran," they ask her as they focus on the razor thin hope of coming out on top.
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Andromeda wants to hurl Statian behind her, make sure the green girl's safe from anything lurking in the truck, but her sheath is still spasming and flexing, so the desire comes out first as words. "Why are you-" She's just doing what you should have been doing already. The rabbit's not important; it's just the weapon.
"You're... You're doing the right thing. Who are they?"
Sam peeks out from the truck, a mildly perplexed look on her face on how Andromeda was acting. Her matrix was no help either, so another shake of the head and she looks back at her tablet, while her threads spread out to start fixing parts of the ruined cab and its occupants.
"Quinn Quietly, they/them, parent of two girls, both in elementary, good grades, social media account shows excessive pictures, which is a security flaw" she pauses, swiping "And Chuck. No last name" a small frown about that "Legally changed, was Smith before. He/him, avid ping pong player and fan, based on texts, he wants to 'smash' his neighbor." a quick look up of the word makes the frown deepen.
Sam looks up briefly, signally she knows there is nothing of use there, then gets back to employment, but then stops again and looks up at Andromeda, looks to see that Inarius and Phalanx is in the back still.
[ooc]comfort or support, just able to use superior
"Your energy emanations are mathematically chaotic, which is abnormal." her voice lets out the tiniest waver, her fingers still tinged with angry red from the burns clench. "They are behaving within acceptable parameters, allowing..." a pause "... you to defeat and defend." Her matrix flares in hand waving frustration about how Sam said Thank you for saving my life. "Do you know the reason for the deviations in output?"
Frozen by the camera, Empyrean considers using a blinding flash of light to try to overwhelm it, but Devil Diva somehow manages to shut her eyes long enough to escape its gaze.
The angel folds her wings in over her face and a radiance shines out of her halo.
Digits blinks, as the mycelial network fades into the background and they return to the scene in front of them.
"Woah! That's straight from the netherrealm!! It's probably drawn to–maybe even created by–the darkest and most vile impulses in our minds.
"DD, maybe you can fight it by facing your own dark thoughts?"
Seeing the camera shoved in DD's face again, Digits adds, "Or I could try this!" And attempt so interject a portal in front of Devil Diva's face in order to redirect the camera toward the ceiling.
Andromeda notices Statian's hand for the first time. [i]It's not that bad; it would have been a lot worse if she'd just been hit. It's not that bad."[/b]
"I don't have control anymore. I was failing at my first purpose because I wasn't strong enough. Now that's the one way I won't fail."
Her voice stays level, but she has to slide her gaze off of Statian. "It's supposed to be irreproducible; that's what they say, at least, but for all I know they looked at the end result and never tried."
Sam blinks, never taking her eyes off Andromeda. Her threads pause their cleaning and fixing to turn and look as well, just for a second.
"Irreproducible is a mathematical impossibility. Most likely they were not intelligent enough to solve the issue so they abandoned it." the red head's tone holds a hint of scoff, and then goes back to her tablet.
Her threads goes back to their tasks "Lack of intelligence and the will to solve problems is not a problem either of us have."
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Statian determines that the two people in the drivers' compartment work for the Division of Containment / Transport of Recognized Objects of Concern.
Indarius tries to connect with the spirit within the bunny but doesn't get anything except the faint whispers of a childlike longing to play. The runes themselves are no threat to him or the object they contain. The toy can be picked up from its cradle without any response from the wards.
As Statian and Andromeda try to wrap their heads around the fact that a toy bunny was being transported by armored vehicle, Sam tries to offer Angelica support in her logical way.
While that's going on, the sound of mundane sirens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles grows louder and louder as they approach. Before they get there, however, a black SUV pulls up and a severe-looking woman in mirrored shades gets out. "Well done in protecting the Object. You can hand it over now." She snaps her fingers and one of the other agents appears from the back of the SUV with a large, heavy suitcase. He sets it on the hood and opens it, showing similar containment runes around a small compartment large enough for the stuffed bunny.
CLICK!!!
The camera goes off one more time, again shearing off a part of Max's essence and giving her the feeling that she's less in control of her own body!
Digits tries to lend an assist now that they know there's a being from this world's netherrealm here in this reality! They try to place a portal precisely between the camera and Devil Diva, but their unsteady aim ends up portaling both beings several stories beneath the one they're all standing on!
Devil Diva suddenly finds herself crashing into a cubical that is fortunately empty! The Violet entity scrambles to her feet, purple tail whipping back and forth violently "This is only prolonging the inevitable," she hisses as her hand moves up to advance the film. "Our sisters want us back, to be together again. Whole. Dr. Infinity can't stop it! I'm taking what's mine!"
She launches herself at Devil Diva! What do you do??
The powerful emotions of facing down the shadowy reflections of the Alliance of the Eighties pales in comparison to the fact that Chloe may have doomed her store. With the central villain stolen from the Cardclix diorama, its value was severely diminished.
Rushing topside to look for Beebee, Chroknight finds her best friend curled up in an alcove near the subway entrance.
She looks up at Chroknight, eyes bloodshot. "Huh? I'm not-- oh, no! I didn't see anything! I'm sorry! I tried to help, and I messed everything up again, didn't I?" She squeezes her eyes shut and puts her fists into her face. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
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Praetorian Parkway
Statian determines that the two people in the drivers' compartment work for the Division of Containment / Transport of Recognized Objects of Concern.
Indarius tries to connect with the spirit within the bunny but doesn't get anything except the faint whispers of a childlike longing to play. The runes themselves are no threat to him or the object they contain. The toy can be picked up from its cradle without any response from the wards.
As Statian and Andromeda try to wrap their heads around the fact that a toy bunny was being transported by armored vehicle, Sam tries to offer Angelica support in her logical way.
While that's going on, the sound of mundane sirens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles grows louder and louder as they approach. Before they get there, however, a black SUV pulls up and a severe-looking woman in mirrored shades gets out. "Well done in protecting the Object. You can hand it over now." She snaps her fingers and one of the other agents appears from the back of the SUV with a large, heavy suitcase. He sets it on the hood and opens it, showing similar containment runes around a small compartment large enough for the stuffed bunny.
Indarius turns around to see the suits and the briefcase. 'Like hell we will.'
Spreading himself over the rent open compartment he shakes his head. "Don't think that's how this is going to shake out. Rabbit's got a home and I intend to see it back there."
"Crap! C'mon Empyrean, let's jump through that portal before it closes."
Mindful of subway cameras, Chloe opens the helmet to look at her friend face to face. "You're the bravest, baddest bestie who has ever tried to protect me. I didn't take this seriously enough and you can see the cost of that. I might have ruined my dad's business because I leapt before looking into buying this stupid toy. I'd smash it if I didn't think there's a chance to figure out who this guy is and why they were desperate for a stupid game piece."
She sighs. "Now let's have you get back to the store while I go through the store's robbery procedures. Insurance might at least cover the ruined display case..."
A few minutes later, Chloe finishes calling the police at the store and waits for them to come by, while also texting the team on comms (Statian was dying? That sounded serious).
Chroknight: So some weird mage jacked up my favorite LGS and made off with an expensive game piece
Chroknight: Dude REALLY wanted it, enough to summon some shadow Alliance members
Chroknight: I figure there's more than money involved here if he was slinging spells
Chroknight: Got to go fight the Moth ninjas so can someone check up on this? Thanks!
Max grunts as she crashes into the cubicle. She rises unsteadily to her feet, feeling drained and afraid. She's all alone now.
Despite her predicament, she squares her shoulders and glares at her evil duplicate. "Finders keepers," she says before lunging forward, trying to wrest the camera away from the photographer!
Digits makes a dive for the misplaced portal and stumbles with a total lack of grace through the gap in space.
Digits crashes ungainfully into a row of computers at desks partitioned off in neat rows. They clear their disorientation just un time to see Devil Diva rip the camera away from her doppelganger!
The photographer falls back, the purple mist that surrounded him giving him the appearance of Devil Diva swirls off of him and surrounds the genuine article! The man writhes on the ground but otherwise appears unharmed.
Max, however, feels Violet's mind assault her very being! She has time to think that maybe she shouldn't have grabbed the camera, since it is now allowing Violet to directly attempt to possess her!
Empyrean and Aquarelle jump through the portal in time to watch Devil Diva struggle with an entity trying to take total control over her! Digits recognizes that the netherbeing could usurp total control over their teammate!
Beebee wipes her face and then gives Chloe a hug. "You're... you're a real hero." She composes herself after a couple unsuccessful tries and begins the walk back to Mortal Peril. "I'll see what I can do to help. Maybe... the band can help. I can't help with the super heroing, but I can organize a fundraiser like no one else in the class."
She offers Cloe a weak smile in goodbyes, then heads off to the nearest rail station to head home.
As Beebee sits in the rail car alone, she looks around furtively. Seeing no one in the car with her, she opens her jacket slightly and checks on the magic rod stashed secreted in its inner pocket. A slight glow shines before she zips up her jacket close.
Empyrean follows Digits' lead and rushes to aid her companion. She surges forward and extends her wings, then wraps them around Devil Diva.
"DeeDee, you are more than your shell! You are a wonderful being, gifted with free will. Nobody else can tell you what to do," the angel whispers to the devil.
"Identification is required before any official retrieval of suspicious cargo can be considered." Sam says as she jumps down from the truck, with an ungraceful thump, and moves next to the towering dragon. Her threads are fanned out making her look at least a little threatening.
She holds out her hand for the identification.
Phalanx observes his allies examining the stuffed rabbit. This was not his expertise, so he waited patiently for something to happen.
When the sleek black SUV's arrive he knows that nothing ever good arrives in unmarked black cars. He keeps his LMG in his hands.
"If the Dragon says the bunny stays with us, it stays with us." He says in a commanding tone from behind his blank mask.
The woman in shades looks impatient as she flashes an official-looking badge identifying her as A.E.G.I.S. Agent Mckenzie. She doesn't look cowed by the guns, dragon, or threads. "This isn't a negotiation. You heroes do your thing, we clean up. Now, please. Hand it over."
As she speaks, everyone's phones beep with messages from Chroknight. Agent Mckenzie gives a "hurry up" motion. "Sounds like you're needed elsewhere."
What do you do??
Knowing what brand of alphabet soup agency Agent McKenzie had a badge from did ratchet back Andromeda's response. A bit. "It's not a negotiation, you're right." Her words are simple and she holds her sheath tight. "Who sent the drones? Why do you want to do this before anyone else gets here?" A crack spiderwebs through the pavement at her feet. "Why do you already have a new containment unit for this bunny?"