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Indarius nodded, "Getting access to their CTC would be fantastic I don't think even Horizon had that." With the concerns and comments from Gui and Chro taken into account he offers.
"Sounds alot like when First class got together, before all this." He motions to himself, "Very much a backline player myself. But that means you've got plenty of space to observe and offer assistance to your team, and in turn they'll help keep you covered."
He hums deeps and sonorous in his throat, "But Chroknight makes a good point, we had a fairly big square off just the other day. First response training could go a long way, and we all need to know one another's skills. There are also some ground rules to set. The first and most important being this."
Indarius clears his throat and eyes Diva hoping she'd side with him.
"We are First Class. No one member of this team can carry the weight of Halcyon on their back. We work together, we celebrate together, we fight together. You have a problem with someone I expect you to bring it up to me as the senior-most member and I'll try to handle it, barring that we handle it at the next meeting. You have a problem with me, bring it up in team meetings and we deal with it. Regardless of how you may feel about one another I expect you all to put your grievances aside and focus on saving people when we're out on the field."
He levels his gaze across each member of the team sternly carrying the look of a creature that shouldn't be underestimated or ignored. "You all are First Class, if we do not work together, we do not work at all. Is that understood."
When Devil Diva arrives, Empyrean's halo flares up, suddenly becoming twice as bright, and short spike protrusions emerge like a crown of thorns. The angel's wings ruffle slightly and she folds her hands together, then just a few seconds later her corona subsides back to the soft, starry halo that it had before.
"Sir Yes Sir!" Archie snaps another firm salute. With a flick of his wrist he places a green camo army helmet on his head and begins to march out the door.
Eventually he stops and turns around sheepishly.
"Uh, are we going this way? I don't know where we're going."
”We stand together or we fall apart,” DD says, backing up Indarius.
Empyrean’s reaction to her presence doesn’t go unnoticed. Max looks at the angel warily. ”Uh, is that going to be a problem?”
"I... do not know," says Empyrean. "I do not know you. Spirit responds to spirit, but you are still choosing the nature of your soul, are you not?"
The angel spreads her hands, palm up, in a conciliatory fashion and says, "A devil may be a fallen angel, but what can fall can also rise."
"I don't know who you are, or for that matter, who I am. We will find out together."
Digits looks back and forth at the kids they've fallen in with, checking them out.
Fruubas warned me that Earth wouldn't be weird enough for me, but some of these kids seem like they've got potential.
Digit's curiosity is piqued when the Deathcaps come up.
Andromeda snorts. "I was on the other side of that fight, and all of you were just ambers and greens." She gestures vaguely to her eyes. "Means you could use work."
"Wait, what now? You fought on the side of the Deathcaps? What does that even mean?" Digits sounds more curious than concerned.
. . .
He levels his gaze across each member of the team sternly carrying the look of a creature that shouldn't be underestimated or ignored. "You all are First Class, if we do not work together, we do not work at all. Is that understood."
At Indy's words, Digits has an odd mix of feelings. Colliding in their head simultaneously are a the pleasant surprise of Hey, he included me in the team!, and What makes him think he gets to say if I'm part of this team?
Max gives Empyrean a tentative smile. ”Yeah, alright then. We’ll give each other the benefit of the doubt.”
Empyrean returns Max's smile with a genuine one of her own. "That is an offer of grace, and I am pleased by your generosity."
She makes a slight adjustment to turn at the comment by Digits. She tilts her head slightly with curiosity at the implication that Andromeda was one of the "bad guys."
"Merci. Je sais que cela n’est pas très héroïque, mais je dois être franc sur mes limites." He replies to Rendezvous. That wasn't a very nice feeling, though. Was he afraid? Probably. Just about anyone in the team could beat him one way or the other... even Digits, who looked like a normal guy still had a gun of some sort.
"Got it. Teamwork is everyting." He replies to Indarius. Indeed all rules seemed pretty reasonable.
But then Empyrean bristled her feathers. An angel and a devil on the same team. Except Max claimed not to be a devil at all, according to her interviews, but what about Empyrean? In the many passages of the bible, whenever an angel appeared it was because someone or some people needed saving... so how doomed was Earth again?
"Wait, Digits. Andromeda did not faight alongsaide de Deathcaps. De former First Class team did de faighting, but against dem. Devil Diva and Indarius were dair." He explains, then adds quickly to explain himself. "I, uh, saw an interview." Better not to mention the church going hard against her, not after Empyrean's reaction. But it did worry him a lot. Could Max be trusted? "Or do you mean alongsaide yesterday's aliens?"
Sam forced herself to stop imagining the state of the art danger room, about getting into its bits and bytes, to listen to their leader. Once again she struggled with speech patterns like this.
The nerd girl started to pull a hand out of her hoodie, to raise it and point out that the others cannot do her work and she cannot do others work, and if they cannot do it then they cannot do it together so no one could do anything.
The logic was clear and now she was confused.
Her matrix tumbled into a box that said they would think she was being a 'smartass' so she shouldn't ask. Which confused her more but she listened to her enhanced mind.
.
"Are we going to the Combat and Tactics Chamber?" she hoped.
Digits' confused look dissolves as Gui corrects their misunderstanding. "Oh, right, you were talking about yesterday.
"So you haven't faced the Sporocyte Rhizastrophe?" They nod to Andromeda, "But you two have?" Digits nods to DD and Indy. "And you helped actually drive them off of your world?" (Digits pauses for a second, wondering, 'Your world?' or should I say 'our?'...but just cuz this is where I was born, who knows how long I'll be around. Hey, the whole GALAXY is my world, right?? Still, I wonder...
"How did you manage it? Mostly when the Madcap meets the Sporocyte Rhizastrophe–or Trynxus, or the Geerthi Regency, for that matter–we hightail it further into space. Fighting the Deathcaps has always seemed like a good way to become fertilizer."
As the conversation continues, Nimbus steps back and consults a communications device on his forearm. He taps it several times, inputting several commands and shaking his head. "Come on..."
Half-Pipe glowers at the Heralds' leader. "Dude. You talk up the CaTCh and then you're locked out? So lame." He gets in close as Nimbus shows him the readouts on his wrist. They both start working on it, speaking softly to each other as they step further away from the group.
Rendezvous shrugs at Aquarelle. "You have ze powers you have. It is what you do with zhem zhat matters."
When Digits asks about the Deathcap, she looks serious. "We do not have ze luxury of running when it is in ze skies over Halcyon. Ze Alliance has fought it off several times"
"But it takes all the heroes in Halcyon to fight off its spores," Nimbus adds as he comes back to the group. "Well, I've got--" he cuts himself off as he gets a faraway look like he's hearing something. Half-Pipe and Rendezvous get the same look.
Nimbus sheds his self-conscious demeanor with a nod to his teammates. Then he turns to the new team and addresses them all. "I'm sorry, we just got word from Gothic, our telepath. The CaTCh is going to have to wait. Cinderblock has just shown up in Northside, and he's headed for the North-Central power grid! Tenfold's only got four of his dupes on scene. He needs immediate -- Yes Gothic, we're on our way!" He steps in close to Rendezvous and Half-Pipe.
"What?!?" the three say in unison, just as the teleporter was about to use her power.
Nimbus shakes his head in frustration. "This is not happening. Magmordius is attacking the Halcyon Memorial Bridge!" He thinks for only a moment before looking straight at Indarius and Devil Diva. "Normally, the Alliance would usually take Cinderblock and leave the magma menace to us. Now, we'll take on the granite golem. You get the lava monster. Rescuing civilians is paramount. You got that?"
The three Heralds each give the new heroes serious looks. "All right, no time to put this up for debate. Ren, send 'em."
In a dizzying flash, the new incarnation of First Class appears suddenly outside under the bright morning sun and beneath the looming double towers of the Memorial Bridge. A cacophony of honking horns assail the young heroes' ears as their eyes adjust to the glare. Getting their bearings from the abrupt teleport, they all see a jam of traffic as cars, trucks and even a school bus is trying to flee a fifty-foot glob of molten slag lumbering down the center of the bridge! Already several cars appear to be on fire as panicked people have opted to leave their vehicles and run on foot!
"Wait, lava monster? Hold on just-"
Chroknight's protest was suddenly cut off as the whole team found themselves out by the Memorial Bridge. Hundreds of cars all driving away from the blob of living lava that was terrorizing them. They look out silently for a heartbeat as they take in the scene.
"We have to help the people on foot escape!" Chroknight states, as Chloe concentrates within. Finding that tempo that she's constantly aware of in her body, and pushing it faster and faster. Faster than the tempo of the world around her.
First, double time. Two beats for every one. Then four beats to one. And... that was enough. Accelerating her time more than that was exceedingly scary to have everything around her going from just slow motion to close to standing still. Not to mention how exhausting overexterting herself could be.
Chroknight took off with that incredible speed towards the people on foot, side-stepping cars with relative ease even as they rushed to evacuate. They hoped that no one would get hit by the traffic.
Using impossible mobility and a seemingly supernatural way of knowing when they were about to encounter danger, Chroknight grabs onto a mother and daughter pair and rushes them to the end of the bridge, already turning to head back for more - and forgetting the fear they had been holding onto as they act to save lives.
Sam reaches into the cloth messenger bag strapped cross shoulder to hip and pulls out her goggles and ruggedized tablet. Immediately she starts attempting to create a prioritized list of people to save based on injury potential, helplessness, and 513 other factors. A projection of the bridge appears in front of her with the citizens that are at the top of the list flashing red for everyone to see. "Prioritization complete."
"How did you manage it? Mostly when the Madcap meets the Sporocyte Rhizastrophe–or Trynxus, or the Geerthi Regency, for that matter–we hightail it further into space. Fighting the Deathcaps has always seemed like a good way to become fertilizer."
Max frowns as she thinks back to the fight with the space fungus. "It wasn't easy. The Alliance and the Heralds drove off the bulk of the invasion while First Class protected the school and the museum. We had to deal with their tendrils, spores, and hallucinogenic gases, but we managed to persevere with teamwork and good strategy!"
***
Devil Diva nods solemnly when Nimbus tasks them with taking down Magmordius. "Right. Count on us!"
The sudden teleportation is less jarring for Max, as she's gotten used to Indarius's preferred method of travel. As they appear in the midst of the chaos, she taps a beacon device on her wrist. That will ensure that any Taylor International camera drones nearby will hone in on her location and start livestreaming the fight across all of DD's socials for her audience to see.
"Indy, you got this one, or you want me to take point?" she asks the draconoid mage.
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"How did you manage it? Mostly when the Madcap meets the Sporocyte Rhizastrophe–or Trynxus, or the Geerthi Regency, for that matter–we hightail it further into space. Fighting the Deathcaps has always seemed like a good way to become fertilizer."
Indarius nodded at what Rendevous had said, "Not all of us can fight in space, and there's a saying about not going gently into the night. It's about defying death and stuff about the human spirit. I did what I could to hold up a barrier on Hal prep while the others did a lot of the actual fighting."
When Nimbus gives them all a short brief Indarius nods and does a quick check over of his things.
"Comms open let's do this."
Indarius is used to teleportation so he reorients quickly to the situation his sharp senses picking up the screams of everyone and the groaning bridge.
He made a quick assessment of the situation and team and pointed to Diva.
"Diva take Chro and Phalanx get the civvies from this side. Empryean, Digits with me to the other side for the people over there. Andromeda, Aqua I need you to distract and divert big red!
Statian, we'll need optimized routes of evac and where Mag is most likely to strike, help where you can otherwise. Once we've got the bridge clear we hit it hard and fast!"
He splayed open his wings and got ready to move to the other side of Magmordius.
"First class! Move out!"
So much to hope for a safe and controlled practice environment. "Well, c'est la vie."
Aquarelle nods to Indarius. The plan was sound, even if he'd be the one in harm's way. Merde. Hero up Aquarelle! In a swift move he is putting his sweater on. Hero up. If he was to be pissing himself, he'd better have stayed home. He had illusions, the perfect tool for trickery and distraction so that was what he'd do.
A deep breath. The color of his clothes are drawn towards his skin, turning the clothes white while creating distinct patterns on his skin and bringing his colorful tattoos back.
Holding his cross in both hands, Aquarelle closes his eyes and looks into the sky.
Lord God, I need your help today. My courage and faith are weak, and I need your strength, Lord, for the courage to keep fighting, keep trusting You even when my eyes cannot see. Strengthen my faith in You and forgive my weakness. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Another deep breath, then he turns to Andromeda. "You got my back, right? So let's go!" His eyes are way calmer now. He even smiles.
"Aye Aye Cap'n." Phalanx barks at Indarius, then spurs into action by crafting a red emergency flare and lights it. He waves it over his head and soon spins a megaphone in between his fingers.
The megaphone clicks on, "EVERYONE, OVER HERE. FOLLOW MY VOICE, WE'LL LEAD YOU TO SAFETY."
Phalanx looks around the wreckage while talking into the megaphone to try and see if anyone is trapped.
Digits blinks at the massive lava creature. "That thing is bigger than a Genkorian Flugglepod. But you know what they say? The bigger they are, the more likely to fall into a gravity well!"
When Indy announces a plan, they smile. "On it!"
Digits pulls a small mushroom out of their sporebelt, pops it in their mouth, and closes their eyes: dipping into the sub-ether rhizosphere, hoping to glance the unseen here and discover an insight that could help them save the most earthlings.
Devil Diva nods to Indarius. ”Copy, jefe. Chroknight, Phalanx. Let’s rock!”
Her red sweater and black pants ripple and flow over her body like a living organism, reshaping into her all-new, all-different superhero costume! The red and black bodysuit covers much of her skin while still hugging her curves, and her muscular arms remain bare.
Max flexes, grins, and then leaps into the fray!
Andromeda gives Aquarelle a small half-smile. "Sure thing, just stay behind me, okay?"
With that she flings her arms down at the ground and pulls them forward to rocket herself towards Magmordius in a coruscating sphere of energy.
She drops one fist to her side and the bubble slams to the ground in front of the lava golem, with little grace and less subtlety she smashes a column of force clean through Magmordius's center, her brittle hand mimicking her work in the air before her.
As the team of heroes take stock of their situation, they see a towering shape of glowing-hot magma stomping down the center of the Halcyon Memorial Bridge causing a mass of panicked civilians running their direction! The lava monster opens a fissure-like mouth and bellows an earthquake-like rumble of a roar as it takes another molten step and swings its arm-like appendages in a rampage!
Before the more experienced members of the team can even shout an order, Chroknight starts warping time to speedily escort the most vulnerable pedestrians to the front of the mass exodus!
Indarius assumes the leader's role and starts issuing orders, focusing primarily on getting the civilians to safety as they abandon their vehicles because of the traffic snarl and run away from the volcanic menace! Devil Diva taps the device to call the real-time cameras to broadcast her actions for her adoring fans as she prepares to throw down with this creature from the caldera. Unfortunately, after a couple taps she realizes that the Taylor cameras are not responding. Must be some kind of interference. Fortunately, she keeps a couple emergency camera drones on hand for emergency broadcasts.
Statian immediately begins analyzing the scene for the object or person in the most danger. Her initial expectations that she would find a person in dire need are quickly replaced by the urgent analysis concluding that the semi truck hauling a full tanker of premium gasoline currently in the path of Magmordius is the object in the most danger which would pose the most catastrophic results!
Phalanx's sudden bullhorn and urgent orders turn the blind panic of the citizens into a far more orderly retreat from the magma menace. Aquarelle brings up his illusion to protect his identity as he gets ready to help Andromeda against Magmordius itself.
Digits, contrary to orders, pops a mushroom to expand their mind instead of guiding the people to safety. Suddenly seeing things that weren't there and missing out the things that are going on around them, they space out for a number or crucial moments!
Andromeda wastes no time in pitting herself against the giant monster at the other side of the bridge. Opting to forego defense for a strong offense, her powerful telekinetic force fields surround her as she barrels straight at Magmordius! The shimmering corona of heat slides off the Bull's shields leaving her unscathed even as she drives a massive impact into center mass! The lava monster falls back a step, and its misshapen appendage flails about as it tries to keep its balance! It finds one of the Memorial Bridge's support cables that it grabs onto to stabilize itself, even though in mere moments the heavy steel cable melts from contact with the molten monster! The cable snaps, sending the entire bridge shuddering, causing Magmordius to slump up against one of the Memorial Bridge's high towers and pitching the fleeing civilians off their feet!
As the bridge sways in a jarring motion, an oversized pickup truck with an RV trailer crashes against the railing! The trailer's wheels buckle under the impact upon the guardrail and it pitches over the side, being held on barely by the hitch on the pickup! Worse, screaming issues forth from the camper as the dangling trailer is clearly occupied!
Magmordius straightens itself as it gets used to the twisted and sagging bridge, its magma dripping from it and shimmering waves of heat radiating from its glowing red exterior, causing the thankfully empty cars all around it to explode under the intense heat as Magmordius burns down the world around it!
As Andromeda tries to work her way out from ground zero of the magma monster's destruction for another run, she hears a disconcerting series of pops and hisses from deep within Magmordius. The noise bubbles and swells until Magmordius stops dead in its tracks and then pitches what's presumably its head back and opens a black fissure where its mouth would be. A massive plume of black smoke issues forth as Magmordius belches out a cloud of soot and ash!
The cloud spreads across the bridge, first engulfing Andromeda and then Aquarelle! The roiling cloud of burning ash continues to spread towards the rest of the team!
What do you do?
Seeing this massive rolling cloud of soot and ash Archie momentarily pauses and drops his megaphone, mouth agape under his mask.
shit, shit, shit.
"Ok, keep it together, I need to show them what I'm really capable of."
Archie assumes a wider stance and three duplicates, perfect copies of Phalanx step out from behind the real ones back. One of them picks up the megaphone and begins to bark, "FOLLOW MY VOICE. FOLLOW MY VOICE." Repeating endlessly. Then three more dupes step out from behind Phalanx armed, with leafblowers.
The dupes form a line seven men strong and all start up with a synchronized whirr, driving back portions of the rolling cloud.
"Uhm... dis does not look neidair distracting nor daiverting..." He was about to create some illusory drones around the monster to properly distract it when Andromeda decided to slam it. He doesn't bother to actually do it.
And then there was the ash cloud. "Just stay behind you?" Merde! Illusions can't deal with this kind of stuff!
What to do? What to do? He turns around and starts to run away, but a quick look behind is enough to show the cloud will reach him in seconds. The railing was close but would he survive the fall? Merde! Merde! Would he choke? He tries to pull his sweater up to cover his mouth, but that is nothing but a desperate move and... there! A car with an opened door. He dives it, grabbing the handle and closing the door just in time! Just in time to get stuck, blinded and helpless.
Everything that was happening occurred four times slower around Chroknight than the others. Which gave Chloe an interesting way to look at how her teammates were working at this problem. She would have extra time to plan.
What the f@!% do I do?!
She had to do something - people were in the way and in danger. Accelerate further? Chroknight could do that, but she didn't think it was necessary to overtax her powers just yet. She needed to focus on what they could do.
That truck and RV was in danger of going over the edge. But they made a quick stop next to Devil Diva (was she seriously messing with drones right now?!) "rvgoingovergottograbitseveralotherstherethereandtherehurryhelp" They managed to say without breaking tempo before rushing over to the crisis.
The trailer is still hitched, so thankfully the truck is keeping it in place. But it would eventually fall, and clearly there was screaming coming from inside. Chloe was grateful that her powers had the secondary effect of reducing natural forces around them, including friction and gravity so they didn't accidentally yank out people's joints when grabbing them. But also enough to be able to grab the trailer and start to work against gravity to try and pull it up enough to get them out of the deathtrap.
Empyrean takes wing but only for a moment, as she comes down in front of the fleeing civilians and Aquarelle, too. She goes down on one knee to get a lower center of balance and more traction with the listing bridge and then starts beating her wings hard, straight forward instead of down, generating a great flurry of wind at the oncoming ash cloud.
DD ensures the backup drones are deployed so that her audience can watch her in action. With her attention diverted, she doesn't see the trailer until Chroknight alerts her to the danger. "I've got them! Devil Diva to the rescue!"
The devilish girl races over to the where the trailer is dangling over the edge of the overpass. She grabs a hold of the pickup truck it is attached to. Her muscles strain as she pulls back with all of her inhuman might to tug the trailer back onto the road!
All the data pours into the teams technical support, her green eyes darting across dozens of specialized feeds both on her tablet and goggles. The largest loss of life, even greater than the ash cloud and the falling RV, is the cylindrical chemical potential explosive. The semi truck's model is too old for self driving, the drones around them are too weak for pulling, so she does her least favorite thing.
Talk
"Indarius" her statistical analysis determined he is the most likely able to handle the situation. "The truck here" her projected minimap flares the vehicle, and the truck in question suddenly starts flashing its lights rhythmically "If any incendiary goes off near it, the structural integrity of the bridge will degrade by 92.34 percent, leading to its collapse the potential termination of all remaining citizens."
She simply assumes that with that data he will act so she adds "What actions can I perform to help you take care of the vehicle?"
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Indarius tries to take a moment to focus his power, but the energies here are in flux and chaotic. He watches as Andromeda throws herself directly into the fray "I said Diver-Hnng" He grabs at his head as the arcane energies surge again. The team already looks so scattered, then the bridge lurches and ash billows from Magmordius making the already desperate situation more hopeless.
Then Statian got back with a report to him, not what he'd hoped to hear but it was going to make things way worse if it wasn't dealt with immediately. With Diva headed off to protect the RV that left him or Andromeda with enough strength to actually deal with getting the truck out of here quickly. Digits could warp it out probably but, they were spacing out in the middle of the conflict after eating something.
Was this how Shin felt with us maybe i'm not cut out to lead... Stop that just act
He turned towards Statian, "Can you scan for a place off the bridge safe for the tanker i'm going to move it." He began running to the fuel-truck.
"I'm going to get the fuel truck off the bridge. Devil Diva's got command while i'm gone, but keep the civilians safe. Keep trying to clear the ash, we can't afford to lose track of people in this."
As Indy nears the tanker he realized he'd need bigger hands to carry something that big. Flying into the air he transformed into his true form, a nearly twelve foot long Silver dragon. Any pretenses of passing humanity dropping in favor of the expanded body mass, wing-span, and strength. He wrapped his arms around the tanker and made to move it away from the battlefield.
Andromeda shrugs, a bit surprised. "Most things are pretty distracted when I hit them."
Something heavier would've been easier to move, but an ash cloud was all this tiny particulate that would have needed to be moved piece by piece, or all in one gentle burst.
Andromeda couldn't do either of those things anymore.
She takes a deep breath and slams the air around her out of her bubble. It wouldn't solve the problem for anyone else , but it would get her some non-breathing room tow work.
The monster was pleasingly, temptingly red, but no one liked her distraction, so that meant it was time to save people, and Gui had been nice, so...
She picks up the car he was hiding in, hoists it out of the ash cloud, shakes him off onto a nearby rooftop, and deposits the car and its shrieking alarm back on the pavement.
The car moves. Who did that? Aquarelle reaches for the seatbelts but stops. Should he buckle up? Where are the windshield wipers? There. Great idea, it wipes ash into more ash and thanks to the washer spray it was ash mud now. The alarms go off and he honks a couple times. Long ones, short ones. Morse code! How does it work? Oh God, is he flying or being tossed? You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Oh right, the comms! "I am trapped insaide e car! And it is moving! Please, please, tell me some of you is doing it!" The monster was made of lava, right? If it was it holding the car, would it not melt? Not if it tossed it. He wasn't spinning though. He opens the door, thinking about jumping as soon as possible... but he was just too high so he slams the door shut. High? Likely not being tossed then, so the door is opened again. Grabbing the wheel, he looks outside until he sees Andromeda.
"Are you literally trying to give me a hertattack?" As she shakes him into the rooftop, he jumps, trying to save a smidge of face. He tries to clean the ash from his whites clothes, fails, rolls his eyes and then just illusion the stains away.
"Now, how about we try someting more subtle?" He asks. "You have shown it you can hurt it, now could you and your sisters try to lead it away from de bridge?" From a nearby door, two more Andromedas appear, basically identical to her.
The Halcyon Memorial Bridge shudders and sways under the super-powered action upon its surface and within its struts. The magma monster's bellowing roars echo across the water all the way to the Halcyon skyline.
The wave of ash and cinders blasts across the trembling roadways, coating the cars and trucks with a thick layer of soot. The heroes of First Class fight to hold the cloud at bay and to guide the fleeing citizens. Phalanx demonstrates his name by duplicating himself and hitting the cloud with leaf blowers, while Empyrean uses her own angelic wings to beat back the encroaching ash.
Then, the choking cloud is upon them. Their efforts push back the worst of the ash, though the area around them becomes murky and gray-red as the particulates block the sun's light. But through the haze they can also see the red-hot giant that is Magmordius continuing its rampage! The fleeing citizens flock into the area created by Phalanx and Empyrean -- many falling to their knees before the angelic being, crying to her for salvation! They seem to cling to her, not wanting her to leave them!
With an urgent provoke from Statian, Indarius grows into his full size to attempt to lift the tanker off the ground! With a groan he begins to put his wings into it, but the fully-laden tanker is larger than anything he's tried to lift with his own strength!
Meanwhile, the dangling RV draws the attention of Devil Diva and Chroknight, or more specifically the sounds of terror coming from inside it! The time-bender slows events enough that they can watch in slow motion the trailer hitch start to bend downward as the weight of the camper pulls on it! But then the demon girl grabs ahold of the truck and hauls it and the trailer back securely on the bridge!
As Chroknight rushes to the door to extract the terrified kids, one of the powerful cables bearing the weight of the bridge snaps off from the slagged tower that was half-melted when Andromeda slammed Magmordius into it. Its tension suddenly relieved, it recoils like a giant's whip and scythes across the bridge, slamming into Devil Diva and sending her plummeting into the water!
Deep inside the ash cloud, Andromeda and Aquarelle find their way through and end up at Magmordius's globular feet and at the base of the ruined tower straining under the weight of the animate volcano! Heavy anchoring wires snap with a shearing metallic sound as loud as thunder! The heat of the creature is melting the tar and asphalt road into a hot and sticky morass!
Aquarelle tries distracting the lava monster with illusory copies of Andromeda, and the rampaging force of nature takes several swipes at them futilely. Now close enough to see past the obscuring heat shimmer, illusionist sees several cracks in the red-hot crust of rock protecting the lava monster, with a glowing molten substance within. Unfortunately, there are still hundreds of feet of bridge on the opposite side of Magmordius, and apparently an operator on the far side has begun raising that side of the bridge as the lip is slowly starting to rise!
As Magmorduis fights ineffectually against the decoy Andromedas, the magma monster shudders once more, but instead of exhaling a cloud of smoke, its top erupts and big globs of lava burst forth and fly in a high arc, coming back down and landing on the road with heavy thuds. Then, the person-sized blobs of lava sprout arms and legs of their own and begin their own miniature rampages!
Chroknight, Phalanx, Empyrean, Statian, and Indarius, you see a mob of miniature magma monsters rushing your way, looking to burn anything in their path!
Your mind expands and colors swim as you space out under the effects of the mushroom you just ate. After a while, you realize you can see through Magmordius! Inside the big blob of fiery rock are just filaments and spores, dancing to a consciousness that's outside perception, watching all your actions! The bridge, too, and the cloud of ash, are part of the program, observing and judging and taking notes with little glass screens.
Digit's trip ends and they stand there, blinking, as multiple magmites come running at them!
What do you do??
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Indarius struggles with the Tanker for a bit but it begins to lift ever so slowly. He watches as the tiny magma creatures fumble across the bridge towards the team and closer to the tank. Devil Diva is sent skyrocketing off the bridge to the cold waters below.
"Diva!" He roars out in a panic but focus's on his task, she's tough right?
"Need just a little more push to get this thing out of here, anyone able to give a little help, Stat?"
Indarius thinks to himself. Damnit, if only I was bigger, older... a little more like Drake's size, or how I was in the- He shakes his head drowning those thoughts out. I can do this now! He wasn't sure if it was that final resolve in his mind pushing him even further but the tanker felt much lighter. He looked up to see Andromeda turning to face him, Good shes helping time to get this away somewhere safe His wings beat tirelessly as he frantically searched for a place to put the truck down away from the big and small Magma gremlins.
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Seeing Devil Diva get hit by that cable was shocking enough to disrupt Chroknight's tempo and pull them back in sync with everything else. Though it seemed like she hadn't been eviscerated by it. Wow, she was tough.
"Kids, run to the end of the bridge fast as you can! Move it and don't stop until you find a firefighter!" Chroknight tells the children from the trailer. They would run them out, but the sudden arrival of these magma goons makes Chloe realize she has to start going on the offensive.
"All right, then. Whatever weird future tech this armor is made from, I really hope it's magma proof. Tempo up!"
Jumping to an 8 to 1 ratio, her time slowed down while externally Chroknight blitzed forward to kick the first magmin as hard as possible (They weren't human or probably conscious so it was all right?)
Seeing it start to fly off the bridge, Chloe had to take 0.125 seconds to marvel at how absurd her life has gotten. Then Chroknight set out to start yeeting these little monsters into the sea one after the other.
Phalanx stares at the magma men, What. The. Hell. He steps forward to start forming 6 riot shields for his dupes, he grunts with exertion. Forming this many objects is starting to wear on him. But he needs to push forward.
His dupes drop the leaf blowers and grab the shields, they move to intercept the magma men. He knows they won't stop them, he just needs a little time. Phalanx steps back several paces and begins crafting pieces, a large steel barrel, a fore grip, a tripod, and many more seemingly random parts.
Sweat drips from his brows as the overwhelming heat cascades over the bridge. A few short moments later and Phalanx lays flat in the ground, prone. Eyes focused down the scope of his new anti tank rifle. He loads six round into the rifle, takes aim and pulls the trigger.
The massive round deletes the top half of the minion, he swivels around towards another target and begins firing at will, taking out as many as possible.
In a show of trust for her teammates, Empyrean raises her wings and spreads her arms to draw the fleeing people toward her. "This way! she says. "Help each other to the other end of the bridge! Let's go! We can do this together!" She brings her wings to the sides and out, spread to their full wingspan, as if to shield the fleeing people from debris and harm. With gentle touches she prompts people to head for the far end of the bridge as fast as they can.
Calling out to the team she says, "Not all bystanders have cleared the bridge, we need to keep it intact until everyone is off, and contain damage so that people are able to escape!"
The ash cloud was far more troubling than he could have imagined, for Aquarelle could swear he was safe on top of a rooftop. Oh, how he was wrong, now far closer to the enemy than he had ever feared. Andromeda was certainly equally confused as she leaves him there, totally vulnerable. God works in mysterious ways and who was he to question Him.
With Magmordius confused and properly distracted, Aquarelle takes the opportunity to hide from the monster, doing his best to avoid the quickly melting road. Noticing the cracks in the monster's rock exterior, he reaches for the comms.
"I have seen cracks in Magmordius' rocky shell. Dair is someting shining insaide, laike hot lava. Do you guys tink dis maight be e weakness of some sort?" Then a pause. "And, uh, it is getting very hot here."
Why was he here again, in the thick of things? What is the point? "Uh, Statian? What is de point? I mean, why is Magmordius here? Just for destrucsion and chaos? If we could know..."
He must be tripping somehow. Was the ash again? That wasn't the time for philosophical questions anyway. It was time to think and act based on what he got. Be smart like Statian.
"Need just a little more push to get this thing out of here, anyone able to give a little help, Stat?"
"Why are you asking the priss to lift something heavy? This is big; I can do big."
It's not quite gentle, but what Andromeda boasted is true; the tanker is large enough for her to grip it without crushing, and Percy's handling some of the balance already.
"Indarius, Coordinates 40.7128, -73.935242, is the greatest balance of safe and accessible in the closest vicinity for your cargo." she pauses briefly to consider he might not have long lats memorized "North, past our entry point, and open area near the pink ice cream truck with a Lickable Treats sign." a feed in her tablet, brought up by monitoring conversation, shows her that it was in fact NOT an ice cream truck.
Her sudden pause brought a flush to her cheeks, she didn't quite understand.
Aquarelle's question brought her back "Why?" the question is the worst of all the questions for a person like her, at least when it comes to people. Why on normal everyday things are a mystery to her. "Statistically a rampage with no obvious profit in sight is due to rage or depression." she offers, not knowing what else she can offer.
Her feeds are pulling up everything they can on the villain.
Meanwhile, her threads have multiplied, twisted together into stronger thicker cords, then surged to fling her (and them) into the air. They shot down when she reached the edge of the cloud, taking the brunt of the fall, easing her feet gently down to the pavement.
All while she is working on her tablet.
Spraying out like demented peacock feathers their mini vacuums activate attempting to clear the cloud to allow the citizens huddled around
Empyrean a tunnel to escape.
"Woaah!"
Digits opens their eyes, and finds they see everything differently: colorful gossamer threads connecting the monster to...something nearby. "Magmordius is just being controlled by someone or something very nearby. They're watching all of this. I think if we can find and stop them, we may end the show."
Belatedly noticing that there are several magmites running toward them, Digits shoots a portal up onto the side of the bridge, facing the water, then–as the magmites close on them, they open new portals under the feet of the charging magmits, sending them tumbling though...and the out the side of the bridge to fall into the water.
The sporadic flames from the burning cars ignited by the lava monster's shimmering corona threaten to reach the fuel tanker truck, but through a combination of Indarius's draconic wings and Andromeda's telekinetic might, the highly combustible fuel is air-lifted to a much safer location!
Meanwhile, the last of the citizens are guided through the remnants of the ash cloud. Empyrean is the very embodiment of salvation, her glowing halo drawing the still-frightened bystanders toward her. Statian's suit gives them a short path of clear air, which they use to reach the more stable section of bridge to safety!
While she's doing that, her feed calls up the other recorded incidents of Magmordius the Magma Menace. In all other times, he appeared crawling out of mysterious sinkholes that temporarily led to the Underearth realm far below the Earth's crust! It's never seemed to go near bodies of water before, instead rampaging and causing plenty of destruction on land!
The miniature lava beings' rampage are cut short by the efforts of Phalanx, and even though his duplicates' riot shields melt in their arms, the magmites are corralled easily enough that Chroknight and Digits are able to effortlessly toss them into the drink with a combination of tempo manipulation and a portal gun! And any magmite that gets too close ends up getting blasted into slag by an anti-tank rifle!
Aquarelle, uncomfortably close to Magmordius itself, tries to figure out the best way to put a stop to the magma menace. Does any teammate have cold powers? That would help immensely, but barring that the only other cooling substance nearby is the water. But getting enough water up to the top of the bridge would require a giant pump... or a portal gun?
Digits, blasting away at the magmites as an afterthought, puts his mind toward the dilemma itself. He considers his visions and realizes that if "glass screens" means computers, the computational prowess of Statian might be able to hack whatever it is that's going on and learn who is behind this!
With the citizens to safety and the fuel tanker relocated, the magmites dealt with and Magmordius no longer distracted by the illusions, the new First Class squares off with the lava monster! It turns from its random rampage and faces the young heroes, its dark craters where its eyes should be finally seeing them! It seems to grow darker for a moment as it charges up, then it bellows a deafening roar like an avalanche!
What do you do??
Even with her time dilated to an eighth, the reverb from the roar shook Chloe inside of Chroknight's armor. She wasn't sure what to make of it as it stood and stared down at them. This was not something she could just throw off of the bridge.
Something about her powers at least helped her avoid the snafu with communication, as she got the gist of what Statian and Digits were saying. Someone else was controlling this thing (how had it gotten into the middle of a bridge in the first place?) and so she stopped trying to fight for the moment and took the time instead to focus her senses.
Temporal shades left her position and zipped out around the bridge, searching everywhere that Chroknight could reach, from the underside and the piers to the top of the bridge towers. Surely the controller had to be somewhere close by. Chroknight just needed to find them.
No, wait-
Crisp air, her breathing visible in front of her, leaning over to look down at the river-
stopit-
-weightless, suspended as she stares up at the bridge growing smaller-
-notthismomentagain-
-a crack in space falling with her, something flying out inside of her and she's no longer herself-
"H-h-h-he-e-elp m-m-me st-sta-stay i-in-n th-thi-this m-mo-mom-men-ent," Chroknight pleads to their allies as they feel themselves slipping out of sync with the present. "N-nee-ed a f-fo-ocu-us."
Aquarelle instinctively hides behind a car and covers his ears, but even so he flinches, praying for it to end fast. Perhaps if he could move further away? Well, that was a sound plan no matter what.
Weaving through the cars, Aquarelle stops abruptly as he sees Chroknight kneeling, their hands on their head. What was going on? He looks around, trying to understand what was happening, but dreadful feelings creep inside his mind. Was them in pain? The mask would not let him know and with his ears covered...
He uncovers them. Chroknight's scream was nothing but a whisper compared to the mighty roar of the elemental, but he could understand at least one word: help.
But how? He steps forward, looking around. Why were they in pain? Another step and he was almost on top of them. How could he help if he did not know what was going on?
Aquarelle kneels besides them, touches their shoulder, as if in doubt, but then he just hugs them as hard as he can, trying to make them better, almost as if he wanted to convince himself everything was going to be ok. Because... It was. He was not alone. None of them were. He was with them, for He loved them as they were doing His work.
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Indarius set the tanker down and takes a few moments to catch his breath, he'd explain to Andromeda later but for now they needed to focus. Seeing the bridge cleared up he barks an order through the communicator. "Bridge is clear I repeat bridge is clear time to kno-"
The behemoth bellowed so loudly that it rattled his horns and brain even from this distance.
His eyes darted to Chroknight and how they were briefly wobbling in and out of synchronicity with the current timeline, pushing too far. And he couldn't help really. Indarius took a deep breath much larger than a creature of his size should be capable of. Jumping into the air, his wings pounded sending the remnant sooty ash splitting to the edges of the bridge as he flew directly towards Magmordius, the walking volcano's eruptive roar shaking his very bones. The others would be eclipsed by his shadow for only moments before he was upon the villain.
With a sweeping blast of freezing draconic breath the cars near Magmordius were covered in a deep layer of ice, then the pavement, then sweeping up the walking volcano an unnatural chill seeping over the entire monstrosity. As Indarius peeled upwards trying to encase the entire creature. He hovered once his passing strafe was complete. He was tired after the truck, that hard breath, and he was honestly shaking in his own scales that maybe he didn't have what it took to lead a team. After giving Shin so much flak about it, but he had to look strong for them in this moment so they would rally to even greater heights.
"Regroup, get ready to hit em hard!"
With the people gone, Sam feels free to concentrate on a new goal. The reason, which the one named Digits provided a crucial piece of information about. Though she is unsure how he gleaned it from eating a mushroom, the biologics of the act eludes her at the moment.
"Monitoring..." she considers, starting to call up all wireless signals in the area, several hundred, her fingers fly on her tablet to filter. Her entire focus on the possibility. Thankfully her threads sense the oncoming sound wave and plug her ears. Her tablet is blown against her chest, making her clasp and hold instead of work.
Empyrean finishes guiding her small group of terrified people toward the far end of the bridge and hears the call for help. She pivots and brings her arms and wings forward, and a beam of cylindrical golden light emanates out—not like a narrow laser, but more like a searchlight—in Chroknight's direction.
"Orient yourself toward the light," she calls over the comms, her voice seeming painfully slow to Chroknight's time-shifted senses.
"So the tin can he touches," Andromeda gripes. Her words scarcely carry within the bubble, vibrating only within that exhalation.
Turning away, she watches the dragon flicker from amber to red, but that doesn't mean he can actually take a hit. He's fighting like he can, but he might just be stupid. Oh. Space now.
A great curtain wall of force shears up through the sky in front of Percy as he retreats, cutting him off from Magmordius's wrathful retaliation.
Phalanx startles up, dropping his gun, it dissolves into air. He takes a wobbly step back and fashions himself a pair of noise cancelling headphones, he slips them on and looks around.
He notices the Frenchman and bird-lady looking hurt or something, he fashions two more noise cancelling headphones and slides them over to the two.
Archie slides his hand into his pocket and presses a button on his phone and Wild In The Streets by The Circle Jerks begins blasting in his headphones, including the other two pairs.
Now armed with a soundtrack, Phalanx begins his best to recall exactly what went into a fire hose pump. He thinks back to a field trip he took like two years ago to the local fire station. He cracks his knuckles to ready himself and begins pulling pieces of a hose from nowhere.
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"Statian! There's someone watching. With computers, I think. Can you hack the--"and then the monster opens its mouth again and the blast rolls over them.
Digits looks up: There's Indy and Andromeda, still fighting through this barrage. And Empyrean and Gui, helping the others. These Earthlings are willing to risk so much. Should I?
––but the memory returns of all the hard lessons Digits has learned aboard the Madcap, outrunning the raging wars: No. Smart move is always to stay safe. Look for a chance to strike, or else flee.
––and in that moment, they cover their ears and grind their teeth, as the wall of sound almost knocks them onto their back.
I'll get my chance...