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With news that Aquarelle had jumped into the breach, Samantha consults the readouts of the probes she had earlier sent into the rift. Before she can locate Gui, the shapes she had previously seen as drifting curiously near the tunnel catch her attention, but more interestingly, they seem to turn their attention to her!
Eyeless, soulless, but still predatory and aware, an entity that reminds Samantha of a nightmarish angler fish from the lightless depths of the ocean dangles a fascinating orb into your mind! Despite the inherent danger, the quantum entanglement that de-aged Samantha and twisted her own timeline is drawn towards the siren's lure!
Meanwhile, Indarius defies Drake's seductive call to a greedy and selfish life once again. Calling out to the Finals, he challenges their mercenary attitudes. Each of them pause as his words hit them hard. Ne'veah, specifically, nods her feline head. Currently incapable of speech, she still growls an affirmative and holds her position.
"This is no place you want to be," Ava says softly in Jessie's ear and pulls her into the emergency stairwell, shutting the door behind her.
"...For Christ's sake, let's just get this over with now."
The tense scene finally escalates into violence when Chroknight kicks Drake towards the breach! The well-dressed man goes flying backwards, his shades spinning off his head! There's a flash when he hits the tear in reality and he disappears!
Andromeda had nearly gotten through to Xaiara, maybe even to Liam, reminding her of the experiments she was an unwilling participant in back when she was consumed by the Red. But before she could make up her mind, Drake is kicked through the very breach that would send Xaiara back to the timeline she apparently prefers!
Xaiara's wings flare out, looking ready to send her into motion. She meets Andromeda's eyes, looking for permission to fly into the breach after Drake.
Before Chroknight can feel any sort of satisfaction from sending Drake into the very breach he helped create through funding and manipulation, they're flung upwards to crash into the ceiling and then rebounding back to the ground! Then they fall sideways as gravity warps wildly around them and they slam into the far wall! The (stupidly handsome) man called Zero-G shakes his head at them. "That was a mistake." He clenches his fist and suddenly gravity increases tenfold around them, pinning them to the floor and sending ceiling tiles crashing down!
As an all-out brawl seems imminent, Cortex cracks his knuckles with a smirk.
"Who are de Defenders?"
Shayera gestures to herself, Matrix, the armored figure, and the other figures in the park. "You're looking at them."
She looks at Bronwyn with a big smile. "You know it. Hopefully there's no more surprises that Cortex left in my head. Anyway, don't think. Don't make plans in advance. Improvise, all right? Let's go."
She clasps hands with Bron and Gui, and together they jump into the breach.
And see a giant red dragon blocking their way.
"Aquarelle, is that, umm, Indarius? Or a different dragon."
Andromeda's fear eases as Ava gets Jessie out of there, but still within the potential ground zero the list of targets was still Unacceptable. But then what was?
Small, careful swings could be mistargeted; large blasts could only be mistargeted. With Cortex here she couldn't fight; she couldn't plan.
She could only trust.
Andromeda meets Xaiara's eyes, nods. Then she looks over towards Liam. "If I go in there, I could break it. Keep her safe, bring her back, don't let him take her again."
There is a chocked sob from the red head as violence erupts around the room, lost in all that is going on. Sweat beads, hands shake, she turns to find the one that knows those... Things... the best. And they are being attacked. Turning back closes her eyes, turns off the monitor showing her drone footage, then opens them again with a relieved sigh.
Her fingers flies, then a small turret flips up from the top of a steel box next to the doomsday device. It focuses on Zero-G, then fires. Once, twice, twenty seven times a second, no blood, since these are non-lethal mini-beanbags, a horrid stinging hits all close, as each bag hitting him sends up a small Poof of irritants for eyes and nose.
Hoping this distracts the gravity user enough, she looks to Chroknight, fear evident in her face "THEY noticed me." she yelled across the room, as she pulls down her goggles.
"Gnnnnrrr-arrrgh!" Chroknight shouts in frustration as they fight against the gravity. If they had more leverage. Slowing down time around them wasn't lessening the gravity impact on their body. Which made some really messed up sense. "Indarius, you dumb lizard! Stop gawking and go fight your nemesis!" They shout as they muscle their way up inch by inch.
Zero-G was bombarded with multiple pellets from Samantha's security measures, giving them a moment to get to their knees at least. But now Samantha had made herself a target. Chroknight survived by being extra durable and tough - qualities Samantha didn't possess physically. They heard screams and broken bones, and they snap to attention.
A burst of speed to get Samantha clear of any reprisal from Zero-G. Biting down hard as G-forces slam back down into them. Half of their helmet's faceplate shatters as they resist the effect. Chloe's face is shielded from everyone but Ne'veah, able to see from the lower angle.
"Not Indarius..." He answers, then begins to think quickly. Was that dragon in the nothing? Or was it like Indarius and was using a human form? Oh.
"Shayera, Brownyn, meet Mr. Dreke, e patron." He steps forward a bit, making the introductions. "Mr. Dreke, dese are de Defenders."
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He felt he had made a good point and that everyone who needed to was at least going to stop and turn the tide in their favor. He remembered that Cortex was dangerous given that he was the reason for a lot of issues with his previous team. Zero-G was notorious enough to mention and was now crushing his teammate, Hopkins was a wild card but had been responsible for a lot of the battle tech of the school probably.
All of the careful positioning and plans to utilize a home field advantage, turn the numbers game around, and still have the fallback plan, went spiraling down the drain as Chroknight dashed into action and started throwing punches and kicks.
Indarius quickly weaves a spell to neutralize Chroknight's gravitic bouyancy.
"I'll get him in a moment. First to dig you out of your own mess!"
"Gnnnnrrr-arrrgh!" Chroknight shouts in frustration as they fight against the gravity. If they had more leverage. Slowing down time around them wasn't lessening the gravity impact on their body. Which made some really messed up sense. "Indarius, you dumb lizard! Stop gawking and go fight your nemesis!" They shout as they muscle their way up inch by inch.
Zero-G was bombarded with multiple pellets from Samantha's security measures, giving them a moment to get to their knees at least. But now Samantha had made herself a target. Chroknight survived by being extra durable and tough - qualities Samantha didn't possess physically. They heard screams and broken bones, and they snap to attention.
A burst of speed to get Samantha clear of any reprisal from Zero-G. Biting down hard as G-forces slam back down into them. Half of their helmet's faceplate shatters as they resist the effect. Chloe's face is shielded from everyone but Ne'veah, able to see from the lower angle.
Samantha tries to help out Chroknght by deploying a turret and blasting Zero-G. However, the nonlethal bean bags slam harmlessly against a gravitic defense field around the mercenary! Worse, he redirects the cloud of irritants away from himself and back to Samantha! The stinging and burning particles hit her nose and throat, making her eyes water and lungs choke and cough!
Zero-G remains coolly in control, keeping Chroknight on lockdown and redirecting Samantha's attack. "Respect, that was a good hit on Drake. You're lucky he ordered the kid-glove special. You want to stay conscious? Give up now or I pool all your blood into your feet."
Just then, Indarius counters the intensified gravity around Chroknight, allowing them to move! But in doing so, he leaves his mind open to attack!
::This is for failing to save my baby girl,:: he hears in his mind, just before he's assailed by agony from everywhere inside his skull! An unimaginable migraine sends waves of pain through his mind along with images of a pink-haired girl getting charred and blackened by a lightning strike!
Xaiara is gone in a blur of motion as soon as Andromeda gives her the nod. Liam watches her go, his mouth twisted in a frown. For a beat he stares at Andromeda and her extension of trust to keep the living weapon safe. He nods once, then once more in the direction of the unfolding battle. "Sure. And you, don't be stupid. That's the CADRE."
He then activates his powers and flies into the breach after Xaiara!
The dragon coils along the scintillating colors of the corridor with lurking shapes just beyond the scarred walls. It blinks two nictating membranes as Gui offers the introductions.
Thank you, Guillaume. Defenders, it is the greatest pleasure to make your acquaintances. Do not be alarmed at my appearance; the magic I use to keep a much more benign appearance is unfortunately weakened in this space between timelines. It is my hope that we can keep this connection open to explore a mutually beneficial relationship." His neck cranes upwards to eye the moving shapes. "Provided we can ensure the safety of both of our timelines."
Wingblade sniffs. "I recognize your scent. Did you invade my mind?"
Drake's eyes narrow. "Not personally. Though I was responsible, solely to gauge whether your timeline was a threat to ours. I believed precautions were necessary."
"You did a little more than that," Wingblade says flatly.
"As I said. Precautions."