ic Kingmaker: Queen's Defence (IC)

[Exaccus]

Things it seemed were kicking off!

 

"If rook is out there I think I can get her attention and draw her off....kinda humiliated her in front of her creator she's probably itching for a rematch."

 

That the doctor had promised to increase her strength as his parting shot was concerning, She had been quite powerful already it was her lack of experience fighting another meta human that had been her undoing.

 

"Dunno if I can take her out now or not though so I might need a bit of backup."

 

Humility had been a hard won lesson from his time wrestling with the tiger god in that jungle but it was one well learned.

 

"It could easily have gone either way last time, if Wu juiced her up like he threatend then it'll be uphill; but when is it ever easy?" He smirked as he touched his hand to his belt and transformed into solid steel, metal muscles creaking with the dull twang of metal fibre being stretched.

 

"Wish me luck!.....I should really carry around a horseshoe...." and with that he bolted from the agape back door and with a mighty leap arched over the roof of the house and crashed onto the front lawn with a mighty boom his silver form glinting through the dust of the displaced soil.

 

"Hey kids."

[Avenger Assembled]

Fast-Forward: 

 

Fast-Forward considered the tactical situation for a moment - but then a moment was all it took. No sign of my pottymouth friend yet. Guess she's not as fast as she thinks! He had some ideas for how to take down a rogue speedster but for now there were other things to deal with. He ran out of the house and up onto the roof, stopping directly above the hovering villain and her robot buddies or whatever the hell was going on up there. "Hey! You kids should get down from there!" He started running, carving out a glowing pattern on the roof as he went, "a symbol like if you made an L out of axes". He didn't get to use this one often, but they were outside right so why not. "They're talking storms tonight!" And then, before they quite had time to figure out what was going on, lances of electricity lashed from the sky and tore their way through the hovering villain and her minions as the symbol of Arcturus beneath their feet summoned down the lightning and thunder associated with the star. Richard didn't stay to watch the show, having long-since learned important lessons about staying exposed - instead he ran right back down behind the house to rejoin the group he'd come with. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Merge Trois

Whilst inside Merge told everyone what was going on outside, it might not be full telepathy, but it was close enough. Meanwhile outside Merge was considering her options, normally she’d spend a few minutes convincing the enemy she wasn’t as powerful as she could be, but in this circumstances,  she couldn’t spare the time for such things.

 

Launching herself toward the most powerful looking of the group, though it wasn’t an accurate , she split into a veritable rain of Merges mid-arm planning to swamp the (hopefully) surprised villain. Unfortunately they were quicker than she expected and instead the various merges were scattered around them. But hopefully she’d got there attention over the others.

 

“I guess your not open to a massive welcome hug? How about a kiss instead?”

[Shofet]

GM

 

A great clap filled the air as the lightning rained down on the young woman and her minions, causing her to go limp in the air and yet somehow remain flying, while two of the jet-packed beings seemed to dissolve into puddles of slime that dropped down onto the ceiling of the house, causing their jetpacks to go rocketing off aimlessly, one crashing into a distant neighbour's car and the other to fly off to God-knows-where. The other two, somewhat miraculously, sustained the blast and readjusted the fearsome looking blaster rifles in their hands. 

Out front, the young man and his men were assaulted by Merge, but he moved with supernatural grace, flipping out of her grasp and flipping her off in the process. Once he landed, all his four goons readied their blasters, getting ready to try and pepper Merge with fire. The mailbox still laid there, sizzling from Liteshow's earlier sword attack.

Edited September 25, 2019 by Shofet

[Electra]

Turning on her "don't notice me" aura with a thought, Paige slipped through the propped door and out into the yard till she could get a look at both foes. She stopped in the shadow of a tree, letting it hide her as best it could while she went to work. Look at him,  she projected to the girl, her mental voice pitched so low that it would only be heard subconsciously. He's so dangerous and so fast. Look how easily he hurts people. He likes it, doesn't he? He likes having that power over who lives and who dies. Look at his face. What if he looked at you right now? What if he decided to hurt you?  You wouldn't be able to stop him. He's going to hurt you! There's nothing you can do to stop him! LOOK AT HIM, HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU! RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN! 

 

When she felt the suggestion catch, felt Godlike's ordered thoughts dissolve into blind panic, Paige took a deep breath and withdrew, then turned to the other. She tried to insinuate herself the same way, but by luck or training, he had a better natural shield and she was rebuffed. That was okay, Paige was not terribly fond of the way it felt to do that sort of manipulation. 

[Shofet]

GM

 

Adrian readied his blaster pistol, not content to simply be a bystander in the fray. He raced towards the back alongside Facsimile and Fast-Forward, and threw himself into the backyard. With practiced aim, he let loose a blast right into one of the Rocket Troopers flying up in the air, hitting it square in the forehead. The creature let out a groan as smoke rose from its face, and it dissolved into slime like its brethren.

 

However, the remaining Rocket Trooper did not seem content to allow this go unpunished. It turned to backyard, and freed a small cylindrical device from its belt. It threw it down into the backyard, and suddenly intense light and heat seared the grass and expanded across the backyard in a hemisphere. Adrian desperately threw himself to the ground, rolling into the best cover her could find - behind a metal rain barrel.

 

Serena, standing at the back door, felt the blast, but managed to withstand it, even as her jacket and outfit smoked. It seemed as though it was plasma, one of the things she was capable of resisting.

[RocketLord]

Archer II

 

Everything was happening so fast, everyone reacting, doing their thing. The question was, where could Connor put his skills to most use? Fast-Forward was covering the roof, probably didn't need much help. Troopers out front, with that Liteshow guy. Merge and Hologram could handle them, he didn't doubt that, but the way they were standing, positioned around in a crescent like that? It was perfect. Connor just couldn't resist.

 

Reaching back for his arrows, he grabbed a handful and rushed towards the front, quickly moving out besides Hologram and Merge. Five arrows in hand, he pulled them all back at once and let them fly, sending arrows raining down over Liteshow and his troopers.

[Shofet]

GM

 

The young man watched as all his troopers were struck with arrows and subsequently turned to slime in front of him. He looked around, eyes wide, and quickly assessed that things were not going in his favour. He knew immediately that he had to call for backup if he was going to get out of this in one piece.

 

He slapped a device on his belt, beginning a signal transmission of his location. Instantaneously, his coordinates were broadcast to somewhere. Then, as an act of desperation, he called up a power within himself.

 

“To hell with this!” cried the young man. “You can all ☠☠☠☠ my ☠☠☠☠! You ☠☠☠☠!” Suddenly, a wave of energy burst outward from him, taking the shape of a spinning blade of purples, blues, oranges and other very 80s colours. It surged forward, striking at everyone in the front lawn and stopping just short of the door.

 

“Gonna be sorry when my backup arrives!”

[Exaccus]

"Oh ho?" Facsimile croaked with the metallic twang of his voice as he squatted down and with a might hop launched himself over the house like a bullfrog over a log, landing on the front lawn with a kra-koom!

 

Another lurching leap carried him past and over the other combatants on the lawn to the blustering liteshow.

 

"You've got a dirty mouth on you." He stated unimpressed for the most part as he hopped around the back of the teenager with a wicked grin of glee.

 

"I'll Soon sort that." And with a mighty stretch of his arms he slammed his hands together as hard and as fast as he could loosing a rippling wave of force from the impact.

 

Carefully angling his impact upwards towards the other robots.

Edited September 30, 2019 by Exaccus

[Heritage]

Anyone with enhanced senses might have noticed 'Grim' softly whispering, seemingly to thin air, ut the sharp-eared might have heard the following, in two identical voices.

 

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

 

"Almost certainly. Operation Paschal Lamb?"

 

"You got it. Sorry it hurts."

 

"Only for a second."

 

"Good luck."

 

"You, too."

 

Suddenly 'Grim' assumed Rachel's form, pajamas, afro and everything. The changeling's double couldn't reproduce metal, so she cheated by covering parts of her skin with silvery fish scales; it wouldn't hold up to close inspection, but could probably fool a quick glance.

 

"I'm going make a 'mad dash for freedom', so to speak," she said in an uncanny approximation of the tech genius. "Hopefully draw some fire away from the house." She also conjured up a roughly submachine gun-sized device, all black and tactical looking, to hold in her arms in an aggressive manner. "Wish me luck!"

 

She then stepped to the rear door, took several deep breaths as she waited for it to cycle open, and then dashed like a crazy person for the house across the street.

 

Meanwhile, the real Grim moved invisibly to the real Rachel's side.

 

"I'm not going anywhere; I'm your f###ing Secret Service."

Edited October 1, 2019 by Heritage

[Shofet]

GM

Rachel watched her double race out into the backyard, eyes going wide. This was not exactly what she had expected when she woke up this morning. However, she was even more alarmed when Grimalkin whispered into her ear. She almost turned towards the source of the sound, but reason took a hold of her and she stood in place, simply nodding. She didn't know exactly what she could do at the moment, so she resolved to stay there in case Garvey tried anything while possessed - she knew her tech better than Heather ever could (if it was Heather), and would get him back in line pronto. For now, though, she was content to stay in place.

 

Godlike, meanwhile, floated there, smoke rising from her skin as a panic began to grip her. Her eyes drifted down to her brother, and terror took hold. What if he did attack her? However, no matter how afraid she was, she could not will herself to move. The sudden burst of energy had left her muscles stiff and unresponsive, forcing her to confront her horror by remaining still, desperately trying to get her body to move of her own accord.

 

Liteshow had been congratulating himself on his little blast there, but his victory came short when Facsimile came barreling out of the sky. He tried to move, but it wasn't fast enough. There was a great clap, and Liteshow felt the wind taken out of him. He silently cursed, but outwardly all that came out was a winded gasp.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Shofet

[Shofet]

Corona

 

Serena's eyes went wide as she saw someone who looked a lot like Rachel running out in front of her and into the backyard. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. What was she doing?!? Rachel was not remotely equipped to fight anyone. Sweet, pacifistic Rachel. Unable to contain herself, Serena followed what appeared to be her friend on out of the room and into the backyard.

 

Her eyes immediately searched for threats, and they settled on the Rocket Trooper. She could also see her 'daughter' up top, but she seemed to be fried. Calling up some power, Serena hurled a bolt of white hot plasma up at the Rocket Trooper, and... missed! Damn it! Her head swiveled towards 'Rachel', eyes wide with a mixture of terror and anger.

 

"What are you even doing?!" she shouted. "You don't have any weapons! GET BACK INSIDE, YOU... BUTTHEAD!"

 

[Tarrakhash]

Someone, somehow was going to pay, Black Mamba was mad! Someone had sabotaged his plane, and then, to make matters worse he had started on his way to Belgium only to have his tracker determine the group had moved and now...now they were already fighting and making a difference and he had been sitting in a plane waiting, and waiting some more but no longer!

 

Dropping from the sky like a black and gold rocket Black Mamba hurtled into the fray, flashing past the group he settled on the ground in a glowing golden thrusters as he scanned the foes and the allies and growled over his intercom++Sorry it took so long, I hope these mooks haven't been a problem!++

 

Lifting his gauntleted hands he aimed for a moment at Liteshow, seeing that Godlike was currently incapacitated he fired a green energy ray that looked just like a python out at Liteshow the snake trying to wrap itself around Liteshow and trap the annoying villian allowing the others to focus on Godlike as Black Mamba maintained the beam and with his feet firmly on the ground shifted his auxiliary power to the musculature servos ready to drag Liteshow in reach of his powerful arms.

 

[Shofet]

GM

 

For a moment, it sounded like the air was screaming. Then came the light, tearing across the horizon like a land-based comet. Rock and dust were kicked up into the air and just as quickly seared into molten plasma. It seemed to pass through buildings as easily as air, coming closer at an unimaginable pace. Then, behind it, four more. These did not pass through buildings in the same way, instead shredding them and anything else that got in their way. Cars exploded, thrown up high into the air by the force of the connection.

 

Then, the main bolt seemed to change direction. At first, it seemed to headed towards Black Mamba, but it suddenly diverted. Jerking slightly to the left, it redirected itself to Hologram. As it drew closer, Hologram could see it. A young blonde woman with a twisted smile. Her green eyes were wide, almost magic, and a bit of drool flecked from her lips. Then, suddenly, she leapt off the ground, angling herself to level both boots with her face. She launched herself into a dropkick. As she did, she turned. Only Richard could see her with the sheer quickness of her being. She had turned to smile and wave at him as she did so.

 

--

 

Rayburst shrieked as he was carried along by the Speed Trooper in a bridal position. He hated going this fast. Hot dust and grit threatened to shred him, if only he didn't have the powers required to keep them from doing so. His shrieking only increased when they detonated a house by running through it. He found himself praying that no one was home. 

 

What was his sister thinking? Did she want to get someone killed? That wasn't what they were here for.

 

--

 

Roadkill slammed into Hologram, and rather than feeling a satisfying crunch, instead she felt herself rebound off of the woman and was forced to tumble backwards, landing on her feet with no small amount of effort. She ground her teeth. That wasn't good at all. 

 

Sorry, mom, she thought. Couldn't take the psychic out. Gonna need you to pull double duty.

[Avenger Assembled]

Fast-Forward 

 

Fast-Forward had had a lot of time to think about what he was going to say when the mouthy speedster showed up. He was going to call her an idiot, and too slow, and say whatever it took to keep that bag of crazy away from his family and the nice people they were fighting crime with. When she showed up like hell on wheels, which now that he thought about it was a better name than Roadkill, he was going to throw in something about being a stupid coward too. He turned and ran right off the roof, only slowing down a trifle when he saw the woman bounce right off Paige's telekinetic protection. Well Hologram always had been able to handle herself! 

 

And then he stepped right off the f*cking roof. 

 

F*ck! he thought to Paige, sounding more angry than afraid at what a microsecond's carelessness had cost him, tiles crumbling under his feet with a clatter as a bit of wood weakened by the earlier battle gave way beneath his feet, sending him tumbling away from any surfaces solid enough to slow his descent. Gonna sue this gadget lady! he thought on the way down, skipping from falling fragment to falling fragment as he stopped himself from breaking his ankle but still wasn't able to do anything else as he came to a messy, but still upright landing, just a few feet away from Hologram and Roadkill. 

 

"Ugh," he said out loud, then turned casually to the crazy lady nearby. "Listen, you're really bringing down the professionalism of the whole operation, honey. Does your ma even know you're out this late?" 

[Tiffany Korta]

Merge Trois

The explosion had done it job reducing the Merge’s to one, and she was slightly shaken at that, but it didn’t stop her from causing trouble. After all trouble was what she the best. Quickly she recovered and with a mere concentration flooded the area with more of here punching kicking and generally being a pain to the baddies in her area.

 

Along with that was a cacophony of insults and teases to those that she was attacking, something else that she was very good at. It might not be more than an irritant to some of them, but it would at least help the other heroes.

[Electra]

It took an effort for Paige to shake off the effects of whatever Liteshow had hit her with, but she hadn't been a hero for the better part of four decades for nothing. Also, nearly getting punched in the face by a crazed young speedster was bracing, to say the least. She felt Roadkill bounce off her shields and peel away with just a tiny bit of sticky psychic webbing clinging to her aura like spidersilk. Paige concentrated on that tenuous connection, rolling it through her mind, tasting it, testing it, then using it as a guide for the thick lasso of psychic energy she tossed around the rogue speedster.

 

Without twitching a muscle, and without seeming to notice the trickles of black energy creeping over her hands, Paige yanked on the lasso and suddenly Roadkill was flying. She made a beautiful, well-controlled arc away from Fast-Forward and straight into the side of the house with a sickening crunch and sizzle.  Paige had not been expecting the sizzle, but she wasn't going to argue with a helpful forcefield. She kept hold of Roadkill anyway, watching to see what she'd do next. 

[Shofet]

GM

 

Roadkill sneered at Fast-Forward. "My ma's the reason I'm here, you relic. I don't give a rat's ☠☠☠ about your stupid professional or your dumb villain gimmicks. Maybe if you had actually taken things seriously you might have actually been worth something as a vill-- AAA WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOUR STUPID BI-GGGRasDDRAAD!" Roadkill's little rant was cut short as she was lifted off the ground and thrown into the wall. Suddenly, the force-field came to life, arcing around her and causing her to vibrate as her whole body went stiff.

 

Liteshow's eyes went wide. "TABBY! DON'T HURT MY SISTER, YOU-- GUH!" His rage wasn't worth much, given how he was presently ensnared by Black Mamba, but he looked like he was ready to kill someone.

 

Meanwhile, Adrian had enough. Seeing Rachel in danger, he ground his teeth. "Agreed. Listen to Serena, get back inside. You get hurt and I'm killing you myself," he said, before leveling the pistol up at the Rocket Trooper Facsimile had ignored and blasting it. It dissolved into slime like the rest. 

[RocketLord]

Archer II

 

Liteshow did something and Connor jumped for his life to get out of the way of the energy blades. Freaking super powers. Of course it had to be freaking super powers. And then, Roadkill coming in from out of nowhere and mouthing off. Striking at Hologram, but little effect.

 

He winced at the sight of Roadkill being picked up and thrown against the force field, the crunch and the sizzling sound. It had to hurt, and badly too. Part of him honestly didn't mind, Roadkill was just pissing him off, but she was still in the game. Couldn't have that.

 

"Hey brats, show some respect." He reached back and pulled out a particular arrow. Didn't want to kill anyone, after all. The arrow in question had a boxing glove secured at the end, and as he started circling around to get a better shot and avoid them all being grouped together for Liteshow to take another shot at if he got free from Mamba. 

 

"Hey, glowstick! Watch this!" Don't hurt the homicidal speedster. Right. He let the boxing glove arrow fly, striking straight at Roadkill's face to knock her out. Not that he doubted Hologram's abilities to keep her there, of course, but she was just pissing him off. And plus, he'd piss off Liteshow with that move. Win win.

[Exaccus]

With liteshow wrapped up facsimile set his steely gaze on the panick and lept with all his might towards her, steel arms spread wide to wrap around her in a crushing grasp.

 

The moment he made contact however he felt his metal flesh searing with the heat bearing the distinct tang of atomic fury.

 

"Gamma..!" He cried out in agony before his strength failed and he tumbled to the ground a heavy heap of sizzling, slightly melted steel.

[Shofet]

GM

 

Rayburst couldn't take it anymore. He refused to be carried in the arms of these crazy mutants. Pushing up and away, he let loose a burst of radiation that carried him over to the battle site. Landing and coated in a halo of green, he looked around and was horrified by what he saw. A smouldering metal man, his sister laying sizzling on the ground, his other sister looking terrified and his brother captured by some guy.

 

What outside observers saw was a young boy, maybe 13... 15 at the oldest, looking horrified. He had red-brown hair, and his face was dappled with freckles. His green eyes were a lot like Lester's. He wasn't dressed in a super uniform, just a green jacket and a pair of jeans along with a black t-shirt with a white crown on it. He looked about as scared as Godlike did.

 

"Tabby...?" he said, gaze focused on the sizzling woman in Hologram's telekinetic grasp. "Oh no..." he said, his voice small and weak. "No, no, no..."

 

All the troopers were gone. Except for the ones coming up behind him, readying their blasters. He didn't want this. Not anymore. This was bad. The Speed Troopers would just destroy more stuff and hurt innocent people. How many innocent people had they already hurt? Why couldn't they have phased like Tabby did? He didn't want to fight. He didn't want to fight.

 

"STOP!" he called, balling his hands into fists. The Speed Troopers halted behind him, looking confused as much as their weird faces could allow.

 

Liteshow similarly looked confused. "Uh, Louis, little help here!"

"NO!" cried 'Louis'. "Everyone's getting hurt and I hate it."

[Heritage]

'Rachel' paused for a second, then tossed her device away and sighed. "You're right; we need to stop this." She extended her hands out to her sides, and reverted back...to Lynn Epstein. She was wearing her most comfortable mom jeans, a light green sweater and a pair of Nikes, and she stuck her hands in her pockets as she shrugged.

 

"I don't really feel like fighting anymore, either." She walked towards Rayburst, as relaxed and non-threatening as possible. "You're Louis, right? My name's Lynn. You look like your having a pretty rough day, am I right?"

[Shofet]

GM

 

Louis nodded weakly. "I didn't want to do this. I don't see why I have to fight you guys... But mom yelled at me and made me go. And now everyone's getting hurt and I don't like it. We shouldn't be fighting people like this..."

 

Up above, Godlike felt a haze drift away from her mind. She looked down to see a smouldering Facsimile beneath her, and a smile crossed her face. Serves you right, she thought to herself. It was then that she noticed all her Rocket Troopers were gone. "Oh, what?" she said. She surveyed the battlefield, and saw that things had gone nuts while she blacked out. Liteshow was captured, Roadkill was here for some reason and unconscious, and so was Rayburst. And he was freaking out while some lady was approaching him.

 

Without a thought, she slammed down to the ground and interposed herself between Lynn and her little brother. "Don't you touch him!"

Louis grabbed her by the shoulder. "Jenna, it's okay, she's not gonna fight... Are you okay? You smell a little burnt."

 

'Jenna' blinked, then looked at Louis. "Uh... Yeah, I'm fine, I think..."

 

Louis pulled her into a hug, and Jenna felt the radiation drain from her. She frowned, and pulled back. "Why'd you do that? Now they can cream us!"
 

"They won't... I'm sure." Louis said. 

[Shofet]

Corona

 

Serena could hear the commotion going on out front, and was terribly confused to see what she thought was Rachel turn into Lynn. She blinked rapidly, but didn't have long to be confused. She saw Godlike race down from above the roof, and knew she had to act fast. She kicked up an explosion behind her, and burst up after the young woman... only to see her interposing herself between Lynn and a kid that looked a lot like the photos she had seen of Lester before he had gotten his treatments to turn him into Beastfreak.

 

Landing, she saw Godlike look to her with alarm. Serena raised her hands to show she didn't mean any harm if Godlike didn't.

 

"Uh..." Serena said. "Hi. What's going on?"

 

"You," Godlike spat. "You abandoned me!"

 

Serena stared, confused. "What? I didn't even know you existed until you came in and tried to kill me on Wu's orders. I don't know what's up, but... Look. I don't know what Heather's told you, but I did not abandon you."

 

Godlike's eyes shimmered with tears. "Don't lie to me! I... Mom told me everything! You left us alone!"

Serena frowned. "Honey... I promise, if I had known I had another daughter, I would not have abandoned you. I am so sorry I wasn't able to be there for you, but... Please. Whatever's going on, we can talk this out."

For the moment, Godlike seemed willing to at least not attack, but her body language was rigid and aggressive.

[Tarrakhash]

The Gold and Black battlesuit paused, looking at the situation John realised there was a time for this to de-escalate. So rather than smashing Liteshow into a new crater he shifted moving forward securing the villain with another green energy constrictor to make sure he couldn't escape before speaking over his speakers,"Can we talk about this? Or do I need to smash you into cooperation? It looks like you have all been manipulated by Wu....."