The Trial of Captain Knievel!

[Avenger Assembled]

The sheer force of Scarab's mental assault overwhelmed Ronin, driving him to his knees and shattering his consciousness. As he went down, his gloved hand went down to his belt, where belatedly the two heroes noticed the small black box with the little red button. With a click, and a smile on his masked face, Ronin pushed the button before collapsing to the ground. A moment later there was a distinct white flash from the fallen dump truck, followed shortly by the fist of God striking the pavement before the courthouse as the dump truck exploded into smithereens.

The truck's explosion ripped apart the blacktop, broke every window in the front half of the courthouse, and carved a massive scar alongside the monument to Freedom City police officers who'd been killed in the line of duty, chunks of flying dump truck far deadlier than the blast itself as the civilians ran screaming. A nearby police car was blown off the street, the speeding car cutting down a fire hydrant and sending a cascade of water into the air. A chunk of metal slammed square into Scarab's force-field, bouncing off and caroming away to decapitate the nearby statue of justice. Arrowhawk wasn't quite so lucky, taking a shard of glass that sliced along his leg like a knife.

As for Ronin, the cool air of flight woke up just long to see the roof of the library near the courthouse rushing up to meet him. He heard something break as he hit, then was solidly out again.

[angrydurf]

Ace struggled briefly against the increased pull of gravity before working his way free of its grip. He crept invisible and silent upon the self proclaimed Captain and unleashing a whicked double axe-handle attack upon the unsuspecting hoodlums back. There was a time for sporting fights of course, but this was not one of them.

[Geez3r]

Eric Micheals made a right hand turn into a secluded alleyway, turned the key and shut off his car. He popped the trunk and made his way back there. He pulled the suit's carrying case, out of the trunk and was looking for a good place to change when a giant explosion rocked the area, drawing everyone's attention towards the source, and away from any secluded alleyways. "Well that's convienent." said Eric as he depressed the button on the case, and the armor began to encase him. That was probably Ronin, which probably means that was him in the truck. I'm glad I ducked out of there when I did. Hopefully he at least managed to take out Scarab. Knowing Captain, he'll be making his escape attempt now. Let's see if I can add just a little more chaos into the mix. His systems fully operational, Malice took to the air.

[Avalon]

A massive obsidian blade appears out of nowhere nearly slicing Dark Star in half if he hadn't reacted in time. Instead it swings at the air about a foot away from the cosmic hero. Wielding the massive weapon is The Vestige.

"It seems that we meet again spirit. Perhaps I should take things seriously this time?"

Casually turning his head to meet eyes with Captain Knievel, he addresses him.

"I suggest now is a good time to make your escape Chaoschilde. I will delay the spirit in his capture of you. RUN!!!"

Afterwards, he aims another swing at Dark Star. This time, the blow connects and he seems to follow it up with several quicker strikes in the same area as the first one.

"Do you feel it now spirit?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star turned, just in time for the blade to slice into his side. "Take me seriously? Perhaps you should stop trying to hurt people. This pain is meaningless. All I feel is pity for you. He and you, should surrender now, before anyone else suffers from your foolishness. Or I shall be forced to put you both down the hard way." He turned to face the bladed villain, doing his best to ignore the injury for now.

[quotemyname]

Captain Knievel took The Vestige's tip to heart. He turned and bolted towards the front door of the courthouse. "You two play nice now!" he quipped before leaving.

"DAMN!" He yelled when he reached the front door. It seemed that the guards had slammed down the shutters that functioned as fire doors! He was going to have to break it down... *Wham* *Wham!* *WHAM!* He smashed the door down and gazed outward upon the streets ... and his freedom!

[Cyroa]

Dark Star turned, noting the Captain's retreat, like the man actually thought he could 'run away'. Perhaps delusional should be added to the man's characteristics.

He turned back his assailant. "I've had just about enough of you. You refuse see reason. You refuse to accept reality and see that you bring pain and sadness and nothing else. No more. NOW STAND DOWN!" With that, he unleashed a gravity beam from each hand, blasting the Vestige hard and backwards...

[Avenger Assembled]

The twin beams hit the Vestige square in the chest, blasting him backwards through the security door behind him, backwards through the wall behind that, and with a sudden tremendous crash through the heaviest wall of all directly through and into the open door of Captain Knievel's unoccupied holding cell. Only when he felt his head hit the solid steel behind him did the ancient warrior finally, mercifully, pass out.

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk spun and dived as the explosion occured, his cape taking the brunt of the blast but still leaving him a bit battered and bruised. He stood and turned to Scarab. "Scan for Knieval now, and any unidentified personnel. I'll keep a look-out until we find them." He nocked an arrow and spun, keeping his eyes and ears open for any attackers.

[N/A]

As Ronin pressed the button on his detonator, The Scarab's hands flew up. She barely managed to shield herself in time. The shockwave from the explosion pushed back against her telekinetic force bubble, sliding and scraping her boots a few inches backward along the asphalt. Chunks of flaming debris ricocheted off the shield, momentarily revealing it in bursts of scarlet light as they struck.

"Scan for Knieval now, and any unidentified personnel. I'll keep a look-out until we find them."

The Scarab nodded. "Are you sure you're alright? Do you require medical attention?"

She raised her hands to her head, pushing her eyes and ears beyond her physical body. Arrowhawk could see spectral duplicates of The Scarab appear to detach themselves from her physical body, then take off flying. At first they appeared one or two at a time, but within a few seconds, they sprang into existence by the dozen. Hundreds, maybe thousands of images, all flying in separate directions, and disappearing once they were a few meters away.

[angrydurf]

As the self styled Captain Kneival rushed past Ace faded into view refocusing his talents. With the Vestige out of commision Ace concentrated on slowing down the villains attempted escape. Scarab and Arrowhawk were right outside but it looked as if that Malice nutjob was getting involved as well and may tie them up.

He called out to the Captain, "You can't get out that way Knieval, you're trapped." As he did so he erected an illusory image of an unending hallway through the door. "Stand Down and face your crimes like a man."

[Geez3r]

Malice rocketed off back towards the courthouse. As he appeared over the rooftop, he was greeted by a well placed arrow. Malice rolled in midair to avoid what would have been a head shot on a moving target at nearly 30 yards, with a stick thrower. The shot instead bounced off Malice's shoulder, but it did leave a dent. There was only one guy who could pull a shot like that off; Bowman. Scanning the ground noticed that it was Arrowhark and not Bowman. Close enough. mused Malice.

Malice also noticed the other hero in the vicinity, Scarab. Thankfully, it appears that a rather large explosion went off and both Scarab and Arrowhawk showed signs of damage. How much he couldn't say for sure, but at least they weren't at full strength. Okay my opponents are a world class telepath and one of the world's foremost marksmen. I need to end this quickly. Malice trained his sights on Scarab, popped a minigun out of his arm, and unloaded on Scarab hoping to take him out before he discovered the depths of his power.

[Avenger Assembled]

Malice's unholy bombardment tore into Scarab, blasting through her forcefield and protective armor, though good luck and well-placed reinforcements in her costume kept the massive shells away from anything vital. She slammed into the weakened asphalt beneath her, hard, as Malice's bombardment blasted into the ground beneath her, punching straight through the road beneath her body and shattering the already weakened supports beneath the crater in the asphalt. The road caved in suddenly, with very little warning, giving way with a sigh inaudible beneath the sound of the mini-gun. And Scarab went with it; the force of her impact and the rocks falling with her, the costumed heroine disappearing from sight as she fell through the surface of the street and the street itself came with her.

The access tunnel to the sewers was nothing, the structure having been weakened by the Terminus Invasion and never quite fully repaired even by Dr. Metropolis. With a groan, the floor gave way too, and she fell until she reached the surface of the tunnel beneath even the sewers, rocks and debris falling all around her, pinning her beneath their weight and breaking through the subway tunnel beneath. Only through sheer heroic force of will did she keep herself from falling all the way through, her upper body left dangling through the opening left in the roof of the subway tunnel. Distracted by the rocky bombardment, she didn't see the oncoming subway train until it clipped her on the side of the head, the screech of brakes deafening as the great train began slamming to a long, long halt beneath her, disappearing out of sight in a moment.

[Warmonger]

There is a loud screaming ache in Ronin's head. He opens his eyes to find himself staring at the distant sky. He could smell thick dust. His whole body throbbed. Ronin unsteadily stumbled to his feet, to find himself on what appeared to be a roof top. The building rumbled as the mercenary heard a series of vicious explosions. Regaining his senses Ronin trotted to the edge of the roof and looked over, just in time to see his attackers get buried under a hail of munitions. His ally seemed to be someone in a patriotically themed power armor. As he watched the street caved under his attakc taking the gold and crimson hero out of sight.

Quickly drawing his sniper Rifle. Ronin lined up the last attacker. Some sort of Arrow man. Had he been there before? Ronin vaguely remembered some sort of arrow whizzing by his head before the massive, seizure inducing mental assault. Well no matter. The smoke made it difficult to pick up his target but he took just a second to line him up for a head shot. "Say good night." He mumbled before squeezing the trigger.

[quotemyname]

"You can't trap a rat! So don't even try!"

Captain Knievel was disoriented, and although the fake hallway dissolved quickly enough, it kept him wondering what to do long enough for the other two heroes to get closer to him.

"Well at least now I can see the cowards I am up against!"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star would have liked to recapture the deranged villain. Unfortunately, Scarab and Arrowhawk, who hadn't even known were there until just moments ago, looked to be in dire straights. He couldn't let them take that alone. The criminal would have to wait.

He passed right through the wall, firing into Malice the very moment his hands passed through the wall. The beam blasted directly into Malice's chestplate. "What in the Seven Rings of Lyrian is going on? I am become annoyed at such ruckus!" He brought his hands slamming down, and with it a crushing gravity field excluding all the heroes, thanks to Scarab's knowledge of where they were.

[Geez3r]

Malice's chest plate bore the brunt of the blast, and he successfully weathered the attack. "HAH! Be with you in just a second; there's a few more layers of concrete I want to punch your friend through." Taunted Malice, who at the moment was feeling invincible... and then Dark Star turned up the gravity. Malice was yanked out of the air and slammed into the ground. I hate that guy.

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk flung himself to the side as the pavement gave way beneath Scarab's feet. Oh no, I better help... wait, what's that? He spun to see the gunman from before had somehow managed to stand up and had a gun pointed at him. Lightning reflexes kicked in, and the first shot went whizzing over his head. Unfortunately, the second shot hit him in the chest and threw him flat on his back.

[N/A]

The Scarab's vision went dark for a couple of seconds, as if the world around her was a television and someone had just turned the power off. She snapped back to consciousness a moment later, though her vision was blurred and spinning. She tried to pull herself up, but she was pinned beneath a pile of rubble. The flesh is weak...but the spirit is willing. She refocused her powers, concentrating on the offending debris. She looked up through the hole in the street, at the star-spangled terrorist who caused her current predicament. The pile began to stir, then slowly levitated above her. They condensed into a giant ball. "You have sown destruction and pain, Malice. Now reap it." A chunk of brick and asphalt slammed into Malice with the force of a cannon.

[angrydurf]

Ace addressed Knieval, "You aren't going anywhere, there is no escape for you already the whole area is cordoned off you don't stand a chance, I suggest you surrender peacably. Your friends will be vanquished and stand for thier crimes as well." It was of course a lie the Police had no where near enough time to close off the are especialy with all of the chaos but it just might make him pause for the few moments they needed.

[Geez3r]

Malice laid there sprawled on his back after Dark Star had yanked him out of the air. If he's here, guess I've have to break out the fancy stuff. Hopefully he goes down fast, it draws on a lot of power - and why did it just get dark? It was then that Malice heard Scarab's voice and saw the large pile of rocks floating above him. "Craaaaaaaap!" Malice coughed as the rocks broke over his chest, knocking the wind clear out of him. That settles it, I need a bigger gun.

[Warmonger]

Ronin snarled as he hit pavement. Though he rolled a the last moment, he couldn't escape the blanket of force that descended on him. He staggered to a kneeling position. He let out a stream of curses as he saw that now the Scarab had returned to the fight. The mercenary grabbed at the Rocket launcher at his back. He glanced at the armored villain that had shown up at the scene. I don't know who you are pal, but your sacrifice will be remembered. No hard feelings. With that Ronin was able to sight the Rocket launcher on the super hero melee. "I'm getting pretty tired of you freaks." He pressed the trigger and let the ordinance fly.

[quotemyname]

"The hell do you mean I'm not going anywhere?!" Captain Knievel turned and looked at the door that stood open beside him. For some reason he felt compelled to stay and argue with the super hero. Maybe it was because he was so pissed off. "Vanquished? Seriously? You got nothing on me! You don't even know who's out there! And that self-righteous Dark Star abandoned you. You're stuck here with me. You had better hope I don't come over there!"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star quickly dropped down beside the bleeding archer. It was a risk letting the gravity field go for a moment, but Arrowhawk looked to be in dire straights. Dark Star released the gravity field and quickly let the healing radiation enveloped the fallen hero. "Up and at 'em my friend. We're still in the brier patch and the thorns are being annoying."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Thanks..." said Arrowhawk, flipping to his feet. "I'll take the gunman." He moved to take some cover behind a chunk of rubble and let loose a hail of blunt-tipped arrows at the mercenary who'd attacked Scarab and shot him.