Massive Explosion in Riverside! [IC]

[Cyroa]

Dark Star moved downward toward the bodies. Coming to the first two, he winced and felt a pang of sadness that two innocents lost their lives. He hoped it was quick and painless. Later, he would grieve for them and retrieve their bodies for burial later. For now, there were others who might still need his help.

He traveled farther down to the next body. Buried and pinned beneath a twisted and wrecked elevator was the battered, bruised and lacerated form of Arrowhawk! His costume was in tatters but enough to keep his identity hidden at least. Dark Star was no doctor, but the pinned hero looked to be in bad shape. Even as he moved forward, emitting a regenerative radiation, Dark Star wonder how Arrowhawk had come to be here (let alone survive such a blast). He hoped this wasn't the man's secret home...it would mean there was a villain responsible for the horrific attack and the deaths of many innocents. They would need to find the villain responsible and bring them to justice!

Scarab! I've found Arrowhawk down here; he's in bad shape! I'm healing him now. There's another person below me. As soon as I check them, I'll head to the trauma station and start working. There's crazy energy fluctuations all over the place...Try to keep people from exploring in the crater unless they can sense them. Who knows what would happen?

He reached out and gently lifted the wreckage. Hopefully the healing he had done would stabilize the man. Dark Star moved the wreckage to one side before releasing it safely. He checked the hopefully recovering hero.

"Arrowhawk? Can you hear me? Are you ok? The situation is dire. There is assive damage with numerous injured and dead. I need to head farther down the crater for a moment. Will you be ok until I come back up?"

[Avenger Assembled]

One advantage to not breathing was that respiration wasn't a necessity of speech. "Hey!" Avenger yelled, for once his fake, gravely voice actually sounding natural. He sounded like someone yelling through a thick cloud of smoke would actually sound. "Hey, uh, the superheroes are here? Is there anyone here who needs help? Yell real loud if you can, and I'll try and find you!" He wandered a little further into the house, mindful of the ground beneath his feet.

[angrydurf]

Ace led the family back to the hastily established base of operations then tapped into the group mind to scan the area of the blast utilizing the police radio to alert emergency services of the placement of the worst of the fires and collapsed buildings and to direct what services were on scene to victims where he could.

Turning to the father of the family he asked after the nieghbors to try and limit his search to homes likely to be occupied.

[Warmonger]

Sen squinted, doing his best to keep the smoke out of his eyes. "Hello!" he shouted. "Where are you? Help is here." The young Samurai felt a strange stirring of emotion. This sort of work was not what he was used to. He normally spent his nights stalking alleys and running down supernatural horrors. He tried to get his head back on t e moment, looking aroudn for the source of the voice and moving to enter the house.

[Ecalsneerg]

The breath exploded back into Arrowhawk's chest, forcing out any cracks in his ribs. Scratches and bruises faded away. Unfortunately, a piece of the walkway became encased in his leg when the tissue regenerated back around it. "Gaaah!" snarled Arrowhawk, rolling to see Dark Star levitating the rubble above him. Thank god it's him. He'll trust me long enough for me to escape. Most people wouldn't stick around long enough to let me explain why this was necessary. Dark Star, I hope, is the sort to at least give me that. "DS, you've got to get me out of here and somewhere secure. Now." God, my leg hurts. This is actually quite painful.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star winced as he noted the piece of metal lodged in the man's leg. He hadn't been able to differentiate it amongst the other wreckage and the man himself. He could remove and and heal it up as well. But that would take a few moments. And the man, despite his pain, seemed rather insistent and forthright.

He nodded, trusting the man implicitly. He might not agree to Arrowhawk's methods all the time, but the man was still a Hero. But Dark Star couldn't leave, even for the few minutes it would take to get him somewhere safe. There were still injured possibly dying people who needed him.

He nodded quickly. "Ok, hold on." He concentrated as he stood next to the fallen and injured man. It took a moment and quite a lot of focus and energy, but a small portal opened up just big enough for a man to step through. Through the portal, some form of medical bay could be clearly seen. "This is Scarab's Lair. Best I can do at the moment. I'll be there to take care of your leg as soon as I'm done healing here. We'll find the villain after we take care of everyone here." With that, he scooped the man up in a telekinetic grip and pushed him gently through.

He focused his thought just to Scarab. Scarab, I just deposited Arrowhawk in your medbay. He's still a little hurt but nothing that can't wait. I'll take care of it once we're done here. But he seemed concerned and needed someplace secure. Your Lair was my first thought given the current constraints. Now, continuing to the last person in the crater.

Letting the portal close as he communicated to Scarab, Dark Star turned and extended his senses again heading downwards and searching for more who might need him...

[Dr Archeville]

Ace Danger

The WASP family actually refuses to go with Ace, insisting that they go back into the house for more stuff. Before Ace can react, the mother actually does run back into thew house!

Arrowhawk

Is healed by Dark Star and is awake, though has a piece of shrapnel lodged in his leg. He is then 'ported away to the Scarab's Lair like a piece of luggage.

Avenger

Does in fact hear someone, a voice calling out. A... woman's voice? It was hard to tell amongst the roar and chaos, and the smoke which was surely doing horrible things to her throat and lungs. Oddly, she did not seem to be calling at the top of her lungs.

A bit of searching finds her, upstairs... with ten cats, all completely freaked out of their tiny little minds. The woman herself looks much like the Crazy Cat Lady from The Simpsons.

Dark Star

Finds and heals Arrowhawk, and then pushes him through a portal to Scarab's Lair, just as the fourth body below him....

Malice

Awakens!

And is in incredible agony!

And is at the bottom of a 50-foot smoking crater where his house used to be, and... something spewing forth from some broken pipes above him is forming a puddle at his side!

Phantom

Finds she has little trouble in closing the small transdimensional tears. This part of the crisis, at least, she can handle with some proficiency.

Scarab

The Scarab abides.

Sen

Finds the source of the calls he heard, a young and buxom woman who was trapped in a ring of flaming debris.

(Malice awakens before Dark Star closes his portal, so the portal to Scarab's Lair is still open. I thought Ecal might like to have a chance to partake in any fight that breaks out.)

(Due to damage suffered by their equipment, the powers in both Arrowhawk's and Malice's Devices are Unreliable, failing to function on a roll of 1-10.)

[Ecalsneerg]

Well, I suppose if the barely armoured archer survived, the villain in the power armour isn't going to die that easily... Arrowhawk managed to lurch to his feet and dove through the portal. "Close the portal, now! And get any civilians clear! He's dangerous!"

[angrydurf]

As the woman charges back into the house Ace curses under his breath and commands "Get your kids to the shelter over there I'l get your wife."

This was the problem with people today thought Ace as he ran into the house after the woman, "Ma'am," He called out "It isn't safe here right now you have to come with me."

[Warmonger]

Sen moved as close as he could to the trapped woman. He could feel the heat from where he was so he knew he didn't have a lot of time. "Stay there I'm coming to get you." He attempted to access the mind link. It felt as if his head had swollen to fill the entire building. I have found a woman trapped by burning debris, I do not know her condition. He moved around looking for a way to shift some of the burning timber.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star had no idea what the impaled hero was yelling about. They were in a huge crater and the impaled archer was halfway down it. What civilians? The body below? Dark Star turned his attention to the body before him as he touched down, letting the portal close shut, sealing Arrowhawk safely away as asked.

"Oh my..."

The body Dark Star sees before him belongs to none other than Malice, one of the more prominent villains of Freedom City. His power armor is damaged almost beyond repair. It's near impossible to find a part of the suit that isn't a little bit charred. His right side seems to have suffered the worst of it. Several parts of the armor are simply not there and you can see the skin underneath is burned pretty badly. A strange goop is pooling around his right side, and it's eating right through his armor. If it's had time to pool, you shudder to think what's happened to his arm already. Malice is stirring slightly, like he's just coming out of it. You can hear warning bells and alarms going off inside of his helmet as well. But for the time being, you get the feeling that he's too shell shocked, confused and hurt to do much of anything; if that'll keep him down once fight or flight kicks in is anyone's guess. Lastly, with your senses, you can sense a similar radiation leaking from his suit as to the kind that created the tears in dimensions.

Dark Star quickly noted the armored man's heart fading. It was amazing he'd survived. The villain had probably set off some device of his own making, caught by his own evil schemes. Irony. Too bad his villainy had hurt and cost the lives of so many innocents and Arrowhawk as well.

But that didn't change the fact that Malice was a living person. And he was dying...

I've found Malice! He was at the center of the blast. He's dying...

Even as he broadcast his thoughts, he was already acting. He bent down, passing his hands into the man's armor and letting the the restorative energies flow forth. "Hold on; I'm just trying to heal you...let it work...don't you die..." He concentrated, willing the man to survive.

[alderwitch]

Phantom did one last survey of the area, making sure that she was satisfied that Earth Prime was once more secure. That concluded, she 'ported to the nearest hero trying to rescue a civilian. Phantom figured that Dark Star could handle one injured villian and if he couldn't, she could bring reinforcements.

Phantom teleported into the room where Avenger was herding cats with a hissed wince. She solidified quickly but not before the fires singed several areas of her ephemeral cloak. She still winced away from the bright flames, neither looking directly at them or the other hero as she offered her aid.

[Geez3r]

"Hazardous radiation levels detected. User death imminent. ...Major fractures detected. User death imminent. ...Highly elevated temperatures detected. User death imminent. ...Biorhythm erratic. User death immient. ...Massive structural damage to all internal systems. Complete shutdown of all systems imminent."

...

Error. ...Biorhythm stabilizing. User death... delayed. ...Identifying source. Unknown.

As Malice opened his eyes. Instead of being greeted with the sight of his own base as expected, he was instead greeted with the view of the sky that was rapidly being over taken by black smoke. Puzzled, Malice tried to sit up to gain a better view of his surroundings, and that is when brain informed his body that sudden moves were ill advised. Having now confirmed that his vocal cords still functioned, Malice again tried to get a handle on his surroundings, gingerly this time.

It was at that moment that Malice understood, for the first time, what horror truly meant. The hero known as Dark Star was bent over him. The body of Mrs. Peterson laid several yard away. The trio were laying in the bottom of a very large smoking crater, which he realized was decorated with bits and pieces of his own house. At his right side was -- "$#@&!!" screamed Malice as he hastily kicked the ground and pushed himself away from the goop.

The armor on his right arm from the elbow down stayed behind, it was hollow. Malice swat at his upper right arm when he noticed it too had the strange chemical on it. The armor crumpled and shattered under the force of the blow, revealing a cauterized chemical burn at the shoulder, where the arm use to be attached.

...Biorhythm becoming erratic."

Heart racing, and now very much out of breath, Malice hugged his knees to his chest with his remaining arm. "Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god-Oh god- Gone. It's all gone. Gone. How did-- The explosions-- What caused-- Legend? No. Not him. Too different. Intruder. Running. Then- This- This-" Malice looked up at Dark Star. "You're real. This-all this- It's real, right?" Not waiting for an answer, Malice buried his head in his knees again. Malice muttered to himself a moment longer, most everything undecipherable.

And then a change came over him. His body language just completely flipped. His shoulders squared, his hand stopped shaking and made a fist, his breathing slowed and his heart rate returned to normal. Malice stood up, albiet a little shaky "I need to help. I need to help who- whoever's left." said Malice, his voice cracking slightly.

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk landed in the main room of the Scarab's Lair, healed, but still grubby, battered and in shredded clothing. However, he didn't want to try looking around. You never know if something's trapped.

So he limped over to a bench and lay down on it until someone showed up to help him out.

[Warmonger]

Sen stopped himself before he shouted "Stand Back". Where was she goign to go. "Hold on." The young demon slayer used the tough sole of his boots to kick away a piece of the burning debris. The heat seared his leg but he kept on. He did shi best to switch feet to keep from being burned.

[angrydurf]

Hoping the husband is bright enought to listen to reason Ace continues to pursue the woman to try and get her to safety. With the assorted noises of the nearby disaster and relife effort he knows he has little chance of hearing her so instead moves from room to room looking for her wondering if its just the shock of the events or if there is something making these people behave so oddly.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star nodded as the man stabilized but he hastily spoke up as Malice awoke. "It's alright. Calm yourself." The man was delirious and confused though he quickly seemed to calm down. "Yes, this is real. There are quite a lot of people who are hurt, including you. I'm afraid I can't let you assist. Your armor seems to be leaking some kind of unstable energy. I'm guessing it caused the multiple dimensional rifts. I can't let that get near people. Regardless, I need to get you to the triage area. Your injuries need to be looked at. If you wish to help, you can talk with those up there and explain what energy you used to cause such rifts." He floated for a moment, letting the man process. "I'm going to lift you and take you to the medical section. I would appreciate it if you didn't resist as well as shutting your armor down."

He figured Scarab was monitoring this. He sincerely hoped the man would do the right thing and cooperate, but one could never tell.

[Avenger Assembled]

Avenger worked hard to rescue the cats, his intimidating persona not helping him much at all when it came to rescuing the animals. But Jack liked animals as much as anyone else and certainly wanted to see them rescued, and it was a nice feeling rescuing something small and needy. Besides, cat blood tasted terrible, which helped him keep his mind off everything else. When he had one cat under each arm, he looked at Phantom and called enquiringly, "Phantom! Can you pull them all into your cloak and let them out later?!"

[alderwitch]

As Phantom had not yet managed to grab a cat, she paused only a moment before agreeing dryly, "As long as we can agree to never speak of this again."

With that the mystic held the cloak open for Avenger to stuff the felines inside the ephemeral mystic's form, each one vanishing within the depths.

[Geez3r]

Malice weighed his options as he took in all of this new information. He could see Scarab floating overhead, not doing all together too much at first glance, but Malice was just smart and/or paranoid enough to know that wasn't the case. He knew that Scarab had started forming his own splinter team, and someone with his abilities could alert the entire team to the present danger. Not that the mile high smoke signal went unnoticed either. Being this close to downtown was sure to attract loads of unwanted attention. Malice knew from his run in with Legend he was no match for the Freedom League, even at this best, and he was currently quite far from that.

His suit was currently functioning but as Dark Star said, he was leaking energy, and although he had been healed, his suit had not. It was only a matter of time before his suit became an nonfunctional lump of metal. In addition, he had lost his dominant arm, which meant that what his suit functioned long enough to get off an attack, it would be wildly inaccurate. Eric had yet to truly comprehend that his arm was fully and truly gone; right now, it was merely regarded as "nonfunctional". There was simply too much to deal with in the current moment to both dealing with anything beyond that. Eric would probably only realize the full brunt when things cooled down. But for now, he had other things on his plate.

Dark Star could feel the energy source in the suit power down, and all the lights on the suit went out. "Alright, let's go." While they're being lifted off the ground, Malice beings to process more of the information. "What do you mean by dimensional rifts? Like actual tears in the fabric of space time?" Malice paused a moment to consider. "I don't think I have anything that could cause that. Unless... unless the explosion caused my Point Singularity rifle to be flung into the core of the Blue Light Matrix, and was fired from inside. And even that's only in theory. The rifle was meant to work on many different frequencies and wavelengths so that it could affect Insubstantial metas, like yourself. But if it mixed with the Matrix, the power source of the base, it might temporiarily gain a massive power boost, and puncture space time."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star quickly moved them to to the medical bivouac, avoiding the slowly closing ruptures, keeping a firm but solid grip on Malice.

"I honestly don't know. I see a multitude of various points, all leaking some kind of energy. A companion informs me they are dimensional rifts, tears if you will. Luckily for all of us, they are closing." He landed just outside the bivouac. "Now, please power that suit down and exit it. We still need to look at your injuries. I still have many more people to help and hopefully heal." The man might have been a villain but the man was a sentient being and Dark Star had no intention of letting anyone suffer.

[Geez3r]

Even though he surrendered himself, Malice seems quite hesitant to remove his suit. Which is sort of to be expected, he is kind of outnumbered. And even if the suit doesn't work well, it's still alot better than walking around here "naked". Malice breifly considers bolting when his cell phone rings. The ring sounds a little off, but it's amazing the thing still works under these circumstances. Malice breaks off some of the badly damaged portions of his suit over his right pocket. He digs in his pocket for moment awkwardly before pulling out his cellphone. Dark Star can see the name on the front of it "Mom". Malice gives a defeated sigh, and then bits and pieces of his armor start coming off and falling to the ground, revealing the man behind the mask, Eric Micheals.

If you had to guess, you would place him in his early 40's, but if you knew him he's only 29; this morning has not been kind. He's dressed in normal everyday attire, kakhi pants and a red polo shirt. Actually on second glance, it's a very bloody white shirt. He wears his dull red hair in a part down the center, and is a little unshaven. His body has several prominent scars, in addition to the one's he'll probably have after today. His right shoulder resembles a bit of melted wax. His eyes are of someone who has admitted defeat.

Those in the know recognize Eric Micheals as the head researcher for Darts Inc., a rather nimble weapons manufacturer. They have a reputation for having a hand in several different types of technologies, and put out products from all walks of life. It appears the reason for their ability to rapidly create products is that one of their staff has already figured them out, and is feeding them the designs. For those not in the know, he's just some schmuck you might have seen somewhere.

"Hi mom.

Oh thank God you're alright! I heard that explosion, and all the smoke looks like its coming from your neighborhood and--

Mom, stop for a second.

What is it?

I've got something to tell you. Sit down.

... I don't see--

Mom, it's going to be all over the news soon, you need to hear this from me first.

...

Mom... I'm Malice. The explosion this morning... it was my headquarters blowing up.

...

... Are you still there? ... I never meant--

*sob* *click*

[Cyroa]

Dark Star release the man, waiting for the suit to power down. He didn't recognize the man beneath the suit but he looked to be in rough shape. Dark Star moved the pieces off to one side as the man answered a cell phone of all things. But given who was on that phone, how could he not let the man take it? Dark Star stepped off to one side, turning partially away to let the villain finish his phone call. He still couldn't help but overhear the call though. He moved the various pieces of disassembled armor off to one side, putting it safely out of the way.

The phone hung up and Dark Star gave the man one moment before floating back over. "I'm sorry," he said. And he meant it. The man still had done many crimes, but that didn't mean he couldn't be treated humanely. "I...there isn't much I can say." He shrugged his shoulder just a little. "Once your injuries are taken care of, you'll be arrested I believe. Taken to trial and prison. But while you're there, please consider what you've done and all that you could do. You are obviously a genius. And your first thoughts when you regained consciousness and lucidity was not for yourself. You wanted and needed to help others despite your dire condition." He nodded and looked at the man. "To me, that says a great deal about the core of who you are. You could do such good with your knowledge and that attitude." He nodded. "I'll stand as a witness for you for that if it matters." It was the best he could do to help get the man's life back on the proper track.

"But for now, let's get those injuries looked at, alright?" He gestured towards the nearby bivouac. There was still so much to do...

[Geez3r]

For a moment Eric simply stood there, seemingly removed from the world. And then he burst out laughing uncontrollably. It was as if someone had told the world's greatest joke; Eric was doubled over with true legitimate laughter. But as Eric began to regain his composure, something... wasn't right. His laugh started to sound hollow, forced, even downright mad. With this laugh framed by the wreckage of the city, the flames reaching high into the sky rapidly turning black in midday, and the smell of ash and burnt flesh, you were lead to one inescapable conclusion; there was something wholly and truly evil about this man.

"Are you so completely caught up in your delusions of self righteousness that you cannot see what I truly am? If I am as smart and caring as you think I am, do you truly think I would be doing anything other than helping these people? 'He could do such great good if he really put his mind to it' is that what you're thinking? Wake up you damn fool! I AM doing good, and you don't even know the meaning of the word! You are a hero because people say you are. I am a villain because people say I am.

Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say, doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world--

SCREW YOU!

Make no mistake Dark Star, this is not submission or surrender. This is a promise. This is a promise, that one day in the very near future, I will repay the wrongs done to me this day a thousand fold. I will destroy all you and your kind stand for and out of the ashes, I will create a new world order! I will save these people from themselves, because I know what's best for them. Only I can truly see that plague that is killing this world. I am RIGHT, and the world is WRONG. But enough of this idle chatter. Come on hero, we have lives to save."

Eric turns to walk to the injured people, but then stops and turns back to Dark Star. "And please, remember to include that in your testimony."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Never again," Avenger agreed, glad that he'd never planned to put this particular moment in his memoirs. When Avenger had successfully stuffed a whole legion of cats into Phantom's cloak, he suggested, "Let's get out of here." As they headed out, he took a few moments to compose himself as he studied the new situation.