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Invasion! - Southside (IC)


Cyroa

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That day started like so many others in Freedom City. The sun was shining, a few light and fluffy clouds in the sky. People went about their business as usual. The day started like any other; but it certainly didn’t stay that way…

The first warning was quiet, subtle even if there wasn’t a lot of lead up time. Seers and psychics, ESPers and precogs felt like someone shoved a hot needle in their brain as the horror of what was coming crashed over them like a tidal wave. They saw the destruction of everything, the death of all life coming. And not just coming eventually; it was standing on their doorstep and knocking. The coming event and the things they saw crushed them and kept them from doing anything but try and pull themselves together.

Elsewhere:

At the base of Centurion’s statue, a young man appeared. He seemed to have arrived in mid-stride. His skins was dark reddish-brown, his eyes were black. Beyond that, he could have been human. He looked around the park, taking everyone in with his contemptuous gaze. He turned and looked up at the symbol for righteousness and all that was good in the city and sneered. He threw his hands forward and massive lances of black flame struck the statue. For an instant the statue held, before breaking off at the knees and falling backward. The tremor from the impacts was felt for hundreds of yards.

Quickly, the broken legs of the statue became darker, an ugly color of stone as they changed. An arc formed, connecting the two towering stone legs. The space between flickered changed and, with a tear that screamed into the horrified citizens, a rent in the fabric of the world opened and filled the space with a gateway. On the other side, waiting, stood rank after rank after rank of nightmares of various shapes and sizes. With a roar and scream, the demonic horde charge through the opening as their summoner leaned against a pillar and smiled coldly.

Everywhere:

Across the city, the sky darkened. This was no eclipse, there were no clouds. It was as if the sun died and went out. While it was dark, a harsh reddish glow filled the city with enough light to see. The gloom of a hellish eternal night settled over the city.

The city itself began to change. Slowly at first, starting in the city center and quickly moving outward. Grass and plants withered and died; just dead husks as the life was drained from them. Roads became pitted and cracked as if they had not been used in ages. There were splits in the earth where magma burst forth, creating new rivers of destructions. Fire burned everywhere; some just springing into being. Even the buildings and landscape were altered. Things twisted and changed; sometimes no longer even recognizable. Everything took on a dark and malicious appearance. Horrific creatures, demons of all shapes and sizes quickly appeared. Some came from the hellish glow in the city center while others came from the numerous small portals that opened everywhere.

A wave of fear, terror, hatred, sadness and hopelessness seemed to engulf the city. People shook in fear, cowered or ran. They knew in their souls the end had come and they were powerless to stop it. Nowhere was safe now. No place was untouched. The world of heroes was over. Suffering and death was all that remained. Freedom City was gone. Hell had come to Earth and it wasn’t going anywhere…

Amidst the darkness, amidst the terrified people, there were those that stood strong. Those who shook off the darkness and rose above it despite how it ate at the center of their being. They could still feel this new city/world trying to tear them down, but they were strong enough to fight through it. The world may have gone to hell, but not everyone was willing to give up and quit. Some were not going to go down without a fight…

Over in the North End, visible for miles around, a pillar of golden-white light rose to pierce the darkness. It shone like a beacon in the tainted city; a sign that not everywhere was changed; not everywhere was Fallen. It called to the hearts and souls of the terrified people. Hope wasn’t completely gone yet.

Southside:

Southside had always been one of the darker sections of Freedom City. The one most inflicted with crime, poverty and suffering. It was like an all-you-can-eat buffet as far as the demonic hordes were concerned and it drew them like moths to a flame. Likewise, here the city changed first and fastest. The whole city had become dangerous and overwhelming, but here in the Southside it was especially bad.

For heroes like Wesley Knight, Ironhide, Leon Mighty, and Arrowhawk it had been a place where they, or people like them, had fought the darker impulses of humanity for years. Now those things had come home in spades. The entire area had changed in a matter of moments from a criminal infused slum to party central for demons; a home away from home. Buildings twisted and warped almost instantly, changing to terrifying and disturbing in appearance. Stone spikes rose from the ground scattered around the area. Cracks rent the streets; a faint red glow showing through. For those who dwelled in or happened to be in this part of the city, it had become a hellish trap as help and salvations was a long way off.

People ran or cowered in terror, panicking as numerous demonic entities roamed freely in their new playground. Their spirits were being crushed and eroded with alarming speed and ease. To make matter worse, some of the more dastardly citizens of the area were looking a little reddish themselves, with longer fingernails and teeth than they had before.

There was little hope left in this area of the city, even before today. The more stalwart, clueful and experienced among them knew it was only a matter of time before this new area dragged them down. And that time was very fleeting.

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Arrowhawk was heading home after a long night's work. Then it happened. As the area started changing, he quickly ran and leapt, climbing a small building using his grappling hook. A crack spiralled down the street and started rending up the building. He was forced to roll as the stonework started warping into disgusting forms, jumping quickly as a series of spikes started erupting from the roof.

Somehow, among the panic, he got to his bike in an alleyway, screeching out of it and weaving among the rapidly warping streets. Oh no. Oh, hell no. This is big. Goddammit, this is why I should've been a mage. He could see... creatures appearing in the streets. Divided... we fall. He raised a finger to the commlink in his ear. He could hear a lot of static. "Knights of Freedom... well... ex-Knights... can anyone receive me? This is Arrowhawk. Requesting meet-up, this looks bad." He stopped and froze dead as he heard a piercing scream. "Goddammit, we know this is too big to let our squabbling get in the way. Someone, RESPOND! GODDAMMIT, RESPOND!"

He thought he could see some of the creatures at the end of the street, bringing his bike to a screeching halt. He drew his bow. "It's only just beginning..." he said to nobody in particular.

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It has been a good week for Wesley. Business is good at Knight's Ink, with a few regular customers. He and Lynn had been split for over a month and he recently forgave himself for driving the relation into the ground. After almost two months of the Knights being split up, he is thinking about getting back into the hero business. Maybe with a costume and mask even. Speaking of the Knights... his communicator is beeping? It's Arrowhawk and it sounds like he's in trouble. As Wesley cautiously reaches for the commlink, Arrowhawk issues his demand. Wesley quickly answers. "Arrowhawk, Knight here," he says as he walks toward a nearby window. And that's when he sees it: Panic, everywhere... And the whole world going to Hell.

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Ace heard the plea and knew there was little he could do, Southside was pretty much as far from the relitive saftey of the manor that one could get and still be in the city.

His reply was broken by the static of the demonic energies waring with the com systems, "Ace here, I have a haven set up for casualties, but we're pretty far away, I'll try to direct any other distress calls from down there to your frequency, but the whole city's going under so I can't make any promises." He was grim and he knew it would take every ounce of Arrowhawks ingenuity to pull together a defense down there but there was hardly a better man for the job.

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We need to evacuate this place. Goddammit, I don't do things like this. I'm going to need more people. Maybe if we commandeer lorries and buses... But how do we get a convoy through an army of demons? Goddammit, even those couple of times with Rhymer never got this bad. "Ok. Send everyone available, Ace. I think I have a plan, but I'll need more people to pull it off. I'll also need you to direct me to any companies in Southside who'd have lorries... trucks, or buses."

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Dark Star was more than a little concerned. Not for himself, but for the city and its people. There was simply too much to do and not enough hands to do the work. He wasn't exactly close to Southside, but distance was relative for him anyway; or it would be if he wasn't diverting most of his power to help transport people. At the moment, he was quite literally buried in demons as they tried, ineffectively, to hurt him. He blasted away but they just kept coming.

"Arrowhawk. Dark Star here. I'm somewhat swamped and using everything I have. I can offer some assistance but I can't stay. The situation is just... there too much. I'm ferrying people from all over the city but I can't be everywhere. I can do a strafing run of some kind for you as required or possibly open up a minor wormhole to just outside Ace's haven but it would only last a few minutes." Even as he spoke, he was moving away from the group of demons and trying to grab up as many innocents as he could. There were just too many places to be. He couldn't devote all his time and energy to just one place. He had too much to do...

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Leon was calmly walking on the street, he started to get know more about the Freedom City and he learned to get used to super-powered being in this city. He have tried to find more clues about Dr Sin but he don't have much success with it. When the surrounding area start to change, he could feel the uneasy feeling about it. From far away from him, he could see how the people is running away from demons. It feel like it is the end of the world and it become hopeless to fight against it. But deep inside his heart told him to not to give up and fight hard so that you could create miracle. He closed his eyes as he take a big breath. He focused his spirit and cleansed his fear until he breath out and open his eyes. He slowly walking on the street to face the demons. He don't want those demons think that they can toy with humans and crushing people's hope.

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"Hmm...I could do twenty, twenty-five feet across. But I'll likely only be able to hold it for 30 seconds. Maybe a minute on the far outside. Not going to have a lot of energy left for that kind of thing." He sighed. "It takes a lot of focus. But when you need me, call. I'll try and get there as fast as I can. Out."

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Arrowhawk watched as the demons grew in numbers. They seemed to laugh as they began to chase people. They grabbed up the defenseless people carrying them to formerly graffiti filled park, a gang hangout usually. There, he could just make out a massive black stone pit. The captives were tossed unceremoniously downward before the infernal creatures would turn and return to their collecting. Oddly enough, there were plenty of people the demons didn't even bother with. They just walked right by them. Of course, these didn't seem nearly as terrified as most people. These were the ones who seemed to be...different, changing. How far they would change was up to debate, if someone wanted to take the time that is. The demons didn't, busy collecting.

Just like the one chasing a couple down the alley right near/below Arrowhawk. They had no chance of escaping. Just like everyone else in the Fallen City.

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Wants to be scary now, does he? We'll see about that, shall we? Arrowhawk fired his grappling gun and swung down into the alleyway between the couple and the demon, cape billowing in the shape of a vast bird of prey, his cowl's crimson glare blazing in the dim alleyway, a snarl etched across his lips.

"Get out of my city, sunshine, before I blow you out of it via next week," he growled in a low voice, fists clenching as he tensed his whole body to defend from the inevitable rebuffal.

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"You think you can invade Earth's superhuman central, yet you call us stupid?" countered Arrowhawk, hand darting down and pulling a metal rod from his belt. That... thing is clearly on our side. And I need all I can get. He spun quickly in a circle, rod clicking into a metal staff just inches before it collided with the side of the demon's head with a resounding thud.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

The more the giant beast misses the more it fuels it's rage. Though the arrow bouncing off of the demon's chest evokes a feeling of confusion. Could they even hurt the being from Hell? Even if they stopped this one, what of the others? The great beast puts the feelings of doubt behind him and tries to chow down on the demon's head again.

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