Save the Girlfriend, Save the World (IC)

[Raveled]

GM

As Crow stepped forward, he felt a hand press against his chest and stop him. A moment later the air shimmered and Brannagh stepped into view from whatever concealing veil he'd been hiding behind. He smiled at the hero, shaking his head slowly. "Crow, Crow, Crow. Can't you see how happy your woman is here? Why can't you just leave her be?"

---

Up on stage, Wisp saw several of the students raise their hands. Before she could answer any of them, the doors at the rear of the auditorium banged open. The heroine raised her gaze to see what was happening and her heart almost froze in her chest. There, standing in the doorway, was Overshadow, villain of a thousand television shows when Victoria had been growing up and one of the world's most heinous villains, back in the day. Now here he was again! Her father apparently recognized the danger here as he stepped out of the shadows and flung his arms out to bar the villain's path.

[Semi-Autogyro]

As soon as Brannagh appeared, Johns' weapon snapped upward instantly. The iron sights of the weapon were aimed dead center in the leering face, right below his left eye.

"Crow, Crow, Crow. Can't you see how happy your woman is here? Why can't you just leave her be?"

John grimaced under his mask, sorely tempted to show him what the color of his gray matter was. But if he was to shoot him, it might pass through and hit Miss Victoria. He checked on her for a half second, and noted that she seemed to be in dumbfounded shock. That was a strange reaction for Crow just breaking the threshold of the room and Brannagh appearing...

[Azuth65]

Vicky, watching her father stand between the students and Overshadow, felt her heart lurch in her chest. Wasting no time, she called up her power and interposed herself between him and the armored villain, landing softly in a quickly dissipating cloud of white and red smoke. "Sorry, no room for megalomaniacs today Overshadow! Try the next lecture," she yelled before delivering a left hook across his helmeted face, her knuckles ringing with the connection.

[Raveled]

GM

As Wisp laid into "Overshadow," she got a shock. Up close the image of the villain seemed almost transparent, and she could clearly see Crow in there! She backed up and looked at her 'dad,' now seeing him as a stocky, raven-haired man in archaic clothes. The entire auditorium melted away, revealing the space to be a high-ceilinged... temple? A very Greek place anyway, with lots of white stone and fluted columns. While she was still getting her bearings, Brannagh stepped away from the group and gave Crow a mocking bow. "Next time, champion," he called out, pulling his veil back in place and disappearing.

[Quinn]

Crow took the blow clean, her fist connecting with an impact that rattled his teeth. He shot Branagh a look that would've melted lead as the fae vanished, and took stock of Wisp's expression as she realized she'd just clocked her boyfriend. Several different emotions ran through his head as he looked at her, but it all condensed into one thing. Crow leapt forward into a bonecracking hug as he squeezed Vickie as tight as he could, thanking whatever deities were looking over them his hood and bandanna covered his face. Didn't say anything, just hugged. And thought several thoughts of what very painful and anatomically impossible things he was going to do to Branagh when he got his hands on him.

[Semi-Autogyro]

John analyzed the situation as thus: 1) Miss Victoria no longer controlled. 2) Brannagh was escaping or going to strike from invisibility. 3) Room full of fae, who may or may not be battle capable.

The response needed was this: 1) Slow or Stop pursuers. 2) Ensure extraction. 3) Send a personal message.

Ten Myrmidons phased into existence by the entrance, a heavy launcher braced on their shoulders.

He commanded them with a thought, -- Demolitions, Attack Pattern Kilo Seven Bravo.-- They responded in kind: -- Copy that, Sir. --

They entered the room in sync, each firing simultaneous strikes on the various columns, supports and ceiling. Where the projectiles hit, they bit into the rock and started vibrating - the sound audible enough to hear.

A pair impacted the ceiling above the assembled fae as the original Myrmidon yelled out to Mister Morgan and Miss Wisp. "We need to extract now!"

[Azuth65]

Wisp looked at her hand and the bit of blood leaking from her boyfriend's lip, the cognitive dissonance of the unraveling illusion and the sudden rush of reality around her leaving her speechless. When Crow wrapped his arms around her, she acted purely on instinct and held him back before gently kissing him, silently showing her appreciation.

She had no idea what was going on or where they were but the simple fact someone had made her act in such a way as to hit Morgan, the answers couldn't have been good. And her vengeance would be swift and terrible...

Just as she broke the kiss, the first of John's salvos began striking the structure they stood on. "Well, this is bad... Everyone out now."

[Raveled]

GM

Crow, Wisp, and the Myrmidons fled the temple as it collapsed around them, the pillars snapping like dry wood as the roof caved in. Even once most of the structure was on the ground, though, the pieces continued to grind against each other, wearing themselves away until nothing was left but a flat plot of dirt was left. The group didn't stop to examine it however, making their way through the town and back to the open portal.

When they made it to the square, a feeling of relief swept over them. Glowstar was still in position above the portal, arms crossed over his body, facing away from them. After a moment they realized that he wasn't just floating there -- he was encased in a solid block of nearly transparent ice. The feeling of unease sharpened when a beautiful woman in a period dress stepped out from behind a nearby column. She gave the group of heroes a flat, angry look. "You force your way into my realm, incapacitate my soldiers, destroy my temple, and think you can just leave? Pitiful mortals, I shall freeze you into ice, as I have already done to your gate keeper, and display you with my statues!"

[groove]25110067[/groove]

[Quinn]

Crow's response to her arrival was abrupt, highly inappropriate, and extremely descriptive.

"Bitch!"

Two runes on his coat, one on the shoulder and one on his coat cuff, smoked and burned as he swore. Without warning, the rookie hero vanished in the blink of an eye, reappearing above the Lady with his foot wreathed in earth energies. The steel-shod boot slammed into the back of her head, striking with a resounding impact.

"Myrmidon, get Glowstar! Wisp, hit her low!"

[Azuth65]

Wisp didn't waste a second, her hands balled into fists. In a minute of utter clarity, time seemed to slow down around her. She could all but feel Morgan's runes activate, almost hear John's duplicates breathing. She felt an odd pressure start at her heart and spread down her arms. With a crackle, a wave of midnight black energy rushed out of her hands and struck the sorceress in the stomach. Okay..., that was cool. How'd I do that?

Aloud her shout was much simpler, "Suck it Jabroni!"

[Raveled]

GM

Both Wisp's energized blast and Crow's empowered foot encountered a barrier a few inches away from the sorceress, dissipating harmlessly. She smiled cruelly and turned on the runemaster. "Little mortal champion. When last we met, you saw my mastery over the elements of your world. Now feel my power, in my own home!" She gestured at Crow and the teen hero could suddenly feel his lungs fill with water, cutting off his air!

[Semi-Autogyro]

Ignoring the Fae woman, Myrmidon set his sights on getting Glowstar back into the fight and reopening their exit.

-- Extraction, Target Golf-1 & Demolitions. I want that Ice Barrier gone." --

A chorus of copy that echoed in his mind. Myrmidon and his duplicates surged toward their objective in sync, weapons shifting to something that looked like an over-sized staple gun in hand.

Once in position, eleven lancing beams of white-hot energy shot out, searing into the ice.

[Raveled]

The thermal energy lanced out from the three Myrmidons, melting the cold bonds that held Glowstar imprisoned. The ice block melted with gratifying speed, and in no time at all the Terminus-powered teen burst free, force field flaring with anger! With a cry he turned on the sorceress and let loose with blast after blast, which arced through the air only to impact on the fae's own force field harmlessly. She turned her smile on him for a moment and said, "I'll be with you again in a moment, dearie."

[Quinn]

Crow appeared in front of the lady, his expression the same as what Glowstar and Myrmidon had seen when he broke the mirror back at Claremont; and spoke in a very flat, cold voice. To Wisp and Myrmidon, it sounded awfully reminiscent to the voice that had emerged from a murder of crows that they'd seen once before.

"Be silent."

A plate-covered fist slammed into the fae witch's gut, driven through by sheer force while wreathed in ghostly, ethereal energies. As the heroes looked on, these energies lashed into her, carving away at her defenses like a knife through butter.

[Azuth65]

Wisp watched with a bit of sadistic glee seeing the woman who had arranged for kidnapping have her defenses cut into so effectively. The cold voice not unlike Morgan's mother, rather than send a shiver of fear down her spine like it normally would have, filled her with confidence. Building on these emotions, Wisp called up her powers and vanished in her white and red smoke, a burst appearing next to Crow.

Wisp's fist lashed out like a rocket, pummeling the sorceress in the back of the head. "Say another word and I'll push your teeth in," she snarled, her voice close to but not as divinely cold as her boyfriend's.

[Raveled]

GM

Crow's rune-enhanced fist cut through the Lady's defenses, striking her in the belly and sending waves of disruptive energy through her body. Before she could recover Wisp appeared behind her and struck, shattering her force shield again. The sorceress stumbled away from the heroes, glaring at them angrily. "You have made a grave error," she said. "You stalk into MY realm and attempt to defeat ME!?" The fae sank into the ground suddenly, and for a moment it looked like they had driven her off. Then the sky above them began to churn angrily. A hard rain came out of nowhere, pounding on the flagstones hard enough to make the heroes flinch -- and that was before the hail started.

Glowstar looked up, the weather bouncing off his force field, and noticed the lightning crawling from storm cloud to storm cloud. He glanced back at his friends and gestured at the portal. "I think it's time to leave," he shouted, raising his voice over the sound of the growing storm.

[Semi-Autogyro]

The ominous lightning-filled skies reflected off all the Myrmidon's face-plates, the sound of rain and hail bouncing off their body armor. One of them pointed at the portal. "I concur. We have met our objectives," shouting so that he could be heard over the storm. That one then turned to the duplicates, the strength of the storm doing little to interfere with communication with his psi soldiers.

-- Move out. Demolitions charge on the exit. --

The others complied without a word, all of them working on a shaped charge directed to cause the area to collapse inward on the portal after they had left. Once done they fell back through the portal to Parkhurst, one Myrmidon holding a remote detonator switch in hand. He activated it while Crow closed the portal on their end, making sure the explosion was contained solely on the other side. Muted booming noises could be heard as the portal winked out of existence.

The duplicates faded out shortly thereafter, as John removed his helmet.

[Quinn]

The second he saw lightning flash, Crow swept Wisp into his arms and was through the portal, noting with a great deal of glee what Myrmidon's dupes were up to. They'd leave their mark here, that's for sure; you don't mess with Claremont, and you don't mess with...for a sec, he blinked, and recalled a conversation he and Wisp had had about a team-up a few weeks back. If what they'd pulled here was any indicator, that idea was looking more and more appealing.

And then, when he thought of what they'd just pulled off, the gravity of what they'd just pulled off hit him with all the gentleness of a runaway cement truck. Over the bandanna, his eyes went rather wide, and he sank down to the floor (after retaining the presence of mind to put Wisp back on her feet), and just sat there, staring at the closed portal. And then he spoke in a rather weak voice, all the fearsome presence and heightened emotions drained out of him once the need for them was ended.

"Uh...guys...did we just do what I think we did?"

[Azuth65]

Being carried across the reality threshold by Morgan, Vicky's mind reeled. She barely had time to notice Myrmidon and his duplicates setting their charges to cover their escape. When they were back in the real world and he'd set her back to her feet, it didn't take long for her to take a seat next to her boyfriend. "I-I think we did. You guys stormed the castle, rescued the hostage," Looking around she met her friends' eyes, "Thanks by the way, we got back to the exit, beat up what could be considered a demi-god, and all got to live to tell the tale. We. Are. Awesome! This calls for a celebration."

[Raveled]

Glowstar barreled through the portal with his friends. Going through a horizontal surface and exiting a vertical one messed with his perspective and he ended up crashing against the floor, but even with that couldn't dampen his spirits. The young man rolled to his feet and danced around the small room, punching the air like a prizefighter. "Oh, man! Yeah! Go after the lady, punch the bad guy in the nose, and get home just ahead of the storm! We are so fricking huge heroes! Ha ha!" He sat suddenly, the surge of adrenaline draining out of him and leaving the teen's legs feeling like they were jello. "Oh, man. I am gonna go back to Claremont and sleep for, like, a week. How about you -- huh. Hey, Morgan, should that be happening?" He pointed at the circle of runes surrounding the portal (or rather, where the portal should have been); they were smoking badly, several of them eliciting small flames from the hardwood floor.

[Quinn]

A bucket of water appeared over the flaming runes, dousing them with multiple barrages of wet fury. Crow shrugged, then looked up and murmured a thank-you to the Parkhurst Ghosts. Tilting his head for a bit, he pulled down his bandanna, showing a very wide, gleeful grin.

"Forget sleeping, I'm hitting the cafeteria. Branagh wrecked my breakfast, and he sure as heck isn't going to wreck my...lunch..."

He blinked, and the gleeful grin was replaced by one of absolute terror.

"Uh...guys...we missed breakfast. And class. We skipped class."

The room went deathly quiet as the implications of that sank in, particularly when they collectively realized who was going to be investigating why the group missed class.

"...We're doomed."

[Semi-Autogyro]

John didn't notice it at first, being slightly distracted by recent events. The adrenalin coursing through his system did not help at all either, his body running on autopilot as he made sure the others had only minor injuries.

"Uh...guys...we missed breakfast. And class. We skipped class."

"...We're doomed."

Class? I don't have classes. John thought. They were still hammering out what to enroll him in, since he didn't exactly have a formal education. The mental light bulb clicked on when he had realized what he missed. Mister Summers had wanted to talk to him about the possibility of having a roommate, at 0930 in his office. He looked at his watch numbly, the digital display showing the horrible truth.

The silence was shattered as his helmet slipped out of his grip in shock, thunking hollowly twice as it bounced on the hard floor.

"Oh." was the weighty utterance, a look of genuine apprehension on his face.