ic World Tour: Welcome to the Real World [IC]

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar's mouth was a thin line as he listened. When the plane lurched, he spread his feet out and planted himself in place. For several long moments, he was silent, his face frustrated. Until suddenly, hope dawned on his features.

"I can make things. Fairly big things. Tell me what to make, I'll strap it on this plane, and we'll damn well steer it home. But I can't jump out there to see everything on my own....Sage!"

The last word was hollered back over his shoulder even as he braced himself in the cockpit, ethereal blue fire beginning to flow over his form. He was almost like Samson in his last moments; the only difference was, he was working to save lives, not take them. But the effort would be similar. Thankfully, Sage was almost immediately in the cockpit.

--If you can get me an idea of what the rest of the plane looks like in real time, and keep letting me know, that would be wonderful. And hang on tight.--

His teammate seemed to almost anticipate his request, and he quickly was linked up with Sage and the crew, getting an excellent view of the whole plane.

As the pilot spoke, Cobalt Templar surged his powers outward, slowly but carefully crafting what the pilot instructed him to. The strain was visible, but he held his ground, sweat beginning to trickle down his face, only to sizzle away softly as his body heated up from the power he was channeling. He developed a rather noticeable headache, but refused to think about it. His body hunched a bit more, and metal groaned around him as he put slight dents in the floor.

'I can do this! I'm a hero! I'm part of Young Freedom! I can save these people! No one dies today!'

Through gritted teeth, his muscles creaking in tune with the stress of the plane, he roared his defiance as the ocean raced closer.

"No one dies today! Not here, not now!"

[Avenger Assembled]

With a roar and a scream, the jet pulled itself out of the fall, the psychic union of Sage and Cobalt Templar letting them both simultaneously see and control everything about the jet as the two of them pulled the falling jetliner out of its deadly spin by sheer force of will! There was a hard bump as gravity returned and everyone found themselves walking on the floors again, and Citizen took that moment to try his luck with the controls. He shook his head after a moment, pulling his hand out of the way. "These are completely fried. Damn, she must have blown out every circuit in the plane." For a second, just a second, Sharl was impressed, until with a guilty shudder he remember what had nearly happened, and what this would have done to Tronik.

"Where's the nearest, uh, landing pad? I mean, airport?" he asked the pilots, who were watching awed as blue wrapped over the plane and its control surfaces like glowing cold fire.

"Santa Maria in the Azores," replied the pilot after a moment's thought. "But no, it'll be impossible to find that without the GPS. Head for the mainland," he said, "and we can talk you into towards Rabat in Morocco."

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin's strain was easily visible, the largest sign being his armor fading away, reducing him to only his "under-suit" and his mask. His eyes were constantly shut, and he rarely spoke, uttering only short sentences to make sure he understood how to course-correct the plane. On they flew, feet swiftly becoming miles, which in turned flowed into hundreds of miles. All the while, Corbin stood, hands and feet planted against the plane. There he stood, holding the lives of so many in his hands, holding them up on his broad shoulders, and most of all keeping them safe with his unbreakable will.

Nonetheless, he was not immune to the strain. Perhaps 10 minutes in, he'd developed a harsh headache, one he hoped Eve wasn't catching the full brunt of through their link. He'd been sweating the whole time, and had needed sips of water a few times. And lately, his face and shoulders had been feeling unusually sticky, beyond what he'd have thought sweat would bring on.

The reason, of course, was that he wasn't just sweating, he was sweating blood from his head, neck, and shoulders. His white t-shirt, buried under his regular costume, was utterly ruined. Not that it would really matter to the implacable teenager; he had a job to do. His head lifted up to look at the pilot and co-pilot, his eyes slowly tearing themselves open through his exhaustion. His voice was hoarse, the strain clearly having affected even his vocal cords.

"How....long? Until we land, that is. I mean, I've got as much stamina as the next guy, but my arms are getting tired from flapping so much."

His weak smile and weaker humor betrayed his exhaustion, and the question itself betrayed his desperation. How much longer could the boy hold on?

[Avenger Assembled]

After long hours in the air on a dead airplane, steered by the sheer main force of Cobalt Templar's ring and Sage's psychic connection, their plane finally made a hair-raising landing on the ground in Rabat, Sage's telekinesis going underneath to drive open the landing gear. The plane itself was shot and the passengers glad to depart, crew and passengers both making sure to thank the teenage heroes who had done so much to save their lives! Citizen took their thanks, and was grateful for it, but he was worried all the same. As soon as he could, while Sage was helping get care for the unconscious Cobalt Templar, he changed back to his civilian ID and zipped himself back to Miss Americana's laboratory to tell her what had happened.

It was an hour later, after Cobalt Templar had woken up and everyone had been attended to, that he reappeared in the airport, cautiously carrying his bags under his arm as he headed for the emergency flight that would take them all the rest of the way to India. They'd be in first class again, but this time, they didn't have to worry about the school's budget when it came to their entertainment on board. As of an official word of the airline's president, emailed to him while he was with Miss A, the three young heroes had free flights on Delta from now on. He looked around for his allies as he went, worried about the questions he was sure they'd ask.

[KnightDisciple]

As soon as they'd stopped moving, Cobalt Templar had gone unconscious. It had taken him a minute to slump to the floor, though, considering his hands and feet were almost embedded in the plane by that point. Still, beyond the general stress (exemplified by his bloodied shirt, which he promptly disposed of when he awoke), he seemed generally alright, if out cold. Unfortunately for Sage, he didn't get any lighter when she dragged him along.

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He was walking in the direction of their next flight, freshly showered and changed, as he talked to Eve.

"-think it's a nice perk. Yeah, neither of us needs free tickets, but still."

He frowned lightly and fiddled with his ring a bit.

"Have to say, ever since I woke up, something's felt...I dunno. Different. When we have the time, I might have to go through some drills, make sure the ring's still working right and all. I don't think it's out and out broke, but I didn't just strain myself back there, I strained it, too."