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Vanguard#1- The Inevitable, The Inexorable...


Ari

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GM

The whirling mass of compacted air drawn together by magic blew open the hidden ceiling with a tremendous roar and a spray of mud and shattered concrete, revealing a broad, shallow room a short distance from the elevator, a large cannon-like device sitting amidst the splashes of muddy rubble in the beams of the blazing Venezuelan sun, thick power cables running from it into roughly circular holes in the wall. Several uniformed people were lying unconscious under the same rubble in pools of muddy water, surrounding the cannon with various electrical tools gripped in their hands.

Dr. Green stared quietly at Stormbreaker for a moment, his lips moving briefly as he muttered "Every time. Every. Time. It was inevitable, I suppose" before turning to inhumanly lean and tall grey-skinned woman beside him "Time for a retreat, Kaiser. You-" "Stay here and keep them from catching up? Will do." she interrupted crisply, nodding and stepping forward to block the way behind her, which Dr. Green dashed through towards a distant, insistent hum and a faint green glow.

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GM

"Now then, first things first. Let's try something a little tougher than those walls, preferably something that would have cost about twenty times what that hackwork cost Green."

Stepping forward into the edge of the pool of light, Kaiser abruptly slammed one of her hands into the ground, causing an eruption of earth from under her feet, a bulwark of black, volcanic stone suddenly shooting out of the ground and flowing with liquid movements that soon had flooded every crack of the passage behind her. Dusting off her grey hands and flashing a smile at the dragon floating above, Kaiser dashed forward over to the cannon, quickly beginning to tap away at the buttons. The inputs were apparently beginning of a start-up sequence, as a slow build of power could be sensed by both of the heroes: a humming noise growing in volume, and a surge of electricity at the edge of Voltage's mind.

The metal man inside, meanwhile, gave a bull-like roar and slammed his head into the wall right next to the electric man's face, plowing into the wall with an explosion of concrete shards. His muffled curses broke out with violence.

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Voltage narrowly dodged his foe's headbutt as he backed up, energy coursed through his body as his anger rose. This guy was taking everything he had, and still coming despite it. Voltage was going to have to get desperate soon if his foe did not relent.

He teleported away as silver current flowed backwards and upwards. Reforming in mid air, he glared down at his enemy, who despite the damage was still coming. He clasped his hands and separated them, letting the electricity flow between them. He did as he did every time; he calculated the angles, carefully measured the current, made sure it wasn't even remotely off, a slight variation could prove harmful, if not lethal, to his target. He never under-estimated or over-estimated the force he would need. He was just that good.

The bolt found it's target and lit him up, sending the current flowing through his body, doubtlessly doing at least a little harm, hopefully knocking him out. When Voltage saw he was still up, he cursed under his breath.

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Silvia was already in motion when her quarry starts to run, but too slow; the wall is already up, and she's seen teleporters on more than one occasion. Odds are, that scientist is gone.

Which makes things simple.

She turns to the woman who made the wall in the first place and raises a single finger, pointing at the console she's operating. She can't sell the weapon, and control panels are cheap. At best, she might be able to sell its power core, but even that's not going to be enough to break even after the damages to her ship, so right about now, she doesn't particularly care about damage to the gear. Instead, she gathers the same tiny bullet of air and wills it forward, tearing towards the control panel.

"You may deal with me." She draws her sword.

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GM

With a sharp whine the compacted mass of air, bound together by the main will and power of the dragon, slammed into the input panel, bursting and shattering the metal into a shower of steel fragments, levers, and bits of plastic buttons that showered the face of the inhumanly towering woman, who stared at the damage that had been done underneath the ergonomically-correct controls. It was extensive, the wires shredded and connectors smashed.

"...Okay then. I suppose that means..." Kaiser turned to face Stormbreaker with a crown of extra arms sprouting from her head "I'll have to try something more sensible than shooting you with the giant cannon." the arms suddenly joined hands in a knot of flesh and bone, and with a rumble from below a stone arm and hand with seven fingers erupted out of the ground, its two thumbs curling around the space swashbuckler's waist while the earth sprayed up into the air!

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Voltage's eyes narrowed, his foe was clearly hurt, but not down. He couldn't risk allowing the brute to resume fighting, he was dangerous, too dangerous.

Current flowed through his body, lighting his entire body up. Using this much power was always a bit risky, but he calculated everything properly. It would throw his aim off a bit, but the extra power should help a lot.

He was glowing, a white hot aura flared around him, that was new. His vision shifted for a moment, brightening the area around him as if his eyes were glowing.

A flash of pain coursed through his arms as the faint smell of ozone filled the air. A crack of thunder filled the air as the current struck home, sending his target staggering back and, finally, down.

That was new, his powers had never hurt before. He shunted that thought aside to concentrate on the battle at hand. He'd have to perform tests later.

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Mortals think in such two-dimensional terms.

As the earthen hand rises from the ground, Silvia simply floats up, out of its grasp, into the air. Then, she extends her arm, blade stretched out to her side; a slow, still moment, but all the while the pressure is building up behind her, then, in a flash, she's across the room, a single cut faster than the eye can see. But something's odd; there was no resistance, and her blade is clean. She looks over her shoulder and sees her foe, unharmed. She may not be able to think in three dimensions, but it appears she can account for unnatural speed, and the captain just blatantly telegraphed her movement.

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GM

"You know, you could always just slow down a bit when doing moves like that." the grey-skinned woman commented helpfully, the crown of arms contorting once again in eye-watering movements as a sphere of rock lifted out of the ground next to her, the broken concrete nearby sliding into and around it until the volcanic rock had a smooth grey shell. Spinning it in the air for a split second, the arms hefted the weight before the crown lashed out at the dragon, sending the artificial boulder slamming directly into her!

The metal man toppled to the ground with a clang that thundered through the building, and then the change began.

Before he had quite stopped his last feeble movements and succumbed to unconsciousness, the creature of metal had become one of flesh, a naked man who looked only a few years older than Thomas himself. By his skin and hair he seemed to be from the area, and though fit he definitely wasn't well-fed.

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Just as Voltage caught his breath, he felt something...twitch. Something unstable in his powers. He felt current unlike anything he had felt before flow through him. It danced, harmlessly, off of everything around him, sending silver arcs around him. The room lit up around him. He could see the current dancing over his body, jumping between his fingertips. He felt like a hyperactive child. Loaded with more energy than he'd ever had, and needed an outlet for it.

Luckily, he had just the thing.

He concentrated on his target, feeling out the air, finding the path of least resistance. For a moment his ears rung as the sheer sound of the expanding air filled them. The whole world went white for a second.

Then, all that energy, all that power, was gone. He felt tired again. His breath was ragged and he bent over, hands on his knees. That took a lot out of him, but at least his foe was...

"Son of a..." He muttered under his breath.

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As soon as the captain stops, a boulder rocks her, bashing her left shoulder and leaving that entire side throbbing. Mail doesn't seem to help overmuch against large boulders, it seems; it's alright, though. She didn't keep anything important over there anyways.

She straightens from her crouch, not letting show that the wound even affects her. "Very well," she replies. "Then let us take this slowly." She closes her eyes, hearing all around her, tracking it without need for sight. She hears the next boulder coming and does a pirouette, turning to face her attacker. Step, step, and she bends like a reed, another rock going right past her. A few more steps and she turns aside, her movements seeming almost casual as she makes her way forward until finally, she reaches. One lunge, but it's a feint; another step, and she whips her sword across her opponent's body, slicing from hip to shoulder.

"Perhaps this is more your pace?" she asks, eyes still shut.

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GM

"Yeah, that's m-gragh!"

The sword slash tore cleanly through the many-armed woman with a sound like ripping paper, taking her completely by surprise and freezing an expression of shock and anger onto her face, Kaiser gripping that smooth gash stretching across her torso with for a moment before turning savage eyes onto the dragon.

With a growl she staggered to her knees onto the muddy grass, just in time for Voltage's dart of lightning to blast inches over her head, leaving a trail of ozone hanging in the air. Closing her eyes the terrakinetic struggled briefly to get to her feet, but clearly the wound was, for the moment, enough to keep her from striking back at the two heroes.

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As her foe starts to recover, Silvia delivers a swift kick to the gut to keep her off-balance, but she'd underestimated her opponent; Kaiser takes the kick without issue and grabs her leg, throwing her off-balance in turn and beginning a counterassault, Stormbreaker on the defensive. "Not... bad..." she manages to get out between barely-dodged punches from the flurry of arms until she's forced to withdraw as she forces the air out from behind herself,the vacuum pulling her away, lifting her off her feet.

And, if only for a moment, leaving her open.

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GM

The kick did no harm on its own, but it did trigger a jolt through the grey form of Kaiser who leaped to her feet with a furious snarl, the hands that crowned her head grabbing into the earth around her and swirling around in a flurry of rock and steel-like skin! The long blades of volcanic stone that she pulled through the ground and into the air scythed viciously, two arms cracking straight into Voltage's weakening body and leaving painful bruises, another hissing viciously into Stormbreaker's side with an ominous stab of pain.

"You'll pay for that, swordswoman! If Green didn't want you alive..." her words degenerated into mutters and snarls as she stood once again to her full height, the muddy and debris-strewn earth twisting around her ominously.

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Voltage growled to himself, and felt the energy surge within him again. He channeled the power into his hands and ignored that strange feeling that once again washed over him.

Silvery current coursed through the air and struck the target dead center. Without hesitating, he concentrated again, and blasted another current right dead center at his foe again.

How much would it take?

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GM

Short, sizzling arcs of electricity hissed and crackled around the towering creature, only for it to dissipate and disperse into the ground harmlessly with puffs of smoke. Rearing up with a triumphant smile, Kaiser drew back an arm and sighted down at the lightning-thrower, with a sudden lashing motion hurling a fist straight at the Voltage, her crown of arms relaxed and their hands unclasped.

As the monstrously-extending arm sailed towards her heroic target, the terrakinetic shouted exultantly "Ha! You can't really hurt someone as grounded as me! My footing is impossible to shift!" slamming a foot down...and slipping on the mud, her leg almost sliding out from under her as she jerked and flailed to keep her balance, a bizarre sight as her crown lashed about trying to get her equilibrium back. Her punchy sailed wide, and drove into the hospital behind the young genius with a burst of concrete dust. In that moment she was perfectly open for an attack.

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The debris flying all around has battered the still-airborne captain, sending her rolling into the air until now, when she smashes into the ground, but she recovers. One bounce, then she lands on her feet and one hand, sword clattering away from her grasp, but that will not be a problem. She glares at her enemy, eyes cold and positively reptilian and she doesn't even wait until she's entirely regained her balance before readying the next attack. This is not a time for words, nor for subtlety. This was time to end it.

She takes a deep breath, filling her lungs to bursting, then loosing the mass of air like a cannon, the roar deafening as it tears past everything in its way, straight through Kaiser and heedless of anything else it may come across after.

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GM

The cannonade of scything wind went howling through the weaker airs, carrying in its passage a riot of debris. It tore into the grey creature with unrelenting force, slashing long gashes that weakened the bizarre stony body right before the core of the dragon's blast struck Kaiser in the chest with a sharp *WHUD*. She was flung clear into the forest by the mass of wind, her arms and legs flung forward as she was flung back, splintering a tree as she smashed into it.

In the small pile of broken wood and leaves, the grey body began, before the heroes' eyes, to shrink. The arms slid gradually into her head, healing the long gashes and visible electrical burns. After a full minute an ordinary woman lay unconscious there, with not even a mark from the battle on her.

When Kaiser was knocked out, the wall that had been erected to stop them from chasing Dr. Green crumbled and collapsed, revealing the archaic-looking platform and half-circle in which a small sphere of energy flickered over a small panel of controls. Chasing after Green using his own technology was unfortunately out of the question right then, as the controls had been melted into slag, and the circle broken enough that the sphere wavered dangerously.

Leading in the other direction, towards the hospital were other passages leading to a few more rooms. Most of them places where large containers had been stored, and a well-lit examining room hung with x-rays and sketches of simply inhuman physiology.

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"He evaded me again!" Voltage roared. He glanced over at his temporary ally. "I've dealt with him before. He's insane. He's got this strange god complex. To think he's gotten all of this technology now. He has to be stopped. I don't know what he wants, but he almost killed someone last time, and with all this new equipment, it can only get worse from here."

"I can teleport us back to Freedom City if you like, it's no harder to take a passenger than it is to do it by myself."

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Silvia tries to speak, but it comes out an undignified croak while she rises, her tunic in tatters, large gaps showing in the mail beneath, behind which lie reddened flesh, some of it bleeding. She takes a few deep breaths, trying to get her throat to work properly; apparently, the mortal form was not meant for dragonbreath, no matter how diminished. She staggers over to her fallen sword and cleans it with a puff of air before sheathing it, finally regaining her words and a portion of her usual poise.

"Please do," she begins, forcing the lines out. "I shall need the coordinates to this place. My crew will remove anything too dangerous. For study." Which isn't entirely untrue. Anything relevant to the case, they shall pass on to the most qualified in such extranatural investigations, as soon as she decides who that may be. The rest will hopefully end up 'studied' by those who are willing to pay best for the privilege. Background check pending, of course. "And we need her," she says, nodding towards Kaiser, not entirely sure what that body is, or if it's even human or some sort of automaton. "Living or dead, she needs to be studied as well."

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GM

The three people, now relieved of both their inhuman forms and their powers in their unconscious state, not to mention the crew left behind by Dr. Green in his escape, were easily rounded up and secured on the Ages Lost after Voltage transported them both back to Freedom City, arriving just after most of the crowd had already dispersed from the area after the portal collapse, the few stalwarts gathered in chatting knots turning and letting out a lusty cheer and chorus of applause as the two heroes jolted into view.

The collection of the base's more exotic gear, materials and research was almost trivially easy, though as Stormbreaker feared none of it was unusual, powerful or rare enough to do much more than offset the damage done to the star galleon by the faux Eye-wielder.

There was, however, one thing of great value: Dr. Green had left behind a computer in one of the storage rooms for whatever it was he had been using to transform his test subjects, on which was a list of locations throughout the world, with a brief, enigmatic cipher beside each small red dot. A terse '3 Sucs subs.' was scribbled next to the dot showing their location. Theirs was also easily the one with the smallest number next to it. Evidently, the doctor had been quite busy lately. Luckily, he was unlikely to be in business much longer...

END.

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