ic The Sun Never Sets [IC]

[Avenger Assembled]

Caradoc was silent as they stepped through the gateway, the Victorian iconography all around them meaning essentially nothing to the former Omegadrone. The prostitutes were equally meaningless in their own way, and he ignored them as he leveled on the coachman. He knelt down and brought his face to the level of the grappled servant, and somehow that reflective silvery helmet he wore didn't seem quite so chivalrous. When he brought his face close to the coachman's, the fae's fear was reflected on the polished metal. When he spoke, his voice was flat and cold, only the last word igniting like a match put to gunpowder - "Where is your master? WHERE?" 

[trollthumper]

The coachman flinched just being up close to Caradoc's steely exterior. "I have many masters!" he said. "They all need people to work the lines! This project is ever needing, and needs those who will work its gears."

"'Project'?" Cannonade asked. "What the hell kind of work are you putting them through?"

"The work every city needs! The work that keeps the wheels spinning, but which is too... mundane for our kind. Pumping the great engine, crafting that which is needed - not that which is legend, just that which is there - maintaining the glory of these perfect streets..."

Cannonade's gaze drifted to the ladies on the corner. "Feeding the needs of the populace?" he said, his voice tinged with disgust.

"What?" The coachman followed his gaze, and his face bunched up with shock. "No! We had volunteers for that down one end of Avalon and up the other! Do you know how much repute your kind places in a courtesan of that time? They're legends unto themselves. You try finding glory and acclaim as one hand shifting a gigantic loom."

[Gizmo]

LaMarr didn't react much to the fae women as he got his bearings; it was hardly his first encounter with the world's oldest profession and he sincerely doubted it would be his last. "Easy, son," he cautioned Gabriel in a low voice, honestly not disagreeing with the overall sentiment so much as not ready to immediately direct their considerable ire at the first people the came across. Once the coachman elaborated a bit more on the situation, however, the bald man's expression turned flatter. "They're playing dress-up. Breaking into mommy's makeup and too-big high heels because they're bored. Forget what I just said. Sounds like it's time to start turning the most glorious and acclaimed buildings we can find into dust until somebody worth beating on shows up."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel's eyes narrowed as he turned to face the coachman again. He took a couple of steps toward the man.

"I need to make an announcement, but I suggest you start naming names and giving addresses. Now. Especially for those who have been leading this venture. Now, pardon me, gentlemen. I need to speak to a few more residents of this accursed place."

He turned and walked to the end of the alley, his spear keeping pace with his steps. Somewhere along the way, the sound of it tapping against the cobblestone suddenly echoed across every corner of the Fae city. He reached the end of the alley and looked about for a moment. Then he spoke, his voice seemingly only a bit louder than an average conversation, like a man making an announcement in a busy room; except that Gabriel's voice was heard all across the city, clearly, by everyone who had the ability to hear at all. At first, his tone was gentle and friendly.

"To the men and women of Freedom City, and perhaps elsewhere on Earth, who have been taken slave by the denizens of this realm, brought to this city under false pretenses, my name is Gabriel. I am a superhero, a member of the Freedom League. I am here to set you free. By the end of the day, you will be with those who care about you once more, and these...people...will never trouble you again. I ask only that you tarry a little longer. Take heart, find your courage, and fan the flames of hope within your soul. Your freedom has come."

Then, suddenly, it was sharper than the edge of his spearhead.

"To the Fae who inhabit this real and have stolen people from our world to do the jobs you think beneath you: You have made a mistake. This I swear to you: Not only shall those you stole walk free, there shall be nothing to steal them back to. Before this day is done, we shall lay waste to this den of deceit, iniquity, and slavery. We shall crumble your finest homes. Shatter your finest mechanisms. This day shall be etched in your history books as a Grand Mistake.

Do not be deceived. We shall not rest until every last person from our world is free and clear. We shall not stop until you have learned your lesson. We cannot be bribed. We cannot be intimidated. We cannot be deterred. And we cannot be stopped. We are the recompense for all your sins. The balance on your scale. For your crimes, there will be no reprieve. Weep, anguish, and gnash your teeth. You now face Judgment. Ye Be Guilty."

Edited May 2, 2013 by KnightDisciple

[Avenger Assembled]

While his verbose friend demolished the fae for their sins, 'Caradoc' was silent inside his armor as the full implications of this place sunk in for him. "They have done this for fun. For fun." The words were, in their own way, as much a castigation as what Gabriel had said. Picking his words carefully, like a man walking through a minefield holding nitroglycerin, the former Omegadrone said, "I go to free the slaves. They are potential. hostages." He pointed an armored finger at the coachman and said, "You. Go to your home. Pray to your gods for mercy." He struck the blade of his sword on the ground and rocketed upwards, his dragon-headed backpack giving an oddly familiar shriek as he disappeared above the rooftops, leaving behind him only a distinct pair of blackened footprints on the ground below. In the sky above the city, Harrier drew on his knowledge of urban architecture and the kind of technology these being pretended to have. 

 

Towers of smoke. Engine noises. Dark clouds. The smell of misery. THERE! He turned and pivoted in the air, roaring towards the factory district of this city. 

[trollthumper]

Cannonade felt the wax vibrate out of his ears as Gabriel's pronouncement struck the entire city at once. "Yeah, guessing they heard that one," he said. "Not that I give a crap if their precious feelings are hurt, but I've got a feeling they ain't gonna --"

Before he finished answering, bells rang out across the city in all matters of timbres and tempos. Hoofbeats rang out down the city streets, and overhead, something like rotors rose over the din of bells. Within seconds, the alley was surrounded by half a battalion of mounted officers. They leapt off of their horses, clad in outfits somewhere between bobbies and swashbucklers, and drew long sticks tipped in brass from their belts.

"By the name of her grace Gloriana," said one of the officers, "you are hereby charged with disturbing the peace, threats of a violent nature, and distributing anarchist materials. Come peacefully, or we will resort to force."

Cannonade cracked his knuckles. "You know," he said, "that sound like one hell of an invitation."

---

It didn't take long for Harrier to find the factory district. The smog rose thickest over its roofs, but even then, it rose in artistic patterns, like someone was trying to make pollution easy on the eye. He was about to descend when a bright light washed over him. A barge was floating in midair, held aloft by bronze propellers. Men in red jackets and pith helmets trained sticks with blades at the end on him, while a man in a plumed hat stared at him from the bow.

"You're making quite a mess," he said. "You will cease this madness, or we shall conclude it ourselves."

[Avenger Assembled]

Caradoc wordlessly raised his sword and aimed it not at the officer, not at his minions, but at the barge - with an unholy shriek of energy, his sword erupted in blazing white cosmic fire, shattering one of the propellers and sending bronze fragments cascading down towards the street below. Having seen the magical nature of the dimension's inhabitants, Steve wasn't worried. In fact, he'd only just begun. Jets roaring behind him, he landed on the barge and raised his blade, his voice cold and methodical as the holographic weapon gleamed in the light, the frightened eyes of the guards on him for one long moment. "Assume your crash positions," he said before driving the pointed tip down with enough force to crack the barge's spine in two, sending fragments tumbling towards the street below as it fell from the sky, the battle having been loud enough and the fall dangerous enough to send civilians below running and hiding. 

[KnightDisciple]

"Threats? I do not make threats, Fae. I make promises."

 

And just like that, he was standing right next to the leader of the police group, and firing several bolts of sound point-blank into the man's torso.

 

Inexplicably, Gabriel began softly singing, only barely audible to the rest of his group, though likely easily heard by the otherworldly Fae.

 

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored."

 

Suddenly, he whirled, and his hands spun his spear in a complicated pattern that brought its butt crashing into a half-dozen places on the Fae to his left, even as its shining point brought a couple of slashes into the fray, as well as mangling the "law" enforcement officer's tunic.

 

"He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword!

His truth is marching on."

 

His gaze wandered over the remaining officers, almost daring them to try something. Then, suddenly, he ceased singing and shouted over his shoulder.

 

"Wail! Hit them all! Now!"

 

While nominally an order, yes, it was clear what Gabriel's intent was; he wished for Wail to use his powerful shout to strike down the rest of the Fae clustered at the end of the alley. That such an action might strike Gabriel didn't appear to faze him in the least, for better or worse.

[Gizmo]

While he appreciated the sentiment, Wail was less eager to test Gabriel's durability against the full force of his shout. It was the work of a moment to shift his not inconsiderable frame to one side and position himself at and angle that caught more than a half dozen of the self-proclaimed enforcers of the law in a wide swath of booming sound. The aging teacher didn't bother with a particular word; this was a guttural, primal below that ripped through the intervening space with a fury, slamming loose objects into the real targets as insult added to injury. "How's that for disturbing the peace?" he growled, already moving again to take aim at the remaining fae.

[trollthumper]

The force of Wail's bellow ripped posters off the walls, dislodged loose bricks, and sent the constabulary flying across two city blocks. The fae policemen were caught utterly off-guard by the blast, and didn't even have time to brace before the roar knocked them off their feet. By the time it had passed, there was no one guarding the mouth of the alley - they were either stranded on rooftops, slumped against the walls of buildings, or caught up in lampposts. The groaning was a good sign - it meant they were all still alive, if in no condition to want to do anything.

 

Cannonade scaled the nearest building, leaping to the roof in one go. Already Wail's roar had drawn attention; flying boats were en route, sirens wailing from their bows. "Yeah," he called down, "think they noticed. We need to move up. Keep them from pinning us in. Not that I think they're gonna make much progress, but it's better we get out before they pull out the heavy artillery." 

[Avenger Assembled]

Bullets from the rooftop spang-spanged against Caradoc's armor, the soldiers above shouting encouragement to each other and curses against the target below. But the taunting stopped as massed rifle fire didn't so much as knock down the heavy, heavily-armored figure, and as Steve advanced on the factory they were guarding for a terrible moment it was all too terribly familiar. Steve actually stopped in his tracks at the thought, for a moment lost in other worlds and other times, until the memory of those he'd come to save pushed away the howls of despair that tugged at his memory. So he pushed back the grief and loss and continued his advance, armored feet ringing against the cobblestones beneath his feet, and flew up to the level of the rooftop where the soldiers had been firing on him. 

 

As another round of bullets bounced off, he raised his hand, extended his index finger, and wagged it back and forth silently before rocketing towards the factory. He crashed through the ornate skylight, sending lead bars and glass crashing towards the floor below, but didn't hesitate, instead plunging directly to the concrete floor below, hard enough to crack it beneath his armored feet. He snapped his 'sword' open and began charging it, the Terminus blade shrieking like a damned soul audibly even over the sound of the panicking crowd of workers and the thumping machinery. Surrounded by the starving and overworked, grim-faced overseers everywhere, roaring inhuman machinery around him, for a moment it was like coming home. 

 

And at that thought, he aimed the now eye-searingly bright, howling-loud blade at an open-topped vat of molten steel just a few feet away and called as loud as his muffled, metallic voice would allow, "GET! OUT! NOW!" 

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel smiled at a job well-done by the heroes as Wail's yell laid the Fae out flat. 

 

"Ha! Nice shot. Bet your bowling scores are good, too."

 

He frowned as his sharp ears picked up the incoming sirens. He floated up a bit until he was near Cannonade's position.

 

"Not good. This mission needs to keep moving, but if we don't slow down those ships they'll box us in. Right then. You two keep moving, try to start rounding up the folks who have been taken captive. I'll handle the local cops." 

 

Before either Wail or Cannonade could get a word in to protest, Gabriel was just gone, the air echoing a crack in the wake of his passage. Cannonade might be able to spot the shining white-and-silver speck next to one of the ships that was Gabriel. 

 

As he roared in close to the ship, Gabriel braced his spear as best as he could. That way, what was about to happen didn't rip it from his grip. 

 

On the tail end of a charge that broke the sound barrier a couple times over, that shining spear bit into the prow of the airship and ripped a hole along one entire side, before finishing by tearing off half the rudder assembly in a tortured scream of metal and steam that sent debris scattering to the rooftops below.

 

Gabriel himself looped around just enough to burst through into the crew deck of the ship. As he slid to a stop, the nearest crew member received a quick jab to one shoulder before the butt of the spear slammed into his temple, sending him flopping to the ground. 

 

Gabriel looked at the others with a somewhat manic smile.

 

"Hello boys and girls. My name is Gabriel, and I'm your new self-defense instructor. Let's see how well you defend yourselves, shall we?"

 

The spear spun a quick flourish before he gave the remaining crew a "come and get me" gesture. 

[trollthumper]

The people on the floor below were different from the others Harrier had seen. It was clear that they were mortal, but almost disturbing how clear it was. They were covered in dirt and filth, their clothes thread-bare, some of them fighting off exhaustion. Their overseers, on the other hand, wore their filth like warpaint, only drawn out by the sheen of sweat from a hard day's labor. The fae bosses looked like they'd stepped off of a propaganda poster; their workers looked like they'd stepped out of a prison. And with Harrier's invective, the workers took off, not caring for anything else. The machinery ground to a halt, and the bosses struggled to get it working. 

 

"Calumny!"

 

The shot rang out, and Harrier was faintly aware of a big, lumbering round shooting past his shoulder. He looked up to see the officer from the warship taking aim at him, dangling from the roof by his legs. "Treason! This city is not yours to burn, anarchist!"

 

---

 

The soldiers on the first ship barely had time to react. Gabriel went through them - and the ship - like a cannonball, leaving the constables of the other ships nearly paralyzed as one of their fleet swiftly crashed to the earth below. Soon, however, they drew their rifles, moving on the man in the white cloak...

[Gizmo]

Wail was beginning to grow concerned that Gabriel was intentionally placing himself in the most danger possible but deigned not to force the issue in the middle of a massive firefight. The younger man wasn't wrong; they were there to find the kidnapped people not draw a line in the sand for a last stand. "Don't need any martyrs, son," he called gravely before kicking off toward one of the airships. Soaring through the air like a human cannonball, he collided feet first with the vessel, leaving a significant dent before leaping off again and making his way toward the smokestacks that identified the mock city's factories.

[Avenger Assembled]

By way of response, the armored knight fired a blast of shrieking white energy from his blade. The disguised entropic energy didn't melt the tough metal that held the steel tank together, it didn't blow it apart - it simply evaporated a round hole big enough for a man to step through, cutting even through the molten steel inside the tank to perform a similar 'removal' on the other side of the vessel. As molten steel cascaded through the building, sending those few workers who hadn't fled Caradoc's arrival running in terror of their lives, flames went with them as wood and lesser metals flashed to flame and cinders as the molten inferno roared down on them. Steve let the wave brush him, hot enough to flash his armor to crimson red, before he fired his jets and roared up out of the flaming abyss to confront the gunman who had fired on him from the roof. As the man's eyes widened in terror, Harrier said "Your gods have abandoned you." in a voice like cold steel over flaming death. 

 

As he flew out of the building, an explosion erupted in the lot behind it - no doubt fire and flame had met something combustible, sending a pyrotechnic eruption into the air that must have been visible a mile away. He landed amid the crowd on the street and pointed to where he'd last seen the other heroes, calling out in Caradoc's voice, "Come, ye peasants, if you want to live-" It wasn't until he heard the screaming that he realized something was wrong - a wide-eyed, earth-shattering, hysterical screaming that was all too familiar to him, people in the tattered garb of Freedom Cityites backing away from him as if ready to rush back into the flames, or towards the arriving constabulary. When he turned to an unbroken shop window, he saw the worst thing he could imagine - his reflection.

 

An Omegadrone has invaded Avalon. 

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel actually laughed at Wail's comment.

 

"Martyr? What makes you think I'm trying to be a martyr? I'm winning! This is just to let you two back up Caradoc. It lets these Fae know they don't rule the skies undisputed!"

 

He grinned as the ship under his feet fell from the sky. He took one step to his right, and then just kept standing in the same spot for a moment as the ship fell away. Then he gently rose just a bit in the air, giving him an even better view. He eyed the ship that Wail had hit with the force of a wrecking ball.

 

"Thanks for winging this one though!"

 

He flung his left hand toward the skyship, and several waves of near-solid sound rocketed out, quickly slamming into the ship head-on.

 

"I suppose shooting these isn't much worse than hitting the broad side of a barn, but that still is so satisfying. Has a nice ringing sound, too!"

[Gizmo]

Wail's trajectory carried him over rooftops to crash like a meteor into what looked like a small guard house, leaving the building in shambles as he leapt back into the air. The explosion that rocked the cityscape in front of him left little question as to which direction to head in and it wasn't long before screams of terror and scenes of panicked flight came into focus.
 
The cause of that fear caught the experienced hero completely off guard, however. Standing impassively in front of the wreckage, armor glowing red hot and pike held firmly was an Omegadrone. Every super-dense muscle in LaMarr's body tensed at once, his vision snapped into the perfect clarity of undiluted rage and all of the sudden it was 1993 again. He could feel the lifeblood of friends staining his hands as they died in his arms, hear the collapse of buildings and the ignoble thunder of entropic cannons. The roar that exploded from his throat as he streaked downward shattered every remaining window in sight, matched only by the crack of impossible force as knuckled impacted with the drone's blank faceplate.

"That was for Yelena you metal son of a bitch!" he boomed, not bothering to modulate his powerful voice as he drove the Terminus soldier into the ground, pinning the creature with one hand and ignoring the smell of his own searing flesh against the fire heated armor. "Don't worry, I've got plenty more friends who earned a piece of you!" The broad-shouldered hero was already pulling his free fist back like a piston, ready to pummel the Omegadrone into dust with his bare hands.

[trollthumper]

On the ruined precipice of the factory, the man in officer's dress trained his rifle on the two heroes, wondering just what was going on.

"Orders, sir?" asked the soldier behind him.

"Maintain position," he said, "until we know just what is going on. We'll strike when we --"

"Bugger that!" One of the soldiers threw down his rifle and ran into the darkened streets of the city.

"That's desertion!" yelled the officer. "You'll pay for that!" But the officer didn't quite care about pursuing his fleeing charge. He was more worried about the brawl tearing the factory apart. If only he knew what to do about it...

---

Cannonade watched as yet another air barge floated to the street below. The streets were just wide enough to avoid catastrophic damage, but not wide enough to preserve the real estate. Gabriel still remained in the air - and the constables who'd made their way to the roofs were training their rifles on him. He took a running leap to the lip of the block, instantly drawing the attention of the riflemen.

"Going down?"

He brought his hands together, sending a booming wave of force ripping through the night. The five officers on the roof struggled to stay on their feet, but they went down hard, some falling off the roof to the street below. Their compatriots on the next roof over swiftly turned their attention from the hovering hero and towards the man who'd just taken out half their forces. They opened fire, but whatever enchantments were on their rifles, they weren't enough to pierce Cannonade's skin.

"Jeez, you think these guys would learn after a while..."

[Avenger Assembled]

There were ways out from this position. Not easy ones, not given Wail's power and strength, but they were there. Violent blows with a spiked fist aimed at too-human, albeit armored flesh that would have silenced that scream and given Harrier a chance to escape, even fight back. None of them crossed his mind for more than a moment. He went limp at the blow and raised his hands in surrender, and tried to speak loud enough for the sonic controller to hear, forcing himself to shout through the steel that infiltrated his throat when his armor was activated. The Omegadrone's voice was like a dead machine's reaching out from the grave, sepulchral tones mixed with urgent emotion. "Wail, it's me. It's Caradoc!" It would have been easy enough, given the nature of their foes, to say that this was an illusion. "The battle destroyed my disguise. This is my true face."

[KnightDisciple]

As yet another ship was left slowly falling from the sky, Gabriel turned his attention to the last one. 

 

He seemed to utterly ignore the dangers from the rooftop troopers, clearly trusting Cannonade's very capable skills to take them down. Meanwhile, Gabriel actually walked through the air, giving a jaunty wave to the sole operation ship and its crew. His voice was strangely...chipper...as he spoke.

 

"Hey folks! Just a head's up, this ship's headed for the scrap heap too. You might want to go ahead and start bailing out now. Or not. Your call!"

 

With a dramatic gesture with both arms, his spear twirled around for a moment before another barrage of sonic energy roared from its point, slamming easily into the flank of the ship, likely looking to at least take out the rudder.

 

"I'm actually kind of insulted. You guys can't even put up quality air defenses? It's like you don't consider myself or any other heroes a threat to your little shiny empire!"

 

And then all mirth was gone from his voice, and his face was suddenly in a not-quite-scowl.

 

"Your mistake."

[Gizmo]

It took the space of several more blows for the drone's words to even register to Wail as actual sentences. The incongruity of an Omegadrone speaking at all was enough to throw off rhythm of his righteous fury. The suggestion that this was somehow the eccentric heraldic knight who had accompanied him to this place in search of kidnapping victims was patently absurd.

Kidnapped by fae. Magical illusionists. The thought penetrated the sharp focus on his anger and made him abruptly aware of the contingency of soldiers still standing nearby. Immediately he was reversing his grip on the armored abomination pinned beneath him and rolling to his feet. One wrenching motion carried the drone in an overhand arc as Wail hurled his opponent into the fae formation with the force of a bunker buster, a foundation rattling roar accompanying the unwilling projectile.

[trollthumper]

The last of the constabulary's mighty air fleet sank like a stone under Gabriel's aural assault, its fore scraping cobblestone in due time. What caught Cannonade's attention - after the whole "air barge" thing was done working its way through, of course - was how it seemed to go completely inert once it came to rest. No cracked engines, no high-pitched shriek warning of an imminent explosion; it was as if all the power had just turned off automatically. I'll say this for magic, it's efficient as hell.

The constables scrambled out of the side, drawing guns on Cannonade the second they sighted in. "Y'know," he said, "you'd think you'd learn a lesson about that by now." He dove into the fray, knocking over fae warriors like bowling pins. One, however, refused to budge, sidestepping Cannonade's blow. His compatriots opened fire, but their enchanted rounds failed to pierce Cannonade's armor.

"And when are you gonna learn that one?'

[Avenger Assembled]

Harrier rose to his feet amid the pile of fallen soldiers; his weight and Wail's strength having worked together to batter aside what was left of their pitiful ranks as if a bomb had been dropped among them. Outlined by fire as sparks from the burning factory began to light the buildings across the street, there was no mistaking the spiky outline of the cybernetic monster for what he was. He faced the last remaining fae defender with scorn dripping from his mechanical voice, all the pent-up fury at what these people had made of this place and his own limited power to help them scorching in his tone like cold fire. His pike snapped open in his hand to full extension, beginning to whine with suppressed power like the dawning shriek of a newly-damned soul. "Look at me, man, and know me for what I am. You have made slaves and brought terror to other worlds with what you have taken from them." 

 

He pointed the pike and shouted in that dead man's voice over the screams of the crowd and the whine of his blade, "Flee now or look upon me and see yourself reflected in my face." 

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel felt satisfied as the last of the Fae Airships fell from the sky. He glanced around for more enemy combatants, and saw only the constables that Cannonade was easily handling.

 

"Looks like you've got this one in the bag, Cannonade. I'm going to go help keep the kidnapped folks from panicking too much. Holler if you feel like tagging out."

 

With that casual statement, Gabriel shrunk his spear back to its ring form and sped through the air, arriving at a spot hovering above the middle of the crowd. He raised his hands in a slightly placating gesture.

 

"Brothers and sisters, please! Calm down! We're here to help! If you don't know me my name is Gabriel. I'm with the Freedom League, and I and some other heroes are here to help bring you home. Please, do not panic, we're just driving off the Fae forces for the time being. If everyone could please stick together, we'll do our best to get you home soon."

Edited June 14, 2013 by KnightDisciple

[Gizmo]

Wail watched the Omegadrone address the fae soldier with heavy breaths, broad chest rising and falling visibly as his jaw clenched and teeth ground. The brief pause in battle was enough for his knuckles to begin protesting their misuse, bloody from pounding against the otherworldly metals of his target's armor, but more than that the muscles of his arms burned with the insistence for renewed, untempered motion.

He hadn't been the angry young man who preferred to fight first and ask question later, however, not for decades. The incongruities of the scene forced their way through the red hot bars of his anger as he forced himself to see and think. Omegadrones didn't talk, they certainly didn't deliver warnings nor did they discriminate in their targets. They didn't attempt to reason with their opponents. They didn't travel alone. Something was very, very wrong about the entire situation and fury could not, could never take precedence over truth.

"You've got one chance to explain yourself before I let loose until you're dust on a factory wall," he grated out in the drone's direction, big hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. "Make it good."