[AU] Urth Adventures

[Strat]

[spoiler]Did someone say Strat-Furni combo post?

I did.

I just said that.

Strat-Furni combo post.[/spoiler]
Before Eclipse could move, a helicopter approached the demolished village. It quickly set down, two armed guards and a small non-threatening man stepped out. The man was short-statured, a little bit husky, and walked with the assistance of a cane. Flanked by his security, he approached Eclipse and said, “Mr. Chernov? I am with the USS. Before you try to attack me, know that it would be a mistake, I am trying to offer you something.”

Creel glanced at Celaeno before continuing. “I represent an undercover organization in the USS. We do the tough things that the USS doesn’t want to acknowledge. We are on the lookout for special individuals that can help our missions. We’ve been watching you, Mr. Chernov. Believe it or not, even with the animosity between the USS and Stratarin, we still have allies in the nation, allies that have been giving us updates on your condition. When you awoke, we immediately were notified and followed your trail of destruction. I don’t normally pursue talent in this way, but you’re special, Mr. Chernov. We want you in our organization. Oh, excuse me, where are my manners? My name is Carl Creel. We have something in common. According to the government, neither of us exist.”

Eclipse held up a hand to Celaeno, as if to caution her against any rash action.

“A pleasure, Mr. Creel.” He replied with a polite tone. However, there was just a taste of potential insincerity to its cordiality. “And please, call me Eclipse. Though as you can see,” he gestured his head to the Fortunan girl, “I’ve already found a partner. I don’t suppose you’d make the same offer to her?” Eclipse lifted an eyebrow. “And what makes me so special?”

“Right, Eclipse then. I suppose Chernov was your slave name.” Creel chuckled a little at Eclipse’s comment. “What makes you so special? I cannot even begin to answer that. Your powers, your mind, your experiences, all of this comes together, and, if I do say so myself, the lack of a moral code are assets to our organization. And Celaeno? Frankly, I cannot trust her. She is a primal creature, with only a desire to consume. We had someone like that on our payroll for a time, but they became too unruly. We had to lock him in a spaceship and send it on a one-way trip to the sun. No, the offer does not apply to her. Unless…”

Eclipse’s eyes flicked to one of the guards, then the other, then back at Creel. “You seem to have my undivided attention. Do continue.”

“Well, we have been testing a neural suppression collar. It would contain several of Celaeno’s impulses, without impacting her abilities. Basically, we believe it would render her thoughts less frantic and more pliable. So, we would likely accept the both of you, as long as she wears the collar at all times, and we are allowed to monitor her brain activity through sensors in the collar.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind terribly,” Eclipse glanced back towards his companion, then immediately returned his gaze to Creel. “In any case, it would be preferable to the alternative.” He smiled slightly. “Though I would love to see her reaction when you suggest it.”

Carl Creel’s phone chimed, and he took a look at it. “Something has come up, and I am needed somewhere else. Discuss with Celaeno and consider our offer. I hope you accept, it would be much better to have you with our organization than any alternative.” Creel handed a card to Eclipse. “Use this to get in touch with me, I hope to hear from you soon.”

Creel and his guards walked back to the helicopter, leaving Eclipse and Celaeno to consider his offer. Turning around, Creel said, “Oh, in case you are wondering, my organization is called Project Deep Black, and we do the things that need to be done to protect Urth from its real enemies.”

Eclipse examined the card. Looking up at Creel and nodding, he turned and walked back to Celaeno.

[Fortuna]

(OOC: Just another combo post between me an Strat)

From where she stood, Celaeno watched as the helicopter arrived, Eclipse talking with the short man, and finally the helicopter taking off back into the dark from where it came. Deep down she wanted to run, to go invisible, even blast the aircraft to smithereens, but curiosity and interest in Eclipse got her to stay put like a tame dog. So stay put she did as Eclipse made his way back to Celaeno, carrying with him a small card.

“What was that about?” she asked in a coarse, shaky voice. The cool, night air made her regret not picking up a jacket before blowing up the whole town.

Eclipse noticed her slightly shiver. Although she couldn’t see him clearly in the dark, he seemed to roll his eyes as he slipped out of his leather jacket and tossed it to her. “We were made an offer. The gentleman I spoke to,” he gestured back to the clearing, “was one Carl Creel. He made us a proposition: essentially, to join an undercover agency whose moral compass doesn’t point north. That, of course, piqued my interest.” Although he felt the night’s chill more keenly now, it was nothing compared to the northern mountains in Stratarin that he’d grown up around. “However, there was one slight catch he mentioned.”

“Catch. . .” Celaeno repeated as she stared at the leather jacket in her hands. After a while she figured it was safe enough and slipped it on. “Does this catch concern me?”

Eclipse nodded. “They believe you’re a too volatile to be trusted without proper measures taken.” He smiled. “And they’re probably correct. To contain your more unpredictable impulses, you’d be fitted with a specialized collar.” He mentally readied himself for a less-than-positive reaction, should one be required. Still outwardly seeming at ease, he continued, “It wouldn’t impact your abilities in the slightest, and would serve to make you less frantic.”

In response, Celaeno just stared back at Eclipse, first in confusion, then in fear, then in anger. “No. . .” She quietly replied, her hands warming up. The idea of a “specialized” collar only reminded her of her time back in Fortuna, back in the holding cells, in the testing chambers where evil men created her. “No!” She raised up her hands at Eclipse, now glowing with energy, “Not again!” With every last bit of energy, she fired a blast at Eclipse and collapsed again to the ground with a curse.

Eclipse was barely able to flick his wrist and spawn a portal in front of him, sending the blazing bolt into the unknown. “This,” he said, smile now gone, “is precisely why a collar is necessary. Had you killed me, you would have killed yourself.” He knelt down to her level, though stayed just out of her reach. “‘Not again’? Did you have a similar experience in your motherland?”

“I was created to serve the Empire,” she weakly replied between sniffles. “Please, give me energy. Celaeno requires energy to serve the Empire. Subject Celaeno was a success. My sisters. . . My sisters were not a success. I require energy. . . Please. . .”

Eclipse watched her carefully. Any lesser man would feel a stab of pity for the poor soul collapsed in front of him. But if Andrei Chernov did, he completely hid it outwardly. Sighing, he stood and sent a blast hurtling into her. It wasn’t particularly powerful, but it was enough to at least return her to some semblance of sanity. “Feeling better?”

After absorbing the little amount of energy, Celaeno looked up and nodded.

“Good.” His voice softened. “I know that it’s not ideal. However, these people are powerful. More so than us, even. Either we accept their offer or we’re hunted down like wounded beasts. Too inglorious an end for such a pair as us.” Eclipse looked up at the night sky, then looked back down at her eyes. “If at any point they abuse you, of course, they’ll have the two of us to deal with. So, are you in?”

Celaeno sat there on the ground in silence, contemplating Eclipse’s request. Never had she remembered someone willing to stand up for her, to be willing to protect her. A surge of locked emotions flooded in, many of which she was forced to lock up all those years ago. She was starting to feel trust. She pushed herself up to her feet and looked straight back at Eclipse, her eyes lit with life. “I. . . I trust you. I’ll accept the offer, but you must promise me you will continue helping me build up my strength. Just because I trust you does not mean I trust them.”

Eclipse was taken aback by her admission of trust. In the political and military maneuverings of his past career, trust was not commonly bestowed or given. Meeting her gaze, he nodded solemnly. “Nor should you trust them, and neither do I. And I promise, of course.” With that, the Stratarian pulled out the card and tapped it experimentally. “I’m not sure if this is working,” he murmured to it softly, “but we accept.”

[hr]
10 Miles Away, Where a Poor Farmer Once Lived

The two Strataric law enforcement officers stood around the charred leftovers of a poor farmer, never in their lifetime had they seen something so horrific yet comedic at the same time.

“Huh, you think he got hit by lightning?” the first officer asked curiously.

“You do realize we live in a world of metas, right? And yet your first guess is lightning?” the second officer jabbed at the other.

“Hey, you never know,” the first officer defensively replied.

“And besides, there is not even one cloud in the sky.” The second officer gestured to the night sky and then turned to make his way back to their vehicle. “I’m just going to report we may have a meta in the area, and NOT lightning.” As he hopped into the car, the first officer turned to follow, looking back up just to make sure there wasn’t any clouds. Instead he was met with the full beauty of the night sky.

“Huh, I never realized just how beautiful the stars ar-,” but he was cut off short as a portal opened above him, coming through it a blast of energy which obliterated both him and his partner.

[Strat]

Zakon y Poryadok Building

“I can’t believe it!” Demenok ranted to his young aide-de-camp, who looked very much uncomfortable. “Volkov was one of my finest operatives! There’s no way that some lab-rat killed him and several STP squads!” He turned to his poor assistant, eyes furious. “Do you know how much training goes into each STP officer? DO YOU?!? They’re not common foot soldiers, they’re the finest the law enforcement of Stratarin has to offer! I refuse to believe…”

An invasive thought crept into his brain. “I’m here…” He shook his head to dispel it, wondering where it had come from. As he looked away from the aide, the door to his office opened.

In stepped a tall, elegant, relatively attractive woman. Her long blonde hair had a silvery wisp to it, and she wore a skirt slightly shorter than standard issue with black thigh high boots and an impeccably kept standard uniform top. However, far more noticeable than any other little detail was her rank insignia, clearly indicating her status as a brigadier of the STP.

Though technically, as Procurator General, Demenok outranked this woman, he couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of unease. Not even he was fully aware of what transpired at the highest levels of the STP. Though technically a subordinate, she at the very least deserved a great measure of respect.

Before he could properly react, she gestured a dismissal to the aide. As he fled the room, she turned her attention to Demenok. “Procurator General,” the woman acknowledged him, her voice as crisp as a wintry evening. “The last time I saw you, you were but a colonel. How your fortunes have changed.”

“Indeed they have, Brigadier…”

“Brigadier Dominika Iskrana of the Stratarii Taynoy Politsii. Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t remember me.” Before he could speak, she silenced him with a glance. “I have heard of your failure to apprehend Project Eclipse. The Premier has declared that he’s no longer to be taken alive. As such, I have been personally assigned to oversee his execution.”

“But I was to be the one…”

“Perhaps you wish to talk with the Premier concerning this matter?” He thought the words in his mind, but with her voice. Moving his hand absently to his temple, he looked up at her. Iskrana’s blue eyes shone back, seeming to glow with an unnatural energy. Slightly fearfully, he shook his head in reply.

“Good,” she said aloud. “As you can see, I have some… enhancements of my own. Oh, and I took the liberty of bringing three squads of my personal guard with me. Rest assured, Project Eclipse will be terminated.”

[Furnifold]

“I’m glad you accept.” A voice sounded out from a small speaker in the card.

Suddenly a flash of light emitted from the card given to Eclipse by Carl Creel of Project Deep Black. A hologram of Mr. Creel was discernible on the card itself. “Hold still,” the hologram said, as a visual light pulsed out from the card. “Match, Eclipse,” was heard from the card, and, when the pulse hit Celaeno, was repeated for her. The pulses continued, and the phrase “room is secured, commencing message” was then played from the card.

The recording of Mr. Creel began his message. “Hello Eclipse and Celaeno, I am so glad to see you have accepted our offer to join Project Deep Black. Please pay attention, as this message is classified and will not be repeated. The USS has lost track of several scientists in the nation of Mvulaland, near where I found you. Currently the USS knows what the scientists that have been kidnapped have been working on, and believe who the perpetrators are. We in PDB are much more certain. The Golden Rogues has kidnapped the scientists, to further the aims of a scientist named Ketch. Dr. Ketch is pursuing a way to turn off a human being’s restraint, and to cause the person to become primal, aggressive, and chaotic. In the hands of The Golden Rogues, utter anarchy will ensue. But, in our hands, we can harness this technology and use it to stabilize whole regions. The USS wants this information destroyed, hence why they have redacted all of Dr. Ketch’s research. But we in Project Deep Black recognize the value of his research.”

“So, I need your stealth and discretion, Eclipse. I need you to get into the stronghold and extract either the mad scientist or his research information. You don’t need to worry about rescuing the abducted scientists; that’s what the good guys in the USS are handling. We were able to put a tracker and a listening device onto the metas going to rescue the scientists, so we know they have headed into the jungle of Matamba. This card will give you their coordinates.”

“The card will also give you coordinates to go to a PDB drop site, there we will have placed the restraint Celaeno is to wear, and also to provide you with a handgun that fits your talents. Once you have extracted the scientist and his research, please return both to the drop site and we will extract him. Also, try not to engage with hostiles as much as possible, including the metas the USS has sent out. Let them do their own thing, and let us do ours. We have been doing what needs to be done in secret, and there is no reason the USS needs to know about it now. I look forward to your successful mission, and a continued partnership, Eclipse.”

The hologram fizzled out, and the card stopped pulsing light. The only thing that popped up were coordinates to the nearby PDB drop zone.

[hr]

Over in the drop zone, PDB agentsprepared a chest with a biometric scanner coded for Eclipse. One remarked to the other, “the Director is taking a lot of risk with this one. What if Eclipse figures out how to operate the restraint for Celaeno and turns it off?” One said to the other.

“I’m sure Director Creel has thought about potential consequences, and prepared for them. Trust him. They’ll be arriving soon, so let’s get going.”

The two agents packed up and headed out, before Eclipse and Celaeno arrived.

[Strat]

The two dark figures made their way through the night jungle, Eclipse leading ahead of the worn out Celaeno. Eclipse stared down at the illuminated card, the small pulsing light getting closer and closer. Just as they were right on top of the point, the two of them stumbled out of the brush and into a small clearing, and sitting right there in the grass was a small metallic chest.

“Huh,” Eclipse grunted as he pocketed the card and strode over to the chest, Celaeno stumbling after him. “Now to get you open…” he muttered as he knelt down by the chest and began looking for an opening. Noticing what appeared to be a scanner, Eclipse lightly touched it with his index finger which caused the entire box to come to life.

A small probe popped out from the top, whirling around as it scanned the area with a bright green light. The sudden action caused Eclipse to back off a bit and Celaeno to quickly turn invisible. Once completed with the area scan, the scanner focused on Eclipse, swiftly scanning him from head to toe before popping back into the chest.

“Area scan: complete. Confirmation of Eclipse: complete,” a robotic, feminine voiced ringed out from the chest followed by a metallic click. With a pop, the chest finally opened, revealing its contents.

“They do love their dramatic openings,” Eclipse commented as he neared the chest again and looked inside. As Creel had said, lying in the box was a holstered handgun, complete with belt, and the collar for Celaeno. Slipping the belt on, Eclipse half-smiled as he dexterously flipped the gun around once in his hand before reholstering it.

Then he turned his attention to the collar. Carefully picking it up, he turned towards Celaeno’s last visible position. “Shall we get this over with?”

Celaeno, going visible once seeing the coast was clear, humphed in response as she stomped over and swiped the collar from his hand. “I’ll do it myself,” she growled as she looked down at the metal collar. It seemed safe enough, no noticeable needles or sharp objects on the inside, so that was a good sign. After agonizingly contemplating on what she would do, Celaeno breathed deeply and slowly clamped the collar around her neck. Then she waited, her eyes clamped shut, waiting for the collar to kill her where she stood. Yet, nothing.

Eclipse, meanwhile, was waiting in slight anticipation as to her reaction. As he looked her over, she didn’t appear to be convulsing, in pain, or have her life force draining out of her. Miraculously, it seems that Creel had told the truth.

“Was it supposed to do something?” she asked as she opened her eyes and began inspecting the collar when out of nowhere she felt a sudden jab of pain in her head as the collar went to work “refixing” her brain. “Yep, it’s down something!” she hollered out as she fell to her knees, clutching the side of her head in an effort to lessen the pain.

Eclipse rushed over and knelt at her side, wondering whether or not the restructuring was supposed to work in such a way. Not quite sure what exactly to do, he gently grasped her head. “Celaeno, talk to me,” he said, his serious tone containing a very slight pinprick of concern.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Celaeno struggled to reply, “Just a headache.” Slowly the pain in her head began to subside, but she dared not move just yet until she could think clearly. Speaking of which. . . “It. . . It seems to be working.”

“Good,” Eclipse replied simply, noting her signs of pain fading and removing his hands from her. As he stood and straightened his back, any little inkling of worry faded in the black night. “Shall we begin the operation?”

Celaeno pushed herself up back onto her feet, slowly nodding her head in agreement as she rubbed her temples. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”

[Pagi]

Thomas awoke slowly, hardly noticing the roar of aircraft engines until he jolted upwards and stared around. Sat opposite him and smiling with amusement was his fraternal twin brother.

“I see you’ve figured out how to bring yourself back from the dead!” Maxxus chuckled. Before snapping back at him, Thomas took a moment to study his surroundings. He was inside a plane, but it was unlike the military-spec ones he was regularly shipped around in. It looked like a passenger liner had been stripped down entirely, leaving just the narrow deck where luggage would sit and the raw aluminium side panels. small, rounded windows lined the inside above him, confirming his hypothesis.

“Hah, I wish.” he replied light heartedly.

“C’mon, you look like you’ve just seen a spook or something” he laughed, smiling at his own awful pun. he fished around in his pocket, pulling out a foil packet. “Drink this, you need the energy.”

He tossed the packet upwards, and Thomas captured it with his telekinesis, guiding it down into his hands. He gratefully drank the cool, fruity energy gel, and felt some colour return to his pale face.

“Thanks Max” he said. His brother didn’t show it but he almost certainly knew why he had been out cold for so long. The past week had been nothing but a demanding string of tests requiring him to construct fully functioning complex machinery, weapons, and even computers with access to minimal energy. It was supposed to make him ‘more efficient’ with his powers, but the stress on his body had exhausted him, and by friday he was dead to the world in his bed by just 7pm. “Do you know what we’re in a stripped down airbus for?”

“A high priority recon assignment. From what I can pick up from the pilots we’re over Gondwana right now.”

“Gondwana?”

“Yes agent Atom-X, the great rainforest band to be specific,” came the gruff, weathered voice of Forester Hawking, his SRO supervisor. “I suppose you’d like to know a few details? I can already feel your brother poking in my head for them himself.”

“yes sir”

“Good. Somewhere within the jungles of the Matamba-Mvulaland border region, an organisation known as the ‘Golden Rouges’ have set up their home base. Recently they have kidnapped several elite USS scientists with as-of-yet unknown motives, and are holding them captive in the area. The USS is especially keen to have them recovered, and considering the nature of their research there are several interesting theories as to what they are being held for.”

“So, a simple infiltration and recovery operation?”

“Not quite, our job here is a little different. You of all people must be personally aware of Axdels interest in the application of meta abilities.”

Thomas winced internally but kept his expression level.

“So,” Forester continued. “The research being conducted by the GR could be of great use to us. Thus, any relevant data, research documents, or even artefacts that you find should be recovered. We’re aware that multiple other metas have been sent to deal with TGR, and whilst they may be on your side, be conscious of their actions, in case there’s something the good and righteous USS aren’t telling us. Do you understand men?”

“yes sir,” piped up Maxxus, who had been rinsing through Foresters mind for the past minute and probably knew all the birthdays of his primary school friends by now.

“Affirmative sir. When does the mission begin?” Thomas Asked, finishing off the last of his energy gel.

“We’ll be over the drop zone in…” he glanced at his watch. “t-minus fifteen minutes. As we’re going for maximum stealth, you will be going in without a parachute, so I want everything you need strapped extra securely to you by then Agent, affirmative?”

“yes sir” Replied Thomas, walking over to a large duffel bag containing his gear. He had long opted for camoflage and webbing over spandex and a cape, all it usually achieved was to make you more visible to a sniper or a security camera, nevermind the long list of cape-related fatalities for heroes that took their appearance too seriously. He took a compact bullpup assault rifle and a large calibre pistol and secured them on his back and thigh respectively, fitting spare ammunition for each in the pockets of his webbing. Maxxus had his own arsenal as well, packing a 12-gauge shotgun, an automatic carbine, and two machine pistols, making up for his relative lack of offensive powers. Kitted out and ready, Forester secured Thomas and Maxxus together using a standard two-person parachute harness. The two stood waiting at the rear of the plane, waiting for the side door to be opened by Forrester.

“Alright, standard mission protocols apply. We will be keeping in communication via agent spook, so follow his orders precisely atom-x. And we cannot stress enough, demonstrate CONTROL over your meta abilities, especially within eyeshot of those that might not know. If you are captured I can personally guarantee that whoever manages to capture you will not respect you as humans the same way we do. Do I make myself clear men?”

“Sir yes sir!” the brothers chanted, though Thomas had crossed his metaphorical fingers. In fact, once the mission was done, he would do the exact opposite of Forresters explicit orders; demonstrate his meta abilities, and evade capture from anyone who dare control him. Suddenly, the rear door of the plane was slid open, grinding his rebellious train of thought to a halt and pulling him back to reality.

“Agent Atom-x,” grinned Forrester, tossing him a chunky, black pistol. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Thomas yanked the odd gun out of the air, shoving it into an empty pouch on his left side, before mocking a salute. “Aye boss, I’m always ready.”

“Glad you’re feeling alright,” he paused for a second, glancing at his watch. “Ok, now get ready to jump on my mark.”

The duo stepped closer to the door, harsh currents tugging fiercely at them. Thomas looked out over his brothers shoulder and down to the landscape below. It deep night, and the twilight was only pierced by the faint moonlight revealing the features of the extensive jungle canopy. Forrester began counting down with his fingers, and he could feel Maxxus tense up in preparation for the fall. Thomas began preparing for the jump himself, mustering up the energy he would need to kill the combined momentum of their fall.

“MARK!” Forrester shouted as his fingers counted zero.

Rather than jumping, Thomas decided to launch himself out of the aircraft with a telekinetic thump, an unwanted surprise for Maxxus who suppressed a shout. Harsh winds buffeted against the two as they began their freefall down toward the dense rainforest. Whilst falling, he couldn’t help the rebellious train of thought that was quashed earlier from intruding his thoughts.

It’ll be hard for Maxxus he thought, but it’ll be much harder for me if I stay. I might come back… maybe, once I know I’m strong enough to break every chain they try to hold me down with. He sighed beneath the roar of wind. For now, just focus on the mission. Better Axdel having whatever dirty research these GR dudes are doing than some black ops USS suits.

Suddenly, an urgent telepathic scream from within his head snapped him back to reality. “THOMAS! WAKE THE FUCK UP AND SLOW US DOWN YOU DOLT!” Idiot! He hadn’t been paying attention to the descent, and now the ground was approaching fast. He cursed out loud, scraping up all the energy stored within his body and propelling it downwards with all his might. If it was just him, he could easily slow down in this distance, but Maxxus’ weight was severely dampening the deceleration. He braced himself for a collision with the trees, still blasting telekinetic energy downwards against gravity, as the tangle of vines and leaves sped upwards to embrace the brothers as they fell.

[King_Rico]

“There’s a New Threat Fannel, we thought Dr. Chernobly only made one creation but it has been clear Bezerk isn’t the only one theirs two more” Gonrbo says before he turns around and looks at Fannel. “Is that the Bunshu?, is that me? Is that me stronger then me? Dammit Ill Kill Me!” Fannel starts to shouts, another saiyan’s comes around the corner " Do I Here 3!" he screams at Gonrbo. " You no Jehanel, When you fall off a cougar, you get right back up and eat that cougar, come with me to eat 22 cougars" Fannel gets to rambling about. “What in the hell could you possibly be talking about Fannel” Jehanel says while looking at Fannel.

“Ahh come on best buddy, there are lot’s of way this could be worse like, umm i don’t know Bezerk finding out about the other two and probably most likely eating them” Fannel laughs while holding his head, his tail swung freely unlike usual.

“You no Fannel, sometimes i wonder if your a Idiot or Stupid” before he could finish fannel interrupts.

“Can I take Idiot for 2,000” he says with complete confidence.

Jehanel starts to scream from what he is hearing coming out of Fannel mouth, “I have lost faith, just just please go, actually ill leave”

As Jehanel flew thru the forest he mumbled to himself “Worthless piece of flesh and bones, how dare he claim a saiyan’s DNA, ill show all these humans a True Saiyan”. He Flew as fast as possible to USS HQ unaware of the two enemy’s following close behind .

[Furnifold]

The air inside the compound started getting musty and hot. A couple of Golden Rogue grunts were standing by the vent, and noticed no cool air coming from the vent. “It did just storm, maybe there’s some stuff clogging the vent. Let’s check it out before Dr. Ketch comes up here.” Two Golden Rogue guards opened the large door slightly, just enough to slip out, and walked outside, closing the door behind them.

Gabriel Cherub and Windrider observed the opening of the bay door, and the biometric scanner light up before the door was closed. “We need to incapacitate them, and we can ‘borrow’ their hands and use them to get right in through the front door,” Gabriel whispered to Windrider.

Windrider thought to himself incapacitate but still functional. “Got it” he told Gabriel. Eyes glowing bright behind his shades, Windrider caused two very localized strong whirlwinds to be wrapped around the two unsuspecting Golden Rogues grunts, lifting them both up and spinning them like tops as they were dragged toward the two heroes. The whirlwinds suddenly stopped when they reached their destination, causing some disorienting and vomiting-induced trauma of the two lowly grunts.

“So,” Windrider casually remarked to Gabriel with a slight smile, “you have any restraints on ya?”

“Restraints? Sure, but we won’t need them,” Cherub smirked. He pulled out his staff and quickly rapped both of them on their heads, knocking them out. "Let’s bring these guys up, and open the door. Once we’re in, let’s scout out the situation, and see if there are any metas, before engaging with the Golden Rogues. Cherub placed his staff on the ground, a yellow net of energy extended out, binding the hands and feet of the grunts and suspending them in the air. “By Abaddon, these two need to lay off the Rogue buffet,” Cherub grunted, even he straining a little to hold them up. He walked right up to the door, confident in the lack of other security apparatus, and placed the grunts’ hands on the biometric scanner. It hummed, then shone blue, seemingly accepting the signatures. Satisfied, Cherub released the grunts from the bonds and let them drop to the ground, collapsing in a heap of awkwardly placed limbs. Windrider got ready to enter the Golden Rogues hideout with Gabriel waiting for the freight doors to open fully. Lightning danced across his fingers just in case there might be an adversary of some sort or other waiting for them. The freight door began to open, and it revealed…

Multiple Golden Rogues, armed with assault weapons and stun batons. Gabriel checked his partner’s hands, and before the adversaries could start firing, walked forward with his palms outstretched in apparent surrender. The Golden Rogues were not sure what to do, and formed a semi-circle around him and Windrider. In their moment of hesitation of how to handle the two metas, Cherub acted. He quickly grabbed his staff strapped behind his shoulder, and summoned a whip of light, while at the same time dislodging the staff and swinging it horizontally along the ground. The whip extended out, tripping the Golden Rogues in the semi-circle. Cherub used this moment to his advantage, and leaped to the side and empowered his staff with a small defensive shield, ready to close in to engage the guards. “I can take them from up close, if you can keep them close to me,” he yelled out to Windrider.

Manipulating the air directly behind the Golden Rogue grunts, Windrider created a Wall of Winds so strong that when one of the Grunts backed into it he was tossed back forward toward Gabriel, effectively trapping the grunts. Any that tried to make it passed Gabriel got zapped like a taser from the lightning Windrider shot at them. Windrider also looked down the entrance way, looking for security cameras, and when he found any he would send a jolt of lightning directly into them, frying the circuits. “Gabriel, do stop playing, they know we are here. Let’s wrap this up and get what we came for.” He called out to the beaming Cherub, chuckling a bit as Cherub weaved in and out of attacks, avoid the charged batons and deflecting or dodging weapons fire.

[hr]
Meanwhile, a few stories underground, Dr. Ketch was working on perfecting his project. One of his guards got a call in from above. “Sir, there seems to be a few metas up there right now, what should we do.”

“They are of no consequence. Leave me a couple of men, and seal the doors downstairs, then dispose of them,” Ketch responded nonchalantly.

“How the heck do I do that? They are superheroes, one of them literally shoots lightning out of his hands!” the guard blurted out.

“That’s what you are paid for, good god man. Go find Bezerk or that strange one, Subject 145 or whatever he calls himself. Go get them, and have them take on the heroes. I have work to finish up,” Ketch angrily called out.

The guard left and sealed the door behind him, only Ketch was keyed in and able to open it. The guard rode up a cargo elevator to the top floor of the compound, and called out on the intercom for all TGR grunts to get to the front door and handle the heroes. He also sent a call out, “will someone find out where Bezerk and Subject 145 are? We really need them.”

Back in the underground lair, Ketch eyed the escape tunnel he personally had built. In the very likely event that Gabriel Cherub and Windrider blew past the guards, he wanted to have his escape ready to go. He turned back to the USS scientists. They all decided not to go along with his plan, so he had them restrained and was conducting rage tests on them. “A little more of this compound should do it.” He shook the vial and eyed the trapped men and women. “Now, which one of you wants to be my guinea pig?”

[Aelitia]

Intercom/PA System Chime Sound - YouTube sounds overhead the crowd before repeating the well-worn instructions: “By request of the Interior Directorate, proceed to the nearest civil shelter at your earliest convenience”, drawing few reactions from the throngs of urbanites throughout the downtown. Shops and cafes calmly fulfilled their remaining queued orders, parents quietly collected their children, and the suited businesspeople merely adjusted their calendars for the day- all the while the chime and announcement ringing through the city.

There may have been a time that the civil warning system in Visaelitia set the public to a start, but that was well before http://forum.theeastpacific.com/single/?p=10030128&t=7008138’s arrival in the capital. To the residents the alarm meant a morning or afternoon of sludgy rationed coffee in a sealed concrete bunker for safety; but for Virgil it was an emerging opportunity.

Ducking into the nearest of the infamous “High Water Cafes”, known for their refusal to close during the emergency notices, Virgil orders an espresso to settle in to watch the live news feeds. The cause of the emergency seemed to be a small handful of ultra-high altitude unidentified aircraft on direct course to Visaelitia Centre. The ‘Emergency Experts’ theorized the objects were orbital weapons launched from one of the growing number of non-state satellites or some form of troop transportation.

Timers to ‘arrival’ or ‘impact’ were running on the news channels, and as it ticked over to ten minutes Virgil dipped out of the cafe. Closing his eyes and focusing the potential energy of his surroundings through his rings, a red plasma glow erupted around his hands and he propelled upwards. Virgil levitated by balancing the potential energies of his weight against gravity, and used the various streams of energies available to propel himself forwards at incredible speeds.

As he rounded to the city centre, the aircraft became visible high above the horizon.

[PunnyShadow]

Out of the dozen or so remains of the electricized grunts, only one of them rose from the punishment delivered to him. Seemingly being unfazed by the lightning he received just minutes ago, he ‘twitched’ his head to remember the forgotten sensation, but sighed in disappointment as he made a verbal reminder to himself,

“It’s a shame I can’t be punished like that anymore for my failures, but then again, I suppose it isn’t that shocking anymore!”

With a childish laughter, the man disappeared from his area and reappeared into the next area where he could stealthily blend in among the severely outmatched ‘guards’ without anyone realizing his presence. This time, however, he equipped a pair of blades onto his wrists while gripping his baton, and screamed his sole thought out as he sprinted to confront the “heroic” metas again.

“This is going to be fun!”

[King_Rico]

6th February
Dorchester, Yor Isles

Just as the morning rush hour began a large explosion could be heard just outside of downtown, a bright light emitting a light that lit up the sky. The temperatures rose around the city by 8 degrees in some places, Telarusi had finally met his match. The relentless power of his Foe named ‘Scorpionok’, his force shields were holding as he gathered his energy, the ground began to shake and a pool of lava formed around him. His scream could be heard from miles around, his body lit up in flames forming a dark cloud with lighting around him, his eyeballs had flames coming out as he walked towards Scorpionok, he grabbed him by his kneck squeezing tighter, he open his mouth and emitting a river of flames into his mouth burning his insides before throwing him. Telarusi immediately felled afterwards having never used so much power. A trucker passing by grabbed him and put him in the truck before calling the USS and informing them that he might have found a meta human.

[Fortuna]

(OOC: Aww yeah! The duo is back in action!)

Hidden not far from the entrance of the Golden Rogues’ hideout, Eclipse and Celaeno watched in silence as a battle took place between the Golden Rogues and a couple of metas. It was clear that the two had to stay away from that conflict (besides Celaeno’s urge to jump into the fiasco and absorb everyone’s energy), so they turned their attention to the entrance which remained wide open.

“I presume that’s our way in. . .” Celaeno grumbled, fiddling away with the collar around her neck. The contraption was working better than she expected as she could see that she was thinking a lot clearer, but she was still untrusting of the collar’s true intentions.

Eclipse took a moment to analyze her voice. His partner seemed. . . calmer, almost. Perhaps the collar worked after all. Still, he couldn’t keep from feeling a sensation of foreboding and. . . that can’t possibly be worry. Not letting any portion of his thoughts show in his features, he nodded. “Shall we cloak?” he asked, not quite as coldly as he intended.

Without much of response, Celeano immediately went invisible. “After you,” she lightly replied, only the slight movement of the vegetation showing where she was.

He nodded in response, seemingly vanishing into the night. As he began walking forward, Eclipse was careful to make enough sound that Celaeno could follow while not enough that his presence was obvious to an onlooker. The two of them silently made their way around the fighting, careful not to catch the attention of either the Golden Rogues or the two metas. It took them awhile, but they finally made it to the entrance. Seeing their chance, they both quickly dashed into the hideout, making their way into a large, open space.

“Alright, where to next?” Celaeno whispered in the direction she believed Eclipse was.

From a little ahead of where she had spoken to, a muted voice replied, “There’s a cargo elevator over there.” A hand materialized briefly, gestured, then vanished. “I can’t see anything down there in infrared, so we’ll be going in blind.” He paused. “As much as I’d love to incinerate the guards, we can’t risk the noise. You snap one’s neck, I’ll snap the other’s.”

“Uh huh,” was her only reply. She silently made her way across the room until she was standing right next to her target. However, instead of snapping his neck, she grabbed the back of his neck and began draining his energy. The poor man barely had any time to respond before collapsing to the ground as an empty husk.

She heard heavily muffled grunts and signs of struggle to her left. Celaeno turned just in time to see the panic in the face of the other guard, his mouth held firmly shut by an unseen hand, before his neck twisted to the side with a snap! and he crumpled to the floor. “I’ll admit, your way was more practical,” a familiar voice commented. The “DOWN” button beside the elevator pressed into the wall as if on its own, and the door slid open. “After you,” Eclipse repeated Celaeno’s earlier instruction. She lightly snickered before stepping in, going visible upon entering. Following two small thumps that seemed to represent footsteps in the elevator, Eclipse decloaked beside her. The elevator door closed, and an annoyingly catchy jingle started playing as it began its descent.

Eclipse commented after a second, as much to his companion as to himself, “Why would this elevator even have music?”

Celaeno considered this for a moment. “Comedic writing?”

Eclipse mulled over this point, and nodded to himself. “Makes sense.”

Several seconds later, the elevator abruptly stopped, and the doors slowly opened to a short, somewhat dingy hallway leading to a sealed, somewhat high-tech looking door. The pair approached it slowly, and Eclipse ran his hand along it. A black film slid over his eyes, then he shook his head. “This explains why I couldn’t see anything. The door is infrared-proof.” He hesitated, then turned back towards Celaeno. “Would you stand back?” She looked quizzingly at Eclipse for a second before making a guess at what he was doing, turning away from the door and taking a step back. Seeming to calculate distance for a moment with his eyes, his eyes following an invisible line between him and the door, Eclipse walked through it, shivering in discomfort at the sensation of phasing through the door.

Following a short sound of an odd sort of muted gunfire, it came crashing down. As the dust cleared, Eclipse was visible from within, the gun provided to him by Creel in his hand. His eyes blacker than night, he swiftly turned and leveled his gun towards whatever awaited him in the room as Celaeno waltzed up next to him, her hands already aglow.

[Furnifold]

Diana Prince of Metrotech was on her way to another USS meeting, this time it was an inquiry regarding her firm’s use of large animals to test out meta stunning apparatuses. What else on Urth can we test these things on? I see no metas volunteering, not that we’d be able to accept them thanks to the strict rules in the USS. I can’t just find Carl Creel and ask him to borrow some of the creepy metas he has on PDB’s payroll. So, excuse me for trying to make the world safer. So what if we taser a few elephants and whales while we are at it.

She received a call from someone in the main headquarters in Aurora. A truck driver had called up the USS office and spoke to some switchboard operator, yelling about how he found a meta. The USS got tons of these calls, but Metrotech had picked up a massive heat spike in Yor, and not soon after this call came in. Tapping the USS phones was beginning to pay off for Diana Prince and Metrotech.

“Send over some investigators to check out the heat spike and get this supposed meta.” She commanded, and, before hanging up the phone, said, “A heat-generating meta would be useful for some of the new plasma-based weapons and armor we are developing. Bring this supposed meta to the office in Aurora, the one utilizing geothermal activity.”

[hr]
The investigative team went to Dorchester first, and observed first hand the now-cooled lava in the city. It defied any natural explanation, so it must have been meta-related. This was confirmed when the team found the trucker and the passed-out Telarusi. The being was most certainly a meta, as occasionally his head would spark, emitting flames but without damaging the man. The team took control of the situation, paying off the trucker to keep everything quiet, destroying his phone, and restraining the meta to take with them to the jet, to fly directly to the Metrotech office near an active volcano.

[King_Rico]

The plane began to shake as it got closer to the volcano, Telarusi body naturally interfered with the volcano’s magma core. He woke and noticed he was inside a plane surrounded by weird men, “How dare you keep me in this wretched place, I demand to be released!” He grabbed one of the men and threw him across the plane, as he got more angry his face started to spark with flames, he started to walk towards the back of the plane when the men noticed a young lady hopping through the trees. Her velvet hair and wings started to move gently as she flew towards the aircraft, she pulled her sword wrapped in a golden like Light our, as she pulled it out the entire scenery changed into a random rainforest . She disappeared before reappearing on the Wingtip, she started to shake the plane, she noticed Telarusi inside and got closer to the window. “Could that be, the one that killed my mother” the mysterious women thought to herself. She ran across the wing slowly flipping the plane to one side, Telarusi looked at the men, “That is Aperture, God of Reality & Portals and she has one hell of a hit. If you excuse me for a second I have some unfinished business”, just as he attempted to walk to the door she sliced the plane in half and they enter a portal crashing into Antarctica. Telarusi grabbed his sword and ran towards Aperture, she started to alter the surroundings into a blizzard throwing his attacks off. She then used her Atomic Scream knocking him off his feet and throwing him into the ice, as she flew down with her sword Telarusi arose with his fire sword creating a large explosion upon contact with her Sword. Each punch thrown created a explosion noise causing the ground to continually shake, “Listen I didn’t kill your mother, why don’t you believe me for pete sakes” Telarusi screamed as he dodged a attack. His body was lit in a blue flame, it turned slightly orange as his anger built up his face started to transform and his body started to get bulky. He walked towards her grabbing her and tossing her down into the ice, “why did you run the first time when I approached you if you didn’t kill her” she screamed as she got up and charged at him with her sword. He threw a fireball at her, she turned the area into a shattered screen, the different mirrors reflected multiple versions of her, Telarusi was confused. She then opened a large portal into Imperium Xagrurg sucking the soldiers and Telarusi threw it. She tackled him to the ground before he started to throw flames.

The two stopped and looked at each other, they ran towards each other, he quickly grabbed her tossing her into a building. She finally stopped and spoke, “If you didn’t do it then who did” Aperture said. He looked at her changing his face, “You can reality warp try and remember what happen” Telarusi replied. She stopped and closed her eyes, she changed the scenery and imagined as much as she could, A man was called to trial by my Mother Queen Perthba Guardian Of The 4 Suns, he arrived but there was no guard with him. He slaughtered a village in his way to our home he sliced her body up and left his signature". Telarusi looked at her memory and noticed the man, “Subje… Subject 145” he whispered to her. As she watched her mother die she fainted. After a few minutes she awoke, “Subject 145 chills around in Gondwana we could go there.” Telarusi said to her, she opened a portal and they went to where he hung around the most. Upon arrival a strange cyborg had also been following Subject 145, he lurked in the distance waiting to see what happen, who could he be?

[Strat]

(OOC: Just a quick little post)

"Breaking News! Princess Katerinita Durand, 27-year old CEO of the Kondor Arms Corporation and daughter of the Royal Prince, announced during a press conference on transparency that she was one and the same as Ivlya’s patriotic sweetheart and superheroine, Monarch! After stating plainly, in her own words, ‘I am Monarch,’ she abruptly walked away from the conference despite the swarm of reporters clamoring for attention.

Within minutes, #MonarchTruth was trending on Chirper. Some citizens that use the popular app were concerned that this would endanger her family, while others support the Princess in this choice, in the interest of government and royal transparency. As this is, sadly, the internet, there was the third type of citizen, such as this fine gentleman, who claimed he wanted to **** the **** out of her while ******* light beams shoot out of her ***** as she ****-"

“Christ, Vlad. Not sure why you brought that up.”

“Fair enough, Mak. You want to take it from here?”

“Sure. Anyway, people across the globe are left to wonder what awaits this heroine in her quest for faith, justice, and the Ivlyan way. I’m Maksym Honchar with Vladyivl Oliynyk for the Misto Doschi Advocate, and goodnight!”

“Well, if I’d known you were just gonna close out the broadcast, Mak, I’d’ve-”

“Shut up, Vlad.”

[Strat]

(OOC: Another duo post, courtesy of Fortuna. Thanks to Furnifold for organizing the beastie battling!)

At first, the duo had no idea what they were staring at. Standing in the middle of the room was an immense apelike beast unlike any creature the two had ever seen. Its red eyes seemed to glow with a hellish light as it turned towards them, its silvery hair catching a slight glint in the dim light. In a corner, a group of scientists screamed and pulled at their restraints, trying to get away from the creature.

“Kakogo cherta?” Eclipse uttered softly, his tone laced with a rare surprise. After barely another second passed, he was dragged from his shock by the reality that there was a giant ape monster looking angrily at him. Snapping up his gun, he fired at one of its bloodshot eyes. The massive abomination’s head jerked at the last second, causing it to be hit in its gaping maw. Now with several less teeth and a bleeding mouth, it roared a challenge.

Upon seeing the creature, Celaeno’s instincts quickly kicked in, and she immediately turned off her glow and went invisible. Crouching down and making her way behind some nearby crates, she kept her hands raised and pointed at the ape, ready to fire an energy blast at any second. That moment came rather quickly as the monstrosity, now clearly infuriated, chucked an immense, metal object in her direction. Without hesitation, she fired a single energy blast at the object, blowing it into hundreds of pieces. Unfortunately for Celaeno, a metal shard flew straight at her, embedding itself into her left hand. She yelped in pain as she ducked further behind the crate. It has been awhile since she had felt such excruciating pain, but now was not the time to cower. Going visible once again, she turned her energy towards setting up her force field to prevent further damage.

“Cel-!” Eclipse not-quite-yelled, annoyed at the sound of concern in his voice. It wasn’t much, but it was more than he was comfortable with expressing. His instincts kicked in and he cut his call short, leaping aside as the beast came crashing down upon him. Hitting the door behind the Stratarian, it howled in pain and rage. Eclipse realigned his firearm with the target and fired again, backing away as he did so before the monster could fully recover.

Upon finishing creating her force field bubble, Celaeno stood up from her hiding spot and raised up her good hand. This time, she immediately reacted and fired a energy beam at the creature. The two energy discharges from the villains struck the mutation simultaneously, triggering a small explosion and causing the monster to ricochet against the wall and land by another wall, howling all the while. In its thrashes, it dislodged some debris in front of it and revealed another entrance. Wounded and seeing that it was outmatched, the beast took the most sensible route and fled down the newly opened tunnel, leaving the duo alone with the other scientists who called for their help.

Not giving it a second thought, Celaeno in a fit of rage rushed out from behind the crate and into the tunnel, not letting the mutation get away that easily. Upon entering the tunnel, she illuminated her hand to provide light, kept her shield up, and continued yelling at the beast “get back here!” while throwing in a curse once in awhile. With that she disappeared into the darkness with the beast, not knowing what she was getting herself into.

Eclipse almost started after her, but turned to the scientists and quickly thought things through. He knew fully well that the two of them couldn’t both “save” the scientists and take on Ketch and his monster. Seeing as Celaeno had practically made the decision for him, the scientists would have to be left behind. And to keep Ketch’s resources out of enemy hands, silenced.

After several shots of his darkness gun, he illuminated his hand for the darkness of the tunnel and ran after his partner.

[King_Rico]

Just as the Iron Fist was preparing to approach him, Scorpionok appeared walking. The ground starts to shake as the gravity left the earth, “I thought I finished him off with that last attack!” Telarusi mumbled to himself as they looked from a distance, Scorpionok looked at The old Monk with a evil smile on his face. “Hand me that crystal, you do not know the powers upon which that item holds. If you know what’s best for your life you will do this the easy way, I hate to end your life right here” Scorpionok said while watching The monk float weightlessly in the air. Aperture anger grew the longer she stared at The monk, Telarusi warned her of the risk of fighting Scorpionok “He is practically immortal he plays mind games we would need a better strategy, not to mention if he gets the stone he will be able to Control death itself …” Just as Telarusi was talking, Aperture fainted and passed out, she started to dream of a impending disaster approaching Gondwana. A face appeared to her “Aperture you must not allow Scorpionok to control the 7 Crystals Of The Universe, the powers in which he would possess could destroy the entire Urth. He will not stop there he will continue destroying planet after planet, you are the Guardian Of The Portals! You bare next to you the Guardian Of Death together you must defeat all he attempt to find the crystals and return them back to there home planet.” The face disappeared as the battle grew larger, she noticed weird faces of other meta humans searching for the crystals of strength and Crystal Of Death. A women standing looking over a country, in her hand she had the crystal of life, she threw it at her and Aperture woke up.

The crystal The monk possessed was the Crystal Of Death, with it one could transport to any planet, galaxy or location he wanted even if it was a few feet. In order for it to work one must wear the chain with the crystal around his neck, but somewhere hidden on Urth was a weapon in which you put all 7 crystals to active the true power. Scorpionok threw The monk into a garage before reducing the gravity again lifting him 700 feet in the air, as he approached him Iron Fist ran around the corner and duplicated himself and started shooting at Scorpionok.

[Pagi]

Laying defeated, Thomas stared up at his adversary pleadingly, hoping he would be spared. In reply, a cold, hard boot came down on his neck, leaving him with but a slither of his airway to gasp at the sanitised air with. Forrester pulled out a chunky black handgun, not designed for bullets, and set his sights on Thomas’ head.

“All you had to do was follow the rules, very simple,” he said, cold and menacingly. “Shame this, we had so much planned for you.”

No projectile left the barrel, but the incomprehensibly hot sensation and harsh crack as Thomas’ skull was cleaved open freed him from the nightmare and shoved him harshly back into the jungle canopy.

“Hey bro, wake up,” Maxxus urged his brother. “I know you’re fine so lets get a move on. Command is throwing a fit right now.”

Thomas sat up. They were still in the jungle canopy within a thick tree, all lines of sight obscured by endless layers of leaves and vines.

“Have I been out long?”

“Not long to be fair, but that’s just my opinion.” Maxxus said, cocking his carbine. “We’re not far from the compound, so get us down and I’ll give you what I can pick up.”

Holding each other tightly, the two descended gracefully to the forest floor. Thomas pulled the chunky black pistol Forrester had given him and tested its weight in his hand. Apparently it was based on his telekinesis, as well as some other esoteric nonsense the MRD had cooked up over the years. He loaded it with a small glowing cartridge, and the two set off toward the Golden Rouges compound.

“Alright, long story short, things are about to go down and we’re just in time for the party” Maxxus begun. “I’m picking up at least 5 high-class metas in the compound; two energy users with extensive stealth abilities, an insane teleporter, a weather manipulator, and some kind of hard arse demon.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Some of those are USS agents!?”

“Sounds intimidating when I say it straight up, but don’t sweat it. Comparatively they’re roughly the same ability level as we are.”

“Either way, we should avoid confronting the army of Mr. spandex fantastic’s and get inside the facility unnoticed if possible.”

“Was thinking the same thing,” Maxxus paused by a tree for a second, the silent night now broken by the intense racket of gunfire and electrical discharges. Turning to face his brother, he began talking in his head. “Alright, Methinks we’re here now, keep communications psychic from now on.”

“Affirmative, gonna recon the target area real quick,” Thomas replied, mentally, before lifting himself above the treetops in an instant. Controlling his flight, he stuck closely to the thick waxy leaves whilst he surveyed the scene. There was a metallic bunker entrance, a single story tall with a reinforced blast door from which dozens of armed guards were emerging to join the fight. And there they were, two supersuit-clad heroes mowing down waves of guards as they tried desperately to stop them. These two were definitely USS grunts, but that still left three metas elsewhere. “Alright, there’s a shedload of guards coming out of that door, but it looks like the only way into the facility.”

“Seems so,” Maxxus replied, viewing the scene himself through his telepathy.“Flank around the action and meet me in the foliage near the left side and we’ll sneak in. We’d better hurry up too, there’s another meta in that mosh pit and I dont want to stick around when they begin slugging it out.”

Silently and gracefully sweeping over the treetops, Thomas reached out to the trees and began liberating the energy locked up by the carbon-carbon bonds in the hard cellulose. It was an invigorating boost, but he was careful not to take much and damage the great trees. Now to the side of the metal structure, and hopefully still unseen, he dropped downward and set himself down into a bush with giant waxy leaves.

“Halt, who’s there?” said the voice of a guard that looked far too young to handle the huge assault rifle in his arms, who was staring straight into the meta’s eyes.

Shit, where’d he come from! thought Thomas, reflexively picking up a mass of dirt that began fashioning itself into a silica bolt in the air. But just as the guard went to his radio and inform Ketch of more intruders, Maxxus, came in from the side, staring hard at the boy who’s eyes began glazing over. A moment later, he walked a single step forward, before falling into a peaceful deep sleep on the floor.

Maxxus glanced at his brother with a wink and a smile, “No need to thank me.”

“Thanks anyway bro, aside from our friendly child soldier here we’ve gone unnoticed so far. You know if its safe to make a run for the entrance?”

“We’ll need some sort of distraction- wait, hold that thought for a second,” he paused. Look out to the main group of guards rrriiiggghhhttt now.

As Thomas turned and focused on the group of soldiers, he saw a black armoured figure suddenly manifest, terrifying electric blue blades emerging from their forearms and dashing towards the two superheroes. The two brothers stared at each other for a second.

“I think thats our distraction,” they thought in unison.

“Alright, you go first and I’ll seal the door behind us.” said Thomas, aloud this time.

“Agreed, and now would be the perfect time.” Maxxus replied, dashing out of the jungle bush toward the open blast door. All the while he used all of his available psionic power to purge any thoughts or compulsions within the guards’ feeble consciousnesses to turn around and check the door.

Thomas followed, the foliage around him wilting and blackening as he absorbed some extra energy for his next exertion of power. As he entered the bunker he heard several muffled gunshots as Maxxus dealt with some straggling TGR support grunts in the entrance chamber. The moment he was inside, he reached out to the matter of the reinforced blast door, compelling it to close; and it did. It slammed shut with enormous force, and to seal the deal, he twisted the matter of the door, the lock mechanism, and the wall it was built into, amalgamating it into one and sealing it permanently. He gasped with the effort, feeling the familiar primal hunger for energy, but withheld it as he turned back to the scene behind him. Strangely, the bodies of the half-dozen guards were all grouped around an elevator entrance, each with neat, bloody holes in the backs of their heads from his brothers carbine. Maxxus, however, was leaning inquisitively over two that lay in the center of the group, looking curious.

“Door’s sealed, what’s up with these guys?”

“Someone’s been here before us.” he said, pushing the ‘DOWN’ button. “One with a broken neck, and one with all life drained from their body.”

“Those’ll be those stealth metas,” Thomas replied, entering the lift as the door opened. “I’d probably be hopeless against them, at least they’re USS agents.”

They punched the close button, and the elevator music started up, baffling the brothers for a moment, before Maxxus began again. “We’ll see.”[edit_reason]minor edits[/edit_reason]

[King_Rico]

As Iron Fist And Scorpionok battle Aperture opened a portal away from the ongoing conflict, “I see no purpose for us to stay, we can come back for the death crystal. It is important we get the portal crystal back, Subject 145 poses a grave danger to your planet Urth.” As they walked through the portal, Telarusi started to feel a tingly sensation, “What could that be?” He thinks to himself. They arrive in a large forest in the middle of Yasteria, Aperture looked at Telarusi, “I’ve brought you here to show you what lies in store for your world if we do not return those crystals”, she proceeds to moves her hands in a systematic manner. “Yihola des un Yama ygez nembaska” she yells as she warps the surroundings, showing a dark and dead world. The trees burned and life forms clinched for life, “this is your planet when all 7 crystals are brought together. The demons and Old gods will not spare your planet no one can stop them, life as you know it will cease to exist forever. This will repeat in every planet of every universe.” Aperture sighs as she returns everything back to normal, Telarusi looked around still confused about everything. “So are all these crystals from a foreign planet ?” Aperture turns around, “No there’s two that belong here, Crystal Of Death is granted by the Old gods to the new guardians of death, the crystal possesses a very dark power. Upon use the user will immediately subcome to the Old gods who will give him the power of a demon, the powers only work when the chain is around the host. But some have been said to overcome the power and use it for good. And the Crystal Of Life gives the user the powers to heal, and resurrect another life form. But can only be used by someone with a pure heart, mind and body. How don’t you know this are you not the Guard of the Death Crystal”. Telarusi looked in shock, “Gua…Guardian Of Death crystal, uhh I don’t believe so” he looks around as he thinks to himself , “Could that be why I felt the tingly sensation in my back as we exited”.

Meanwhile Iron Fist was receiving a beating from Scorpionok, he dodged a hit and started to run circles around him creating a vortex from his speed. He created his duplications before kicking Scorpionok in his knees knocking him down to his knees. His duplicates surrounded Scorpionok before he drained the water from his body, his eyes started to turn a silver color. Iron Fist started to let his guard down when Scorpionok created a illusion distracting Iron Fist as he stole the Crystal Of Death and disappeared.

[Vultuca]

there were visions of fire & screaming, the same dream has been playing for me forever since I can remember, I feel that there is something that happened to me that I don’t know,

I woken, the air was cold & the room was filled with odor, for years after my escape I been living in an abandoned ship, I am a fugitive now.

Back in the laboratory, they tested my power, until the great blackout begun the explosion damaged the controls in the cell I was in and nearly destroyed me, so I was barely human afterward.

I got up and outside, I was on an unclaimed island in the middle of the big ocean, it was beautiful sight.