Arlana rolled upright, then slid off the bed to her feet, her face momentarily going tight with pain before she mastered her face and brought a tight smile to her face as she walked to the glass, adjusting the thin green backless shirtlike object covering her. "Kurt." She rasped, her voice cracked and hoarse. "I..." She swallowed and grimaced. "It's good to see you. I heard you paid a few visits while I was asleep."
"I did feel it. What happened? We were alright in here, but the Doctors seemed rather concerned. Should have been out there helping you, but the Doctors say I may be carrying a plague." Anget and shame twisted her face for a heartbeat. "But it appears you had yhe attack in hand."
It was good to see Arlana moving again, even though it appeared to be taxing on her. He could help but offer a smile of his own.
"A fire-breathing dragon exploded into existence in the lobby and completely trashed the place." Kurt replied, remaining serious despite the sheer absurdity of his statement. "Honestly, I'm just not weirded out by these things anymore," he added with a shrug.
"I missed the whole thing. By the time I got down to the lobby, it was long gone. Spent a while helping to cleaning up the rubble."
He caught Arlana's expression of disappointment. "And don't be so hard on yourself. We need you at 100%, and the only way to do that is to rest. There's no shame in that."
"A Dragon!" Arlana didn't seem to really notice anything else he said, her eyes bright and excited. "And it just appeared?" She mumbled to herself, a string of gaelic-sounding words. "According to Gargoyle legend when my people departed this world a number of other beings left with us - among them the Goblins, Dwarves, and some of the Dragons. If it just appeared there might be an open rift to Faerie now, perhaps somewhere close at hand." She started to pace, winced, and instead just sat on the floor.
She was silent for a while.
"Kurt." She spoke after a minute. "Rest does nothing for my illness. The Doctors say I lapsed into stonesleep as normal during my coma and it did nothing to halt my disease. The plague continues to grow worse. They say they've tried everything your physicians can devise, even attempted magic to reverse it to no effect."
She reached to her smock and pulled it down to show a small spot of dull gray on her chest, where Virus had first wounded her. "When a Gargoyle dies their bodies turn into stone...and it is not all at once."
"Twas an exhilarating display!" Richard grinned as he mulled over his previous act of terrorism, having taken to the skies in the meantime. Surprisingly, his suit survived the blast, leaving dirt and ash and debris covering his bare skin. "I s'pose I should find a place to cleanse myself..." By this point, he was clearing Manhattan as he flew further south. He had no idea where he was going, but he was definitely going there. Soon, he came up to the coast. "Ah! Water." He dove into the ocean with haste. When he resurfaced, he found himself walking onto warm sand and scantily clad individuals taking in the sun. A nearby sign read South Beach. "Hmp, such scandalous clothings. Have these people no shame?" Then, a growling emitted from his stomach. "Hungerrrr..." He lunged into another flight, soaring over the water with a hankering for fish.
As he felt he got out far enough, he dove back down into the water. He made a descent, using his wings to propel. There were remains of aquatic wildlife about, fish bones and entrails. Seemed like a natural occurrence, but he noticed the bones of bigger organisms the further he dove. "Tis a mysterious happening...Could there be something big in the area?" From the corner of his eye, something big sped away. "Aha!" He began after it, but then stopped with a better idea. With the Whiteraze in hand, he sent it towards the massive blue being. It was definitely a chase, but it found its target eventually. The halberd swam back towards its master, a blue marlin impaled on its blade. "This impressive fish shall make for a bountiful meal!" Satisfied with his results, Richard began for the surface.
Wanting to eat in peace, Richard opted out of flying back to the beach. Instead he flew along the coastline, to search for a less populated area. He eventually came across what looked to be a fairly sized cave a way's away from the beach. The ocean's water lead right into the cave. He landed at the entrance, a dim one even against the setting sun. The sounds of splashing echoed from deeper inside the cave. But this sounded purposeful, not like the sound of waves flowing into the opening. Curious, he stepped further into the cove. As the splashing got louder, he realized he was coming up to a pool, with a peculiar little girl splashing about in it. Purple-greyish skin, slick blue hair, black eyes. Richard didn't know what to make of it. "A young water elemental...?" He mumbled as he approached.
Mneme splashed about in the shallow end of her pool, in the above water portion of the cave. Her mother was still out somewhere, leaving the young leviathan to her own amusings. In this case, it meant chasing the small crabs and fish in the water, occasionally eating one as a snack.
She noticed Richard as soon as he had come near the place. She was not afraid. Humans didn't have the power to kill them, her mother said. Also, they were usually scared when they saw her, or her mother's toothy jaws. Mneme watched the human curiously, her head the only visible portion of her in the seawater.
Richard had no need to show caution, for he was no normal human. Instead, strangely, he showed concern. The wings on his back flapped dry and melted into his back. "Greetings, young one." He greeted, laying the halberd beside the pool as he knelt. "Why art thou alone in this cave? Doth thou have an elder or guardian to look after?" He would'e asked more, but the mighty marlin spiked on the Whiteraze still had some fight in it, and began to thrash a bit, genuinely surprising the Black Sun. With a scowl and a growl he hopped to his feet, stomping on the wooden staff to hold it in place.
"Rarh!" He spit fire upon the fish, burning both its skin and volition with extreme prejudice. Naturally, the fish ceased its thrashing. Its skin was blackened, charred. He removed it from the dormant weapon before blowing another tuft of flame down its throat. Holding it by the sword it had for a nose, Richard presented the massive fish to the blue little girl.
"Hungry?" He asked simply. "What is thou name, little one?" It was the first time his voice didn't show any sort of hostility.
Ooooh hot Mneme liked the orange color of the fire. She shook her head at the burnt fish. After things were burned, they tasted kind of bland and dry. She liked it better when the blood squirt out. This guy talked funny, not like all the people she heard around. She popped a little further out of the water, gurgling out "Mneme" before flashing a sharp grin. "Mom's getting me someone to help me feel better. I'm not little. You're little." She added as an after thought, swimming a little closer. She hadn't seen any human that could spit fire yet. "Ianthe doesn't like it when people come in here."
"Mneme? Tis a beautiful name." Richard perked up, showing off razor sharp teeth in a returning grin. "Mom's getting me someone to help me feel better." He sat down again. "Better? What's wrong?" He wondered, ripping into the underbelly of the burned fish. "I'm not little. You're little." "Mmm! Hmhmhm." With his mouth full, Richard had a chuckle at that comment. Seemed like a big boast for a child. Even if Mneme was no normal child. Judging by Richard's previous attacks, and his current train of "thought", he was right at home with the extremely abnormal.
"Ianthe doesn't like it when people come in here." Richard paused, raising an eyebrow. "Is that your mother? Ianthe?" He wondered if the parent resembled the child. He took another vicious rip of meat from his catch as he mulled over the thought. "Well, Mneme, I shan't be here long. I will eat, then I will be on my way. Just I...had no qualms with eating within the sight of...the commoners. These...people. They're peculiar. Evil. They stare at whatever they don't find normal. And I find them fiercely aggravating. Surely you or your mother can relate." He explained, swallowing his mouth full before taking another bite.
Alias: Kalisel, her rank in the Shaxhan Imperial Fleet. (Roughly equivalent to a Commander)
Gender: Female
Age: She appears to be in the prime of her life.
Appearance: Visibly, obviously not Human - just under seven feet tall, with ash-grey skin, long arms, legs, six-fingered hands and glow in the dark all-white eyes. Rather than external cartilage forming the ear her ears are sunken into her skull, her jaw structure is thicker and more developed, her teeth long and sharp, marking her species as pure carnivores. Her features are harsh and angular - cruel, even. She is buzz cut with the exception of the very back of her head where her black hair is drawn into a braid that goes to mid back.
As a general rule her clothes consist of grey, laceless combat boots, brown pants with padded knees and holsters around her thighs, a high-collared, long-sleeved white shirt, and a black jacket with gold trim around the buttons and the wrists, with no collar. In combat she puts on her Hardsuit, detailed below.
Personality: For an Alien Asira is surprisingly Human. She's arrogant, blatantly bigoted (albeit towards Humans and other infantile species and to a lesser extent any non-Shaxhan) and rather warlike. Her behavior tends less towards any kind of hatred and more contempt, looking at Humans as backwater primitives and not afraid to show it, the closest thing to malice being.her anger and frustration at being trapped on this forsaken planet.
First and foremost Asira is a soldier, trained to the standards of the elite operatives of a galaxy-spanning Empire. She is trained in basic diplomacy as a long range scout, but is a soldier to the core, often brusque, frequently rude, and occasionally overviolent. While she is a professional her outlook is decidedly more militaristic than most of Human Western civilization is used to. Her politics are reminiscent of the age of European Colonialism, a sense of a burden to civilize these lesser nations and peoples.
Alignment: Superhero
Superpowers: Strictly speaking she lacks any true superpowers - Shaxhan physiology is roughly comparable to Human in most respects - but she possesses technology far advanced of anything on this planet. Most prominently are her weapons, a pair of Shaxhan Particle Pistols and a scaled up modular rifle, with a collapsing stock, suit uplink, and holoprojected scope. The pistols fire a bolt of charged particles that travel at roughly two-thirds of the speed of light and deliver an energy of roughly fifty thousand joules of energy - which, for comparison, is roughly equivalent to a shot from an Earth-crafted .50 Anti-Materiel Rifle, with a refire rate as fast as she can move her fingers for her pistols and fully automatic for her rifle. The weapons have minimal detectable recoil and minimal detectable arcing from gravity. The pistols require a reload after every thirty full power shots, and she possesses a total of eight energy cells for them. The rifle has one hundred full-power shots per cell, and she has six cells for it. The energy cells can absorb energy from light, heat, or direct electrical current to recharge. The weapons are sleek, dark gray metal.
In combat she wears a hardsuit - the inner bodyglove acts as life support while the outer shell provides protection through interlocking plates of carbon nanotube-reinforced ceramics, providing a truly bulletproof shell. This is combined with a form-hugging energy shield that deflects incoming projectiles and absorbs most dangerous forms of energy, also allowing her to operate in hostile environments. The Hardsuit is formfitting dark blue plates over a black bodyglove.
Over her head she wears a helmet comprised of that same metal, which contains readouts for her shields and armor integrity, ammo, physical condition, and sensors to detect hazardous environmental conditions. Also contained are darkvision modes, a zoom function, and headlamps. The full armor is a self sustained environment and Asira can survive in it indefinitely.
Over the hardsuit Asira wears a hooded cloak. The cloak hangs down to her ankles, and normally is a pale blue-gray. On command the cloak becomes adaptive camouflage. While ineffective at close range, at a distance it allows Asira to disappear into her environment provided she remains still. The cloak contains thermal and sonic dampeners to prevent her detection by her heartbeat, breathing, or body heat while active, and renders her movement entirely silent.
Her body has been modified with a number of small bionic and biological implants - a graft to her respiratory system allows her to breathe in thin and thick atmospheres and process CO2 back into oxygen, allowing her to hold her breath for roughly fifteen minutes rather than the average two, a graft to her digestive system protects her from alien toxins, and an implant to her immune system provides increased protection from alien pathogens.
A device inside of her brain acts as a language analysis center. With this device directly interfaced to the speech and hearing centers of her brain can allow her to learn languages rapidly - in a full immersion situation achieving comprehension in hours and near-native fluency in a week. It even works for written or sign language.
Weaknesses: Her weapons have limited ammunition and her shields can only deflect so much before failing. While her armor is highly resilient she will be injured by kinetic impacts of sufficient strength even if they fail to penetrate. Outside of armor she is no tougher than most Humans.
Biography: Asira is a Shaxhan, a member of an alien race that dominates the Andromeda Galaxy and its attendant Dwarf Galaxies. The political situation is a little complicated, but suffice to say that the Shaxhan Empire is looking at the Milky Way the way a hungry fatty looks at a box of twinkies.
Asira was among the first wave, scouts sent to assess the galaxy and find viable staging areas for the Expeditionary Fleet - habitable worlds, potential threats and allies, and Hyperspace routes.
Asira's craft was crippled while surveying Proxima Centauri when the star experienced a powerful mass ejection event. While a common occurrence and normally no threat, minor failures in the shield systems resulted in the ship being bathed in cosmic rays that burned out a number of key systems and killed every crewmember save the one in a protective suit, up to her elbows in the damaged shield systems.
Injured by the event, Asira staggered to the controls and made a brief hyperspace jump using the last legs of the ship, returning them to the last place they had surveyed - a system of eight planets, one of which was inhabited by a primitive race taking their first tentative steps to the stars.
Earth's introduction to this enigmatic Alien warrior was not the watershed moment in Human history many hoped for. Instead of a glorious shining ship transmitting a message of peace it was a blast of exotic radiation and a short lived star streaking across the sky, while satellites and observatories across the globe tracked it.
Within hours nearly every nation on Earth was on alert - the object was changing course, headed straight towards Earth, a fireball that splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Kel Serapis screamed as she made her last ever jump, a hideous shriek that ran through the very fabric of the ship like a child's scream mingled with the sound of tearing metal. A klaxon went off, an alert going up on the main screen.
Staggering from station to station was the last surviving crewmember, stepping over the twisted bodies of her fallen fellow crew. She stared at the alert for a second - a developing fault in the Hyperdrive that if allowed to progress would result in...
She had no idea what any of those sentences meant. She just moved, slapping the emergency cutoff switch. The blue blur of Jump faded away to show stars as the ship bled excess kinetic energy into a massive blast of cherenkov radiation that turned a rover on Mars into so much scrap metal and likely would have sterilized that planet if there was anything there to sterilize.
"At least the inertial dampener is still working...somehow." If it weren't she would be a smear of molecules and the ship would be a spray of debris. Now slowed from a physics-breaking many thousands of times the speed of light to a mere 3000 kilometers per second, the hideous squealing sound stopped with one last burst of grinding and finally a screech like a train grinding to a halt on the body of a housecat that wouldn't die.
Asira let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding as the ship finally stabilized. She took a seat and checked the damage reports - FTL was dead and nevet coming back, life support was frelled, subluminal engines were barely functioning at all, sensors were frakked, communications were a molten puddle of slag, and shockingly, shielding and weapons systems were fully functional.
Naturally. She moved to the helm and began trying to coax a little maneuverability out of it. They had surveyed this system previously, there was one habitable planet, the third one out. She aimed for a pale blue dot.
Two hundred thousand miles away, a lot of yuppies became very upset as important phone calls abruptly dropped and GPS trackers began directing them to go four thousand miles and take a right to arrive at the IHOP. For a brief moment all global communications, every satellite and radio and TV became so much garbled data and static as the now dispersed burst of radiation reached Earth, not much more than a fizzle in the atmosphere now.
Most people notes the annoyance and moved on. A few places investigate the strange event, and in an hour they have something.
General Jacoby was the commander in chief of NORAD, and he was the first person to hear about it, staring with a slack jaw at what the telescope had captured - a craft, shaped like a rounded off spade, with a visible thruster bank spitting a stream of blue fire. The image was blurry, but he could make out that much.
"Is there any chance of this not being what it looks like?"
The weedy man making the report shook his head. "Not really, General. It's traveling at an estimated two thousand miles per second, heading straight for us."
Jacoby paused, then nodded. "It looks like I have some calls to make." He picked up the red phone on his left. "Get me the President."
That conversation was short and to the point. As soon as he finished he turned to his other phone, one he thought he'd never actually use. "This is General Jacoby, I need to speak to Adelbert. Tell him that we have a Visitor."
There was little that could be done for the next twenty six hours, until the incoming ship abruptly began rapidly decelerating and plunged into the atmosphere, a wreath of fire enveloping the ship, and a minute later it splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico.
Alice had long since left the lab, a day in fact, and she was in bed taking a nap when Fox awoke her with news. She rolled over opening her eyes ready to kill Fox he began to speak.
"I hate to wake you, but I just noticed a day or so ago that all of the world?s communications dropped for a brief moment. It took me a while to figure out what caused it, but it seems that a burst of radiation from an object that had entered our atmosphere. It has to be something technical, and someone could be inside, with new technology."
Alice woke up with s start when Fox reported that it could be new tech, tech that might be able to help her. She grabbed the injector pen she had on the night stand, and sat up yawning and stretching out her joins. It seems her body was more willing to move then she thought so she decided to put the pen down for now.
"Fox I want you to lock on to location of that object, and send the information to the plane. We're taking a trip. Also, send Seraphim a message letting them know where I'm going should anything happen. I want to be ready to leave in a hour. Has the news reported anything on the object?"
"Right away Alice. I hope they have peanuts this time. As far as I can tell no news network has reported on the crash, but I do think we should hurry.
After her body finished waking up from it sleep Alice stood up, and walked over to her steel cabinet, pressed her thumb a scanner, and spoke the password. It opened with the hiss reveling her battle suit. She looked over it thinking.
"What am I going to do when I can't move again? When I have to stop putting my suit on, and just let my body kill its self. Maybe... what I said before was the way out. A healing factor, and not just any healing factor. One on level with Dead Pool. That object has to have to have something in there for me. Oh god I hope it does.
Alice was lost in thought looking at her helmet when Fox nudged the side of her head.
"Are you ok Alice? Do you need anything?
Alice jolted out of her trance, and shook her head.
"No I was just thinking. Maybe there is hope for me. I'll just need to get a new power."
Alice put on her suit starting with her feet, and working her way up. After a bit all the was left was he helmet, but before she put it on the walked back over to her night stand, and took the pen twisting the top, and injected herself. As always it hurt, and she went down on one knee. After some time it wore off, and she got back up putting on her helmet.
"Fox, transfer over to the suit. It's time to go. Is the plane ready to go?"
"It's waiting for us at the workshop ready to go. The teleporter is also ready Alice.
Alice walked out of her room, and stepped into the teleporter. It flash lights all around her as parts of it started to spin around her going faster, and faster. Then was a large flash, and she was teleported to her workshop. Stepping out of the teleporter it powered down. She walked to the other side of the shop, and unlocked a door leading to her hanger, and run way. There her plane was ready to go. It wasn't a normal plane. This was a plane she made designed for herself. It was able to fly, hover, and land on water. She was inspired by comic book planes, and designed it after the X-Men Blackbird.
She boarded the plane right before the door suit behind her, and took a seat.
There was no crew like always; it ran off of a similar AI as Fox, Sal as she called it.
"Welcome adored doctor. It looks like we're heading to the Gulf of Mexico we?ll be taking off in just a few minutes. Can I get you anything to drink?
"No thank you Sal, this is for business, maybe on the way back, but thank you."
Within minutes of her boarding the jet took off. During the flight Alice looked out the window, and was working on the on bored computer seeing if the government knew anything about the crash. So far it seemed that they only knew it crash, and nothing more. She planned to keep it that was for now if she could.
After a few hours she was flying over the Gulf of Mexico as Sal was scanning the area for the object, after some time she found it.
"I have found the craft ma'am. Shall I land a few yards away?
"Yes please Sal. Fox, I want you with me to scan the ship to see if there's life inside. We're going to treat any life as a treat until you deem them safe."
When the plane landed Alice opened the door, and saw the ruined craft a few yards a head. Alice released a small rescue raft using a panel on the wall. It was a small raft, just big enough to hold two people, and a small motor. She boarded the raft, and stared the motor heading to the ship. The closer she got the more damage she could see. She was starting to doubt there was anything alive inside, but she still had to look.
When she got to the craft Fox started scanning it, and found one life form on bored.
"Alice, I have found someone inside, they seem to be alive in the cockpit a few feet away."
Alice moved over to where Fox indicated the cock pit was, and found a door. She forced it open with her gantlets, and carefully walked inside. It was like she walked into another world. The bodies around her where not human, but looked human like. She pulled out her side arm, and headed to the cock pit where she found the life form.
"I mean you no harm if you can understand me. Are you hurt in anyway? I can help you."
[hr]
Samael walked in with a smirk, and looked around at the others in the room; nothing too impressive to him save for one which he assumed was Virus.
"Well well, it this isn't a cheery place. I like the menacing feeling, very fitting for this place. There is a lack of fire though I will admit. So, what fun do you guys have planned? I'm always up for some fun unless I have to go out a make some for myself."
He lead on a nearby wall playing with some fire in his hand waiting for Virus to address him.
"Dai un vasak us Kal nakust Shaxhan." She snapped her rifle up to point at Asira. "Gal Shaxhan nakust!" This was rapidly shaping up to not be Asira's favorite day. Impact had been at a cool 2700 miles per hour, peanuts compared to this ship's drive power but fast enough that the hull had buckled and the inertial dampener had momentarily faltered, resulting in her being picked up and flung across the cabin ny physics, smashing against the helm console hard enough to dent it. Her armor had taken the impact like a champ, but she could feel blood running out of her nose and mouth.
Her armor told her of the other damage - rib cracked, shoulder and wrist sprained, bruising to most of her thorax. Still combat capable, even if she wouldn't be happy about it.
She turned her attention to the new arrival. Indigenous. Primitive combat suit. Uncertain combat capabilities, tech ahead of planetary norms. Nonthreatening.
Asira lowered her weapon. A moment later she heard a distant thudding sound and looked out the viewport - helicopters approaching this position. All black, some laden with weapons and others bulky to hold troops. This badly outnumbered combat was completely useless. She slid her rifle into its holster on her back and raised her hands, the more or less universal signal for surrender.
Exactly what we have been discussing, or were you somehow asleep during that discussion?
" Virus asked Hellhound. "
Code:
We rob these establishments, starting slow and going bigger and bigger after that, in order to draw out Seraphim, and eventually take them out. That is the extent of our plans. The finer details can be discussed at a later time. For now, it is enough if you go now to take on some of the smaller establishments. Do so in any way you see fit. Just make sure that you are not captured.
" Virus addressed more than just Hellhound with the last parts of what he said. Once he was done speaking, he looked towards Samael.
"
Code:
Good to see that you could make it, Samael. We trust that you caught what we were saying just as you came in. Our goal is the takedown of Seraphim.
" The files were still up for show on the wall, and with an open palm, Virus pointed towards them for Samael to see. "
Code:
For those that have not been in this lair before can take a look around if you so wish. There are rooms where you can sleep, others where you can eat, yet others where you can wash yourself and still others for other purposes. If you have any questions we will be glad to answer. This lair is your home if you so wish for it to be so. If there isn't anything else, then we would want you to head out to start work on our plan.
" A lot of the villains headed out after discussing which places to rob, and some stayed in order to check out the place for themselves.
"Exactly what we have been discussing, or were you somehow asleep during that discussion? We rob these establishments, starting slow and going bigger and bigger after that, in order to draw out Seraphim, and eventually take them out. That is the extent of our plans. The finer details can be discussed at a later time. For now, it is enough if you go now to take on some of the smaller establishments. Do so in any way you see fit. Just make sure that you are not captured."
Looking at Virus for a second Marcus nods and pulls on his gloves and makes sure they are tight as Virus talks to a new comer. Taking a deep draw on his cigarette and dropping it to grind it out with the heel of his boot as he pulls his helmet up and over his head. Shaking his head to make sure its on tight he starts towards the outside door, Waving back at Virus as he stops his talk and most of the people start walking out. Ignoring the traps he knows is surroundings him as he walks out and opening the door at the end of the hall, stepping out without looking behind him. Walking over to his bike, more stomping than walking, and when he gets over straddles his bike. Sitting it straight and firing it up he spins it around leaving a semi-circle of burnt rubber on the concrete before racing out of the parking structure and down the street.
Weaving in between cars on the road as he races down it, almost clipping a few of them and leaving a trail of honking behind him. Taking a tight corner into a side alley and going along it he slows and stops at the end on the side street just before going out into another street. Stopping there and letting his bike idle he pulls up his phone to look at the different web apps he has. Whistling softly at the most up to date news.
Shaking his head and putting his phone away and zipping the pocket closed he revs the engine again and pulls back out into traffic, ignoring the people who have to swerve and stomp on their brakes. Turning away from flashing lights and emergency vehicles he speeds down the road.
A while later Marcus pulls into a parking building, this one right in front of a large bank and right down the street a nice jewelry store with quite a bit. Driving all the way to the roof and parking it close to the edge he turns it off and walks over to sit against the side of the rail and look down at the bank. Pulling his helmet off and setting it down he pulls his phone out and brings up the information about money movements and guard scheduled. Keeping one eye on the phone and one eye on the bank he smiles slowly as the shift change for the security and... half an hour later the armored car rolls into the side and parks to start unloading the cash into the bank. Looking over the edge at the armored car he sighs at not being able to take the money now. Hopping off the rail and back over to his motorcycle he pulls out a sawed off shotgun and loads a specialty round.
Lifting and aiming at the building across the street he plays over the front doors for a second before lifting and firing it at the roof, the sound eaten up by the cars and other sounds around. The specialty round flying over and landing hard against the side of a air conditioning unit on the top, not enough to disable or break it but enough to penetrate and stay there waiting for him to activate it. Putting the sawed off back in the bag and straddling the bike again he backs up and drives down the parking building and away down the street towards his hide out.
"Well... that certainly was a thing," Mark noted now that the others had all moved on. He wandered back into his room, taking a moment to settle his hair back into place. "Now... I want to see if that battery has improved my own abilities as well as yours. Would you mind?"
Talsper obligingly flickered out of visibility, as his ring glowed gold for a few seconds. Ah, so it also provides a faster transfer... intriguing.
Mark paid the mage's musings no heed, however, as he flicked his hand to cast a spell. No sooner had he done so, however, than a plume of fire considerably larger than he was used to erupted into being and promptly burned itself out. The traceur waved the resulting cloud of thin smoke away.
"Huh. Perhaps the training floors might be a better place to test this."
[hr]
On the other side of the city from Seraphim HQ, a lightning bolt thundered down from clear skies, directly striking the head of the staff raised to the heavens. Its wielder laughed, drunk on the heady sense of strength he felt when the weapon did whatever it was supposed to do. Orbs of metal, lightning and concrete revolved around the staff's crystal head.
The street-ganger heard someone swear from the corner of the back alley. He brought the staff down to point where he thought the offender stood. A pistol shot rang out; the round ricocheted off the crystal and flawlessly melted into the floating copper sphere. The ganger twitched the staff, and a crackle of electricity tore through his hapless victim.
He didn't understand it, but it had already turned the tide of his crew's poor fortunes. Because why bother pitching a perfectly good weapon, clearly able to outmatch guns, to a pawn shop for twenty bucks? This staff would turn the six-man crew into a money-making machine. First corner stores, then jewellers and banks. Let the police try to take him, he thought...
Meanwhile, the Sorcerer-King looked down on the scene from the roof of a building. Intet smiled to himself, turned and walked away.
Under her helmet Asira's lip curled in disgust. What a soft, primitive mind. If this Al-Eese had any sense she would remain wary and armed in the presence of an extraplanetary lifeform, particularly when this primitive rock had not even managed to step beyond the near surrounds of their homeworld. Instead she seemed to be trying to comfort her.
"Asira." She tapped her chest. As the helicopters approachrf she turned her attention away, moving towards the shattered airlock into the ship. Already primitives in crude armor toting crude weapons approached, and they were not so foolish as Al-Eese
"Put your hands up." They pantomimed it to her, and she complied, the Primitives moving to confiscate her weapons. "You're going to have to come with us." They took Asira by the shoulders and led her towards the choppers. One remained to deal with the doctor.
"The alien's in our custody for now, Doctor. You shouldn't be here without authorization."
"I like people. They're funny. But they don't like me."
[hr]
Ianthe easily dragged the older woman down to the beach. She had roared at her enough so that she shut up, and was mostly quiet for the rest of the trip save the whimpering. The skies were dark, heavy with the promise of rain, making it easy to navigate the alleys and sidestreets to the beach. As she got closer though, there were foreign sounds and smells emanating from the cave. She growled, releasing the doctor and slinking to the cave, morphing to her serpentine form.
Ianthe~ Mneme started chirping when she heard her mother's voice, forgetting about the dragon person beside her. Sometimes Ianthe brought some furry things to play with.
Ianthe had a small surprise when she saw the human's wings. She knew what a dragon was, but as far as she had seen, they had all died off in this world. She roared a warning to the dragon, whipping her arms out in threat. Thunder accented her threat. She opened her mouth, jaws lined with several sharp teeth. The dragon was going to have a fight on its hands.
"Ahh, another lackluster day of classes, another sliver of newly acquired info I could potentially use towards my projects." Justin thought, exiting his school, the New York Institute of Technology. That was over on Broadway, further from Seraphim than it would seem. And he still had to walk a bit to the subway station anyway. Then, this weird occurrence happened. KRAKA-THOOM! Thunder rang through the sunny skies as a bolt of lightning stuck.
"That thunder sounded close!" Justin thought, clutching his chest, clearly caught off guard by the wacky weather. He wanted to just keep walking towards the subway station after that, but Justin was a man of inquiry and curiosity. He decided to follow the sound, to see if it were more than just a peculiar anomaly. His trot broke into a sprint as the sounds of gunfire burst from seemingly the same spot. There was a glow of blue and a sound of crackling plasma that occurred down a alleyway. A stereotypical looking gangster had seemed to stumble over some items that didn't really belong to him.
Whoever shot at him was quickly reduced a smoldering corpse. The impromptu mage seemed to be really into it. "Sir, those items belong in a museum...probably!" Justin called down the alley, making himself known. "Wait, why did I do that-"zzkZAT! Before he could fully question his reaction, the gangbanger sent a wicked bolt into the boy's person. Yet, instead of watching a guy reduce to cinders, the mook looked on in amazement as Justin showed no adverse effects from the attack. "Oh yeah. Forgot I could do that." He muttered.
[hr]
The sea serpent's entrance was fairly sudden, sudden enough to make Richard spring to his feet in alarm. He wanted to try and diffuse the situation, but his body begged to differ. Instead he made a roar of his own, and bared his own teeth. The Whiteraze flung into his grasp, and ignited instantly. "Are you Mneme's mother?" He asked through a growl. Seemed like he was fighting to keep from lunging a her. "She said something was wrong with her...I want to...hhhhggnnhh-" The first time he showed the full extent of his draconian form, he was in full control. But this time it felt like it was being forced upon him. Like the dragon inside wanted him to give into the chaos and flame that swirled within.
It never took longer the three seconds for the dragon to fully form. He roared again, this one a little more impressive than the first. "Duel me if thou must, Ianthe. I shan't falter!" He said, the low, rolling voice booming throughout the cave.
Ianthe screeched, the skies getting darker and darker by the minute. She would not tolerate this thing's presence. Ianthe slinked off into the pool of water, caught between watching Ianthe fight something with more chance than sharks, and keeping out of whatever destruction they would be causing. Ianthe had the advantage in this tight space: the dragon couldn't take flight, and would have a harder time maneuvering. It would no doubt be an advantage that wouldn't last long, so Ianthe quickly attacked. She lunged at the dragon with her maw wide open, arms extended to block his exit.
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