Private/Closed The Paragons - Act I

[comic]

Siberia, Russia
The temperature drastically dropped, impossibly nearing absolute zero. The cold of space itself. At this, not even the biosuits the researchers wore could keep out the chilling cold. While they didn't feel its brunt, they certainly weren't very comfortable anymore. Yet, the temperature didn't stop its decent. The icy wind grew more ferocious as well, threatening to toss the researchers about. "Back to the shuttle!" The head researcher shouted, his voice barely penetrating the roaring wind. However, due to internal communications systems, the other researchers heard him quite clearly.
With that, the researchers were in full retreat, leaving Ignizio to deal with Skade. Yet, one researcher remained, sliding his pack off his back and zipping it open to rummage inside. "Ignizio!" He shouted, hoping his voice would carry to their latest ally. "Your power is weakened here, and hers is at its strongest! I've been working on something for pyro users for several years now, I'm thinking that maybe you could make use of it!"

He pulled a strange metal box from his pack, setting it down on the snowy ground, before pressing a button at the top. Immediately, the device began to glow a deep red hue, a wave of heat began to burst from it in steady pulses. Almost immediately, the temperature surrounding them began to rise drastically, the waves of heat rolling off the glowing box instantly turning the icy blizzard into a pleasant drizzle of rain.
The heat grew unbearably hot for the researcher, who began to back up from it. "There's a built-in mechanism with a unique formula that can boost the power of your flame attacks tenfold. A-at least in theory, I uh... haven't tested it out yet." He informed Ignizio, turning his gaze to look at him. "But I'll help you, Black Dragon. Any way I can."
'Black Dragon'. The name Ignizio had been dubbed through his history of murder of those who stumbled upon him. Legends would tell of a great black dragon with dark fire that would incinerate any who came near. Clearly this mortal was a fan who'd done his research.

Mystery Woman
She stared at the eggs for a moment, before looking up toward Celice. The two were almost perfectly even in height, she thought. She looked back toward the eggs, trying to find her voice. "E... Egg..." She murmured. This was frustrating. She knew she could talk. She was... smart. She thought so at least. Maybe at one point she was. Why was this hard? What was happening?
Stupidly, she grabbed an egg and proceeded to toss it in her mouth, crunching down on the hard outer shell. She nearly gagged as the contents of the egg filled her mouth. Instead, she simply spit it out onto the ground, spitting up bits of broken yolk after the fact of the matter.

She slowly looked up at Celice, blinking slightly. "...No egg." She stated, not desiring to go through that again. "Hot... dog..." She was very fond of those blanketed meat rods, or 'hot dog' as she'd figured out from Celice's words. This was the longest interaction she'd had with anybody as long as she could remember, and she was quickly beginning to pick up on the woman's speech. While she'd have loved to figure out more about herself, she was more concerned with getting a hot dog.
She didn't seem at all interested or perturbed by the fact that she was in this stranger's home, eating her raw eggs.

CL-9
She would have been surprised at the decapitation of Infinity, if not for the knowledge that he'd be perfectly fine when everything was said and done. It was when the trash monster took an interest in Lilian that the android grew concerned. Lilian managed to slam her pole down on the creature's head, which seemed to disorient it as it began swinging wildly around. One bladed hand made for CL-9's face, but she raised her arm and blocked the attack. Her fake skin was punctured, and a white liquid began to leak from her wound.
Unconcerned, she watched as Infinity dashed away, seemingly finally taking her advice. Took him long enough.
...She frowned, confused. Was she... annoyed? That was a new emotion. Regardless, she raised her other hand, her wrist popping open to reveal what looked like a nozzle. "Stay back, Ms. Lilian. This is a highly corrosive acid designed by Mr. Warren." She said calmly, before said acid began to spray all over the trash creature. Almost immediately, it began to break down from the acid, the trash, plastic and all, corroding into a strange goopy puddle as the creature began to melt before their eyes. Not even ten seconds had passed and all that remained was a pile of useless goop on the floor.

CL-9's wrist closed back as she turned her damaged arm over to look at it, white 'blood' still leaking out. "Hm." She tilted her head. "I didn't realize I could bleed." She looked up at Lilian, before simulating a smile. "Perhaps we should get out of the public eye for a while and wait for your significant other to return."

Yin Li
The fire lingered, and the sound of the creature's scream still reverberated in her skull. She slowly got to her feet- and to her horror, a Paragon had already made his way to them, dousing her explosion in water. "NO!" She screamed at him, racing back into the alley to yell at Ansel. "STOP! You stupid Paragons! You always fuck everything up!"
She grabbed her sidearm, gritting her teeth. "Just stay out of this, Deluge." She barked, turning to face the now lightly smoldering ruins of the explosion, immediately picking out Massi. Somehow, it was smaller, but clearly injured as it laid on the ground, breathing heavily, unmoving. It was trying to recover. "Sparkblade, now's your chance, kill it!" She shouted.

Charles Warren
Quietly, the billionaire slid open a drawer in his desk, reaching in and pulled out a small rock, no bigger than his fingernail. He sat down on the cushy chair behind the desk, and stared at the tiny mineral, though his eyes were clouded, his thoughts elsewhere...

"Charles."
The man practically jumped in his seat, his heart thumping as he looked at the woman who was approaching his desk. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. "...What is it, Catherine?" He asked, failing to look her in the eye. "I discovered your... 'project'." She stated, her tone not nearly as condemning as he'd imagined it would be. "You need to stop."
"Stop? But this is necessary. To establish a colony on Mars-"
"You know that's not what I'm talking about."
Charles fell silent, closing his eyes and letting out a shaky sigh. "Cat... This... I... I can't just..."
"Our son is dead." Catherine told him, her eyes watering. "You need to accept that... and move on. We need to live by his memory, not dwell on his death."
"Maybe you can, but you- you weren't there, Catherine!" Charles immediately shot up to his feet, chest rising heavily with each breath. "You didn't see... you couldn't... it's all my fault he's gone."
"You can't blame yourse-"
"But I do." He interrupted harshly, scowling. "I live with it every damn day. Wondering what I could have done differently to save him." His wife shook her head, looking at her husband, a great sadness in her eyes. "Charlie... you can't bring back the dead, and no clone will replace him. Stop this madness, it's consuming you. You're going down a path I cannot follow."
Charles stared at Catherine for several long moment, before he spoke. "No." He stated firmly. "I'm getting close, Cat. So close. I've been taking DNA from superhuman individuals and combining the proper genetic codes to his. Not only will he come back better than before... he won't be able to suffer ever again. Darling, please hear me. We will have our son again."
"No..." She shook her head slowly, staring at her husband with a look of pity. "He wouldn't be my son." With that, she turned and walked away, Charles staring after her...

He turned the small rock around in his hand, thoughts still dwelling on his wife. That night... 40 years ago... was the last time he'd ever seen her. He didn't know if she was dead, or where she was. It was almost as though she'd disappeared off the face of the planet. He had of course, succeeded in cloning his son. A 'better' son. In the end, though... all he'd done was make a monster.
"Mr. Warren?"
Charles was snapped from his thoughts and memories by his secretary waddling into the room, holding a tablet. "The results you requested are back, and I think you'll be very pleased with them."
Immediately, he stood up, tucking the rock back into the drawer and closing it before marching toward his secretary, snatching the tablet from her and looking it over quickly. "Yes..." A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Finally... one step closer to Patriot's destruction..." He turned to his secretary after a few moments. "Find a way to cut her open, collect any more samples you possibly can."
The woman's eyes went wide. "S-sir? She's... only a little girl."
"Yes, a little girl who holds the key to everything. Is there a problem here?"
"N-no sir..."
With that, his secretary waddled out of the room, leaving him to mull over the tablet some more.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Crosshair's new car streaked through the streets, the vigilante's foot flooring the gas petal. Even in his injured state, the vigilante held an intense focus on his driving. While his driving may be a bit reckless, running a few reds and definitely going over the speed limit, nothing unfortunate seemed to occur. No cops taking notice, no accidents or being t-boned. Practically no problems. Drifting around a corner, Crosshair misjudged it and ended up slamming the side of his car against a wall.

The vigilante was stunned for but a moment, but when he looked up he saw that he had arrived at the fight. On one side of the road lay Chief Li, with... was that Deluge, from the Paragons? But what caught Crosshair's eyes was a familiar sight in the wreckage of what appeared to be an exploded motorcycle. Massi. Not hesitating, the vigilante floored the gas once again. With a screech of tires, the car shot forwards. Crosshair's aim was to run over the alien or hit it with his car, maybe even crush it between this car and the wall of a building. Whatever he could do to kill this thing. The vehicle shot past Deluge, barely missing the hero.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Ignizio

As Skade quickly approached, her demeanor just as wild as he remembered, Ignizio decided to humor her bloodlust and entertain himself in doing so. However, as he slowly got into a slightly relaxed fighting stance, he was suddenly interrupted by a researcher that had stayed behind. The box placed by the human confused him--though not as much as the name with which he had been addressed--but Ignizio felt its effects as soon as it began to glow brightly. The climate was warmed, and in a burst of rain and fog, the frigid temperatures were alleviated by a moderate amount. The presence of warmth emitted from the box also energized the otherwise slightly weakened Ignizio, and in a huff of smoke and embers, he turned to motion for the bold explorer to join his comrades on the airship. As the mortal nodded and began hurrying back to the shuttle, Ignizio returned his attention to Skade, who was now even closer.

Her wild cackle and maniacal battle cry hardly fazed Ignizio, who simply stood before her and waited. His right hand, which was dropped to his side, slowly closed into a fist before suddenly igniting with deep black flames; as Skade lunged at him with a frost-encased fist, he lashed out with an immediate counter, thrusting his own fiery hand to block the attack. The clash resulted in a blast of dense steam immediately billowing outward from the point of impact, and the sheer intensity of both elements colliding created a smokescreen so heavy it near completely obstructed the view of the researchers attempting to spectate the scene from their shelter in the airship.

As the steam cleared, Ignizio used his fire to propel him several meters back, flames expelled from the palms of his hands and bottoms of his feet. Turning back to glance at the shuttle, he activated his comms earpiece, contacting the research team.

"She won't go down without a fight, so I'm not risking any collateral damage..." (This was a lie; he had no regard for the pitiful mortals' lives but only spared them to cement Warren's trust) "Return to the ship and wait til I return; contact your superior and inform him that I am currently working to bring his recruit to him."

With his instructions concluded, Ignizio removed the earpiece and crushed it in his hand, incinerating the device for good measure as the remains blew away in the wind. With a crack of his knuckles, he turned to face Skade once more; with a flex of his fingers, both hands became ignited with Blackfire, and his eyes briefly flashed with red. Slowly assuming a fighting stance, a smirk barely tugged at the corners of his mouth as Ignizio levelled a cool, challenging stare at the cryokinetic before him.

"Still bloodthirsty after all these years, Skade? We have much to discuss after millennia of boredom, but I'll satiate your hunger for old time's sake. I do hope you're not too rusty."

★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★ - ★

​

Shuzo

In an explosion of severe magnitude, Shuzo winced from the heat wave that was emitted by the detonating motorcycle. However, after a few more minutes of toughing out the fatigue-inducing intensity of the explosion, there it was. Massi was injured, tired, and vulnerable.

This was his chance.

Leaping into the air with his daito in a tight, two-handed grip, Shuzo began descending to the ground with the intent to drive his blade through Massi's head; he would finally end the hunt after days of searching, days of innocents being devoured and impersonated... maybe not the days of his work being rudely interrupted by the impudent Police Chief, but certainly the days of Massi being the first and foremost thorn in his side. And he would've gotten to go through with it if it hadn't been for that meddling..... 3,000 pound, heavy hitting, bright colored, mid-sized sedan speeding in to ram straight into the alien.

"WHAT—" Shuzo let out a confused yell as he found himself diving straight into a car and thought fast. As he released one hand's grip on his sword, the vigilante sucked in a deep breath as red lightning surged throughout his body, crackling wildly around him as suddenly, the world around him slowed down significantly, including the car speeding below him. Still falling at a normal speed, Shuzo contorted his body into a diving position before landing softly with the palm of his open hand onto the hood of the car. He rolled forward off the vehicle and finally reached the ground, heaving a sigh of both annoyance and relief.

The world finally returned to normal speed as Shuzo returned his attention to Massi, blades at the ready in case not even a speeding car was enough to squash the stupid thing; he did his best to remain alert, despite the exhaustion that followed his temporary slowing of time. He had taken a few seconds of slowed time to identify the driver and, upon seeing the rather roughened up face of Crosshair, had rolled his eyes with irritation; for someone with near divine luck, the fellow vigilante sure had awful timing.

 

[Martin Pine]

Laura left, flying away through the use of the power he copied of Sam, stole off him. He was safe and for a moment relief washed over him ... Then regret ... and then guilt. Samuel slowly fell off his feet, leaning against the curved wall of the sewer pipe and then slipping into a curled sitting position. He'd ran away. For the briefest of moments but still, he'd let Laura loose and let him get away. He'd failed. Tears welled up in his dull glowing eyes, Samuel turning off his telekivision as the world around him disappeared. He held himself together, trying not to crack under the guilt and trying not to pass out from his injuries.

They had only healed half way, Samuel having accidentally cut off his connection to the healing dove girl. He needed to see her. See who she was, see if she was okay and thank her for joining the fray and risking her life. After a moment to himself Samuel rose to his feet, his stance being somewhat shaky as he used his telekinesis to see once more. There was a manhole cover to the sewer nearby, it would bring him up onto a different street but he didn't wish to cause anymore damage so that was the route he was talking. Samuel took a step forwards, his leg almost giving way. The adrenaline had stopped, the consequences of his injuries were beginning to become more prominent. He floated himself with his powers, moving through the sewers towards the exit.
@ThePlayfulFox

 

[Gamingfan]

Massi's ears continued ringing, barely hearing Yun Li's yell. A sudden splash of water startled Massi, causing him to raise his still somewhat burned head towards the sight of Sparkblade above him. His attention shifted to the roar of a car hurtling at him. Massi tensed, rolling and flattering himself. The car went over the creature...and Massi was gone.
Well, somewhat. Two blade tentacles stabbed into the bottom of the car as it passed over the shrunken Massi, the slicing sounds muffled by the roar of the engine. Massi held on to the car desperately, unsure of his actions. Normally he would've attacked the car itself in a fit of rage, but this plan just felt better. Massi was almost befuddled, but his mind had not advanced that far. Massi's body was mostly healed, now only silently patching up damaged skin, but said healing exhausted him thoroughly. He wanted rest.
Nevertheless, he remained attached to the bottom of the vehicle, not really thinking farther than hold on strong.

 

[BurbleBurble]

Ansel

Wait, why was he being yelled at for stopping a fire?! That was like, the most neutral to beneficial thing a person can do! "Oh wow, look, a fire. Its burning things and presents a danger to the people around them. I should put it out!" Like, maybe if you were putting out a fire a bunch of hobos were huddling around for warmth, yeah, then you'd look like a dick, but this was a vehicular accident!

A moment of realization did not make it much better- The woman shouting at him was the police chief. What the hell was her problem with him putting out fires?!

"It's a fire! What am I supposed to do, let it burn-"

And then he saw that...thing.

"Waitwhatthefuckisthatthing!!"

As the smoke cleared, there was some sort of moaning creature. Was that what the explosion was caused by? Or rather, was it caused to try and destroy that thing? He wasn't sure and didn't really have the time to ask questions, as the other person on the scene moved in on it- Presumably to kill, as Yin Li called out to him. Sparkblade, sounded somewhat familiar.

And then a car sped between the two of them, freaking out Deluge for a second time. "Holy shit!!" He had been a foot or two from being run over by what he assumed to be a random civilian- Who then promptly ran over the thing that the chief had been so angry at him for attacking. This did not seemed planned on anyone in the group's idea for taking this thing out.

And honestly he just wasn't sure what to do at this point. Go get Alan? No, that'd be pointless- Why complicate a situation further? Listen to the chief? Make sure that this vehicle wasn't going to explode?

God, being a Paragon was hard. Where was Paragon number one, Patriot, anyways? Busy pissing off the side of the Empire State Building? The guy had to have heard something by this point.

-----
Celice

Celice had seen a lot of things in her life. Horrible disasters. People on the brink of death, starving. Vicious combat reducing humans to their most basic instincts, forgoing most decency.

Yet nothing she could recall made her cringe harder than witnessing the woman shove a whole egg in her mouth, and hearing the shell crack as she attempted to chew it. She physically recoiled at the sight.

"No no no! You don't- No no! You cook it! You...!"

Celice took a deep sigh, glancing down at the spit out yoke and shell, pinching the bridge of her nose. Was this woman stupid or had she genuinely not even seen an egg before? The woman's next learned words were "hot dog", indicating that Celice had not sold her on the idea.

"You know what?" Said Celice, sticking the carton back in the fridge, shutting the door. Grabbing a rag off the counter. She, reluctantly, began wiping the chewed yoke off of the floor. While a part of her wanted to say Get the hell out of my apartment, she did not say that. Instead, as she put the now yellow stained rag off to the side, Celice said- "We'll go get some hot dogs."

She got another look at the woman's feet. How long had she been barefoot? It was another cringeworthy thought. "...But first, I'm getting you shoes."

Next to the door to the hallway, was a small closet- which Celice went into. She rifled around in there for a few moments, before returning to the woman with a pair of old sneakers. They looked worn and stripped, but it was better than being barefoot.

"Here, take these. I needed to get rid of them anyways."

-----
Skade

Bursts of heat, an unmistakable jet of black flame. Reeling back from the hit, something powerful enough to knock her back.

Yeah, she knew who this was.

Even as the steam and rain made it difficult to see her opponent, it was impossible to not think it now. While originally blinded by pure excitement at another combatant, things had begun to click for her. She was not stupid, just very very brash.

"Of course it's you, Ignizio. Looks like you haven't changed over the past few millennia either, huh? Still the same stuck up bastard."

Skade too took on a pose, though it was less refined than Ignizio's. More...savage. Teeth grit, and bared, with a sinister smile. Her eyes glowed white, with the occasional spark of cyan and blue. The whitefrost quickly returned to accumulating on her forearms, the blizzard accumulating once more behind her. She paid brief mind to the device that had been sat down, radiating out intense heat. Manmade. Not worth the time to destroy in her opinion- it helped keep the two a little more equal anyways.

"I would ask what brought you all the way out here, but I honestly don't care. These humans keep trying to fight me, but even the most evolved ones, even with their strongest weapons, they all still fail. But you? Now that's something interesting."

She took the first move, charging at Ignizio once more. Though her steps had more purpose this time- each one pumping whitefrost into the earth. Jagged earth and ice began building into large spires, flanking her at both sides. After all, this wasn't some fragile human- This was a Herald. A level playing field. A challenge!

Skade leapt towards him once more, the spires of whitefrost moving in as well. The object seemed to be giving Ignizio too much on his plate- Though Skade was sure this little parlor trick would be quickly stopped.

"Because unlike them, you could actually get close to killing me."

-----
Necrodytis

On a rooftop, next to the pair of Loufe and Techno, sat Necrodytis. Armored. Ready. It was earlier than usual for one of her hunts, but circumstances required it. As did her growing paranoia as the days moved on.

Her glassy yellow eyes glared down at the two, but she remained quiet. She also hadn't imbued her gauntlets with her blood. She didn't think it was necessary...yet.

A third figure was with them today. She didn't recognize this person at a glance. Necrodytis needed her target and the Esper alone for this to work. To ensure her identity stayed safe. Could they be negotiating her identity down below? Was the new person a witness protection program sort of man? No, no- That was stupid. She needed to stay focused, lay low, stay silent.

All she needed was her peace of mind back. Or she was really about to go off the deep end.

 

[comic]

Yin Li
Deluge began to yell something back at her, which she intended to ignore- until the rev of an engine close by forced her attention toward the vehicle speeding down the alley toward Massi- with her in the way. Her body moved before her mind could even make itself up, instinctually diving backwards, missing the car by mere inches as it crashed into the wall, Massi's form already notably small enough to completely avoid such an attack.
She hit the ground hard, wincing as she felt a sharp pain in her back. That could wait, she was busy. Quickly, Chief Li rose to her feet, her rage just about over the top of its meter as she looked through the window of the car to see Crosshair's dazed expression.
Of. Fucking. Course.

"God... DAMNIT!" She roared, searching with wide eyes for Massi. It wasn't scaling the walls nor racing down the alley for an escape, meaning the only other possible location... She dropped to her hands and knees, glaring under the car from a distance to witness the creature latched onto the underbelly of the car. "THERE! IT'S UNDER THE CAR!" She shouted frantically, attempting to fire a shot at the beast, before she was reminded that she was out of ammo when her weapon simply clicked feebly.
She rose back to her feet, sliding out the empty clip to slap in a fresh one- the only other one she was carrying on her.
@OmnipotentOnion @BurbleBurble @Captain Cardboard @Gamingfan

Mystery Woman
The stranger didn't seem to take the egg incident very well, fumbling over her words in annoyance and what sounded like shock. She only stared at the stranger during this, slowly beginning to understand each word that left her mouth. 'No' was definite, but she already knew that word. Then there was 'cook', which seemed to... trigger some sort of vague memory. It was more or less just a flash. A grill, a white picket fence, a tubby man with a bushy beard flipping a burger on the grill. He was telling her that dinner was almost ready. She was staring up at him, a feeling of eagerness within her.
The memory flash had vanished before even a second had passed, and she was back to staring at the stranger, now trying to process what she'd seen. She felt very positive emotions toward the fat man with the fuzzy face. She felt a sense of... love. Protection. Comfort. She wondered where he was now.

Then, the stranger told that they'd get hot dogs. A grin split across her face as she stared at the stranger, a twinkle in her eyes. Then she mentioned... shoes...
Shoes... she knew what they were, but couldn't quite figure out how she knew. The word was familiar, and she felt as though she knew what this was, but no image appeared in her mind. It wasn't until the stranger brought her a pair of dusty old sneakers that seemed to be a perfect fit, which wasn't surprising due to the similarity in size the two of them shared. Ah, yes. These were shoes. For some reason, she felt a strong desire to collect more of these, and stash them into a closet. Remembering, somehow, how shoes worked, she accepted them from the stranger and slipped them on, grinning again as she stared down at where her feet had disappeared. She looked back up at the stranger. "Fucker." She said, and pointed at the shirt the stranger wore. "Wear... mmm... more?"
@BurbleBurble

The Beckett Bar
Larua, or 'James', hadn't even been in 'his' new bar for more than thirty minutes when a tall figure walked in, wearing a black wool dress jacket, a pair of slacks, dress shoes, and a fedora that covered the mousy brown hair underneath. His walk was confident, a strut almost, and when he took a seat at the bar, he took an immediate interest in 'James', greeting him with a rather... knowing smile. "I'll have my usual." He stated, before looking about the mostly empty bar. Work day was still in progress, so there wasn't many individuals around. A few older men were at the pool table, their wives sitting in a booth, gossiping with a younger woman, and there was a young man who seemed drunk off his ass as he wobbled in his seat at another booth, staring blankly ahead, appearing almost dazed.

The man turned his gaze back to 'James', still smiling. "Where's that drink, keep? You know I'm a busy man." He urged. The man had a rather familiar-looking face, though a bit generic. To someone like Larua, however, it was probably another forgettable appearance, as one having existed for as long as him, remembering faces probably took quite a bit of effort.
@Shadow_Pup

 

[Void_Nugget]

Forsythe made his way through the vast network of sewers, "this controllers got to be down here, that's what CL-9 said at least" he got to a cross road once again and randomly chose and continued on his way. He wasn't sure what he would do when he found him, probably say something cheesy like surprise I'm still alive and then fight the dude. But he had to find the guy first and that was proving difficult.
@Shen: King of the Mist

Larua stared at the guy before taking a mild head ache, "god man I'm sorry, my brains a little frayed today, too much to drink yesterday you know, what was your usual again" he said staring at this man, he could ruin everything before it began, he needed this cover to help him be in the city without drawing too much attention.
@comic

 

[comic]

The man chuckled, glancing around once again before looking back at 'James', and winking. "Gotta say, I expected your lies to be a little... hm... better." He slowly stood up, still smiling as he slowly made his way around the bar, speaking quietly. "You look... uncannily similar to Forsythe. Let me guess... brothers." His eyes narrowed as he made to stand right in front of the pretender, towering over him. "I'd guess you're the darkness to his light, right? Whatever, doesn't matter. I don't care whatever mumbo jumbo is between you two. You handled yourself nicely with my Paragons. Mind if we take this somewhere a little more... private?"
@Shadow_Pup

 

[Void_Nugget]

Larua tensed, who was this guy, he knew Forsythe and said that the Paragons were his, so those pesky heroes earlier were to do with him. He nodded and lead the man out the back of the bar leaving some staff member he hadn't bothered to learn the name of in charge. He stood out the back of the bar and turned to the man losing all pretenses "Ok who are you and what do you want mortal".
@comic

 

[ThePlayfulFox]

She felt her connection to the Paragon falter as he disappeared into the sewers and then Lura got away due to her not being able to fight the guy. She sighed as she sat back, her hands holding her up. She then looked up at the person trying to talk to her. There was no psychical pain from what she could tell, and Angel could tell a lot since she felt the pain of others. "Oh, uh, there was a super murderer who can use the powers of others. Anyway, he killed a few people in public just for fun and a few of the Paragons got involved. I also got involved healing the Paragons."

 

[Gamingfan]

Massi hissed like a stray cat as Yun Li looked under the car. This human scared him, even more than Sparkblade and Crosshair. He didn't want to go through another explosion.
He didn't have the energy for his old hulking figure, so Massi did the best he could, sliding out to the side of the car, obscuring himself save for his feet. Hiding wasn't his plan, however. Two tentacles with sharp fanged mouth sprouted from his back, smashing into the car and grabbing hold. Massi grew a bit, expanding his muscles for the power necessary, and rose the car, swinging it defensively, unaware whether Crosshair was still in it or not.

 

[comic]

Behind Beckett's Bar
"Ah ah ah." The man rose a finger, wagging it. "Mortal is a term used for the powerless. I am anything but. Some might consider me a God. Flattering, but... I'm so much more." He chuckled, folding his arms as he continued to stare at Larua. "My name is Patriot, I'm sure you've heard of me if you are observational in the slightest. I have proposition for you." He looked about the alley they were in, looking for any eavesdroppers, of which he saw none. Satisfied, he returned his attention to the evil brother of Forsythe. "I have a... 'friend' named Charles Warren. He and I... have our history, and our differences. We've settled an arrangement to keep out of each other's hair and keep us both satisfied. However, I have this itching suspicion he plots betrayal. He's far too much a public man for me to do anything against him without repercussions. This is where you come in. I need you to infiltrate Warren Industries, and find out what he's planning. I don't care who you kill along the way, but don't kill him. I want that honor for myself when the time comes. Don't worry about getting pay, or whatever you desire in a contract. Just know that your alternative to refusing my demand would be death. The permanent kind. You wouldn't be the first to fight against me, and you wouldn't be the last. But all those that have are currently on an extended vacation, enjoying the surface of the sun, capiche? Do this simple little thing for me, and you'll be rewarded. We have a deal?"

 

[Void_Nugget]

Lurua looked thoughtful before nodding "hey I dont care who you are or who he is, you say kill I'll kill or infiltrate as you said, but first I'm going to need some things from you that you cant physically give me" he said well aware of who Patriot was, he examined him a bit before breathing deeply, to his knowledge his speed, strength, durability and reflexes were on par with this hero so he simply copied the rest well almost all the rest "yes your flight, heat vision and super breath will definitely come in handy, check people might even mistake me for you before they actually see me" he said with a smile "now point me in the direction of this place and I'll be on my way, no need for me to delay" he added wringing his hands.
@comic

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Ignizio

Skade, taking the first move as always, rushed at Ignizio with multiple spires of ice in tow. Lowering his stance just slightly, his open palms began to crackle and smoke with thin but dark smog and bright, orange embers. As the heat and smoke around his hands grew in intensity, the embers began to darken into a deep crimson, dancing around his palm wildly until suddenly, his Blackfire flared to life within his hands. The intensity of the flames easily put to shame the fire he had exhibited when Warren had entered his tomb; after all, it was Skade he was dealing with.

As the Herald of Whitefrost continued to quickly approach, Ignizio took a deep breath before bringing his hands together in front of him, compressing the flames into each other. Upon opening his hands and pulling them back, there was a star-like orb of Blackfire before him, and with a swift motion, he reached out and snatched it out of the air with his hand, crushing it under his tight grip. The orb burst into fire with near doubled intensity yet again, now smothering Ignizio's hand and raging around it in a frenzied dance. With a step forward, Ignizio then lunged out with his fiery hand with a roar, and the Blackfire surrounding it was expelled into several, dense strands of flame set on a direct course toward the approaching ice structures.

Immediately covering every square inch of the spires, the two elements were completely nullified simultaneously, resulting in yet more plumes of steam that stretched across the entire clearing. However, it seemed that the ice constructs' conjurer remained undeterred, continuing to leap at him with the same deranged expression. Barely unable to suppress another smirk, Ignizio ran at her as well, hands already ignited in black flame and at the ready. (Auto'ing perms granted by Burble) Skade had lunged at him with a frost-encased right hook; her knuckles were adorned with rough, jagged spikes to deliver extra pain like the fierce piece of work she was. Ignizio blocked her swing with a fiery hand to protect him from the sheer cold of her touch, and with a wry chuckle, he ducked under her arm to the outside before grabbing her forearm with both hands and spinning, using the generated momentum to fling her back into the air.

With a flex of his fingers, Ignizio then brought his hands up with a wide, swift motion from his sides to his eye level, holding his arms up in an x-position. An intense blast of fire was conjured from each palm and followed the movement of his hands; as the black inferno continued to follow his hands, the flames grew in size and ferocity, until two massive plumes of Blackfire were hurled on a course set to curve and converge on Skade's airborne body.

Shuzo

There was no telling what was going on at this point; while the conflict between the Paragons and some other guy was beginning to die down, this fight with Massi had grown both in numbers and chaos. Suddenly, upon Chief Li's announcement of where the alien was after the explosion and car crash, the vehicle had been hoisted upward, now being swung around violently by the alien in a defensive manner. Of course, there was Crosshair, who was probably feeling a bit 'shaken up' at the moment, so with a reluctant sigh, Shuzo slowed time down as much as he could before sprinting at Massi and the car in its hands. After ripping the driver-side door away and pulling Crosshair out, the vigilante dragged the man to safety; namely, the same alley in which Shuzo had taken refuge to avoid the motorcycle explosion.

Once time got back up to speed, Shuzo was much more worn out than even a few minutes ago, indicative of the toll such excessive use of his electricity in order to heighten his speed took on him. His heavy, panting breaths were echoed in his voice modulator, and his red lightning was visibly less intense than before. Nevertheless, he forged on, sprinting out of the alley and returning to face Massi. Scanning the alien's body for weak spots, Shuzo targeted its exposed legs to bring it back down to the ground, and after hurling multiple shuriken stars at the thing's knees and ankles, he dashed forward and leapt over Massi, flinging a couple more throwing stars at the tentacles latched onto the vehicle.

I really wish this thing would just die, already....

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The car drove over Massi, and instantly Crosshair knew something was wrong. No thud of hitting the alien, only the sounds of something hooking onto the bottom of his car. Bad. The car slammed into a wall, the airbag activating to soften the blow and the seatbelt preventing Crosshair from being sent through the windshield. The vigilante was once again stunned for a moment as the alien let out a hiss, but Crosshair was quick to shake it off. The vigilante reached into his duffle bag as Massi picked up the car. It was likely that Crosshair didn't have much time, but this thing was weak. He just had to finish it off.

Opening a pocket in the bag that housed grenades, Crosshair pulled the pin on four grenades simultaneously. The vigilante then began to struggle to remove himself from the vehicle. But before he had to try that, a force suddenly ripped the door open and snatched Crosshair away. No, not a force. Sparkblade. Crosshair was set down in an alleyway as Sparkblade jumped back into the fight with the alien. Attempting to stand up, but failing, Crosshair crawled back over to the street.
"Sparkblade!" Crosshair called to the other vigilante, showing the ninja his handful of grenade pins.

 

[<Inkscape>]

Lumen slightly frowned when the person mentioned the Paragons. She looked down, at the utter hell that was below them. "So, mind explaining why the ground is an electrified watery hellscape? And what's this super murderer you mention?" Lumen pressed, trying to comprehend the situation. "You say you were helping heal the... Paragons now? Do you know where they all went?" She said, trying to hide the disdain and venom in her voice, as there was when she had to speak of them. As she said all this, she grabbed onto the handle of Winterwind, in case anyone tried anything. This entire place reeked of the Paragons, but also had a vicious feeling of unease that she assumed came from the "Super Murderer's" presence.

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Lilian looked down at the ground, where the acid ate at the floor “You know, it was already dead, you did not have to melt the floor, witch leads me to my next point” she pointed at the floor “Since when could you do that?” She still did not really know much of what the android could do, even after spending so much time with her.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

As Forscythe entered the sewers, he made an echo as he stomped down. It carried through the echo chamber, a trash drone nearby picking up on the sound, it being relayed to Prince Percy.

“Whaaaaat? You you tellin’ me someone found out we were down here? Hmmmm....well that won’t do. If it’s just one...hehe...Hahaha! It’s time to have a little fun. What do ya say we invite him down here, hmmm?”

The trash heaps in his room began to quiver and shake in agreement. It’s like he was actually talking to it. He laughed out loud, snapping his fingers.

“Alrighty then! Let’s scatter the subjects and get this little intruder a show!”

That’s when near Forsythe there was a clatter. A can seemed to rolled by itself, rolling past him. It kept rolling ahead, as if going to a destination. It would try and lead Forsythe toward the barred entrance to his lair, several miles away.

 

[comic]

Patriot
"Agreeable too. I can tell our business is going to be... very profitable." Patriot smiled, the underlying tones of his gaze, grin, and words all holding a sinister appeal. "Warren will be easy to find. Just look for the largest building in the city, his own name is plastered all over the thing, very hard to miss. Don't disappoint me, Twosythe. I can call you that, right? Of course I can. Now run along, we both have work to do." With that, Patriot turned and walked calmly away.

CL-9
"Was that overkill? I was only ensuring the threat was dealt with entirely." The android stated, before looking toward Lilian. "I have been outfitted for extreme measures in order to ensure your protection. Aside from my acid spray, my left arm can also transform into an energy canon that condenses atoms in the air to create powerful ranged attacks. My core is also a cyberfusion reactor that would annihilate all life within a two thousand miles radius. I can also swallow a planet." She paused, staring at Lilian. "...That last one was a joke. Did I get you?"

 

[Void_Nugget]

Forsythe walked through the sewers getting close to giving up when a can seemed to roll out of nowhere, it appeared to be leading him somewhere and seeing as the guy he was looking for could most likely control trash he shrugged and followed it "following a can through the sewers was definitely not how i saw today going" he muttered to himself as he wondered if Lilian abd CL-9 were ok.
@Shen: King of the Mist

Larua nodded and took off flying towards the building that was clearly the one he was looking for, he hovered near it and activated his x-ray vision he examined the building and eventual saw what he was looking for, an office that looked to be very important looking which he assumed was Mr. Warren's. He entered the building in the floor below and began to fight his way to the next floor and the office beyond that.
@comic

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Lilian looked down at the floor, unsure of what most of what the android said “The last last one, or the two thousand mile part?” She looked up, grabbing her arms with her hands, she spoke again, knowing she probably would not understand the response to the question “I think we should head back to Mr Warrens tower.”

 

[Martin Pine]

Samuel grasped onto bars of cold rusted steel that protruded from the walls, slowly pulling himself up the tight passage way and towards the manhole cover. Once reaching the top he used his powers to gently slide the heavy lid away, pulling himself onto the surface and taking a breath of fresh air. He used his powers to survey the area around him. Quiet, the street had been cleared in case the fight had spilled into the area but it hadn't. Sam sighed a little to himself, shuffling out the manhole and then covering it back up. "The dove girl" He spoke aloud, reminding himself of what to do.

It didn't take him long to find Angel. He had headed over to where him and Laura had brawled, noticing the girl and another person on the roof. Samuel approached from the air, an orange aura surrounding him as he used his powers to gently float himself down onto the building top. He landed a couple of paces from them, blind eyes directed straight towards them. The hero did not look good. His cloak was tattered, he was partially covered in sewage and his movements had opened up the deep cuts from Laura's barrage of concrete. Sam turned to the person he recognised, Angel, taking a step forwards on a wobbling leg which gave way. "What's your na-" He cut himself off as he caught himself with his powers, gently lowering his body into a sitting position rather than falling into it. "Sorry, I hate to ask but ... I'd really appreciate it if you could do what you was doing earlier" Samuel tried his best to be polite, speaking with a soft voice but ... he was in a lot of pain.

@ThePlayfulFox @<Inkscape>

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

After a while, the van rolled down a grate, plopping into the dark unknown. Nothing but the sound of water rushing and droplets were heard throughout the pipeline. It seemed one of the bars were severed manually and placed back to disguise the fact it was broken. It was an entrance of some kind. Alone in the darkness with no backup, Forsythe was left a decision. Continue into the unknown? Or flee to the light?

@Shadow_Pup

 

[ThePlayfulFox]

Angel felt Sam before she saw him. She was about to answer Lumen, before she closed her mouth and winced in the pain. Then Samuel showed up, clearly in terrible condition. She straightened herself, clenching her teeth in pain, before bringing her arms up to start healing him again. "Already on it. Geez, I felt it before I even saw you." She focused her energy on healing the Paragon before turning back to Lumen. "Just three of them, and I'm not totally sure how that happened. The murderer used the person I'm healing right now powers to escape and I'm not, well, I cannot fight. I'm a strict pacifist."

 

[<Inkscape>]

Lumen watched as the newcomer, looking to just have gotten out of a fight, come up to the building and sit down. Lumen listened to Angel, deciding that she might as well stick around these two, as one was in a battered state and the other being a pacifist. Lumen sighed, wondering how they'd clean up the mess below. Traversing it would be child's play for her, but to other people who weren't as lucky? She quickly silenced the thought before it could take hold of her psyche. Lumen looked around, making sure no one else was around, then looked at the two before her.
"Well then. By the way, could you tell me what your names are?" She said, studying Samuel.

 

[Martin Pine]

The throbbing and screaming cuts began soothe, the gentle hum of warmth eradicating the pain and beginning to well into his body. Samuel relaxed, his tense shoulders slouching down as he released a tightly held breath. "Thank you" He breathed out gratitude, turning his face to her and then tilting it. Her reactions ... Was she in pain in too? Could she feel his or was she transferring his injuries onto her. He quickly made sure the latter wasn't true, eyes glowing orange before dulling once again. It wasn't, thank goodness.

He wasn't sure who the other person was but going off what they wore and what they had equipped they were most likely a hero or vigilante of sorts. She seemed to of asked the healer what had happened based on what she was saying, Samuel knowing he could recall the events but deciding against it unless he was directly asked. "I'm Samuel I'm ..." He paused, breathing in as he thought and then speaking. "I was trying to stop that damn maniac with some others but we got separated" He always told people his real name, it wasn't as though it was secret. Besides he needed to change the name telekinekid, it was dumb and he was no longer a child.

@ThePlayfulFox @<Inkscape>

 

[<Inkscape>]

"Samuel, eh?" Lumen mused, wondering what his capabilities are. Lumen shifted, and thought about how powerful someone had to be to force multiple paragon's to go ward them off. "Well, you can call me Cerberus, but my name is Lumen. I'm not what you call a hero, or a vigilante. I noticed you have some type of psychokinetic power?" Lumen said, letting go of the handle of Winterwind. A few stray arc's of electricity buzzed around her hair, but it didn't make it stand up. "And i assume you have some sort of healing abilities?" Lumen asked, looking at Angel.

 

[ThePlayfulFox]

Angel looked at Lumen and nodded. "That and I can turn into a dove, however I feel the physical pain of others. Every scratch, bruise, stomach ache, and scrape." She gave a sigh as she continued to heal Samuel up. "Anyway, I'm Angel, the girl who is in pain all the time in crowds. You have no idea how many people hide thier physical pain from others." She replaced her attention back on Samuel's wounds.

 

[<Inkscape>]

"My power is entirely offensive," Lumen said, looking around. She saw a generator that was sparking on top of the rooftop, and walked towards it. As soon as she got close, several arcs of lightning lashed out towards her, and Lumen responded by holding out her hand. The lightning harmlessly was absorbed into her hand, to which she walked back towards the two. "I have the power of Fulgurokinesis. I can generate and control all forms of electricity," She said, gesturing towards an overhanging powerline. She extended her hand and more lightning shot out and was absorbed by her hand. "It's quite the useful ability, even though it can't really be used to support people..." She said, looking over the edge. "I could deal with the electrified water, but only getting the electricity out, not much i can do for getting the water out of the way..." She said, her mind wandering off.

 

[Martin Pine]

Samuel was almost healed now thanks to Angel, the young blind hero listening in on the conversation without much input of his own. He didn't see Lumen's light discharges but he felt them tingling in the air, Samuel slowly beginning to rise to his feet. With his powers he removed the remnants of his stay in sewer from off his cloak, setting them aside as he looked between the two females. "Angel ... Thank you for your help, I noticed you earlier and what you did was tremendously brave" He offered her a smile, warm and grateful. She seemed really nice, very kind and brave, he supposed one had to be when facing such a tormenting world.

Before he could say anymore Lumen demonstrated her abilities, Samuel using his telekinesis to see like he always did. Fulgurokenesis, something he was incapable of. Objects were easy to move, liquids and air were more difficult. Electricity, fire, different forms of energies he was unable to control. "Psychokenesis or telekenisis, whatever you wanna call it- I move stuff with my mind and see using that power" Samuel turned to follow Lumen's gaze surveying the wake of what him and Laura had left behind. "That would be very helpful if you could"

The dome of sparking water still held it's shape, though it was clear that it was beginning wane, leaking out and pooling onto the cracked asphalt. "Alright" Samuel took in a deep breath and extending his hands. It was time to fix the wreckage he'd caused. He considered the now exposed wiring of the lampposts most dangerous, Samuel reversing the unwiring he'd done prior and making the lamppost safe to be repaired again. With a barely any effort he flattened the slight mound in road, moved damaged property into one area and then relaxed.

 

[<Inkscape>]

Lumen hopped down the building, forming an electric field to slow her descent. As soon as she touched the water, all the electricity shot towards her and was absorbed. She had to slow down when she touched the bottom, to make sure that she didn't accidentally discharge all the energy. She then ran towards the same building Angel and Samuel was on, before trying something she hadn't done before. She jumped onto the wall, and quickly directed the recently absorbed energy into her feet, causing them to act similar to magnets. She quickly ran up the building, hopping back on to the roof, before safely discharging the energy back into the above powerline. She walked back over to the two, before saying:
"Heh, i never thought to try that before, looks like I can defy gravity as well" She said, jokingly.

 

[DevVoid]

There were windows, but they were too small for such short notice. And they were all closed anyhow, no time for Ryg to squeeze through, even if he did find the focus to shrink himself that small. No, he had to exit the restaurant through the back door, but he couldn't keep his form up under the stress of what was going on outside the restroom, specifically from all the noise. So, he had no choice but to exit in his true form;

A large 7,5 ft alien, with such little weight that you could just slightly see its ribcage beneath its skin. The skin colour and body shape of a pale, slender cave-dwelling humanoid, mixed with a close resemblance of the classic Xenomorph, minus the large, disfigured head and the obvious insect-like look and carapace skin. A Quietus Alien even had a tail; a long scorpion-like one, set with the same pale skin covering it instead of some kind of carapace, making it look like a longer, bigger third arm. On the wide, hand-like tail end there are three spikes that can be driven in and out of it, which can be used as a third arm, as the three spikes form a sort of three-digit hand in a triangular shape. A Quietus can bend and move these three spikes individually, like fingers.

Other than the slender limbs, starved look, the pointy elf-like ears and the tail, a Quietus like Ryghedro really had a.. somewhat close resemblance to a human, but much taller. Well.. discounting that he had entirely white, bioluminescent eyes, several rows of sharp teeth, claws to drive out of his fingers and no amount of hair or fur whatsoever, he could resemble a person.. somewhat. A horribly disfigured one, but a person anyway.

So, instead of forming back into Ryan, Ryghedro instead opted to just camouflage himself with his shapeshifting abilities, which took much less focus than becoming an entirely different being, though the latter didn't cost much focus to change and keep anyway. Ryg coloured his own body to camouflage to the restaurant like a Chameleon and opened the restroom door, peeking out of it to see if anyone was still in the restaurant, just so he could assure himself that noone would actually see his true form, even if camouflaged.

 

[BurbleBurble]

Ansel

The thing was not, indeed, dead. Actually nowhere near it as it crawled out, completely fine.

The police chief and her partner in arms (Sparkblade, apparently, lightning kind of guy,) seemed to know who the wild driver was- Who he promptly dragged out of the car by Sparkblade. As the thing menaced, roaring as it swung around the car, the guy who got pulled out called out to the sparky vigilante. Clearly had something in his hand, something-

Wait, were those really...

"Chief!!" He called out to Yin Li, "That guy just pulled fuckin' GRENADES!! GET DOWN!"

Ansel was already following his own advice, hitting the ground- Though he had also gotten close to a fire hydrant. Internally he prayed the pipe he busted earlier did not leading to this hydrant, because he had a feeling he'd need to use this water very soon.

-----
Celice

The shoes had fit like a glove...or, uh, shoe. Regardless, the woman was not sated with shoes alone- Pointing at Celice, referring to her ever so affectionately as 'fucker' again.

Wear more. Wear...

Oh. She wanted a shirt now.

"Well, I guess." Celice said, heading back to the closet- She now realized how very...limited...her choice in clothes were. As in a majority of them were sleeveless t-shirts with minimalist designs. "Oh."

In the interest of not making this girl look like she was just wearing the same thing Celice was, she found one of the few shirts that was not sleeveless- a plain t-shirt that still had it's sleeves. "This one." Taking it off the hanger, she tossed it at the girl, who Celice only now noted was not actually wearing a thin dress. It was a hospital gown. Had she been in the hospital for something?

"Uhh...Guess you'll need pants too, huh." She quickly changed the subject. As for her pants, she had a bit more variety- Some ripped jeans, some not ripped jeans, and a pair of cutoff shorts that she did not particularly like wearing outside of the apartment. Considering she was wearing a pair of not ripped jeans at the moment- Since Celice had wanted to use some pretty nasty welding tools, having rips in the jeans was a little...counterintuitive. She took a pair of the ripped ones, and tossed them to the girl again.

"Only put your legs through the bottom holes, okay? If you put them through the middle holes you'll screw up the whole thing."

-----
Skade

There was always a punishment in overconfidence, and Skade had rapidly recalled that the same strategies that had worked on the dozen or so humans that had wandered through the valley would not work as well on Ignizio- His strength and powerset did directly oppose her own. Or perhaps equalize was a better word?

In either case, she was now hurtling through the air due to that error, distant interruptions of the blizzard indicating that two spurts of the blackflame were moving in, probably an attempt to scorch her alive. Though she had deduced that such a counter was inbound the moment Ignizio had tossed her away. Preemptively attempting to reform the frost on her arms. And further, the whitefrost continued freezing into the air around her arms, forming large shells- Or perhaps, shields was more apt -To help her avoid the inbound jets. Just as the inertia from the throw had started to exhaust, the mass of blackfire was upon her. Instinctively, she rose her now shielded arms to block it- The frost bursting into water, then into steam. The sheer heat singed at her skin, leaving slight burns, a reminder of her mistake.

That being said, their powers had mostly neutralized one another once again- And with the inertia gone, she was free to descend how she wished. And Skade chose to make her descent very known. Forcing herself downwards, icy winds lapping ineffectually past her. Landing, she created a large impact, clouds of icy earth blowing out from the strike. And then something immediately charged through those clouds- Unsurprisingly, Skade, was speeding in for another blow. Her arms once again coated in frost, already expanding into the whitefrost shields she had blocked the tracking flames with.

At the same time, Whitefrost surged through her legs and feet, into the ground below- This time making a multitude of small spires. They'd easily melt under the inbound blackflame counter, but they'd help absorb some of the heat, letting her keep some ground insofar as temperature.

Come on, come on! Skade excitedly repeated in her head. Those singes were the first thing I've felt in centuries! Let me pay back the favor already!!

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Ignizio

A small grin of smug satisfaction parted Ignizio's lips as he saw his pillars of flame make direct contact on Skade's body in midair; obviously, though, he expected her to be already on her way back, sprinting at him once again. As the steam that erupted upon contact between ice and flame subsided, he was able to see her descent, resulting in a wide crater, out from which erupted frost and sediment. The cloud of debris that was kicked up expanded far across the field, obscuring Ignizio's focus on Skade until she was already an easily coverable distance away. As she quickly approached, narrowing the gap within seconds, Ignizio's attention was directed to the much greater number of ice structures that protruded from the ground at her command. While the sheer multitude of spires Skade had conjured would be a cause for worry, Ignizio simply lowered into a stance once more, hands at the ready. Upon a brief glance, the Whitefrost Herald would not see anything special in the stance her opponent had assumed; at least, not the black smoke emitting from his hands, gradually increasing in density and visibility.

Once she was close enough to notice, however, it would be too late; as the veins within Ignizio's forearms and hands began to fill with a deep black that was visible under his skin, the Herald of Blackfire simply waited for the opportune moment, when Skade would leap at him again with the same malicious smile. As soon as she was within range for maximum power, Ignizio grinned smugly in response before releasing all of the heat that had been covertly building up and being focused into his hands. His palms expelled a blast of wispy black flames, blowing against the approaching Skade in the form of a dense, powerful heat wave. The Blackfire user suspected that Skade had something up her sleeve under the guise of the exact same approach as earlier, but Ignizio figured he'd play along for this turn; of course, his expectations for the Herald were as high as always, so he did hope whatever she had in mind would be enough to entertain him.
@BurbleBurble

Shuzo

At Crosshair's call, Shuzo turned to see the vigilante holding up a handful of grenades, and after hurriedly taking them from Crosshair's hand, he turned to toss some to Chief Li after getting her attention. In the heat of battle, Shuzo hadn't noticed Deluge's rather loud entrance, identifying the Paragon but continuing to pay him little heed. After sheathing his blades, he then waited for a vulnerable spot behind Massi's car defense, and upon seeing a space between the automobile and the ground, Shuzo quickly dashed forward, ducking under the alien's wild swings, and rolled a few of the round explosives onto the concrete behind it after pulling their pins. He pulled the rest of his grenades' pins before tossing them at the car, hoping to whittle down Massi's shield along with the damage inevitably dealt by the explosives that would detonate from behind. However, he unsheathed his blades and held them at the ready, preparing for the worst that could happen.
@Gamingfan @comic @Captain Cardboard

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Shuzo snatched the belt of grenades away from Crosshair, and the vigilante used the wall of the alleyway to slowly pull himself back to his feet. Crosshair scanned the street, trying to get a good view as to what was happening. Chief Li was here, with quite a few empty magazines around her. As was that hero, Deluge. But he appeared to be more... freaking out. Crosshair elected to ignore the Paragon, instead reaching into his trenchcoat and producing a few clips of ammunition. The same ammunition type that was standard of the police force, and a few weapons Crosshair utelized.
"Chief!" Crosshair called out, tossing the Police Chief the extra ammo.

Drawing a pistol himself, Crosshair knelt down and used the wall of the alleyway to support his aim as he fired upon Massi.

 

[Gamingfan]

Massi slowed at Crosshair's call. With all their interactions, he was learning that them yelling usually meant bad things for Massi. The parasite saw Sparkblade slide below and behind him, which almost confirmed his thoughts.
Spooked, Massi tossed the car a short distance and leapt away from the ticking spheres. Unfortunately, he couldn't completely evade the explosion and ended up with charred feet and a scratched up body. Naturally, they began healing while Massi was cloaked by the smoke, flinching when he heard more explosions from the car he tossed. Massi kept low to the ground, wanting to hide.
Unbeknownst to him, his skin began changing color, becoming as gray as the smoke and floor below him, mostly camouflaging him save for the snarling, floating, and fanged mouth. But the smoke would likely obscure that.

 

[comic]

Charles Warren
The entire building shook upon Larua's intrusion on the floor beneath Warren's office, and he opened his eyes with a frown as he sat at his desk. Immediately, a microphone on his desk sparked to life with the voice of his Chief of Security. "Sir, we're under attack. It uh..."
"Patriot?" The billionaire asked. "N-no, sir. Unless Patriot got a gothic makeover, this guy's using the same powers."
"Ah. Spare our resources. Direct him my way."
"Sir?"
"And get my private jet ready to head to Antarctica, I have an old acquaintance I've been meaning to visit."
"U-uh... yes, sir."
Warren didn't reply as he stood from his desk, straightening his suit jacket, pulling his sleeves, and tidying his tie. "Subject 7." He said plainly, despite nobody being in the room. "Be prepared for anything, I suspect he isn't here for me. This is the same person who was battling the Paragons just earlier. Looks like Patriot found himself another slimy friend. Think you can handle that?"
A tall figure cloaked in black armor materialized beside Warren, what little skin that could be seen beneath the black armor all seemed to be charred black. His mask was simple, covering his face save for two slits glowing with a red light for his eyes, a hood covering his head, the hood extending down into a small cape. He said nothing to Warren, merely nodding his head slowly. "Good." Warren smiled, and led the way out into the entry room where the elevator was, fully prepared for Larua's arrival.
@Shadow_Pup

CL-9
"Agreed." The android nodded, and led the way out of the restaurant. "Wait, who's gonna pay for all this- ugh, my boss is gonna kill me..." The employee behind the counter groaned. CL-9 elected to stop for a moment, and transact repair damages from Warren's open account before she and Lilian began making their way back to Warren Industries. She was smiling as she walked, and after a moment, turned to look at Lilian. "That felt good." She admitted. "I've never done something like that before. Charitable, I mean. Warren never put it into our core programming."
It was notable that CL-9 had seemingly forgotten to call him 'Mr. Warren', this time.
@The Dark Fairy

Yin Li
The Chief of Police wasn't lacking in reaction timing at all, being able to absorb Deluge's warning, as well as swipe a clip of ammo and a grenade out of the air, tossed to her by both Sparkblade and Crosshair. Under normal circumstances, she probably would have- well, there's a lot she'd be doing, including but not limited to threatening the vigilantes. Right now, however, things were weird, not to mention dangerous. Massi was absorbing everything they threw it at it, and now they had a timer considering all the grenades about to go off. Where Crosshair got them, she didn't know. Nor did she really want to know, anyway. She immediately took heed, joining Sparkblade in cover at his side, tucking the grenade away as she readied her pistol while bracing for the eruption.
...This was going to be a lot more paperwork than she was comfortable doing.
@Captain Cardboard @OmnipotentOnion @Gamingfan @BurbleBurble

Mystery Woman
Without any regard for privacy, the strange girl tossed the gown off of her- though fortunately, she wasn't wearing her birthday suit, as linen wraps were wrapped around her more sensitive areas as she slipped on the shirt and pants, struggling on both for a moment, as she'd put her head through a sleeve and was halfway through it before she realized her mistake. As for the pants, she wound up putting both legs in one hole- which turned out to not even be one of the pants legs, widening one of the many holes the pants had. Eventually, however, she managed to put on the clothing correctly, and after looking down at her new appearance for a moment, she looked back up at the stranger with a smile. "Thank." She said happily.
@BurbleBurble

 

[Martin Pine]

Samuel smiled a little at Lumen's joke, straightened up from his relaxed and slouched position and nodding to him. "Thank you for help, saved a lot of time for the emergency services" Said vehicles were arriving now, Samuel moving away from the roof edge and politely ushering the others along with him. There had been something else awry earlier, back at the location where him and the rest of the paragons had started fighting Laura but he was quite sure that was being handled. His comms were on regardless. "Angel, thank you again for healing me" He was really grateful for her help, for both of their helps.

"Hey what organisation are you with?" The question was directed at Angel, Samuel assuming that she was with a superhero group. It was difficult to work alone as a hero or vigilante for a number of reasons, joining a group or team was always a good idea. He wanted to know and befriend the both of them. Teammates were great but allies everywhere was even better and he missed having friends he didn't work with. Samuel remembered Lumen mentioning he was hero nor vigilante and as much as he wanted to ask he had decided to address Angel first.
@ThePlayfulFox @<Inkscape>

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Lilian was confused at CL-9’s stop at first, but remembered that the little plastic squares somehow pay for things, without having to give them away! Mr Warren must truly be the richest man on earth... She looked back over at CL-9 when she spoke “Well, no ones casted those spells on you recently, and I think it was a good thing paying for the damages.” She looked back “At least I think that’s what you did...” if she even noticed her not calling their boss man a Mr, Lilian seemed not to care much.