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Post by Kokinyu on Dec 12, 2022 23:00:54 GMT
Kapp watched on, ready to pounce and drive claws into lethal points... Only to see Demandred's hand severed from his body. To see his allies dogpile and- despite this, despite it all- move in to subdue. Something twisted inside of him, a moment of disgust... Not toward them, no. His friends had the right of it.
They could be better. They should be better. He ran in to the dampener zone and quickly slid into place to pin Demandred's legs down, using his weight in conjunction with Metzli's to pin and begin binding the older wolf down with whatever he had on hand. Loose nylon fasteners from his hoodie, straps and buckles from the wolf's own gear. "Hold him- hold him!" He urged Metzli as he went to work, improvising along the way.
Grenadine's eyes were everywhere. Demandred was being... dealt with, Elyas was bleeding from exertion but seemed to be in control. A large canid was being thrown across the room and... Beneath them something was happening. A blinding glimmer of light, one she couldn't focus on, was revealed below. Her attention went upward toward the second floor, the control room. "They haven't sssstopped it- I'm moving in for sssupport!" She then bolted past the looming shadow that was Mei and up the stairs.
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Post by Kokinyu on Dec 12, 2022 23:05:41 GMT
Mike fought and struggled, but Mei's power... it wasn't like thick tar. Not a force he could absorb or rebound, but instead a sticky and sluggish constant that yielded when pushed, but only so far- like a rubber band. This was bad. She could feel his movements growing more aggressive, and soon he'd begun throwing punches- a force she could feel through her smothering shadow. It was around that time that Mei chose to throw him once more.
Hurtling through the air, he let out a growl and a yell. As the shadows dispersed he could see again, making note of the creature that had bound him, mentally marking her as his new source of enmity. And then he saw a white flash.
CRACK.
Eyes wide, Mike's form came crashing awkwardly into the ascension engine's cold steel form. Dampened by Elyas' aura, that resilience toward forces- bludgeoning, piercing, gravity itself- was gone. He was a tough guy, sure... But that back of his was old. As he collapsed to the ground, eyes wide, the canine took sharp, shallow breaths, the wind clearly knocked out of him. "Ffffu- hu- huuucking kidsss..."
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Post by Aidan on Dec 17, 2022 20:55:57 GMT
“Too late,” Demandred snarled, “you’re too late. Soon everyone will-”
He was abruptly cut off as Resonance struck him in the back of the head, his head lolling drunkenly as Metzli and Kapp secured him. With the dampener cuffs Elyas had provided securely on Demandred’s wrists, he wouldn’t be able to flex his powers any further.
Demandred had fallen.
“I agree,” Anastasia said, smiling humorlessly. “Making everyone a metamobian is a terrible idea. Magic, meta abilities… they’re at the root of every great tragedy this island has ever endured. Demandred dreamed of a world where everyone had power, but that would just be anarchy. But a world where no one had power… that sounds far more egalitarian, don’t you think?”
Anastasia swung her staff forward, the eyes glowing red as psychic power slammed outwards, into Aidan and Damien both, bending them toward Anastasia’s unspoken command: Kneel.
Behind her, Nexus continued her work, while two of the egg pawns on the side of the sunken deck moved toward the entranceway.
((Need Damien to roll 1d20 for a Wisdom Save))
Elyas eased up on the strength of this dampening field as he moved over to where Mike had slumped to the ground. “Staunch the bleeding on Demandred’s wrist - we don’t want him bleeding out before we can get him back to the city. Sitrep everyone, anyone down?”
“We need to beat them, not kill them,” Aidan said quietly to Damien. “If we can get her staff away from her-”
Aidan’s hushed conversation cut off as Anastasia’s words sunk in. “Wait, what do you- No!”
He rocked back a step, then stepped forward - and began sinking down to one knee, his lips curled back in a snarl of frustration.
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Post by Resonance on Dec 18, 2022 10:15:27 GMT
"First aid kits we brought must have a tourniquet, or we can sear it quickly." Then Reson felt a pit of tension form in her stomach as Aidan was forced to kneel, and her head snapped around to see him and Damien in the doorway. "Oh, shit. Elyas, we've got a MUCH bigger problem over there!"
Mei ran over to join those around Demandred, letting her Shadow finally drop before entering Elyas's influence. "I've got it, go help Aidan and Damien." She quickly began to check her tactical gear pockets for any kind of tourniquet device or something she could improvise.
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Post by Uberwulf X on Dec 19, 2022 0:36:32 GMT
Damien's teeth grit as he felt a wave of something tugging at the back of his mind. He couldn't quite place what it was, until he saw Aidan begin to prostrate-- something he knew his friendly rival would never do in front of this foe. His hackles well bristled, Damien stiffly jammed his hand down to Aidan's shoulder, the claws on his fingers seeking exposed fur and the flesh beneath so give him pinprick wounds. They'd not leave any lasting marks all said and done, but they would hurt, and that was the point.
"Don't you fucking dare," growled the Dhampyr, before he leaned forward and became a blur, using Celerity to take the shortest route between A and B with the sole purpose of driving the butt of his unsheathing sword up and into Anastasia's solar plexus.
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Post by Kyt on Dec 22, 2022 8:07:19 GMT
Yuki couldn't see what was happening through the door, but Aidan kneeling was unthinkable. Her mind raced as her eyes narrowed. She hadn't been around for that fight, but she'd heard about what had happened afterwards.
"Anastasia", she hissed under her breath. Probably the only person she hated more than Demandred.
Ears flat, she grinned as she saw Damien fight off the compulsion and attack. She darted out from the side, next to Aidan. "You ok?" Taking in the area, she slashed her hand up, driving spikes of ice in and around the feet of the eggpawns.
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Post by Kokinyu on Dec 23, 2022 2:21:10 GMT
Kapp called after Resonance. "Go! I got him. We got him." While still putting his weight down on Demandred's back. Juuust in case. He held onto the bindings and turned toward the bloody stump the dampener cuffs were connected to. He then began to pat himself down, looking through the gear they had. "I think I've got some first aid stuff- yeah! It's... It'll do." He looked to Mei as she joined up nearby, unpacking items from the small tactical parcel. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's... get this guy stable."
---------
Grenadine touched her com as she moved upward, "Alive, moving in to ssssupport." She made her way to the top of the stairs just in time to catch the tail end of Anastasia's villainous monologue. It caught her completely off guard- just what in the world was she saying? A world where no one had power...
An intense flurry of visions took her in that moment. Like flipping the pages of a book: blinding white light. Intense heat, cracked earth and an endless, dry expanse. The darkened mound of broken earth tilted on its side like some monument, mount eternity pointing toward the eastern sky- Tolaria, grounded. The island was lost, furies roamed free, and magic- chaos, the world- was broken.
Silver's timeline... The inciting event was now. She snapped to as she watched Aidan kneel and Damien blur. The Patterns were replaced by panic as she moved toward the doorway, pulling back on the lever of the makeshift bolter on her arm. "No. No no no no-"
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Post by Kokinyu on Dec 23, 2022 2:27:54 GMT
Mike went to move and winced, muscles locking up as he attempted to push himself off the ground. He grunted and let out a groan, managing to only get himself propped up against the ascension engine pillar. Seeing Elyas armed and beside him, he lifted his hands up in surrender- though the gesture was lazy. His jowls made it hard to see the pain on his face, but a closer look would see he'd had a number done on him. Though winded, he spoke- voice gravely and slow. "Y'know I can appreciate- *huff*- the noble act, keepin' the guy alive like that. But it's just gonna bite ya's- *huff* - In the ass down the line. You gotta know that, right? Guy like that don't give up... Not ever."
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Post by Aidan on Dec 25, 2022 14:41:33 GMT
The red light of the drilling laser filtering up through the observation windows changed hues, shifting into a yellower spectrum as the nature of the beam linking the airship to the island changed focused, emitters shifting in and out of place. Down below, amidst the lava fall flowing into Sanctuary, the Twilight Crystal began to float upwards, drawn upwards by the tractor beams working in conjunction with the power-sapping energy beams the airship was now firing down below.
The world around Damien slowed down as he sped up. He drove forward, ducking between the egg pawns to dash up the middle, sweeping his sword down and reversing the grip so that he could bring it up into Anastasia’s solar plexus.
As he approached, the slow-moving Anastasia’s eyes slid toward him - tracking him. Tattoos flared to life on the little exposed skin could be seen around her wrists and necks and she turned, seeming to accelerate into the slowness of Damien’s celerity. As he brought his sword up and around, she stepped to the side and swept her staff around to smash into the side of his face and divert him to the side, hopefully off of the walkway and into the sunken control pit.
“I dare. I always have. I dared to gather enough power to do the one thing you heroes couldn’t. To put an end to this damnable cycle, once and for all.”
Anastasia Darkholme grasped her staff with both hands, red eyes glowing, tattoos becoming visible once more as she set herself to defend Nexus.
“No more chaos. No more powers. No more magic.”
The egg pawns both tried to swipe at the rushing Damien, only to come up empty handed as they bumped into each other and drew back, half-turning to follow the dhampyr until Yuki rushed up to help Aidan. They turned instead toward her, raising their left arms as panels drew back and lasblasters emerged.
Yuki summoned spikes of ice beneath them. One of them managed to scramble to one side, the spikes scraping against the armor of its legs, while the other took a spike completely through one leg, knocking it off balance. It’s shot fired uselessly up into the ceiling.
The one that had managed to avoid damage swung its sword back around, Yuki and Aidan having only moments before it was to fire upon them.
Demandred, bound on the floor, was still half-conscious. He stared through the viewport in the floor, his brow knitting as Kapp restrained him and Mei tended to his wound.
“What… nn… the chaos…why’s it… S’not s’posed to be…”
Elyas pulled free a second set of dampener cuffs from his belt and tossed them to Mike. “You know what to do, old timer. Make it easy for everyone and you can catch your breath.”
He nodded to Mei without looking at her and began moving, keeping Mike in his aura until the bulldog had affixed the cuffs, and only then turning and lowering his weapon.
“Sitrep, what’s happening up there?”
Damien sank his fingers into Aidan’s shoulder, and the pain gave him something to focus on. He could feel Resonance’s flood of concern and he reached out to her. I need your help, Res - I need your strength!
Clenching his jaw, Aidan struggled to his feet. “Ngh… struggling. She’s… controlling Nexus… somehow. I can feel it through whatever… magic this is.”
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Post by Resonance on Dec 30, 2022 17:35:19 GMT
Reson quickly nodded to Kapp and bolted towards Aidan. I've got you.
Her claws flexed, her quills lifted, and her fangs flashed as she tapped into the feral rage she'd learned to harness. Aidan would feel a flood of intense anger that had a single-minded target - Anastasia. She came up behind Aidan and Yuki as Damien was countered.
Mei knelt by Demandred and quickly applied the tourniquet. In a deadpan voice, devoid of any emotion whatsoever, Mei said, "do yourself a favor and pass out. I'm not opposed to draining all but the last thread of life from you and putting you in a coma for a year. Technically, as long as I don't kill you, I haven't broken any Raiders' codes. Remember that."
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Post by Uberwulf X on Jan 2, 2023 15:55:04 GMT
You know, Damien pretty much expected that. He wasn't as fast as he wanted to be, not yet. And besides, his movement wasn't flash-stepping... different techniques, different sets of skills, different physical and magical muscles flexing. Still, it didn't help him adjust in time to land a hit. The most Damien could do was continue upwards in his swing, bringing his shoulder up so her staff hit it instead. It saved him the pain and disorientation of being thrown onto his back, but he did have to take a second to recover in midair as he flared his wings open and hovered over the control pit.
It was the second needed to allow saliva to start building up under his tongue. He shot a worried glance back to Aidan, seeing Yuki and Resonance had joined him. With their assessing the situation, they would be able to see the claw markings on Damien's cheek and wings were taking on a dangerous blue glow.
"Anastasia, what the absolute hell are you on about?! Chaos lets you do all this magic and you want to get rid of it? Without Chaos, two continents sink, and everyone dies!" How in the hell did Demandred not see that he was being used? A small part of him wanted the wolf on his feet, but he knew that once his team got him down, he was staying down.
Instead, his eyes went to Nexus, and surmised that it was the staff keeping her in check. Even if she wanted to, the fox couldn't act against Anastasia.
"Geeze, Mei," Metzli nervously chuckled. "You're pretty hot when you're threatening someone's life, y'know?"
She looked up to the walkway, her seconds of levity not breaking through the absolute seriousness of the situation. "Anastasia's here? Gods damn it, no wonder Mike was here..." With Demandred secured, Metzli gave Mei a single nod before twisting and moving to bound up the stairs. She wouldn't really be able to just cleanly jump into the room, given the amount of people gathered at the door... so she'd rather clumsily and noisily do so, her body colliding with the one Egg Pawn unlucky enough to be still standing after Yuki's spike attack.
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Post by Kyt on Jan 4, 2023 8:54:44 GMT
Yuki barely had enough time to register what Anastasia was saying, what with being fired upon. "Watch it!" She pulled Aidan to the side with her as an ice barrier angled in front of them, just as Metzli streaked past. Wincing at using her arm that suddenly, she nodded appreciatively at the support coming upstairs.
The look in Reson's eyes, though...she wasn't sure whether to grin or shudder.
"Go!" She yelled, assuming Resonance was there for the assault, not knowing Aidan had internally called her attention. "I got your back!"
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Post by Kokinyu on Jan 4, 2023 15:33:06 GMT
Kapp laughed at Metzli's comment. "Mei's cool as hell. That's why we click." Once the cuffs were on, he eased up off on Demandred so the wolf could breathe. As he did, be could hear Demandred speaking- mumbling. Brows knitted, he leaned in, trying to make sense of what the wolf was saying.
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Grenadine remained just out of sight as the sounds of laser fire, shouting, and movement painted a picture for her to make sense of. She touched her com and, calmly as she could, relayed the information to the rest of the Raiders. "Anastasia iss here- ssshe's ssomehow coopted the tech. That ssstaff of hers- Aidan can't move. It'ss arcane and it'ss beyond me." She shook her head and searched her surroundings- she needed an advantage. Something, anything to turn the tables. She hoped the other three could buy them some time.
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Post by Kokinyu on Jan 4, 2023 15:49:22 GMT
Mike groaned and groused, panting. "Yeah, yeah- easy on the wrists, my old man arthritis is flaring up." The bulldog coughed. And then coughed again- raggedly. Wetly. He winced. "Hey... Hey, soldier." He coughed again. "They train you guys-" he panted, "-for triage. I think the big one punctured a lung."
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Post by Aidan on Jan 8, 2023 15:22:58 GMT
“You can’t feel it,” Demandred muttered. “The change… this isn’t what I wanted. What have you done?” His voice rose, a snarl in his throat despite being held to the ground. “What have you DONE?”
As Damien recovered in the air and yelled at Anastasia, the nearest Egg Pawn that had remained at its station turned and raised its left arm toward him, unleashing blaster fire upon the dhampyr. Across the pit, its partner turned away from its task to make its way toward its companions, readying its weapon arm.
The pawn that had been knocked prone by Yuki’s ice turned its gun on the spike wall, firing into it, the laser weapon superheating the ice on impact and causing small detonations to clear the way forward. It rose slowly to its feet and dragged itself forward, head turning to the side and spotting Grenadine and the rushing Metzli. As she leapt toward it, it swung its free hand around, attempting to clobber her out of the air.
The pawn that had targeted Aidan instead found its line of fire blocked by ice, which detonated with the impact of the laser blasts. It stalked forward, but Yuki had moved its target to the side, so it maneuvered for a better angle to fire upon the two covering behind the ice barrier.
With the egg pawns spreading out, Anastasia moved forward, eyes on [b[Damien[/b]. She didn’t trust the Egg Pawn, so she raised her staff to point at the Dhampyer and swept it toward the open door, attempting to wrap him in bands of arcane force and fling him back out of the room.
“The magical nature of this world invites conflict after conflict - every small blessing eclipsed by catastrophic destruction!”
The red runes on her body pulse with a deep red glow. “Sacrifice millions to save untold billions… It is unconscionable math, but it must be done. Otherwise this cycle of violence will never cease!”
Elyas hurried up after Metzli, and as the egg pawns emerged, he raised his pistol and dropped to one knee, opening fire on the one turning toward the young Sect and Grenadine. He immediately regretted leaving his rifle below as the pawn’s armor shrugged off the light fire.
“That doesn’t sound good,” he said with profound understatement over the comms. “We need to force a wedge into that room and take control - with the amount of power being used below us, I don’t think simply destroying the machinery will be enough!”
Aidan was pulled behind cover as the wall of spikes exploded outward, his body stiff and protesting - until Resonance’s focused fury flooded through their bond and punctured the shackle of Anastasia’s power.
With a snarl, Aidan lurched into motion, leaping up and sweeping his sword up and around as the egg pawn circled Yuki’s barrier, the crystalline blade flaring with light as it cleaved through the robot’s forearm. The machine recoiled, and Aidan landed, then immediately drove his sword up into the pawn’s chest as he sprang back into the air, throwing his weight behind the stab as he drove the weapon hilt-deep and forced the machine down onto its back.
The pawn fell over, but before it could react, Aidan drew his sword free and plunged it down into its head, forcing it offline once and for all, the air around him crackled with electricity as he turned his gaze toward Anastasia.
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