[center][h2][b][color=#23F794]N[/color][color=#21F19D]a[/color][color=#1FEBA7]t[/color][color=#1DE5B1]u[/color][color=#1BDFBA]r[/color][color=#19D9C4]a[/color][color=#18D4CE]l[/color][color=#14C8E1]S[/color][color=#12C2EB]e[/color][color=#10BCF5]l[/color][color=#0FB7FE]e[/color][color=#10BCF5]c[/color][color=#12C2EB]t[/color][color=#14C8E1]i[/color][color=#16CED8]o[/color][color=#18D4CE]n[/color] [color=#1BDFBA]A[/color][color=#1DE5B1]r[/color][color=#1FEBA7]c[/color] [/b][/h2][/center] [center][img]http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63/NMShape/cooltext141340328007740_zps3gxyewql.png[/IMG][/center] [center]vs[/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/A0ETWbS.png[/img][/center] [sub]banner credit to [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/users/hellis]Hellis[/url][/sub] --- [b]Time: Present Location: Inside Ironworks[/b] The time it took to jog to the kilns seemed to stretch as the noise of destruction rattled the ground. The air sprites flittered around The Ambassador while Bach hung onto her shoulder wearing a expression hard as bark. One last push to drive off the metas from Racheli. In truth she was feeling the exhaustion, the band-aid fixes and snacks weren’t holding up anymore. Facing down the Ouroboros was draining but she had no choice, showing weakness would be her undoing. Losing to a gaggle of nosey pests was simply not an option. The amount of time and work she invested in the day could not go to such spectacular waste. The temperature rose again, the large door to the kilns was blown off it’s hinges the haze from spilt molten iron made the human sorceress squint. She caught sight of Racheli, hearing her curse and protest against her arrival. A drone carried her away presumably to safety through the gaping hole. The Cowl was nowhere in sight. Rage boiled in the pit of her stomach, her teeth chewed slowly at the inside of her cheek. Words of Power started as whispers. She took menacingly slow steps towards the molten iron. Bach and the sprites stiffened in fear at the sight of it. The hazy heat thickened about her person, the air touched with hints of blue. No longer feeling the need to hold back or take care with her power output the cold blue magic enveloped her body. The volume of her words grew, bright blue lines parted the molten iron clearing the way as steam plumed from the raw material cooling almost instantly. Lifting her hand she gracefully gestured out to Icarus then placed it over her heart casting her icy glare at the man in metal. The magic settled around her and she spoke calmly betraying the anger she felt in her bones. “[color=thistle]I would kindly ask you return Racheli to us, but I feel as if I would be wasting my time, metal man. I suppose I will have to settle for tearing you limb from limb. Similar to tearing the wings off from a [i]fly[/i].[/color]” Gabriel grit his teeth, glaring down at the mage girl with as much contempt as he could manage from a faceless mask. He could deal with legions of bad guys, a supervillain made out of thermite, and having molten iron dumped on his head. But arrogance? That crossed the line. He’d had a bad enough day without Princess here talking down to him. [color=teal]”Don’t underestimate me, little fairy girl. I admit, you and your arcane bullshit may have caught me off guard on our first encounter, but that just shows me I have a lot more to learn. I’m a scientist, little one- and I’m very good at what I do. So unless you’d like me to blast off some limbs, vivisect your still-breathing chest cavity, then pin your remains to the wall like a chloroformed [i]butterfly,[/i] you’ll step aside. First and only warning, mage- I’m no longer playing games with you and your ilk.”[/color] Odette smiled at his threat and his obvious anger would be easy enough to provoke. “[color=thistle]How… graphic. You should have seen the way I nearly ripped Racheli’s tongue from her mouth for the very same foul language.[/color]” Odette sighed softly, he assumed she was a faerie. Joseph did well to give her an edge. “[color=thistle][i]Scientifique[/i]? There is little science has done to unravel the mysteries of magic, metal man.[/color]” She paused then clicked her heels. “[color=thistle]Allow me to demonstrate![/color]” Springing above Icarus in a back flip, she shouted in French, “[color=thistle][i]Saigner![/i][/color]” Blue mist spread out from her open palms gently settling over the suit, clinging to the surface. As soon as it made contact the mist turned pitch in color oozing thickly. The spell was meant to bleed magic, life energy and this case strength. She landed amongst molten iron it cooled instantly leaving a couple feet of uneven ground to stand on. Rapid fire French were the beginnings of a ward spell, while the first layer had successfully wrapped around her hands she was hit with a very inconvenient blow of exhaustion flipping her stomach in nausea. [i][color=thistle]Not now…![/color][/i] Gabriel flinched as the mist turned to ooze on his suit’s surface, then grit his teeth in rage as he noticed his power levels start to dip. Just like before, with the plants. [color=teal][i]Not this time!![/i][/color] he thought, enraged, building power in his core, then releasing it in a flare of plasma all around his body. The spell, or whatever it was around him, swelled grotesquely as it tried to consume the massive influx of power, then began to wither and die in a verdant blaze. Slowly, but it was happening. He turned his awareness to one of the drones near him that he still had left, aiming his attentions toward the magician, who seemed to be… distressed, somehow. [color=teal][i]Perfect,[/i][/color] he thought, bringing in another drone, both aiming their palms at the girl, electricity crackling up and down their arms. [color=teal]”I suppose I should thank you for giving me more mileage out of what I’m going to do to you,”[/color] said one of the drones, aiming steadily. [color=teal]”Cutting out someone’s tongue? And you call me barbaric. Let’s see how you like when I return the favor!!”[/color] Green lightning arced forth from the two drones’ palms, striking down toward the mage girl. It wouldn’t be lethal- he still had some questions he wanted to ask- but it would be quite painful, indeed. Clutching at her stomach trying to suppress her gag reflex, the green light brightening her pale features. Bach all but shouted at her to move forcing her hands up to protect herself. The ward absorbed the lightning knocking her clear across the room, the pain spasming up her arms. Stiffening her shoulders unwillingly bracing against the fall. She squeezed out a shout as she skidded across the floor rolling onto her side. She struggled to regain composure, her arms shaking from pain and electrical shock. Her hands were blistering red, the weak ward obliterated by Icarus’ attack. Her heart was beating hard against her ribcage. The adrenaline bringing her surroundings into sharp focus. Bach had hopped off her shoulder was now in the palm of her hand, his hands glowing green trying to heal the damage quickly. Icarus was behind her with his drones, possibly believing the fight was over after one lucky shot. Exhausted, angry and willing to pit her show stopping gambit against the metal man. Odette pushed herself to her knees staring down her pact partner, Bach. Standing at 9 inches, worry etched into his Fey features radiating all the magic she would need to end this. “[color=thistle][i]Possess me, Bach. I need your help to end this.[/i][/color]” She spoke in Common Fey rage warping her accent. “[color=thistle][i]Now.[/i][/color]” “[color=darkseagreen][i]My Lady, are you sure? When we have done this in the past, removing myself always tilts you dangerously to the edge. We have what we came for-[/i][/color]” Bach was cut off sharply by Odette’s near bark. “[color=thistle][i]I am not letting them win![/i][/color]” Bach bowed his head, “[color=darkseagreen]Very well.[/color]” Odette stood chanting and Bach returned to his regular size chanting as well. Grasping her hands with his own, the tree tattoo on her back glowing through her clothing. A green circle of light spread out from their feet, etching the yew tree symbol into the concrete. As the magic grew around them Bach became visible to the likes of Icarus. Still chanting he stared past Odette, smirking mischievously at their enemy. “[color=darkseagreen]Ready?[/color]” Odette nodded taking a deep breath squeezing her eyes shut. Bach shimmered and disappeared in whirlwind of leaves, they plastered Odette’s body from head to toe. Her grunts of pain during the possession was the only indication of her extreme discomfort. His invasion of magic and soul was usually not such burdensome experience but that’s when she has her fair share of magic to cushion the arrival of her partner’s soul. Being so depleted, it made this a rather unbalanced case. “[color=thistle]Aaaaaahhhh!![/color]” The sound ripped out from her throat turning around crouched over her hands healed in green light, blood dribbled at the base of her forehead steaming off as soon as it ran past. Two horns pushed their way through her hair. Her skin turned a greenish tinge while her hands streaked with bark. Standing back up right, the distinct crack and pop in her ankles broke the silence. [color=teal][i]...Oh, that can’t be good,[/i][/color] thought Gabriel glumly, watching the transformation take hold of the diminutive magician girl. He hated magic, he decided. A lot. “[color=thistle]Now, the fun begins.[/color]” Her voice sounded a twinge bit different, a more masculine tone at the edge of her words. Gabriel tried not to back away from the sight on his sensors. Or, rather, the lack of sight. What he got from the girl was… nothing. A whole lot of nothing, in fact. So much that whatever energy he couldn’t read being exuded from the girl was blanking out every other reading he would normally be getting. Thermals, sonar, hell, even the radiation from his own drones- all blacked out under this massive veil of nothingness. Gabriel swallowed. Hard. [color=teal][i]...This is where I pay for that “chloroformed butterfly” comment, isn’t it?[/i][/color] [b]i would assume so,[/b] answered Daedalus, sounding a little nervous himself. Gabriel pulled the last of the previous spell off of his shoulders, then sighed. [color=teal][i]Well. If this is how she wants to play this game, then fine. Let’s play.[/i] “Access code: Wyvern. User override. ARTEFACT Mode-03, engage.”[/color] The warehouse rippled in the shock of his transformation, caving slightly inward as his ferrokinetic powers spiked, levitating molten iron from the floor, unconsciously. Gabriel landed on the ground in his draconic form, claws raking the ground effortlessly, enlarged Hex-Feathers spreading like great wings behind him. He raised a hand- or claw- toward the transformed girl, not wasting any time with wordplay before firing a globule of plasma from his palm, streaking toward her. A sharp toothed grin she sprang up away from the plasma ball, landing gracefully up in the rafters perched preciously above the metal man now a metal dragon. She huffed irritably, “[color=thistle]Witches and now metal dragons. However will I survive?[/color]” Some of Bach’s sarcasm peeking through. Laughing, in her open palm seeds sprouted growing within seconds. The mastery over Earth magic was possibly the most convenient feature of possession. Elemental magic often took a fair bit more concentration and power but that was due largely to her skill level. While Bach’s was that of a master. Stepping off the rafter’s beam she dropped like a tonne of bricks onto Icarus’ back throwing the seeds over the surface. Gabriel barely felt the transformed magician’s impact as she landed on his back- improved durability was definitely a plus to phasing up in power- but he definitely felt whatever leeches or draining implements she’d tossed onto him, leading to the third time in two days that he noticed his power levels trying to go into freefall. [color=teal][i]No,[/i][/color] he thought simply, sweeping out a wing and exuding green plasma fire in a wide wave around him, hot enough to re-melt some of the iron on the floor. The roof of the warehouse sagged a little more from the heat. He turned to where the girl had deftly leaped off of him, safely out of range of his plasma wave maneuver, infuriatingly. [color=teal]”Plants, plants, plants- all I’ve ever seen you do is those leeching spells and [i]plants.[/i] Don’t you have anything more original? Come on, mage girl- excite me!!”[/color] He punctuated this by raising both clawed hands, launching a particle beam as wide as his shoulders at the girl at blinding speeds. Ducking throwing her hands over her head a ward bubbled around her bolstered by layers of bark. The plasma cut through the bark like butter but the ward sustained itself, it crumbled again around her at the sheer power of the beam. She thought, [color=thistle][i]troublesome...[/i][/color] As the ward crumbled her right hand glowed blue and her left was green. The mist floated around her casting an illusion next, the Words of Power mixing generously with Bach’s magic. Several clones, little more than a dozen appeared around the warehouse, all identical to the next. Simultaneously their hands grew as dark as stone, grey and heavy. The hardened hands seemed to flow like water as they lashed out at Icarus. Wrapping around his limbs restraining him for a few seconds, long enough to allow the real Odette to leap again overhead digging her hands into the back of his head. Chanting Words of Power, meaning for her illusions to overpower his mechanical senses. Gabriel growled viscerally at this invasion, of both his freedom of movement and his mental faculties. The illusions were powerful, even with his senses repeatedly dumping the interference and reloading. He felt the intrusion, like crawling fingers through his psyche. Disgusting, really. He roared, coating his arm in green flame and lightning, ripping it from the now-ashen grasp of the clones, then reaching back for the girl, who, once again, was too quick for him to snatch. He rolled his eyes, then leapt into the air, where this form had the most advantages, ripping free of the rest of the clones who were trying to restrain him. The air around him pulsed, then rippled, then burst into plasma fire, surrounding him in a corona of verdant energy. He turned back toward the ground, seething in more ways than one. [color=teal]”You test my patience, fairy girl,”[/color] he said, the metal around him warping and distorting from his sheer presence. He reached out with both claws, and the iron splattered around the warehouse flared green, floating up toward him and orbiting around him, warping and heating up as they came in range of his manipulations. [color=teal]”I didn’t want this to end ugly. But you are pushing me [i]too far![/i]”[/color] He slashed a hand down, throwing a burst of semi-molten iron, steel, and other such metals at the mage like an oversized shotgun burst. Fear quickened in her heart at the sight of the iron, Bach’s overwhelming fear bleeding over into her emotions. She dipped her hands down wrist deep into the concrete pulling it up as a few feet thick wall, it did little to protect her against the burst of metals. It ripped through the cement like wet tissue paper. The semi-formed metal racking Odette’s body leaving ugly marks along her arms and legs while she protected her face. A sharpened spike embedded in her shoulder, she shouted in pain the iron searing her skin and making her blood weep with poison. Yanking the spear out from her shoulder she concentrated, whispering a spell to pull the iron free from her blood. Left unattended the wound would fester fast and permanently injure both Bach and Odette. Breathing heavily she spoke to distract him, “[color=thistle]You keep issuing this threat about being pushed too far, metal man. It rings hollow now that I know what it is you fear.[/color]” She had glimpsed a little of his mind when she was rooting through his psyche. Metal or organic a mind was Odette’s playground. Edging to the side of her concrete wall she looked up at the draconic Icarus, “[color=thistle]You are truly afraid of unleashing your full potential. You have a soft little human heart holding you back from wreaking destruction and losing control.[/color]” She laughed. “[color=thistle]The witch that helped you today, he lost control.[/color]” She began. “[color=thistle]I set his own creature against him, breaking a foolish little summoning seal. The Ouroboros he summoned did not take kindly to being forced to abide by his blood. Turned on him the second it was free.[/color]” She snapped her fingers for emphasis. “[color=thistle]Dead within a few moments.[/color]” Getting a second wind, her shoulder generally healed. The scrapes and burns along her body were dangerous reminders of the drawbacks to possession. Moving away from the edge of the wall her finger traced the Yew tree symbol. It glowed green when she blew on it. Drawing back her fist she punched the wall, spikes of cement shot out by the dozens at Icarus. Gabriel simply floated in midair, not even flinching as the spikes of cement washed over him, shattering harmlessly against his metallic body. He glared down at the mage girl, though he wasn’t sure she could tell. No matter- the sentiment had already been expressed, and would be again. He clenched his fists, his wings rotating around, pointing their narrow ends at the fairy girl. [color=teal]”...You claim to know what I fear. And in a way, fairy girl, you are right. I am afraid of… overreaching. Overextending, doing something I can’t take back. But not for my sake- I would survive. I would endure.”[/color] The enlarged Hex-Feathers began to glow brightly, sparks of light descending from them and scorching the ground. More iron and metal was drawn into the orbit of Gabriel’s influence, melted bits of the roof flowing toward him. [color=teal]”I fear losing control because I could hurt someone- a lot of someones- from using my powers carelessly. I fear out of empathy, not cowardice, which is a preferable state of being to someone like you. And I don’t need to look into your head to know you, mage. You’ve told me enough about your cruelty for me to paint a picture. “I wanted to avoid fatalities, little fairy girl. But I’ve already screwed that up. One more won’t weigh too heavily on my conscience, least of all someone like you. Goodbye, mage girl- it hasn’t been a pleasure.”[/color] With that, the Hex-Feathers shot out, impaling themselves into the ground in a ring around the magician, sparking briefly before exploding with electricity, electrifying the space between them. As that happened, Gabriel directed his attentions toward the roof, slashing downward with his claws. The roof, already weakened by his antics before, finally came loose, crashing down toward the fae girl’s head. Fear flitted through her expression, little bits of humanity pushing up through Bach’s fear of iron and her rationalization. It was irritating. The cage of Hex Feathers was impassable while the ground around her feet was splashed generously of iron and steel. “[color=thistle][i]Zut.[/i][/color]” With only a few lucky seconds to react, extreme desperation forcing her to push past the inherent fear of iron at her feet. Singular Words of Power formed around her hands and she dipped back into the ground coming into direct contact with the iron, the pain immediately apparent. Hissing through her teeth she casted her eyes back up. Light was swallowed up casting the sorceress in the shadows of debris. The roof came to a spectacular crash around the Hex Feathers, the noise was deafening. The air was filled with dust while the noise slowly filtered out. As more loose debris fell in large pieces settling on the pile of destruction. The air sprites left zipped in and out of the debris calling out for the Ambassador. Gabriel clenched his claws, which began to recede back into green motes of light as his body shrank to normal sizes. He wasn’t sure if the mage girl was still alive under the debris he’d brought down on her. And frankly, he didn’t care. His Hex-Feathers shrank down to their normal size, extracting themselves from the ruins he’d just made and taking their place in the air around him. Gabriel stared at the wreckage, contemplating vaporizing the heap with another particle beam, but frankly, there wasn’t much point. For one, there were already more reinforcements headed toward the warehouse, according to the last impressions he’d gotten from the drones outside before they’d been dismissed. Furthermore, whether she was dead or not, she had lost- Gabriel had what he came for. More fighting was merely a distraction from the real priorities here. However, let it never be said that he couldn’t indulge in some petty taunting every once in a while. [color=teal]”If you’re still alive down there, little fairy girl… if you can still hear me, wherever you are… then consider this a warning. Stay away from me, and my kind. If there is a next time, I will be far less lenient.”[/color] And with that, he sped out of the hole in the roof, just as the mercenary reinforcements converged on the building. A few took potshots at him, but he was very soon far outside of their reach. [b]sir, we are approaching the forge. awaiting your return.[/b] [color=teal][i]Thank you, Daedalus. It’s been a long day, for sure, but… we all finally get to go home.[/i][/color] [b]there will be repercussions to these actions, sir. i fear we have made powerful enemies today.[/b] [color=teal][i]Oh, I know. And if they want to try and make me pay for this, let them. I’ll send ‘em all packing. No one touches my friends and family while I’m around.[/i][/color] [b]if you say so, sir. if you say so...[/b]