Gladius Border Territory
Dorchester
21st January, 2011Heavy chains battered down against the car door, strike after strike stripping chunks of metal away. The barrier between the leather-clad cape and the two girls cowering behind it was getting thinner by the second. Rasping metal and harsh clashes echoed around the entire alley, until they abruptly stopped.
Sidestep swiveled her head to look at a nearby rooftop, before instantly swinging the chains in that direction. A torrent of explosive gunfire came crashing down towards her. With serpentine movements, she blocked or repelled some shots with her twin chains and dodged yet more, all the while trying to shift into position. Coiling up like an athlete, she let rip.
Springing to life, Sidestep took off at great speed towards the building, continuing to dodge shots on the way - from both her unseen assailant, and the Wonderland mooks. Running up the bonnet of a car, she kicked off the top using both feet. With precision movements, she blitzed from window-ledge to window-ledge, leaping into the air. Swinging one chain up to catch the underside of a balcony, she used the momentum to surge upwards and land atop the building - but with a chain short.
The smoke up here was thick, and the gunfire had stopped. Taking a step forward into the murky black, she was temporarily blind. Given the accuracy of her attacker, it made sense that they could see where she could not. Instead of fumbling around in the dark, she stopped and listened, holding her breath and preparing for the next round of gunfire.
A louder bang sounded from a nearby rooftop, and Pipeline turned to watch a large, flaming parahuman sailing towards him. He didn’t quite start grinning, although it came pretty close. “So, you’re on fire?” he screamed, “and made of metal?” The hooded figure couldn’t suppress a cackle. “Hey, you don’t rust, do you?”
While traditional acid whips were an appealing choice against a seemingly metal monster, he did have an audience, and fancied something a little more… explosive. Coating one arm in water, and surrounding the second with cesium metal. He looked his opponent dead in the eye, before firing both makeshift missiles at once.
His target was not the parahuman themselves, but rather the air slightly ahead of her. As the water and cesium slammed into one another, their was a single, brief moment of stillness.
Before the reaction began.
A deafening boom caused shockwaves enough to shatter the windows of the cars and buildings directly around the blast. A cloud of white smoke, tinged with a multitude of pretty pinks and light blues - the remains of the cesium, still reacting to the water vapour in the air - which rained down upon the battlefield.
Having gained the attention of everyone present, Pipeline raised his arms to the sky. “Who’s next?” he yelled, laughing like a lunatic.
@knifeman@Kiddo
Unknown Location
Allston
21st January, 2011“Ummm… Sickle?” A small voice warily called out from across the room. “I have some information you probably wanna know.”
Leaning over the arm of the couch from his lying position, the young man nonchalantly waved his hand. “I’m listening.”
The girl’s fingers continued to rapidly smack the keyboard, while she sifted through the rest of the report she’d just acquired, as if to confirm it. “According to the Protectorate logs, Praetor just sanctioned a group of Wards to go secure that punch-up in Dorchester, led by a token hero.” Switching to another tab, her eyes scanned the important bits of a second document - a recording picked up from a hacked phone. “Only it looks like Pipeline is headed that was as well.”
Jumping off the sofa, Sickle-Cell covered the short distance in seconds. Looking over the intel on the screen, there could be no doubt. She looked exactly right. Unless Pipeline got distracted, chances are Praetor had just sent the Wards into a meat grinder. Most villains in the city wouldn’t dream of stooping that low, but Pipeline was a law unto himself.
From the corner of the room, the rest of the Covenant watched expectantly. “Well,” he finally said.
“Shit.”
Breaking into a light jog, he heading towards their little equipment room. “Get ready. We need to be out of here in minutes.” Sickle turned back to the girl. “Oh,” he called across the room, “and get Donovan. We need a driver.”
VTOL
Approaching Dorchester
21st January, 2011Kairi’s face was a picture of grief, as she desperately tried to decide what to say. Thankfully, she got a few moments of reprieve.
“A little while ago,” Gestalt began, “ I wouldn’t have been comfortable talking about it. The therapists here in Boston, though, are so much nicer than the ones in the other places I’ve been.” Clearing her throat slightly, she bowed her head. “Sorry if it’s a bit of a dry story, but i’ll try to keep it brief.”
“My mother and father had been fighting since before I was born. Naturally, their marriage didn’t last long after she gave birth to me, and they went their separate ways. I know some couples can go on to live perfectly happy lives like that, wishing each other well and sharing responsibility for the kid, but not those two.”
“It was a constant battle. One would tell me something nasty about the other, which the other would then deny and respond to. They didn’t see me as a child, so much as they did a weapon to hurt one another.” Her eyes went wide, as she realised what she’d just said. “That isn’t to say they didn’t love me! They did want the best for me, but I was a convenient tool, in that aspect.”
“Eventually, I got tired of being two completely separate people. Never getting to be who I really wanted to be. So I packed my stuff, and when Mom sent me off to stay with Dad, I used the train fare to run off by myself, instead. Took a train all the way out to Texas from Washington, despite supposed to be going to New York. Sitting at my destination, I realised I didn’t have enough money to get home. For better or worse, I could be my own person, but I didn’t know what that meant. The overwhelming wave of anxiety crippled me, and before i knew it, I’d passed out and woke up with powers.”
“The real irony?” Nola said with a light chuckle, “I can be whoever I want to be, now.”
Kairi sat, realising her friend had just inadvertently sold her down the river. Stay silent would look really horrible, now. Swallowing, she looked incredibly ill. “I… don’t like to talk about my trigger. It’s personal, I’m sorry.” She stammered over her words. “Let’s just say I triggered trying to stop my brother doing something I thought he’d regret.”
Her tone trailed off, almost as though she was speaking to herself - but aloud. “Although I’m pretty sure he hates me for it, now.”
Seeing how the lively atmosphere died off, Gestalt chimed back in. “What about you? Anything more awesome that realising you suck, like me?”
@Banana@PlatinumSkink
