Mercinus3

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

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Target Locked #9: Target: The Hounds of Humanity #6

Location: Sherman Square
Time: Evening - Day of Hound Attack

The gunshot wound on her leg was making the entire area sore, which in turn was forcing Fletch to adjust her stance to ease the pain. It might not be much, but it was enough for her to need to compensate for the irregular body position in her shot sequence. Fortunately for her, she wasn’t killing any of the incoming Hounds, but the regular place in their shoulder was going all over the place. So much that she was deliberately slowing the time it took between each shot to make sure the next arrow didn’t cause another fatality like earlier. With the dwindling numbers of the enemy growing smaller, she was having to use fewer arrows. Hopefully, I will have the time to collect them all before I have to leave this place, she thought. While she had the accuracy to pull off the shots she was doing now, she only has so many arrows to do them with.

After firing another shot, she turned towards the Hound Iron Knight was fighting. She was disappointed when the dust cleared to see that he was unaffected by the explosive arrow. While she didn’t see it activate during the time the arrow made its ‘impact’, the energy shield was visible to her. She gritted her teeth when he made the obvious observation that the arrow didn’t work. I definitely need to work on arrows that could cause problems to electronics, she concluded, watching as the two suited fighters exchanged words. However, when the hero announced something about breaching the firewall in the other’s suit, she smirked underneath the makeshift cowl. ”At least my toothpick did something more than damage you, asshole!” she jeered. However, when the Judicator mentioned the ‘dark side’ of the heroes, her mind went back to the dead Hound she had killed moments ago. With Iron Knight wanting to deal with the dead Hounds issue, she had to think of her explanation to him when that time came. After all, she didn’t mean to kill the Hound then. Right?

As the hero took the Hound away, Fletch turned her focus onto Blacklight. The woman began to address her after her other comments. At least she isn’t scolding me for my words to the pair of them, Kayla thought as she listened. In a sense, the woman was right. The only reason she was shot was that she wasn’t in a vantage point to rain down arrows on the Hounds. The archer nodded towards the meta, ”Good call. Just checking to see if anyone needed help. Will head to the Center to give further support.” With the last arrow fired, she began to head towards the Sherman Center, getting ready to reach one of the lower-level rooftops to start her work.

As she hobbled over, she saw something shoot up into the sky from the corner of her eye. Kayla stopped in her tracks to see what it was. She managed to catch a glimpse of Icon, the hero of Lost Haven, beginning to head towards where she assumed was the satellite’s location. She had heard the announcement Iron Knight had made about the satellite and had assumed that it was now beginning its firing sequence to decimate Lost Haven. Her mind had thought about reaching to her bike and getting the hell out of the city for when that happened. But the combination of her seeing Terra Firma making a word to the armoured hero that he (through her assumptions) that he was joining in the hunt for the satellite, noticing Voyager darting off after Icon and her heart thinking back to everyone that would get caught up in the blast. After a brief moment, she sighed. ”Well, if the city does get destroyed, I wouldn’t live with myself if I left all the innocent people behind.” With that, she carried on towards the Sherman Center.

As she drew closer to the building, she heard a machine gun go off dangerously close to where she was. Looking in the direction it came from, Fletch watched in horror as Nemesis fell to the ground. The archer certainly hadn’t forgotten the great lengths from the moment the drones destroyed the block with both Nemesis and War-Pulse to track her down. She even got some help from the mouthy mercenary himself and the plant-based meta Evergreen to track her down to Midas’s building and kitting her out with new things to help her out as a vigilante. But that would have been for nought if the woman she had tracked down ended up dead in the centre of the city due to the Hounds.

”Oh hell no,” the archer blurted out, starting a mad dash towards the fallen body. Adrenaline kicked in to make the pain in her leg disappear as she rushed headfirst towards danger. Grabbing an arrow from her back quiver, she hurriedly fired a grappling arrow towards the rooftop of one of the nearby buildings and began the winch mechanism on her arm. Her speed towards Nemesis shot up as she skidded along the tarmac. As she drew closer, she noticed one of the mechs in the huge pile started to clamber over the remaining bodies to try and finish the job. As the machine gun was aimed at the fallen woman, it began firing. However, not before Fletch managed to snatch her up off the ground. Her right glove got torn up on the back of the hand from the road rash across the ground, but it endured enough to not affect her hand. With the woman in her right arm, Kayla kicked off the ground to begin her ascent to the rooftop. All the meanwhile, the bullets from the mech’s machine guns trailed behind her as the pair of them launched safely over the top of the building.

Landing and rolling with a thud, the archer’s bow was sent skidding across the rooftop out of her finger-slinged hand. But that was the least of her worries as she began scrambling towards Nemesis’s limp form. Turning the woman over, she looked at the damage on her torso. ”Shit,” she exclaimed, looking on the rooftop for anything to help with the bleeding. Seeing bedsheets on one of the clotheslines, she dashed towards it and ripped it out of the pegs. She bundled the sheet into one huge ball in her hands and, once back by the woman’s side, pressed down hard on the torso. ”This is not good at all.” It wasn’t long before the sheet was saturated in the black blood. Kayla’s mind wasn’t on the unusual colouring of the blood. Instead, it was doing all she can without the first aid kit that was handed to Voyager earlier. ”Come on, Nemesis! Stay with me!” The adrenaline in her system was slowly going away, the pain in her leg slowly coming back. ”I’ve spent all this time trying to find you to keep a promise to Evergreen! Your friend from before the explosion. I’d be damned if you die on me now to make me fail that promise!” There was nothing much she could do now except for hoping that she wasn’t fighting a losing battle.

@Fallenreaper

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

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Target Locked #8: Target: The Hounds of Humanity #5

Location: Sherman Square
Time: Evening - Day of Hound Attack

As she reached the streets below, Kayla thought back on the newly-arrived hero’s words. Try not to kill anyone… she thought, grabbing the arrows from the unconscious Hounds and placing them back into her quiver. While she thought back to those words, her sights always strayed to the location where the dead Hound was. She could see the orange-fletched arrow from where she was that remained in their skull. Even through all of the chaos that’s around her, the sight of the dead Hound was the only thing she could focus on. As the last of the arrows in her immediate area, she looked at the corpse one final time. For a while, she debated on going over there and collect the arrow, making sure that none of her arrows were left behind. As she thought that, the pit in her stomach swelled up at the images of the arrow hitting through the helmet came to the front of her mind. Fearing that she’d actually throw up when she got over there, she decided against collecting it. Besides, there’s still danger in the area. With that, she began leaving the area.

As Voyager and the lightning mete began to take on the mechs in the area, Fletch took the opportunity to strike down the Hounds that were in the immediate area of where they were fighting. At least with that, the focus from the ground troops wouldn’t be on the more powerful people that took on the more damaging weapons. Much like before, each arrow was precisely aimed and hit the non-vital areas, giving her enough time to punt them unconscious. As each Hound went down, the arrows shot were collected to be reused on their comrades. When the Hounds in the area were down, leaving just the mechs for Voyager and the meta to deal with, Kayla took the opportunity to move closer to the main bulk of the fight.

As the fight went on in the main square next to the Sherman Center, Kayla watched the aftermath of the mouthy kid finishing the destruction of one of the mechs and the two magic users finishing off their fight with the Hounds. It had just been a coincidence that Terra Firma, one of the metas she had fought with before arrived as well. It was as well as the Hounds started to focus on them and began their advance. The woman in red began casting an amber mist that covered the entire field. While the mist began its work on her bow, the metal components beginning to rust, the mechanism in order for her to draw the bow remained stable, unaffected. The stainless steel and anodized aluminium saw to that as she fired another arrow towards the advancing Hounds.

Despite the advantages the mist was having, it came to nought as a Hound in a similar suit to Iron Knight cast a counter mist to undo everything that was happening to their armour. She could only watch as Iron Knight was thrown down the street by his opponent. Thinking that this might cause an issue, Fletch reached down into her trouser pocket and pulled out two seeds. Quickly adding them to her next arrow, she took aim at the armoured enemy. ”Did S.T.R.I.K.E tell you about this, asshole?” she growled, releasing the arrow shortly before her words. If the arrow hits, much like before, an explosion with the same force as an RPG would have hit them square in the back. If not damaged, the force would have sent them flying to the ground.

Before she could marvel at the attack caused, she was instantly struck down to one knee. White-hot pain seared through her right leg as a Hound caught her by surprise with a bullet through it. Gritting her teeth, she turned to face the approaching group of Hounds. “You should have been paying attention, bitch!” one of them spat, her voice filled with venom. “Now you will suffer the same fate as our comrades in the chopper and the vans!”

Before the Hounds had the chance to fire off bullets at the downed archer, Fletch had the chance to nock another arrow onto her bow and fired at the group’s direction. The arrow missed all of the Hounds, causing them to jeer as they began to raise their rifles. By the time one of them realized that there was a cable in the flight path of the arrow, it was too late. The orange-clad archer lurched forward. The cable was attached to the windup mechanism on her arm. Kayla propped herself a little back as she skidded across the tarmac with her feet. Just before she was upon them, she jumped up. At the same time, she detached the cable from her arm. She arched her way through the air, launching her attack with her feet. The momentum of the kick sent the female Hound flying, unconscious by the force. As she landed on the ground, she began her assault.

Years of training in kickboxing has now become beneficial as she began to dance through the group, kicking and punching them with devastating grace. One by one, they fell with her ferocity. Some even got arrows stabbed into them, Kayla using them as knives in such close-quarters. Adrenaline was the only thing dulling the pain in her leg. It wasn’t long before the last of the group that one had guns pointed at her fell unconscious. Panting hard, the archer began focusing on the Hounds that the kid was fighting. She saw the spiked bat being dropped to the ground. The same woman that told her to try not kill anyone arrived as well. Whereas before had been a good time to scold the kid about actions taken, now wasn’t the best of times. Especially as the Hounds began their march towards the little group. As she hobbled forward towards them, she began her rain of arrows at the approaching Hounds, striking them down with lethal accuracy and non-lethal strikes.

As soon as she reached them, her eyes scowled at the pair of them. ”Whatever you two have to say about morality, save it for after the fight!” she bellowed, a tinge of fury behind them as she bore through the pain in her leg. ”In case you haven’t noticed, they’re still coming! As long as the threat is dealt with and no more civilians are hurt, then do with them as you’d like!” She drew up another arrow and fired at another Hound that was ready to strike at Pantheon. Shifting her weight slightly off her right leg, she drew another arrow and stood there, ready for the next Hound to come their way.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

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Target Locked #7: Target: The Hounds of Humanity #4

Location: Sherman Square
Time: Evening - Day of Hound Attack

Kayla kept up the relentless barrage of arrows down to the Hounds below. She knew at some point that she needed to get down and retrieve the arrows she was using before she ran out and had to find another way down the building. At least going through the building, I’d avoid the sights of the helicopters, she thought, her eyes glancing away between shots to keep a look on the helicopters that were around. She had been in relative shelter from the grunts and vehicles down below. The mechs would have been a problem for most of the gathered heroes, but Icon and the mouthy kid was dealing with them from the get-go. She even caught a glimpse of the firefight of the planes above them. But if any of the heroes didn’t deal with any of the helicopters, then what they were doing wouldn’t matter as their small numbers would be whittled down until the very durable ones are left.

Just as she thought about the helicopters, lightning struck two of the helicopters that fried every electrical component inside to send them crashing down. A moment later, she saw another meta arrive from the sky, seeing the fizzling arcs of electricity coming from him as he began to work on the flying menace. A moment later, another person arrived from the sky, cleaving through the tail of another. At first, Kayla was puzzled by the sudden appearance of the two heroes into this battle. However, she shrugged it off. ”Well, at least the helicopters are covered,” she muttered to herself, thinking that she wouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore. As she carried on raining down arrows, she watched from the corner of her eye as she watched the two new arrivals starting to take down the helicopters one by one.

As she focused on getting her next shot off, the whirring sounds of a falling helicopter grew louder and louder. Not taking any chances, she shot off the arrow and turned to the origin of the sound. As she faced it, her eyes looked on in terror as the falling helicopter was heading straight for her. With the speed of the helicopter’s fall and how close it was, she concluded that there was nowhere near enough time for her to make it out without getting hit by it. Not even an escape by jumping off the building and rappelling down to safety. Is this… how I die? she thought, fear now setting in and stopping her from moving. Her thoughts turned to the loved ones she was going to leave behind. Her mother. Her childhood friend, Mia. Her work colleagues at Taylor Garage. The archery club she shot regularly at. She was going to leave them all behind with her body being crushed under the twisting metal of the aircraft. It was then that a thought back to Jason filled her mind. With his face now filling her mind, her body relaxed. A wry smile came to her covered lips as she began to accept her fate. I’ve missed you, Jason. So much. I’m coming to you. She closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable.

Except, it never came.

An explosion rocked above the archer as the hero that came with the lightning meta shot the tail off of the helicopter. Fletch’s eyes snapped open as she witnessed the two halves of the helicopter fell from either side of her down the sides of the building. She didn’t hide her surprise when the hero landed on the rooftop. I’m… alive? she thought, her mind as surprised about the turn of events as she was. She heard the hero call out to her, her eyes still showing their surprise as her gaze turned to them. A moment ago, she figured that she wouldn’t be surprised by anything that will happen in the future. Now, she was surprised again as an alien-looking woman spoke to her, mentioning how they’ve never fought a helicopter before. Shaking herself off from the surprise, her steely focus came back. Her purpose had been renewed after a brief moment of vulnerability in the face of death.

”I’ve only fought one once, earlier today,” Kayla responded, her voice filled with an unusual warmth in it from her stony body language. ”Taking it out by blowing up the tail with one of my arrows.” By this point, Archie was curious about the person his master was talking to. He crawled out from her trouser pocket and peered at the alien-looking woman from her right shoulder. The archer nodded towards him, ”Archie here helped out with providing the explosives.”

Regaining her composure, she wandered to the edge of the building to see what was happening since the crashing helicopter. Reaching for another arrow and nocking it to the string, she aimed at another Hound. Before she could shoot it off, the weather suddenly picked up for the worse. She snapped the bow back into its resting position As she braced herself against the sudden wind and rain that ravaged the scene in front of her. Unsure of who caused the weather to suddenly pick up, she could only watch as the Hounds began to struggle to do what it was that they’re doing. Looking through the wind and the rain, she could only watch as another mech turned up to the fight. However, instead of attacking the heroes, it began fighting the ones that were known to be with the Hounds.

Kayla’s eyes focused on the lightning meta that had helped take down a few of the helicopters. She watched in amazement as he took down Hounds left and right. However, when it came down to an armoured soldier, she watched as he took a hit from one of the Hound's rounds. With the wind and rain, it was hard enough to gauge the correct place to aim. But the archer attempted anyway as she drew up her compound bow. By now, every piece of clothing was completely saturated with water and her hair clung to her frame. She aimed at the Hound that was attacking and moved her sight to where she roughly should be aiming out to compensate for the weather. From out of her focused view, she watched as three lightning bolts struck the Hound, leaving only a charred body in its wake. With the threat eliminated, she began to relax and started the motion of releasing the energy from her bow safely.

However, she snapped the energy back into place as she saw another Hound appear behind the lightning meta and began raising a pistol towards them. Making a snap judgement, she aimed at roughly the same place she was going to use and allowed the muscles in her shoulder to increase the tension. Then, like the thousands of arrows she shot before, the arrow snapped into motion as the release aid snapped open. She watched as the arrow soared through the air, arcing through the air as the wind and rain affected its course. As a sudden gust breezed passed, the archer could only watch in horror as the arrow was suddenly affected by it, appearing to be going straight for the meta’s head. By some luck, the arrow sailed merely inches from the meta as the broadhead slammed into the eye socket of the attacking Hound, killing them instantly. Despite the deadly nature of what she was using, she’d never intentionally planned to kill someone even with the explosives provided by Archie. The pit in her stomach began to well up as she watched nauseously as the limp body fell to the floor. She wanted to throw up from it, but she couldn’t. Not in front of the heroes she was near. Kayla managed to bring all of her willpower to stop her from throwing up, but it didn’t stop her from the wrenching motions as she gagged from the sight.

As she composed herself once again, Kayla carried on watching as Iron Knight began fighting a Hound wearing a similar suit. Just before that, however, she did see that the Hound fired something into the sky. Moments later, the rain turned into ice as it rained down hard on them. While weather like that wouldn’t affect her, having shot on occasion in Russia, the cold seeped through her wet clothes, sending a chill through her body. The archer shrugged it off and watched the fight unfold as two more people began firing at the helicopters above. She finally turned to the alien woman on the rooftop. ”Tend to your friend,” she spoke, the steel returning to her voice. She rifled through one of the other pockets in her trousers and placed a first aid kit onto the ground. ”He’s been hit in the shoulder. Use that to treat the wound. We’ll need to start taking out more of these mechs that are attacking the city.” Fletch turned to look at her. ”Can you and your friend do that once he’s patched up?” She then began to focus down below. She needed to retrieve her arrows and return back to the fight. Before she rappelled down, she turned to the hero. ”The name’s Fletch, by the way. Nice meeting you. Oh… and thank you.” Using the line that got her up the building, she jumped off of the building, using the mechanism on her arm to ease her descent down onto the ground.

@KaiserElectric@VATROU

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

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A Man Out of Time #6: The Rise of Rage #1

Location: Pacific Point, California

A dozen hours had passed since his recent encounter with the Hounds and his subsequent time passed out, The Wanderer finally stirred from his position in the alleyway. Despite the amount of exertion that was taken out of him from detonating his psionic barrier, he had managed to be in a sitting position behind the dumpster as to conceal his presence. As he looked groggily over his body to check his injuries, his right hand propped himself up so he got back on his feet. His muscles still felt sore from being in the position they were in and his injuries, but he chalked it up as the norm from his past experiences. His eyes hovered over each of his bullet wounds he obtained. While they were still severe in appearances, the sharp pain he felt before was reduced to a dull throbbing. At least they’ve stopped bleeding, he thought, his hands making light work of checking if any of the bullets remained in his body. Satisfied with all his injuries having exit wounds, he limped out of the alleyway and carried on with his search for the person known as Voyager.

As he roamed the streets, disregarding the looks and the unusual chatter of the state he was in, he listened in on some of the gossips that were starting to become common to his ears. The Hounds had struck again and this time, they were using advanced technology that The Wanderer could only dream about. From the sounds of it, the places of Philadelphia, Nautica Island and Paris, TX were either decimated or obliterated off the face of the planet. He grits his teeth. While he had caused devastation near that park, it had been worth destroying that scum that wiped off thousands of innocent men, women, and children needlessly. In his mind, his thoughts turned back to the inexcusable actions The Officer had done which caused Settlement 149 to be completely cleansed of life. ”I’ll find these bastards and show them the meaning of the pain they’re causing,” he muttered under his breath, his hands curling into fists as he carried on limping through the streets.

Suddenly, he heard screams from a nearby street. Worried about The Hounds attacking innocent people in broad daylight, The Wanderer went into a jog to where the sound came from. As he reached the street, his eyes widened in horror at the sight he was seeing. In the streets, he saw a muscular being that towered over the people in the street. While the muscular 7’5” frame was something to see, it was another to see this being engulfed in a shiny, almost metallic surface. And at this moment, it was ripping through the cars that had gathered around it in a cocoon-like structure and attacking the people in the streets. Without thinking, he began walking towards it.

”Hey asshole! Pick on someone that’ll beat your ass!”

The monster looked up from what it was doing towards The Wanderer. Its metallic body turned to square off against the approaching mutant, a gurgling growl ringing out in a metallic tone. As he drew closer, the mutant’s body began to glow purple, the flames of his aura licking the air as hot and fiery as the look of determination in his eyes. With a sudden surge, the monster went into a full sprint towards him. With his hands already in a fist, The Wanderer ran towards the beast and began to throw his fist towards it, ready to clothesline it with the strength behind his fist.

Both of them collided with each other.

The next thing he knew, the mutant was launched back from the monster, the impact of his fist doing nought to affect it. He flew tens of feet from the point of impact as he ended up being sprawled all over the road. The aura he had around him was gone, his thoughts going about processing what just happened. As his mind gathered everything that had just happened, his left ankle was grabbed. A moment later, he was sprawled through the rubble of a clothes store near where he was as he was thrown from where he laid. Groaning from the impact of the two attacks, he got back up to his feet and walked through the broken wall that he went through. He looked at the creature growled at him. Again, he walked up to it as his fist launched another attack against it. Much like before, his attack connected dead centre of the monster’s chest, but it didn’t move a budge under the weight of the attack.

With his attack stopping dead in its tracks, his body was left open as he was swiped from the front. Unlike before, he was ready for the attack. Its splayed hand impacted the barrier with the groan of its metallic limbs. The impact of its attack was enough for him to be sent skidding a dozen feet along the street. It roared at The Wanderer as it was apparent that its attack was ineffective. With the anger now filling his face, his eyebrows furrowing as he gritted his teeth, the mutant lowered the barrier and allowed the psionic flames to envelop him again. The flames raged in tune with his anger, though more fiercely around both of his arms.

”Enough of this.”

The Wanderer raised one hand towards the beast and fired a beam at the monster. Unlike the previous attacks he threw before, the beam was effective. As if hit by a freight train, the metallic monster was sent flying tens of feet down the street. As the beast slowly gathered itself to get back up, the mutant was already on top of it through his teleportation. Without any chance of reacting, he began slamming his fist down across its head. As the barrage of psionic-enhanced strikes rained down in the creature’s head, he saw it slowly get weaker and weaker. With a last almighty swing, the creature was then rendered unconscious, all of its metallic muscles seemingly relax at once.

Panting a sigh of relief, The Wanderer collapsed to a sitting position next to it. As he heard the few cheers of those that remained to see the fight, he looked at the creature and the device that was on it. ”So,” he muttered, his breath slightly ragged from his exertions. ”These beasts are highly resistant to pure strength attacks. Guess I’ll have to stick with psionics for now until I can find a permanent way of putting these guys down.” While he didn’t know if the unconscious monster’s metallic skin was resistant to his psionic blades or not, he didn’t want to test it to make sure it wasn’t a success.

As he slowly got to his feet, The Wanderer looked up as two more creatures appeared. One of them was a similar size to the one he just fought, though it was engulfed in flames. The second was much smaller and had an appearance of something being made completely out of sand. Leaving the metallic monster where it was, his right hand flicked further to his right, his psionic blade now appearing around his arm. ”I don’t know about it, but I have a feeling that this will take a while.”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

 
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Target Locked #6: Target: The Hounds of Humanity #3

Location: Sherman Square
Time: Evening - Day of Hound Attack

 
As she pushed the bike forward, Fletch shook her head as she concentrated on moving her bike to a safer point. She was still annoyed with the new kid fobbing off against the heroes that were here to fight the Hounds of Humanity. Unlike the majority of the heroes that have gathered, including that jackass, she was only human. This was even despite the slightly enhanced agility that she received from Evergreen. Even then, she had achieved a fair amount, including the recent fight he had with the Hounds of Humanity, taking down an attack helicopter in the process. Still, there was only one thing she needed to complete and it just so happens that the person she was looking for was here. This was despite Nemesis’s muted reaction to her nodding at her. Guess I’d have to let her know once things get underway, she thought, watching as the woman walked towards the center.
 
However, the groaning sounds of metal bending under extreme weight was audible in Kayla’s ears. And shortly after that, she stopped dead in her tracks. While she didn’t know about Nemesis’s magnetic abilities flaring up, it had affected more than just her bike. She literally just stopped dead in her tracks, her every fibre in her body not budging an inch. She tried her very best to move from her spot, but with her legs and arms frozen in place, there was nothing she could do. Not even turn her head as the woman entering the building snapped at the jackass behind her because of the comments he made. What surprised her even more was her remark to the woman that was talking to him, mentioning the fact that the jackass’s friend had spoken something about not trusting the metas to get the job done. While she refused to move, the new information that came to her made her thoughts sour. If there were people wanting to help in the city, then surely they’d rather do it themselves if they think that the metas weren’t doing a great job? Especially if they are far more capable of doing that sort of thing that they could ever do. The archer didn’t know the recent history of the woman, but she was starting to not like her at all.
 
As Nemesis finally walked back into the building, the magnetic fields stopped. Fletch almost dropped to the floor as her sudden binds were released. Luckily, she managed to steel her legs before that happened. As she managed to recover and start to push her bike again, she heard Icon speak again. She understood his frustrations as there were people arguing over a simple statement that the jackass blurted out. Before she could say anything, a new woman arrived, materializing out of nowhere. Her skin and hair made her stand out from the heroes, which the look of surprise and wonder apparent in the archer’s eyes. As the short conversation between Icon and the woman, who identified herself as Flux, concluded, Fletch took the opportunity to speak up. ”Of course. Sorry for my actions. You’d probably understand that while I’m not a metahuman, I don’t want to be brushed aside as usel...”
 
Just then, as she moved her bike to an alleyway that ran alongside the Sherman Center, Fletch heard it. It was a familiar sound that she now recognized from the recent fight she had with the Hounds of Humanity moments ago: Helicopters. Without thinking on the matter, she grabbed one of her arrows and fired it towards the roof of one of the buildings. Using the grappling mechanism on her wrist, it wasn’t long before she was hauled up to the top of the building. Detaching the cable from her glove, she drew another arrow as she readied her bow for what she was to see next. From her vantage point, she could see a large number of helicopters heading towards them. And they certainly didn’t look like they were touring the city, especially with their armaments visible to her. Guess the Hounds are coming towards us, she thought, getting the clip of her release aid clamped around the D-loop of her bow. It wasn’t just the helicopters that she saw. She vaguely saw the trucks speeding towards Sherman Square. This had been obvious as they’re forcing both motorists and pedestrians to move out of their way. But the scary thing about the incoming Hounds was the ground shaking, even from where she was standing. Her eyes finally noticed the half-dozen mech suits that were lumbering towards them. Their armaments scared Kayla, even as she was perched on top of the building and should be more worried about the helicopters coming their way. ”There’s no way that my arrows could harm them, she muttered under her breath, her nerves showing in it.
 
”Heads up!” she roared, her voice now hiding the nerves she was clearly feeling. ”We’ve got a large number of Hounds inbound!”
 
And just like that, all hell broke loose.
 
Once the Hounds had gathered their forces, their guns rattled throughout the streets of Sherman Square. Fletch took cover as the helicopters fired as well, no doubt seeing her on the rooftops. Unclipping from the D-loop, she reached into her trouser pocket and grabbed two more seeds to attach to the arrow. By now, Archie was hiding in the other pocket in fear, reacting negatively to the loud gunfire that was in the air. As the choppers ceased to fire on her and began to fire down below, she went out of cover and took aim, her sights aimed at the armoured vans down where she was. While the mechs seem to be out of her league, the helicopters, vans, and troops were fair game to her. Concentrating on her shot, she felt her shoulder muscles engage, slowly ramping up in that familiar strength as she pushed beyond the wall of her compound bow. All the meanwhile, her focus on her target zoomed in as her vision tunneled through her right eye through the scope. Snap! With such violent motion, the arrow was released from the bow at frightening speed. The arrow impacted the ground between the two vans closest to her in the streets below, the familiar explosion from the seeds deafening the air of Sherman Square as it pushed the vans apart, crushing troops in their wake. The soldiers already between the vans were dead, the explosion killing them instantly as the shockwave burst from the seeds.

When the dust settled, the Hounds finally took their chance and fired up at the archer above them. With the cover of the building, she ducked behind it. Her eyes scanned the helicopters through her yellow visor, making sure they don’t turn around and fire at her again. When the Hounds stopped firing to reload, Fletch let loose as she reigned down arrows at the fast rate that she managed to train herself to do. Once she had cleared the Hounds in the street below her, she began to move along the rooftops, jumping over venting units, walls and the gaps between the buildings to find her next target.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Meanwhile, in Little Tokyo, Lost Haven…

(See bottom of post for English translations)

The heavyweight battle between the Triads and the Yakuza kept trucking on, with many bodies littering the Chinatown-Little Tokyo areas of Lost Haven. Many the crime syndicates in the city were taken aback by the sudden start of the gang war and steered clear of the bloodbath, fortifying their own positions in case the two gangs started to focus on the contested territories. As the gang war became confused about who was the victor, The Hounds of Humanity announced their assault on non-human folk and started their attacks on Lost Haven. Few would dare to try to claim territories in the war zones and then try and solidify a position there before expanding from within. And that is exactly what the Penose expected and began to capitalize on it.

In a hotly-contested shoreline warehouse facility in Little Tokyo, the Hounds of Humanity were attempting to either seize the facility to expand their import power to bring in more soldiers and gear. They took the opportunity to claim a small warehouse facility on the docks, left untouched by the Yakuza and Triads in the war. The temptation of starting up their own shipping lanes to provide their own products to the black markets in Lost Haven proved too great for them and struck out for that reason as well. As they spent weeks setting up shop since the Hounds’ first announcement, they were finally ready for them to start their business and were about to contact their suppliers that they were good to send their goods to Lost Haven.

It was at that point that the Dutch syndicate struck with the quiet efficiency that their country of origin is known for. Several men moved from the nearby buildings, the black vans silenced for hours to wait for the right time to strike. Quickly, they approached the building, silenced variants of the HK XM8 and multi-staged frag grenades ready. Three groups opened up vans that weren’t used for personnel. What was inside and driven out of them were ground attack drones that were armed with dual-mounted M134 miniguns, fully automated with state-of-the-art targeting systems and a large drum where the belt of bullets that fed the machines. The other gangs of Lost Haven have little to no intel as to how the Penose were able to get their hands on the military-grade weaponry, with rumours suggesting that they were being sourced by another, larger organization.

The syndicate didn’t know what hit them as the Penose began to silently massacre them. Those that realized they were being attacked on the eve of them beginning operations tried to respond. Their counterattacks were proved futile as their bullets bounced off of tactical armour, a prototype steel plates that sandwiched several layers of sheer-thickening fluid between them. Those that had the common sense and began running away from the area were met with another team, ripping them apart with a hail of gunfire. The rattling of the drones’ miniguns rang out into the air as it ripped through the insides of the building. It wasn’t long before the rout was complete and the drowning sound of gunfire ceased. With the facilities cleaned of Hound personnel, the group leader emerged from one of the black vans.

The tall, blond haired man turned to the littered bodies with disgust, sneering his broken nose away from it. He walked to the open gateway to the inside of the warehouse to see his men beginning to clear the bodies out. “Iedereen! Veilig dit faciliteit! Niemand komt hier voor de nabije toekomst binnen!”¹ he barked, the men snapping to the orders. Much like this facility, the Penose had struck out at key shipping facilities claimed by the Hounds throughout Lost Haven and Crown Ridge, securing them in a similar fashion as this one. As another man walked up towards the group leader, his posture giving the suggestion that he is the second-in-command, the Dutchman turned to him, “Heb je van de andere groep gehoord?”²

“Ja, zij bin succesvol met hun aanvallen,”³ the second-in-command responded. His appearance suggested that he wasn’t Dutch, but an Afro-Curaçaoan. He was dwarfed by the large man, but his build was more than enough to suggest that he could hold his own. “ De Hounden van de Mensheid zullen nooit dit vergeten, meneer.”⁴

“Zij zullen niet deze aanvallen vergeten,”⁵ another voice piped up in the warehouse. The Dutchmen turned around to see a man walking towards them, his eyes glancing around the whole building. As his eyes turned to them, his distinctive half-skull tattoo unnerving the XO, he smirked. “Als ze horen dat hun verzendfaciliteiten genomen zijn, zij zullen ze proberen te hun herwinnen. Zij zullen mislukken. Als ze horen dat hun verzendfaciliteiten worden genomen, zullen ze proberen ze te terugstellen. Zij zullen mislukken.⁶ Of that…” He paused briefly, allowing both men to watch as his eyes to change from brown to red to gold and then back to brown. “I am certain. Not if they don’t want to cross my employer.” And with that, he walked away, leaving the Penose to carry on with their plans.

---
1.“Everyone! Secure this facility! No one comes here in the near future!”
2.“Have you heard from the other groups?”
3.“Yes, they have been successful with their attacks."
4."The Hounds of Humanity will not forget this, sir.”
5.“We don’t want them to forget these raids,”
6.“And when they hear that their shipping facilities are taken, they will surely try to take them back. And they will fail.”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

In

Target Locked #5: Target: The Hounds of Humanity #2

Location: Sherman Square
Time: Evening - Day of Hound Attack

Fletch watched as Icon paused, thinking on his response for her to join them against the scum that was The Hounds of Humanity. As she watched as the famed superhero looked at the others in the group, Archie crawled out of its hiding spot and climbed up her side, perching on her shoulder as it watched the other heroes with curiosity. Even with the others being new faces, it new that they had an air of being important people so it sat there and looked, behaving itself. The archer watched as the hero of Lost Haven looked at the others, each of them nodding with approval.

As he spoke to her, confirming that she was allowed to join them, Fletch nodded in acknowledgement of an important statement. Inside, despite her hardy appearance and stern look, she was shaking with such nervousness and surprise that someone such as Icon was accepting her into such a mission. Finally calming her nerves enough to respond to his question, she looked at him and nodded. ”I’ll gladly help,” she responded, her voice hiding the fact that she was nervous in his presence well in the face of certain danger ahead of the group. ”While I may not have been in this hero business for long, Fletch and Archie will fight in the name of Lost Haven.”

Almost relieved by stating such a commitment to the cause, Fletch heard a voice from behind her. As another person joined the group to respond to the crisis, she turned around to face the new speaker. While she kept her body language composed, her eyes gave away her surprise when she saw Nemesis standing there, leaning on a wall. While she may be an unknown to such heroes, her mind recalled the events down in Chinatown, where Nemesis traded blows with War-Pulse moments before the drones struck both of them down in a fiery conclusion. Assured that she now had a chance to let the new arrival know that she was there to help her escape from Midas’s grasp, her eyes returned to normal, nodding slightly towards her in acknowledgement that she needed to speak to her at some point.

Shortly after acknowledging Nemesis’s arrival, Fletch felt the air shift around her. While she had been wearing practical clothes that would help against such a change in the atmosphere, it didn’t help as she felt chilled at the presence. It wasn’t long before it disappeared and the woman with the staff spoke to another newcomer. The archer turned around and saw another woman, dressed in a red cloak with a cane and red heels, had arrived without making a sound. She looked at the newcomer with a slightly puzzled look. She might be new to the hero scene and had seen a lot of things during that time, but this was yet another thing that would surprise her. I guess that I should expect more things like this in the future if this is the way I should be heading, she thought to herself, finally reaching for the bow on her bike, connecting the finger sling to make sure it didn’t fall out of her hand in surprise. If only you could see me now, Jason. Acting as the tough one that you were. The sudden thought of her former fiancé saddened her, a pained look visible in her eyes. Even after all these years since then, she was still mourning for him and wished she was able to touch the side of his smooth face one more time.

The reminiscing thought Fletch had disappeared as she heard the woman with the staff shout out in exclaim. Looking up, she had seen another man arrive, though his appearance was a little bit more trivial as the woman told the new man off for his arrival. It suggested that he had either super speed or was able to fly. A moment later, though their conversation, the man disappeared and returned with two… The archer once again was surprised when two movie chairs were brought to the scene, where the two heroes carried on with their conversation as if it were normal. However, when the man seemingly shouted above and insulted the whole group. Fletch scowled at him, the thought of making them eat his words by sending an arrow close to his crown jewels to emphasize that she wasn’t to be messed with. However, not knowing the full extent of his powers deterred her, never mind how the others would react to such transgressions. She tightened her grip on her compound bow as she continued to scowl at the man. ”At least we’re here to deal with a problem we all have in common. Not spouting off bitchy comments at the slight thing that we don’t like.”

With her annoyance now cleared out of her system, she looked towards Icon, Iron Knight and Lyger. She grabbed both handles of her motorbike, ready to push it to an area close to the doors of where the heroes were meeting. ”I suppose we should discuss how to deal with this shit, right?” Slowly, she began pushing her bike towards the Sherman Center.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

You know I wonder how much force would the Finger of God inflict. And of course heat. But mostly the force. Could Icon say stop the beam with his bare hands? Would Briley shield the Ageis way back in season one be able to stop it? Could Excalibur take the blast without breaking? Question questions. I'm pretty sure we don't want to find out again.

@VATROU

I wonder a similar sort of thing for The Wanderer's barrier psionics. Sure, it stopped multiple rounds and can more than likely stop a tank round, but the Finger of God? Things to make you go 'hmmm', I guess.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

In

Target Locked #4: Target: The Hounds of Humanity #1

Location: Square of Hound engagement, Lost Haven
Time: Late afternoon - Day of Hound Attack

It didn’t take long for Kayla to scout the area she signed herself up for. Though there wasn’t much in the way of Hounds besides weapon caches for the terrorist group to return to, there were televisions in the rooms on all the news stations, as if something big was waiting to go down. As she watched in horror, the news about three places being devastated or destroyed by a weapon started to break on all of them. The people of Paris, TX; Nautican Island, MA; and Philadelphia, PA were all wiped out or outright killed as all bar Philadelphia were wiped off the face of the planet by weapons in orbit of the planet. The archer’s eyes widened in horror as the news broke out, left speechless at the thought of thousands of men, women and children were killed. Reaching for the radio on the belt, she pressed the send button. ”Guys, turn your attention to the news…” she spoke, her voice hiding little of the shock of the news. She carried on watching as all the news channels were cut out and a shadowy figure replaced them on all the screens. This was the first time that Fletch had seen a worldwide message from The Hounds:

“We warned you. We told you that compliance was non-negotiable. Yet you chose not to listen.”
“The time for talk has passed. From this moment on, you are either with us or you are against us.”
“We are coming, and you will either stand with us, or you will burn with them.”

Whatever the message’s meaning was, the pit of Fletch’s stomach began filling with anger. How dare these… these monsters! she thought to herself, gritting her teeth as the shadowy figure was replaced with the news channels that got cut off for the broadcast. Her right hand clenched into a fist, nails digging into both leather and the exposed skin to either leave their mark in the glove or draw blood. She turned and began walking out of the room, holding the radio in hand. ”I’ve got to cut my time here short. I need to help out with whatever has happened. In mind, she has one thing that she needed to do: get answers to what has happened. And she was planning on finding any of The Hounds that are still operating somewhere in Lost Haven to get them.

---

Location: Driving through Sherman Square
Time: Evening - Day of Hound Attack

Fletch raced through the streets to get to her destination of Little Ulster. She figured that she’d start in that area of town and slowly expand her search until she found The Hounds. And to think this was to be done with the Penose, she thought, concentrating on the road ahead of her to avoid crashing. As she raced through Sherman Square, her eyes looked over to the Sherman Center. She could only imagine that the terrorist group were planning on targeting this city next, seeing as this is the hub for all the famous meta superheroes today reside. It was only the fleeting moment that she saw Icon and Iron Knight that she realized that a response was happening in the aftermath of this attack. Without hesitation, she put her bike into a skid, stopping several meters from the group that was forming. As she took off her helmet, she was listening in to the conversation that the group were having, recognizing Lyger in the group as well.

“If you all remember back to the Pax crisis three months ago, a heroine named Archangel used orbital strikes surgically to destroy quite a few of the dome-generating devices hidden across the country. I believe that the Hounds have somehow stumbled upon one of these satellites and have repurposed it for mass destruction. I have no idea how this WMD had fallen into the Hound’s hands, although I can only guess that S.T.R.I.K.E. saved one as an insurance policy. But I do have a plan.”

”I’ve repurposed one of Archangel’s old chassis. Since they both should have the same technology built into them, we should be able to exploit the satellite’s programming. Maya here has graciously agreed to help us out by running the exoskeleton.”

“I was at the university the day it was attacked, I destroyed those towers. This is the bit of technology I fished out that they used to hurt metahumans with - a special sound frequency. Probably the same shit we’re going to run into again. If you want to dismantle that satellite you’re gonna to have to do it properly. I’m the woman for the job. I have as much at stake, Lost Haven is my home. And. . .” Fletch watched as the unknown woman was talking to the other heroes in the group, seemingly looking at each of them in the eyes. “I’m going to help whether you like it or not.”

“If you’re willing to fight, we can use all the help we can get. Maybe it’s time we took this conversation inside.” Icon responded to her. Seems that I’m in the right place to help out with this Hound shit, she thought to herself.

“I was about ready to make the same suggestion. We need to make a plan of attack so the Hounds can’t use that satellite to murder countless people in cold blood.”

”If you guys are after the bastards that caused all that damage earlier today, then count me in,” she spoke up, looking at the group on top of her bike. ”I don’t want them to target here next, not when there are lives at stake.”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

In

A Man Out of Time #5: Back Against the Proverbial Wall #2

Location: Pacific Point, California

The bullets pounded the psionic barrier like torrential rain from all directions and in The Wanderer’s mind, he could feel each bullet hitting at their respective points in his head. He didn’t dare think about how strong the barrier was as he faced near-mental exhaustion. Every time he felt like the barrier was going to fail from the exhaustion, he shrunk the barrier smaller until it barely encompassed him in a human-sized cocoon. If the barrier faltered for even one second, it would be game over and history would repeat itself over again. Then how would he live with himself in his last dying thoughts that billions of people would die from the nuclear holocaust that would result?

While the thoughts were racing through his mind, the Hounds continued their relentless barrage, tactically timing their reloads as to not give him an opening. While the barrier is small, it was stronger than it had been when he first put it out. The mutant always looked around to see what his options were for an escape or a counter-attack, but most things came up with nothing. It was only when his options seemed to have run out that a voice came to him in his head. ”Do you think that is the limits of your own abilities in the aether?” It was then he thought back to the person who spoke those words.

---

Time: What is supposed to be Midday, 195 years in the future
Location: Near what’s supposed to be Pine Bluff, Arkansas

The wasteland had been as The Wanderer remembered; desolate and void of almost all life. He remembered this memory to be 10 years after he had been put into then exile for his transformation from human into a mutant. And it was 9 years since he met him. A flash of purple shone through the barren landscape, bringing him closer to the source. As he drew closer, he saw dead vegetation near the source and decided to hide in them to see what was going on. As he pushed through the dead bushes that stood in his way to get a better view, he got a glimpse of what was going on: one of the many sparring sessions he had with the person who trained him in a lot of the psionics that he knew now. He remembered that moment in his memory that he had just gotten the hang of his beam and combat-enhancement abilities and was practising them with everything he had back then. He watched as his younger self despite the abilities he had back then get swatted aside by a mutant he called The Scholar.

“You’ve got to stop wasting your abilities so needlessly.”

He could remember the frustrations he felt that day when he got back up to try and strike the elderly mutant at least once in the sparring session, the objective of this particular session. He watched as his younger self reactivated his combat-enhancing aura and launched himself again. Now looking back in hindsight, The Wanderer thought about how foolish he was not using the advice he received to help himself back then. He knew that he had been exiled a year ago at this point, but it was no excuse for the rage-fueled assault. He could only watch as the attempted attack was simply dodged and swatted him aside, causing the younger man to crash onto the floor. The frustrations reached a boiling point at that point, ”Why can’t I hit you?!”

“You are focusing on the direct and being blind to everything that is around you.” By then, the young Wanderer sat up and looked at his teacher. “Psionics isn’t just about seeing what is in front of you and trying to find the shortest means possible to get to that point. Do you think that is the limits of your abilities in the aether? The psionic energy is all around us, no matter how strong or weak you are and you can use that to your advantage. Consider this a quick lesson: stand up and pull up your barrier just facing towards me, using everything you have.” The young man stood up and complied, pulling up a strong, directional barrier between The Wanderer and The Scholar. “All you are concentrating on is trying to breach what is in front of you, like so.” The elder mutant raised his hand and started a barrage of psionic balls against the barrier, which crashed on the surface harmlessly. “What you need to realize is that there are many paths you can take to reach the same destination. What do you see from your barrier?”

The young man looked puzzled at first, but as he let the question sink in, he noticed that the barrier had been protecting him from the direct attack and there is a lot of things that the barrier doesn’t cover. ”There’s only one direction the barrier is protecting me.”

“Correct. If you concentrate on just using psionic abilities directly, sometimes something can be overwhelming that you won’t be able to achieve it is that you want to do. If you cannot overcome what is in front of you, you always find a way around it and exploit the weakness that is front of you.” As he finished, he launched another small psionic ball that seemed to be directed at the barrier again. However, instead of it hitting the barrier, it stopped short and shot to the left of the barrier, going around it like it was nothing. The barrier disappeared to encompass him as the ball surged towards him. A moment passed as the impact of both the lessons and the attack sank in. “I’ll conclude this session early while you think about what was mentioned just now. We’ll carry in with this at the next daybreak.”

The young man bowed and simply walked in the direction to where Settlement 149 was. A few moments later, The Scholar turned to the lone bush that was nearby. “You remembering the memory of this session?”

Taken by surprise by the eyes of the elder Mutant looking at him, The Wanderer emerged from the bush and approached closer. ”You know that I’m here?”

“I know that you are not here physically as this is only just your memory, but there are a lot of things in the realms of psionics that you still need to learn.” The Scholar sat down on the barren ground as the time-traveller did. “This had been an important memory for you as you took the words to heart and improved dramatically. You know there is much you need to learn still.” He paused for a moment. “I see you are on the defensive against these… Hounds… and are stuck on trying to find a way out. Seems it to be fitting that you thought back to this lesson.”

”I’ve done everything I can to think of a way out, but I can’t seem to think of a way out. Not while I have my barrier up to protect me.”

“I see… I would say that this lesson I taught you before you got to where you are now still applies. However…” The Wanderer looked at The Scholar as the elder mutant looked into his eyes. “I can tell you something that you’ll need to learn as well, though this is more of an observation from the hours of teachings; You are a person of absolutes. You have a tendency of either throwing an absolute defence or creating an onslaught of immense attacks. Both of those are impressive to watch, even by my standards. But, you seemingly don’t transition between the two without pausing to think about what to do next. You have a lot of things you can do with psionics, you can transition from attack to defence with them and vice versa. I won’t decide what you are to do in your situation, but I can see one way of doing it that you should be more than capable of doing. Now is the time to learn about transitioning from one state to another and develop it to your already impressive abilities.”

---

Location: Pacific Point, California
Time: Present day

The Wanderer snapped back to his reality. The bullets are still pounding on the small barrier. He looked around again, focusing with his psionic eye. The psionic lines were still flowing, more than they had done in the future. However, it then he noticed that the Hounds were completely surrounding him. However, this observation wasn’t new to him. It was what he could do in that situation that he now observed. None of them were moving from their spots at all. So, that’s what you could see eh, old man? he thought to himself. He chuckled as he began to focus once more. His body began to sprout the purple flames of the psionics that emanated from his ever-present aura. This aura engulfed the barrier in its fierce flames. He drew upon every ounce of his psionic aura left in his body. When he was ready, he said one thing that all of the armoured men could hear.

”My turn…”

For the Hounds that surrounded him, time went slowly as they witnessed what happened after those words. The Wanderer simply lashed out, roaring in anger as the built-up energy was unleashed. The barrier simply shattered as he began his assault. In its place, a wave of energy was unleashed similar to the wave that the world felt on that day. However, as it manifested on the planet, the energy had matter to push through. The pushed air sent a shockwave that stopped the bullets dead in their trajectories. The psionic energy itself manifested in the air molecules itself as heat is produced. All the common components of a high explosive detonation. The energy that produced the explosion ripped through the Hound lines as if they were nothing. Everyone in the immediate area was killed by the shockwave outright. The following explosion itself sent bodies and broken parts from the vehicles apart. The shockwaves even smashed out the windows in the area and caused distant cars to blare out their alarms. The buildings in the immediate area were damaged by the explosion to the point where they were structurally unsafe. Apart from the impact crater that the explosion formed, the rest of the road seemed to be untouched.

In the aftermath of the explosion, The Wanderer collapsed, his energy almost spent completely in the psionic explosion of his barrier. His breath was ragged and hard, sweat poured from his brow. After a few moments, sirens heard in the distance, the mutant got up from the center of the crater and staggered away, leaving little of him behind as he weaved past body parts and debris. As soon as he was clear and away from everything, he walked into an alleyway and collapsed once more behind a dumpster. It was only then that everything went black.