Old Amsterdam

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent was pleased with how the spell had started, even if it didn't seem to do anything yet. But that was, honestly, to be expected at this point. She could only think of a few times she had developed a spell or attack that worked noticeably properly the first time.

Repeating the process, she sat for longer, drawing in more and more of the energy from the light hitting her scales, until she felt that she could hold no more. This time, however, instead of pooling it and releasing it, she gathered it, holding it tight and compressed and separated from the rest of the energies. Once it felt like she couldn't do that anymore, she opened her mouth and imagined poking a hole in the front of the ball, letting it stream out at force, adding her own force and power to it.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched as things settled down, as the Goblins were rounded up and the loot taken, and she took her time to use all of her Analysis skills on the Orc. At the announcement about the evolution, she perked up however.

Another evolution? She was pretty close to ten herself, if she remembered correctly. That would be useful, to grow. Moving towards their den, she set herself up by the entrance.

"I'll stand guard while I practice some abilities," she announced quietly. Here, in the light from the morning sun, she focused on drawing in the light as Oberon had talked about. The mana from the light, pulling it in in the opposite of how she pushed things out to make Void. After a few moments of trying to draw it in from the light glancing off of her scales, she tried to channel the energy that she had brought in to her mouth. From there she focused on forcefully shooting the energy out from her mouth towards a nearby tree to see what would happen, using her Magic Analysis on the results.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched carefully as the battle continued, her interference nearly giving the goat creature a chance to really turn the tide of this fight, but it wasn't quite enough. Simply put, the creature was outnumbered and the goblins were crafty with their weapons.

There just wasn't enough that she could do to help the creature kill them with her abilities as they stood. Sure, she could try talking to the goblins again and distract them, but she couldn't guarantee that would work. And her earth manipulation abilities just weren't cutting it.

And she was pretty sure her friends had decided to try and trick the goblins into killing themselves on this beast. She couldn't think of any other reason for this charade. They didn't have anything else to gain by weakening the goblins.

Keeping her stealth skills active, Torrent focused on trying to remain completely unnoticeable as she crept forward towards the edge of the brush on top of the small knoll. Scale shift and Muffle would help massively here, and she actively tried to suppress any sound that she might produce.

Once in position she waited, watching, for a goblin to be separated slightly from the others near her and the goat to be busy with another target. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, she darted out from the brush to clamp her fangs around a goblin's neck from behind. As she bit, she blew out a torrent of Wyrm Breath between her jaws as she shook her head violently.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent was mildly surprised, but incredibly pleased, with the results of her sudden experiment spell. The goblin was thrown off, and soon they were too busy fighting with the goat to try and find her.

Perfect.

She saw Ash flit up out of sight into the trees, moving, and she briefly wondered what the drake was up to before she mentally shrugged and went back to focus on the goblins in front of her. There were more of them than the goat, and she wasn't entirely sure if the goat really stood a chance being ganged up on like that. It reminded her of Rattleskull in a way, how they'd all teamed up to take down the big brute. Just more pathetic.

Shaking her head, she tried to think of how she could even the odds. Most of her spells and abilities were a little...loud, she could say. Breath attacks, explosions, even her stealth kill abilities would be hard pressed to keep her hidden and keep their ruse going. The last thing she felt like dealing with were these goblins turning on them before it was too late for them to do anything.

As she kneaded the ground in front of her, however, a thought came to her. She'd been practicing shooting stones the night before. And she'd been extending her influence into the ground in front of her for a short spurt now. And with her Tremor Sense she could feel a ways around her.

What if she combined those? Extending her focus into her Tremor Sense, keeping her eyes on the big brute with the sword. She tried to feel the impacts from his steps in particular, homing in on his position through her sense extended into the ground. After a few moments of watching, as he drew blood on the goat, she shoved her power into the ground beneath one of his feet, trying to make the earth jut up unevenly by an inch or two while making the earth under his other foot compact down by about the same amount. As he stepped after, whether she succeeded or failed, she attempt to continue to disrupt his foot, hoping to cause him to fall to the ground and present an opening for the goat or if she was lucky make him drop the sword.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched on, pleased, as her trick seemed to have worked....mostly. There was one goblin who seemed just a little more capable of observing their surroundings. While she would love to respond to Rags, she really wasn't happy about how close to her hiding area that goblin was looking despite her stealth abilities. Did it have some way of detecting her or something? She hadn't seen anything about it in her analysis, but perhaps they were just too low level of skills for her to get an accurate read on the goblin.

Or perhaps it was just that paranoid. Growing up surrounded by killers waiting for a moment to stab you in the back to move ahead. Again she was reminded of how similar to the street gangs these creatures were.

It made her want to just rip out their throats, but she needed to wait and do this smart. Think it through.

If she replied to Rags she risked being found, thanks to that dirty goblin. If she moved she risked exposure, again thanks to that dirty goblin. If only she could open up a Void in its skull from here. That would teach it to be so utterly annoying.

But...if she didn't reply maybe Rags would take offense to it or otherwise see through the charade. Maybe she just needed to inflict a little terror into them.

Torrent thought for a moment before she came up with the best plan she had for the situation.

This would be her first ability that she would try in the field without any prep, not unlike her explosion spell all things considered, but this would also be something different from what she was used to. She needed to be creative with it, smart, and with any luck it would be enough to stop that Goblin from looking for her and put Rags in his stupid place.

She could feel the air around her, with some effort, in a reminder of how she had used it to begin her air breath attack. With a bit of relief she listened as Ash played up what she had already started when she had spoken up last time. Maybe with that the Goblins would be taken off guard enough to not find her?

She still needed to try to add to it though.

Putting her power into the air around her, she pushed her voice into the air. Wasn't sound supposed to be carried through air or something? She felt like she'd heard someone say that once before. And she supposed it made sense. Maybe Ash would know.

She pushed the air with her words, hoping to throw it and help make sure that she could remain undetected.

"Prove your worth of our power. Prove yourself or be a coward," she said, her body tensing in case she needed to disappear, keeping her attention on the goblins and the goat. She wouldn't be taken by surprise if she had anything to do about it.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched on from her position, extending her power further into the ground beneath her to loosen up the area in case she needed to dig. As Digbie made his plan, however, an idea of her own came to mind. She couldn't risk showing herself and joining her friends in their den, nor did it seem that Ash was inclined to follow anyways, but she knew what Digbie wanted.

Make them weaken themselves. It wasn't so different from when she'd killed those goblins before the big fight with Rattleskull. And hadn't these goblins thought she was some great demon last time when they couldn't see her? Keeping her stealth skills going she spoke up.

"A sacrifice, yessss," she hissed loud enough for her words to reach the goblins ears. "Yessss, prove yourselves worthy. Prove your strength."

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched. She was patient, quiet, and as still as a snake waiting to strike.

As the goblins and goat came into view she used her Monster and Magic Analysis on all of them, one by one including the goat, before she used Material Analysis on their gear.

Her eyes didn't miss the obvious distress of the goat at its shackles.

Normally she'd consider attacking these beasts, but she was taking the other's advice to heart. She would be patient, waiting, and strike at the best moment.

Slowly she began to use her Tremor Sense and Soil Manipulation to begin to make a small hole in front of her, keeping her eyes on the goblins. If she needed to get close she would probably need to dig since they'd left two up top.

Which made her wonder if they were looking or expecting a fight.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent glanced out of the cave at the horn, running her tongue gingerly around in her mouth, as she twitched her tail in irritation.

Goblins. Always Goblins getting in her way, always doing what they wanted at the cost of everyone else.

Dirty little rats.

She shook her head, tabling what she had learned as she activated Scale Shift and Muffle III and sneaked her way out of the cave and into a hiding spot. They had came over their little hole last time if she remembered correctly, and she wanted to see them. Slipping into the treeline near the others, she focused on being as silent, still, and unnoticeable as possible while she watched for the Goblins.

She'd let the others make the decisions here, she wasn't dumb enough to think she knew how to proceed here, but she'd be ready to unleash her power on them if they caused trouble.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched the result of her experiment with a rabid interest, and she would have smiled if she still had a proper face. She'd started it. She'd started to figure it out.

This was the first steps of a change, she could feel it in her very core.

Maybe if she used her mouth to start she could keep it going once she let it out? How big could she make it before it collapsed upon itself?

She repeated the process, though this time she didn't try to put her own will into the Void, instead just pulling everything away from it. And when she opened her mouth, she continued the efforts. She again used Magic Analysis on the effect while she continued to focus on keeping the Void growing in front of her. She'd seen spells that had a natural shape, so what if she just helped the Void grow into whatever shape it was wanting to do?

She continued to try to make sure that the Void survived as long as she could manage. If it collapsed too soon to do anything, she would instead change tactic to trying to keep it in her mouth and let in small amounts of Outside into it to see the result, again using Magic Analysis on the result.

The more she learned about how the Void interacted with the world and how to interact with it the easier it would be for her to manipulate it into something she could use.

In a last ditch idea, she took a small break from trying to make the spherical Void, and instead focused on trying to push everything away from herself just like she did to make the Void, and used Magic Analysis on the result and Monster Analysis on herself.

She would figure this out, no matter the cost.

Capes of Samekh - A Post-Worm RP

_{September 12th, 2015}

_{A City Awakens}

Final Guard and Junior Guard

Matthew's face tightened but his emotions reflected something far different. It was the profile of someone being submerged in cold water. She was right, it was the only explanation. Spindle didn't have a single card. "Gemini you—you rat" Matthew barely stopped himself from cursing, quietly turning away from Penelope as she left the room. "We have to act. We're losing time, and if we keep being cautious they're going to learn more about our command structure than any of us would like." He said to John, the emotions on his face well and in control. Matthew's voice was level, and his actual emotions were quickly coming under control as well.

John opened his mouth to remind Matthew that he was in control, but paused. He closed his mouth and sighed instead "If you fuck up this call we're going to lose many lives Matthew."

"I know. Those lives will rest on my conscious just as much as yours."

John patted the man on the mic next to him on the shoulder. The soldier nodded and spoke into the mic. "Act as if Spindle isn't a threat. Move to capture hostages., with her as a secondary priority." As he finished talking, a loud sound played through the speakers, a cacophony of violent sounds filled the room. Wrenching wires and metal on metal being torn apart. John and Matthew exchanged glances briefly.

---

Dart watched Calvin Ball throw a projectile at a mess of wires first, before Werelight followed their lead. The two's combined efforts seemed to have a large effect, the sharp snapping of metal wire filling the air. It probably wasn't the effect that they were intending however, as the helicopter started to tip dangerously forward. Spindle responded by bringing wires up to catch it, but seemed to overestimate the force needed. The aircraft began to tip backwards instead, and Dart frowned at that. "Let's—" Before she could finish her order, command came on the line for everyone.

"Act as if Spindle isn't a threat. Move to capture hostages., with her as a secondary priority."

Their leader nodded at the command, looking at the Junior Guard. "You heard him. I'm going in." Dart said, before turning towards the nearest hostage. They weren't being raised into the air, instead just staying a few feet off the ground. As Dart jumped forward, the helicopter hit the ground. Dart touched the ground briefly next to it and some metal shrapnel and glass hit her hard, a stray wire wrapping around her briefly. Then everything within a foot of her was pushed away, and she jumped forward again, hitting the ground right below the hostage before jumping up and grabbing him. The wire briefly went limp before snapping from some unseen shockwave.

---

⁴Sight watched the interaction between Spindle and SWAT closely, seeing the effect of his power clearly working on Spindle as he watched in slow motion. Before he could do much else though, Spindle turned away to fix some of the mess the Junior Guard were making. ⁴ Let time resume to its normal speed before hearing the command in his ear piece. Frowning, he watched the helicopter start to buckle from a new perspective. It was going to fall, Spindle probably couldn't stop it with a power like hers. The initial catch had been hard enough, but responding in real time to the helicopter would be near impossible. Over the comms he told Slingshot "Go for it, save some hostages."

---

Slowly, Slingshot levitated forward, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. He was given two orders in quick succession, first from command and then ⁴Sight. He answered affirmative over the radio before waiting before the helicopter to finish falling. There was no way to save himself if he got caught up in that mess. It took a bit for the dust to settle, but once it did, Slingshot approximated his name sake. He was suddenly falling towards the hostages, quickly gaining altitude.

God he hated heights.

_{The Shaker}

Spindle saw the momentary flash of anger, quickly hidden. It was subtle, enough that she could have imagined it. She relied on her gut a lot though, especially when using her power. All the same Judah kneeled, apologizing while doing so. A part of her wanted to help him, but she was momentarily distracted. Dart had destroyed the coverings over one of her buildings. That wasn't something she was supposed to be supervising, and so she frowned at the lack of flawless cooperation she had come to expect. Spindle held a tense breath when two capes she didn't recognize attacked some nearby anchor wires. An icy chill ran through her gut as the attached senses told her of the initial effect. Wires snapped from the second attack, a cascading effect meaning she had to quickly lift wires off the ground. Immediately the suspended helicopter began to tip.

Spindle became absorbed in the process once again, her mind running down more than twenty tracks at once. That was why she didn't immediately notice that her power wasn't working as she was used to. Something was a far off, and it didn't become clear until the first wire hit the helicopter and tipped it all the way back the other direction. Briefly it was upside down before three wires snapped in quick succession. The tail rotor of the helicopter narrowly missed the pilot suspended nearby. He was only so lucky, as it caught on the wires supporting him. He dropped five breathless feet before Spindle caught him again, this time better acclimated to how her power had recently changed. The helicopter didn't stop after five feet though, wires kept snapping and it plunged.

---

The bow drew a slight tilt of Madison's head, curious eyes watching as Enki spoke. At the question Madison giggled softly, instinctively raising her hand to cover her hidden lips. Bittersweet, the question danced around her head. It brought back memories immediately, the isolation she had to endure. A year of only contacting people she was paying to speak to her. A one night fling that had taken away the loneliness for a short sweet time. A wonderful moment, ending all too soon. The memories weren't vague at this point, they were vivid. A hot and humid hotel room, soft light soaked into the shades as birds began to wake. Tears mixing on her face with blood. The gore had soaked the sheets, and now she understood the cost. Madison had to give up everything, her goal was too important and every time she strayed the consequences would be painted on the walls of her mind once again. Last night had been wonderful, holding someone in her arms once again, but today the cost would be the same.

The price of getting what you want is getting what you once wanted. Madison mentally reminded herself, having read the line in a book at some point. She had made sure to remember, even from the beginning, that she would be chasing someone else's dream. A soft sigh escaped Madison's mouth before she realized she hadn't answered immediately. "That depends on John and Matthew. If they figure things out too slowly then it'll be a sticky situation. Madison claimed, putting a finger to her chin through the face covering as she stared off into space briefly. After a moment she shrugged in an exaggerated fashion. "Oh and nice to meet you Enki. We should get dinner after this, I know a great pl—"

A loud crash interrupted them, a larger sound than even the helicopter being caught. Madison's eyes widened, and she didn't look back. "We are going to leave then."

The Fallen

_{The Brawl}

With a sound of something breaking, Ragtag landed a roundhouse kick against the newcomer in the Fallen, the cape skidding across the street before going limp. The ice golem was beginning to show signs of wear as Rend continued to pummel at it, but the area was slowly but surely frosting over. And was the golem moving fast, hitting harder, or was it a trick of the eyes?

As the C53 walked his way through the ranks of the gun toting footsoldiers, leaving relative chaos in his wake. It took a few moments after the first one went down beneath his fists before the rest turned on him and started to open fire. But ultimately their gunfire just wasn’t meant for someone with his regenerative power and overall toughness.

Transcendent, meanwhile, kept his target between him and the giant lizard that was waiting for a moment to strike. But Transcendent’s power was very obviously affecting the giant dino who shrunk down after a few moments into a small woman with a reptile mask who pulled out a bulky looking device from the hoodie she was wearing. Pointing it at the Fallen breaker, she pushed a button on the side and a blast went off with enough force to shove her back and onto her ass as an orb of what looked like glue shot off towards the breaker. He evaded, only for the glob to follow him, and he quickly used Edith’s own defenses against her as he put her in the way of the glob after a few moments of gaining distance.

Red Eye

_{The Bank}

"I don't see anyone" Vanish said, already getting out of breath.

"They're invisible or some shit. I don't know, my power isn't starting up right now. I guess this isn't enough of a fight for it."

"I'm glad you're starting to understand your power better at least."

"As if." Percy snorted, slowing down slightly to accommodate for his limp.

"So now what?"

"We stop talking, we have to assume he can hear us."

"Fuck." Vanish mumbled, but obliged. They rounded a corner to find themselves in a much shittier neighborhood. The concrete was consistently cracked accross it surface, obviously not being maintained. Percy quickly approached a truck, glancing inside to see if there were keys in the ignition. He shook his head and kept moving. The next car was a fair distance away, but they quickly crossed to it. Again no luck. Percy was getting less confident in this plan by the second, but they kept moving towards the next vehicle despite that

Exiled

_{...But with an explosion.}

As the truck was moved, Ana effortlessly lifting the vehicle despite the modifications that had been done to it, Manifold was revealed curled and bloodied and surrounded by glass. It seemed she’d had enough time to reduce the impact.

However, she seemed to be unconscious, though the tech that was visible on and in her was running seemingly normal, though only she would know for sure.

The sound of the big tank was growing louder with each passing moment.

Ana knew her sister would want them to stop the tank, but would she leave her sister in an unknown fate or see if she could wake her up?