LeavesWards and Other Heroes: Charity Event Begin
@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran@Lugubrious@solokolos@yoshua171@BCTheEntity@t2wave@LemonZest1337
Thanks to the work of the PRT soldiers that had been stationed nearby, and the speedy work of the various heroes, the last of the civilians had been evacuated outside the concert hall with the group escorted by Margrave. As his little fangirl was rushed to a relatively safe distance, she cried out, "Thank you, you're amazing!" A sentiment that was echoed by the other civilians. Still, they weren't out of danger yet. Ceramix could do a lot of damage with that large stone suit of his. The soldiers kept them all moving along further from the danger zone, but for the moment everyone was safe and the heroes could now put 100% of their focus on containing the threat.
"Hermes, this is Decoy," the tinker spoke through the teleporter's comm device. "There are some PRT holding vehicles that were brought in today just in case. I've uploaded their locations to your holographic interface. It should help you save travel distance."
By now most of the Rockers thugs had been taken care of. Only about five remained, not including those brainwashed by Mastar, but it would still be a good idea to get the unconscious criminals out of harm's way. A titanic battle was going down, and if things failed to go perfectly the collateral would be horrible.
"Epsilon, disengage from any contact with the stranger. We have more pressing matters. If you feel confident you can neutralize Ceramix's power, take the chance. Otherwise, see about helping Hermes clear out these bad guys." Inkscape took the opportunity himself to disengage from the golem, seeing as how it was under heavy assault from multiple big sources, in order to focus on telekinetically lifting numerous thugs off the ground and out of danger.
Meanwhile, Ceramix had engaged with no less than six different heroes at once. Outsider was in the process of grappling the stone giant, while Mastar had successfully managed to mount his huge arm. Messiah and Kyoshi were double-teaming the giant's legs with their own abilities, while Angel was content to bring him crashing down from the top. It was difficult for the tar-breaker to maintain a grip on the rock-suit as it struggled against Outsider, but against all odds she managed to keep ahold of it. On the ground-level side of things, the double-team of Kyoshi and Messiah was causing serious damage to the rock-suit's legs. The titanic fighter buckled down onto its knees, while Furnace came running back inside. Seeing the situation, he immediately dove next to Messiah's heat beam and dialed down the temperature drastically. The ambient heat, which would have caused everyone to dehydrate and receive minor burns, was now being taken care of while the searing ray still had its intended effect on the target.
Now on his knees, Ceramix lost his ground in the grapple with Outsider. Now completely unable to fight back, the stone suit went immobile, leading to the perfect opportunity for Angel to come crashing down on the suit's head. Stone cracked beneath the breaker's weight, and within the suit itself Ceramix was knocked for a loop as well. Everything appeared to be perfectly posed for Outsider's charging kinetic blast...
BOOM!
Rocks exploded out from the stone giant's chest. Something inside was getting out! The dust prevented most from being able to properly see what had happened, but Outsider felt a strong blow against his kinetic barrier, strong enough to completely shatter it in an instant. The force knocked him back a bit, releasing the tentacles on one of the stone giant's arms. Ceramix immediately followed up the opportunity by slamming his fist right into Outsider's would-be-face, knocking the bizarre alien-like hero across the concert hall and into the wall. The impact caused the whole building to shake violently. Outsider's kinetic blast had been interrupted, and fizzled out.
Bouncing up from the dust and into view was the answer everyone was looking for, the cause of this sudden turn of events: Shatterpoint, the Rockers second in command and far far more dangerous than his boss. A split second before Tulpa's projection teleported in with a shockwave, Shatterpoint flipped back behind the stone giant's head, avoiding the shockwave. He took the opportunity to jab a quick blow into Angel's side, then slid down the giant to safety. He applied every ounce of his brute power strength to that blow, and targeted it for maximum damage. If Angel hasn't been in her dense form at the time, it was likely all her bones would have shattered.
"Shatterpoint has been located!" shouted Inkscape. "He is now priority number one! Converge, everyone! Inkscape moved to intercept the Rockers' second, as did Noble and Furnace, but Shatterpoint slipped through their formation before it had even tightened around him. His thinker ability was a great deal of trouble.
"I've got him!" G4M3R cried out, taking aim with his blaster and firing. In response Shatterpoint threw his own stone helmet, blocking the blaster bolt and destroying G4M3R's ray gun in a single move.
"I'm here!" Protean announced through the comms. The shapeshifter arrived through the front doors held aloft on wings, having taken the form of a gryphon.
"As a reminder," Decoy began speaking, "Shatterpoint is registered as a brute 4, and thinker 7. According to what we know, his power allows him to see the weakest point in anything from a large structure to the human body, up to and including military formations. He will constantly adapt and move to avoid being in a disadvantageous position, and is fully capable of taking out nearly anybody present in a single strike. Use extreme caution."
The Jacks and Other Less-Than-Legal Individuals
@yoshua171@BCTheEntity@Eklispe@floodtalon@Old Amsterdam@solokolos@PlatinumSkink@Gardevoiran@Xandrya@Spiffy@AngelofOctober
Benito stood silently still, not addressing Headhunter's question. The man was concentrating, highly deep in thought to the point of blocking out all outside stimuli. He grasped at the air where the glass once was, but felt nothing. It was simply gone. Closing his eyes, the Italian took a deep breath in, then slowly exhaled. He grabbed the air once again, only this time he felt solid glass against his flesh. When Benito opened his eyes, he held the glass of water once again like it hadn't gone anywhere. "Fascinating..." he mumbled.
Meanwhile, the man calling himself Broker continued to address everyone who remained in the room. He barely bat an eye when Whipstitch hurried out in a fit. Honestly it was to be expected that someone wouldn't take the situation very well. He was willing to work with the hand dealt. "Healer, yes? Of Lethal Force? I have only done exactly what I already stated: Powers designed to affect anybody outside of yourself have been temporarily neutralized. Please, do learn to pay attention." He then turned his attention to the representative of the Rockers.
"Creep, was it? You raise some good points. A very astute young..." He gave pause, trying to measure her up in order to assume her gender. "Woman," he eventually concluded, going off of her body size. The voice modulator did not help matters. "Such risks have been taken into consideration and I have the utmost faith that Patriarch does have at least one spy present. However they will not be learning anything they do not already know. After Patriarch's power was leaked to the public they have already been preparing to be assaulted on all fronts. Suffice it to say, this coalition never had the chance of a sneak attack. As for wanting to claim the vials for himself, that goes without saying, which is why I will be ensuring you all have your purchases today, well in advance of payment if necessary. Once they've been split up amongst your groups, you will be able to give them to your people immediately, and Patriarch will be unable to steal them back."
"Steal them back?" Sabotage interjected, rising up a bit from her seat. "You mean to tell me these used to belong to The Community? And you stole them from Patriarch?" Her voice was more inquisitive than accusatory.
The man in the suit nodded affirmative. "Truth be told I can sell powers all day, but these vials specifically were, shall we say, liberated from The Community. I did not like the idea of what Patriarch would do with my product, so I issued a recall." He gave a rather smarmy and self-indulgent grin.
"Then you are already on Patriarch's hit list," mused Purge, folding his fingers together, musing in thought. "Which means your attendance here has more to do with pitting the rest of us against your enemy, to secure your own safety. I am more than willing to work with anybody as an equal, but I do not appreciate being used."
The man shook his head. "Not at all. Truthfully, I'm not worried about Patriarch coming after me whatsoever. The personal damage he can do to me is nil. It is the misuse of my product and his overgrown influence in this city that I am concerned with. Nothing more."
Purge nodded his head, apparently placated for the moment, though the featureless white mask he wore admittedly made that sort of gauge difficult to measure.
"Now then, six vials and two have already been claimed by the Rockers and Reflections. That leaves Lethal Force, the mafia, Sabotage, Retcon, and the Jacks. Who will miss on the opportunity to take one?" He feigned bewilderment, holding his index finger to the forehead in a faux-thinking gesture. "Since I didn't receive my invitation, I'll have to deny the Jacks any rights to my vials. Now the basics that you will need to understand is that these vials do not function on anybody who already has powers. If anybody in this room drinks one, it will be a complete and utter waste, so don't think that you can double up on abilities. It will never happen. Second, there is a chance of mutation, so these vials do not come without risk. The imbiber might become a monstrous parahuman in appearance. This is a risk. Third, make certain they drink the entire vial. Incomplete ingestion can lead to some... Very nasty results. Fourth, there is no way of knowing for certain what powers will result from these vials. It is a gamble, but one with very high rewards. We can discuss payment after the fact. Is everyone understanding and accepting of the potential risks and rewards?"
