A very nice hotel there are penthouses at the top

Ozzy walked in, getting a quick look around. Hopefully, he could at least get a look at one of the staff uniforms before getting booted out.

The staff is wearing old timey bellhip uniforms. The lounge is  your typical fancy hotle lounge. Ozzy is stopped by the Doorman before he gets too far in. "excuse me are you here visiting?"

"Oh! Sorry, guess I kind of got distracted. I noticed the lobby through the doors and couldn't help myself. I'm a bit of an artist, you see, and your lobby is very aesthetically pleasing. Anyway, I suppose I'd better be on my way," he said, doing his best to look embarassed before skating back out. He'd gotten a decent enough look at the staff's uniform, especially the name tag. Once he was out of the doorman's line of sight, he ducked into an alleyway again and changed the armor again. This time, he looked like a little old Spanish cleaning lady, with a nametag that had the same look as the doorman's, but less fancy.

Then, "Maria" made 'her' way towards the staff entrance, hoping to avoid the doorman's watchful eyes.

'Maria' has no problem making it through the staff entrance as no one pays her more than a second glance.

"Maria" silently takes one of the cleaning carts to complete her disguise, and starts making her way through the hotel. She sets the compass on the cart, hiding it in the clean towels on the cart so that it can be seen and read from where she's pushing it, but it should conceal it from other angles.

IT takes Ozzy a little while to figure out that the compas is pointing up but he eventually makes it to ne of the penthouses on the top floor In front of the penthouse is a large man in  asuit with tattoos on his bald head neck and hands. Ozzy recognizes them  as some form of rune.

Great... another rune mage. If he's a wizard in his own right, this might be more than I'd bargained for. I dunno if I can handle this entirely on my own... but I think I can make it long enough to get in some backup. Let's confirm that he's got the book, though. Yo, Tats, I'll distract him if you get a quick look around.

Tats slithered out of the bottom of the disguise, hidden by the cleaning cart. He hid towards the bottom of the cart, among the extra rolls of toilet paper and such.

"Maria" trundled up to the door, knocking on the door and saying, "Housekeeping?"

The door opens reveali ng a man in his mid thirtiesin a stylishly cut black and red suit in his hand is a cane with a golden skull atop it. He frowns at the housekeeping girl before his eyes momentarily glow a deep red he then smiles. "Ah I was wondering when you found your way to my door. Come in dear boy, and do dorp the illusion won't you?" he steps aside allowing Ozzy to see into the luxurious penthouse suite.

Rather than reveal his identity as Painter, Ozzy let the armor shift back to looking like his street clothes, knowing the man could probably see through the Painter mask just as easily as he had the 'Maria' disguise. He also mentally ordered Tats back up his leg, the small painted dragon climbing its way up to its usual perch on his shoulders.

I want you to take the button off, use it to call for help. This is going south, fast.

Will you be all right?

I'll live. Just go.

Ozzy then took the compass and stepped into the penthouse, smiling at the man and being very polite.

"Of course, of course. I just had to get past the normals somehow, you know? So, I assume you know why I'm here? The Tome of Orthos. I'll ask you to forgive me not putting my protective spells all the way down. I'm young, not stupid."

As he spoke, Tats pulled off the comm button as quickly and quietly as he could, hopefully scampering away before he was noticed.

The man smiled "Ah yes healthy paranoia it will serve you well believe me especially when people areindeed out to get you." The man turned entering the suite and standing before the large window. "Yes I assumed Virgil would send someon to fetch it, though I also assumed he would recall them when he learned who posessed it. But i suppose you don't even know who's lair you've walked into, young people are so ignorant of thier history. Tell me young man what is your name and where did you learn the art? Its power was waning until recently there are scant few practitioners left to teach you."

"The name's Ozzy. Ozzy Gysbourne. The Art runs in my family, passed down from generation to generation. I'm afraid I wasn't told anything other than that the Tome was stolen, though, and I'm here to retrieve it. Of course, if you'd like to tell me what they decided not to, I'd appreciate it. After all, you can't ever completely trust The Man," he said with a smirk as he pulled his jacket through the armor, unzipping it slowly before tossing it onto a nearby chair, revealing the sleeveless 'Slayer' shirt he had on, as well as the flame tattoo on his arm.

"Hope you don't mind, it's a bit warm in here for that heavy coat. Besides, what's the point of having art on your body if you never show it off, am I right?"

Tats, having apparently slipped away unnoticed, got back into the cleaning cart before he started talking into the commlink.

"Attention, we have a possible situation on our hands. The evil wizard who stole the Tome saw right through Ozzy's disguise, we need backup. We're at the Cirandon Hotel, in the penthouse! I repeat, we need backup!"

The man smiled "I'm afraid you won't be getting it I have plans you see, and the tome is very important to them." He glances at the cleaning cart and then to Ozzy. "You may leave now that you know you shan't get the tome. Or if you wish we may have a little chat though if you insist on attmepting to take it by force well it will be a pity to see all that wasted potential."

Sounds like your friends are occupied. Trouble in Para-Dise, it seems.

Punny. Well, shit. Let's do this solo, then.

Can you do that?

I better be able to. Do I have another choice now? Get to another room if you can, call Grandpa. He won't be as fast, but I can survive that long. Tell my friends not to worry about me.

... All right.

Ozzy didn't actually speak, though. Rather, he decided that he'd shoot first and taunt later. After a quick spell, a barrage of four rune-arrows was headed for Darius, one aimed at his jugular vein, two for his lungs, and one for his carotid artery. If this guy was anywhere near as dangerous as he made himself out to be, Ozzy didn't have the luxury of screwing around.

As the arrows approached Darius they simply vanished into mist. "YOu didn't think I'd be so foolish as to leave my protective spells off didyou?" Behind Ozzy He feels a crackle of enrgyheading straight at him. The man that was outside has both his hands and his eyes crackling with energy. This is when ozzy places the tattoos on his arms and face. They weren't runic magic, they were symbols of rank, this guy was a combat mage specializing in spells for maiximum damage.

Ozzy cursed mentally as he spun quickly, putting up a force shield just in the nick of time to block the full force of the spell's blow. How could he not have recognized the runes? This guy was a top-class attack mage. Ozzy was a just-graduated defense mage. This was going to be messy.

Tats continued running, doing his best to hastily search for another room from which to call for help. Hopefully the others had gotten his message, but you never knew...

Darius lifted his staff which began glowing and suddenly ethereal chains psroted around Ozzy and attempted to bind him. "I gave you the chance to run boy you should have taken it."

"What, and let you get away?" said Ozzy as the chains wrapped around him.

"!@#%# that. I don't do 'run'. Besides, I'm not the one who needs to run," he said, smirking. As he did, he shunted the armor outward, hoping to break the chains, or at least loosen them enough to escape their hold.

  Spotting the indicator, Andy dove, slitting his eyes and letting sheer momentum carry him, wings curled around him to keep the glass out of his face.  It shattered like a bomb had hit it, spraying everywhere as he tumbled in, then rolled to his feet and slashed at the chains around Ozzy, tail lashing wildly as he grabbed Ozzy, now free of the chains, and leaped out the window with him.

As teh two leap out the window They hear a cry of "This isn't over yet wizardling!"

Icepick saw Ex arrive, as well as Andy and Painter.

"Well...I could always give him the cold shoulder..."

Ozzy as Andy pulled him out of the penthouse, cutting away the chains as he did.

"Thanks for the save, man. That was close."

He then laughed as the wizard shouted a typical 'I'll get you, my pretty!' out the window.

"Arright, we know who he is now. Hopefully we can be a bit better prepared for the real fight now. How're the others?"

  Andy said "I don't know, but I think you should meet Meg's Mom.  Seriously."  He had his wings out wide, and only stroked them enough to keep altitude.

"What? Why, is she, like, another wizard or something? And how could I meet her, isn't her mom in Ohio?" he asked, a bit confused looking. Clearly he was out of the loop on Meg's mom.

  Andy said "She showed up at Para Dise after you left.  Apparently she knows Ethan, or Brigand?  Anyway, she took him and vanished somewhere when Shade tried to kidnap him!  She had a miniature Chinese dragon with her too."

Ex flew in beside Andy and Ozzy. "Did I miss the party?"

  Andy chuckled, and said "Not really, Ex.  Just a lot of flying, broken glass and a pissed off wizard shouting about it not being over yet.  Where do we all want to meet up?"

"Yeah, unless you're as immune to magic as you are to bullets. Dude is a grade A badass mofo in his own right, apparently. Gimme a second, lemme call Grandpa."

With that, Ozzy pulled out his cellphone, and dialed his Grandfather's number.

"Hey, Grandpa, it's Ozzy. Yeah, I'm okay. Quick question... why the @#@$#% didn't you tell me that this guy was a high-ranking mage with a focus in attack magic? By the way he was talking, you should have known! Get over here, ASAP. We may be able to salvage this."

"Really I don't know. I'm not sure how high my limits are for any of my powers really. I don't know what I can or cannot stand and whatnot. and the voice seemed to think I need to learn this on my own besides he's been absent since I-" Ex stopped mid sentence. "darius Lecarde is a powerful Diabolist and his bodyguard is a high level combat mage They will be dangerous foes. But if you bind the combat mages hands and steal Darius' imp skull cane things should prove a tad easier."

Ozzy nodded. "Y... yeah, that's right. How'd you know that? Anyway, Grandpa's on his way, let's head back in. This'll go better now that I'm not alone and outnumbered. Hopefully we can get this taken care of now."

Ex's voice had changed it sounded deeper and more confident but it also sounded older, wiser. "I have faced him in the past. He fought agianst the secret defenders and The DPA many times over the decades. HIs regained youth is puzzling however, there are ways to retard ones aging with amagic but it should not be possible to make a man who is over a century to look like he is in his prime."

  Andy shrugged, and pulled a tight turn midair, heading slowly back toward Lecard's lair.

Icepick looked at Excelsior somewhat strangely.

"Um...dude...your voice just, like...changed. How'd you do that, bro?"

"I have temporarily taken control of this Body, SO I may warn you of the dangers you face."

Icepick looked at Excelsior closely.

"And...um...just who might you be....dude?"

"I was known as Excel, I am Excelsiors guide in his early days as the Guardian of the planet."

Icepick looked back at the others, then back at Excelsior...or Excel...

"Damn....um....so, anything else that we should know...um, sir?"

"The tome can be used as a powerful focus, The fact that he's not using it now suggests he needs it for some other purpose. Be wary use each of your strengths to the fullest and you may all make it out alive." Excelsior exhales and then looks around at the group confused as to why they're all looking at him. "So whats the plan guys?"

--->> From Derring Condominiums

  Megaira said quietly "Well, the first thing we do is make sure they don't have a reception ready for us in the room we go in.  I love my hearing at times."  She did a GEM scan on the building, checking what was where.

Icepick nodded as Meg did her thing.

"Ozzy....this wizard thing is up your alley, man. What're we up against? And can it be frozen?"

"We're up against, as Excel said, a powerful infernomancer and a powerful attack mage. If you can bind the bald man's hands with ice, that may work. Most wizards tend to focus on the magical side of things, he may not be strong enough to break it. Still, never assume. If you get his hands, try to go for the rest of him while he's distracted. The other man, the one with the cane... if we can steal the cane, that'll remove the focus for his fiendish magics, which will make this battle much easier. Unfortunately, Meg, the actual focus bit is bone, and the rest is likely wood, so I don't think magnetics will work on this. Also, Meg, I wouldn't flaunt your regeneration here. The infernomancer can attack the soul as easily as the body, so if you make yourself seem hard to kill physically, he may just try to tear it out of you or something. Fortunately, Grandpa is watching me now, and as soon as we're inside again, he'll be with us. Problem is, with those two powerful mages in there, he's probably going to be so focused on protecting us that offense will be left up to us. Also, one last thing... don't call me Painter. These guys can see through the rune-armor, so I didn't want to bring that identity into this. They think I'm just some random wizard." replied Ozzy, looking a bit worried.

  Meg frowned, and asked quietly "Would another sorceress help, Ozzy?"

"If she's good, sure, especially if she can port in... but, wait, who do you know that's a sorceress? Especially one that could handle this..." asked Ozzy.

  Meg said "Believe it or not, my mother.  You missed meeting her earlier, when she and Ethan showed up at Para-Dise."

Icepick nodded.

"Yeah...her Mom is NOT one to mess with....OK Ozzy...so go for the hands...and then everything else if I've got time...got it..."

He was grinning under his mask. Maybe the New Age Defenders could help take down this big bad sorcerer...or wizard....

"If I can get close enough I should be able to overpower the guy with the cane physically right? Maybe wrest the cane away from his hands?"

  Meg said "Let me ask Mom to swap in, she's good at this stuff, and I'm going to go give Zeke a hand."  Then she called her Mom and said something in Chinese.

  Lin appeared a moment later, and made a 'flick' motion at Meg, making her disappear.  Then she stood, on thin air, and asked the boys "Megaira says you need an occult consultation?'

Icepick then bowed to Lin as she arrived.

Why in the hell did I do that? She's hot an' stuff, but damn...

"I dunno if consultation is the right word. We know what we're up against, more or less, we just needed a little extra help. The Tome of Orthos is in there, as is the man who stole it. We plan on taking it back, but he and his friend have a little more magical firepower than we can deal with alone. My Grandpa is watching, waiting for us to confirm that they're still there before he tips his hand, but we wanted to make sure he had what we needed to get it back. Still, if those two get away, they plan to steal the Pitiless, and plan to use them for a ritual. Given that the apparent brains of the operation deals with devils and the like, I don't like the sound of that." replied Ozzy.

  Lin shook her head, and muttered "And here I was hoping none of those younger idiots had kept the arts of Demon-summoning alive."  She looked at Ozzy, and said "Your grandfather probably has an idea who I am.  Or what."

"Interesting. Well, then, if we've got a little extra support, I guess it's time for round two, yeah?" Ozzy replied, looking back towards the Hotel.

Icepick nodded and put his fists together.

"Yeah..I'd say round two is definitely in order...'cause now you've got some help..."

Freeze his hands....freeze his hands....got it...

When the four finally maek it up to the suite where Ozzy had found Lecarde the place is empty. There are no sings of a struggle and even the windo Andy broke through is perfectly fine

Icepick had a wideeyed look on his face.

"Damn..how could he have gotten away that quickly?"

  Lin said dryly "Magic.  It can do amazing things."

Ex apparoached the window and tentatively reached out a hand. "This window looks like it was never broken, I"m not sure how close I'm looking but I don't see a single track. He turns to the room itself. "He must have purged evidence he was here, I don't even see any hairs on the floor."

  Lin sketched a rune in the air, and it hovered a moment, glowing sapphire, then disappeared.  She said "Nothing physical, but there's plenty of residual magic.  I don't think he thinks you're a big magical threat, Ozzy."

Ozzy sighed. "Compared to them, I'm not. I'm only sixteen, I just got my wizard's license. I've been training for ten years, but I was outclassed in there. It was all I could do just to keep myself alive..."

But then, Ozzy turned his frown upside down. "But magic's not all I've got to offer. Lady and gents, I have a plan. But first, Grandpa's going to do his thing, and I need to hang out right here for a second or two. There's another passenger who needs pickup."

With that, there was a brief flash, as the elder Mr. Gysbourne 'ported in. With a quick spell he made sure no cameras were watching before he started taking in the residual magic. Mere moments later, he 'ported back out, having gotten what he needed in order to better track the wizards who'd once been inside.

While that was going on, Tats, who'd managed to get into the ventilation system and from there outside, came skittering down the wall before hopping onto Ozzy's shoulders.

"Oh, that was absolutely dreadful, Ozzy. Let's not try that again, shall we?"

Ozzy grinned, "What, going into a dark wizard's lair with no info and no plan? Definitely not. We're going to have to fight that guy again, though."

Tats sighed, clearly not thrilled with the prospect. Seeing Lin, however, Tats bowed his head. "Pardon my master's manners, ma'am. I am Tats, humble familiar to Ozzy here."

  Lin smiled, and said "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tats.  I would make introductions between you and my two Ancestral Dragons, but they're guarding Megaira's apartment right now."  She had gravely inclined her head to him.

Icepick shrugged at the situation. It looked like Lecard pulled the "bad guy has escape plan out of his ass" card.

"All right...normally I'd be inclined to disagree with the magical mumbo-jumbo...but I guess I've got that too in a way..."

  Lin chuckled, and said "What, you wouldn't believe someone more than ten times your age about it?"

Icepick shrugged.

"Sorry...I'm still getting used to all of...um, this. OK, so big bad wizard guy decided to tuck tail and run....what's next?"

"Well, we may have forced his hand. Our next move is to make sure he doesn't get the Pitiless daggers. He may attack tonight, if only to get what he came for and get out. That, or he may go underground, and hide out until he thinks that the heat is off before he tries again. Weird thing is, this is going on at the same time as the whole Para prison escape. I wonder if he's in league with those guys? Of course, he may just be opportunistic. Either way, he's not a nice guy." said Ozzy, wondering how best to go about protecting the daggers.

  Lin eyed Ozzy, and said "The Pitiless?  With the Tome of Oorthos?  In the hands of a Demon-Summoner?  This is a very bad combination.   Xhung Liao!!"  At the name, a FULL sized Chinese Dragon came zipping through the sky to where Lin floated.  She said a string of ancient Han Chinese flow, and the dragon bobbed it's head and shot away again.  She said "I need to talk to Ethan."

Within moments the Dragon Reappears Ethan riding on its back like he's riding the luck dragon from never ending story. Opening the window he comes inside Burshes himself off and turns to the dragon speaking in Chinese before turning to LIn and the teen heroes before him. "Forgot what that felt like, now what can I do for you?"

  Lin pointed at the rooms around them, and said "Lecard was here.  He has the Tome of Oorthos.  If he gets the Pitiless, he can perform a ritual that would be  . . . extremely bad.  We don't want to let that happen."  She said something to her Dragon, and it shrank to the size of a belt and wound around one of her upper arms like a snake-bracelet.

Ozzy chuckled, "I see I'm thinking like a great mind, as Tats snaked around Ozzy's arm and resumed his tattoo form.

"So, how bad are we talking here? Like, Valentine's Day Massacre bad? Hiroshima bad? Armageddon bad?"

  Lin looked at Ozzy, and said "Like, he can open the Gates of Hell and let the Legions loose on earth bad."

"Oooh, Armageddon bad. Yeah, that is definitely something we don't want happening. Next question, do you know how to lay down a null-magic field? If we time it right, we can make a nice little trap for those two. I'd like to see 'em bust through a three inch thick wall of stone without their magic." said Ozzy, grinning.

  Lin half-smiled, and said "There is very little in magic that I don't know.   Your grandfather would probably be absolutely stunned the next time he sees me, if he wasn't watching me now in his scrying spell.  I'm SURE he'll remember me.  I haven't changed a bit."  And she hadn't!

Ethan's jaw dropped. "Lecarde is ALIVE?" He then burst into a string of expletives in 34 different languages. PULLing out his cellphone he dials a number. "Where are strike team alpah? Oh thats right, then get me as manhy agaents as you can find in the Weston area I need surveilance for the weston Museum." Finishing his phone call he turns to the gorup. "Well the bright side is it won't be too hard to beat up a man in his 90s the downside is he's got that much experience in his field of magic."

  Lin said "More good news for you.  He looks twenty-something again."  She shrugged, and added "Don't fret too much.  Unless he gets the Pitiless.  You have me on your side, and I have far, FAR more practice at magic than he does."

"How the BLOODY HELL did he manage to pull that one off? Well thats just sodding great. He looks aroudn the room, I can try iand se eif I can pull in some backup unfortunately strike team alpha is on a classified msssion overseas but I can see if I can pull in some favors."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:25, Sun 20 June 2010.

Ozzy looked at Etan, "If there's anything I or my Grandpa can do, let me know. I've got a compass for tracking the Tome, if you'd like it. Or if you wanna do some headhunting now, keep things proactive."

Icepick shrugged.

"Is this Lecard guy after eternal life too or some stuff? That might be bad. I like Ozzy's idea...it seemed like we kinda had a plan for dealing with him. But I'm open to suggestions..."

  Lin waved her hand at the New Age Defenders, and said "I think these young ladies and gentlemen may have quite a bit to offer, Ethan.  Let's see what they can do.  I can serve as their 'overseeing agent', since Megaira's a member."

Ethan nodded. "Very well, they're setting up surveilance at the museum as we speak then I'll get on the curator to get those daggers out of the public eye and locked away but chances are he'll go after them before that happens

 Lin nodded, and said "Yes.  If he gets them, we could have a very serious problem."

Ethan nods gravely. "I'll put my ear to the wall see what I can dig up I'll also see about what agents I can have at your disposal. I'll contact Lin If I get any leads, I wish you all the best of luck Call me if you need anything" ANd with that he strides out the door

>>OT ELSEWHERE>>

Icepick watched Ethan walk out. He then turned to Lin.

"All right Li--um....Ma'am....what do you suggest?" he asked softly, and trying to be respectful.

  Lin looked to Icepick, and said "Call me Lin, it's my name, and it doesn't make me feel like a little old lady.  Even if I am one.  Now, Ozzy, where is that compass pointing?"

Ozzy reached into his pocket, before a worried expression crossed his face.

"Uh oh. I just remembered, I left the compass in the cleaning cart that was part of my disguise. It should be right outside the room, tucked in the towels. I figured that, if they got away, I didn't want the compass to get broken. Hopefully they didn't notice it, since I put the compass in as soon as I infiltrated the hotel."

Ozzy find sthat the  compass has "mysteriously" dissapeared.

Ozzy sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Well, that @#$%'in sucks. Looks like I've really screwed the pooch this time. Sorry, guys. Anyone else got any bright ideas?"

"Well we know he needs to go after these daggers right? Well why not just lie in wait for him, set up a kind of trap?"

"Yeah, that was the original plan, but I'd hoped to be a bit more proactive than that. C'mon, like that guy said, we may not have much time."

Icepick nodded.

"Well...all right guys, let's do this! Less jawin', more action!"

"Alright then lets get this set up, Who's flying Air Excelsior?"

Icepick shrugged.

"Why not? Ice sliding gets a little old anyway..."

  Lin whistled, and sat lightly on the neck of the Chinese dragon that came to her call.  She said "Let's get started on that."

  Andy, who had mostly been listening, looked at Painter in clear question.  Did he want to ride with him, or with Ex?

Ozzy nodded up at Andy, shifting the armor to look like Painter once they were away from the hotel.

  Andy grinned, and scooped Painter up again, then 'dove' out the window with him.  Wings snapping open with a jerk, he soared after Ex, Icepick, and Lin.

Ex picks up Icepick and heads out the window making sure to control his speed.

>>TO WESTON MUSEUM>>

Ex floated over the roof of the Cirandon Hotel looking down. "OKay Meg this is something I've been thinking about for a while, even with my enhanced senses I can't see through walls, but your scans can and I figure with your gravitational powers and however it is that I can fly we should be able to pack quite a whilE" Ex smiled at Meg. "YOu've got an Excelsior Bullett just aim and shoot."

  Meg nodded, even as her eyes changed to a glowing golden, opening up her senses wide.  She said softly "Get ready for one hell of a wild ride, Ex.  I'm sure you can take THIS better than my body does, since you're armored and I'm not."  She slowly lifted her hands, and he felt himself shifting, lining up with a trajectory as she did.  Felt her opening the mindworm net to him, so he could SEE how she did, sense the EM and gravitational fields even as she was flexing them.  The careful flex of the fields of gravity itself around her that let her hang in thin air, the tight focus of her personal EM fields.  And the dark, pulsing field of bio-energy that was Andy's body, housing the Demon Ahriman.  She said "Aaaaaaand GO!"  And he suddenly moved with better than thirty gravities of force propelling him, the speed intensely wild. A real rush.

  Ahriman was NOT expecting company.  He was FURIOUS when Ex flattened him.  Meg had very CAREFULLY calculated the trajectory, and Ex not only slammed into Ahriman from outside and above, he drove the Demon through the wall of the penthouse, and out, into the air.  He could FEEL the cruch of bone as he impacted too.  Hear them snap and crack with the sheer force, then hear more of Andy's bones shatter as they slammed through the wall.

"Sorry Andy" Ex said as heslammed Andy's body through several walls  Switching to the Mindworm net and purposefully excluding Andy Ex sent out a message [Talk to me guys wehere am I bringin this mofo?]
This message was last edited by the player at 12:42, Tue 12 Oct 2010.

  The Demon he held snarled, his body morphing (far faster than Andy usually transformed) into Andy's Demonshape, even as Ex saw a glimmer in those eyes.

As soon as the Gysbourne mages appeared on the roof, Ozzy set to work drawing the runes and lines for the seal, taking only a brief moment to send an edited mental image of the scan Meg had sent. He'd added in a glowing red dot on top of a roof that was relatively close to the Cirandon, but it offered as much cover from the Cirandon's magically inclined occupants as possible. He sent the edited image to Meg and Ex specifically, seeing as anyone else who would've been interested would already be there by this point.

Ex held onto the demon spinning aaround and throwing him in the general direction of the glowing dot before flying after him. Trying his best to just get ANdy he sent. [I've got a plan ANdy, no matter what happens remember that we won't turn our backs on you.}

>>>>>>From the Order Safehouse>>>>>>>>

The transport was successful. And the demon Ahriman was there...in Andy's body. If this failed, however, Dragon Fist still had the chi sword, but he hoped that he wouldn't have to use it. Andy was a noble soul and deserved better than this.

  Those wings came snapping out, and Ahriman (clearly a very good flier) promptly came around in a whirl, claws out and aiming for blood.  And as he did, Ex got a flash of info from Andy.

Ex Rammed into  Ahriman Full speed heading directly  for the rooftop where the mages were waiting.

As the fight continued, Ozzy was finishing the seal. He made a small paint-knife in his right hand, drawing the blade across the palm of his left, letting his blood flow. After the appropriate amount had been sacrificed, he had a tendril of paint wrap around it to put pressure on it, then continued with the seal.

['I'm almost done, guys. Get him over here.'] Ozzy sent to everyone but Andy.

Dragon Fist took to the air and then taunted the demon.

"We are the Champions, Ahriman! We are your downfall. Stop us, if you can.."

He once again revealed his "Chi-Sword", trying to antagonize the demon and goad him into following him to the Mages.

  Ahriman snarled, and raked at Ex's face with his borrowed talons, even as Meg followed, and made a 'gripping' gesture.  The agonized snarl that escaped Ahriman as she did SOMETHING to the flesh he wore gave Ex the opportunity to move him without a fight.  But not before he'd flung a bolt of that black lightning at Dragon Fist.

Dragon Fist, using the power of Air, could see the black lightning coming at him. The bolt was still very fast, and the Champion of Light narrowly evaded.

"Come to me, Spawn of Evil....come and face the Champion of Light," he said as he pointed the sword at him and used his wings to propel himself, ever closer to the runic circle.

Gate stood back watching and waiting for his and Key's chance. "Get ready Key. If the seal doesn't work then its up to you and if it does then its still up to you to save Andy."

"About this seal? What happens after he's trapped in it?" He asks the two wizards.

Ozzy sighed as he explained, "It will send all the demons contained within to hell. That's what the seal does."

Iris ported in then hurried to a hiding spot on the roof, kneeling down. She felt for Andy's mind on the mindworm link and began sending him a comforting private message, She continued similar encouagement. Even if it was hopeless, at least she could potentially distract the demon.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:35, Tue 12 Oct 2010.

Icepick concentrated, thinking to his trapped friend.

  Meg simply whispered over the mindworm net {{Andy, you are our brother in arms.  You always will be, no matter what.}}

  As Ahriman prepared to blast Ex with lightning, they ALL felt Andy strike.  Heard the Demon possessing him scream out over the mindworm network as he let loose with his own assault, from within.  And Iris heard a soft whisper.  His efforts to take his own body back making the flesh almost seem like a man in the grip of an epileptic grand mal seizure.

[I've got a plan Andy, don't forget that.] Ex sent as he slammed him on top of the building where everyone was waiting careful not to damage the seal itself.

Dragon Fist landed on the roof close to the rune, but taking care not to ruin it, and pointed the chi-sword at Ahriman.

You can break free of him, Andy! We're with you..all of us..

  When Excelsior got Ahriman/Andy into the circle that the Seal contained, the lines of paint, activated with Ozzy's blood, flared up in a fountain of six foot, green flames.  The scream of pain from Ahriman was painful, and they could see Meg wince with pain as Andy's body seemed to turn to an odd, two dimensional ink-sketch, the scream still echoing in their ears, but sounding more and more like it was coming through a long tunnel.  And then the 'ink' began to run, upward, as Andy AND Ahriman were ripped, in a long, bizarre line of ebony that ran up and into nowhere, from the dimension.  And when the last of that 'ink' that had comprised Andy and Ahriman was gone, a crack of thunder shook the building, and the Seal was gone.  Leaving a thick odor of brimstone, and a small spatter of black blood across the roof.  No other trace of their friend, or the Demon possessing him, remained.

In reply to Ozzy Gysbourne (msg #112):

Gate nods and then thinks about it for a second. "Wait won't that seal away Andy as well?!" Gate yells and then grabs his head as he felt Andy trying to break free of the demon and then Andy was thrown into the seal. Gate wanted to yell to do something but there was nothing he could do and soon Andy was gone.

"Damn it... damn it damn it damn it." Gate yells. "I'm sorry Key. I'm sorry I didn't do something sooner. I should have. I know we could have saved him." 

Standing over the  where the seal was Ex said quietly. "This isn't over Andy, we'll get you back I swear it."

  He moved to stand beside Ex, and said softly "I think he knew.  He didn't scream, just the other one."

Ex shook his head. "I don't care if he accepted it or not I'm not going to let him burn in hell." Wrapping an arm around Darren he announced. "I have a plan."

Dragon Fist looked out at the skyline of Weston. The path of the Champion of Light was fraught with difficulty. And while the being responsible for the death of Friday was apparently banished, it came at a terrible, terrible cost. Andy was also gone...he had so much potential.

"I'm not giving up on you, my friend," he said softly.

Icepick put his head down. He had lost so much in this month. A mentor, and now a friend.

He shed several tears and looked up in the sky.

"Andy...take care, bro.."

  Meg asked Ex "I'm all ears, Ex.  What have you got in mind?"

"Its really very simple, we're going to pull him out of the fires of hell itself."

  Darren asked "You're WHAT??  How are you going to GET there?"

Icepick came over as soon as he heard Ex's statement.

"The way I'm feeling now...I could freeze Hell over."

"We'd need a hell expert, Luckily we have one and he's not going anywhere any time soon." Ex replied to Fluid obviously meaning the Deomn summoner Ozzy had put away. Looking to Icepick Ex shook his head. "Unfortunately your not going Icepick your too human can't be sure what would happen to your soul besides we'd leave the city undefended. I figure seeing as I"m Earths guardian that should give me some resistance against Hell's Influence and Seeing as Meg is a demigod the same will probably apply to her."

"Being a Champion of Light, that should afford some resistance against Hell's taint." Dragon Fist, in his new armor, was ready to go and rescue Andy, if that was even possible.

Ex shook his head at that too. "As the leader of the Legacy your going to be needed here Dragon Fist, besides Andy was a New Age Defender so the New Age Defenders are going to get him out."

Iris gritted her teeth as she watched Andy - and the demon - be sucked into hell. Darn, darn, darn, darn. It was at times like this Iris wished that Dr. W had let some of the younger facility employees teach her more effective swear words. "Getting to hell isn't a problem, I think." She glanced at Gate, although didn't suggest anything to him yet, "The problem is intelligence, and upping our chances for success and survival. Let's hear the idea, Ex; I don't know how much help I'd be physically, but I can take care of research at the Order Safehouse if they'll let me back in. I put all their books back in the right order, so maybe they'll be okay."

Dragon Fist nodded at Ex's assessment. Truly the youth was wise beyond his years.

"All right...but if you need anything...don't hesitate to call on me." And with that, he extended out his draconic wings and flew off into the skyline of Weston.

Ahriman was gone. Friday's death had been avenged. But the cost was terribly high. Andy was lost..though the New Age Defenders were determined to get him back.

Besides, Ex was right. There was more that needed to be done. And the Champion of Light would be needed.

In reply to Excelsior (msg #130):

Icepick felt like he had been punched in the gut. He was too human....he had been told.

"Yeah...well, good luck guys...." he said, then making an ice slide and sliding away.

Ozzy scowled at the mention of LeCarde,"No. HELL no. Pardon the pun. But we are NOT going to LeCarde on this. That asshat would try to sell us out, and make us think he's doing us a favor while he's at it. I have my own expert. Orthos knows about Hell, and unless he can't tell us what we need to know, then we are NOT going to LeCarde. The only way I'm even putting LeCarde into this equation is if we can trade him for Andy. He owes the devil his soul, anyway, so we'd be doing some collection services. And IF such a rescue is possible in the first place, then I'm going on the away team, as well. I'm a fully trained wizard, so I'm resistant to all the various mindscrews that the denizens of Hell so love to employ. Not to mention the fact that I sent him there, so you may just need me to bust him back out."

He then took a breath before continuing, deciding that, if they were going on a foray to Hell, it was best to get it over with now, "And just so we can get the drama out of the way, yes, I knew it would send him, Gate. Orthos told me back at the safehouse. I am NOT proud that I did it, but it had to be done. We interrupted the Ritual of Ascension, and had we wasted time looking for another surefire way, then we would have been too late to stop him at all. If I haven't made this clear, then let me make it crystal clear now. I will do WHATEVER it takes to keep this city and its people safe. And I do mean whatever it takes."

"I can open a way there." Gate says hesitantly. "Though your going to have to be more specific about which hell you sent him to." He hesitates again losing some of the certainty that he seemed to have gained. "I can also... be your expert if you want. Some of the things that my... Uncle was doing had to do with various other dimensions."

When he hears what Ozzy says though he round on him with a very cold glare for such a young kid. "You made the same mistake that everyone has been telling Gate to stop makeing. You didn't trust Gate or Key Ozzy. WE could have stopped him without sending Andy to hell. Though its partly my fault for not bringing it up sooner or being more forceful about it your the one that said not to worry about it. YOUR the one who said you could deal with it and that WE wouldn't be needed. For someone always talking about trust and friends and protecting everyone you sure could have picked a better time to make Gate's mistakes." Gates voice sounded weird kinda a mix of Gate and Key and after he finished yelling he stomped away shaking his head.

"I know that not telling you guys was a dick move. A majorly dick move, and I'm sorry. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that there was a good chance of failure, not to mention you and a whole lot of other people getting killed. OK, so you can free Andy from his bonds. Good. Problem is, that doesn't get Ahriman out of his head, leaving him to fight a powerful demon in his mindscape, which would have likely torn Andy's mind apart, killing him permanently. And if it did get Ahriman out? Great, now we've got to deal with a full-blown demon, a FREE full-blown demon, loose in the mortal realm. Andy wasn't the only one being bound. That's what the Ritual of Ascension was for. It would allow Ahriman the full use of his powers on our world, which brings us back to the 'no hope of stopping him' scenario. This was the best way. Even Andy seemed to know that. Like Ex said, he didn't scream, he didn't fight it. He knew that this price had to be paid, for the good of the many. And now? Now we take care of the few as best we can." replied Ozzy, calming down significantly.

Oswald remained silent, clearly not liking the idea of his grandson going into Hell. However, Excel had a point. This was something that the Defenders needed to accomplish for themselves, and if Ozzy could help with that, then it would hopefully be fine. Still, the stern look on his face made it clear that he did NOT like this idea.

  Meg asked quietly "Before we even go, does anyone have a way to make damn sure we retrieve the right Demon?  Since Andy's obviously a Demon, we'll be looking for one particular Demon among many.  How does one call a SPECIFIC Demon?"

"We'll do what ever is neccessary to get Andy back." Excelsior replied to Painter. "I was going to suggest you but wasn't sure what kind of defenses you had agaisnt demons." Ex looked around at the team before saying. "As urgent as this is though I think we oughta wait at least a night on this one. We've all been battling a powerful demon and we don't  need mistakes on this one."

Gate just shakes his head the feelings he's been having fadeing away. "Key could have sealed the demon away just like the Demon sealed away Andy..." He stops and takes a breath. "Whats done is done. As long as your willing to live with the consequences no matter what they are then thats that."

Turning around he faces the group his face wavering. "Its up to you guys to decided what to do now. I'll do what I can to help but I'm don't think I'm going to hang around afterwards. I've... got something that I need to do." With that he seem like his old self again. Opening a Gate back to the Order HQ he heads back leaving the gate open for anyone that wants to follow.

To Order Safehouse

Dragon Fist flew back to points that were familiar to him.

>>>>>>>>>To The Dragon And The Tiger>>>>>>>>>>

Icepick continued to slide until he went back home.

>>>>>>>To Derring Condomoniums>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>Timeskip>>>>>>>>>>

The evening searching for The Builder yielded no results. The thugs who were being "asked" about The Builder were either too tight-lipped or too stubborn to give up his location. And so because of their stubborness, they gave up some of their teeth instead. Perhaps a few assorted bruises as well.

Lucas and Helena, still awash with the near-perfect evening they had before going out after The Builder, soon found the grand Cirandon Hotel. Their eyes met...and sparkled with the newfound emotions that they were feeling for each other. And so their path led them to check into the hotel.

It wasn't entirely surprising that this had happened though. With both of them knowing each other as long as they did, it would only be a matter of time before they could finish each other's sentences.

And go to a room.

Morning came in. The sun began to rise like a majestic god into the room, as Lucas slowly began to stir. Laying down next to Helena, the position was a most welcome one, her presence a warm, soft good feeling next to him. He then smiled as he looked upon her sleeping visage. While he may have remembered walking into the room, he didn't remember very much of the time after or before waking up. He knew that it was....pleasurable. And that he was spending it with someone who became very special in his life.

"Good morning.." he said with a grand smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:38, Wed 27 July 2011.

Mirage stirred, smiling dreamily as she wrapped her arms around Lucas and nestled up against him.  She was feeling tired but a very pleasant tired, though only part of it was from their activities in the night.  She had spent most of the day yesterday as Mirage and the effort of maintaining her alter ego was physically draining.  At some point in the night, the perfect beauty that Mirage cultivated in her femme fatale alter ego had faded.  Helena was attractive but not in the way that Mirage was.

Helena opened her eyes, still smiling up at Lucas.  "Good morning." she replied and then realized that something was off.  She could barely feel her legs and that was not a good sign.  Her physical weakness was showing, something that she kept hidden from everyone who knew her as Mirage, cloaking her scars behind her illusions.

She brushed her hand over Lucas' eyes.  "Don't look.  I must be a mess after last night." she said.

"I think you're as beautiful as ever, Helena," Lucas replied. "No matter what..I have seen into your heart. A heart...though, despite great adversity, can still find it in herself to spend time with someone like me, in spite of my faults and shortcomings." He then gestured towards the part of his bare chest that held the scar of where his heart had been ripped out.

He smiled, even though she had her hand over his eyes. "Please....I want to see you..."

"Flatterer."  Helena smiled.  It was easy to forget that she was not the only damaged person in the bed.  Lucas had been through just as much adversity as she had, having had his heart ripped out.  Helena let her hand drop from covering his eyes to lightly touch the scar on his chest.

"We've been through quite a bit, the both of us."

"Yes we have.." Lucas replied softly, kissing the top of Helena's head.

"But we've risen above that adversity. And now...we have each other.."

"I guess we do at that." Helena replied.  She tipped her head up and kissed Lucas properly on the lips.  She held the kiss for a minute, enjoying the feeling of his warm body against hers.  "And it's such a nice way to wake up in the morning."

Lucas returned the kiss to Helena and he smiled at her. "It is indeed...waking up to you is a wonderful sensation to start the day."

He was also enjoying the closeness the two of them were feeling.

"So...did you have any plans for today?"

Helena tugged the bedsheet a little higher over her body.  She'd used up too much energy yesterday maintaining her Mirage disguise that she was going to have to remain Helena for a little while longer.  That meant that she was going to remain paralyzed from the waist down, a physical weakness that she was hesitant to show anyone.

"I'm fine right here for the moment." she replied, trying to cover up her insecurity about her paralysis.  "We could always order some breakfast in bed, unless you have something else to do?"

"I have nothing pressing at the moment," Lucas replied, placing his arm gently around her.

"Breakfast in bed does sound like a wonderful idea."

"Then breakfast in bed it shall be." Helena snuggled up in Lucas' arm, giving his chest a quick kiss.  Her eyes fell to the scar on his chest.

"Does it still hurt?  Your scar?"

"Not nearly as much as it used to," Lucas replied. "It mostly serves as a reminder of losing my life, then gaining a whole new one...and of the struggle that I'm a part of now."

He smiled at her for a moment. "But because of that..I'm also able to make things right for people who need to have things balanced in their lives. And if I hadn't been who I am...I don't know if I ever would have met you."

He stroked her hair softly as he smiled fondly at her once again. "Do you remember that place you saw in my mind's eye? The one with the waterfall, the valley, and the golden pagoda on top of the hill? How would you like to go there? I don't know if you remember Lin....Meg's mother. She's a very long-lived woman who showed me a way into that place, and that's where I completed my most recent training. I was able to complete a year's worth of training there because time passes by differently when you're there, so a year there would only translate to a few minutes here. What do you say?"

"You want to steal me away to some secret place?"  Helena said with a playful smile.  "And I suppose that you're going to be a perfect gentleman?"

Lucas smiled at Helena as she asked her question.

"Why yes of course, my dear. it is a place that dazzles the senses. But it is great to go to when one needs focus, or simply to center oneself. I think that you'll enjoy yourself immensely though."

"I'm enjoying myself immensely right now." Helena replied, letting her hand slip down Lucas' chest and under the sheets.  "But perhaps we can go there sometime later.  I won't complain that our last date wasn't eventful and I'm not sure how I would be able to pass a night without beating up some criminal but I suppose that I could give it a try."

Lucas smiled at that.

"Well...let's enjoy ourselves for the moment then.." he replied. Then a knock was heard at the door.

"Damn...room service. Hold that thought, amor....I'll be right back," he said, reluctantly disengaging from her.

Thanking (and perhaps silently cursing) the hotel employee who brought their breakfast to them, Lucas wheeled the breakfast tray in. An assortment of breakfast style items were adorned in front of them.

Helena took a moment to sit up in the bed, leaning her back on the head board as Lucas wheeled in the breakfast tray.  The contents of the tray looked very good, as did seeing Lucas out of the bed.  Her eyes roamed over his body, taking in every hard muscle.  Breakfast looked good too, just in a different way.

Helena held the bedsheet against her as she awkwardly moved towards the tray.  It wasn't so much that she was naked under the sheet, Lucas hadn't complained, but rather it was a little difficult with her near useless legs.  It was difficult to look graceful when you had trouble feeling her legs.

And she hated the lack of feeling.  It made her feel damaged and useless, the complete opposite of her Mirage persona.

"That all looks good.  I guess I shouldn't feel too badly that a delicious breakfast was what stole you away from me."

Lucas smiled as he served Helena breakfast first, then he served himself.

He then lay next to her as he began to eat.

"I was stolen only for a short time but I have returned to you. I just couldn't stay away," he said with a large smile on his face.

Helena reached out to caress Lucas' cheek.

"Pity.  I was looking forward to hunting you down and dragging you back to my side."

Helena started in on breakfast.  It was nice to have breakfast in bed with the man that she loved.  It would take her a little while to regain her strength enough for her to work as Mirage, so a nice long breakfast was welcome.

"Tell me more about this special place of yours.  The one that Lin showed you."

Lucas ate happily next to Helena. He chuckled slightly at her "hunt you down and drag you to my side", some pleasant thoughts coming into his head.

"Well..the place I was telling you about...I really couldn't do it justice by just talking about it. But...its a place of unspoiled beauty. A fertile valley, a pool of the clearest water you would ever see. I spent the equivalent of a year training there, and only a few minutes passed by in this world."

"It sounds too good to be true." Helena said.  "Unspoiled beauty?  That..."

Helena bit off the rest of her words.  She was about to say something cynical.  Unspoiled beauty?  There wasn't such thing as unspoiled beauty, she was going to say.  Lucas wouldn't like hearing her disparage his special place with her personal cynicism, so she quickly changed her words.

"...I would like to see."

Lucas smiled at Helena as she seemed to wonder about the place where he had trained.

"We will, amor. We will. I want you to be a part of my world, Helena, as well as my life. And I hope that...that you will allow me to be a part of yours."

"I..." Helena started to say.  She had a brief moment of doubt but managed to keep it from showing on her face.  Could she let Lucas in to her life?  She had only shown him a glimmer so far, the main part being her disability.  They'd had a wonderful night and the morning wasn't so bad either but she had to wonder if it was really Helena that he was in love with.  Friday had been a strong woman but Helena couldn't compete with that, not damaged the way she was.

"...I'd like that, Lucas.  You don't know how much I'd like that."

Lucas smiled as he gently caressed Helena's cheek.

"That makes me glad. I know this will sound corny Helena..but...I don't love you just because of who you are and what you can do. I love you because...I have seen your heart..and I was taken by what I saw. I saw you with Diantha, and seeing how happy you were...and how loving and caring you are with her..made me fall in love with you. That..and your support with the trip to Texas. Just know that you are immensely special to me, and that I really would like you to be a part of my life."

Helena turned her eyes away from Lucas' for a moment, smiling.

"I want you to be part of my life to, Lucas.  It's when we're like this that I don't feel so..."  She wanted to say angry, but that would have been too much honesty for the moment.  It was her anger over what had been done to her and her desire for revenge that drove her nightly activities as Mirage, and Lucas made her feel otherwise.  He made her feel less...

"...damaged."  She turned back to face Lucas and put an arm around his neck, pulling him close in for a kiss.

Lucas returned Helena's kiss with one of his own, clearly enjoying the moment.

"I'm glad to hear that. I feel as though I can do anything when I'm with you. That I can overcome any adversity with you by my side."

"We've both overcome adversity on our own.  Imagine what we can do together."  Helena said with a smile as she cuddled up against Lucas.

"We both have great potential, Helena," Lucas said as he held her close to him. "We've only scratched the surface of what we can do together. And things are only going to get better."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Lucas." Helena said with a smile, feeling very comfortable in his arms.  "Of course I could just hold you in general."

Helena reached for a piece of fruit from the breakfast tray and offered it up to Lucas.

"Being held by you and holding you is nice in my mind," Lucas replied with a smile as he accepted the piece of fruit offered by Helena.

"Good answer." Helena teased as she fed the fruit to Lucas.  She plucked up another piece and once more offered it up to him, though she did so with her teeth this time.

Lucas smiled as the fruit was offered in a "toothy" way. Bringing himself closer to Helena, he began to nibble slowly, until he reached her delicious lips, accepting the sweet tasty morsel from the equally delicious femme fatale.

Helena smiled and took several minutes to seize Lucas' lips with her own.  Breakfast could be put on hold for a bit as she enjoyed the closeness of the man who had come to mean so much to her.

"Mmm.  As much as I'd love to keep you confined to this bed, and me, for the rest of the day, I suppose that we do have some work to do."  Helena said with just a hint of sadness.  For once she wasn't terribly anxious to go out and prowl the rooftops for trouble, but she couldn't just do nothing but smother Lucas with affection.

Of course, once Builder had been beaten down, things would be different.

Lucas nodded as he slowly...reluctantly...released her.

"Well...it's a good thing we can both change at a moment's notice, isn't it?" he replied. "But you're right...there does seem to be a lot on our plate, and I anxiously look forward to the day when the plate will be clean, so that we can concentrate on....other things."

"Mmm.  Other things..." Helena purred one last time.  There would be time to explore those 'Other things' later.  "Shall I meet you on the roof?"

Lucas smiled at that, then gave Helena a kiss on the cheek.

"See you soon. Don't keep me waiting too long, beautiful."

After slowly releasing himself from her and getting dressed, he went down to the lobby. Thanking the desk clerk for a pleasant stay, he then went outside and into a side alley. Once again putting his hand over his heart, he summoned his armor.

Spreading his draconic wings, he took to the air, and positioned himself on the rooftop, looking like a gargoyle overlooking the city.

Helena was smiling as Lucas left the room, but once he was gone she grew more serious.  There was some fighting to be done and she was still feeling a little spent from the previous night.  She'd spent too much time as Mirage.

Closing her eyes in concentration, Helena called upon what energy she had to effect her change into Mirage.  She felt the familiar tingling in her legs and it brought a pained smile to her face.  It was goodbye to the damaged and crippled Helena and hello to the much more physical Mirage.

Mirage appeared on the rooftop, clad in her familiar slinky dress and wide brimmed hat.  She looked like she hadn't a care in the world.

"REady to go, handsome?"

Dragon Fist turned to greet the now-appearing Mirage.

"Yes I am," he replied. "We seemed to have some pretty decent prospects in the slums, so maybe we should start there and work our way up."

"I've enjoyed the slums.  There's never been an end to the trouble that can be found." Mirage said with a slightly predatory smile.  It was unfortunate that crime continued to be a problem in the bad parts of the city but that just meant that when Mirage had the urge to beat people up, which happened quite often, she only had to spend a little time in the slums to find her action.

"Shall we go and roust some bars, then?  Maybe put a little pressure on a few informants?  I could also check with NPA and see if they've heard anything."

"Turning up the pressure will hopefully yield The Builder..." Dragon Fist replied. "As for the NPA, go ahead and check with them. We need all the help we can get on this in order to clear Jack."

"I'll go check with the NPA and you can do some checking on your end and then we can meet up later to go over what we've found.  How does that sound?"

Dragon Fist nodded.

"That sounds like a good plan, Mirage." he said to her as he prepared to take to the air.

"Let me know if you need anything, all right?"

"I will." Mirage said.  "You be careful yourself.  I don't want you getting hurt because I tired you out last night.  I'll see you in a bit."

She wrapped herself up in her trademark crimson smoke and vanished from the rooftop.

--> To NPA HQ

Dragon Fist nodded as his teammate and love left his sight in a mist of red. He then extended his wings, and took off for familiar parts before beginning the ongoing search for The Builder.

>>>>>>>>>To Dragon And Tiger>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Cirandon hotel was host to a very exclusive party. It was the sixty-third birthday of Michael Worthington, wealthy industrialist. The party was filled with the rich and powerful of Weston, sipping champagne, making business deals, exchanging gossip, and admiring the 'scenery' Michael had provided.

The sounds of revelry were suddenly interrupted by a loud gunshot shattering an ice sculpture. Ten men in black suits had entered the room, they were all armed with either guns or obvious para-powers and several of them appeared to have metal pieces infused into their bodies.

One man stepped forward, he had long black hair tied into a ponytail and his handsome face was marred by a scar on his right cheek. In one hand he held a desert eagle, the other was glowing with some kind of energy.

"Hello there folks, we'll have you back to your expensive drinks and exciting gossip in just a moment. As soon as we've relieved you of your possessions. We're the Lavish Legion, I'm sure you've heard of us and know just what will happen to those that don't cooperate, so please gather over by the buffett as my men relieve you of your wallets and jewelry." His voice had a refined quality to it and though he spoke calmly and politely it had an edge to it, an unspoken threat.

Little by little, the bullets begin to vanish from the guns and their clips only to be replaced with blanks.  One by one, the badguys get tiny tracers added to their pockets.  Nothing very fancy.  Just the kind commercially available.  Like this: https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-1...assive-logger-14.gif  Mits hasn't been equipped by a high-tech hero with the kind of super-tech tracers that are too tiny for normal detection.

And of course, Mits has already called the cops about the two incidents.  She's silly that way.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:55, Thu 11 Apr 2019.

The thugs begin herding the party goers into a corner, oblivious to Mittens' meddling. One man, well built and in his early thirties begins to follow the others and then rushes the leader, going for his gun. Instead of grappling with the man the leader plunges his glowing fist through the would be heroes chest, his bloody hand coming out the man's back. The rich man coughs blood and then crumples to the floor as the leader pulls his hand free. Several of the women in attendance scream.

"Let that be a lesson to anyone thinking about being a hero. To us your lives have no value and we would just as soon rob and kill you than just rob you. So if you want to make it out alive you'll do as your told and don't even think of calling the cops or we'll just kill you all before we make our escape."

Wraith had initially been here to spy on the rich people because he heard somewhere that power corrupts. But then these robbers show up. He might have forgiven something like robbing rich people and just let Mittens handle it with the tracers she planted. But they had to go and punch someone through the chest when a simple knockout would have sufficed. Under the mask, Maverick narrows his eyes.

Wraith immediately gets to looking for what manner of escape vehicle these people have. A boat? A flying vehicle? Either way, he sneaks off towards what must be the escape vehicle, secretly hoping these guys don't have someone with teleport powers.

Maverick can find no vehicle that seems obviously like a getaway vehicle. It's possible they have some kind of power based exit, or it could just be hard to tell. There are a LOT of cars in the lot, and surrounding area, many of which are designed to go fast.

A very inconspicuous portal about the size of a beer coaster appears near the rich dude with the hole in his chest.  It's angled down, so that one would have to be lying on their back to see up through it.  An especially keen ear might hear a woman's voice coming from that direction saying nervously, "Please tell me you can s-save this guy?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:45, Fri 12 Apr 2019.

As tempted as he is to set every last car ablaze just to slow down the criminals' escape, Wraith just isn't a vandal. And let's be honest. Some of those cars are just downright beautiful.

His mind distracts him with what punishment will be appropriate for punching a hole in someone's chest; Perhaps remove one of his legs? Perhaps remove the offending hand? But he calms himself like he was taught to do. There is nothing he can do for the dead man and punishment can wait until the bad guys are caught. Proper order and all that.

Speaking of proper order, Wraith decides action now is a bad idea while hostages are still a thing. He is grateful to the dead man for one thing: He sacrificed himself to make it clear to the others not to try and play hero. Maverick still feels like that is all he is doing too, but he also wants to play in a way that leaves him still alive. The point is that the man's death meant something. Now the other civilians will not act and thus, will survive.

For now, the best idea Wraith has is to follow these guys until they have vacated the premises. But he does put his hands on his large daggers in case another civilian might be in danger, ready to put himself (and his daggers) in the way if any more villains attack.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:36, Fri 12 Apr 2019.

As the thugs are gathering the loot into large bags the electronic eye on one of the cyborgs blinks. He looks down and reaches into his pocket and pulls out the tracer. He looks at it a minute then crushes it in his metal hand. "Boss, check your pockets, everyone should check their pockets."

The boss looks at his subordinate then reaches into his pocket and pulls out the tracer, the rest of the thugs follow suit all pulling out their tracers and smashing them.

The boss turns onto the guests, his veneer of calm replaced by rage. "Who did this!? Which one of you didn't take my advice?!" He pointed his gun at the crowd. "Fess up and you'll be the only one getting wasted!"

A nervous woman's voice can be heard coming from the ceiling saying, "Th-thanks.  S-sorry 'bout the um... stuff." 

A quick eye would catch the ugly mug of Ray-John in the distance through the ceiling portal for a split second before it closes.  A moment later, the mostly dead guy with the caved in chest is replaced by Miss Adventure, the now world famous silly catgirl who was among the heroes who defended Weston from an alien invasion just the other day!    (Unless of course all the live news feeds were blocked or the world was flashy-thingy'd)  She's dressed in a very fancy black dress and is wearing an expensive looking diamond necklace.

"P-please don't shoot!  I'm on y-your side!"

Mits holds up her hands in a defensive posture.

"Hey John?  These two helped stop the alien invasion the other day.  I've gotta... go do something.  But they're way better at fixing things than me anyway.  Just give 'em a chance."

Wraith was just about to reveal himself when Mittens did so and painted a huge target on herself. He pulls out a propofol-tipped dart and loads it into a dart gun, looks for a minion that might be missed the least (or better still, won't be noticed sleeping on the job right this moment), but holds his fire, waiting to see if Mittens can successfully lead the guys away from the hostages.

These guys are paras, so there might be a chance the target happens to have impenetrable skin, but Wraith is hoping his luck isn't that bad today. After all, they probably feel they are impenetrable due to being cyborgs. He hopes.

Daniel was sitting inside of his room in the hotel hoping he could have a normal and relaxing vacation. He sat down on the hotel rooms chair and started reading a book about Japanese mythology, before he could finish the book he was interrupted by a loud gunshot coming from the party some rich and powerful folks were having.

"Damn it, I can't have a single day were I can read in peace... *sigh. I suppose it's just some crazy group that wants to make a big deal about this and besides I don't want to risk the lives of the hostages, I'd get fired from my job if an imporatant client died because of me."

He paused for a second. "Well, as long as they don't enter my room I should be fine and just to be sure." He put down his book in japanese mythology and seemed to do a small prayer.

A portal apeared infront of him and he pulled out a golden pistol with a cross embodied to the side and a text written on it's barrel.

"This should be good enough to hold off anyone coming into my room." He then picked up the book he was reading with one hand and sat back down to resume his reading while still holding on to the pistol and keeping an eye onto the door.

The members of the Lavish stared suspiciously at Mittens as she appeared. One of the men, who was unarmed but looked otherwise normal. "Did we have a teleporting catgirl?"

"Not that I know of" Replied the boss.

"Wait, I know her, she was on the t.v. fighting those aliens."

The men all raise their guns simultaneously aiming them at Mittens and pull their triggers.

CLICK

And stare dumbfounded as their weapons fail to fire.

Wow these guys are short-bus! Mits is thinking, But then, can't really say that I'm the most trustworthy looking superhero to a villain.

"See?  I would make for a powerful ally.  And as you mentioned, I kinda sorta already saved your lives once.  And now I'm gunna give you another tip.  I have a police scanner.  They're already on their way.  So allow me to speed things along for you."

With a wave of her hand, valuables just pile into the badguys' bags!  They're her own.  And most would take very close inspection to notice that they're "discount," valuables worth 4 figures or less each, not the six figure stuff the really wealthy folks wear.  But the ones that wind up on the top of the pile are worth a king's ransom and would earn her a lecture from the world's archeologists for putting such priceless historical treasures at risk even if they're legally hers under the Treasure Act of 1996.  So she's not actually stealing from the hostages, just making it look like she is.  (Though it'd be a hard sell for a public defender to prove she wasn't aiding and abetting by informing these guys about the police.  Hopefully this won't end in them getting away and she need not have to explain herself to a judge.)

"Merry Christmas!"

As soon as the thieves are done ogling over the contents of their sacks, the more valuable contents begin to replace themselves with fakes.

Wraith stares for a moment in disbelief. They really just shot at a super who they KNOW saved their lives? Oh, and the guns aren't working. He fires his knockout dart at one of them and begins loading another even as he sneaks off to a different location.

Mental note. Tell Mittens about a fun idea that could use her portal powers for a big bluff. Namely having a bunch of lasers to fool badguys into thinking they are being targeted by multiple laser scopes. Probably would require practice and such.

The collective villains stare in disbelief at Mittens. "A-are you high? You pop up out of nowhere, with some weird light show and voices, spout a bunch of bullshit then expect us to trust you AFTER we try and shoot you? Plus you got some kind of teleporting powers, not hard to figure out where our bullets went and where the tracers came-" The leader stopped abruptly as one of his men went down. "Shit there's two of them! Geode now!"

The normal looking one with no weapons raised his arms and there was a loud rumble from outside. Suddenly there is a large chunk of the street in the shape of a round platform outside the window.

Two of the cyborgs raise their arms their hands sliding out of the way to reveal machine guns in their wrists. They fire indiscriminately towards the crowd, trying to keep the heroes busy with saving people, as the rest of them rush toward the window, the leader in front. The two gunners moving backwards as they fire.

The Leader punches through the window with his glowing fist, shattering it, and leaps onto the floating platform of pavement. The two remaining non-cyborgs, apart from the leader and the geokinetic, leap on after him, each carrying a bag of loot, soon followed by the one called Geode.

The three cyborgs not laying down cover fire grab onto the edge of the platform the soles of their feet glowing as they powered up some kind of thrusters as the two gunners continued backing up towards their comrades.

After hearing some rumble and screaming from the Guests Daniel decided to go to his window to be able to see who these criminal are.

Once he took a peak he noticed two of the men had robotic robotic parts, possibly cyborgs. "Well well well, I guess it's my lucky day... guess this criminal group wasn't some crazed gang trying to cause some havoc." He looked back at his pistol. "You won't do for now."

The pistol dispeared from his hand and he began to do another prayer, this time it took a bit longer. Another portal apeared infront of him and from it he pulled out a Sniper with a similar style to the pistol. He went back to the window with his new weapon, he opened the window took aim on one of the cyborgs in the platform and before taking the shot he he said to himeself. "EAT SHIT YOU MECHANICAL MONSTROSITY!"

Of all the times for a badguy to pass out! Miss Adventure's thinking, So much for talking them into leaving without violence breaking out.  And now I'm the short-bus girl for not checking for bullets inside the cyborg arms!  DUH!

Thank goodness for Matt's influence protecting bystanders from any bullets Mits doesn't redirect fast enough.  Redirected safely down to the ground, mind you.  Waay too much risk of "what you thought was an evil cyborg was actually an innocent family man under high-tech mind control" for this heroine to allow herself to open the terminus over their heads pointed down no matter how tempting it is to taunt them with "stop shooting yourself!"

But as we all know, dismembering lethal cyber-arms is perfectly OK.  Zwoosh!  The crazy fast lightsaber wielding space samurai catgirl in a flowing black gown slices off one set of machine gun arms before moving onto the sec...  Eek!  Sniper shot!

"Um... thanks?" Miss Adventure directs at the unseen shooter.  Probably for the best she can't see him.  Well... mainly that she can't see that sweet rifle or she'd flip out fangirling.

"Citizens!  Please find cover without killing each other!"

(( Look.  Just because I'm wearing black, doesn't mean I'm Dark Side.  Here's proof!  https://www.deviantart.com/ric...e-Geonosis-450966164

...boy it sure was hard to find black dress lightsaber girl that didn't look evil.))
This message was last edited by the player at 16:13, Sun 14 Apr 2019.

Wraith inwardly curses. He was careful to target someone who wouldn't be noticed falling and he had thought with Mittens distracting them... he'll remember next time to just wait until either hostages aren't a thing or until bad guys are already shooting anyway.

He makes another mental note; obtain an electrocution style grenade to fry circuitry and such. EMP grenade? If there is such a thing. For now, though, he begins stealthfully following where the boss is going. That's one baddy he doesn't want to lose track of.

He doesn't chance firing another dart, though. The guy is on the move, so Wraith worries he could wind up losing a dart while drawing attention to his location. Better for now to follow undetected.

Wraith also makes a mental note of where that sniper shot may or may not have come from. But tracking down allies is low on the priority list compared to tracking down current threats and where they like to hide.

Mits hears Ant through the tiny listening opening she put in her ear earlier.  So she opens up another one to communicate with her.

"Things just got really violent over here, Lifelight.  But someone's picking off the baddies, so I don't expect to take very long."

Daniel Shot another shot at the cyborg but was unable to kill him. "Dammit even with this they are very tough, *sigh, guess I have no choice."

He made his sniper disapear and he went back to his room and started a prayer, this time it was different.
"Father Zeus, Help me do what I must
be with me as I walk in the world"

A Ble portal appeared infront of him, he put both hands in and pulled two thunderbolts ready to be thrown. "This should take care of cyborgs."

He went back to the window and aimed one of the thunderbolts towards the cyborgs. With no hesitation he threw the Thunderbolt connecting with the three cyborgs.

He then moved his attention to the platform. whispering he said to himself, "You might not be cyborgs, you are sinners,AND SINNERS ARE SMITED." He threw the second thunderbolt at the other criminals in the platform.

You know that moment when you can't really see the meteor coming, but you can kinda see it coming because it turns night into day?  (( Like on February 15 2013: https://youtu.be/fBLjB5qavxY?t=128 ))  This is like that.  Only it's lightning.  Traveling at 3,700 miles per second!  That's 21.4 million kph for you metric folks!  One would have to have lightning reflexes to get out of the zap zone.

Mittens may have cat-like reflexes, but we're pretty sure that's not enough to dodge lightning.  Its times like these that justify the many hours spent meditating to learn Zen space samurai precog.  For before Miss Adventure can even think she's already teleported 100' away.

Oh.  It wasn't aimed at me.  Of course it wasn't!  Haha.  Why would I think myself a sinner?  Its not like I just kidnapped someone with the uncertain intentions of maybe rescuing a mad scientist from the radioactive monstrosity he claims to have accidentally created.  Nor was I tempted to crush a dozen men under the 4,581.5 metric tons of Fort Knox's gold for the dark irony of it.  Not Mittens!  That would be crazy!

Is now a bad time to make a pun about the villains being smitten by love?  SINNER!  Only sinners are tempted to make puns like that, you naughty kitty!
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Mon 15 Apr 2019.

The gun armed cyborgs cry out and swing at Mittens with their other hand as she 'disarms' them, but she gracefully ducks under their fists.

One of the cyborgs shifts but manages to hold on as the sniper shot hits him. When the lightning strikes however he falls to the ground, sparks coming off his metal frame. The other two 'rocket-footed' thugs are struck right after, falling with a loud crash directly in front of the police cordon.

The leader shouts "&^%$ it, go go go!" And the one called Geode waves his arms and the platform begins floating away, albeit slower without the added thrust.

One of the remaining thugs on the platform raised his hands and ice flowed from his hands covering  the platform in a dome of ice.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:36, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

Wraith makes a mental note to get a grappling hook that can attach to the underside of a platform. So many things he needs to remember for the future. The enemy is leaving and getting away and he can't fly. But having followed the enemy, he sprints for it and grabs hold of the edge of the platform, slips from the ice, and falls to his butt.

Under his mask, he has a look of relief. Although he didn't manage to hold on, one of his tracers did. He turns to look at the police and then looks at the platform. Then looks in Mittens' direction. Wraith is now very clearly in view of Mittens (and Daniel).

For Daniel: Wraith appears like a 4'6" tall figure who wears black clothing covered in a black hooded cloak. The cloak blends with writhing shadows and both the cloak and shadows seem to phase in and out of existence. His face cannot be seen.

Daniel sees as some of the other criminals escape in the platform. "Ugh, by the time I a weapon that can destroy the platform they would br long gone. Well, I think I should get out of my room someone must have seen me." He had also notcied people around him including a kid whose face he couldn't see and a woman with incredible agility and probably high of her ass.

He packed up everything he had, closed the window and made his way downstairs to try and help out any hostages if there were any alive at this point.

Mits smiles waves to the police, "Ohai, Weston's finest!  Can someone please call an engineer to tell me exactly how many 3' diameter concrete footers it would take to hold up that hunk of pavement once the para making it float is knocked out?  I'd really rather not have to just guess.  Worse comes to worse I can ask my friend Matt to make sure it safely crash lands without destroying anything, but I'm sure everyone would prefer it not crash at all."

She then smiles and waves to Wraith, "Ohai, Wraith!  I can get you up there.  And provide ice cleats so you don't fall off the dome."

Quick-snap ice cleats and portal to top of dome are offered.  Why not just open a doorway to the inside of the ice dome?  She wants Wraith to be able to get in on his own terms.  Also, her portals aren't 1-way.  Opening a door to the inside of the snow globe would put police and EMTs in danger.

Mits then looks up to the window where Daniel was.  "Hey up there!  If you still wunna smite villains, I can teleport you to 'em.  No problem!  Just say the word."

Meanwhile, since ice face's ice dome has effectively eliminated the badguys as an immediate threat, Miss Adventure lines up the defeated baddies nice and neat for the police to restrain and EMTs to treat for electrocution.  "To my knowledge there's only one civilian casualty, and he's being treated by Lifelight.  As always I have full video of the whole event and will be happy to make copies and testify at the DA's convenience."

Then opens a small portal just within the ceiling of the ice dome to pipe in some travel music for the villains: https://youtu.be/L0MK7qz13bU?t=157  She's sure to have the origin pointed away from her nice stereo (that's at her secluded secret lair) in case they decide to try and use her portal to destroy it.

The Platform keeps floating away.

The police look at eachother from Mittens' question. One shouted "If I was good at math I wouldn't have been a cop!" Some of them start heading in and soon show up in the ballroom and begin cuffing the perps while EMTs look over the partygoers.

"Fair 'nuff.  Just a thought.  You guys have knockout grenades, right?  I know it's illegal for me to borrow one, but if it was you who dropped it in that little snow globe...  I'm pretty sure they didn't bring gas masks with them."

She gives the officers an impish smile and wink.

Wraith takes Mittens up on her offered portal and cleats. After quickly fastening the cleats, he hops onto the dome. To the badguys, they see what looks like a mini version of the ring wraiths, warped by the ice.

Wraith decides now would be a great time for drama, so he slowly scrapes his skeletal claws along the ice. He wants to say something witty or scary, but figures letting his scraping fingers do the talking is probably the creepiest for now.

Is it getting him closer to the enemy? Not really. But boy is it worth it to just spend a few moments on intimidation. Assuming it works. After all... aside from maybe being mentioned in the news as having shown up at the museum, Wraith hasn't gotten much exposure, so he doubts these guys know about him.

Daniel had finally reached downstairs and saw the cops cuffing all of the remaining criminals. Daniel only thought of bashing the faces of those criminals into the walls until they didn't have a face anymore. He couldn't though because then he would be noticed and even arrested so he resiste dthe urge to do it. He had also seen the woman who seemed to be high of her ass and also saw the kid, he still couldn't see the boys face. He started walking away pretending to be nervous or else he would become too suspicious.

Mits gets an idea for a harmless way to slow the villains' escape.  Wind power!  She licks her finger then opens a small portal to Wellington, New Zealand, the wind capitol of the world for nearly year-round high winds.  Light breeze today.  Huh.  Let's try Mt. Washington, USA, world record holder for highest surface windspeed of all time.  Light breeze.  Seriously?!  Didn't want to have to resort to this...  CommonwealthBay, Antarctica!  FWOOSH!  Gale force arctic winds!  Nearly freezes her wet fingertip instantly.  Yeowch!

Miss Adventure opens one portal after another on the forward side of the giant flying snow globe with the origins at the source of that bitter gale to sloowly stop the massive escape "vehicle" from getting away.

"I can technically do this all day, but I don't think the environmentalists will be too happy with me causing an arctic micro-climate in the middle of town for very long, so please make with the knockout grenades quickly.  Say when your ready and I'll open up portals for you to gas the inside of that snow globe."

If the police make ready the grenades, she'll make small up-facing portals to the inside, hopefully minimizing the goodguys' exposure to any danger of nasty ice-daggers or sharp rocks flying out.

(( Looked up actual current windspeeds in said locations. ))
This message was last edited by the player at 23:11, Thu 18 Apr 2019.

The cops look to each-other then to the commanding officer who gave a silent nod. The cops head to their cars grabbing tear-gas grenades from the trunks. They prepared to heft them as Mittens opened the portal tossing a few into the portal and thus the icedome.

From atop the dome Wraith hears voices from within the dome.

"I'm gonna kill that B&#$%"

"It is kinda funny..."

"Shut up M-" the voices were cut off to the sound of hissing gas followed by coughing fits.


Blending in with the rest of the crowd, David has no problem remaining unnoticed.

Mits gets a huge smile and offers high-fives to the officers.

"Thanks a bunch, guys!  Always best to take the non-violent option whenever available."

Wraith finds a properly sized gas mask appear nearby, and a convenient portal for him to get into the snow globe to finish up detaining the villains.

Meanwhile, Mits begins to carefully redirect the giant rock and ice dome back to where it came from, opening up several portals underneath that lead to concrete footers as a  safety net for in case Geode passes out and the whole thing suddenly starts to drop.  If that does happen, she's prepared to immediately close the wind portals.

After watching what had just happened he didn't want to mess with that crazy woman who could open up a portal anywhere. Daniel thought of the possibility of getting sucked into one of the portals and sent out into outer space. To make sure Daniel took out his notebook and started looking for something that could possibly get him out of there... well, the Babr-e Bayan could prevent me from getting burnt up but I would still die from lack of oxygen and vacuum. I guess I just need to avoid fighting her if that's the case.

He put his notebook away and started moving through the crowd trying to find if for some reason a criminal was still out there between the crowd. He hoped there wasn't so he wouldn't give away who he was... but if he found one of them he probably wouldn't resist the urge to shoot them right through the skull.

Wraith ponders a moment. He puts the gas mask on and enters the portal which lets him in, then uses the gas as a means to hide. He carefully waits and watches, while keeping himself hidden behind what seemed to be the boss of the bunch. He'll have to thank Mittens later.

He pulls out a pair of tonfa and gets to smacking the boss behind his knees in an attempt to begin a take-down! Why tonfa? Nonlethal. Wraith believes in nonlethal first. You can always kill someone later, but you can't generally un-kill them.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Tue 23 Apr 2019.

The boss lets out a cry as his knees buckle beneath him, then a groan as the tonfa connects with his head, knocking him unconscious.

"Joe? What happened?" One of the thugs asked between coughs.

Just seconds ago, Wraith was feeling a rush. It was similar to when he fought the mummies back at the museum, but somehow scarier. Fighting undead, while scary, felt more like fighting a moving target. These were people. Thinking, feeling people. A zombie might swing at you or bite at you to kill you. But people can come up with all kinds of inventive ways to kill you. And let's face it; zombies generally don't carry machine-guns.

But there are several things going on that are more important to Wraith than his fear. His reputation, for one. What would people think of the so-called Wraith if he froze in fear in the face of some gang of thugs.

And even if people were understanding and said things like "well of course he was scared, it was a group of professionals with machine guns", there is his teacher. What would he think? After all the lessons Wraith has gotten from the guy... Wraith just couldn't let him down.

But the most important of all to Wraith is his own conviction. If Wraith allowed a little thing like fear slow him down, then what will he do with himself? How would he even feel about himself? If he shrank after taking down a boss, would he be able to look his loved ones in the eye anymore?

But all that training proves itself as Wraith takes down the boss. Taking out the boss has a huge impact on Wraith. It gives him a confidence that wasn't there just seconds ago. Confidence that if he could take out the boss, he could take out anyone else in this little group.

Then he realizes he already took the first step a while back when he fired a dart. When he stalked the enemy. When he took the portal. Why would he be afraid now? Was it that the danger didn't really sink in until he was up close and personal with these machine-gun-toting villains?

Whatever the reason was before, Wraith feels his fear slip away like unlocked shackles falling to the floor. A calm washes over him and he slinks off to the guy with the geo-powers. He goes for another take-down, using pretty much the same technique. May as well; it worked just moments ago and nobody saw him do it.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:39, Wed 24 Apr 2019.

While Wraith is having his awesome moment of breaking the shackles of uncertainty, Miss Adventure is reveling in the fact that in spite of the grizzly fatality earlier she can still hold it together well enough to get a yuck out of even a hardened criminal while simultaneously infuriating another.

"Perhaps Mittens can finally view herself as more than just the Comic Relief Sidekick to the Deadpan Badass Cursed With Awesome," she narrates aloud to nobody in particular.

"Behold!  Space Samurai Spock-Fu!"

Faster than you can say "Kamehameha," Mittens delivers a telekinetic pressure point knockout blast to the ice-power villain!

"Frozen meets Sleeping Beauty!"

The geo-kinetic went down just as easily as his leader had, however, as he falls into unconsciousness the platform shakes, and then begins to fall. Wraith sees the ice powered man fall as well, though he can't be sure why.

As far as Daniel can tell the crowd is filled only with panic filled civilians. The police present are doing their best to calm the people and get statements.

Wraith figures Mittens will provide him an out when she notices the platform is falling, so even as he moves on to try knocking out the next goon, he keeps an eye out for a portal to leap through. Should one appear, he'll hop through.

Subconsciously, Wraith is still a bit worried about the goings on and whether everyone will survive. But for now, adrenaline and confidence are overshadowing such worries.

"HaHA!  Crisis averted!  Good thinking, preparing so many super-strong supports to keep the property damage to a minimum, Mittens.  Why thank you!  You're so cool, I'll bet the building contractor won't even sue you for using his footers without permission!  Yeah well... he'd have to know it was me, and chances are Chinese building contractors can't even legally sue an American deputy for borrowing his mega-structure footers for a few minutes to save the day, even if it could be proven."

Mittens pats herself on the back then begins to direct the giant snowglobe to back to whence it came.

"It can't be easy matching so many of those portals to the exact same velocity.  How does she do it?  Sorry, but a magician never reveals her secrets."

Or she doesn't know the answer to the question and her own powers' mechanics are a mystery to even herself.  In any case, with the badguys all knocked out, Wraith is provided a doorway to the police.  And just in case there isn't already a camera rolling for his epic-looking return from out of a haze of teargas, Mits opens up a small window to her home PC's webcam.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:43, Sun 28 Apr 2019.

The crowd started getting louder and freaking out even more while Daniel was just getting annoyed at this point, with all of these loud screams and people moving everywhere he wouldn't be able to find any more criminals around.

Daniel started getting irritated and made... questionable actions. He put his hand together and made a prayer making sure no one notcied him. A small portal appeared and he quickly took out a small golden ball. Daniel turned it twisted it and moved parts of it as if it were a puzzle and threw it at the center of the crowd. a short moment later people started running away from the ball not knowing what it was and in that same instance an emp went off disabling any electronic for a short for as ling as the ball stayed there. He set it for 30 seconds, enough time for him to notice if there were any criminals around with cybernetics.

Wraith exited through the portal Mittens made, of course, and looks up at Mittens. "Thanks" his haunting voice offered. He keeps the gas mask on for now, figuring if he takes it off, chances are he'll need to put it on again. Well... need is a relative term. He's only wearing the gas mask so that people will think he needs one.

When Daniel's EMP grenade goes off, Wraith's writhing shadows seemed to flicker out of existence. Wraith still has his tonfa out and takes a ready stance as he looks around, wondering what caused this.

The platform shakes as it lands on the supports. Three out of five thugs on the platform are down, but the smoke is starting to clear.

One of the police turns to Mittens. "You think you could get us up there so we can cuff them? It's still kinda high up."

When Daniel throws the golden ball the crowd screams and panics even more, trampling over eachother as they run away from the device. One cop jumps on top of it, thinking it may be some kind of grenade, and several more point their guns at Daniel. There is no reaction from anyone in the crowd showing any of them to be cybernetic.

The cops shout at Daniel. "Hands on your head! Now!"

Daniel looks at the officers with an even more irritated face and starts putting his hands on the back of his head. He started thinking to himself, dammit what was I thinking, I let my emotions get the better of me, well atleast now I'm certain there is none of them left

The thirty seconds had passed and the golden ball finally disapeared. "Officers, now I know this sounds weird, but I was helping you out by trying to find any more cyborgs..." Daniel kept speaking while keeping his hands behind his back, meanwhile he was beginning to pray in his mind he created a small portal inbetween his head and his hands, he carefully pulled the stone of Kukulkan making sure the police men didn't see. "...and that's the reason why we are currently standing here and you gentlemen have your guns pointed right at my head."

With the stone in his hand he channeled the power of the wind, and made the wind knock the guns out of the hands of the police, "next time, just shoot it's quite effective." He then uses the stone again to summon a wind which allows him to fly away from the area at a suprising speed.

Miss Adventure grins and gives Wraith a thumbs-up.  And the police too!  "You betcha!"

"Zwoop!"  The three unconscious perps are delivered to the police and portals are provided for them to take down the last of the gassed guys.

Then stuff happens!

"Swoosh!"  Mittens instinctively puts distance between herself and holy hand grenade blast radius.  "The heck was that?!  My Space Samurai intuition is telling me there's something friggin' EPIC about what just happened!"

People panic and stampede!  "Zwip!  Bwip!  Fwip!"  The civilians who wind up in danger of being hurt by the stampede are teleported to the EMTs.  If it's not apparent by now, Mittens' portals don't make sound effects, so she has to provide her own.

And then cops are yelling and suspect is claiming to be a goodguy.  FWOOSH!  Not a sound effect provided by Mittens, but a powerful gust of wind apparently controlled by the suspect!  Miss Adventure returns to the police.

"Was there a wind-based member of The Lavish Legion hiding in the wings?" Mits wonders aloud, "Or is the sniping Mystery Smiter who was helping earlier an air-bender?  ...Nah.  This guy's probably not The Smiper or he'd be bellowing something about the sins of the corrupt police force from a 3rd story window.

"Yet without proper police authority, Mittens hesitates to use her superpowers against a fleeing suspect who hasn't used any lethal attacks yet.  I dunno... does making a crowd panic with an amazingly cool non-lethal weapon qualify as a sufficient threat to civilization for a Temporary Emergency Deputy of the Top Secret [Redacted] Team to legally apprehend said suspect?  Mittens is not willing to sit through a top-secret court-martial to find out."

But nothing says Mits can't keep an eye on him.  So that she does, using a very tiny mobile portal for watching where The Secret Cyclone goes.

The police cursed as their weapons went flying out of their hands. One of them spoke into their radio. "Need an apb on a mid thirties male, short dark hair, goatee approximately 5'10". Wields enhanced weaponry, possible Inventor Type Thinker Class."

The rest of the cops move forward, quickly cuffing the remaining perps and begin loading them into cars to take them to the station, it takes about four cops a piece for the cyborgs, but the rest are carried more easily.

Daniel flew as far as he could before he knew no one could see him, he landed in a small alleyway. Once his feet touched the ground he tossed the stone away, it dissipated before it could touch the ground.

"Well, that's that, got away with shocking some cyborgs and making sure none were around... Man I'm an idiot sometime, of course the cops would see me, talking about that they might have seen my face."

Daniel made another prayer, he put his hands together and started speaking in Greek. A small portal opened in front of him, he pulled out a helmet which he he looked at for a second making sure it was the right one.

"This should allow me to lay low for a while." Daniel put on the helmet and in an instant he became invisible, from his clothes and what he was grabbing. Daniel thought inside his head. I sure do love Greek mythology it's always so useful.

Wraith helps as best he can with detaining prisoners, then looks at Mittens. "You are absolutely amazing."

Mittens can add "fanboyed by a mini ring wraith" to her checklist of odd accomplishments.

He looks at the cops. He isn't sure what to say, but figures he will stay put if just to make sure nobody harms the cops or tries to escape. He watches the crooks get put away, one by one, with his empty-looking hood. He is tempted to tell them he is the spirit of Christmas Future, but the spirit of Christmas Future doesn't talk. Which is something Wraith always loved about that entity. So he does the next best thing and slowly, eerily points to the cop cars the crooks are headed to as if to "say" that is their future.

"Ohmygosh so coo!" Mits blurts out near the person she does not yet know is named Daniel.

Well, the portal window she's peeking through is near.

"Love the helmet!  Hey thanks for helping with the cyborgs earlier, Cyclone Sniper."

For all she knows, he's already gone.  But she didn't hear any footsteps, so...  "If ever you need to get somewhere in a jiff, fellow heroes get priority.  And no need to be shy about your face.  Take it from me, it's a perfectly fine face to have seen."

Mits tosses a laminated contact card into the small alley.  She listens for an answer.  If she gets no reply she'll simply close the portal and chalk it up as yet another vigilante who likes to fade away, but if she does get an answer, the portal will remain open.

Either way, Miss Adventure blushes and bashfully rubs behind her head at Wraith's compliment.  "Thanks!  But look who's talking, Darth Shadow!  Batman wishes he were so scary!"

And speaking of scary, she overhears something uncomfortably familiar.  "Eeep!  Mittens wouldn't know anything about Pandora's Box.  Not her.  Mm-mm."

Daniel picks up the card and starts reading it. He took out his notebook and ripped of a small piece of blank paper and took out his pen. He started writing and later left the note there for the crazy woman to see it. He then walks away keeping the card and leaving the piece of paper in the ground.

It read: Thanks I guess, i'll be keeping the card just in case, also, never call me Cyclone sniper, Hope I never have to see you ever again. Hopefully

OOC: The card suddenly became invisible and a torn piece of paper appeared

The police give both Wraith and Miss Adventure a nod of acknowledgement. "Thanks for the help Miss Adventure, and to your friend too. You're free to go now, we can take it from here."

Wraith doesn't consider it important that the police know his superhero name. He figures that will become known soon en- ...then he realized the press could question the police and give him some other name like "Ghost" or "Spirit" or "Casper"...

"If anyone should ask, I go by the name Wraith." Wraith says before turning to follow Miss Adventure.

Mits recovers the note and reads it.  "'Hope I never see you again.'  Well that was rude.  Oh well.  If I had a candy bar for every time a vigilante was rude, I'd be able to kill all the universe's villains with diabetes."

She's way more shocked by Wraith.  What superhero sticks around to chat rather than just vanish after the excitement's over!?  Not many.

"Kinda traumatized by a gory bit that happened earlier.  Healer friend is handling the patch-up of the victim, but I think I need to unwind in a...  um...  non-food manner.  Like maybe some water and pepto to settle my stomach."

Mits pops some pills and sips some water.

"Can I get you anything?  I can haz my gas mask back?  OH!  Almost forgot.  Gotta hand the loot over."

Careful to exclude her own valuables, Miss Adventure places the stolen valuables in the safekeeping of the police, conveniently ziploc'd.  A thumb drive copy of video evidence of who took what from whom is provided as well.

"I'm reminded of a cop show episode where valuable evidence was being lifted from crime scenes, and even with video showing the culprit taking the stuff they still had to prove that it was deliberate.  Police work is tough.  I feel like there should be some kinda salary bonus for honest cops who don't give in to the temptation to keep crime scene loot.

"Well honestly, they should be paid more right outta the gate.  The lowest pro hockey salary is more than ten times better than a police officer, and I've never heard of a pro hockey player risking their own life to save another's in the line of duty."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:49, Wed 08 May 2019.

The police happily take the evidence. "Thank you, we appreciate the sentiment, but we're not really in it for the money."

Wraith is grateful his voice modulator was back up before he introduced himself. That would have been a stupid slip-up if that was still knocked out by the EMP. Note to self, when your gear shuts down, shut up and just act cool.

Wraith looks back to Mittens and offers her the gas mask. "Do what you need to do. Thanks for the loan. If you need me for anything..."

Mits fangirls over the heroic response of the police, their altruistic words echoing in her mind like the voice of He-Man.

"One of the many reasons I've admired the men and women in blue ever since I was old enough to play cops and robbers."

We'll not talk about just how much fun being a robber was too.  At least not here.  Mits needs a place to decompress where she'll feel safe from those looks people give weird-looking paras.  But at the same time, she's far too wound up for unwinding at home.  Daystar's words about, "we just did not talk about everything that happened," repeat in Mittens' mind, and she figures she'll make a point to talk out what's troubling her.

"Apokryphos Cafe!  Maybe Meg'll know some secret magical tea that'll settle my stomach.  You're welcome to join if you like, Wraith."

A portal opens to the Cafe, and Mits heads through with a gesture for Wraith to come with.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:09, Thu 16 May 2019.

Wraith follows through the portal.

To Apokryphos Cafe -->