ic No Better Time to Start(IC)

[Ari]

GM

 

September 1st, 2018, 4.28PM

A.S.T.R.O. Labs

 

The day was winding down, the light was starting to wane, and the people working at one of the premier technological application centers on Earth were starting to think fondly of home.

 

By now the horrors of the Terminus Invasion had already begun to fade from all but the hardest-hit. But the fact remained: while there was a sense that the Terminus might not make such a move again, there were other dangers in the omniverse.

 

So far the day had gone famously. The dimensional conduit prototype, code-named DR(pronounced, naturally, 'door') was in full working order, the odd-looking man from AEGIS hadn't gotten in the way while 'checking for mental leaks', and the representative for the prestigious Danger Foundation had been nothing but helpful with the finer details of avoiding dangerous interaction with the forces she unaccountably referred to as 'magic'. The support staff had been on top of their game today, especially thanks to a newcomer with an ease around the strange materials they worked with that confounded even veterans of the Labs.
 

Regardless, there was only a little clearing up to do and everyone would be off the clock.

 

So it was with a certain regret that one of the walls exploded inward from a shower of dark energy, followed by two odd-looking men in Atom Family Adventure-like uniforms of black, silver and purple with armbands that radiated power.

 

"Hello!" the finned one said merrily "Please leave this to us, Terresi!"

 

"I'm Electrum Eagle. No prey escapes me." The winged one snarled, knocking the room off its feet with a wave of his gauntleted hand, emitting a punishing shockwave that made the nerves scream.

 

"And I'm Platinum Porpoise! Take a seat!" A snap of his webbed fingers and a boyish smile heralded a great seething wave of bluish-purple energy that started flashing across the room, pinning everyone in its path with coils of otherworldly darkness!

 

However, even as they headed for the great arch of the DR, they were unaware that someone had followed them ever since they first materialized in Freedom City...

[RocketLord]

Pan opened his eyes, and everything came rushing back in an instant. He had been with the Lost Heroes. They had fought against the Hooked Man, and they had lost so badly. He was the only one that was left standing, and somehow, he had managed to cut off the Hooked Man's hand. The next thing he knew, a monstrous creature rose from the depths and everything had turned black. Just like today, he had opened his eyes to find himself in this strange place called Freedom City. Everything here was different. No soaring airships filling the sky, rainbows were far from him. No pirates and no fairies. It had been a week, and Pan still didn't feel entirely safe here. Better to stay hidden, in case the Hooked Man returned.

 

At least until this morning. The people around here looked pretty much like back home, aside from the odd flying person he had spotted in the distance, but these two were just weird. Black, silver and purple uniforms. One had wings, the other had webbed fingers, and they had appeared out of thin air. They didn't exactly seem like nice fellows, but they were interesting at least. He should probably have stayed hidden, but Pan couldn't help himself. He smelled an adventure, and with a grin playing over his lips, he followed them, doing his best to stay hidden.

 

The moment the odd couple blew open the wall, Pan was sure. They really weren't nice fellows. They seemed strong, and he really should stay hidden, just in case they worked for the Hooked Man, but he just couldn't help himself. The last week had been boring, and he needed this. Wasting little time, he materialized his red and green uniform and took off from the ground. 

 

It felt good to fly again, even if only for a short move, moving to get above and behind them. He heard the pair introduce themselves. So that's how you do it in Freedom City. Brilliant! With a loud shout to get their attention, Pan called out. What better name to use for himself than what they had called him back on Neverworld? "And I am Forever Boy! Here to save the day from fowls and fools!" He clenched his right hand and used it to beat on his chest once, the grin on his lips only growing. He had missed this. Directing his mind wave towards the Electrum Eagle and Platinum Porpoise while speaking, Pan did his best to try and confuse them a bit, maybe to give some of the other people in here a chance to get away.

[Thevshi]

Veronica Danger

 

Veronica Danger had only been in Freedom City a little over a week as she prepared to begin the school year at Claremont Academy when Danger International had tasked her with assisting A.S.T.R.O. Labs with a project for a dimensional conduit pro-type.  If the sixteen year old girl was fazed at being put into the position of offering advice to the collection of scientists, AEGIS agents and others that had been brought in to assist in the project, she did not show it.    

 

Years of traveling and exploring the world with her parents had instilled a considerable amount of self-confidence in the teenager.  And while her new abilities to detect and analyze magic were still rather new to her, they felt almost natural to her.  So, while the work was being done, she offered what advice and guidance she could, even as she studied the equipment with a keen interest.

 

Veronica was dressed in a pair of green cargo shorts, with a black T-shirt over which she wore an unbuttoned short sleeve khaki shirt.  On her feet were a pair of tick socks and well broken in hiking boots.  Around her wrists she had a number of small chain bracelets, each of which had several small charm like trinkets hanging from it.  As for the bronze colored amulet she was rarely without, that was underneath her T-shirt.

 

For awhile, it had seemed that the day would just be a routine testing of the DR conduit, however, that changed quickly as one of the walls exploded and two costumed individuals made their way inside, clearly intent on the DR.  A surge of adrenaline came over Veronica at the appearance of the two costumed criminals, but having been in more than a few tense situations during her travels, she avoided panicking as she quickly pulled a small silver chain from one of her pockets and selecting a few of the trinkets off her bracelets which she then attached to the new chain, interconnecting the faint magic in each trinket as she did so, making something stronger than its individual parts.

 

As she did so, she spoke to the group ASTRO lab technicians near her, a slight French accent detectable in her speech.  "Head for the safest emergency exit and clear the nearby areas."

[Exaccus]

It had been an odd set of circumstances that had seen him brought on to help with the various materials in the ASTRO labs, startling even, though not unpleasent, getting to work with the pre-eminent science division, the company that had worked with the centurion himself to deal with the various crisises the world had faced, was quite a benchmark!

 

Alex just wished it had been a bit more pomp and grandeury, a formal request or something, rather than a friend of a contact of a friends contact of a friend asking for favours...favours he was only to happy to do of course, This Door thingy they were building was wicked cool, far beyond his ability to understand the science by dint of academic know how but he'd helped move around the various unstable and hazardous materials through rather cunning use of his gifts, he'd been several things today, many he'd never even heard of and some too valuable for him to attain by other means, those experiences alone were more than payment enough...not that he was gonna let this be a freebie mind.

 

So here he was in his first draft of a costume, red hard hat,, high visability vest, mirrored shades, denim jeans steel toecap boots and cotton shirt with a (currently empty to avoid sparking or disrupting sensitive equipment) Tool belt around his waist doing his bit!

 

He'd just finished sliding the last of the power cells (filled with some glowy whatchamacallsit or other) into the Doors base when the kerfuffle began.

 

Gotta love living in freedom city....weird malarky capital of planet earth.

 

he remained quiet for now (well mostly...their names were rather silly and had caught him off guard but he'd kept it to a snort) and watched, there seemed to be others on the case, surely it was rude to just...jump in and steal a case from someone, That AEGIS guy and the Danger kid too...but hell if he was gonna sit something like this out!

The lab was filled with many tempting options...the various chemicals and materials, the devices that the intruders weilded...the glitter the flying guy had thrown at them or whatever it was but ultimately his instincts won out and he reached slowly for the Door itself.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Exaccus

[Supercape]

Echohead...

 

"Umm...I'm s..s...s...sure there is no alarm to be reasoned!" bablled Echohead, quite unusure of the situation. 

 

Well, these two fellows popping in through a dimensional door certainly looked like something one should be alarmed about. And, he thought, probably two fellows you could reason with. 

 

Thank goodness there was an AEGIS agent there!

 

Wait!

 

He was the AEGIS agent!

 

Well, thank good ness there was some superheroes there!

 

WAIT!

 

He was a superhero!

 

Well, best get on with it then, he supposed. 

 

"State your peace. We come in purpose!" he said, more dramatically. 

[Ari]

GM

 

The scientists around Veronica, shaken and shuddering at the sudden invasion, didn't have to be told twice. A few whispers in radios and the team began to move, one of them mouthing I'LL MAKE SURE PRUDENCE STAYS CLEAR

 

Luckily, the people of A.S.T.R.O. Labs weren't greenhorns when it came to super-powered punch-ups. The few left standing by Eagle's shockwave quickly set to work pulling the others discretely out of Porpoise's blanket of shadow, thankfully the alien was too distracted to press the issue. Alex heard whispered orders from the foreman as the support staff began very quickly and quietly helping get everyone out of the room. Fortunately for Alex, routine and surprise had shaken him pretty clear out of anyone's mind, and he was overlooked in the hurried shuffle out of the busted lab(at least this time it wasn't the main staff's fault!).

 

The DR was warm to the touch, thrumming with power, and it practically danced with potential. Just a brush of the fingers and Alex could feel change coming over him, spongy flesh and stiff bone shifting to supradense metal and searing cosmic power. The question was if he could control it...

 

Pan's mind-dart connected, lashing through the psi-shells of the destructive duo. For a moment,  both of them stared up at the boy, eyes losing focus, moments from sensory revolt...but something soft and oily brushed by Pan's heart, and the two recovered in a splintered second, the darkness rushing from corners and hidden places, forming great claws veined in purple and glimmering with evil stars. With hideous speed and grace the claws lashed out at Pan, trying to grab him and drag the Forever Boy to Earth!

 

"We're here for your worldwalker toy, Terresi! Stand down and you won't get hurt!" Electrum Eagle barked at Echohead, putting a spin and a curse on his sleek  shadow talons, slicing the air harmlessly a handsbreadth from his quarry. "Pinions and down, Platty, you doffy fish, I thought Curium Cat said this wouldn't be guarded!"

 

"Oh, I don't think it is!" Platinum Porpoise leapt and dove gracefully into the seething mass of darkness writhing across the floor, emerging with a laugh in a column of grasping black ooze that swept the air precisely where Pan had been two seconds prior. Landing with a splash and a disappointed look, the piscene alien tapped his chin, golden eyes narrowing. "In fact, I think this kid is all the fight we'll get. Be a dear and make yourself scarce, Rummy, I've got a surprise for our little gatekeeper."

 

Seething, Electrum Eagle spread his wings and all but hurled himself across the room, soaring behind the towering arch of the DR and its scaffolds in a lightning-fast arc. Peering through the metal tangle at Pan, he didn't deign to notice the humans nearby, most of whom scurried that much quicker for the door!

 

With a broad, cat-like smile, Platinum Porpoise vanished, fading into the summoned darkness rolling and seeping through the room.

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Oh dear oh my!"

 

Echohead reached inside his rather stylish black clothes (woven with impervium) and pulled out his rather stylish snub nosed energy pistol. 

 

"Ill shoot you, you know!" he said, remembering some action movies of his youth and wondering if he could be a hero. 

 

Wait! That little toy was just a back-up!

 

Instead, he flexed his mighty cortex and went a-theivin'. His psionic powers tickled the Eagle's brain and found the motor cortex. Excellent! Something to steal! Putting his mind to work, he started exerting his will against the Eagle's...trying to remove motor functions...

 

"This will clip your wings!" he said, full of hope. 

[Exaccus]

Alex felt a bit of trepidation edge his eagerness, the DR was clearly going to be one of if not the most powerful thing he'd ever used his powers to mimic, small blessing it was that it was a solid object the easiest thing for him to manage mentally...but a quick glance around him told him what he already knew, things were heating up, the AEGIS guy and the Flying man were squaring up and the Danger international representative was doing something.

 

It would be foolish to get caught in this crossfire without absorbing somethings properties and the door was easily the most advanced item in the room...his intuitive ability to understand his forms abilities should help him cross the gap of understanding too so holding his breath he went for broke, placing his hand against the cool hard metal of his surface and let his molecules make the change to match.

 

Now made mostly of shining Supradense Alloy the most striking feature of the form was without a doubt the fact his head and torso were composed of roiling dimensional energies contained by thick metal arches that joined the tops of his shoulders to his back

 

He felt his brain aching with surging information but pressed through the searing brain ache and stumbled a little clumsily around the other side of the Door to present himself before the assembled costume cabaret coughing to get their attention

 

"I am Facsimile of earth and I...am burdened with glorious porpoise!"

 

Not his best one liner but a clear announcement of his intention as he clumsily launched a bolt of roiling purple energies twisting through the dimensions and spatial axis to bear down on Platinum Porpoise from above

[Ari]

GM

 

Electrum Eagle fell like a puppet with cut strings, his great dark wings evaporting into nothing, the powerful warrior slumping to the ground, blood-red hair spilling in what looked uncannily like a pool of the stuff. At least to Echohead.

 

Limbs spasming, the alien invader leveled an accusing, almost betrayed look at his feller. "B'ckst'bb'r," he groused, rigid face not letting him shape vowels , "g't yuh f'rst." From the sudden tension in his hands, like he was trying to form claws, the agent got the idea he didn't mean 'get' in that last bit.

 

By now, A.S.T.R.O. Labs was in full alert, the heroes could hear people running, yelling, alarms blaring...

 

Why hadn't the alarm gone off in this room? A question for later.

 

Meanwhile, Alex was discovering a little flaw in his seemingly flawless plan. As the exotic materials shifted and the energy that bound dimensions was channeled to open a gate into the depths of Hel's frozen empire, something happened. It wasn't anything anyone in that room could have likely put a proper name to, like a channel had been cut for a stream but a flash flood had gotten there first, raging through the open gate in a howling torrent of all-shrouding oblivion! Alex slammed the gate shut as soon as he could, but it was too late. 

 

Into the room had poured a monstrous, lashing thing, like a snake as a compass' circle is like a star, careening, limbs flailing, outraged shrieks ringing in the air! 

 

But at least the trajectory was solid, even if it didn't seem to hit anything. It slammed into the carpet of seeping shadows in a torrent of life-consuming night that would have done some serious damage if anything had been standing there, rebounding off to circle around the room, the walls echoing with its booming voice!

[RocketLord]

Oh, they did not like that! 
Grasping purple claws struck from the shadows around him, trying to take hold of him. To ground him. Twisting himself forward in a spin, Pan barely avoided the grasping claws. Despite the danger a grin still played over his lips as the claws grasped at the glimmering glow left in his wake. 
It seemed like others had started to get in on the action too. A rather ugly bald man seemed to be confronting the Electrum Eagle, and the people around them had started running. That was good, at least. And the man that announced himself as Facsimile? Now he just looked cool! He attacked something, probably the Platinum Porpoise. And then the monster appears, twisting and turning and screaming and shrieking and flailing. For just a brief second, Pan froze while looking at it, then his grin returned. He could work with that thing.
He swooped further above it while calling out to the Platinum Porpoise. "Hey, Fishie, where did you go? Did you take a seat yourself or something? Come out and play before someones tries to hook you!"

[Thevshi]

Veronica Danger

 

Veronica muttered something in Turkish under her breath as she hastened to try to finish building a spell to protect the scientists and possibly the Door if she could.  As she endeavored to finish the spell, the AEGIS agent and Facsimile both had already gone into action, trading attacks with the two costumed criminals, one of whom had moved over near the Door.  They were joined by what appeared to be a teenage boy in a rather outlandish costume who was darting about the room, making quips at the criminals as he went.

 

But even as she finished her spell, before she could activate it, something emerged from the Door, some flailing, thing that flew across the room and landed away from any of the room's occupants. 

 

Deciding that the others present would have to deal with the costumed criminals, Veronica focused her gaze at the thing from the gate.  Slipping the small silver chain that now had four charms attached onto one wrist, the teenager's hands began to glow with faint mystical power of a slightly greenish hue.  Raising her hands up, she gestured towards the creature and then back toward the space near where the ASTRO Lab scientists had gathered as they began to clear the room.  Walls of green mystical energy began to form, seeking to create a wide dome around the creature from the gate and another forming a wall between the scientists and any of the combatants.

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Uh...uh...Everybody please proceed exitly to the calm! We have got this under-contolled!" proclaimed Echohead in his normal quasi-bold way. 

 

He waved his gun vaguely at the EXIT sign and tried not to discharge it. 

 

Got him! he thought proudly, the winged antagonist down, having quite forgotten how to move muscles. 

 

And now...he turned his attention to the platinum person. 

 

Wait!

 

He couldn't see! Darkness consumed the air! Which meant he could not steal any thoughts!

 

"Its too dark!" he wailed to everybody. 

 

He took a few steps to the side, taking cover behind one piece of expensive laboratory equipment not as expensive as my life! and aimed his blaster and the swirling darkness...if he got a shot, he would take it!

[Ari]

GM

 

As the jade prison encircled its inchoate prey, the creature realized suddenly what was happening. With a shuddering wail it launched for a swiftly-sealing gap, only to collide with a BANG against a wall with no gaps, leaks or weaknesses. Like a jelly, the shadow thing splashed and spread, soon covering the interior of the trap, which began to rock and shudder as the oily monster set to the task of tearing free with main force.

 

Electrum Eagle glared after Echohead, openly incensed that after being taken down his opponent didn't even consider him worth finishing off.

 

Meanwhile, in response to Forever Boy's taunt, there was initially dead-silence, and then, very rapidly, many words in quick succession from the lurking Platinum Porpoise.

 

"Fishie? Look, Forever Boy, I don't mean to be rude, but you really ought to consider this when you insult someone: is what you say actually true, and is it something that they are likely to care about? See, Piscean Lor, while not a true minority in civilized space, is often overshadowed on the system scale by either our immediate astro-political neighbors or else the dominant local inhabitants. There is no such thing as a 'Piscean' world, we share all of our territory with other sapient life. Thus, we are more than able to ignore such mild slights as 'you resemble sub-sapient wildlife' or 'you have fins or other non-mammalian feature'. It just doesn't have the right kind of tone, you need..."

 

They weren't likely to stop any time soon.

[Exaccus]

Alex was glad of the distraction, the lull in action gave him a moment to get his bearings on the doors capabiliies and the nature of the powers he'd assimilated he felt out and tugged at the dimensional darkness.

 

When it moved ever so slightly he got an idea and pulled all the harder, ripping away the shadows and sending them spiraling into himself pulling it away like a skein.

 

"I hate being ignored!" He teased with a shrug as he rose into the air

[Ari]

GM

 

The roiling, eerie power of the Shadow World sizzled and evaporated as the anchorline broke. Like a receding wave the darkness fled soundlessly into the natural shade of the A.S.T.R.O. Labs' laboratory, taking with it the shroud wrapped around Platinum Porpoise. The alien was busily engaged in their running lecture.

 

"...which informed the creation of the Three-Tier-Society, the alliance of kailur, hexxim and Piscean Lor as equal partners in the colonization and development of oceanic worlds. This ended the Age of Blood, of which our historians still weep. Follow this..." 

 

He was deeply engrossed, defiantly unconcerned with the blaster fire ripping past his head, and didn't even seem to realize his protective screen had failed. 

 

But his partner, spotting the attention being drawn to Porpoise, lunged awkwardly to his feet and raised his guantleted arms towards the roof. With a sonorous voice that hissed and roared, the alien began an incantation in a tongue nobody present understood. The armbands glowed with something darker than black as energy began to swirl and seethe around the DR arch and platform, light and warmth seeping away as the barrier between planes was torn agonizingly asunder!

Edited September 4, 2018 by Ari

[RocketLord]

A part of Pan regretted taunting the fish. Just a tiny bit. Not because of the fish getting worked out, but just because he was so boring. He's not sure what he had expected, but usually people just cursed at him or shot at him or something. This was much worse than being shot at. The darkness all around them just disappeared, with Facsimile just pulling all of it into himself. Pan paused for a moment in mid-air and just stared at him. "Cool." He should have stopped hiding much sooner. This was great. 

Still, Pan caught movement out the corner of his eye. The other bad guy, the bird one, he starts moving and talking, almost a song of hisses and roars. The glowing armbands and swirling energy going around the arch didn't seem like a good thing either. "Hey Birdie! We're not done playing!" Golden energy glowed in his hands, shimmering like the trail he behind him. Wasting no time, Pan threw it towards the Electrum Eagle, where it would expand into glowing rings to hold him in place if it made contact.

[Thevshi]

Veronica Danger

 

Veronica gave a slight smile as her barrier of mystical energy managed to trap the unusual creature that had emerged from the gate.  She briefly held her breath as it began slamming itself into the barrier, but the mystical energy managed to hold, at least for the moment.

 

She turned slightly away from the prison she had formed, even as she continued to maintain it, to shout out some warning to the other heroes present, when she saw one of the alien’s preparing to snatch away the DR through some sort of cosmic gateway of his own creation.

"I have this thing contained for the moment, but we need to stop him before he makes off with the gate or we have no way to send it back to where it came from!"  She shouted as she pointed toward the Platinum Porpoise.

[Ari]

GM

 

His focus fixed on the cosmic powers he was weaving to his will, Electrum Eagle let out a strangled "B'gak!" as the arcing bands of light snapped around his arms, face and legs, the impact taking him clear off his feet for the second time that day and dumping the alien invader unceremoniously on his face.

 

Startled out of his lecture, Platinum Porpoise turned to see his comrade held fast and rounded furiously on Pan. "Boscha! You'll suffer for that!" to Eagle they hollered "Don't worry, El, once we get Lord Lhar's gate back from these thieves, we'll get even with these savages!"

 

Meanwhile, seemingly as soon as Veronica turned her eyes from the force-cage containing the seething shadow monster, it broke free. The thing suddenly concentrated itself impossibly at the corners of her mystic prison, shattering the thing into sizzling, evaporating fragments as the now-freed behemoth let loose a piercing wail of victory. 

 

Striking at once, the monster sprang from its aerial perch and launched for Facsimile, a hail of blade-like limbs, life-stealing shadow and gnawing flat teeth crashing and slicing at the changing hero.  Luckily, the dimensional flux holding him together served to divert the shadow-thing's attacks, dispatching the onslaught to several other realities. The monster raised a howl of sheer rage and confusion, taking to the air again like a gargantuan, unshapen hawk.

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Oh dear! Fuh-fuh-fiddlesticks!" babbled Echohead, not knowing what to do. He waved his pistol around rather aimlessly, trying to figure out a plan of action. 

 

Then he realised. No action was the worst plan. 

 

Do something! Or Get Eaten!

 

Put in bold terms like that, he was galvinised. 

 

The beast seems nearly mindless! If that's so, I don't need to do much to make it completely mindless!

 

Reaching out through the air with his remarkable mutant brain, he started plucking away at the beasts mental process, although - truth be known - he was rather afraid of what he might find!

[Exaccus]

"aw nice! Solid back up for the win!" he laughed a little from his floating position giving porpoise a wink "Not that you'd know eh? you super crooks are always so lame when it comes to that, we're gonna go have victory fries and shakes after we mop this debris up with your faces." he said before instantly into a swirl of displaced dimensions.

 

In truth he'd just pulled on his Fourth dimensional axis and swung through 3d space like a window, right into the backof platinum porpoise "Though i will say you make the cutest sounds when you get the wind knocked outta you. "b'gawk" is easily in my top 3!" he laughed and the moment porpoise spun to face him pulled a thick strand of that shadow realm stuff that had retreated back into the shadows not moments ago out and into their back with tremendous force.

[Ari]

GM

 

Ageless. Empty. Hungry.

 

The inside of the roiling shadow-creature was even more bizarre than the outside. Echohead could feel something blindly grope past him, some collection of sensory inputs that registered as stabbing hunger, as a world of dancing, taunting lights and stubby things gibbering arcanely. A world where a horrible brilliance lurked everywhere, the Sun peeling away every comforting layer like burning acid.

 

For just a few moments, the AEGIS attache had the dubious honor of seeing the world exactly how the inhabitants of the Shadow-World did.

 

And then, at his plucking, it all collapsed. Inchoate seeking feelers frayed to nothing, half-formed ideas of hunting, rending and feeding evaporated into a sibilant howl of fear, and as the darkness was swept away he heard a clear voice speaking behind him. It was his father's voice.

 

"See you soon."

 

Meanwhile, Platinum Porpoise reacted very unlike the last time he was attacked. Facsimile's transmogrified fist careened into his back and unaccountably stuck fast. Like glue the shadows had met and entwined, absorbing the force of the punch. Turning around, the alien looked at Alex with utter affront in his eyes. 

 

"I defy you," he said as he wound up a punch of his own, fist coalescing with sizzling purple energy, "to say I started it." 

 

Lunging forward the Piscean  slammed their first into the crackle and thrum that was Alex's current head. It connected with a sound like a shattering bell, the forces directed by Platinum Porpoise rounding on their master even as Alex felt them fighting to unravel his body's very connective fabric, an insidious power hurling itself against Facsimile's borrowed energy to consume it from the inside out!

 

The backlash was strong, a dousing ray of purple that blasted the aquatic adapter right in their own face. But as the glare faded a moment later Platinum Porpoise was still standing, not even scuffed.

[RocketLord]

Forever Boy

 

He got him! For a brief moment, a triumphant grin played over Pan's lips, and then the Electrum Eagle broke the golden bonds, sending rapidly disintegrating bits and pieces of them flying all around him. That was far from ideal. It seemed like whatever trick Pan had tried, these two had just been able to shrug it off. Fine, a more direct approach then, at least for the moment. And then Electrum Eagle had started chanting again, not even caring that Pan was there. That was just annoying. Pan pulled his hand back, a glowing ball of golden energy forming in it. "Hey! I'm not done with you, feathers-for-brains!" He threw the golden ball straight for Electrum Eagle, before starting to move to the side. The Porpoise guy was coming closer and he needed to get into a position where he could see them both.

[Ari]

GM

 

The golden ball collided with Electrum Eagle's face, sending him stumbling backwards with a snarl and blue blood spilling from a broken nose. Glaring up at Pan, the avian alien struggled to resume his incantation, the world around the DR once again wavering and becoming faintly unreal.

 

A voice suddenly barked from the duo's bracelets. A crisp, stern voice with a soft accent that curled around the 'r's. "Eagle, Porpoise, report!" 

 

"Almost done!" Porpoise snapped into his bracelet "we'll have that stolen technology back on your ship in a moment, Sri Rojan! The locals-"

 

"Shouldn't be a problem, how were you detected?"

 

Porpoise glanced furiously at Pan "Unaccounted security, Sri Rojan. Don't worry, the Reckoning Hall will be yours again soon." 

[Thevshi]

Veronica

 

Veronica gave a slight yelp as the creature easily smashed free from the mystical cage she had a round it, but she managed to roll away as it rushed to attack her.  Luckily despite his apparent lack of confidence, the AEGIS agent proved able to quickly deal with the creature and subdue it.

 

This allowed the teenage Danger to shift her focus back on the two aliens that had attacked the lab.  Seeing that one was again trying to transport the gate away, she raised one hand which again glowed with green mystical energy as another glowing force field sprang into being, as she tried to trap the alien inside and cutoff his view of the portal, hoping to disrupt his spell.

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

Theft! But of what? And by whom? Something rather cosmic, by the sounds of it!

 

Well, not on his watch!

 

Making sure he stayed under cover, he reached out into the purpoises' head, trying to read his thoughts. As he did, he linked in with the villain's senses. 

 

He was half tempted to let the purpoise go - to see whom was behind this, and why...but for now, he just crept, stealthily, into the brain of the purpoise, drilling down...

 

Who was their master?