ic Ghosts and Knights

[RocketLord]

GM

 

February 25th, 2020, 10:00 AM

Claremont Academy, Sub-Level Four, Combat Simulator

 

"Alright, listen up. I know that you got some experience from your old school, O'Brian, so you've been chosen to help show Winters the ropes, but no funny business. Got it?" 

 

A tall man with brown hair and a crew cut was barking orders at the two students in the Combat Simulator. The gym teacher, Mr. Travis Armstrong, was barking orders with the best of them. He had also made it clear on multiple occasions that he was watching Max, not entirely confident in her change of heart and her shifting from her old school. Still, he had told her that this was him showing her some trust by letting her take part in this exercise.  The teacher stood behind the safety glass in t control booth, a confident smile on his lips as he looked down on the currently bare room.

 

"With that out of the way, let's start with a warm up."

 

His fingers danced over the keyboard and controls, gettingeverything ready.

 

The entire area around them changed, blinking for a second, then the pair found themselves standing in the middle of a random city. It didn't seem to correspond to anywhere in Freedom City in particular, more a mish mash of parts. They were alone, no cars, no people. Not until a group of four masked men with guns appeared before them.

 

"Alright, go get 'em!"

Edited February 25, 2020 by RocketLord

[Wyverntamer]

"Nice to meet you, I am Ivy Winters." A simple greeting towards the one who was supposed to help her get a feeling for what was going on while she put her armour on. It was no big deal and could be used to make a good impression on the girl.

 

Listening to the gym teacher's speech, she felt quite wary though. Apparently O'Brian had some experience with the actual superhero scene. At least O'Brian would have experience on her side, as everything was unknown to herself.

 

"What is going to happen during this warm up?" The question, more asked of herself than of either of the others. The question was quickly answered, as the world around her changed and began resembling some sort of city, though not one she had ever visited (it didn't look like Freedom City, in other words).

 

Looking around, her attention was captured once more as a group of four masked men appeared before them.

 

Her first reaction upon seeing the men was to get ready to create a wall between her and the men, hoping to cut their line of sight of from her and O'Brian, maybe they wouldn't shoot through a thick wall that suddenly appeared before them.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Wyverntamer

[Darksider42]

Slumped shoulders, a roll of the eyes and an irritated groan. "Yeah Mr Armstrong, I got it the last, like five times." Maxine replied to the booming voice from the speakers. Irritation and doubt started to creep in, but she just straightened up and nodded to Ivy. "Hello, Max." She added to her with a slight smile and a wave.

 

With the announcement things were moving forward, Spectre started bouncing from one foot to the next. "Dunno. Could be obstacle course, fake death traps. Or-" Her observations were interrupted by the change in reality, the empty expanse of the room replaced by the facsimile of a city not unlike Freedom. And then the gun wielding mooks that came with it. "-Mook Punchin'" 

She crouched low in a runners stance and looked like she was about to move and then turned transparent, frozen in time. Ahead among the virtual goons the Teleporting Teen appeared just above one of them, spinning in the air to give one of them a roundhouse kick to the back of their head..

Edited February 26, 2020 by Darksider42

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Armstrong shook his head. "Just keep pushin', O'Brian..."

 

Down in the simulator, one of the hard light construct criminals looked up just in time to see that Max had disappeared, and then he was hit in the back of the head with the kick. He stumbled forward, falling to the floor where he stopped moving. 

 

"Points for effectivity, O'Brian, but turn down the brutality a bit."

 

All three remaining criminals raised their handguns and started shooting, even if they did little to move out of the way. Not that their bullets hit anything, going wide and flying all over the place.

[Wyverntamer]

Well, Max seemed to be nice, though why there was a rift between the teacher and her, Ivy could only guess.

 

Spectre's first act was to teleport behind a goon, which made Ivy decide to not create a wall, she didn't want to loose sight of her partner for this exercise. Seeing the goon go down by an attack by Spectre was nice, seeing the remaining goons fire at herself and Spectre was less so.

 

"Hah! You are trying to go against us?" False confidence was nice to maybe intimidate them, but it was more for herself than for them.

 

With a gesture, she tore some of the earth out of the ground in front of the crooks, before launching it at them. "Earth, assist me."

Edited February 26, 2020 by Wyverntamer

[RocketLord]

GM

 

That was all it took. The earth rising and smashing against all the crooks and they fell, all four disappearing, dissolving into small cubes before simply fading away.

 

"Great job. Taking them all out in one hit, that's great." Armstrong did sound genuinely impressed, while he adjusted a dial and pressed some other buttons. "But let's see how you two deal with someone that's not such a pushover, yeah?"

 

A large, imposing figure faded in, building up from small cubes, before taking on color. A massive, dark grey armored man, standing about 8 feet tall. The armor itself was featureless, aside from a red slit where the man's eyes would be.

 

Immediately, the new enemy set to work, rushing towards Ivy and throwing a punch that went wide. More powerful? Maybe. Better hitter? Not so far.

[Darksider42]

Spectre looked rather nonplussed at the reaction she got out of Armstrong. That was brutal? What the hell does half this school do in these sims then? She shrugged a bit and gave Ivy a thumbs up when the remaining goons were reduced to pixels. "Nice one." She would ruminated on the Coaches favouritism later on.

 

Max took a step back from the armoured juggernaut, a hint of worry came across when the thing rushed Ivy... And then laughter and pointing at him the moment he missed. "Oh wow. Seems like the sort of guy that would try and hit the ground and miss anyway." 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Darksider42

[Wyverntamer]

So that is what gets praise? Efficiency? Well, at least it will be clear when I deserve it. And why would he comment on Max's takedown? Not like mine was better. Shaking her head, she looks to the villain that appeared. He cuts an intimidating presence... Which looses most of it when he then misses his first hit.

 

The taunt Spectre throws out works, so Knight of Earth moves a clump of earth to shoot at him from the side. Unfortunately it looses its integrity before hitting him, transforming into nothing more than loose earth that falls to the ground, instead of an actual blast of earth.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Wyverntamer
Typo

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Armstrong smirked from his location and turned a dial, get the right reaction from a big guy like this. 

 

The large armored figure made a growling sound, not really saying anything, but clearly annoyed at Spectre. Still, with the dirt and earth raining down on him from the other side, his target was clear. Rushing forward, through dirt and dust, he threw a punch aimed directly at the Knight's guts.

[Darksider42]

Spectre frowned when the virtual villain struck Ivy instead of her. Her banter not enough to attract Armstrongs Pawns attention? Or is he picking on the new girl? The look of concern grew when the fist connected on Knights stomach. She took a deep breath and focused.

 

The metaphorical mask back on and smirk had formed on her face before teleporting right behind Ivy's attacker. Spectre punched through the simulations body with a fist covered in the telltale blue haze of her dimension shifting blows. "Miss me completely, you must really suck."

[Wyverntamer]

"Oof" Such a direct hit is not what Ivy is used to. Shaking her head and trying to catch her breath, Ivy looks on as Max teleports behind the Villain, ready to punch it.

 

"Really? The one time you didn't miss and you hit the completely new girl?" That is just about what she manages to gasp out.

 

She is still trying to catch her breath when she notices the Villain coming up for another action.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Wyverntamer

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Sorry kids, its all running on an algorithm." Armstrong's voice didn't really sound all that sorry. "This bad boy's going for the biggest target, and guess what? That's the one that's throwing dirt at him. Now, get up Winters. I'm not getting paid to watch you two lay around."

 

He sounded amused, just a little bit. This was clearly not the worst of his jobs. "Gotta be quicker on your feet if you don't want the big bad bot catching you."

 

The big bad bot didn't seem to agree with Armstrong. At least not with Spectre's hand stuck inside it. Its head turned around and it stared down, before stumbling a step forward. Whatever Max had done, it seemed to have scrambled the hard light that made up the construct, the light near the point of impact flickering and switching between cubes, a hole and the appearance of the robot.

 

"Hey, don't go messing with the tech! Ya hear me, O'Brian? This stuff's expensive!"

[Wyverntamer]

As she shook her head, she scowled towards Armstrong. "If you didn't want it destroyed, don't give it to the heroes to beat up."

 

She looked at the bot and grabbed at the ground, feeling a handle grow out of it as she grabbed and pulled it up, it seemed to be a hammer that she swung towards the villain. The hammer just bounced off.

 

"Honestly, I don't feel like I am the most dangerous one here!" She shouted towards Armstrong.

[Darksider42]

"Pfft. Old teachers at least admitted they were psychopaths." She muttered to herself as she took a few steps back from the bot and Ivy. Max rolled her eyes at Armstrong's further complaints. "If it can stand up to rocks and lightning, it can survive being touched by little old me."

When the stone mallet did nothing, Spectre teleported above the seemingly invincible bot and phased right through the metallic menace while scoring a perfect three point landing then immediately kicking the bot the chest that phased right through it. A second later Armstrong's minion tumbled backwards and dissolved into cubes and fading away. 

Max admired her handiwork before glancing back at Ivy. "You OK? Looked like quite a hit" 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Dammit O'Brian, we're supposed to be testing Winters here." Armstrong sounded rather pissed off as the latest minion faded away. "Gotta figure out what she can do, what kind of hits she can take, got it? We can't have you hogging all the spotlight like that! I know that's probably how you did stuff back at your old school, but here we follow orders, got it?"

 

Despite his grumbling, he leaned back in the chair. "Take a moment and catch your breath. Playtime's over, so time to get serious, got it?"

[Wyverntamer]

As she looked on in awe at what the technology was capable of when the villain disappeared, she turned to Max. "Nicely done with that one."

 

"I have the feeling I'm being adequately tested." Ivy winced as she said that.

 

Turning to Max to reply to her question. "I'm okay, just a bit bruised. But what do you expect will come next?" She winced again as she realized the first bit of her reply came out weaker than she intended.

 

"I'm going to be feeling it tomorrow though." As she complains that, she forms a battleaxe from the ground, holding it at ready while looking around.

[Darksider42]

Spectre turned and glared at where Armstrong was observing the whole battleground. "Standing by and letting the coach beat up the new kid? That's how it went down in the old school. You'd fit in well there." She said. Venom and disgust dipped from her voice.

That all said, she went back to Ivy.  "Might wanna check in with the nurse after this. At least get some ice or something on that." Max said with small frown. She cracked her knuckles and glanced around the digital city. "After of course. Dunno what coach is gonna throw after what I did."

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Shut up, O'Brian. Nobody was asking you." Armstrong pulled some more dials, and well, things started happening. The buildings around them started to move and shake, like in an ongoing earthquake. It wouldn't be easy to get around, especially as 4 armed men dressed in black ski masks and military fatigues appeared on top of some lower buildings nearby. All had rifles trained at the two students, all started to shoot. "Let's see how well you do in a crisis situation, then. Its just the earth, should be right up your alley, Winters."

 

The new guys were good. Better than the previous group of thugs, at least. Their rifles seemed to fire some kind of light yellow lasers, which now rained down on the two heroes, a barrage hitting Ivy. 

 

"Damn, Winters! You need to learn how to move out of the way!"

[Wyverntamer]

"I prefer the defence armour gives me." She winced again as it hit her armour, that'd leave a bruise. "Okay, who designed laser that'd give me bruises!?"

 

Trying to move the roofs that the gunners were on gave her no results. "Oh right, hardlight."

 

She slammed her hand down and Earthern walls came between Max, Ivy and the Gunners. "Bloody gunners are making this difficult."

 

Ivy moved from her previous position to the side, so that even if they shot at where she used to be, they'd miss.

[Darksider42]

"You literally were, muscle headed moron." Max muttered under her breath. Was going legitimate going to involve more idiots like Armstrong in the future? The teleporting teen dreaded the thought. Thankfully the change in scenery was enough to distract her.

Soon as the lasers started raining on their position, Maxine had already back flipped away from the spot. Fake super heated light scorching the crumbling pavement beneath hear. She teleported to the top of the recently created wall. "Laser beams? That the best ya idiots got?" She extended one particular digit from her hand before falling backwards and landing next to Ivy. "So, you go a plan?" She said with the air of someone who was not standing in the middle of an apocalypse.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Darksider42

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Shaddup, punk!" Well, the hard light holograms did their best to emulate some actual terrorists, too. 

 

From the control room, Armstrong leaned back in his chair and rolled his eyes, but remained silent. The program was running on auto right now, he had no need to get involved. 

 

From up above, the four enemies continued to rain down fire, laser blasts hitting all over the walls that Ivy had created, doing their best not to give the two heroes a chance to break through.

[Wyverntamer]

Seeing the holes being punched in the wall, Ivy creates another wall in front of it, with enough room on the sides to be sheltered when she walks towards it. "Let's push forward, shall we?"

 

With that exclamation, she hides behind the new wall, closer to the goons she'd have to shoot at when the wall wasn't destroyed. Or provide an opportunity for Max to destroy them, that'd also work.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Wyverntamer

[Darksider42]

Max nodded "You go forward, I'll go around back." She said with a smile before Spectre was nothing more than a fading blue ghost.

And there she was, right behind one of them as her hand punched right through the digital human. "Boo." The figure flickered and distorted before the teleporting teen withdrew her arm from him. 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

From his spot in the control booth, Armstrong didn't even bother to suppress a smile. The holograms might be preprogrammed, but then, they did just as he had hoped.

 

The moment Max had appeared and stuck the first of the men, the rest all turned on her and shot, what seemed to be real bullets flying at her. Two of them might miss, but the last struck true. Even if the bullets were just hard light, it would still hurt.

 

Below, on the ground, Knight of Earth was left to her own devices. Of course, Armstrong wasn't gonna let that sit. "Get up there, Winters! Your teammate's in trouble! Go, go, go!"

[Wyverntamer]

Looking at where Max used to, she turned to the thugs. Then she heard Armstrong shouting the obvious once again, spurring her to action as though she hadn't made that connection herself.

 

Right then, time to mobilize. Cannibalizing the broken wall behind her, Ivy threw the entirety of the wall at the group, splitting it in the air to fire at the four thugs focussing on Max.

 

"Time to learn why you shouldn't take your eyes of your opponents." She said as she fired the rocks at the group, hitting one.

Edited March 29, 2020 by Wyverntamer