ic Backtrack

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Mrs. Doors from inside was just gone. Nothing to track, nothing to see. Just... gone, as Salvo charged through the building to the next target.

 

The one outside, the one that had copied Justice, was not nearly as lucky. The shock went through her, and she dropped straight to the ground. Still, nothing changed. Justice was on the ground. Justice was standing. Who was real, who was not? Salvo would have to make a choice.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

The Justice did not give her an answer. On second thought, given how much electrical output erupted from her armor, Salvo doubted the Justice was capable of making speech. Perhaps the Justice could mumble or slur a word or two but Salvo wouldn't understand her anyway.

 

So Salvo reached for the Justice's arm, missing as the other woman overcame the energy vent at just that instant. Salvo overshot but her sabaton stomped down on the ground hard and she turned darkly at the fake Justice.

 

"Trying to escape? Huh?" Salvo's gears rumbled dangerously. "That's an admission of guilt, imposter. You can barely move, barely speak, so why don't you turn around, put your hands up, and make this easy on all of us?"

 

Salvo steadied her stance, her visor reflecting the fake Justice's face back. Then with a burst of flame from her boots, she lunged forward.

 

"You'll regret it otherwise!"

Edited May 28, 2020 by Zeitgeist Blue

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

Ah, crap. Crap crap crap. Salvo thought that she was the bad guy. And she could barely even move, how could she even try to make Salvo understand that she was wrong and... 

 

She moved! Just ever so slightly, but she moved! It was agony, her entire body still felt numb, but she managed to get out of the way as Salvo tried to grab her and... That just made Salvo determine that there was no way that she wasn't the bad guy. 

 

"Come on! Really?"

 

Hey, she was feeling better. Not nearly as numb as before. She could move, jumping back with her rocket boosts to put some distance between them.

 

"Hey, look at this?" Adjusting the armor, she spread her arms out to the side, small rainbow portals opening all around her, small pieces of armor flying out and attaching to her armor. "You saw me do this before, when I suited up. Do this look a trick that just anyone can do?"

 

This had better work. She really didn't want to fight against Salvo. And not just because of all that weird magic armor she was using.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

On the ground, the other Justice remained immobile. She didn't even stir. The force of Salvo's attack had been more than enough to knock her out cold, to stop her completely in her tracks.

 

For now at least.

 

The question was, where had the other Mrs. Doors gone? Had she left the party, or was she lurking in the shadows, watching the heroes go up against each other? Waiting for the right time to strike?

 

No. That would just be silly. 

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

As the Justice took to the air, Salvo straightened and watched as she protested, performing her suit up sequence. Colors of all kinds were reflected on Salvo's visor and through the portals Salvo could sense vast space beyond each one. Another dimension then, something the Doors-double could have teleported away to. It was a possibility, Salvo noted, if Mars really did steal Justice's technology then Justice's technology was always on the table.

 

"Yes, anyone could." Salvo replied, a twinge of doubt entering her thoughts, but instead of engaging the flying Justice she instead turned away and strode towards the downed Justice.

 

"Mars, if he had stolen Justice's technology could. A psychic could have penetrated my wards, fooling me could. The same could be said of a versatile illusionist. The public knows what Justice can do, superficially at least., and so anyone could copy her tricks" Salvo kept her radar sense on so as to keep tabs on the flying Justice behind her.

 

Then she reached down and hauled the downed Justice on her shoulders, securing the Justice firmly with one arm. She began to pat her captive down, searching for anything that was a gadget or device. "In the heroing business and especially concerning powers, everything is on the table."

 

"I fought a duplicate of the impostor when you left, for example. She could turn invisible, used a weapon that fired huge amounts of electricity, and could teleport or disappear or something else. Possibly she could alter her appearance too. I don't know."

 

With a burst of flame she hovered to the Justice's flying height and turned midair to face the other hero. "All we can do is minimize the possibilities. So tell me something Justice told me in confidence."

Edited June 3, 2020 by Zeitgeist Blue

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

"What? That's not enough?"

 

Man, Salvo was paranoid. And, alright, Robin knew she was probably too trusting, but she wasn't about to just go telling everyone everything. That other Mrs. Doors that Salvo talked about was still out there, so... what could she do?

 

"Alright, alright, let's see if this is good enough for you... and we really need to figure out something in case this happens again..." She held up her hands, though she still had the Justice Buster in her right one. She wasn't about to let go of it right away. "My name's Gregoria Gregovich III, I live on the Moon and my favorite movie is Snow White." This better work, if Salvo remembered her being anything but serious for a while outside.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The Justice over Salvo's shoulder remained silent and immobile. She was simply hanging there, unmoving, but breathing. The attack seemed to have taken a lot out of her.

 

But, she had not been alone, had she? There was another one out there, somewhere. And maybe they hadn't escaped, despite disappearing.

 

Salvo's senses would pick up a humanoid shape standing out there, near some trees. It seemed like it was watching them, but the shape didn't match Mrs. Doors. It was a man, with a weapon in his hand. He was invisible, unmoving, waiting.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

Salvo grinned in her mind's eye, a predatory thing that Justice wouldn't see.

 

"A code word or phrase works just like you did." Salvo paused as her sensors picked someone watching them from the trees, a weapon in his hand.

 

"I mentioned Doors' duplicate and don't look now but there's someone watching us from the trees." Salvo paused as she continued to silently scan the watcher "He's got a weapon in his hand. Invisible. That power matches our the Doors duplicate but not the profile. 'Course, could be a shapeshifter like our friend here."

 

"I'm preoccupied with this so I have an idea. Alright?" Salvo gestured at the Justice slumped across her shoulder "I'll fire at him. You go down there and confirm. Ready?"

 

Then without warning, a wave of electricity coalesced from Salvo's figure, rushing through the air, and slammed down around the figure in the trees. Salvo shrugged.

 

"We'll apologize if I'm wrong."

Edited June 6, 2020 by Zeitgeist Blue

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

Finally! 

 

Keeping herself steady, Justice stood, watched and waited while Salvo spoke. She was paranoid, which, granted, might do Robin some good to be a bit more paranoid, but that just wasn't her. 

 

Robin simply nodded in response to what Salvo was saying. A guy near the trees, alright, she could see him. They'd been jumped a few times already, and these people were shapeshifters, at the very least, so no need to play this safe, but...

 

Salvo let out the electric wave. Justice disappeared, reappearing next to the stunned man, already swinging her rocket hammer. 

 

She hoped they weren't wrong, it'd be awkward to apologize for hitting someone like this.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The man tried to move when the shockwave hit him, and then... he just sort of stood there, lightning crackling around his body.

 

Justice came out of nowhere, swinging her hammer at him. It hit something though, some sort of field that protected him. He was still knocked out of the bushes and into the light in front of Salvo, but not nearly as worse for the wear as he should have been.

 

The man looked fairly normal. Jeans, a grey jacket. He was bald, African American. He still held on to his gun, the exact same make as the ones the two heroes had seen the two Mrs. Doors using.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

 

Salvo lowered herself towards the knocked down man. She hovered above the man, the fake Justice slumped over her shoulder, and she looked down at him. A light smattering of electricity trailed across her armor, ready to be shot at in a moment's notice.

 

He was prone, bruised, zapped, and jostled all in the span of a few seconds but Salvo was not moved. He was a potential threat and both she and Justice had demonstrated that they could dispatch him easily. First Mrs. Doors, then Justice, now this man. Everyone was suspect.

 

"And prove it."

 

Her armor crackled and out rushed the energy, straight at the man.

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

Keep attacking then? Guy was tough, didn't even seem to care about Salvo's lightning this time around. 

 

Moving out from area near the tree, Justice dropped the hammer into a portal, reached into another portal and pulled out her Justice Buster.

 

"Or just, y'know, give up. That works too!"

 

The force setting. A burst of kinetic energy hit the man, but he didn't even seem to flinch. Some kind of force field blocked it.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The man rolled to the side, the energy and the kinetic blast rolling off a force field that appears for just a second over his body.

 

Grabbing his gun with both hands, he raised it. The small pellets rained down over Salvo, sticking to the armor, where they started releasing powerful electric shocks into her systems. Up close, they almost looked like tiny little bees.

 

"Got nothin' to tell ya, man. Yer out here, attackin' heroes! Just cus there's two people dressed up as Justice don't mean ya gotta attack 'em!"

[Zeitgeist Blue]

GM

 

The electric shocks tore into Bellios' systems, momentarily shutting them down, and Salvo found herself tumbling a short distance into the ground below. With a jarring thud, she her faceplate hit the pavement and the fake Justice tumbled from her grip.

 

Salvo growled as she slammed a fist into the ground, fighting the damage the electrical shocks had done to her armor. In her mind's eye, she battled against her systems shutting down en masse, rerouting backup power generators, sending shocks up her servo-dynamos, and bypassing nodes beyond repair. It was dreary work, much of the labor carried by magical code in her systems but it was still something Salvo needed to keep an eye on even as she fought to stand.

 

"I tried to be nice." Sparks flew as flames spouted from he armor in kicks and starts as she tried to get up to a standing position. "But nice never gets you anywhere does it?"

 

She dragged herself to her feet, armor scraping against the pavement, and she turned a baleful gaze towards the man who shot her.

 

"I'll enjoy this."

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

"Like we're gonna fall for that trick twice!" Honestly, Robin felt kind of insulted that the guy was going to try and act like he was coming here to help her (or the other Justice, in the case that he couldn't tell them apart). He was obviously one of the bad guys here, and they were dealing with shapeshifters, so of course one of them would try to look like a regular gay.

 

Throwing herself forward, Robin let go of the Justice Buster, letting it fall into a portal before she threw herself at the man, throwing a punch towards his face, and... he leaned out of the way. Of course he did. These two were way better than they should be. 

 

Honestly, Salvo was starting to sound kind of scary the way she was talking, but on the other hand, she kind of understood why. These two were a pain in the ass!

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Not so fast!" The man leaned back, glaring at Justice as she missed him. His entire shape changed, much like the other had done, until he looked like Justice too! Three Justices, but hopefully Salvo could still keep track! He shifted, folding in and disappeared, reappearing a few feet away and fired, sending the electrifying projectiles raining down over Justice. The shocks rocked through her armor.

 

The first evil Justice quickly rose from her position. Like the other, she seemed to blink out of reality for a moment, then reappeared on the opposite side of Salvo to the other two Justices. She fired quickly, projectiles raining down over Salvo, rocking her once again.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

Salvo couldn't help but growl as another wave of electricity shook through her armor and brought her to her knees. It was just what she needed, three Justices to take care of.

 

Shakily, she fought the electrical damage and rose again, her thrusters working overtime to compensate for her lack of balance. Bending down on one knee, she raised her visor to look at the other Justice with her own eyes. She noted the gadgets they were using, which were different from the real Justice's hammer. That's how she would know who was real and who wasn't.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Zeitgeist Blue

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

It hurt. The lightning shocked through Robin's armor, the shock almost getting through to her, despite the heavy armor. Damn, they were too good with those things. They needed to take that advantage away.

 

So, what could she do? It seemed like Salvo had some kind of navigational system, so it was a long shot that might piss her off, but it was better to give them some smoke cover, wasn't it?

 

Reaching into a Z-Space portal, Justice pulled out a small dark grey ball with a red line running along it and held it out. "See ya!"

 

She tossed it over, right under Salvo. It exploded, a massive smoke cloud exploding from the grenade, instantly covering a massive area all around them.

 

"Get 'em Salvo!"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"What?" The two evil Justice's reacted at exactly the same time as the smoke grenade exploded, covering an area far greater than it really should have been able to do. With the smoke whirling around them, they started shooting blindly at the last positions of the two heroes.

 

For Justice, the shots went wide, giving her a chance, but the evil Justice that shot at Salvo had more luck, a single shock pellet tagged her... and sent a massive shock through the system.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

As the smoke cloud quickly expands, another shock goes through Salvo's armor, but she powered through the electrical currents. The smoke was pervasive, thick and cloying, and blocked her visual sensors. Yet her radar was able to pierce through Justice's smoke bomb and she saw that the two fake Justice's were firing blind. The real Justice had kept her composure, clearly used to the smoke. Salvo did not know if Justice had radar like her or some other equipment or magic that could pierce the smoke, but she did not particularly care at the moment.

 

They had a fight to finish.

 

"Thanks," Salvo grunted in reply as she got back to her feet. Her own electricity arced through the smoke towards the two Justices. "You deal with them here. I'll keep them guessing."

 

Without barely a sound her jets flared to life, and she rocketed upward, ascending until she reached an altitude of five thousand feet. Then she hovered, her armor making minute adjustments to keep her steady. The night was clear, barely any clouds over the city, and from her position she could see over all of Emerald City and the surrounding area, bordered from all sides by the Atlas mountain range. Mount Stanley towered over all, even her at this height.

 

Below her, she could see the three Justices where she had left. The two fake ones still firing wildly, possibly unaware she was gone.

 

It was target practice.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Zeitgeist Blue

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

Robin moved forward, dancing around the second evil Justice. Why did they have to look like her? She was sure this was therapeutic for some people, but she honestly didn't need that. No issues like that, right?

 

They were firing wildly, couldn't really see anything, but her goggles were active, looking straight through the smoke. She could handle this. The bad guys couldn't. So, they weren't copying her armor, just the look. Good to know.

 

"So, who are you? And who sent you?"

 

A punch, powered by the armor's engines, but it just struck against the bad guy's force field. So, high tech, or powers? Probably tech, but something more.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"The hell!?" The second evil Justice, the one near the not evil Justice, cursed loudly at the smoke, as Salvo's lightning struck the area all around them, but missing the pair. "Get' em! Come on!" He fired wildly into the smoke, far from hitting Justice.

 

The other seemed less confident, even as she fired into the smoke. "We gotta get out of here. Can't even see what we're fighting! Come on!" The pellets didn't even come close to catching Salvo.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Salvo

 

Five hundred pounds of multi-dimensional solids coalesced into an inch thick rod and Salvo struck out her arms, feeling the parafey energies manifest through the Bellios' systems. Such a weapon from her height and fired at terminal breaking velocities could easily maim or kill someone.

 

She didn't want to kill anyone.

 

When the lance of solid steel left her palms, her Ahgrazul-Faux simulations had peaked, allocating mind space for external factors and guiding her aim towards the location of minimal harm. A nanometer's deviation would be fatal for her target, but the lance cut true down the evening sky. It sliced through the Justice's forceshield, ramming at an angle such that the concussive waves were bent and contained inside the forcefield. Inside, the fake Justice's vision and hearing was be seared from this plane and he would see and hear Nothing.

 

But the world outside was unharmed in anyway. The real Justive would have perceived nothing more than a bright flash and a pop, like a firecracker.

 

From five thousand feet in the air, Salvo regarded her work as a success though the fake Justice still stood.

 

She did not kill the man.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Zeitgeist Blue

[RocketLord]

Justice

 

Robin had guessed that Salvo's armor was some kind of magic, but that rod that just came bearing down, punching straight through the bad guy's force field with enough to just completely stop him in his tracks... and then it just lookedl ike a firecracker went off.

 

What the hell was that?

 

No time to think about it right now. Robin had to act. Use the advantage that Salvo had given her. She leapt at him, stretching a leg out in mid-air and delivered a flying kick to his face that sent him down, landing hard on the ground. She wasn't about to take credit for this one her own, but still... she called out!

 

"Hey! We put down your friend, we're gonna get you too if you keep fighting! Give up now and hand over whatever you stole!"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The second evil Justice, the one that had been a man just before, fell hard to the ground... and the first of them suddenly didn't look very happy to be fighting against two super heroes all on her own. She raised her gun, pointing it to the sky instead of anywhere specific.

 

"Alright, alright! Just... just stop and hitting me, alright?" She sounded nervous, panicking even. "Look, I'll just leave the loot behind, then you can just let me go, alright? Deal? Cops are gonna be here soon with all this noise, and I bet you don't wanna talk to them either, right? Right?" She didn't sound entirely convinced at that last bit, but she had at least produced an USB key that she was waving around.