ic (OMTB) Once More To The Boards

[KnightDisciple]

William Cline was mostly out on the West Coast these days, having graduated fully and entered the workforce. He had a steady girlfriend, one who he'd introduced to his family, and the full breadth of his life, not too long ago. He was often genuinely busy now, instead of the "busy" of a teenager or college student who was too "cool" to be with his parents much. 

 

But when his father sent him the text, Will knew things were serious enough he suited up to make the run back. When he was a few dozen miles outside of the city, he felt the sudden distress of his mother over the background psychic link he'd opened himself to. He immediately pushed every ounce of power he could into running fast. He might not be the fastest person on Earth but he was beginning to enter the same league as those individuals. 

 

So it should not have been a surprise to his parents and the other two heroes when Thoughtspeed skidded to a halt in a half-spin, ending up perfectly in front of his mother with twin humming blades of crackling green-black light casting eerie reflections off of his black helmet.

 

"A melodramatic robot for me to beat up? How'd you know I needed some stress relief? You shouldn't have!"

[Electra]

"Well we won't get our deposit back on that," Paige observed dryly as the office building went up in flames. She ignored the pang of lost footage and equipment, trivial in comparison to the fact that all the people had gotten out alive. The headache that psychic visions gave her was more than worth it just for that. Even now their crew was back at work, David manning the camera he'd brought along despite Paige's insistence and several of the others filming with their phones. Kelsey had one arm firmly wrapped around Vivi's shoulders to keep the intern from falling apart during their first big villain encounter.

 

She turned her attention back to the fight just in time to see her son arriving, bold and loud as his father in his prime, and couldn't help the smile. "Can't you just use a sand ball like a regular person?" she asked, the question obviously rhetorical. "Our investigation appears to have cracked wide open, along with our building." 

[RocketLord]

Talos. This was Talos. Freaking Talos. Hovering above them, destroying the building they were in moments before, proclaiming his superiority over them and everything else. 

 

Connor just stared up at Talos' hovering form, barely even noticing the Clines' kid rushing in to help them. He reached up for the side of his cowl, pressed a hidden button.

 

"Old man. Looks like we're fighting Talos. Any suggestions?"

 

Bow and arrow agains Talos? He hadn't been any use against the Centurion-bot, and now it was freaking Talos.

 

Alright, fine. He reached for for an arrow.

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's my boy!" said Fast-Forward, beaming with pride. He'd already changed for battle, though of course in his case that didn't involve much of a change in his wardrobe other than unzipping his jacket and running his hands through his hair. He clapped his son on his back, glanced over at the second Archer to realize he wasn't being addressed as "old man", winked at his wife, then went into action. 

 

"Hey Talos!" he called as he ran below, sketching out an arcane pattern with his feet that looked like an X and a half as big around as a small house, then gave it a long tail that ran right up to where the giant robot was hovering. "Sorry buddy but we've already got enough star power here!" He had his mystic text out and was reading from it, sketching out the symbol of the star Sirius underneath the robot's feet faster than the robot could strike back. Richard didn't usually get a chance to use the more offensive mystic powers he'd been practicing over the last few years, not when most super-battles were in the midst of crowded cities, but the big parking lot here and Talos obligingly entering so high above gave him a golden chance. 

 

Sure enough, a moment after he cast the spell a flash of searing white light came tearing out of the clear blue sky and caught Talos right in the middle of it, melting the pavement beneath it from the intense heat! Richard smirked as the dust cleared and everyone's vision returned; then stopped smirking as he caught sight of Talos, looking only slightly the worse for wear, floating there in the sky above them. 

 

Well, $(#$, he thought over the family commlink. 

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica

 

So. Talos. Right. Restraint? Unnecessary. Was Terrifica afraid? Oh, god yes. A sudden Talos appearance, complete with him demonstrating his literal burning desire to kill her and everyone with her held an extremely high pucker factor. However, seeming as crying and wetting herself in mortal terror would be unproductive to say the least, it was time to use the former of the fight or flight response. He was using fire, and she had something for that in her belt. Flipped her fiber armor to a fireproof (at least as far as outright damage was concerned; more exotic effects would not be blocked) configuration. She should probably name it, but this was the first use since testing finished. Oh, well. Now fireproof, she activated a function of the Terrifi-Staff she rarely used. Honestly, it was a man portable railgun. There simply wasn’t much call for it in normal costumed detective operations. But against Talos? The magnetic coils hummed, she aimed, a tiny chunk of crude iron was sliced off the piece inside by a microlaser, and the coils accelerated it to hypersonic speed in under a second. The sonic boom and sound of impact would be instanteous…to anyone without a fast enough perceptions like Terrifica and perhaps the two speedsters present. It…did not do as much damage as she hoped, but this was Talos, after all. “Honestly, you’re Talos? I was expecting someone taller.” She could quip, too.

[RocketLord]

Electricity, EMPs or magnets? Yeah, alright. Connor had made a stop back to the HQ to pick up some arrow heads, just in case they ran into another 'bot.

 

Freaking Talos, was not the 'bot he had expected to go up against. Why was he even here? Why not use some henchmen or something?

 

Fast-Forward and Terrifica were already leaping into action, blasting at him with everything they got, throwing quips like they would hurt him.

 

Archer picked his arrows and let them fly, a trio of EMP arrows all heading directly towards Talos. 

 

No quip. He had to focus.

[KnightDisciple]

Thoughtspeed considered the situation for several moments, then grit his teeth. He hated flying opponents, so much. 

 

"Here goes nothing!"

 

With that he became a blur, running in circles around the parking lot. A few moments later, the green-black blur that marked his presence swung wide, then launched into the air. He bled enough speed that his form became distinct once more, and a single long, thin blade reached out to tag Talos in the side. Sadly, while the blade itself struck true, it seem to simply scrape off of the flying robot's armored plates, and Thoughtspeed had to hit the ground running as he frantically thought through how to adjust his plan...

[Electra]

Paige had been at enough super-battles to recognize when one wasn't going well. Their early attacks hadn't seemed to do much more than bother the villain, and the area was still full of vulnerable civilians. Worse, the area was still full of Paige's family, both by blood and by long friendship. She could see the robotic menace turning his attention here and there, selecting a target. "You leave them alone," she hissed, her eyes bleeding to inky blackness as dark smoke ribbons began to drip from her fingers. Dangerous waters here, but she knew what she was doing. Probably. Yards away from the villain, the silent air began stirring, forming itself into a swirl, then a twister, then an unnaturally compressed ball. It shot forward through the air, impacting Talos in the center of the throat, hard enough to knock the enormous robot backwards and ensure it wasn't concentrating on anyone for a moment. 

 

"Get back!" Paige called to everyone. "Get at least a block away, we don't know what it's got!"