ic Through the Paces [IC]

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Its only a leg, after all," said Baltazar. His eyes widened when Lawrence popped the leg back into its socket in the blink of an eye. 

 

"I mean, I'm really fine now, thanks!" he said, giving his leg a wriggle. "I mean, it dosen't even hurt now! Good as new!"

 

He gave a few jumps, testing the limb. It was, apparently, fully healed. 

 

"No kill switch, eh? No problem! Gamma Buzz got this!" he said as the four figures appeared. He cracked his fingers and gave a defiant look. This time, he started glowing green, proper green, like a lantern that glowed green. 

 

"Wait... Fire, Earth, Water, and Mist! Thats the four ancient elements, right? I'm no as stupid as I look. I even remembered their names completely accurately. Invented by the ancient Italians. Or somewhere round there..." he added, waving his hand vaguely, intent on giving the impression that such details were completely irrelevant. 

 

 

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Okay Parker. That's too far.

 

"Thanks for standing up for me, Principal Summers. But there's something I still gotta tell Parker."

 

Consuelo flies right up to the adolescent known as the hero Spaceman, close enough for him to feel her repulsive aura.

 

"You feel that, Parker? Not pleasant, is it? Everyone feels that when they're near me. Everyone. I've had this condition since I was nine years old. Can you even imagine? That's not even the worst. I disintegrate things when I'm not trying to. All the time. You think wetting the need is embarrassing? Try destroying the bed.

 

Despite all that, I've never disintegrated anybody. Not by accident, not on purpose. 

 

You don't know what I go through. You haven't walked a mile in my shoes. You haven't even taken a step. So the next time you want to feel like a big man and criticize someone in front of all their classmates, think about all the things that Parker Powers doesn't know, and keep your big, fat mouth shut!"

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"Holding Back?" She muttered under her breath. "That kick should have knocked that plasma sword woman's block clean off..."

 

The new scene appeared. Torpedo Lass was frustrated but something clicked. "We're gonna have to expect mayhem is the goal of this elemental team..." She said turning to Rot. "Don't worry about before. Some people approach a test with certain expectations... we weren't supposed to hold back... But now things have gotten more complicated. We're gonna need each other to succeed."

 

Turning to the elementals she adjusted the sailor collar of her futuristic wetsuit. "I got some ideas... Rot, your powers could soften up the rock man. I'm guessing his defenses are through the roof. Timeout, you might be able to keep the air elemental in place enough to do something to them. I got the water elemental... I can take the pressure. Spaceman... Buzz... Keep the fire elemental occupied and not attacking civilians. Fire is something that can spread and can cause the most collateral."

She looked over to Spaceman. "At least... that's my assessment."

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

The scene shifts around them, and with nothing to hold onto, Parker lets go. He can't do anything against a Hologram that isn't there anyway.  And then, the new scene, he feels like he has heard about those four elements before. Factor Four? 

 

He doesn't really have time to react to it anyway, before Consuelo flies up to him and unloads. He can feel the pressure from her, pushing at him, an anger burning under his skin, pushing up against him, wanting to explode, to yell at her about how she should do better then, but... No. He won't let it. Because...

 

"You're right. I don't know anything about what you've gone through or what your life has been like. I'm sorry." He is clearly struggling against Consuelo's aura, but his voice is calm, and he does sound truly apologetic. He makes sure to look in her eyes as she speaks, not looking away. "I didn't mean to put you down or criticize you, and I'm sorry that I made you feel like that was what I meant to do." 

 

A breath. Steel himself against that feeling. Show Consuelo that she does not have to feel like she can't get close to him because of her powers.

 

"But you are wrong about me too. I don't know who else principal Summers might mean when she talks about holding back, but I'm one of them. I've destroyed plenty of beds. And walls. And cars. And pretty much anything else. I am always holding back. I don't know what your powers feel like, or what it is like when you let go, but me? I'm constantly struggling to keep things at the right distance, to not push something away, to not flatten the space between atoms and squashing something." Parker sighs and shakes his head. His own experiences doesn't matter here. "But that still doesn't excuse making you feel like that. I promise you that I'll do better." 

 

He waits for a moment, before floating down to Mizuki. "Sorry, you're right. We'll need to work together." Elements. What can he do against them? "I like the plan, but the principal said we need to keep the people safe too. I got pretty much unlimited range, so I can try to run interference to keep them safe, and then help out the rest of you when I can?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence gave Baz a nod as the other teen got back up, fully recovered, but then quickly had his attention drawn to their new opponents and then the confrontation between Consuelo and Parker. For a moment, the blond teen thought of trying to help mediate things, but quickly realized that could very easily be misunderstood as him siding with Parker, and the last thing he wanted to do was make Consuelo believe she was being ganged up on. But thankfully Mizuki tried to turn everyone’s attention back to the task on hand and Parker tried to apologize to Consuelo.

 

So, Lawrence chose to focus back on the task at hand. "That sounds like a good plan Mizuki, although, if I am trying for one, I may as well try for all." He stated as he took a step forward and raised one hand. A distortion pulsed from Lawrence, moving in every direction at once. As the distortion neared one of his teammates, or the holographic civilians, it seemed to wrap around and skip over them before continuing on.

 

As for the four members of Factor Four, the distortion continued straight toward them, but as it approached, somehow three of the holographic villains managed to avoid the temporal effect, slipping past it somehow. The distortion did directly impact with the massive form of Granite, the hulking figure made of rock, but it dissipated over him, seemingly to no effect.

Lawrence lowered his hand slightly, a frown on his face. "Well, that could have gone better."

[Thevshi]

GM

 

As Timeout's temporal attack finished dissipating with no apparent effect, the flaming figure among the four holographic villains flew higher up into the air in the large area above the central courtyard of the mall, leaving a brief trail of flame as he went. Looking down at the gathered teens he focused his attention on Timeout.

"Since you wanted to start things I guess I should take you out first!" He called out as he thrust one of his hands forward and jet of flame shot forward right towards the blond teen. But as it approached, space around Lawrence seemed to distort again slightly as he suddenly stepped to one side, the blast missing him and impacting the tiled floor and blasting chunks loose and leaving a few small flames still flickering on the surface in a few places.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Wheeeee! Its Gamma Buzz, Baby!" screamed Baltazar with a hop, a skip, and a jump!

 

A double backflip through the Danger Room, five dozen feet long, landing on two sprawls legs and a hand to the floor, in the manner that some purely hypothetical Russian secret agent superhero martial artist would do. 

 

"You look as hard as rock!" he said to Granite, the hologram visibly made of rock and more rock and nothing else. 

 

"Well, get a taste of Gamma, baby! You will be pure one hundred percent uranium! The radioactive kind, not the depleted kind you find in shells. Or wait, is that still reactive? do they still use it? Or do they use it but deny it? Like the kids at shcool used to deny using glue on their noses? I can't remember. Anyway, its probably not relevant, is it? What do you know, anyway? You are just a big rock, probably have rock for brains. No wait, you arent event a rock are you, just a simulation of a rock. Anyway, eat Gamma, baby!"

 

Glowing a lurid green, the Cockroach Kid spun and slammed a fist straight at Granite...

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The excitable Gamma Buzz leaps over to the towering figure of Granite, easily hitting the massive target with a powerful punch. *WHAM*

However, it was like hitting a brick wall, literally, and Granite seemed unfazed by the attack. However, as the green glow from Gamma washed over him, Granite seemed to stagger backward slightly, as he also began to faintly glow with the same lurid green as Gamma Buzz.

 

Meanwhile, the female figure seemed almost to vanish from view, the mist surrounding her seeming almost to dissipate before flowing across the courtyard and moving over around Spaceman’s feet. The greenish mist then raised up to surround his head, seemingly pulling the oxygen from the area, as the female figure reformed slightly behind him.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"No plan survives contact with the enemy." Torpedo Lass remembered. Seeing how Pyre had the high ground she needed to change up her positioning rapidly. From up there he could start fires or shoot flame at bystanders. Eliminating such a ranged threat would be what is necessary to reduce the chances of collateral... Looking at how one of their blasts hit, it was obvious how much of a threat they posed.

 

She lept up aiming for the next higher level behind Pyre, and as she went over the Flying, Flaming villain she let loose a kick that had a glow to it around her foot... "You're not out of reach, hot head!"

 

But it was a miss as she landed as intended... What she noticed is that Pyre was putting off some sort of heat wave... could potentially be damaging if she hung around for too long. But she was where she intended to be... for now.

Edited December 6, 2023 by The Sailor

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

This is... not what they had planned. Torpedo Lass' plan had been good, but it seems like Factor Four weren't too keen on letting them follow it. Did the principal do that on purpose?

 

It doesn't matter. Parker doesn't have time to think about it. The gas woman, she's all around him, trying to suffocate him, get in his lungs. He manages to catch a breath before she's there, but he can't keep doing that. He tries throwing a punch, waving her away, but it doesn't matter. No matter what distances he change, he can't touch something like that. He can move away, attacking someone else, but then one of the others will have to deal with it. He can't do that. Principal Summers told them not to hold back. 

 

Fine.

 

Black crackle begins to rise from Spaceman's hands, then his arms, then his entire body. More and more, bigger and bigger. And he reaches forward. Through the distance between dimensions. Breaking the barrier between the 3rd and 4th dimension. 

 

A distorted shadow of a hand looms around Sylph, more crackle rising all around it as it tries to close around her.

 

It is difficult to aim, difficult to control... but alright. He'll do it.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Black dots of special energy began to appear around the amorphous form of Sylph, but even as it did, the ghost like member of Factor Four shifted away from Spaceman's attack, avoiding it, at least for now.

 

Meanwhile, over at the other side of the courtyard, Granite managed to steady himself, looking down at Gamma Buzz as he did. An expression formed on his rocky face that might have been a scowl as he moved forwards toward the teen. "I'm gonna smash you like the bug you are!" The rocky figure yelled as he raised both hands above his head and brought them down towards Gamma.

Thankfully, the nimble teen was able to dodge aside, as the two massive fists struck the tiled floor, smashing a larger crater in it and sending bits of debris flying in all directions.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Consuelo listens to Parker explain that his motives and actions were pure with an unamused look on her face. "Whatever, Parker. 100% you think you're better'n me."

 

When greenish mist surrounded Parker's head and a menacing assailant formed behind him, Consuelo was initially pleased. That's right! Choke that punk out! But then Mizuki's words come back to her. She's right. Seems like she's been in fights like this before. . . .

 

Seeing chaos and violence erupt all around her, Rot thinks back to Mizuki's words about protecting the civilians. Yeah, protect the make-believe people. That makes sense.

 

"Alright! You guys keep whoopin' on these chumps. I'm gonna make sure nothing dangerous gets out of this area and puts people at risk!"

 

Hovering in place, Rot rapidly scans the area for dangers that could escape the immediate zone of combat. Distorted shadowy energy coalesces around her hands, ready to disintegrate anything dangerous.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Huckleberry
pics

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The final member of Factor Four finally went into action, the blueish hued form of Professor Fathom seemed almost to flow over closer to where Granite was engaged with Gamma Buzz. Raising one hand, the watery villain sent a powerful jet of water towards Gamma, but once again the agile insect hero dodged aside without hardly a drop touching him.

However, the jet of water was headed straight towards a group of the holographic civilians still in shock from the sudden outbreak of superpowered combat in the mall. But Rot was ready, directing a blast of the shadowy distortions she had used earlier against Widowmaker and Incendiary which intercepted the jet of water. As the water impacted against the shadowy energy from Rot, it briefly splashed outward, before beginning to flake apart and then disappear completely.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence was watching things unfold around him. As Rot intercepted the wayward water blast from Professor Fathom, the blond teen gave her a small smile. "Good stop Rot." He said before looking back at the various combatants. "Okay, let's try this again." He started as he once again sent out a time distortion that went in all directions, sweeping around his allies and civilians and only targeting the members of Factor Four.

 

Once again, Pyre and Professor Fathom managed to avoid the temporal attack. Sylph was unable to this time, but even as the temporal distortion was about to connect, it seemed to pass harmlessly through her mist like form. Once again Granite was directly hit by the distortion, but once again the massive villain managed to shake off any effect.

 

Giving a small sigh, Lawrence was once again blurred by a time distortion that moved over towards a crowd of civilians in the blink of an eye as the blond teen stepped back into normal time. "Come on everyone, let's head to the exits please!" He called out, gesturing towards the exits to try to get those that had not already begun to depart to do so.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Hovering in the air after Torpedo Lass leapt past, Pyre turns around to face the direction where the teen had landed as he spots her on the upper level. "Okay, I guess you want to be the first to burn then!" He yells out, sending a blast of flame after the teenager.

 

Torpedo Lass was ready for a counter attack, and dodged to one side, the jet of flame flying past her to slam into the display windows of one of the stores, melting a large hole in the window, but otherwise causing no additional collateral damage.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Whoa! And Whoa again!" said Baz, dodging left and right. "Haha! You are no match for my amazing Gamma reflexes, are you, hombres? I can easily dodge your attacks. The attacks that miss, anyway! Hurrah!"

 

With a mighty leap, he flew through the air, doing an impressive cartwheel. 

 

"Up from the floor, gonna give you more, breathing gamma, head in a... ummm... pie, something something something, something cool...aaaaaah!!!!" he yelled-sang. In truth, it was more yell than sang, for Baz was not that great a singer. 

 

Enthusiastic though. 

 

Mid cartwheel, he exhaled a green atomic fire, spewing the light over Fathom and Granite!

Edited December 7, 2023 by Supercape

[Thevshi]

GM

 

After her mist-like form slipped away from Spaceman's attempt to grapple her, Sylph seemed to fade from view even further as the mists seemed to pull back and out of sight. The villainess flew back towards one of the walls of the courtyard, before drifting up the wall and part of the upper level above (across the courtyard from where Torpedo Lass had landed).

 

Once up on the upper levels, Sylph reformed, positioning herself behind one of the support columns for the doomed roof to try to momentarily conceal herself from the teenage heroes.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"You know I want all the smoke, buddy!" Torpedo Lass shouted, using her prodigious leaping skill to do a long-jump like stride, "Let's dance!" she shouted, while throwing at the flaming villain a ball of bluish-green energy. She was more interested in drawing attention now, hoping to get the most potential for destruction focused on a single target. "Or you find it hard to hit a girl in a sailor suit?!"

Edited December 7, 2023 by The Sailor

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

She's there and then... gone! In one moment, Sylph is trying to choke him, the next she is just gone, disappeared and... he can't find her.

 

Sylph is dangerous, she can't be touched, so he looks around and... no, she's just gone. 

 

"Keep your eyes out! The gas girl just disappeared!" he shouts, while he reaches out with all his senses, trying to find her.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Brining one of his thick arms back down after having shielded his face from the green atomic fire from Gamma Buzz, Granite had a clearly angry look on his face. "GOING…TO…SMASH….YOU!" He yelled as he rushed after the leaping Gamma Buzz, swinging one massive open hand out as he drew near.

This time, Gamma was not able to dodge aside in time. *WHAM* a powerful blow stuck the teen and he was knocked off his feet and sent flying across the courtyard and through the open entrance to a nearby store. Crashing into a mannequin and clothing display, Gamma was soon half buried under a pile of clothing, dazed from the attack.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"I got him!" yelled Baz. "I bruised his rocks pretty hard with my kidneys!"

 

This time, an arm had popped out of its socket. He hurt, but he was damned if he was going to show anybody it hurt. 

 

"Go get him, team! I've worn him down for you. His knuckles will be smarting for the rest of the day!"

 

He felt his insides churn. For a moment, he wondered what his insides were like now he was an insect-boy. Pretty mangled, he guessed. He didn't really want to think about it. Right now, he had bigger fish to fry. And his head was spinning. 

 

"Go give him the slowball slam, Lawrence! We shall teamwork him with beat!"

 

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Whew, that was close! Consuelo's heart is thumping. Although, on some level, she knows this is just a simulation. It's hard to stay detached when everything is so realistic.

 

It took everything I had to stop that water blast from crushing those people. This hero business is intense!

 

Everyone seems to be having trouble this time. No one seems to be able to get a hit in . . . except that big orange rock guy! Yikes, Baz doesn't look so good. . . . At least most of the people are out of harm's way now. . . . I should probably go on the offensive. Where is that invisible girl?

 

Consuelo flies higher and begins circling to find the hidden Sylph - and spies her behind a column on an upper balcony. "Ha! Gotcha, vapor lady!"

 

Reaching both hands out in front of her and straining with effort, a swirly black disturbance in space warps out from the teen super, twisting and winding its way to find the hiding misty villain. The disintegrating effect of the attack is somehow able to affect the vaporous villainess, despite her insubstantial form. It doesn't disintegrate her entirely, but it does render her unconscious. "Ha! Check that out! Restraint!"

 

 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

As Rot’s powerful blast manages to all but remove Sylph from the combat, Professor Fathom looks over at the green haired teen as he screams out, "You! Dare!" Raising his hands, the supervillain releases another jet of water, this time aimed directly at Rot. With most of her attention having been focused on attacking Sylph, Rot was not prepared for the attack, and the jet of water slammed into her with powerful force.

 

Over where he had been directing people away, Lawrence looked back at first Gamma and then Rot getting hit by the villains. Moving back over near Parker, the blond teen raised his hands once more. "Alright, let's try something different." This time, the temporal distortion did not originate from Lawrence, but started in a space between Granite, Professor Fathom and Pyre (who was still hovering in the air). From there, the distortion spread out until it washed over all three villains. When it ended, both Granite and Professor Fathom were frozen in place, even the water that had flowed through Fathom’s form was no longer moving. Pyre however, appeared unaffected.

 

Lawrence gave a small smile. "Okay, that’s two frozen in time. Only the fire guy left."

 

Hearing that, Pyre turned back to the blond teen. "Back to burning you then!" He shouted, flying back a bit closer to Lawrence and sending another burst of flame towards him. But once again Lawrence easily stepped aside, a slight temporal distortion visible as he shifted position in the blink of an eye.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Pummeled by Professor Fathom's watery blast, Consuelo shakes out her long green dreads, flinging drips of water every which way. She looks up with a big, wide grin on her face. "Hey, you know what? I actually felt that! That's the first time anything has hurt me at all in I don't know how long!"

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"EXCUSE ME!?!" Torpedo Lass shouted, throwing another bluish-green energy ball at Pyre as she jumped to new high-ground at the same level she was at before, keeping a distance, but well within range. "Did I give you permission to shoot at other people after outright ignoring me? NO."

 

Torpedo Lass' expression went from mocking to serious. "Don't mess with my squad. I get petty."

Edited December 11, 2023 by The Sailor