Manic Mondays

[angrydurf]

As soon as the crackling energy shield is erected an alarm is raised and heavy footfalls and sporadic machine gun fire can be heard from outside. There are several tense moments before a small squad of six men in standard military fatigues round the corner and open fire upon the half dome protecting Ace and Phantom.

Cursing as the bullets bounc harmlessly off the forcefield they drop to behind cover and radio in for a heavy weapons team.

Ace turns and begins clicking pictures of the sarcophagus with his camera phone. Trying to get both wide shots and some detail of the carving without getting too close. "This might get too hot quick, best have some idea what these guys have I say." he yells to Phantom, "How longs that thing going to hold?"

Before the insubstantial heroine can respond there is a cacophany as some kind of sonic device is used to shatter all of the skylights quickly followed by several sodiers in the same garb as the robbers this morning. They fire upon the shield as well as droping several grenades that burst in blind flashes of light.

[alderwitch]

Phantom jerked her head away fast enough that she wasn't blinded but she still blinked once or twice to clear her tearing eyes before looking through the mingled flashes and smoke from the gunfire to take in the weapons pointed at them. 'I don't know, I've never tried to hold a forcefield against a rocket launcher. At least that looks like a rocket launcher' was probably not that best response so instead she tilted her head at the enemies and lifted her chin in an approximation of a shrug, as her hands and shoulders were occupied with the forcefield

"Fifteen seconds. Ten, maybe?" She tightened her lips and amended it to, "How about, as long as I can hold it against heavy weapons. Will that work for you?"

[angrydurf]

As if to punctuate the point a five man heavy weapons team arrived and began loading up some kind of rocket device under the covering fire of the non-blinded mecenaries while another team moved to engage the flying soldiers of the Sky Lord sending two plummeting from the sky.

Outside Scarab arrives on the scene to see smoke billowing from the warehouse as another contingent of Sky Lords rocketmen descend from the clouds.

[N/A]

Cloaked from the eyes, ears, and minds of any onlookers, The Scarab flew through the hole in the roof, down into the warehouse. She ignored the chaos going on around her, soaring above the skirmish, until she found her comrades hunkered down behind the glowing dome of magickal energy. Taking stock of the situation, she reached out to the minds of Phantom and Ace Danger.

Groups of soldiers from two different factions are fighting all over the building. And they, she pointed at the Sky Lord's minions, have reinforcements dropping out of the sky as we speak. I will do what I can, but my powers are limited against large groups such as these.

[angrydurf]

Looking around Ace quickly grabs on of the rocket packs and begins fastening the straps around himself and fiddling with dials, "Always wanted one of these." he said with a cheeky grin, he actually seemed to be enjoying himself.

Meanwhile most of the remaining Sky Lord soldiers take aim at the entrenched mercenaries just as the Scarab telekinetically detonates a flash bang blinding them and several of the mercenaries. One of the Soldiers however adjusts some knobs on his odd rifle and fires bathing the dome of mystic force in flames. As the flames clear Ace and Phantom are unharmed but the dome is no more.

[alderwitch]

Phantom bit back a curse as the shield dissolved under the fire. Oh, how she'd come to hate fire. Especially when she noticed the merrily burning box of explosives. Going solid with a thought, her forcefield in place, Phantom flung her arms wide to open her cloak and suck the dangerous box of explosives in the void. That'll have to do for now.

"I can't keep that thing protected under the assault of flame throwers. I'll see what I can do about the men with guns."

[angrydurf]

The newly arrived mercenary squads open fire on the Heros in the center of the conflagration. Taking carefull shots so as not to ignite any further ordinance. Each of the Heroes feels the bullits impact thier defenses in rapid succession.

Ace take the first hits to his vest in stride but is spun around and staggered by a bullet impacting solidly with his shoulder.

The remainder at the descending soldiers of the Sky lord sending two more tumbling to the ground.

[N/A]

Suddenly, The Scarab faded into view, hovering above the battlefield. Her crimson & gold armor gleamed against the reflections of flashbang charges and muzzle flares as her massive cape billowed behind her. "This senseless violence ends...NOW!" She pointed an open hand toward a group of mercenaries, and a flare of scarlet energy appeared in their midst. The spark exploded into a massive sphere, a psychic shockwave. It left physical objects untouched, but the people caught in its wake felt every pain receptor in their entire body fire off simultaneously.

[angrydurf]

The glowing sphere of crimson energy erupts nearly engulfing Ace and Phantom and entrapping all of the remainng mercenary forces though the flying Soldiers of the Sky Lord mange to be outside its grasp. The mercenaries immediatly fall to thier knees screaming in pain and collapse where they stand.

Ace slowly gathers his wits and steels himself against the throbbing pain in his shoulder. The two remaining Soldiers of the Sky Lord alight upon the top of one of the large stacks of boxes and toss down smoke grenades donning Anachronistic breathing aparatus immediatly afterward.

[alderwitch]

Phantom floated up through the cloud of smoke until she could see the surrounding area once more. Focusing her attention on the so-called Sky-Lord men, she gathered the crackling eldritch energies around her hand and fired quick successive blasts that struck each man in the chest with a concussive bolt of black energy.

"There are more than a dozen men showing up. We should get the sarcophogus out of here." She called down to her companions, twisting in mid-air to survey the warehouse. It made her an obvious target but Phantom would rather they fire at her than Ace below.

[N/A]

The Scarab coughed and gagged at the stench from the smoke grenades. Depriving us of our sight could allow Sky Lord to recapture the tactical advantage. And that is just unacceptable. She began waving her hands in circles through the air, gaining speed and momentum with each swing, until the motion enveloped her arms all the way to the shoulder. As she swung her arms, an invisible wind began to swirl the cloud of smoke into a funnel-shape, where it condensed before exploding in a massive gust of wind back toward the Sky Lord minions who first launched it.

[angrydurf]

The scarlet tinged wind sweeps the smoke up and out of the wharehouse leavign the air mercifully clear for a few moments before the small fires throughout the warehouse once again begin to cloud the air. Almost as soon as the air clears however Scarabs senses are overcome in a different manner. As the smoke is whisked away her senses are torn from the present as the wieght of deistiny falls upon her her mind.

She sees the Sky Lords men in full retreat as the building is engulfed in flames that seem to have a mind of thier own snaking high into the sky to strike at the retreating rocketmen. Within the building she can see a dark enery building fed by the burning souls of the mercenaries flowing into the sarcophogus. As the last of the mercenaries expires the lid of the sarcophugus cracks and instantly the fire is snuffed out by the overwhelming darkness whithin.

There can be no doubt if these lives are fed to the sarcophagus darkness such as the world has not known in eons will be released.

While the Scarab is lost to the throws of her vision Ace clambers behind the rough cover of a packing crate. Peering from behind it he is the first to notice the scattered rocketmen attatching strange tubes to the structural supports and sounds the alarm, "They're going to blow the whole warehouse!" He shouts to his comrades, "We have to get these people out of here before it blows."

His warning is met with withering fire from the remaining soldiers who fire precise bursts of bullets and flame over the heroes heads driving them towards cover.

[angrydurf]

His warning given Ace hauled one of the unconcious men over one shoulder and stumbled for the nearest exit. Scarab called upon Phantom to cover their retreat as she swept up the remaining bodies in her telekinetic grasp and pulled them with her towards the exit as the flames licked higher and higher on the crates of volotile munitions. As she did so Phantom gestured bringing forth darkness from the shadows to cover thier escape. Shots contintued to ring out but thanks to the cloying darkness none found thier mark.

Moments after the Heroes escaped the burning warehouse there was a blood curdling scream from within and phantom felt a sudden surge of magical power for an instant as the soldiers of the Sky Lord Rocketed towards their airel base of operations. Moments later there was a series of explosions as the various munitions detonated sending flaming debris high into the sky.

It wasn't long until police and fire crews were on site dousing the flames and arresting the perpetrators. Once the flames were doused Ace, Scarab, and Phantom began to comb the burned out husk of the warehouse for signs of the Sarccophagus but it was nowhere to be found. Phantom felt sure that some kind of last moment protection had pulled it from thier grasp before they could capture it but though she still felt the vague darkness of its magic she couldn't trace it anyfurther. At this news Ace looked up and said with sureity, "I know someone who can find it, he won't want to but he owes me one. I'll contact you as soon as we know where it is it might take a bit if its managed to cover it tracks but he'll be able to find the trial eventually."