It's a Jungle Out There (IC)

[angrydurf]

As James ported Wander and Geckoman to the top of the volcano Phalanx swept Psyche up into his arms. As her mental powers cloaked them from sight he accelerated to top speed arriving at the origin of the blast fractions of a second after their friends arrived at the Volcano's rim.

Landing hidden from the enemies senses he got his first good look at the weapon.

[Electra]

Erin looked at Chris and nodded grimly, taking a moment to size up her enemy. She'd read about Shadivan Steelgrave in classes, just enough to know that he was not going to be any easy fight. Not to mention that he had a bunch of Omegadrones just waiting to come to his assistance. Maybe there was a better way to distract him and let Chris free Mark, but she couldn't think of it right now. Besides, she'd gleaned just enough from the reports on her world to know that Omega had come to it at some point, too. That gave her a score to settle. Jumping up onto the console, she leapt into the air, coming down on the battlesuited villain from overhead and aiming fort the junction at the neck where many battlesuits were weak.

[Cyroa]

James picked out his cover, teleporting into it with Geckoman and Wander. He quickly let them go, and ported back out once more. He wasn't the stealthy type and didn't want to risk ruining their surprise. So he crouched in the bushed a long ways away, waiting for the 'go' signal. Which turned out to be Wander springing up and start bashing the heck outta the bad guys. "Works for me," he said with a smile. He teleported back to ground zero to back up Psyche and Phalanx's attempt to take out the device.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Arr!" Wander's bat came down with concussive force against Shadivan Steelgrave's skull, ringing the dark mastermind's forehead against the inside of his armor and sending him staggering. "Who dares!? Who dares!?" The pain in his voice was too real to mask; very, very few people could have struck him so quickly and well. He spun, great black armor glowing with power, as he faced down against the smaller teenager. Wander could sense no expression on the archfiend's posture, only a terrible intent behind his masked face. He studied her for a long moment...then gave a low, malevolent laugh. "Scorched by a still-burning ember, eh? I'll have Friendly's scalp for this!"

[Electra]

Erin wasn't entirely sure what Steelgrave was talking about, but she caught the general idea. "You won't be destroying any more worlds today," she promised him, clenching her fists around her bat. The temptation was there, and horribly strong, to toss aside the bat and damn the consequences, and do her best to take him apart with her bare hands.

I'm a hero, she reminded herself, tightening her grip to white knuckles. The reminder didn't help much, not when faced with someone who was so obviously a monster and a killer of millions. Her teammates were depending on her to stick to the plan, she reminded herself. Chris couldn't help Mark unless she did what she was supposed to do. Steelgrave deserved to die, but if she tried to kill him, some of her teammates might try and stop her, and that could get them all killed. That was enough. Leaping sideways, she ricocheted off one of the consoles and used the momentum to drive her bat right into Steelgrave's helmet again.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Aff!" Wander struck home again, a telling blow that sent Steelgrave to his knees. "Pfah!" He looked up at Wander, his face unreadable behind a helmet now deeply dented by her blows. "Your power is great, child. Greater than I realized. But if you kill me, you'll never know how your world died. Could you truly live with yourself if you let all you love die...again?"

Across the volcano's mouth, Psyche and Phalanx both felt a ripple pass through their very souls as they approached the great gun that had brought down Phalanx, a massive cylinder capped with a terrible mouth that glowed with sheer, bubbling power. This close, they both realized the voices they could hear, echoing through their links. It was the Omegadrones.

DIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGADIEFOROMEGA...the tone went on and on, slowly and methodically beating at the confines of their brains.

[alderwitch]

For the first time since her powers had surged, Psyche stopped glowing even as they popped into the visible spectrum again. It was a possibility that Psyche had certainly considered so she moved quickly to the gun even as her brain tried to bring her psychic powers back online. She might not be able to access her full psychic prowess but she'd always known that in the end, the most dangerous weapon in her arsenal would always be her actual ability to think. With the focus of someone used to blocking out the thoughts of others, she ignored the chant for the moment and focused on figuring out how to turn off the weapon.

[Cyroa]

James kept his back to Phalanx and Psyche, not to mention to big freaking device. He was half tempted to cut a gash into the ground to make it easier for Phalanx to try and topple the thing into the lava. But he'd have to trust the two of them. Instead, he needed to give them the time. And that meant the drones. He took a step forward, and summoned forth Hellfire, letting it lash out at the Drones. He left the proles untouched as they were covering anyway...

[Avenger Assembled]

The Omegadrones endured James' blast with terrifying implacability. One fell from the sky entirely, three more were singed, but the rest stayed in the air in perfect, silent formation as they swooped down on their target: the Amazing Geckoman himself! They worked together in perfect unison, power pikes raised and glowing with terrible purpose, as they herded the teenager right to the edge of the railing, the smoking, boiling pit of lava beneath bubbling intently.

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman rolled with the attack, swatting the 'drone's pike aside so it only scraped his ribs. In response, he pulled a small pellet from his belt, jumped into the air and dropped it. Covering his ears and screwing shut his eyes, he managed to avoid the deafening crack and flash of white light.

Landing in a defensive crouch, he shouted over to the kneeling Shadivar.Hey, tinhead! This what the mighty left hand man of Omega's descended to? Begging for a little girl to spare him? PATHETIC!"

[angrydurf]

Phalanx set them down next the big gun and shook off the droning voices with some effort, disturbing in its implications certainly, but he had no time for such things. As Psyche began to examine the weapons controls he reached down to grab hold of the mammoth cannon. He could feel the energies trying to suppress his powers already but fought through and with a mighty heave ripped it free from its moorings preparing to throw the vile thing into the waiting maw of the volcano.

[Electra]

Erin heard the screech of metal as Phalanx ripped the cannon free, but she had no time to look up, and little inclination. All her attention was focused on the man-shaped piece of scum in front of her, taunting her for his life. Heedless for the moment of her own defense, she dove at him, tumbling them both to the ground, then straddled his chest with her bat pressed up hard against his neck. One hand clutching the bat on each side of his throat, Erin applied pressure until he started making gagging noises, then eased up a fraction. "I know what happened," she grated. "I was there, and I saw it. But I'm not going to kill you. You deserve to lose everything instead, and to spend the rest of your life remembering that."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Taking from me will give you nothing," said Steelgrave, his voice all the viler for its maddening calm despite the pain radiating through his vocodor. "You know that, don't you? All your rage won't bring back anything you've lost. I know, because I understand." She couldn't see his face, but all the same she had the feeling he was looking her in the eye. "It's only when you put aside all those feelings and embrace what's really in your heart that you'll understand. Let me show you how your feelings are your greatest weakness."

[alderwitch]

"That thing's a portal to the terminus. I think tossing it in the volcano would destroy it. James?" Psyche deffered the question to the teams resident expert on interdimensional antics and then glanced over to see the fight to free Mark. Frowning, the petite psychic reached up to put both hands to her temple. Her power was a matter of will and focus and no one and nothing was going to keep her from using it to help her friends.

With a crease of concentration, she touched her fingertips to her temple and focused on the tube that held Edge, "Red rover, red rover..."

The lights changed and spun, dials frantically fluctuating until the whole tube glowed with the distinctive corona of Psyche's sparkling power trail. She exerted a little more pressure, forcing the tube to yeild Young Freedom's leader.

"...let Edge come over!"

[Cyroa]

James nodded without looking. "It's ok. Just toss that thing Phalanx. There shouldn't be any dimensional repercussions." He paused. "Shoulda brought marshmallows," he said laughing. "Now, let's try that again." He gestured, raining Hellfire down on their enemies again. He was just buying them time anyway.

[Avenger Assembled]

Many things happened in the next few seconds, a cascade of events that seemed to come one after the other. Psyche's spectacular mental abilities, the equal of nearly anyone on the planet, lashed out at the cage imprisoning Mark, sending him cascading, half-conscious, covered in suspension fluid to the metal catwalk on which his tube had rested. At the same time, Hellion's hellfire swept over the Omegadrones then closing on Geckoman, incinerating them an instant before they could hurl the young daredevil into the volcano behind him. And Shadivan Steelgrave?

The battered right hand of the Lord of the Terminus was at Wander's mercy, his hands spread wide apart on the metal catwalk beneath him, the man himself pinned above the metal super-structure that held the walkway, the half-built Terminus tower, and the now-three young heroes above the volcanic lake beneath them. "It seems your friends have taken my lesson from me. I'll remember that. Instead, I'll teach you how to fly." And with that, his armor gave a terrible hum, trying and failing to rise beneath Wander's grip as he levitated. But with his free hands, he fired a blast straight down, away from Erin and himself, shattering the catwalk beneath them in an explosion of magnetic energy as the black, spotted beams burst straight downward, blasting away steel and rock and sending machine, catwalk, and platform tilting precipitously down towards the lake of fire below!

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman rolled into a crouch to avoid the flames as they incinerated the drones, feet and hands holding him fast on the catwalk to avoid falling off the catwalk as it it lurched towards the lava. Hothothothothot... I'm not falling in that! He scrabbled towards Mark, grabbing his friend around the waist and hefting him up in a strong grip. With the other arm, he flicked his wrist in a certain way, switching the zapper barrel from the electric battery to a compressed grapple cord. "Hey, Steelgrave! I don't die that easily!" He fired the grappling line and swung, Mark in tow, away from the collapsing walkway.

[Avenger Assembled]

Phalanx's punch drove the last lingering fight out of Shadivan Steelgrave, a powerful blow that also had the unfortunate side-effect of activating the safeties in Steelgrave's armor. As his armor began to glow brightly, Wander was able to leap away, spinning down to the edge of the crumbling mouth and running like Hell as the catwalk behind her began to collapse into the volcano. Phalanx too, had time to dodge, pulling away as Steelgrave vanished between dimensions in a subtle flare of malignant light.

That left the other heroes to watch as catwalk, Terminus tower, and all went crashing into the mouth of the volcano, the lake beneath beginning to bubble with what looked like malevolent intent. The Star of Africa, who'd engaged a group of Omegadrones overhead during the main engagement, came swooping down to report, "The mountain is beginning to rupture!"

Covered in a black, foul-smelling fluid like a mixture between tar and mucus, Edge clung to Geckoman's arm with almost painful intensity. "We can't just leave the proles here," he yelled, calling out to the others. As they took in the shabbily-dressed, pale-faced humanoids cowering amid the technology still around the edge of the crater, It was easy to forget that Mark Lucas knew the fantastic places of the multiverse, or at least those the Freedom League had visited, better than almost anyone. "They're innocent slaves! They don't deserve this!"

[Cyroa]

James grinned as the drones went poof and then Phalanx gave the weapon a magma bath. Everything was wrapping up nicely. Of course then Steeputz had to go boom and screw it all up. Typical.

He quickly looked around. There was no way they were going to carry everyone down in time. Time to chance something. He wreathed his hand in fire and 'stabbed' the air in front of him, his hand sinking into nothing apparently. But within moments a large fiery circle appeared next to him, easily 20 feet across. Holding one hand on the fiery gate, he turned to the others. "Phalanx, Psyche! I've got the door open! Get everybody through!" Even with their speeds and powers, getting that many terrified people together and through the gateway in a couple seconds might be a bit of a stretch...

[angrydurf]

After his blow knocked Steelgrave out Phalanx leapt back from the sudden dimensional teleporting. As the lava began to bubble and rise he dropped to the ground and grabbed the nearest pair of Proles before flashing through the gate with them tucked under his arms only to return and repeat the process in a blur as he raced against the rising tide of destruction headed their way.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Dammit, dude. Now you return to consciousness!?" sighed Geckoman, kicking off the wall as he fired the swingline again to move towards the portal. "Right, you get through, I'll go grab some slave dudes." He ran towards the group and went to herd them towards the portal. "We stopped the metal dude, get through that portal or you'll all die a horrific, fiery death. No pressure though."

[alderwitch]

Psyche surged up into the air as her powers came back on line. With a frown of concentration, she thrust both hands out, creating a telekinetic bridge under the path from the proles to the portal and wrapping the sides up and over to create a bubble of protection from the lava and smoke around the group as they hustled towards the escape provided. Alex really hoped it was a direct portal and not one that went through hell.

She coughed, wishing not for the first time that she'd gotten some of Mike's protection from the elements.

[Avenger Assembled]

Within a few minutes, all of Young Freedom had successfully made their way through Hellion's portal, the flaming hole in reality carrying them to the village where they'd left the White Lion and his party. With a little coaxing, the terrified proles followed as well, clinging to each other fearfully as they took in their new surroundings. When they saw they hadn't been plunged back into the fires of the Terminus, however, the motley crew of humanoids relaxed ever-so-fractionally. For his part, the still-filthy Edge was still trying to recuperate from his experience at the hands of Shadivan Steelgrave, and watched silently as the distant volcano boiled over with flaming-hot lava.

The White Lion, the Star at his side, hobbled over to the teens to say, "From what the locals tell me, the lava flows away from the valley, down into the lakebed below. We're in no danger here." He looked over the battered group, giving Edge an especially careful look, before addressing Psyche. "You seem to be the leader here. Does anyone on your team need help?"

[Cyroa]

James waited for everyone to get through the portal, holding it's fiery edge for a long moment. He was getting ready to step through when the lava came up and started coming over the edge. He waited for a long moment, staring at it. There was just something comforting about it, mesmerizing almost. But he wasn't about to risk the others' to watch it. Stepping through the opening, he released his grip, letting the portal and the lava beyond vanish behind him. He let the others handle talking to the Lion. For now, James concentrated on figuring out what it would take to seal the portals. It was going to be his job after all. Nothing like a little practical experience to help him learn.

[angrydurf]

Mike glanced around at his teammates and not seeing any obvious injuries spoke up, "I don't think any of us are injured but they," he pointed to the proles, "Don't look so good." He wasn't even sure what would happen to them now, could Omega terminate them or mind control them somehow? He didn't think they were any kind of real threat but the sooner someone more knowledgeable than he could look into it the better he figured.