No Mutation Without Representation! (IC)

[quotemyname]

Date: April XX, 2010

"Well, Malice. It certainly feels good to be back in action." Captain Knievel said as he flexed a Bicep. He was gazing lovingly at his own perfect muscles in the metallic reflection of himself in one of the large technological devices in the inner store room of one of Archetech's holding facilities. "Don't know what the hell this stuff does, but it sure makes for a good mirror." Captain Knievel continued, flexing his Trapezius muscles while speaking.

Satisfied with his conditioning, as he always was, he turned back to his metallically armored friend. Malice was busy typing away at a computer terminal in the storage facility. Busy ignoring Knievel. It was then that he remembered the plan. Malice dealt with buffing up the security on their hijacked facility, while Knievel organized the troops. Better get on that, He thought.

"Well, Malice, here goes." *SHEEN*

---

This particular Archetech facility was a cement and steel structure. It stood roughly five stories high, and was about 500 feet wide across the front. The building itself was laid out like a horse shoe, with the main entrance lying in the center of the 'U'. A set of twenty or so steps led up to the large steel-and-arches door way. The middle of the U formed somewhat of a court yard with the surrounding fences.

In that courtyard, two young teenagers stood by the door. The boy with the straight black hair and ornate silver-and-rose inlaid plate mail stood near the doorway to the facility. With his black cloak drawn about him, his dark eyes stare out at the facility grounds, and the guards they had 'dealt with'. Their unconscious bodies now lying in a pile off to the side. He watched like a hawk for any sign of interlopers that would attempt to foil his professor's plan. "Mervyl! Hurry up with those bodies. We don't want them getting in the way."

"I'm working as fast as I can, Victor." The other, bald, pasty boy made a motion with his hand. He drew it across the field, and all the metal bits in another of the guards uniforms pulled him into the pile with the rest. "I can still only move one of these guys at a time, you know." He glared at the boy in the armor through eyes that had no pupils. It unnerved even Victor.

Victor was about to make a snappy retort, when suddenly, both boys put fingers to their ears. "Listen up, maggots!" Knievel's voice rang out over their radios.

"Sir!" Both boys called at once, snapping their arms and legs to attention out of sheer habbit.

"Malice and I have the inside of this place locked down nice and tight. I want to congratulate you on the success of the first part of our plan. I may not have to beat your asses bloody tonight." The two boys standing in front of the compound glanced at each other, knowing from the tone of Knievel's voice that he got some sort of strange satisfaction out of kicking their collective asses. Neither of them could wait to see what he would due to any mutants showing up that weren't on his side. "Now pay attention." The broadcast continued. "We were unable to silence one of the alarms as we took this place. It was bound to happen sooner or later. So I need you to be on the lookout for any of those @#$%ing heroes that might show up. You see any one of those damned Knights? Kill'em. Especially Doctor Archeville, Dark Star, or Scarab. And so help me, if Arrowhawk shows his crippled face out here you call me. I will personally come out there and kick his ass!"

A moment of dramatic silence wafted across the airwaves. The two boys had the feeling that Captain Knievel was making some dramatic pose that they couldn't see. "Get your asses in gear, boys. Phase two is about to begin!"

[angrydurf]

Phalanx hovered over the north end of the city pausing in his normal patrol ears focused on sounds of trouble from below. As he slowly turned he picked up the sound of an alarm klaxon from some distance north and in a moment had focused in on the sounds and was speeding toward the Archtech facility A blur of blue and gold. He kept his speed down so low to the ground to avoid any damage to the surrounding buildings that supersonic flight might impart. He came to a stop hovering a foot or so off the ground his cape rippling slightly as he came to stop and looked into the shadowed doors for signs of the perpetrators.

Catching sight of the two young hoodlums he spoke in a clear booming voice, "Stop what you're doing and step aside, the police will be here soon to take you into custody." Even as the words left his lips he knew how ridiculous it sounded but if it worked even once it would be well worth it to avoid further violence and damage.

[Taar]

After meeting the heroine Divine, Sarah had kept in touch with her. Thus when Moira had called with an offer to patrol together, she'd eagerly agreed. Meeting up later, the two headed out on Divine's motorcycle.

Deciding to range northwards, they had been patrolling through Hanover when Sarah saw something flash by overhead. Curious, she asked Divine to follow, and the duo arrived in time to hear Phalanx's challenge.

Drawing her sword from it's dimensional holding place, Sarah wrapped herself in the space-warping properties of what she was privately beginning to think of as her "AT Field." Flashing a quick grin at Divine, she teleported to a spot on the roof where she could observe the situation, letting the caped hero keep the attention on himself and prepared to strike if things turned violent.

[Dr Archeville]

"And as you can see, our second quarter predictions indicate that-"

BRRRING! BRRRING!

The loud ring of a phone coming from Archeville's labcoat pocket interrupted the financial officer's report, much to the Doktor's relief.

Ah, saved by the bell!

Hope this is not something worse, though!

It was not a phone that rang, but rather his Electromagnetic Screwdriver, which he'd set to monitor any calls made by the branch's security station to any of the higher-ups in the building. And this one was directed to the branch head himself. He put the device to his ear and listened quietly, holding his free hand up in a "quiet, please" gesture.

Yeah, some action!

We must get them to a secure location first!

"Ladies und gentlemen," the Doktor announced as he calmly clicked off the gadget, "dis facility is under attack by two metahumans, und a third seems to haff joined dem. I must ask you all to move calmly to de panic rooms in de center of de floor. Security guards vill meet you dere."

To their credit, there was only a minimum of panic in the boardroom. About a third of the ones present were Freedom City natives, and were not unused to this sort of thing; their calm, plus Archeville's own reassuring voice, helped ease the others.

As they filed out, Archeville disappeared, teleporting to the private office of Melvin Motani, the Singaporean electrical and computer engineer who headed this branch.

"Oh! Sir, I was just about to-"

Archeville waved him off, "Ja, ja, I know. I just popped in to get a better view, from de monitor feeds in here. Please continue mit de safety protocols. I... " he said as he began adjusting his Screwdriver again, "vill call in some special help, just in case."

"Vince, vhere are de ozhers? I haff a situations here, und I vould like some backup."

[Gizmo]

Eric Espadas paid the vendor and continued to walk down Charles Street, a hot dog in each hand. He had the first of the pair in his mouth as every screen in the window of the electronics store he was passing flickered with a bust of static before resolving into the familiar image of Vince sitting behind his talk show host desk.

"Jacko! Red alert from his sciencerifficness!" the gregarious AI anounced, turning over an large cue card to reveal an image of Doktor Archeville.

Erik continued to eat his street meat. "There's no way that can be legal," he pointed out, indicating the commandeered television set.

"Neither is a bunch of nasty boys breaking into Archetech, my civil-conscious chum," Vince replied, tossing the cue card at his simulated camera. "So get those cute buns of yours over there pronto!"

The fencer raised an eyebrow. "'Cute buns'?"

Vince waggled a cigar which appeared in his hand with a snap. "I was talking about the hot dogs, naturally."

Erik shook his head as he shoved the rest of the first hot dog into his mouth, slipped his backpack from his shoulder and started off for a convenient alleyway. "You're one odd dude, y'know that?"

"I'm a stinker, alright," the AI agreed before blinking out and resetting the screens to their original channels.

-----

Soon after, the superheroic swashbuckler known as Jack of all Blades swung into Hanover, grapple in one hand, partially eaten hot dog in the other. A midair somersault brought him gracefully down next to the floating powerhouse in the cape, greatcoat flaring out behind him. "Should probably do what he says," he told the ostentatious pair standing guard in front of the building, proceeding to take another bite of his hot dog and nonchalantly adding with his mouth full, "I f'r w'n w's in th' m'ddle of s'methin'."

[Moira Morley]

The patrolling thing was a fairly new thing for Moira. The didn't do it much, but when she did it was with a partner. Tonight's partner was Sarah Prescott. Sarah was trying to be a traditional hero, going through all the rituals of herodom. It was something that Moira admired. If that was her joy in life, then who was Moira to not help out? She even had a costume. A short toga made of whit silk, flat sandals, white silken fingerless gloves that reached up all the way to just before her elbows, and a white porcelain half mask with her hair down. It wasn't totally her idea. Her Ani-Earth counterpart wore the same outfit when they met. Though the motorcycle was her idea. She had to have some way of getting around.

Going to Hanover was a random choice really. Divine wanted to spread out, patrolling a different part of the city every time she went out. Hanover was one of those places that she hadn't been to. Sarah was alright with any place but suburbia.

When they heard the Phalanx, Sarah popped off the bike as it was moving, prompting Divine to stop. Sarah was on the roof. Divinehopped off the bike and watched Phalanx, seeing of the young superhero would need any help.

[quotemyname]

"Captain! We've got multiple contacts out here!" Mervl's hand was pressed to his ear. "Four heroes are on scene already. No sign of Archeville or the nights yet, though. Should we engage?"

"What the @#$% do you think?! Of course you should engage! Kick their asses! You all remember the plan Malice drew up, I want you following that as close to the letter as possible!"

"And just remember. If you don't screw this up, you might not get your asses kicked!"

"Roger that!"

Suddenly, there came a screeching sound like that of someone dropping a bomb. The roof of the building near Sarah erupted in a cloud of roof tiles, and other building materials. At the center of the explosion stood a very large blue man with the face of a young teenager. Towering over the blond super hero at about 10 feet in height, he announced, "Captain says blonds have more fun. Slammer wishes to investigate this concept. Tell me, blondie, are you ready to have some fun?"

"Now, now, Slammer," Said the man standing next to Sarah. The man that until recently had been nowhere in sight. Only after she turned her head toward him did she see the various tree branches and newspapers that had been trailing in his slipstream flutter to a stop. "Don't worry, honey. Hot Shoe's gonna make sure you have a real good time!"

"Indeed. This seems like a wonderful moment to enact the plan." A rift in the universe itself opened up in the air just above Zealot and Emperor. Another boy materialized through it. He sported a flowing night blue robe with silver stars on it. His hair and eyebrows were both a silvery grey color. "And a wonderful plan it is."

"Let's get'em!" Cried Zealot. "Slammer, Hot Shoe. Deal with the girl on the roof. Stellar, Emperor and I will deal with the scum down here for the time being."

[quotemyname]

"Tell me what you think of this one?" Hot Shoe gave a small skip, closing the distance between himself and Sarah easily. He rapidly delivered a set of viscous body shots. "Punchpunchpunchpunchpunch!" As his fists sped up, so did his speech pattern. "Now hold that thought, I'll be right back!" Hot Shoe quickly departed the scene. At the best, the heroes could see him leaving in a western direction. But after he ran down the wall of the complex, they lost sight of him rather quickly.

Zealot wasn't quite so quick as his friend off the starting blocks, however, he was faster and better prepared than the other heroes. He charged Jack of all Blades with a war cry. "You're mine, infidel!" He swung his viscous looking whip at Jack, attempting to rake it across the hero's arms. "I've heard of your magical sword. I won't have you using such tricks on me!" Seeing his attack come up short of the agile hero, Zealot roared in frustration.

[Geez3r]

Malice was busy clacking away on the keyboard, several cords and plugs from the computer attached to his armor and vice versa. He was never one for much witty banter, not that he could get a word in edge wise with Knievel around. But more than anything it was Doctor Archeville's beastly security system. The program was likely written by Archeville at some point, and that was their only saving grace. Smart as Archeville is, he doesn't have time to update every single security system in everyone of his facilities personally. Meaning this program was a couple months old; in Science! terms, that means decades. Long enough to acquire some information, study it, crack it, test it and learn from it.

Without stopping his work at the terminal he called out over the Comm Link "Watch it out there. In case you haven't seen the news, these guys aren't exactly push overs. Remember where pride gets you." cautioned Malice referring back to his first and only piece of life advice he had given to his students.

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville looked out the office's window to the quickly-escalating fight below, and saw several familiar faces.

Oh, it's that punk kid! The one that blasted us with a magnetic beam six months ago!

Oh, and he was with Captain Knieval at the time! You... you do not think he-

He could be. And if he is, there's even money Eric'll show, too.

... you do not think he would be bitter, do you?

Well, I sure would be!

... yes, well, first things first, take care of the first wave of attackers.

"I vonder if dis is an attack on de building, de company, or on me personally?," the Doktor thought aloud. He turned to Motani, "guess I had better get out dere to see!"

Before the branch head could respond, Archeville flew off, zipping down corridors and stairwells to the main doors of the lobby. Along the way he made a quick stop by one of the labs. This particular facility focused on electronics -- hence why its head was a computer & electrical engineer -- and some of the techies had been working on was a series of Non-Lethal Weapons. One of them, a beam weapon which gave of an intense but very short burst of infrared energy (i.e., heat), designed to knock out rioters via "thermal shock," had been a failure in its designed purpose. The techies did find a new use for it, though: the short burst of intense heat could demagnetize objects, and marketing was working on a way to push it as a way to erase enemy hard drives from a distance.

But with a bit of on-the-fly tweaking, it could be used to nullify he magnetic powers of a metahuman. At least, that's what Archeville was counting on as he did said on-the-fly jiggery-pokery.

OH, we should throw the cloaking field up, so he cannot nullify our tech before we try to nullify him!

Yes, strike from surprise -- very devious!

[Gizmo]

Jack nimbly stepped out of the way of Zealot's attack. "Kid, chill, it's a hot dog," he told the already enraged teen wryly, calmly continuing to eat with one hand while he placed the other behind his back. "I'm pretty sure they're okay even in the Holy Texts of Cuckoo Crazy Banana Land or whatever your thing is."

Still showing no signs of intending to attack, Jack flipped past the would-be witch hunter, taking a final bite of his vendor food midair and placing the now free hand behind his back to join the other. He gave Emperor a critical look. "Although here's a kid who could stand to lay off the sausages, if you know what I'm saying. It's called a morning jog, kid, look into it." Before either could respond he was moving again, bobbing and weaving about the young criminals on the street, frustrating and distracting them with his total lack of concern for them as a threat.

[quotemyname]

Stellar glanced around quickly. Then suddenly it seemed like a moment of sheer insight came over him. He then turned his attention to the group of heroes.

"Hmmm," Stellar mused as he gently floated over to the assembled heroes. "Unless I miss my guess, it seems there is something special about this one." With a gesture he referred to Divine on her motorcycle. "Yes, perhaps she is from some other world. Please, allow me to send you back there!"

Stellar pressed both his hands forward. Divine suddenly felt a great force wash over her. It was as if Stellar was using his very presence in this world to attempt to displace her!

Unfortunately for Divine, Stellar's magic got the best of her. The next thing she knew, she was being lifted off her motorcycle and being thrown out to sea...

[quotemyname]

Before either could respond he was moving again, bobbing and weaving about the young criminals on the street, frustrating and distracting them with his total lack of concern for them as a threat.

Both Emperor and Zealot scrambled around the pavement in what looked like a childish game of Keep away.

Zealot caught on to the trick and managed to keep his attention on this surroundings, "Stand Still, Damn it!"

However, Emperor couldn't shake the wily swordsman. "Zealot, get this guy off me!" Though his attention was divided, he managed to plant his feet, and put all the force of his will behind a magnetic blast targeting Phalanx. The blast connected with Phalanx's left hip with the same sound a rug on a wash line might make if it were beat with a stick. *WHUMP* "All right!" Cheered Emperor. As soon as he saw the blast connect, he didn't bother waiting to see what happened to the airborne teenager. He spun and placed all of his attention on trying to keep away from the Jack of all Blades.

---

Atop the building, the big blue Slammer considered the hero before him. "So, tell me, Blondie. Is getting punched by Hot Shoe fun? Slammer wishes to explore the entertainment value of GETTING PUNCHED!" The last came out a roar as he swung one of his massive fists and clocked Sarah upside the head. The attack sent her sailing south, airborne toward the rest of the city.

[angrydurf]

The Blast broke over Phalanx scoring a rippled line along his costume but leaving the teen unscathed. "Very well have it your way then." He intoned and his hand snaked out to wrap the whip wielding teen in its vise like grip quickly subduing the lunatic. Phalanx lifted the other teen over his head and spun him once before hurling him into the villain who had fired at him with all of his potent strength.

[Taar]

Caught completely off guard, Sarah manages to weather Hot Shoe's assault with only a slight bruise, only to get caught full in the face by Slammer, sending her flying off to slam into a distant hillside in Bayview Heights.

Unknowingly drawing on some reserve of power, she clawed her way back to consciousness. Abruptly sitting up with an angry snarl, Sarah then staggered to her feet, very calmly brushed some dirt from her clothes, and spat out a loosened tooth.

After taking a moment to get her bearings, Sarah vanished, muttering under her breath.

[Moira Morley]

"[divine]Yahoohoohooey![/divine]" Moira shouted as she was tossed into the horizon. Subconsciously, she always wondered what that would be like. Now she knows. The friction of being tossed sixty thousand miles an hour relieved her of her costume before she hit the water. "Boy it was watery out here," she said looking at the Freedom City skyline from where she was. It was beautifully scenic, really it was. She had to get back. She thought quickly. "Who do I know that could get me out of this mess?" She paused and grinned, she was family with the god of the ocean. Surely he wa on good terms with her mother and father. Well, according to that show that ran in the midnineties they were. Funny thing, while she was on Olympus, she never saw the water god. "[divine]Hey,[/divine]" she yelled into the blue void. She never really had any formal how-to-talk-to-gods-on-the-mortal-plane classes. "[divine]Poseidon? Are you out there?[/divine]"

"Yes, my child. You're in my domain now. I am always here." Moira looked on as the ocean began to solidify in front of her. A column of water rose from the surface and molded itself into the form of her Grand-Uncle Poseidon.

"[divine]Oh, hi there,[/divine]" she said cheerfully as she floated on her back. "[divine]We never get to talk and I had a grand idea for rectifying that. Now here I am, a good chunk away from land, visiting![/divine]" She snickered, "[divine]No, but I do have a favor to ask.[/divine]"

"This is true," The liquid Poseidon responded, "I missed you when you visited Olympus." Poseidon offered Divine his hand, and drew her up out of the water. As she passed the surface, some of the water clung to her form. Once she stood on top of the water next to her godly relative, a beautiful sea green tunic solidified itself about her. "I supposed I can spare a gift for one of my Great-Nieces now and again," Poseidon explained, his brow furrowing, "What is it you desire?"

She smiled and modeled the new dress for the king of the ocean, "[divine]There was part of the question.[/divine]" She stroked the dress. It felt like water, but it covered her up like clothes. Very Nice. "[divine]Actually, the real reason I called was to get back to land. See, there are these guys that are wrecking the place.[/divine]" She sounded mock hurt, "[divine]One of them picked me up with his mind and threw me all the way out here.[/divine]"

Poseidon frowned, "My that is unfortunate. Hmmm, you do look lovely in that. I would hate for you to have no one to show it off to." Poseidon smiled, "Very well!" He stepped away from Divine who was left to stand on the water's surface. "So be it. I shall return you to your city. Hold on to that dress this time." Poseidon winked.

Suddenly, Divine was sucked down beneath the surface of the water with nary a chance to catch her breath. For a few moments, everything was darkness and she couldn't breathe. Then suddenly, she felt the pressure of the water decrease. She broke the surface of the water like she was shot out of a cannon. Shaking the water out of her eyes, she realized that she practically was.

Divine sailed over the buildings of Freedom City having been ejected by the Ocean. When her descent began, she realized she was going to land on nearly the exact spot she had been thrown from.

"Go safely, my child." The voice of Poseidon echoed in her head.

[quotemyname]

Zealot went crashing into Emperor with a yelp. The two collided with concussive force. Though the impact left Zealot lying on the ground, the force of his armor crashing into Emperor's chin sent the other teen flying. Emperor's flight was cushioned by the cement wall at the edge of the complex. Emperor didn't seem to be responding very well, it was clear that he was seeing stars. Malice's words echoed in his head. "Remember where hubris gets you."

---

Divine sailed back into the fight without missing much of a beat. She made a crash landing on three points powerful enough to send the concrete of the complex's floor into the air. Sticking the landing, she rose from the dust ready to get back into the fight, much to the dismay of the Shadow Academy Students.

---

From out of nowhere, Hot Shoe was back in the fight. He tore across the open complex at top speed. His red spandex jumpsuit made him visible as only a streak as he ran. His feet hit the pavement so hard and fast that they left a very small trail of fire in his wake, which petered out a few seconds after he'd run past. "Nowyouseemenowyoudon't!" he cried, as he swept past Jack of all Blades, attempting to clock the swordsman with his fist as he passed. Surprisingly, the well-aimed clothesline whiffed right over Jack's head.

---

Zealot easily rolled up from his position on the ground. The youth was surprisingly spry given he was essentially wrapped in sheet metal. "Damn you!" He shouted at Phalanx, shaking his fist. "Your time will come. Rest assured. For now, I deal with this infidel!" Zealot dove to the right, and rolled around Jack, as he came out of the roll he swung his arm. The tendrils of his scourge arced through the air, but Jack was quick enough to dodge them. "Damn you to hell, foul sorcerer! Die when I kill you!"

[Dr Archeville]

Let's see how you like being shot in the face!

I believe he actually blasted us in the chest, not the-

FACE!

Archeville pulled the trigger on the rifle-like object in his hand, and at first nothing happened. Given the circumstances, and due to the Doktor's lightning-fast mind, that split second felt like an eternity, and he glared at the device in his hand for daring to be so impudent. The device complied, and twin pulsating beams of blue-white light lanced out from the tuning fork-shaped barrel, striking Emperor and enveloping him in the same pulsing light.

Due to Archeville's cloaking field, it appeared to everyone else that twin beams of energy lanced out from a spot in space, not far from the main entrance to the facility, and struck Emperor.

The space was soon filled with the form of Doktor Archeville, appearing in full view, surrounded by his own blue-gray protective energy field.

"Jack! Phalanx! Moira! I know dis von, und de last time I saw him, he was mit Kapitan Knieval!"

[Gizmo]

Even as he weaved about the young villain's futile attacks, Jack's eyes narrowed at Archeville's announcement, and his mouth set in a hard line. He'd been waiting for another shot at Knievel for a long time. "Well then, enough playing around, huh?" In one swift movement his lighter was in one hand, lit and sweeping forward, seeming to draw a line of fire in the air as a blazing rapier formed in the other. Continuing with the momentum, he kicked off the ground and rocketed toward Zealot before the fanatic could ready his whip again. The blow struck home and was followed by a series of equally brutal slices. As his target crumpled in a heap at his feat, Jack turned and addressed his remaining opponents, his tone disinterested, flaming blade held casually at his side. "I'm bored with you lot now. Go tell your babysitter I want a word."

[quotemyname]

The glowing energy shield surrounding Emperor that had survived his crash into the concrete wall blipped out of existence. So too did the residual hum that seemed to surround the teen super villain. Still, dealing with a massive headache, Emperor couldn't even respond to losing both his offensive and defensive power.

Jack's fiery blade seemed to find every single nook and cranny in Zealot's armor. It even managed to create a few holes of it's own. For the split second duration of the attack Zealot remained frozen in place. Once the barrage subsided, the teen, bearing a stunned look on his face, dropped to his knees and then fell flat on his face.

[quotemyname]

"Back so soon? Clearly you do have help. This cannot do." Stellar brought his hands into the air, and they glowed with a silvery light, as did his eyes. Once again, Divine felt the force of his telekinesis upon her, however this time is was sheer concussive force.

Stellar floated higher in the sky to get away from the war zone that was developing below him.

---

Slammer leaped from his position atop the complex to the courtyard below, landing near Phalanx. "Slammer would like to make an observation." He took a step towards Phalanx. "It seems to Slammer that he should be picking on some one his own size. Do you not agree, slightly smaller man?" Without further warning, Slammer aimed an uppercut at Phalanx.

[Taar]

Meanwhile, on the roof of a building in Riverside Sarah Prescott drops out of thin air into a crouch, breathing heavily.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, she then leaps forward and vanishes again.

[angrydurf]

Phalanx didn't even bother moving out of the way of the blow from the hulking villain. He took the blow on the chin snapping his head back then slowly turned back to the brute apparently unharmed, "You'll have your turn I assure you." He replied. A quick glance around had fairly well assured that none of the other heroes really had the capability to deal with the flying telekinetic. His choice made for him Phalanx surged up and away into the sky towards Stellar a whirling contrail left in his wake as he sped skywards.

"That's enough out of you." He yelled as he sped upwards. As he reached the floating villain his fist snapped out with the force of a speeding freight train in a mighty blow to the telekinetic's gut.

[quotemyname]

Stellar sucked in a breath, taking the impact hard. He rocketed into the upper atmosphere, apparently defying gravity as he refused to come back down.

Hot Shoe tore back across the battlefield, intent on wiping the infuriating grin off Jack's face. He came sweeping by with another clothesline. "ReadyornothereIcome!" Hot Shoe was gone as fast as he had come, rocketing back off toward another part of the city.

[Dr Archeville]

He's up... but still powerless!

So a quick, medium-level electrical discharge should put him down for the fight.

Why not put him out for good?

Because a hero's goal is ever to uphold justice, not vengeance.

Keeping the magnetism-nullifying rifle in his right hand, the beam still trained on Emperor, Archeville withdrew his Electromagnetic Screwdriver and began manipulating controls. As he did, he began rising into the air. One of the three focusing chambers at the wand-like omnigadget's end retracted slightly, while the other two extended out and moved apart slightly, now looking more like something that should be plugged into an electrical outlet.

He looked down at the magnetic miscreant, and spoke loud enough to be clearly heard by the young assailant (and probably everyone else),"Did you dink you could get avay mit assaulting mein company? Mit assaulting me?! You call yourself 'Emperor', but vhat is an Emperor to a Man of Science!? Justice shall strike you all down... strike LIKE LIGHTNIIING!!!"

It was a bit difficult to make out that last word, as that is when the lightning bolt lanced out from Archeville's hand, appearing to twine around the nullifier beam to strike Emperor dead-on.