Opposites Attract [IC]

[Dr Archeville]

Cyclone had seen the two heroes, and high-tailed it back to his teammates.

Meanwhile, the vidscreen-window showed Thunderbolt approaching the main entrance. Before he crossed the threshold, panels above the door slid back and revealed concealed blasters, which opened fire on the intruder! The shots hit, but they just barely managed to stagger him!

Radium looked back to Binder, who nodded to him. The red-suited man marched in, but he did not bring toys for good little girls and boys, he brought sickening radiation as some of the panels on his suit slid open, exposing all to his lethal energies! Mercifully, there were not many in the courtyard of entry hall, and he passed quickly enough they they were not exposed to instantly fatal amounts, but their suffering was clear in the pained expressions.

Blackstar held back, standing by Binder's side. He raised his arms up, towards Cyclone, as if preparing to catch him... or be picked up by him.

[Dariusprime]

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" roared Fulcrum as she shook her fist.

Air exploded out the (now) open window. Circling about the castle, the heroine arced out wide and lined up her shot. From the view screen's angle, Blackstar looked to be up to no good. If she was lucky, she could nail both Blackstar and Radium at the same time. Using gravity to slingshot her, she dove hard and came roaring through the main gates. Locking her arms together, she slammed into Blackstar's back shoulder first!

At first blush, the hit looked relatively weak. After all she was moving at only a fraction of her maximum speed! How could she possibly hurt something capable of altering it's density? Well Fulcrum had ideas of her own, and the secret weapons to back them up. She patrolled and practiced daily not just to be a good hero, she practiced to fine tune her energy manipulation abilities! Yes, a particularly handy trick was channeling her energy to 'virtually' increase her mass and thus her inertia. The 'whys' weren't known but the 'hows' she knew well enough.

Which meant that the impact resonated with the destructive force of being hit by the castle! A visible shock wave emanated from the two, and with any luck they would crash forward and collide with Radium, neutralizing both the villains in one heroic swoop!

[Dr Archeville]

The Persian Powerhouse gives Blackstar the bum's rush... but to little effect! He staggers back a couple of feet, then turns and snorts derisively at her!

Binder barks out something in German -- actual German, not the German-accented English she's been hearing all day/evening, and in a far harsher tone. He whirls his gun around to bear on her, and a stream of sticky (and quickly hardening) resin engulfs her! Before seeing how effective (or not) his chemical payload is, concealed jets in his armor's boots ignite, and he flies into the Castle, past the still-stunned Thunderbolt and the strolling Radium. Fulcrum loses sight of him as he turns left down a hallway.

As she struggle with the sticky resin, the young speedster in purple appeared, though he kept some distance from her. He stretched his hands out, and Fulcrum suddenly felt the resin get even stickier! Not just that, but the air seemed thicker. He quips something in Portuguese; while the words are not clear, the tone is clearly cocky and somewhat lecherous.

Blackstar, still a few feet in front of her, felt the effect, too, as he clearly struggled in his movements. He glared at the speedster, who was now literally running circles around the two.

[Dr Archeville]

"Be care-" Archeville began to say, but Fulcrum was already gone.

The Lord of the Castle zipped through the air, through the empty ballroom to the castles communication's center. A handful of staff stationed there were frantically trying to contact authorities, but something -- perhaps the walking nuclear reactor one floor below them -- was causing interference. The Doktor did not need to make an outside call, though.

How dare those half-wits come into my house, ruin my meal, and-

Tell them.

... what?

Tell them. Tell them how you feel, and what you wish to do to them.

You mean...?

Yes. You can even speak in our native tongue, since Binder gives them all translators so they an understand each other without needing to waste time translating their speech.

Speakers concealed in every room in the castle crackled to life, as did several outside the castle. Holographic images of the Doktor also appeared, in every room, and at the main entrance. Feral eyes glared out, and his voice roared out, "Wissenschafts-Geschwader! Sie trauen sich zu denken dass Sie das Schloss von Viktor Archeville angreifen können unbemerkt? Sie denken dass ich nicht weiß was in meinem Gebiet auftritt? Sie suchen mein Genie zu plündern und vergrößern Ihre eigenen Fähigkeiten… weil Sie zu dumm und faul sind, Ihre Selbst zu tun Arbeit! Verlassen Sie jetzt, und ich zeige Gnade! Fahren Sie fort, und Sie erlernen warum Sie nie einen Wissenschaftler in seinem eigenen Labor angreifen!"

"Science Squadron! You dare to think you can assault the castle of Viktor Archeville unnoticed? You think I do not know what occurs in my domain? You seek to plunder my genius, and augment your own abilities... because you are too stupid and lazy to do your own work! Leave now, and I shall show mercy! Continue, and you shall learn why you never assault a scientist in his own laboratory!"

(translation via BabelFish)

Again, Fulcrum did not know what was being said, but it sounded damned frightening. It certainly had an effect on those she saw: Blackstar's face fell and eyes widened a bit, while Slick actually stutter-stepped as he almost tripped over himself. And she could just see Radium, in the courtyard, had paused...

... and was now being sprayed with a light gray foam from nozzles in the ceiling, which quickly hardened and turned him into a veritable statue!

[Dr Archeville]

Fulcrum heard a soft boom overhead, and glanced up enough to see a silver streak -- Cyclone -- flying away as fast as he possibly could. Must have been something the German Doktor said that really spooked the French aeronaut...

Thunderbolt finally shook his head clear, and turned to Fulcrum. His eyes and fists crackled with lightning, and he yelled something in Serbian as he charged towards her. She noted he was actually running, not flying... right as a million megavolts slammed into her jaw, and a blinding light flashed before her eyes!

Elsewhere, beyond the smashed door/gate, the cocooned Radium silently struggled with his bonds. A soft, sickly green glow could be seen within, and the super-science foam bulged in places, but it held... for now.

Blackstar (slowly, due to being affected by the increased friction field) shakes his fist towards the sky while spewing curses in German, then dramatically tosses his cape aside as he tuns back to Fulcrum. She may or may not have been able to see this (due to the blinding flash from Thunderbolt's fists), but she certainly felt his double-fisted blow(s) connect!

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum was momentarily stunned that the impact didn't put all three of them into the nearest masonry wall. Which is why she ended up on the defensive. The glue gun volley hit her solidly, and the little zippy guy certainly didn't help the situation. She simply scowled and flexed her muscles, shattering the hardened shell. No sooner was she free though when Thunderbolt and Blackstar double teamed her.

For a split second her vision went absolutely white, but thankfully the silhouettes reappeared quickly enough to keep her guard up. She considered pounding the daylights out of Blackstar, since he was partially encapsulated by the glue, but that whispering sense of honor swung her around a 180 degrees to unload a powerful hook right at Thunderbolt's head. He'd better hope that thing didn't connect.

Even if it did, she suspected a guy made out of electricity would, pun intended, having a shocking surprise for anyone touching him. At the moment though she didn't care one bit. After a punch powerful enough to leave a small vortex of air, she vanished in a blue-and-gold streak, out the front gate and over the nearby hills. Oh, she'd be back. They could count on that. She was just getting started.

[Dr Archeville]

Binder continued up to the 3rd floor, making a bee-line for the very research laboratory Mona saw as she had entered the Castle. The handful of scientists present, already alert due to the warning klaxons sounding through the building, were still unprepared for the armored man who flew in and doused them all with a stream of fast-hardening resin. All were held fast, leaving the intruder to do as he willed in the lab.

Slick, no longer running in circles, concentrated for a moment to free Blackstar of the effects of the increased friction field he was still under. He then skated inside, and was next to the still-bound Radium. He concentrated on that teammate for a moment, decreasing all friction around him in the same way it shed off him, and the super-science metallic foam from Scholl Wissenschaft's defenses slid away from the now frictionless Nuclear Reactor That Walked Like A Man. The featureless red form nodded to the purple blur, which had already sped off, up to the 4th floor.

[Dr Archeville]

""

We have to re-bind Radium! He is too dangerous to let run free!

No, we should blast Thunderbolt! He dared to lay a hand on Fulcrum!

Ah-ha! Even you care for her!

I... you... silence!

You will have to put aside your revenge for now -- Radium is the bigger threat, to both our people and our electronics.

With his left hand the Doktor used his techno-wand to order the Castle's defenses to focus on Radium, then set the gadget to a new function. With his left, he rapidly reconfigured some of the components of his Gravimetric Belt; rather than create a protective field around him, it would dissociate the gravitic bonds between his molecules until he was as intangible as a wraith. He flew up through the ceiling, rising before Binder, whose surprise could be seen even through his suit.

"

Meanwhile, at the Castle entry, Radium was again attacked by the Castle's defenses, and again encased in super-science quick-hardening metallic foam!

[Dr Archeville]

Fulcrum streaked through the air, who-knows-what thoughts going through her head, when her attention was suddenly diverted by a focused bolt of hypercompressed air whizzing by her ear! Cyclone's silvery form flew above her, and he was preparing for another shot!

Thunderbolt turned and ran back into the Castle. Suddenly his body converted completely to electrical energy, and bolted into a nearby robot recharge station! The Castle's monitors showed him appearing at the 4th floor r&D labs, where Slick was doing a second sweep of the room.

Radium, again bound by Archeville's metallic capturefoam, was hating everything right now. He focused that hatred -- and his own biologically-generated nuclear energies -- into a fine beam, which cut away large portions of the foam restraints. He was not totally free, but he was mobile enough to be a threat!

Blackstar turned and ran through the gate, but before entering the Castle itself, he knelt down and began wailing on the courtyard ground! Why? Was he up to some diabolical plan, or merely venting frustrations?

[Dariusprime]

Rotating onto her back, Fulcrum judged the speak of her pursuer and casually banked up right at him! At first blush the rush appeared to be a fly-by attack, but she suddenly veered right toward Cyclone. Throwing all of her power into her extraordinary strength, she grabbed hold of jet designer and suit, leveraging her superior size to joint lock his arm while snaking her right around his face.

Locked there in mortal combat, the two still racing forward at unbelievable speeds, Fulcrum gritted her teeth, "How good is this thing?" With that enigmatic pronunciation, Fulcrum simply stopped flying. Mostly anyway. Which meant her full 575 lbs dropped onto the thrusters of Cyclone's suit. No, they wouldn't drop like meteors to the earth, but that much stress could do bad things to engines. Did the engines have enough power to keep them up? What would he do?

Okay, really it was closer to 580 lbs now. She had been working out! Really!

[Dr Archeville]

Binder tries to shake the spots from his eyes, but all he still saw was darkness! Luckily or him, he had frineds who could come to his aid, so he called them via the radio in his suit.

Slick was first to respond, racing down to the laboratory where they were. He saw the Doktor, saw he was holding his techno-wand out, and moved to grab it. It would be easy enough -- his control over friction allowed him to easily disarm others, by decreasing the friction between their hands and their held items, making it feel to them as if the item were coated in butter. Unfortunately for him, that only worked if the targets were tangible, which the Doktor, at this moment, was not. Realizing something was amiss as soon as he ran through Archeville, Slick ran off, going who-knows-where.

Those few seconds were enough time for Binder's vision to clear, though, and he struck, firing a blob of his fast-hardening resin at the Doktor... which soared through his incorporeal head and struck a table of test tubes and petri dishes behind him.

[Dr Archeville]

Bet to end this quick, before others get harmed, or they escape with any of our research!

Shoot them! Shoot them in the face!

No, I am thinking of something far more elegant...

Archeville against reconfigured his Belt and Screwdriver. He returned to a corporeal form, surrounded once more by his primary blue-gray force field. He looked at Binder and held up his Screwdriver.

fssshhh

A meter-long blade of buzzing, sparkling energy projected from the end of the techno-wand.

""

The Doktor spun around and struck Binder in the arm, igniting his nerves with pure agony. The villain yelped, and dropped his glue gun (which dangled from the hose connecting it to its backpack), but he remained conscious and standing.

""

The Castle's defenses continued to try to contain Radium, coating him with more and more of the super-science quick-hardening metallic foam. Once more he was cocooned, once more he and Blackstar rolled their eyes in frustration.

[Dr Archeville]

"Assez bon pour tenir votre grand derriere vers le haut," Cyclone replied via loudspeakers in his suit. He hovered in place, though even Fulcrum could tell (From the increased whine of the turbines) that it was something of a struggle to stay up.

In the laboratory with Binder and Archeville, a computer terminal flared. Out of it leaped Thunderbolt, who dealt the super-scientist a surprise blow with his lightning-charged fists! Fortunately, the Doktor's force field protected him completely from the electrical discharge, and not so much as a single hair stood on end. Unfortunately, that did nothing to shield the Doktor's eyes from the blinding flare of the lightning-fists -- he was blinded!

Radium again burned away the super-foam cocooning him, burning away much of it and leaving more nasty black gunk around him. Then he turned back to Blackstar. He knelt down near where Blackstar had been pounding, and directed his focused radioactive energies on the ground, disrupting the courtyard grounds on an atomic level.

Rather than take advantage of the weakening right away, though, Blackstar struck upon a better idea. Looking into the entry hall, he saw several suits of armor lining the walkway. He concentrated on them, and they wobbled, then flew towards the localized gravity field he had created. He stopped it before they reached him, placing them between Radium and the capturefoam projectors. Now, they would work uninterrupted.

[Dariusprime]

"Sorry, sweetie, but I'm more woman than you can handle," Fulcrum chuckled ironically, "You're an insult to the language." No, she didn't understand everything Cyclone said, but she knew the term grande derriere.

So simply in reply she smiled at him, made a kissing sound and proceeded to twist the tin can off of him. Despite the reinforced suit, she really didn't have to try that hard. One of the major drawbacks of powered armor was that, as far as engineering was concerned, the interior was hollow. While to some extent that increased structural integrity, in the long run the designer had to protect a very squishy pilot inside. All mechanics had to work around that reality. Realizing the squishiness of the man, Fulcrum didn't simply try to crush or restrain him.

Instead she bent the suit's joints at odd angles, forcing the suit's servos to compensate. In particular she focused on the neck and arm, hyper extending them, while simultaneously bending the rest of the body backwards. It wasn't the most elegant grapple, but she wasn't an elegant fighter. Even Centurion wasn't known for this Mad Gung Fu Skillz.

Then to add insult to injury, she kept her weight on him and began to slowly drag him toward the ground. "Mite-eating surrender monkey," she mumbled under her breath. She really meant it to calm her own nerves, but hey, if it got a raze out of Cyclone, all the better. Keep him from plotting something.

[Dr Archeville]

The young purple-clad speedster appeared again, right in front of the blinded Archeville, and reached for the Doktor's Electromagnetic Screwdriver! This was a favored tactic of Slick's, because his control over friction allowed him to coat objects in a frictionless field, making it slip right out of its owner's hands and into his -- which is exactly what happened here! The lightsaber-like beam cut off as it transferred over, and the controls were too advanced for him to use... or were they? If he was hanging out with the Science Squad, he was probably quite brainy himself-

"," he taunted in the Portuguese equivalent of Surfer-Lingo, ""

Okay, maybe he wasn't that clever. Still, he had the Doktor's Gadget... and now he was on another floor of the Castle.

As Archeville looked on (or tried to, still being blind) in shocked disbelief at the theft of his Gadget, Binder seized the opportunity and fired his glue gun, binding him in fast-hardening resin and cementing his feet to the floor! "" he gloated, then turned and jetted off down the hallway. ""

Now it was just Thunderbolt and the blind, entangled Doktor.

[Dr Archeville]

SON OF A-

crapcrapcrapcrapcrap-

Argh, I've got to do everything myself...

Archeville's vision cleared in time for him to see Thunderbolt winding up for another punch. Despite the binding resin h was able to retrieve an item from his labcoat, a set of steel wire bolos. Thunderbolt was perhaps not expecting him to continue fighting, so even with the resins restricting his movement he was able to throw the bolos and entangle the bioelectric braggart, who then sparked violently as he began to "ground out"!

""

Archeville took the moment's distraction to attempt to reprogram his Belt's teleport function, setting it on a trigger in case certain conditions were met. In this case, that trigger was when it detected his arms were firmly around someone, as in a grapple. The Doktor tried to do just that, heedless of harm from the sparking villain, and still slowed by the resins, but Thunderbolt's pained thrashings made him too elusive to grasp.

The Castle's defenses, unable to target Radium due to the intervening suits of armor, targeted the next priority target: Blackstar. A potent blast of energy washed over him, but when it cleared, he still stood, barely smoldering!

[Dr Archeville]

Fulcrum's sleeper hold appears to have done just that: Cyclone drops, and appears wholly unresponsive!

Thunderbolt, sparking wildly where the glowing steel wire wraps around hm, powers through his pain and decks Archevile with another blinding lightning-punch. Again the Doktor's force field protects him from the shock of the blow, but not the intense light of it, and he is once again blinded! Which meant he could not see the electrical fiend exit the lab via the Castle's electrical grid, teleporting out of the steel snare in the process!

Radium and Blackstar continue their work on demolishing the courtyard of Scholss Wissenschaft. Radium's irradiated touch dissociates the bonds between the bricks and mortar, weakening it enough so that one final double-fisted punch from Blackstar opens a hole big enough for them to slip through!

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum wasn't that easily fooled. At the very least, she wasn't going to take any chances. Villains had played dead in her grip on previous occasions. She maintained the anaconda squeeze, wrenching the arm back further and continuing the choke. Part of her subconscious wanted her to rip the rude pleb in half, but the better part of her character emerged in time to keep the Cyclone's arm attached to his body.

Instead she set down on the side of a road, somewhere in the foothills surrounding the castle. A few more seconds, so she suspected, and Cyclone would be out for hours and wake up with a horrible headache. The next priority, which took a moment to locate, was something to incapacitate the villain. That road sign would have to do!

In the dim of the afternoon clouds, Fulcrum stood ramrod still, listening for trouble, but otherwise putting the French designer to nappy time.

"Beautiful country."

[Dr Archeville]

Cyclone lets our more pained yelps, and remains fairly limp, but the murmurs Fulcrum hears indicate he's not been rendered unconscious. Looking around the stunning countryside, she senses no other troubles... but what of the Castle? What are the other five members of Wissenschafts-Geschwader, the Science Squad, doing in Scholss Wissenschaft... and was her date/host alright?

The other five members were quite busy. Slick, still holding onto Archeville's Electromagnetic Screwdriver,r aced around the Castle, keeping an eye out and remaining in radio contact with the others. Binder jetted to the 4th floor laboratories, and, seeing that Slick and Thunderbolt had already KO'd the staff, began downloading files. Thunderbolt materialized in those labs, but Binder ordered him down to the Castle's power cores, which he did after some grousing. Radium leaped down the hole he and Blackstar had made in the courtyard, entering the hangar below, and set off a radiation pulse to take out the few staff and guards who had not fled; Blackstar followed him down, and began searching among the computer systems for something...

[Dr Archeville]

Blinded again? Oh, come on!

Creativity never was his strong suit.

Yes, which means he's easily predictable!

Archeville shook the spots from his eyes again, then opened the controls for his Gravimetric Belt. Only mildly hindered by his resin-covered hands, he was able to adjust the force field for two new functions: to use gravitic waves to distort incoming intense bursts of light (such as those from a blinding flash), and to expand in the presence of physical contact (be it from bonds or grapplers) in such a way that the offending substance could not get a grip. As soon as it was set, the field flickered off, then back on at a micron-thin layer atop his skin, expanding outward and sloughing off Binder's resin, freeing him from the entanglement.

And now to get those filthy-

Wait, there are people here we need to free first!

So they can do what? Run into one of them, and become hostages? Better to leave them here, out of my way!

I... suppose Binder's resin is making a good shield for them.

The Doktor turned to his bound Staff, and went to and touched each on reassuringly, ""

He turned back to the door, remembering which way Binder banked as he flew out, and remembering his words. Plans began to form, as he went over the mental images he had of his foes, of all their weak spots and vulnerable areas, and how best to exploit them.

I'm gonna take those swine apart with my bare hands if I have to!

The Castle's defenses, temporarily unable to track Blackstar and Radium due to the radiation pulse the latter had emitted screwing with the sensors, switched to another target. Slick held a piece of Archeville's personal technology, which labeled him a prime target. Fast as the speedster was, the targeting routines were faster and better, and the young friction manipulator ran face-first into an energy blast, flipping head over heels before crashing to a stop on his back.

[Dariusprime]

"Just give up won't ya?" grunted Fulcrum as Cyclone murmured. Releasing his arm, she swung him away from her and cocked back a cinderblock-sized fist. "You're tough for a power suit user, I'll give you that."

Then she clocked him. A straight-out hay maker right to the chest. Her motion wasn't to punch through him - that would be far too lethal - instead aiming to knock more of the breath out of him on impact. A resounding metallic thud echoed through the greenery of the Black Forest as she smashed the suit good.

Honestly she was worried about Viktor. Sure, sure, the castle was his and likely had so many defense systems that the Science Squad didn't stand a chance. Still she worried. Super genius or not, Viktor was still a squishy, and that meant if they disabled his technology he was in big trouble. Especially from the radiation man. Her original goal flying away had been to regroup and hopefully separate the speedster and flier from the group. Instead the flier had become something of a tough cookie, and she was suddenly thankful the speed demon had not followed.

Hopefully he was alright. Then she punched Cyclone a couple of more times across the helmet and to the armor-plated gut. Her sense of honor felt bad about hitting a downed opponent, but she wasn't about to leave Viktor to those boors!

"Stay down!"

[Dariusprime]

Once Cyclone topped like a ton of bricks, Fulcrum sighed, "I apologize for being rough, but time is of the essence. Now to check on my date."

Channeling all of that raw energy into other features, Fulcrum disappeared in a blur. Her destination was the castle, which she made a circle thereof, scanning for Viktor, villains and random mischief. Then the course narrowed, spiraling into the courtyard and outer rooms of the castle. Eventually she even made her way back up to their dining area.

What she saw was not good. Especially the now quite impressive hole in the courtyard. Seeing these things, but the castle defenses still operational, gave her a bit of hope. Still Viktor was nowhere to be seen. Not a good sign! Frowning at mach who-knows-what, she zoomed up next to the Doktor to ponder her next move. Thankfully she could think fast now.

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "How are you, Viktor?"

[Dr Archeville]

Mona is back!

Can't talk, got people to mangle.

The melted goo at Archeville's feet -- very similar to the goo binding the handful of staff to the wall beside him -- was an unusual sight, but the grim and determined look on his face was almost frightening. "I vill be better vonce dese svine are removed from mein Castle! Did you see the speedster? He stole mein Screwdriver! But dat can vait -- I am going after de leader, who is in de process of stealing more from me! Can you stop de ozhers?"

The Doktor flew off, fading from view and hearing as he went. He raced to the other laboratories around the Castle, at found Binder on the fourth floor.

I am surprised he did not try for something in the chemistry labs, that is his forte.

I don't care what he's after, he's not getting my work!

Still cloaked, he positioned himself for a surprise blow, but the armored foe turned unexpectedly at the last moment and Archeville's fist bounced off armored plating!

The Castle's Defense Systems, having taken down Slick, sought out more combatants. It re-acquired Blackstar and Radium, and fired another round of the capturefoam at the living nuclear reactor, once more binding him.

[Dr Archeville]

Slick lay unconscious in the kitchen, having stopped there for a quick snack.

Binder continued downloading files, but paused when he felt a sudden blow. His armored protected him, but he knew that was not from one of the autotmated defenses -- Archeville was here, and cloaked.

Cyclone lay unconscious some distance from the Castle.

Thunderbolt amused himself by zapping the few staff down in the power core. He knew he was supposed to keep an eye on things, cut power to the defense systems if he could figure out how (as if such would be a challenge to him!), and be prepared to send it all to overload once the rest of the team was done. But that was boring, and he wanted to zap something now!

Radium had just KO'd the last guard, when he was once again doused in the quick-hardening capturefoam, cocooned and stuck to the floor! He was already fatigued from having spent so much energy already, so when he tried blasting out, the foam barley bulged.

Blackstar found what he was looking for in the hangar's systems, and began downloading files. He saw Radium's predicament, but did not move to help him; he had his tasks to do, and besides, if the mute was dumb enough to keep getting caught, he deserved it!

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum's happy face faltered. Yes, of course, he was still under siege. She was just glad he was okay. With a weak wave as he disappeared, she zoomed out of hall. The damage she'd seen, well, came mainly from Radium and Blackstar. So they'd be her first priority.

At her pace, she was down beside Blackstar in the blink of an eye. Looking down over his shoulder, she seemed amused by the whole situation, in a they-ruined-my-date sort of way. Then she slugged him. Hard. In the back of the head. Then she ran off.

Stopping by the dinner table, she eyed the delicious treats let untasted, "Villains," she huffed.