Fire and Ice (IC)

[Cyroa]

GM

It might be a quiet night in the city. In some places that is. Ashton, near the state forests, was usually one of those places. The quiet suburban areas was normally rather peaceful. But tonight, explosions and flashes of light from the nearby forests reached the quiet community and woke more than a few people earlier than they intended.

Proceeding into forest in the pre-dawn light didn’t reveal much until one came close to a large clearing made larger by the destructive occupants. The clearing was filled with strange 4 armed figures standing about 5 feet tall. They wore strange futuristic style clothing/armor and carried some form of blaster as well. They had orange skin and 3 unblinking eyes. And they came out of a large purplish rift or port of some kind, floating in the center of the clearing. It wasn’t a large force, but they certain seemed intent.

[Cyroa]

Hellion

James felt the gate rip open and he was immediately up and moving. He didn’t recognize the source dimension by feel though that didn’t mean much. He vanished to reappear outside the clearing. “Oh joy. This should be fun,†he muttered. Seldom did it happen that those who came through the gates WANT to go home or were even here for a peaceful purpose. It was possible these guys weren’t here to cause trouble but James doubted it.

His doubt became certainty as they saw him on the edge of the woods. Without pause, they turned and opened up with their weapons sending blasts of purple beams at him. He grumbled as he dove to one side, behind some trees.

“Yeah, gotta love my job.â€

[Darksider42]

Quite tonight... Lady Winter thought as she slide across rooftops on a path made of ice. She was surprised how fast this let her travel compared to walking, but then again there was much she was still learning about her own powers and only knew so much about what she could do without accidentally causing more mayhem than she did in the Graveyard.

As he traveled, she heard several explosions over by the nearby forests. Almost without thinking she made a wide turn towards the forests, Hammer quickly forming in her hands. It took her almost no time at all to reach the area and saw-

Let us hope I do not get killed...again

[Cyroa]

The aliens babbled to each other, unintelligible to the two heroes. Most of them raised their blasters, shooting wildly. A virtual fusillade of energy bolts hurtled towards the two heroes but nothing came close though most of the trees surrounding them were blasted to bits. Peeking around the trees, the heroes could see other activity besides the attack. Behind firing aliens, several others seemed to be assembling some kind of machine. While the heroes might not know what it was for, odds were good that it was not for the benefit of humanity!

[Cyroa]

James looked over as the lady on the ice road slid up and into cover. He had no idea who she was but he was glad for the help. He nodded at her, "Nice to meet ya! Thanks for showing. Time to play!." He gave a wry smile as he activated his cloaking spell and faded from sight. He reached one hand around the tree, peeking along with it and launched a blast of Hellfire over the area. It wasn't the strongest attack but it certainly covered a lot of the area.

[Darksider42]

"Nice to meet you as well." Lady Winter said as she watched the pyrotechnic display by James. She didn't exactly have invisibility, but she had something close. She closed her eyes and soon within moments snow started to fall over the area. Then the wind picked up and very soon there area of the forest was trapped in a blizzard. I do hope he can still see them She thought as her world started to dissolve into the colour blue and red shapes where the aliens stood started to fill her vision. If James could have seen here, he would have notice her eyes had dilated and become very bloodshot all the sudden.

[Cyroa]

James blinked at the sudden blizzard though given her arrival he shouldn't have been surprised. In no time at all, he was practically blind. He couldn't make her out at all. No point staying invisible now. With a whisper, he canceled his concealment spell and faded back into sight. He quickly cast another to enhance his innate senses. Ah, there they are. To his dimensional sight, they stood out quite clearly. Despite the general unpleasantness of his life of late, he grinned. This was going to be a wonderful way of working through some of those suppressed feelings.

He hoped there wasn't anything on the ground as he stood up, summoning the Black Blade to his hand, he charged through the blizzard, a little unevenly since you couldn't quite see the ground. He'd have kept lashing out with fire but given the opposite elements involved, he figured it was a bad idea. This should do the trick though. He ran at them, silently and would be on them before they new it!

[Cyroa]

Needless to say, the dimensional aliens weren't expecting the two opposite effects to suddenly crash down on them. The fire burned many of them but didn't incapacitate any either. However the sudden blizzard was far more of a hindrance to them. They couldn't even see to shoot back so they crouched, weapons pointing outward even as James charged and attached. Despite the hindrance, there were still a few working on the machine...

[Darksider42]

Lady Winter watched the man run into the blizzard. She wasn't sure what he was planning, but she had hoped that it would take down as many of them as possible. She had no idea what the aliens at the strange device were doing, but she had a feeling she should stop them before they completed their task. She concentrated as the ground underneath her froze solid and sent forth a massive torrent of frozen air towards them, encasing anything in its path in solid ice. With her powers focused on that, the snow started to stop falling.

[Cyroa]

James blinked as he could suddenly see again, the blizzard suddenly ceasing. He dismissed the Blade and summoned fire to his hand. He noted the suddenly alien ice blocks with a grin. "Nice one!" he yelled, even as he gestured. Fire splashed out over the area, missing the ones encased in ice of course, to burn the invading aliens. "The machine is some kind of gateway thing. Don't let them finish it. Or break it," he added quickly since he had no idea what that would do.

[Cyroa]

The Aliens did not take this assault and interruptions to their plans lying down; well some of them did. The others responding with their blasters, now that they could see once more. Most targeted Hellion, since he was practically amidst them, while a few others attacked Lady Winter. In moments, energy bolts from their rayguns were zapping furiously over the wintery landscape.

[Darksider42]

"I' will see what I can d-" Lady winter was cut off as soon as the alien beams hit her in the shoulder, burning with skin. "Agh! The shouted as she rushed across the cold wintery landscape she herself made and reached the alien device. Putting her hands on it, she focused as Ice quickly started to cover its surface. In mere moments, she had effectively cocooned it in hardened ice. Let us see how they can work now. She thought as she turned back tot he aliens, hands wrapped around her hammer.

[Cyroa]

The invading aliens seemed to take the loose of their people and device (being that they were encased in ice) extremely well. In fact it spurred them on to greater success! The 5 near Hellion blasted at him, with multiple blaster bolts striking the no longer stunned hero. He staggered backwards, reeling, as he received fresh injuries. Likewise the two aiming at Lady Winter seemed to have focused their aim quite well, with both blasters striking hard!

[Darksider42]

Even with the power of the aliens weaponry, they did they little to her as all they did was melt the ice formed underneath her cloths. and with that, She ran forward, swinging her massive Ice Hammer at the head of one of the aliens attacking her. It remained to be seen if it could take it.

[Cyroa]

James grinned in appreciation as the ice lady cracked the invader across the head, sending him flying right back through the gate. Head first. "Nice one," he said with grin. With another burst of will, he sent forth streams of hellfire to strike at the aliens. While two managed to throw themselves out of the way, the others were not so fortunate. The demonically inspired fire struck them and, combined with their previous injures, dropped them to the ground.

Those last two, seeing the sorry state of their 'force', decided discretion was the better part of valor. Without looking back, they sprinted for the portal without looking back!

[Darksider42]

"" Lady Winter shouted to the fleeing aliens as they ran back through the portal. She took a deep breath and looked over the snow covered landscape, the beaten up aliens and the ones still locked in ice. "Vell, that was interesting." She said to the man as she pushed some stray hair out of her face, her English improving back to normal despite the insanity that happened only moments ago.

[Cyroa]

James brushed himself off, frowning at the burn marks in his clothing from the energy beams. "I was just starting to like this coat too," he muttered to himself. He looked around with a grin and nodded to her. "That was rather entertaining, if somewhat painful. Thanks by the way. Forcing them out alone would have been a serious problem. Want to help throw the lot back through the portal, their machine too, while I work on sealing the breach?" He looked a little annoyed for a moment before his customary smile slid back onto his face. "I'm Hellion by the way, if you prefer code names. Outside of work though, I'm James. James Prophet."

[Darksider42]

"I am Lady Winter. I use that all the time." She said with her own smile. She dusted off a bit of ash from her shoulder, the scorch mark already being covered in encroaching ice. "I myself am going to need to grab another spare once everything is over and done here. But yes, I feel up to tossing them back." With than, she dropped her hammer into the snow and went over to the entombed aliens. Hope I am as strong as I think I am. Lady winter cracked her knuckles and grabbed one of them, using her strength to wrench the alien off the ground and lift it over her head. "Heavier than I thought." She muttered as she moved it to the portal and tossed it through. if the aliens were advanced enough to open portals into other realities, the could easily faw out their frozen comrades. She turned around and went back to do the same thing.

[Cyroa]

He nodded at her with a charming smile. "Nice to meet you." He walked over to the portal and studied it while she began tossing the dense aliens back on through. "I can buy you a replacement if you like. It's the least I can do." He glanced over. "Yeah, the gravity on the other side is a good deal higher. Made them quicker here I think." He frowned at the thing for another moment before finally nodded to himself. "Ok, I can close this. First let me help toss these fine folks home. Didn't expect them to punch through. They got advanced awfully quick. Something to deal with later," he said to himself as he followed through with his own words. He wandered over and tossed them through without moving too far. Demonic strength had its perfects.

[Darksider42]

"How sweet of you." She got out as she threw another Alien through the portal. She did raise an eyebrow at him. "You fight these things before? That is surprising. Then again, this city has seen many strange things happen to it many times over." Once again, her reply was punctuated with another Alien hitting the other side of the portal. If it wasn't for the fact Lady Winter subconsciously regulated her own temperature or the fact she blanketed part of the forest in the trappings of the colder seasons, she would be sweating by now.

[Cyroa]

"Think nothing of it," he said with a laugh. Flinging the last of the frozen aliens through, he went over to the device. "Nope, never have. But I can across a probe of theirs a while back and did a little scouting to see where it came from." He studied the thing curiously for a moment. "Beyond making a bigger dimensional hole, I have not idea how this thing works." He shrugged his shoulders and created a black hole under it, sucking it into a little pocket dimension he had prepared. "I'll drop it off in some deserted really later. I don't want to send it back and I certain don't want to risk destroying it here." He looked over at her, brushing his heads off, trying to place the accent. He raised one eyebrow before speaking in fluent Russian, "You are new in town I take it? What brings you to Freedom City?"

[Darksider42]

Lady Winter said, looking happy she didn't need to keep her English up. It got hard keeping it up at times. <"Not so much new as returning. Just trying to sort things out in my life. It isn't everyday you wake up frozen inside an ice berg with your memories scrambled after all."> She shrugged and let out a deep breath, mist coming out in a light stream. The cold landscape was starting to melt. <"If anything, I'm here to gather my thoughts, find out what happened and perhaps try out this crime fighting thing Superheroes do all the time. Nice way to work out frustration too.'>

[Cyroa]

He shrugged one shoulder. "It's a talent I have," he replied, still in her native tongue. It didn't matter to him what language they were talking in. Speaking Russian was as easy to him as English; she certainly seemed to appreciate it so Russian it was. "I can imagine that would be disorientating, yeah. Never woke up in a big ice cube myself, but I can certainly understand needing to sort things out." He shrugged one shoulder just a little. "Actually I think you met some friends of mine. Wander? Has a bat, ridiculously good at beating things down? And Psyche, a telepath. Wander told me a Russian ice control had a...misunderstanding with this zombie fellow called Dead Head," he said with a shrug. "I'm not sure if I can help, but I'm willing if you need it."

[Darksider42]

" Lady winter looked a bit bitter when that showed up, <"That is something I do with to keep pushed to of my memory for a good long time. Your friends however I do remember. Psyche managed to find me a place to live, though by now only polar bears would find it comfortable"> She laughed quietly at that last bit. True to what she had said, most of the surrownding area of her little getaway home looked out of place in Freedom city right now. <"I am sure I'll get by. I only wish being a superhero payed. It would make life a lot easier.">

[Cyroa]

He gave a wry smile. "Yeah he's like that. Wander and Psyche are great though. Hey, as long as you're comfortable, who cares who else likes it? Everyone needs a place to relax and unwind." He nodded at that last one. It wasn't a problem he had, but he knew others had similar issues. Heck, there was a whole team out there that got paid. "Yeah, I hear that. Not a lot of hero types get paid for being a hero. Some do though. I've got some connection if you're looking for a job. Not superheroing but maybe something to make paying the bills easier so you can come out here and freeze the bad guys without worrying about the mortgage quite so much," he offered with a grin.