Zerg Rush (IC)

[Sandman XI]

Riverside Park was a nice place to hang out. At least where Wesley Knight was concerned. The summer weather. The sight of the rose garden made him feel calm. The sight of the Sentry Statue made him feel safe. It was only when he was with Robin that he felt better than this. But she had work to do today and he was ushered out. He sat on the edge of the Sentry Statue, looking out into the water when he saw something weird floating ashore. It looked like a clutch of eggs. Very large purple eggs. This was interesting. He went to go get a closer look. When he got there He wish that he hadn't bothered. These things smelled awful. like they had been at the bottom of the bay for a while Still he couldnt help but marvel on how big they were. Maybe he would contact Dr Archeville about them. But before he had time to do anything he heard a slimy snap. The eggs were hatching! He took a step back. What was going to com out of these things? He stood ready to face what would happen. It wasn't pretty at all. Several slimy purple raptors brust from the eggs, squealing their first squeals of life. He DEFINITELY had to get the good Doktor here pronto. As he reached for his cell phone one on them blindly snapped at him! and then the rest did also! The call would have to wait. He had to defend himself.

[tryrar]

Coming to the park for a relaxing stroll was a good idea, Don thought. Nothing was more stressful than a power lunch with a prospective investor in your latest scheme for radically new (and green!) power generation ideas, especially when they don't have the scientific background to understand even half of what he was saying. The cool breeze coming off the river sure did wonders for one's blood pressure, and the local wildlife could be very inter-Wait, are those prehistoric raptors?! Those are most definitely NOT local! He watches in astonishment as several creatures which could only be described as dinosaurs hatch and attack a man!

Looking quickly around, he finds some cover behind a cluster of tall rosebushes. He takes concentrates a moment, then starts hovering off the ground. as soon as his feet leave the ground, his barrier snaps up, all light bends away from him as he is clad in complete and utter shadow, and Dyne flies above the bushes to the aid of the man in the middle of the pack!

[rpgronin]

"This is so stupid," bemoaned Noah, scribbling furiously into his composition notebook as he observed a particularly boring yellow flower, its leafy foliage as equally uninteresting as the high school sophomore was in the plant itself. "Who'd want to study a plant anyway?"

With another sigh as the teen finished jotting down his observations for his biology homework, he stuffed the notebook into the puke green backpack straddling his shoulders, the familiar feeling of his semi-trademarked plastic goggles brushing against his hand and the hard-covered book noisily. Perhaps it was idle optimism, or deranged sycophantic tendencies at its lowest form, but regardless of whatever it was that inspired Momentum to pack his costume, he'd done so. Not that it did him much good, of course, given that there wasn't exactly any crime fighting to be done in broad daylight in the park...

And then the boy's ears piqued at something most peculiar. There was a... a squealing? Yes, he was certain of it. Some kind of icky, disturbing squeal. But it was odd not in the sound itself, but that it was one he'd never heard before. A very strange, almost alien vocalization. His curiosity is quickly compounded upon as a strange fellow begins floating off towards the location of the wailing audio-catastrophe. Following along behind the familiar odd-ball man floating through the air with the greatest of ease, Momentum - in civilian duds - saunters along from the rear to investigate this most bizarre wail.

Peering at the watery shoal of the river, Noah's eyes go wide as the sight becomes a vast realization of horror and terror. There, still slightly poised in their half-cracked shells, were honest to goodness dinosaurs! And a man in the middle! A man in the middle being snapped at by dinosaurs!

"Oh man!" shrieked the awe-struck hero in drab, unassuming attire as he reeled at the sight of the large, semi-hatched purple eggs. "Are those... are those frickin' dinosaurs?!"

Doing what arguably might be the single stupidest thing imaginable, Noah approaches the large fellow in the midst of the lizards and gives a firm tug to try and pull him from the midst of the snapping, hungry creatures.

[Sandman XI]

The purple looking raptors were not happy, the only thing their newly birthed brains could feel was pain. Pain and hunger. Their eyes were adjusting. The first thing they smelled with their deadly accurate scent was something that they wanted to eat. The first thing they saw with their soon to be sharp eyes was something moving and they snapped at it. All twelve of them instinctively circled the two like a pack, squalling at their soon to be first meal.four of them jumped out from random directions trying to chomp on the two heroes and quickly rejoined the circle.

[tryrar]

Just as he arrives to the fight, Dyne realizes he now has not, one, but two people to rescue! Well now, this won't do at all! While his control over the awesome power of gravity was great, he didn't quite have the finesse needed to move more than one object or person as he wished-unless it was to simply send them straight up(and rather FAR up, at that!). So, he decided to work at it from the other end: the dinos had to go! to that end, he sends a largish sphere of gravity crashing to the raptors' feet-which erupts in to a serpentine, almost slinky like arc of gravitic distortion that assaults the dinos!

[Sandman XI]

The metal slinky blast took down all but one of the dinosaurs. Screeches were heard for miles as they all fell to the ground, crying to their nonexistent protector. The lone dinosaur still clawing for it's meal began to glow a sickly light purple. And it's brothers and sisters did also. The dinosaurs that fell began to rise and grow! They were a full eight feet tall now and their teeth were like like daggers! Their roars were much more angry now and was that a hint of brimstone on their breath?

[Sandman XI]

Wesley was grateful that he was pull out of the way of the dinosaurs's bites, but he felt the crunch of the kid's hit. He looked over to the kid, a teenage superhero. He hadn't ran into many of those in his time. Though he pretty much started out as a late teen hero. Not really the type you read about in the high school comics. He didn't hold any ill will towards them. Just thought it was awkward someone so young would risk their hide for others. He respected that. And now one had pulled him from the jaws of defeat... literally! He didn't have time to check on him as he heard a earsplitting wail as all the purple dinosaurs fell. And then got back up. Oh crap. They were huge. That didn't make sense at all. Then again, he'd seen weirder things happen. He targeted the closest one. The smallest one was still growing into super form. The dinosaur's purple aura began to mix with a white aura, just as Wesley began to glow white. He targeted the monster's biosystem trying to fatigue it.

[rpgronin]

"Ow!" Noah screeched, pulling his hand back as a particularly moist mouth clamped painfully down on it. He had some more, less savory words to hurl towards the Jurassic Park stunt-doubles, but before the words could escape his lips, the contingent of hungry critters ascended skywards, courtesy of a familiar shadowy man's bizarre control over the forces of gravity. For a moment, he thought the incident was over; the lizards would rise, fall, and go splat. The end. Do not pass go. Do not collect two-hundred dollars.

And then they got up. They were bigger! They were badder! Their breath stunk even worse! This was the stuff nightmare fuel was made out of, and in that moment as his own eyes went wide at the horrors presented before him, Noah knew he wouldn't be able to do anything in his current predicament. Not outside of his costume, at any rate. After all, going around telling everyone you're a superhero probably wasn't such a hot idea. At least not for him. The other man - the one in the middle Noah had so gingerly pulled from the hungry maws seconds before - was now glowing a brilliant shade of white. This guy, whomever he was, wasn't normal.

No time to dwell on that though. He needed to get into costume and protect his identity, then come back and do something about these... whatever they really were. The three of them were the only ones present who could! Turning tail, Noah sprinted off away from the fray as quickly he was able, looking for any sort of viable cover with which to change his attire. Diving into a bush with awkward aplomb, Noah took a deep breath before beginning his inhuman actions. With insane speed and efficiency, the young boy whipped through his civilian garb in favor of his tacky red hoodie and semi-trademarked Halloween goggles, ditching the puke green backpack to complete his disguise before stumbling out from the serendipitous foliage.

Putting some pep in his step, the young hero zoomed back to the fray, having learned his lesson after the malicious nomming he'd incurred from the then-smaller dinosaurs previously. He'd do his part... but he'd need to do it while avoiding getting digested!

[Sandman XI]

The park of prehistoric purple predators did not waste any time trying to look at their new powers. They used them instinctively. A third of them shot gouts of purple radioactive fire at the flying man that downed them before. A third of them clawed at the man glowing white. One of them glowing white itself. And the other four looked to deafen all three of them into submission!

[tryrar]

As the combined assault on him strikes off his barrier, it makes his head feel like a bell for a second, and leaves him with ringing ears. All right, you anachronistic allosaurs', I think it is high time someone sent you on a one way trip through time! Gathering the awesome power of gravity in front of him, He launches a positively giant sphere of gravity. As it streaks into the air above the fray, it erupts into multi-streamed assault of pure gravitons, hammering every dino right straight into the ground!

As the dust clears, there's nothing left but about a dozen large craters filled with the mangled remains of the raptors. "HA! That will teach you to stay in your own paleontological period, you vagrant velociraptors! Your mother was a prehistoric fern! He quickly looks around at his erstwhile comrades(making a note to talk to Momentum about costuming up BEFORE entering the fray-never know who might spot him diving into AND out of a bush). "I think that should do it, but we should look around to make sure there are not more of these anachronistic relics."

He concentrates briefly on his mysterious ability to pick up masses of people and objects-and immediately opens his eyes. "Heads up, but it seems there are more eggs under the water...and...someone? No, at least something else, but beyond that, I can't get a better mass reading than that."

[rpgronin]

"Oh god, that sound!"

Covering his ears as the dinosaurs let loose their deathly wail, Noah cringed as his ears rang and his head throbbed from the high-pitched squeal. Even when they stopped, the deafening screech had left poor Ashley just that: deaf, confused, and particularly agitated by the overall situation. He might not be able to hear anything now but the ringing in his head, but it wouldn't stop him from lending aid to the situation!

Or he would have, had there been a situation to lend aid to.

Momentum blinks for a moment, both awed and terrified by the magnificent gravitational force applied to the creatures by way of Dyne's exercise. There in the crater were all the odd little purple dinosaur-things, their fragile little forms broken under the might of the powerful assault of the shadowy superhero. It was almost kind of sad, really, seeing them snuffed out before they even had a chance to experience life. But it wasn't his place to judge... it wasn't like Momentum could have contained them in any way. No, it was probably better this way; or at least the only way things probably could have ended.

Wobbling to the scene in his deafened state, the behooded and goggled teen hero peered down at the depressing scene near the river's edge, a slight grimace creeping its way across his face. Even as he looked upwards towards Dyne and back to the fellow who'd narrowly avoided the blasts himself, Momentum could only muster an earnest head shake before turning to face Dyne once more, the older hero's lips flapping but words inaudible.

"WHAT?" Noah cried, hands cupped up to his ears as he shouted stupidly. "I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING YOU'RE SAYING, GUY!"

[Sandman XI]

Wesley tried to dodge the teeth and claws of the hungry dinosaurs but for as much dodging the could do, he could not avoid them all. they ripped and tore his skin like a piece of steak. Luckily it was only minor damage. And then the loud blast of noise came. He wasn't lucky enough to cover his ears, but the biokinetic energy in his body was enough to make it where his eardrums didn't explode. The mass of carnage ended after the man in the air turned the dinosaurs into dino-sushi. It was quite awe inspiring in it's grossness. He greeted the man with a friendly nod. But before introductions were to be made there was a revelation! More dinosaur eggs? Something else too? He would have to get them down there quickly. He healed his and Dyne's wounds as fast as he could. "My name is Knight," he said after touching the kid hero and relieving him of his deafness, "Can either of you breathe under water? If not I can make it where we all can. Also, I can give us swimming speed too. Both like a fish. But I'll lose my powers while i'm doing so." He looked to them both back and forth, "Sound good?"

[rpgronin]

Ah, the sweet sound of... sound. A wave of relief washes over the wiry youth, his auditory senses returning to their full capacity as the ringing subsided nigh instantaneously. Thank goodness this guy with the dreadlocks was some sort of weird touch-you-and-make-you-feel-better kind of superhero!

Unfortunately, he was also a confusing-as-all-heck hero too, as Momentum's hearing returns just in time to learn about him adding gills and flippers and crap to his being! A perplexed look, quite obviously, creases the boy's face as both his eyebrows arch upwards in stupefied disbelief and confusion.

"... What?" he blurts out through his cracking voice stupidly, sounding just as confused audibly as he looked visually.

[tryrar]

"No need, I can easily function in the water as in the air. I seem to be lacking in a need to breathe. The name's Dyne by the way." As Dyne turns to Momentum, he mutters "Another quirk of my powers that I need to investigate at some point..."

Seeing Momentum's confusion, he clarifies: "There seems to be more eggs at the bottom of the river, as well as...well, something else. I can't give an exact description since I'm only picking up the mass signatures. I recognize the signature from the eggs, but this other signal is unfamiliar. It would be a good idea to check it out." I'll tell him what ELSE I saw later...

[rpgronin]

"Wait, wait, wait..." the boy exclaims, hands upthrust to halt the expedition. "There's more of those things down there? And you want us to go check it out?"

Pausing for a moment, Momentum looked back and forth between the pair of assembled oddities. Those dinosaurs were massive! What if they could swim?! Noah didn't even know if his powers could work underwater or not! Not that he didn't want to help or anything, it was just that this situation was kind of... weird; and weird wasn't exactly the red-clad hero's area of expertise.

"Shouldn't we... I dunno, like, call for help or something? What if there's a whole bunch down there?"

[Sandman XI]

Wesley nodded, "Sorry about that. Should have clarified." A spark hit him. He didn't have to lose his powers! He could shape the boy. He'd just have to lose his legs and breathe water for a short time. He'd also have to run it by him first. "There is another option. If you want, I can make you into a mermaid. You'd have no legs and breathe water, but I could protect you better." He listened to the boy's worries. "Well, there's something else down there that isn't reptile or egg. We have to go check it out. Maybe someone's dealing with it already. If so, we got no problems and we can help out. On the other hand it could be someone in danger and the more we talk the less time we have!"

[rpgronin]

A moment of awkwardness washes over Momentum, his lips curling inwards as he ponders his choices: Gills, or Mermaid? Really, in a world where a massive black man offers you a choice between being a man-fish and being a man-fish in a woman-fish body, one might begin to question the line of work they've enlisted themselves into.

Finally, the boy sighs and drops his hands to his sides in defeat. He wanted to help, and apparently this was how he was going to do it.

"So this... uh... gill thing. It's temporary, right?" he inquired, an eyebrow arched quizzically. "I mean, I'm guessing it's safe and stuff underwater, but is it gonna be... y'know... a permanent deal? Like, will I be part fish forever or what?"

[Sandman XI]

Wesley chuckled, "I can reverse it. I'll show you." He held his breath and touched his neck. Three or four slits appeared on either side of his neck. He was holding his breath as he couldn't breathe normal air. He gave thumbs up and tried to breath but it didn't work. He quickly touched his neck again and the gills were gone. He took a large breath of air. "See? it'll be like that. But you'll have a fish bottom too. Nothing to worry about."

[rpgronin]

Momentum outright flinches at the thought of having fish-bits where his lower half existed. He'd seen the Little Mermaid! He knew how that ended (albeit in reverse)! This... wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to. He didn't even like going to the public pool; and yet here he was, about to go on some crazy scuba-mission to find some mysterious person-or-whatever and a bunch of dinosaurs inside eggs that probably wanted to eat him.

"Sooner I get it done, the sooner it'll be over with."

With another melodramatic sigh, Momentum conceded and stepped up to the mouth of the river. His face had since scrunched up into a nigh-comical ball of disdain and uncertainty, but such things, he suspected, came with the superhero moniker.

"Alright, alright. Let's just, like, get this over with."

[Sandman XI]

Wesley took the boy deep enough where he could tread water. "This may feel a bit awkward at first, but you'll get used to it in a bit." With that, he touched him and the boy had gills and a fish body for a lower half. Wesley lowered himself into the water too and traded his legs for something more fishy before he gave himself gills he rang out a, "Follow me." and dived under the water. The river was dark, but not so dark that either of them couldn't see. He traded both of their eyes for fish eyes.

Deeper they swam. until they saw it. Several batches of purple eggs. And a woman in a skintight black spandex outfit was carting one of them away! She saw the three interloper and was shocked! "You'll never stop me! It's too late!" the mysterious woman shouted triumphantly!

[tryrar]

Dyne smoothly glided in the water, his flight field bending the river around him as easily as it bent and accelerated the air. He sensed them getting closer and closer to the eggs until...

Deeper they swam. until they saw it. Several batches of purple eggs. And a woman in a skintight black spandex outfit was carting one of them away! She saw the three interloper and was shocked! "You'll never stop me! It's too late!" the mysterious woman shouted triumphantly!

If it wasn't so serious a situation, Dyne might of actually laughed at such a cliche and cheesy line. Instead, he replies Really now? I count three of us and only one of you, so we shall see just how 'late' we really are."

[rpgronin]

This sucked. This sucked, and it didn't surprise Momentum at all. He was now a fish, glub-glubbing oxygen from the water uncomfortably in his new form. A fin now existed where once his legs would have been, and his eyes were glassy and affixed forwards. There was no doubt in his mind that this encounter would forever haunt his memories, and be the stuff of nightmares for weeks to come.

"Maybe there won't be anything down there..." he hoped. His prayers, however, were unanswered. There, with an bag of eggs in hand, was a woman in tight black spandex. Typical, really. Noah was so looking forward to clumsily swimming after the woman in his newly fishified form.

Another silent prayer is murmured through the water-filled mouth of Momentum, the hope that the woman would just give up at Dyne's request and let him go back to being normal no doubt a long-shot given his encounters in Freedom City all this week. Heck, she was just as likely to spontaneously acquire a spear-gun and shoot Noah right in the face for all the luck he'd had!

[Sandman XI]

The woman smiled at the non fish looking man. She spoke playfully, "Well, aren't you the nice type. But save your sweet talk for later, honey. I have a date with my new pets." She winked and swam towards Dyne. She whispered in his ear, "Or you can ditch the two guppies and come with me. I have pets to share." She swam off again waving waving to Dyne.

[rpgronin]

Momentum - while oblivious to the exchange between the inky silhouette of Dyne and the mystery spandex woman - nevertheless felt an odd sense of disgust, nearly to the point of gagging. Although, he wasn't entirely sure he could, since he'd never once heard of a fish gagging on anything. The reflex not worth the risk, the young hoodie-clad fish-boy simply bit his tongue and looked on in silence for a moment as the woman swam off.

"Dude, you could totally take her!" Noah whispered, or at least as best a fish could whisper underwater. "She's getting away with those dinosaur-things!"

[tryrar]

We have to stop her! She's getting away! Dyne almost made a move to smack her with his powerful gravity bursts, but a more logical part of his mind stall him mid-motion. Wait...what if she already hid some of those eggs? We have to find that out, and we should probably figure out what she ultimately intends to do with a clutch of monstrous raptors. But how? Thinking for a sec, Dyne gets a sudden burst of inspiration. I got it! I'll simply take up on her offer, and along the way try to find out what she's up to. I can always smack her down later. But, how to tell the others without her catching on? Thinking on THAT for a moment, he gets another idea. I think I have it, but will it work? I haven't really done anything like this before! eh, only one way to find out...

Concentrating on the mysterious ability that allowed him to track the mass signatures of everything around him, he commanded it to narrow in and lock on to the specific masses of his two fellow heros...and it worked! He'd managed to establish a link between him, Wesley, and Momentum! Now to see if they could hear and understand him...

"Knight? Momentum? Can you hear me?"