ic Graduation Day: There Won't Be A Next Time (IC)

[Gizmo]

With a muted grunt, Midnight finished pulling the final connection inside the reality bomb's housing loose, allowing him to carefully remove the cosmic lightning rod and stow it away with the other three. Turning to take stock of the rest of the room, the somber young man wasn't particularly surprised to find that his teammates had the situation well in hand. Presumably Physician Friendly had intended to release the macabre doppelgangers all at once amid some overwrought theatrics. Clearly, that hadn't worked out for him. "Should go, tempting fate," he suggested, eying the remaining pair of coffins warily.

[Electra]

"This was too easy," Erin said warily, momentarily disregarding the fact that she was already bloodied and batless from fighting thousands of Omegadrones and their overseer. "I don't like the idea of getting into these boxes, but I like the idea of whatever's in them coming up behind us when we're leaving even less." She looked over and locked eyes with Trevor. It was obvious who the horrors in the last two boxes belonged to. "I can take it if you can," she told him, a humorless half-smile playing over her face as she took a step towards one box.

[Gizmo]

Midnight paused for a moment, considering. He wasn't particularly eager to see what unpleasant surprise had been prepared for him, but Erin had a point about tying up loose ends. Leaving whatever was in the last two coffins be would probably come back to literally haunt them. There was also the issue of closure. "Hnn..." he grunted in resignation through his mask's vocal filter stepping forward to stand equidistant from Wander and the other box. "Taking bets? Guessing my grandfather," he hazarded flatly as he steeled himself.

[Electra]

"Mmm, no bet. Give you a story to take back to him, anyway," Wander replied dryly. "Last time I faced off with anything Terminus, they tossed Megan at me, but it didn't work. They've got a lot to choose from, anyway, but at least nobody in my family had any superpowers. Stand ready, everyone," she instructed the others, "and stand back." She took a deep breath, then stepping forward along with Midnight, tossed the lid off one casket.

[Avenger Assembled]

For a half-second, as the boxes fell open, there was no sound as Erin anticipated yet another visitation from her dead little sister while Trevor contemplated the unpleasant sight of an undead version of his grandfather. And then from out of Erin's box erupted a blue-skinned, black-eyed version of Trevor himself, black fluid leaking from his mouth as the fourteen-year-old version of her lover reached for her. "Erin." he hissed gravely, his face eerily expressionless as he began to climb out of his box. "Can team up together. You know what for." He kissed in her direction, reaching for her with claw-like fingers. "Never touched you on this world. Never knew you. Can be together now."

From out of Trevor's box came "...Trevor?" Midnight, who knew his own personal relationships offered few chances for exploitation, had successfully guessed what the Terminus had used against him: he knew his grandfather's voice as well as he knew his own. But there was no sign of movement within. "Trevor, I can't feel my body." There was no alarm in Travis' voice, merely an old man's mild concern. Finally peering inside, Trevor was confronted with the sight of his grandfather's head mounted on a folded metallic shape that began to spool up into a humanid form as he watched: blue and black as all the other zombies, simply staring at him. "Why did you leave me, Trevor?" asked Travis again, his metallic body shaping itself into an Omegadrone's armor. "Why?"

"I'm over here, Travis!" zombie Trevor waved. Travis looked over there and seemed to relax.

"They took him away for a while, you see," explained the amalgamation of zombie-head and robot flesh. "But they gave me a new grandson back, better and stronger than before, just like they gave me a body to crush the enemies of Omega." He raised huge, cruel claws that looked absurdly like an old man's hands. "He never did well with the ladies, though, so I think he wants your little squeeze over there. Probably because he used to be a hideous freak. But Omega washed him clean, just as he'll do the same for you and all your little friends. Now come to my arms, my boy!"

[Gizmo]

"Charming," Midnight drawled, managing to convey all the scorn of an eyeroll in his flat tone. The macabre pair was certainly disturbing, but it wasn't anything worse than the horrors they'd already seen, or so he told himself with enough conviction to feel sure of it. "Didn't much like myself at that age," he noted frankly, a nonchalant flick of his wrist sending a pair of long, thin blades extending out from each of his sleeves, the twined claws curving ever so slightly over his knuckles. "Switch?" he offered.

[Electra]

Erin already had the Zombie Trevor in a submission hold with his arm up behind his back, an automatic response to his grabby hands. The zombie was struggling and snapping his teeth futilely, but despite the abnormal strength of zombies, he had no chance of escaping. "Sure," Erin said, sizing up the bizarre robot-zombie amalgam. She bent close to Zombie Trevor's ear, just for a moment. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you," she murmured, then turned him loose to face Midnight's efficient dispatch.

For her own part, it was a little bit intimidating to face Travis Hunter in any form, but at least this one was just a zombie, or a percentage of one. Wishing she had her bat, Wander took a few steps back for a running start, leapt into the air, and delivered one punishingly efficient snapping kick that divested the body of its head as cleanly as if she'd been knocking a ball off a tee.

[Gizmo]

Stepping smoothly around Wander as they switched opponents, Midnight regarded his morbid, adolescent double for a brief moment before making a short sound through his mask: snorting in derision. "Practically therapy." It wasn't that Trevor had any deep seated self-hatred, but this creature had taken the aspect of a time in his life that the young man was not particularly proud of, one when he'd been confused and angry and more than a little melodramatic about his problems. He'd come a long way to become the bastion of calm stoicism that stored forth and simply extended a blade tipped arm as the zombie leapt toward him, skewering its own face on the pair of curved steel tines. Retracting them back into his sleeve with a casual gesture, he let the husk drop to the floor. "Longer reach."

[Avenger Assembled]

The last of the zombies fell, leaving the heroes alone in in the shattered remains of Freedom Hall with the spectacularly dead remains of reconstructed corpses and the disassembled components of the cosmic bomb. Mark took a moment to take in the scene, listening to the dead silence inside the hall and out. "Hey, hey...we did it! We did it! I knew we could..." Edge embraced everybody, suddenly overwhelmed. "We stopped the zombie and stopped the bombs!!!" It was a moment of overwhelming joy after all the horrors and surprises of the last few days, and Mark wasn't one to refuse joy when he could help it. The roof was gone now and they could see the grey sky overhead, one blessedly free of Omegadrones. "Hey, where's Red Falcon?" he asked, realizing what the silence outside might portend.

Luckily, though, he hadn't cause to worry. A moment later, from behind them, came an exclamation. "Hah! Hah!" Red Falcon looked battered and bloody, and he was leaning on a broken powerpike like a cane, his left leg looking to have taken a direct blast. But he was, for all that, looking very happy. "400 score Omegadrones slain by my own two hands! Freedom Bird will never believe it!" He looked around. "And you have won the day as well! The dark ones' plans stand smashed by our heroic might!"

[April]

Eve chuckled at Edge's usual exuberance, hesitating only slightly as he embraced her (if only because she was dirty, sweaty and covered in blood from now closed wounds) before wrapping her own arms around him returning the gesture.

Her smile dropped as she pulled away from Mark, her thoughts turning toward Faith and what Omega (via his minions) had done to her. "Thank you, Red Falcon," she said addressing the resistance fighter, "your heroic efforts bought us the time we needed, but now it is our turn to attend to you. Cobalt Templar, do you think you could do for him what you did for me?"

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin had watched as the others had sprung into action. He'd seen Eve's cousin from another world be tossed into Mark's mother. He'd seen a twisted copy of Trevor, and a pale shadow of his grandfather, fall like wheat to a combine.

And he'd watched that twisted reflection of the woman he loved be struck down without mercy, turning to darkened ash even as her rotting body hit the floor. His expression had gone strangely blank as he saw it, even as he absently finished healing Sage with his powers.

As the others talked and celebrated, he simply stood there. Even when Edge hugged him, he simply stood there. Only when addressed did he speak up.

"Uh? Um. Yeah, I...I guess I can."

Listlessly he walked over and poured the same healing energy into the Furion's body, slowly helping restore him to full fighting strength. Clearly the events of the last few minutes had left him in a sort of shock, though as he worked, he seemed to gain at least some focus.

[Electra]

Erin looked around after the last zombie was dispatched, assessing the area for further threats. Her bat was still sticking out of the skull of the unlamented Physician Friendly, but she didn't dare retrieve it and risk exposing herself or anyone else to the nanites. Her old companion would stay here, and hopefully be completely destroyed with the rest of this infected city. She'd spare a thought for it later, but now there were more important things to consider. "Let's get the hell out of here," she told the others. "It's only a matter of time before someone notices what' going on here and ports in reinforcements. We'd better be gone by then. Edge, you ready to do your thing?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"I know I'm ready to get the hell out of here," Mark agreed, who took this opportunity to evaporate most of Physician Friendly's lab as it had never been, leaving behind simply a rapidly-corroding corpse and the empty shell of what had once been the home of this worlds' greatest heroes. "I need to get outside," he said, "otherwise I won't have the room to do anything..." He led the way outside, walking out to the middle of the grass-overgrown, weather-cracked street that had once been Freedom Way. It was a depressing sight, but the broken bodies of thousands upon thousands of Omegadrones, twisted shells that covered the landscape like gigantic fallen snow all over the heart of Freedom City, were more reassuring. "Looks good. Just needs one more push..."

Red Falcon threw away his souvenir as Cobalt Templar's mystic blue light washed over his body, sighing a little. "The scars would have been pleasing around the campfire...but the story, and Redbird's camera, will have to be enough." Clapping Cobalt Templar on the back in gratitude, he joined the teens in heading outside. "Whatever happens today and in your lives, my young friends," said the Furion seriously as they all formed up together outside. "You have defeated the machinations of the Terminus and saved all that is. Few are so honored. It was a privilege to stand beside you."

[Gizmo]

Midnight looked across the devastation they'd wrought and frowned behind his mask. "...too easy," he muttered in his soft but eerily clear voice. It seemed a ludicrous statement; certainly they'd overcome absurd odds to reach this point, performed feats hitherto unimaginable. Even so, their success sat poorly with him. He could believe the Terminus forces would leave only expendable drones on a world set to be destroyed, but why would Physician Friendly have been there, or the specifically tailored zombies? If they'd known enough about Midnight and his allies to prepare those horrors, they must have known they would serve only to delay them. Which could only mean one thing. "Trap," he stated with abrupt certainty, picking up his pace.

[Avenger Assembled]

Edge concentrated for a moment, preparing to blow the city to smithereens, but at Midnight's words he paused, then hurried towards the bike outside. Trevor's theory made a grim sense, and the sooner they were somewhere he could take the city out without being disturbed the better. But it was already too late, too late for any of them. From the sky overhead came a curling flicker of red and black, like a ribbon of fire and death swirling into existence as Earth-EZO1 brushed its closest against the edge of the Terminus itself. The fires of the Coil came incredibly fast, plunging downward at what had to be supersonic velocities, heading straight for the very heart of Freedom City. An instant before it hit, Edge gestured wildly and a shield of blue and white erupted from the broken asphalt before them, shielding the heroes and their ally from the force of the blast as the fires of the Coil touched the ground.

For a half-second, Edge frankly expected death, knowing full well what the end of the world looked like from his own studies. But what came bursting out of that miles-high column of fire was no simple fiery death or incineration: rather, from out of the fires of the Doom Coil came first waves upon waves of Omegadrones: terrible black sentinels of entropy that filled the skies in numbers ten times what the heroes had seen on their first arrival: this was no casual guarding force, this was the sheer power of overwhelming invasion: what the Terminus Invasion of 1992 had been twice over, and with only this small band of heroes to oppose it. From beneath them came rumblings and tremors: the fires of the Coil had eaten through the foundations of Freedom Hall and were rapidly working their way through the bedrock to the heart of the continental plate. The city itself would fall down even without their help.

And then, from the very heart of the fires of the Coil, strode a gigantic figure in black armor. This was no Physician Friendly; this was no Shadivan Steelgrave. This was the terror of a trillion nightmares; this was the thing they'd all grown up fearing. This was the cosmic overlord who had beaten the Centurion to death before the eyes of the world. Omega, Lord of the Terminus, Godslayer, the Knight of Entropy and the Father of Destruction, the rock and the chain and the lightning, towered above the broken remains of the League statues near the steps of the hall as he strode down with the regal power of a dark god. "Children of 'Earth'!" he boomed, pointing a massive finger at the heroes as the sky above him turned black with his power. "I would have 'words' with you."

[Electra]

Erin felt her entire body go cold as the Lord of the Terminus himself flew out of the ruined sky and landed before them. Everything about him spoke of death, not the quiet relief of the natural end of life, but the maddening pain and meaningless suffering of senseless and untimely death. She felt like she was staring her own mortality in the face, and even with all she'd seen, it was all she could do to break the horrified thrall of it. She took one last look at Trevor, knowing that at least everything had already been said, then stepped forward, barehanded.

"We don't have anything to say to you!" she called. The moment she was away from the group, she broke into a run. Nothing fancy, no flipping or diving to distract the eye. She wanted the attention of Omega and all the drones firmly focused on her. In the space of a second, she was in front of Omega. Raising an arm, she summoned up all her training, all her control, and deliberately threw it away. This was for keeps. She drove her arm forward, straight into the glowing logo emblazoned on his chest, hard enough to drive him back a step.

[Avenger Assembled]

As the heroes engaged the Lord of the Terminus in hand-to-hand combat, Red Falcon took a step back and rapidly pressed a few buttons on his wrist computer, summoning his flying bike to his side. Moving with incredible speed and efficiency, the red-faced Furion slipped a cylindrical silver shape out of the bike and slipped it into Edge's knapsack a moment before that hero himself stepped forth to confront the monster that had lain at the center of so many nightmares. For a moment, Edge was at a loss for words. What did you say when you confronted the end of all things? Everything in him wanted to run to the depths of this dying universe, to flee space and time until he was a child in his mother's arms again. But there would be none of that here. There was only one place to go. He balled his hands into fists and did what he did best: he spoke from the heart, pouring fear and rage and power into his words as he called out, "This is it, Omega! We stopped your minions and we'll stop you. This isn't going to be like 1993 when the Centurion broke you and you ran. This time: you can't run anymore!"

As Wander struck the Lord of the Terminus, he staggered back, his glowing yellow eyes widening in momentary surprise. His minions, though, had no such hesitation, and suddenly a sea of energy came roaring from the swarm over his head, blasting down on Wander like a fiery tide against a single lonely sentinel as it drove her back against the pavement beneath her feet, the very asphalt catching fire against just the reflection of the incredible bombardment she was taking. It was cold and hot at once, the burning touch of entropy eating away at body and soul as uniform charred away and the flesh beneath it heated and froze to burning!

[KnightDisciple]

When the fires of entropy descended from on high, Corbin flinched; he couldn't help but do so at a reminder of the very force that had taken everything he'd loved away. But then an army of Omegadrones had started to pour out.

'Well, there's more of them, but I guess this isn't-'

Then the Knight of Entropy strode out, and he went very still. Some part of him, buried in the back of his mind, said he should be afraid. Cobalt Templar decided that he should ignore that part of himself, at least for a little while.

"No more being afraid."

Suddenly, he was all but shining with energy, his armor restored, his helmet secure on his head, his cape flapping in the breeze. He took two steps forward, drew his right arm back as if to throw something, then heaved forward. Just before his hand started moving, something blue manifested in it, but its form was blurred as it whizzed through the air.

"Wander! Heads up! Present on the way!"

When the beautiful powerhouse of Young Freedom caught Cobalt Templar's "present", she saw it was a sword, a fine one. Corbin had compacted a lot of energy into it, enough that it practically shone in its own right.

Meanwhile, Corbin raised his voice against Omega.

"كنت قاعدة الشرير!

Specie tua sicut animalia spurca!

ΜποÏείτε δεν αποτελοÏν απειλή για τους ομοίους του μας!

כל החלומות ×©×œ×›× ×ª×”×™×” דבר וייתכן כישלון מוחלט ×חריך ×ת ש×ר ×”×™×ž×™× ×©×œ×š!

Begone foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion!"

[Gizmo]

It was perhaps natural that Trevor had often idly considered fighting Omega; any youth living in Freedom after the 1993 invasion had to have considered the possibility of the Bringer of Entropy's return and his own natural aptitude for planning and tactics had coloured those dark musings. Here, in the face of such a battle, wearied by days of near constant fighting and moving, he found his response was both swift and simple.

"Need to breach his armor. Focus on chest emblem," he calmly instructed his teammates, producing handfuls of razor edged throwing disks and flinging them forward on the edge of a roiling cloud of stygnian mist that ripped across the battlefield to envelop the combatants on the ground. The disks didn't even scratch the mighty being's plating, but they provided one more flashing distraction. Even a practical god could only divide his attention so many ways, needed to be able to see what he was attacking. For now, Midnight needed to buy time. "Girlfriend's going to kick your ass," his distressingly level voice echoed as he slipped into the darkness, the uncharacteristic boast buoying his resolve as he began withdrawing modular components from his belt and jacket to piece together a very specific weapon.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Foolish 'child'," spoke Omega as he advanced on the battered Wander, midnight mist boiling away around them as he glowed particularly brightly, his voice was the cold and furious promise of death made audible flesh and so much more. It was the screams of a million dying worlds; of Quo-Dis in flames, of Clarissa White as zombies tore her apart, the silent creak of an empty house and the promise of an old man's senility and death. "You and yours might have stood at my 'hand' as your world burned, sons and daughters of 'entropy' in my house. But now you are not worthy even for me to strike you down. Burn like the insignificant 'speck' you are," he pronounced, and he raised his hand. From his glowing palm came a blast of pure entropy that was to the Omegadrones' pikes as a nuclear bomb was to a match as he fired it directly at Wander!

[April]

"Not happening!" Sage shouted, a burst of radiance flaring up around her as the telltale sign of her flight materialized, and she surged toward Wander. The speed of her flight was phenomenal, the air igniting at her passage and shockwaves of sound followed in its wake.

The telepath reached the side of her friend before the attack landed, if only just. The young Martel pushed Erin aside, her telekinetic wings lightly brushing against her friend as she twisted to avoid the attack that was now headed at her. She made it, barely, the bolt of entropy slicing through the air mere inches from her green eyes. Sage tracked the bolt as if flew, and her stomach knotted as it started to turn back toward her.

Merde

--A Martel stands between,-- she thought to her teammates, her friends, resolve and resignation translating across the mental link.

[Avenger Assembled]

As Sage sprang into action, now wildly dodging the curving, twisting beams of energy that were cutting their way through the air above, their Furion companion did his own work. Having swooped aboard his bike, Red Falcon roared past the heroes in the air. Redbird was completely silent, even its lights dim, but the Furion himself shouted below, "Tell the story beneath the Silver Tree, my friends!" And with that, he vanished into the cloud of Omegadrones, bursting out the rear a moment later with a half-dozen clinging to him. Without hesitation, though, he plunged onward, and he plunged directly into the heart of the swirling matter stream! Red Falcon vanished in a flash, but that flash was enough: spreading like ripples through the coil, it seemed to attenunate the stream, and the rumbling and tremors beneath everyone's feet stopped. Even with the sky dark yet, the ground beneath their feet was again their ally. All they had to do now was defeat the Lord of the Terminus and a million of his finest warriors!

Edge suppressed a gasp as Red Falcon vanished, distinctly hearing a familiar robotic voice from his backpack cry, "Noo!" even as the Furion's sacrifice burst out above them. Leaving the fight with Omega for a moment, trusting his allies to do their work there, he concentrated on the Omegadrones overhead and shouted "Burn with the good man that just died for you!" And sure enough, fire washed through the crowd overhead, Omegadrone after Omegadrone erupting as their internal parts suddenly heated to explosive temperatures!

[Electra]

Erin was back upright and ready to face the fire of Omega when she was suddenly knocked off-balance by a slim missile of light, safely out of the way of the blast. "Dammit, Sage!" she yelled, rolling instantly back to her feet. "You didn't have to do that!" She saw the hideous blast chasing the young telepath, and knew it wasn't going to stop unless somebody stopped it. Stopped Omega. Beyond fury now, beyond fear, Erin turned to face the destroyer. "That's enough," she told him. "You don't get another one."

Quick as a thought, she vaulted towards the Lord of the Terminus, Corbin's glowing sword held high. At the last moment, she tumbled midair, turning what would've been a chest blow into one aimed squarely at Omega's head. Impossibly quick himself, the villain anticipated her move and dodged... but not far enough. The glowing sword bit deep into his armor with the scream of tearing metal and tortured souls.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I...what?!" Omega looked down at the tremendous gash in his armor and clapped his armored hands against it with what looked like genuine surprise on his face. "NO!" Energy erupted from his eyes, his hands, his mouth, and especially that great gaping gap in his chest as everything about him seemed to dissolve! His armor exploded outward in a fiery eruption that scorched all around, the cinders and ashes of the sparking Terminus steel blasting everywhere. Beneath the armor, the naked flesh of the monstrous lord of the Terminus was revealed. Sizzling translucent flesh lay over black and charred bones, Omega revealed as an naked animate skeleton with staring yellow eyes as he advanced on Wander with his fingers outstretched. "DESTROY HER!" he shouted at the drones behind him. "DESTROY THEM ALL!" The Lord of the Terminus was monumentally angry. The Lord of the Terminus was, for the first time in a very long time...afraid.

At Omega's command, the Omegadrones resumed their bombardment of Wander, pouring punishing waves of cosmic energy around her. But this time, the stalwart sentinel of Freedom held up beneath the attack as she faced down the oncoming Lord of All Death with steel in her eye!

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar gave a vicious grin as he saw Wander weather the attacks of thousands of Omegadrones. He grit his teeth in impotent anger as Red Falcon gave his life to save this not-quite-lifeless world. He closed his eyes for a moment as Sage worked to keep Wander alive, as Edge burned Omegadrones from the skies, and as he knew Midnight was out there lining up a shot. This was no time to sit back and simply throw Wander swords of energy.

Especially not when she rent the armor of the terrible Lord of the Terminus, and Corbin heard the thing that had once been a wonderful being cry out in genuine fear and pain. What could he do, but strike back at that which had taken so much, destroyed so much, crushed so much? So that's exactly what he did.

His body shining even brighter with bright blue fire, empowered by a ring forged centuries ago to protect the innocent from the darkness, Cobalt Templar charged through the air, leaving a bright tail of flames behind himself. As he flew, a flippant gesture from his left hand kept the sword in Wander's hand strong, giving her that extra little bit of help for a few more precious seconds. Meanwhile, in his right hand, his own weapon was coalescing. In the blink of an eye, he held a majestic sword of fire, fire so concentrated it burned almost white. He raised the burning blade high, and brought it down in a reckless blow against the Father of Destruction. He let out a wordless cry of rage, one that contained all his anger, his hatred, his grief, his hope, everything all at once, all as he struck back against the Darkness.