Starbucks and Sketches (IC)

[Cyroa]

Cole jumped sideways several feet in surprise. Even as the figure retreated, he was running for the bike. He looked up and gave a tight smile to Vicky. "More than fast enough. You can change as we move." Even before she responded, he gunned the vehicle to life and the second she was on, it roared off in pursuit with such speed it was like standing on the wing of a jet. Cole activate his armor as they took off, reassured as the energy weave enveloped him and protected him. As he did so, beneath them, the bike began to change become more aggressive and futuristic looking.

As he turned the corner to follow, the figure slipped into the trees of the park at the end of the street. "First off, let's be clear. This is a trap. Whoever this is targeted us, or at least you, specifically which leads me to all sorts of unpleasant conclusions that will need to be addressed later. But for now, pick your target. Don't go for the obvious and presented one. It's a trap, whoever this is was prepared. We need to disrupt it and destroy the opposition in a way they aren't anticipating," he said. Cole's voice had almost changed, gotten colder, more forceful. Direct.

He skidded the bike to a stop and got off. "Autopark," he muttered and the bike drove it self off, changing forms yet again. "Stay within a hundred or so yards of the path. I'll take left, you take the right. Really need to get some comms for other people," he muttered to himself as he activated his own stealth systems. As he faded from sight, he quickly and quietly moved into the park.

[Cyroa]

The park was lightly wooded, not too large. It was nice, clean. And there were a few civilians moving about. Mostly parents and a few kids as well. But beyond those half-dozen people, there was no one else in the park. Except for the 8' tall grey skinned and costumed fellow standing in one of the 'clearings'. He had a rather large grin on his face and was standing immobile. Cole and Vicky would almost think he was a statue, except the base for that statue was a few feet behind him and those grey eyes were the only thing that moved, tracking Vicky as she got closer.

Neither Cole nor Vicky could see anything else amiss as they moved through the park though the feeling of foreboding was definitely intense.

Cole frowned in his suit at the sight of the civilians. They had to be his first priority. He dialed up the local police and gave them a quick tip before moving forward towards some of the people. He whispered quietly, telling them to leave the area...and most had the common sense after being startled to start leaving the area.

[Azuth65]

As Torque's bike roared down the road, Vicky managed an effort of will with a trick she'd been practicing. In a plume of smoke that was quickly left behind, Vicky's clothes were instantly replaced by her superhero costume.

Wisp's hair whipped wildly as they rode down the street. When he'd parked the bike, she'd begun to pull her snowy locks back so it wouldn't get in her eyes. "Yeah, this is a fairly obvious one. First step though is drawing their attention to me and away from civilians," she said. As they split up, Wisp flitted from group to group around the park, urging them to go out of dodge. As she did, she could almost feel eyes on her back and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up.

[Cyroa]

Either Cole had not been seen yet...or they were really focusing their attention on Vicky.

The Grey Stone Man/Statue apparently decided it had waited long enough. Reaching down a massive hand, it yanked a park bench out of the ground and whipped it right towards the white haired teleporter. Towards being the operative word given how far it missed her though it did come very close to the civilians she was trying to get to leave. The flying furniture certainly helped usher them along!

While she had easily avoided that attack, the long black spike/spear that came flashing down through the trees was significantly harder to dodge...

[Cyroa]

Cole continued trying to get the people to move faster but time was up. His sensor picked up on the multiple attacks on Vicky causing him to frown. The spikes were the problem; they needed to be found. He leaped up through the trees, letting his noticing/looking for stealthed... (1d20+10=17)]sensors quest outwards and tracking the spike thrower. There! Certainly hard to see but thanks to throwing and his own sensors, he locked onto her. A shadowy woman...in rather revealing stylish (and not very protective looking either) black armor.

"Wisp, NOW!," he yelled, highlighting his target.

[Azuth65]

The small cut she'd received from the second round of spike had already stopped bleeding before healing back into perfectly healthy flesh, though her costume's sleeve retained the rip by the shoulder. Wisp followed Torque's light and narrowed her eyes. In a poof of the smoke that accompanied her teleports, she was in front of the spike thrower. Her fists flashed out, catching her attacker in the midsection several times before driving a knee into other woman's stomach. "Loser huh?" Wisp snarked at the stunned woman. "I'd say my training was better than yours."

[Cyroa]

The girl, for she certainly seemed like she was more Wisps own age that that Vicky was up close, was too battered to anything. She was struggling to just remain conscious at this point; making a witty retort just wasn't going to happen. There was a sudden ripple and rustling sound from her feet as it exploded in vines to envelope the armored girl. The tree right next to Vicky sudden swung one of it massive branches down at the teleporter but it was far too slow and sluggish to connect.

Behind them, the stone figure grabbed another bench to throw...with about as much success when it came aiming. Actually, the aim seemed to be getting worse.

That same voice came back, filled with scorn and contempt...as well as interest. "Perhaps so...maybe we should step up our game." The young heroes, especially Vicky given her proximity, noted the voice didn't match the pained gasps of the girl Vicky had just pummeled.

[Cyroa]

Cole landed with a crouch as Wisp pummeled the heck out of whoever their attacker was. When she suddenly vanished in a midst of mobile vegetation, he scowled. Fighting multiple opponents with unknown powers was rather annoying. He looked around for the source of voice or anyone else who was hiding. As his sensor searched and scanned, the throwing ring solidified in his hand. He whipped the disk out, barely focusing his awareness on the target. The energy disk hummed as it flashed through the sky and sliced the head of the stone statue clean off. The disk dissipated even as the animated statue froze in its new position, headless.

[Azuth65]

Wisp let out a startled gasp as the trees swallowed up the armored woman she'd just delivered a series of strikes to. Noticing the tree limb swinging at her like a giant bark and leaf covered fist, she calmly rolled out of the way at the last possible second. Noticing something not unlike a woman's face behind a camouflage field not unlike the one used by the alien in that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie as she did, she looked towards it once jumping back to her feet. "Is that the best you've got? A slow tree and some vines?" Finishing her taunt, light blue and black energy shot from her hand towards the woman's face she'd just seen.

[Cyroa]

The woman, clearly believing she was hidden, staggered back a step from the unexpected blast to her chest. While she winced a moment at the hit, she grinned at the teleporter. "Oh? Is that not enough? Very well then... Enjoy darling," she sneered before disappearing like a popped soap bubble. "Have fun till next time," her voice drifted back faintly.

Around Vicky, the trees seemed to rear back as one, all of them coming down to slam on the young teleporter with a significant amount of force. Between Torque and Wisp, the ground shook and vibrated a moment before two massive robots exploded up from the ground. One faced Vicky but couldn't quite see her amidst the smashing trees. The one facing Torque opened up a panel on its chest and loosed a massive energy blast into the young hero.

[Cyroa]

Torque couldn't see who Vicky was blasting at but certainly assumed she had a good reason. He was about to shout a warning when the two 12' tall robots burst through the dirt between them. He wasn't fast enough to get out of the way; the energy beam clipping one shoulder painfully. Torque wasted no time in throwing another disk right at the huge robot. He blinked, almost surprised, when the robot completely ignored the attack and lined itself up for another shot.

"Wisp! You ok?" he yelled, getting ready to dodge.

[Azuth65]

Wisp vanished from the circle of trees as they tried to crush her in one great pile of limbs and leaves. Just before they'd rushed in, she'd noticed the robots emerge from the earth so her teleportation took her behind the machine, where with one forward thrust of her fists she made a small fist-sized dent in the machine's casing. "Me? Oh I'm fine," she answered, shaking some stray leaves out of her hair. She grimaced as she pulled her fist back however, though the minor bruising on her hand from punching something normal people weren't meant to hit fixing themselves almost instantly.

[Cyroa]

Those trees weren't quite done yet. A couple of heavy plodding steps and they tried to once more crush Wisp under their collective branches...but it was a futile attempt. Even as she nimbly and easily dodged away, the trees gradually slowed their movements and returned to normal (though significantly worse for wear) tress.

The two massive robots stood and mostly ignored the teenage heroes attempts to batter them down. Large metal plates slid down over the machines' hands with a heavy 'click'. There was a sudden crackle of electricity as those same plates became energize and massive set of 'brass' knuckles. Together they swung, slamming those massive fists into the two teens with significant force and a crackle of discharged energies.

[Cyroa]

Torque gave a simple nod in response. He wasn't sure how strong her regeneration was but it certainly seemed to be handling this without a problem. Heck, she was doing significantly better than he was it seemed. Apparently, he really needed to practice a good deal more and maybe even upgrade his suit a bit. Even as he summoned another energy disk, he was trying to analyze what little information they had about the source of this attack. Unfortunately he wasn't coming up with much of use.

When the large fist slammed into his shoulder, he grimaced and threw his own disk. The impact and his distraction cost him however. The energy disk soared right by the massive robot and disappeared through the leaves. Ok, time to change tactics before I get too hurt. Really need to upgrade the suit's abilities I think. He righted himself, preparing to deal with the next attack even as he did a quick glance at the suit's status displays.

[Azuth65]

Wisp tried to dodge but her opponent had been expecting such a counter-maneuver and mid-swing corrected it's aim. In the end, she took the power-knuckle enhanced swing right to the face. While she was fairly sure it didn't break her nose, she could tell it was bleeding. Her vision had gone white with pain and she was nearly knocked off her feet. "Okay... Ow," she grunted through the pain. Note to self, work on rolling with punches, she thought to herself as she backpedaled away from the robot.

[Cyroa]

The large robots did not give an inch. They seemingly ignored the young heroes attacks and continued forward to trying and batter them to the ground. The ground practically shook from their weight as they stomped forward. They were fast, tough and hit incredibly hard. Both electrified fists connected sending Torque and Wisp reeling... The Claremont students just might be in a spot of serious trouble!

[Cyroa]

It didn't take a tactical genius to see this fight was not exactly going in their favor. He was a bit hurt and, according to his sensors, Vicky was in rough shape. The two dang robots were practically unscathed. And Cole was a genius. They needed to regroup and try this again. "Time to change tactics," he muttered. He didn't wait around to see if his energy disk hit on the rebound. He didn't hesitate; instead he turned took two quick steps. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he jumped and sprinted along the tops of the park lights. Within moments, he was standing on the large wall surrounding the park almost 200 yards away.

He kept her supported as he looked back, watching. "Ok, new tactic. They've planned for this and while we might win how we were going, it'd be too close. We can't retreat. That'd let them go and cause who knows how much damage. Let's trying something else. Once you're set, I'm gonna drop us back in. We're going to double team them. I'll get you a clean shot on the wounded one. We take it down fast. If we need to hop out again before taking on the 2nd, we do so. Questions?," he asked, getting ready to drop them back into the fight. His voice was hard and his tone firm. He wasn't leaving.

[Azuth65]

Vicky shook the blurriness from her vision. Nodding she said, "Sounds like a good plan. I learned a neat trick for dealing with things like this but it wears me out like you wouldn't believe. Was hoping to avoid using it honestly." Vicky braced herself as best she could, her head still ached and left her momentarily dizzy. Wiping blood from her lip, her eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah, I'm going to enjoy this. When we're done with those bots, think we can keep the remains? I have an idea for a sculpture..."

[Cyroa]

Cole watched the two robots as they gathered themselves and looked the way Cole and Vicky had gone. "Don't tire yourself out on one shot. The 2nd still needs to be dealt with and it is in much better condition." He shook his head at her final words. "Sculpture, no. Keeping it to study, abso-freaking-lutely," he said with fierce intensity. He dearly wanted to know how those things worked. And who built them.

"Here we go," he said after it looked like Vicky was ready. "This might be a little weird but you'll have a clean shot on the back of the damaged one." Keeping on arm wrapped around her waist, he reached out with his other hand to grab the lamppost nearby. Aligning the targeting location, he activated the tertiary system and digitized the two of them, sucking them into the pole and the lines inside. In a flash, they rematerialized next to the lamppost in the park and facing the back of the robot from about twenty feet away. Cole shook his head and brought the systems back to combat levels even as he let Vicky go.

[Azuth65]

Wisp made her way towards the first bot, when she got within striking range she allowed the blue and black energy to crackle around her hands. Rising her fists she willed the energy outward in a powerful blast of power towards her target. Unfortunately for her, the machine side-stepped just enough for her attack to go wide and punch a hole in the brick fence yards behind it.

"Damnit," she muttered under her breath.

[Cyroa]

The lumbering machine turned, looking for the 2 targets at just the right moment. Wisp's powerful blast streaked right by, blasting a section of wall into rubble. That was definitely enough to get their attention unfortunately. Both robots turns and faced the teleporter. Locking onto their primary target, both robots raised their weapon pods and unleashed a wave of destruction at her...to no avail besides destroying the concrete path and the bench behind it, not to mention more than a few trees as the agile young woman dove out of the way.

[Cyroa]

Torque muttered something about lousy time as Wisp's attack just missed. Then he was too busy getting out of the way of the return blast as the robots retaliated. He snatched a throwing disk from the suit even as he started to run around to the side, trying to flank them and possibly draw fire. Jumping over a park bench, he threw the disk. Without waiting to see its trajectory, he dove behind a tree for cover. The disk flew unerringly straight to slam into the previously smashed torso and tore right through it. Shedding parts and sparking furiously, the robot suddenly locked up and toppled over with a resounding crash.

[Cyroa]

As the first robot crashed to the ground, the other continued onward raising a huge metal fist. Servos whining, the machine charged forward swinging widely. So widely in fact, the robot stumbled right on by. It passed right between the two heroes as it staggered to a stop and tried to turn around...

[Cyroa]

Torque would have chuckled as the thing staggered between them if he had been the type. He simply created another disk and threw it as it ran by. Unfortunately, he rushed the shot and it missed. Rather than waste time grouching about it, he continued his the movement of his throw. Switching his armaments and augmenting his strength, he slammed his fist into it's back just as Wisp fired a blast into its back as well.

Unfortunately for the heroes, all their combined attacks did was stagger it an extra foot forward before it started to turn with only a slight scratch on its back plate.