ic [Gorgon] Legacy Heroes (IC)

[Semi-Autogyro]

Myrmidon frowned inside his helmet as the other Irregulars attempts did not phase the hijacked hero in the least.

"Changeling, keep him off balance, try and cut what's controlling him! Myrmidon, medigun on Glowstar, I can't use the coat! Wisp, back me up, we gotta buy time for reinforcements!"

"If I leave the greater chance he has of bypassing the remainder of you and being let loose on an inspecting populace. The medical gun is untested, and I would need time to properly triage Glowstar regardless as well. We need to stop him here and now."

Myrmidon aimed the nozzle at the small of Megastars back, and unleashed a new torrent of foam before once again slipping into the shadows. He kept an ear on his comm-link for any new radio chatter.

[Aoiroo]

Pushing herself up from the ground Changeling was very sore, and at the same time very sad as she looked up at the struggling boy. He was trapped in his own skin, and being beaten on by everyone around him because of it. She wanted to end it quickly before, but it didn't work and the longer this went on the more pain there would be, for everyone. It didn't seem right, that there was such pain forced onto the boy. Getting to her feat she steadied herself as she looked at him the smoke cleared from around her in a fashion and there was a light on her to make sure he would notice.

"He grew up and discovered a star, in Freedom City on some boulevard, he went to Claremont with friends, and joined a group called the next Gens."

Her voice was calm but strong as she moved forward and in the background played an acostic guitar,

"Now he is forced to face, students of his schooling place, but he can no longer hide, as I sing him a lullaby,"

Taking in a breath she gave started a long beautiful and lyrical note about an octive higher then the original song,

"Everything is gonna be alright,

Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye,

Everything is gonna be alright,

Rock-a-bye, rock-bye."

In the last note, she focused her power into a sleeping spell as she continued to sing.

[Quinn]

Crow leapt back as the foam hit Megastar, cursing fluidly in Gaelic. Mostly to himself, however; he should've thought of what Myrmidon had rattled off before asking him to use the new device he and Wisp had been working on. Which left only him and the coat; but he didn't know if the fog'd vanish if he took the coat off or not! The teen rolled backwards and took in the situation at a glance, and came to a decision.

"Damn. Sorry, Myrm; didn't think of that. I'll use the healing rune on Glow, but that might end up dropping the mist; be prepared for that, okay? We've got Mega locked down, but don't take any unneccessary risks!"

The teen spun on his heel and vanished again, appearing next to the supine Glowstar. Without a word he swept the coat covered in old runes off of himself, and draped it over his comrade, placing a hand on the fabric and focusing.

C'mon...c'mon...get up, Bri...

[Azuth65]

Wisp dug her feet into the soft soil of the zen garden as she braced herself. As the black streaked blue energy slowly coalesced around her, she remembered the handful of one on one training sessions with Fulcrum and the team sessions with Mr. Archer and the Irregulars. She thought to herself, Well Mona, Mr. Archer, we've practiced this a few times. I just hope it works.

It took several agonizingly long seconds for the energy to build up and flow out, rushing towards the Gorgon-jacked Megastar. When the energy crashed into him, he looked a little crosseyed and if he had not been under several layers of Myrmidon-made constriction foam (and on the ground), he probably would have been wobbly on his feet.

[Raveled]

The power of Crow's runecoat spread into Glowstar. At first it seemed like it wasn't having any effect, but after a tense moment his red-on-black eyes opened slowly. He sat up, glancing around himself. "I seem to remember being in the garden, and then Megastar... Megastar went loco! And he hit me... Ow." Glowstar rubbed at his chin as he tossed the coat off himself. "Hit me like a damn freight train. Gimmie a sec." With a bright flash the young hero took off, making a beeline for the struggling, encased hero-turned-villain. Some part of him realized that Megastar wasn't acting of his own accord, but Glowstar wasn't going to cry if the other hero came out the fight a little bruised; that punch hurt!

Glowstar hit the Claremont alum at high speed, spinning the cosmically-empowered 'herald' head over heels. He posed for a moment in the air, energy pooling in his hands and sparking dangerously. "I'm back in the fight," he shouted at his teammates. "What'd I miss?"

[Semi-Autogyro]

Myrmidon poured through the numerous battle strategies and tactics that SHADOW had flash-implanted into his brain for something, anything that would end this now. Tch. Nothing. SHADOW protocols were a lot less benevolent in nature than what was currently needed, and he had no wish to cause undue harm to the suborned hero. Still, he needed to be stopped. An anti-armor weapon probably would work well on him, he noted to himself. Probably need a kinetic core made of a super-alloy to even puncture his...wait.

Seizing upon the idea and his mind putting action to the thought, a heavy compound crossbow appeared in his hands. However, in the normal place of a bolt was a aerodynamically-shaped syringe filled with an straw-colored liquid and tipped with a large jet black needle. Myrmidon knelt and took careful aim at the encased Megastar, before holding his breath and loosing the heavy tranquilizer dart. The dart buried itself deep into the herald of the Gorgons' shoulder, with a surprisingly meaty THWACK!

"Impervium needles. Should have thought of it sooner."

[Aoiroo]

Changeling looked back and gave a quick wave to the now awakened Glowstar as she looked upon the still encased Megastar. He was still struggling, but really he just needed to be put out. Unfortunately, the crossbow didn't do the job as he still resisted it earnestly. Letting out a sigh, Changeling set a bit of concentration and vines uprooted themselves from the ground and attempted to wrap themselves around the bound form to further restrain the controlled boy, however they vines broke as well. This prompted her to tap her communicater,

"This seems to be reaching high levels of redundancies. I could attempt to break the link with the Gorgon, but it is hard to say if there would be any feedback from such an action both to myself or him."

Her voice dropped to a bit mroe quiet tone as she clenched a fist looking at the snared former ally,

"I do not really want to see him in pain, but I do not think we should continue to try and force a situation where we are not fighting our fullest. Whatever temporary discomfort he may have from our defeating him is nothing compared to the long term guilt he would feel if we are unable to stop him and he is forced to hunt and kill those whom have by his definition are tainted by the terminus."

[Quinn]

Crow swept the coat back on his shoulders and spun on his heel yet again, reappearing in the courtyard amidst the mist. For a moment, schemes and ideas whirled through his head as he stared at the struggling Megastar, until a decision finally came to the fore.

"We can't let him get out into the city like this...Changeling's right. Alright, listen up! Everyone, get set for a full-on shot, everyone at once; blasts, fists, everything we've got! On my mark!"

The teen focused his mind on a rune he'd used regularly, and clapped his hands together; rather than the rumbling earth energies that usually swirled around his fists, bright crimson flames began to wreathe his hands, waiting to be unleashed.

[Raveled]

Glowstar hung in the air for a moment, considering his next move. "Big ol' blast," he said, half to himself. "Right, okay. Here we go!" The young hero brought his hands close together, focusing his energies inward and summoning a sphere of red, crackling energies. "Wisp," he shouted over the rising sound, "I'm going to hit him and see if I can't disrupt that shield of his. Then you get in there and hit him, okay?" He matched words to action, tossing the ball of energy like a fastball and striking the bound Mega square in his back. The bound herald yelled in pain and frustration, and for a moment the energies pouring off of him flickered and faltered.

[Azuth65]

Wisp didn't need to be told twice, "Got it!" she called back. As soon as her friend's blast struck, a cloud of crimson and snowy smoke appeared behind the overridden Megastar's back. The young woman's fist quickly shot forth from the quickly dissipating smoke and smacked into his back with an audible crack.

She landed in another cloud of smoke next to Glowstar, her defensive posture off center while she shook her suddenly punch-numbed right hand. "Ow, ow, freaking ow," she muttered to herself.

[Quinn]

"So much for on my mark..." the teen muttered as full-fledged fireballs erupted in his palms, and he drew his hands back to throw. The teen closed his eyes for a moment, listening for the precise moments of impact on both Glowstar and Wisp's strikes...and then they flashed open.

"Doigh." The old Gaelic word was swallowed up as he slammed his hands together, the two fireballs meshing and launching with an explosion of heat and light; striking at just the precise moment to send him reeling back further from the triple-whammy.

[Semi-Autogyro]

Seeing as the others were not holding back, Myrmidon did not either.

The crossbow deresoluted into voxels and reformed into a much larger weapon, and the sheer unwieldiness due to the new weapons sheer size and weight caused Myrmidon to struggle momentarily to brace it. Once he had it under control, the muzzle of the weapon was directed at the reeling Megastar as the attenuation coils started crackling with barely restrained power. The coils discharged with a high pitched whine, and a ball of coherent electrical energy sped towards its target

"The effects of this weapon will linger. Be careful when you attack him, the effects may transfer by touch." He stated to the others.

[Aoiroo]

"That is not a problem."

Etain held a hand sparking with charge she looked at the still concious megastar and winced a little at the thought. Still it was better that it be done sooner then later. They could fesibly remove the suit if he was unconcious and free him from the hold. She shot out a bolt of lighting from her hand which struck Megastar head on but didn't seem to put him out of conciousness. She sighed but let out in a strong echoing voice,

"Do not worry, we will end this before you do anything you regret."

[Avenger Assembled]

The psionic attack struck the cosmically-warped paragon in the head. Cosmicstar blinked, twitched, and suddenly gave Changeling a truly malevolent leer. "You just put the human to sleep." it informed her in the Gorgon's voice before snapping its bonds with contemptuous ease. With blinding speed, he casually reached up and grabbed Myrmidon by the face and hurled the super-soldier at Changeling so fast she felt part of her costume torn away as Myrmidon blasted past her and slammed into the side of the gymnasium with a sickening boom and hideous crunch. "Megas is quiet too. There is only me. Now fight," Cosmicstar informed the others, grinning wickedly.

[Quinn]

"If you insist."

Crow appeared behind Mega-no, not him...behind Cosmicstar, and spoke in a very flat tone, deceptively calm; with Megastar 'asleep', and this cosmic monstrosity in command...the time for pleasantries had just gone straight out the window. Take it down now, before it gets free. Before anyone gets hurt. Or killed.

Red Hand's Rule number two.

The teen flicked his wrists, and two glinting objects materialized in his palms; with a whisper of cloth his arms shot forward, and two streaks of silver flew forward, rebounding off of nearby rocks before scoring twin hits across the foe's mighty frame. On their own, the throwing knives would have had very little effect upon the mind-controlled hero; but these were Crow's Talons, forged in a dwarf's special furnace, inscribed with runes of Crow's own devising, and honed through months of practice and preparation. Where the two blades smote home, they pierced even Cosmicstar's mighty defenses, the ricocheted throw striking far better than Morgan had hoped, before simply vanishing.

As for Crow, the second the weapons left his hand he'd spun on his heel and reappeared beside his wounded comrade, seizing Myrmidon and vanishing yet again. The two reappeared on the roof overlooking the Zen garden, Morgan pulling his friend down under cover and out of danger, for the moment, as he prepared for another salvo.

[Azuth65]

Wisp didn't take long to process the changes in their situation. Megastar was out cold and Gorgon was now running the show on his powered form without any internal resistance, Myrmidon's bonding gun wasn't nearly as effective without a drain on the systems, and her blond weapon-creating friend had just been hurtled bodily halfway across the campus.

Thinking quickly, Wisp mixed up her favored teleport-pummel attack with several extra feints throughout the attack. She'd throw a couple quick jabs, reappear and fake a lunge only to vanish and deliver a swinging roundhouse, repeating with a variety of chops, jabs, false swings and kicks, lunges. While Gorgon's puppet remained standing, it seemed a near thing when she was done.

[Raveled]

Glowstar swore as Megastar burst his bonds, declared his undying allegiance to the Gorgon, incapacitated Myrmidon with a single blow. It could've been worse, of course, he could've gotten Changeling too, but it didn't put the Irregulars in a good place. Glowstar zipped up over top of Megastar, charging up an overpowered bolt of energy and loosing it was a mighty crash! It hit the possessed hero, but aside from a quick recoil Megastar didn't even react. "Dammit," Glowstar yelled out. "I can't even dent this guy!"

Megastar took a long, slow look at the heroes arrayed around him and against him. "Foolish humans," he boomed. "You dare defy the will of the Gorgon, of the Ultimate Preserver? Then you shall DIE!" The self-proclaimed Herald flung out his arms and a massive wave of blue-white light erupted out of him, smashing the walls of the zen garden and tumbling Glowstar like a leaf in a stream. The hero managed to remain in the air, but just barely.

[Semi-Autogyro]

His body running at an adrenaline high, Myrmidon was able to process the surroundings in his flight path as the hijacked hero used him as an impromptu shotput. Luckily Miss Etain had good reflexes and managed to get out of the way of his trajectory, but that meant he went through the thin walls of the Zen Garden and was finally stopped by slamming into the side of the gymnasium about 15 feet off the ground. Bruised ribs, he thought with a wince as he picked himself up out of the small rubble pile stemming from the impact, the pain from his ribs feeling like a vice around his chest.

Thinking of proving some suppressive fire for his team mates Myrmidon looked around for a good vantage point only to have crow pop up next to him and deposit him on the roof of the zen garden. The blastwave from Megastar hit him in chest, his ribs taking another hit. Myrmidon turned to Crow after he recovered his bearings. "We need...too end this. We cannot keep him...contained much longer." He told his teammate between ragged breaths. Myrmidon called forth another weapon, the exertion of it causing his powers to flicker like lights before a brownout. "You...talk too much," he said to the cosmically enhanced hero, his weapon unleashing a blindingly intense coherent beam of blueish-white energy.

[Aoiroo]

Etain barely had a moment to think as she moved past the flying figure of Myrmidon and then took a hit from the second attack of the controlled former alley. She managed to roll with the energy in the way that left no damage to herself. Okay, almost no damage, she was a bit singed around the edges but that minor fire did nothing for her flaring temper as she looked the Gorgon possessed shell.

"You, you pompus arrogant creature. Preserver, there is no preserve about what you do, you are a murderer of the of freedom and change, and you do not deserve the body you inhabit or any body for that matter."

As she spoke she held out a hand and in it formed a spiked hammer that grew with every third word until it was the size of the school building. She moved the hammer with ease as she moved forward,

"You have over stayed your welcome, so get your ASS OUT OF OUR FRIEND!"

She slammed the hammer down on the form of the perserver's herald in a way completely unescapable by the larger metalic male.

[Quinn]

Crow, for a change, wasn't quite as voluble; in fact he was virtually silent. The black-clad teen nodded at his comrade with the extremely large laser and spun on his heel again, vanishing just as the blast wave rippled past the two of them. A second later, he reappeared behind Cosmicstar and whipped two knives from his hands again. One rebounded off of a now-bent tree, the other from a cracked pillar before whirling towards their target. This time, however, his aim failed him; for all that the enchantments and gloves had augmented his skill at throwing, he was still at his core an amateur, and, colored by that, both knives whistled within an inch of Cosmicstar and embedded themselves into the ground before disappearing. Crow, for his part, swore in Gaelic and vanished again, reappearing on the outside of the garden; he twitched his hands and four Talons appeared, two in each hand, held between his fingers. The teen spoke encouragement in the radio, crossing his fingers that the Irregulars could put forward enough of a barrage.

"Keep hitting him, don't let up the pressure!"

[Azuth65]

Wisp acted on Crow's words, with gusto. Vanishing from her position and reappearing next to Gorgonstar, she gave him another series of rolling attacks, each punch or kick flowed smoothly into the next blow. Just as her entrance smoke dissipated fully, she grabbed the back of her foe's head and forced it down to meet up rising knee.

When she returned to her starting point her snowy hair was mussed and some nasal blood stained the right knee of her suit. "This is the best the Preservers can do? You fight like a dairy farmer!"

[Raveled]

Glowstar's hastily-aimed blast passed well clear of its mark, and the herald sneered at the heroes arrayed against him. "Again and again I offer you continued existence, and again and again you turn me down. You offer only violence to the Herald of the Gorgon!" Mega's eyes flared. "You do not deserve to be Preserved! I shall tear you asunder and toss your remains into the sun. None shall mourn you. None she remem-- ARGH!"

Mega clutched his head and sank to the ground. His skin rippled disquietlingly and began to began shrinking. His silvery 'flesh' retracted and his form lost bulk with visible speed. In moments all that was left was Christopher Beck, pulled into a fetal position. "Please," he moaned, "before it comes back. I can hold it off for a little while, but... I don't know how long!"

[Raveled]

It took some doing, but compared to fighting the Gorgon's cosmically-empowered herald, securing Christopher Beck was a cakewalk. Not that they'd taken any chance -- Myrmidon had deployed the foam gun again, and Changeling had put the alumnus under with an honest-to-god sleep spell. Crow had been trying to summon some sort of magic net when a helicoptor bearing the AEGIS logo had shown up, to carry Chris off to somewhere that even his super-side would have trouble breaking out of. Now the team was sitting in the shattered remains of the zen garden; Glowstar was perched on the big rock that normally sat in the middle of the pool. He looked around a the shattered remains of what had been a place of calm and contemplation, and fervently hoped that it was the worst devastation the city would see that day.