Two's Company, Four's a Party(IC)

[GranspearZX]

Instinct told Marcus that this was bad.

15 minutes didn't seem like a lot of time, and this one required a little more thought than he was used to. Sure, it was one guy, but so was Gauntlet. Added to the situation was the fact that the entire place was coming down around them--not good. Not good at all. When he heard 'scatter', though, the Beast Rune pulsed--visibly. A deep emerald flash across his back seemed to propel him forward as the building conspired to collapse around all five of them; Arcturus figured he would be the best at taking a hit and giving one right back if necessary, freeing the others up to attack at various angles. He shot forward, dodging falling debris as he charged.

Marcus roared as he reared back, the Flame rune flashing to life across the back of his palm. He swung as hard as he could, nailing the good doctor in the chest in a burst of fire and embers, hoping to send him flying. His voice deepened as the Beast rune reveled in the aggression and adrenaline, accenting Arcturus's fanged grin.

"How's that for distance?"

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly was patched up from the infirmary, and during that time, he skimmed through Professor Expiostinot's history. A master of getting away, his criminal carrier met it's end during a coordinated attack by one of Freedom League's most prominent incarnations. Seeing pictures of his robotic achievements, Serge couldn't help but marvel at the derranged man's undeniable genius. His work was undoubtedly decades ahead of his time, and even now, half of it has served as the basis on modern robotics.

Even if it was his hologram, Serge couldn't help but feel the man's imposing aura and weighted history carried on his suit, as the hologramm materialised before the heroes-in-trainning. Jolts run through his spine at the sheer awe of that man's pressence, even as he rambles about his dreams comming crashing down. Though Kristin caught him off-guard and managed to hit him, she shouted to the rest to use hit-and-run tactics. A certainly viable strategy, considering his lack of long-range capabilities. Marcus showed a more unconstrained and feral stance towards the battle, as he went toe-to-toe with the villain, no doubt confident in his powers and experience to carry him over. Leaving Marcus to handle the Professor from up close, while the rest of them provided support fire and coverage seemed like a good idea, and it certainly appealed to Serge's style of playing smart.

Serge, however, felt something entirely else. Keep our distances, Glow had said... Huh. Keep our distances... Keep our distances? No. We do not have to play keep-away. If I run away now, I'll be running for the rest of my life. I will not run away, but I'll stand my ground, and give this fight everything I've got! He felt his mind racing, analyzing Expiostinot's Suit and finding weakspots, places he could press to affect it's wearer.

His knuckles, from inside the gloves, had whitened, and he was shaking, but not out of fear; he was feeling anticipation, as he started taking a step forward, then another one, and before he even realised it consciously, he had burst into an exploding run, charging his fists with sonic energy in order to make them hit faster and harder. And faster and harder he did hit Expiostinot, as he let fly a barrage of blows at his targets. At first, the Professor's robotic suit seemed to absorb the damage, but after a few dousens of hits, Net Fly started feeling some feedback from the blows, making him double up on his efforts. This would probably be enough for Expiostinot to Focus on Net Fly and ignore even Arcturus, but Net Fly didn't care. It is to be expected to get hurt in our line of work. I should at least be able to take a hit or two without flinching from fear.

[Ari]

GM

The barrage slammed resoundingly into the professor's armor, deepening the dents he had already received, and sending him staggering backwards, his sensors going haywire from the blows wreaking havoc on the underlay of chips inside his armor. Shaking his head furiously to get the repair fluid going, his metal eyes blinking as the picture of the world resolved again into something approaching sense. His eyes scanned Net Fly's suit, and for a moment the simulacrum of the professor stared in wonderment. At last he said, quite courteously "Young man, that is a very well-designed piece of equipment you have made. It would be a dreadful shame it were to be damaged in a brawl with these technophobes, so may I ask that you depart from the field? YOU at least aren't opposed to progress it seems, unlike that-" he pointed disparagingly at Marcus "-gaudy scion of a thankfully departed age" with that said, he punctuated his suggestion by wheeling around neatly to slam his robotics-powered fist into the gut of Arcturus!

[Ari]

Subito stared in horror at the attack by the armored professor. Gathering his power, he floated a little into the air and raised his Banner above him, roaring in a thunderous voice "Come my friends, let us BREAK this man's power, and make sure he never again rises to harm the innocent!" the Banner flared, seeming to fill the visible air, and a sound of drumbeats and victorious cries resounded through the air. Descending to the tilted ground, El Heraldo called out furiously to the hologram "Don't think we'll fall easily! We'll drag you to a hole outta which you'll never climb. Let's get 'im comrades!" he added to his fellow students.

[GranspearZX]

Arcturus always expected to get hit. It sort of came with the territory. Still, somewhere in his mind, he didn't quite think a hologram would hurt quite that much. His eyes widened a bit as the metal fist slammed into his gut, doubling him over and knocking the wind right out of him. He staggered backward a step and a half, but didn't fall, wincing as his right arm favored his battered midsection. The red glow in his eyes only intensified as he stared back at the Professor, payback at the forefront of both his and the Beast rune's motives.

[Scuffles]

Alright, if that's the way we're going to play it...

As Heraldo's power flared encouragingly, Glow raced up the side of a pile of rubble at a run, then leaped off the top towards the roboticist. She tucked her legs up tightly to her chest, then twisted her body into a deliberately flamboyant mid-air somersault as she flashed across his field of vision.

Landing neatly she tucked her shoulder and rolled, then bounded back to her feet as she turned back towards the Professor. As she straightened, she plucked another chunk of concrete from the rubble and sent it flying towards the doctor. Unfortunately her impressive feat of gymnastics didn't improve her aim and the shot flew wide, the projectile shattering against a support beam nearby.

[Vahnyu]

"Young man, that is a very well-designed piece of equipment you have made. It would be a dreadful shame it were to be damaged in a brawl with these technophobes, so may I ask that you depart from the field? YOU at least aren't opposed to progress it seems, unlike that gaudy scion of a thankfully departed age"

"Heh. Is that what you think?" Net Fly laughed tauntingly, as fatigue from the constant strenouous activity started taking over him. Fighting it back this time, he retorts "You say that you wish to promote progress? Then surely you must realise why it is that I HAVE to overcome you, old man. Your time is up and your so called <> is a relic of the past, not unlike you. I am the future, and that is why I am here, standing my ground before you. Because I cannot move forward unless I surpass you first." as he took his time concentrating on his next attack. As soon as he was done, and feeling the blessings of his friend's power guide him, he launched one more barrage of fists against professor Expiostinot, that not only hit their mark, but as Net Fly could see, had affected Expiostinot in such a degree that he was rendered disorriented. "Now! Strike swiftly!"

[Ari]

Subito needed no prompting on that.

With a roar he soared towards the battered professor, his fist curling into a hammer of power as he swung it towards the armored man, using the counterweight of the Bandera to obtain an even stronger swing than he usually would have gotten under the circumstances.

Unfortunately, he misjudged the distance, and his fist ploughed into empty air several inches to the left of his intended target. He glared at Expiostinot with a mixture of embarrassment and anger for his attack on Marcus.

[Scuffles]

"You think you're all about progress?" Kristin called out to the Professor as she tried to keep him distracted from Marcus and Net Fly. "Serge could have made that rubbish bit of kit you're wearing with technology from like fifty years ago!"

.. That was a pretty horrible line..

The armoured man seemed a little disoriented from the constant onslaught so she tried to keep the pressure up, whipping a half dozen smaller chunks of rock in his general direction before until she found a more solid piece that she could move. A moment later a broken concrete cinderblock tore itself out of the destruction and flung it at Expiostinot, who easily dodged aside despite the attention of the whole team.

[GranspearZX]

Marcus seemed mostly unfazed by the attack. In fact, the way he moved afterward, one would have thought it never happened. Both hands flared to life with magical flame as he rushed forward, rapidly closing what little distance there was between them. "MY TURN, TIN MAN!" Surprisingly enough, he didn't throw a punch--instead, he took a short leap and planted his right foot squarely in Expiostinot's chest. Crimson lines of magic flowed from the Beast Rune into both his legs, and there was a violent red flash of fire on impact with the professor's armor. For a big guy, he was surprisingly agile; he didn't often get a chance to actually use his athleticism in a fight, but at this point, the Beast Rune was pulling out nearly all the stops, short of outright transforming the young adept into something else entirely.

"You're gonna progress straight to the scrap heap, rustbucket. It's not too late to shut up and surrender."

[Vahnyu]

Serge's allies failed to even register a hit against Expiostinot, one by one. Even Marcus, who managed to hit the mad professor square on his chest didn't seem to phaze him much, as the kick didn't even make him flinch. Net Fly wanted to try his best, wanted to at least knock Expiostinot's wind out of him, if only for a little more. Alas, he as well was met with failure, as his tiredness, that had managed to overtake him by now, made him overshoot the beam he was charging on his chestphone, even from pointblank range. His vision becoming blurry, and panting heavily, Net Fly muffled a "Do-hah,hah, don't let up!... hah, hah." in the vain hopes of encouraging his allies.

[Ari]

GM

Arcturus's attack sent shudders through the floor, and Professor Expiostinot wavered visibly However, his armor's shock absorbers seemed to be working at that very moment, because the burning smash hadn't done any damage to his harness at all!

"Is this your best, backslider?" demanded the roboticist with undisguised smugness(though the undercurrent of relief was easily detectable) "For all your flames and brutish smack-talking, you're no match for the fruit of my mind's labors! I-" and then Net Fly's shot thrummed past him to take out a hefty chunk of the wall.

Whirling on the mutant vibration-controller, he seemed to forget about his antipathy towards the runemaker, and with a shout of anger he cried "And still you throw your lot in with these pests? Then I won't spare you my ire!" and with that he sent his metal fist racing for his new target, putting jut about every pound of pressure the hologram could into its assault. However it clearly failed to calculate the distance, and much of the punch's energy was spent in midair, thudding painfully into Serge with enough force to drive the wind from his lungs and sending him gasping to the ground..

[Ari]

Taking his cue on the fact that now the armored maniac was attacking the rather less than sturdy Net Fly, Subito reminded himself to keep a close eye on when the next hit was made so he could dive between it. Meanwhile, he hurled himself at the hologram, only for his carefully aimed blow to be turned aside by the man's armor.

Calling out to the others he said nervously "I don't think this is working out guys, what do we do?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin cringed as their armoured opponent went after Serge and landed a solid hit. This is not going well.. she though as she gathered her powers around her in preparation for another attack. Gravel and small chunks of rubble lifted off the unstable ground and swirled around her.

"Keep at him, he can't hit us all!" she called out as she moved still closer to the villain, hoping to distract him from his assault on Serge. As she aimed another telekinetic barrage an opportunity presented itself - Expiostinot stepped on a loose rock, unstable for just a moment. Acting on instinct Kristin kicked out, her foot stomping into the armoured ankle of their foe with a clang.

It hurt her foot more than it probably hurt the professor, but he slipped, off balance, his impressive defense compromised just slightly.

[GranspearZX]

Marcus growled in frustration; Expiostinot was proving to be just as stubborn as the Gauntlet. There was, in fact, an alternative, but he wasn't sure how the others would react to the change. Most people on campus had seen him in both forms, and there had been a few times when he'd spent an entire day in bear form. Still, he was trying not to use too much of the Beast Rune's power... Instead, he wanted to pass this trial on his own merits, without having to transform.

That was proving to be more and more difficult.

"Rrrrgh... !!!" The idea suddenly came to him like a bolt from the blue. The professor's constant talk about progress had given Marcus an idea, one that he hadn't yet tried before. He exhaled slowly and concentrated, calling upon the well of magical power within him, and a bright blue rune shaped like an X with a small V inside its upper section appeared across the back of his hand, surrounded by a cloud-like nimbus of light.

He'd been warned about using the Time rune. It wasn't the sort of thing one should ever play around with, and Marcus had read all about people misusing that sort of thing. He certainly didn't want to be counted among the victims, and he definitely wasn't trying to change history. Rather, his idea was to actually speed time up in a specific place and on a specific object--Expiostinot's armor. He charged forward again, ducking low and drawing back his right hand a little before thrusting it forward, slamming his palm into the professor's armored chest with as much force as he could physically muster. There was a loud bang as the magical energy discharged on impact, bluish-white light spreading across Expiostinot's body as if he'd caught fire.

Let's see how much your progress is worth now, old man.

[Ari]

GM

The rune of Time worked its magic, hastening the hologram's simulation of decaying metal at lightning speed, the chassis rusting, disintegrating in some parts and fusing at others. In moments, gaping holes in the harness could be seen, and Expiostinot's hologram staggered backwards, sparking and stuttering as the repair fluid worked its slow magic on the wounds and scars inflicted on his armor. Halting four steps from Arcturus, he raised his steel head and glared at him "Can't take me as I am, eh mystic? Well TOO BAD!" and with that he slammed a armored foot into the shuddering floor hard enough to leave a deep imprint, and digging even further into the ground with his right toes he hurled himself at the runemaker, slinging a robotic fist directly at Marcus's head.

[Ari]

Subito looked in amazement as the Time rune worked its spell over the hologram. He had never even considered that to be in the realm of possibility, and the sight galvanized him into action. Racing over to Arcturus, he said gleefully "Great shot Marcus, now let's hit him AGAIN!", and floating back to his previous position he readied himself to slam into Professor Expiostinot and make him an easier target for the senior to hit. As the armor was falling off in some places, he didn't place much stock in the man's being a threat for much longer anyhow. Calling over to to others he added "We got this guys, just a bit more and we're done!" even a falling rock that broke itself over his head didn't dampen his newly-kindled spirits.

[Scuffles]

Kristin whooped as Marcus and his magic turned up the heat on their foe, who showed his first real signs of being vulnerable.

"Keep at him!" Kristin called out as she ducked and dodged around the armoured villain. "He can't hit us all, he can't dodge us all!" With the Professor's armour weakened she continued to harass him, a stomping kick at the knee joint of his suit, a telekinetic handful of gravel flying at his face, even a full blooded shoulder charge (which barely budged him) as he turned his back on her.

I might not be able to do much damage to this guy, but I can sure as heck be a nuisance! she thought as she reached out and grabbed hold of the battlesuit's wrist for just long enough to distract Expiostinot from a swing.

[GranspearZX]

Marcus took the punch like a champ--literally. He felt it, sure, but he'd been hit harder. After nearly being strangled by a 1400-pound suit of armor, the professor was hardly intimidating. Both hands up, Marcus rushed in, stumbling a bit on fallen debris as he swung back at the professor. Even with his teammates distracting him, the blow came up short. He scowled inwardly, and the Beast rune pulsed in disappointment.

It was all but begging to be used.

Still, Marcus resisted. He knew exactly what would happen if he used it. Certainly, he wasn't restricted from doing so, but this wasn't the time. Not yet, anyway. He wasn't sure what he was so afraid of, and the Beast rune only pressed him further at the sense of that hesitation.

Focus on the task at hand, Marcus. Kick this guy's butt and get him out of harm's way, whether he wants you to or not.

[Vahnyu]

"You hea-Wha?" Net Fly said all of a sudden, as if continuing something he was saying earlier, and then caught himself. Wha-What happened. he thought to himself, as he slowly realised that the blow had struck him so hard that he blacked out for a few seconds there. They were over in an instant, but now, they felt like hours. Refocusing his attempts, the hero pushed himself near the limits, trying to correctly calculate Expiostinot's weak points and guide his fists. He went all out, but none of the fists came even close to touching the villain's solidified recorded image, and with every punch wasted, Net Fly felt himself brought a little closer to exhaustion, as he desperately thought One punch. Just one punch. Please, let one punch land. "Just... hah-One... hah-hah-Punch... hah.... haaah..."

[Ari]

GM

As the efforts of the three students faltered, Professor Expiostinot stood(relatively) unharmed. With a roar of laughter, he hurled himself upon El Heraldo, slamming him to the ground with a single brutal punch to where the neck met the body, tossing the young Paragon to the ground with utter disdain. "So this is all your strength can do? Nibble and worry at my armor, you can't even get past this layer?! Well then, I'll just beat every last one of you into the dust, and leave you to be buried alive under the ruins of my lair!" he set himself in a ready stance, clearly utterly confident that soon he would be victorious!

Then he froze in mid-shoulder-roll, dust raised by the falling debris stopping in its tracks, a small boulder hanging in mid air beside Glow's arm, and the very world appeared to have ceased to move.

With a crackle, Archer's voice sounded over the loudspeaker "You bunch alright? If you want I can pause the simulation for a bit, no pressure, and I don't want you guys to get hurt in a training situation! Give a shout if you want a break" the voice cut out just after he began speaking with someone else "Nah Duncan, I figure if we run 'em ragged like this the first time they'll-" a sharp his of static signaled the cutoff.

[Scuffles]

Kristin flinched as Subito ate a solid punch that sent him sprawling, then tried to retaliate by hurling another holographic chunk of rock at the armoured villain. It didn't move. Confused, the teenage telekinetic glanced at the rock and in the heat of battle it took her a couple more moments to realize that the entire scene was frozen in place including their foe.

"Huh." She gasped as Archers voice interrupted, her hands on her hips as she looked at her teammates one by one. Serge looked ready to drop and Subito was clearly pretty battered. The fight it seemed was not going to plan. As Archer shut off the speakers, presumably to talk to Summers, Kristin took a deep breath, then decided to put the question in the hands of her friends.

"Are you guys alright?" She asked, the question directed mostly at Subito and Serge. "I'm game to play it out if you want - it's not like we'd get a break if it was for real - but if you guys want to stop then say so. I'm not the one he's been punching on."

[Vahnyu]

Still groggy from the effects of the blow he recieved, Serge struggled to keep his focus on Expiostinot, and hearing Archer's suggestion of taking this easy only served to ignite Serge's feelings of pride and his drive for success. No. he thought. We're so close, now. Kristin's right; most villains don't much care for giving us a room to breath. If we back away now, we will never grow stronger, never move forward. Those and a lot more were Net Fly's thoughts. He wanted to articulate them, wanted to tell the others how he felt, but he couldn't find the strenght, couldn't find the air he needed. Pushing through the exhaustion, he managed to shout "Don't stop! One Good hit! That's-hah-hah all we need!" That's what we must keep thinking. One more hit. We've accomplished so much, so far. If even one of us manages it, we will win.

[GranspearZX]

"I'M FINE."

It was hardly the reasoned reaction of an older student. The words only served to push Arcturus further towards his upper limit, especially after seeing Subito take such a nasty shot. The action around him had paused, and Marcus was quite literally seeing red; his vision blurred and the Beast rune on his back was pulsing light like a drum beat, virtually in-time with the rhythm of his heart.

"W-wait a minute..." he squeaked out, words forced through gritted teeth as he tried to calm down. Turning it on was actually the easy part. Turning it off however... that was a totally different problem. It exposed one of Arc's most notable weaknesses, and he was both embarrassed and desperate in trying to hide it, even now when it was painfully obvious that he was holding a lot more in than a little bit of reckless abandon. He'd never had to keep such a tight leash on the Beast rune before, and now it was threatening to run away with him entirely.

If he had an opinion about stopping, he didn't say it at first. Mostly, he was trying to convince himself that it wasn't real, and therefore he had no real target for his wrath. Convincing his body of that was proving difficult, though, and he hunched over, breathing heavily and sweating bullets during the lull, however brief.

"If we're gonna do something... I suggest doing it NOW. 'Cause I can't... rrk..." He flinched, a sharp surge of magic from the Beast rune cutting his statement off.

[Scuffles]

Kristin blinked and moved quickly over to Marcus, putting her hand on his arm as she asked "Are you OK?"

She leaned over next to the hunched senior and looked into his face, then flinched a little as she saw how badly he was sweating. "Mister Archer, I think something's wrong!" she called out in urgent tones. "Marcus looks really really bad. I think he's sick or hurt or something!"

Her hand tightened instinctively on Marcus's arm as she straightened up. "Can we turn off the simulation please? I think he needs a doctor!"