Bound in Dust(IC)

[Airon]

Luke was prepared for a clumsy fight where everybody thought for themselves, but his heart filled with joy as he saw the young Aussie girl jumping around the mummy, making it turn around and leaving its left side wide open and unprotected. “Nice one, girl!†he yelled at Glow, hoping she would hear above the screams and noise.

Also, in that exact second, the Chinese movie still playing reached its climax: the music playing during the final showdown wasn’t what you would expect from a Hollywood Blockbuster, but served as a morale booster nonetheless.

Saiph gathered all the energy he could and let go a beam of white cosmic energy almost foot wide. It took more effort than he thought, but the glorious flashy impact of the energy on the mummy’s side repaid him tenfold of the effort.

[Ari]

El Heraldo gave a cheer as the bolt slammed into the bandaged king "Good shot, L-Saiph! I'll try and follow up!" he added, jumping up on the seat behind him, he sighted down the Banner and lunged forward, his momentum sadly leaving him unable to correct his path in time, with Hed-Ra simply twisting in an impossible fashion to escape the blow. Stepping sharply backwards Subito suddenly realized that he really needed to put on a better showing. If every fight he was in could have gone the same with or without him, he was doing something wrong. He frowned at the Banner, wondering what power he might unlock if he set his will to it...

[Ari]

GM

Saiph's hammer of cosmic light crashed down onto Hed-Ra's shoulders like an avenging, yet to the Claremont students' surprise, it did little more than bring the mummified master of Egypt to his knees for a brief moment, rising again in his full splendor with nothing more than a smoking patch on his wrappings to show he had been struck!

Heqanefer was not feeling a very well.

That wretched girl had grabbed him, and even though he had shaken her off, he had still felt a horrible weakness pour over his head and seep into every limb. It took an effort to keep from collapsing, and to raise the Ankh of Set to throw the lance of light at the stellar creature who had tried to destroy his newly-risen servant, seeking to blind him. I loathe you Set, and I shall vent my rage at your paltry gifts on these putrid striplings!

[Scuffles]

Kristin almost whooped in delight as Luke unleashed a massive bolt of light into the momentarily distracted Mummy, but the sound changed into a quiet curse as it shrugged off the attack. Chloe seemed to have taken something out of the magician as well, so she lashed out, trying to catch him firmly with her telekinesis.

At the same time she danced back towards the walking corpse, her telekinetic barrier flaring a brighter green as she launched herself towards him, then stopped her momentum by planting both feet on the back of an upturned theater seat and pivoting away at the last second, yelling "Hey you! Look over here!". The movement spoiled the aim of her mental grab, but at least she managed to get the attention of the Mummy once more.

[Derin]

Chloe grabbed for the magician again, twisting his arms into an uncomfortable hold. He was much easier to handle with her sedatives running through his system. "Come on, sleep now," she murmured, feeling yet more nanites move between them, but it didn't seem to be working. He was successfully resisting her. "Look, I'm trying not to hurt you," she snapped. "They won't be so considerate, especially since you ruined movie night. Would you prefer to be punched unconscious? Why do you have to do this the hard way?" Time for a new tactic, perhaps.

[Ari]

GM

Heqanefer sidestepped the path of Glow's telekinetic effort, but he was clearly not on his A-game anymore, and the soft trail of green light lit up his widened eyes as it passed. Glancing over at the origin of the attack for just a few seconds too long, he found himself trapped in the grip of the bizarre girl. Struggling mightily he snarled "Go to sleep? Because some whelp happens to be grabbing me? Never! I am Heqanefer of Set, and I shall not be beaten so easily!" squirming a little he added "Hed-Ra, your aid would be appreciated!"

[Vahnyu]

Serge unpacked his clothes, but he quickly realised he didn't have much time to change. Focusing all his powers on augmenting his speed, Serge removed his clothes and got into his suit with a blinding fast speed. Having nowhere good enough to stash his bag, Serge, now Net Fly, started running immediately again, carrying the bag with him. As soon as he returned to the room, he dropped his back and, seeing the magician struggling under Medic's hold, charged towards the Re-animated corpse with all his might, unleashing a barrage of blows and punches at Hed-Ra. "Sorry folks, but this here show seems to be over. Why don't you fellas come down all peaceful-and-quiet-like, have a cup of coffee, say a few words to the authorities, and all that? No? Sigh... No one ever wants to do it the easy way, noooo, we always have to talk with our fists, we al-..." Net Fly said with a theatric flair, before he abruptly realised that while the fists flew true, sadly, and to Net Fly's utter frustation, the Mummy didn't even budge. "Wow! You're a persistant one, are you?"

[Ari]

GM

Disregarding Net Fly(though a deep sense of hurt at the rain of punches slowed his feet a little), the mummified Hed-Ra shot through the air, landing on the carpeted central aisle with a thud and explosion of dust, from which a bandaged left arm slammed into Medic's shoulder. "Sorry" murmured the cold voice of the undead king "but I am bound to his defense. I mean no ill to you. Release him" he added steeping back a few steps and looking as imploring as a dessicated corpse who's face was hidden from view could "I'll see to it he doesn't hurt anyone else but your friends"

[Airon]

Saiph was surprised at how well things were going. From his high point of view, he could easily see the whole battle unfold: had Chloe seriously slowed down that crazy sorcerer, and now Net Fly was joining in! Nice!

The thing he was enjoying the most, anyway, was still Glow’s tactic: her continual tumbling around the enemies was leaving them wide open for his huge waves of cosmic energy. He hoped this attack would have more effect than the last one, though: that mummy seemed pretty resistant to damage. He unleashed his powers once more, careful not to hit Chloe now very close to the mummy. As the red and white flash fizzled towards the enemy, he flew down a few feet and winked at Glow “I’m going to have to buy you a ton of chocolates for this, aren’t I?†he yelled above the combined noise of the battle and the movie.

[Ari]

As Saiph's cosmic strike lanced towards the mummy, Heraldo took stock of the sorcerer that Chloe was gripping with surprisingly powerful arms. If I can knock that guy out, the battle will be pretty much over! he thought excitedly to himself, and without taking the time to properly gauge the path between himself and Heqanefer, he launched himself at the man at top speed!

So it was quite a surprise to him when he missed, and went head over heels into the seats a few feet from the two. Picking himself up with no little embarrassment, he floated up into the air of the theater, raging internally at his impetuousness. He resolved that, if he had the chance, he would put as much care and precision into his next attack as he could, no more random swings.

[Ari]

GM

Heqanefer laughed with utter loftiness and contempt as the gaudily-dressed young man sailed smoothly past him and into the seats, calling after him "A valiant effort! Perhaps you could try that again when I am nailed to the wall? I dare say you could hit that"

Turning to Medic he snapped "This bondage is inexcusable, and as you show no sign whatever of wishing to removing your arms from my person, I will remove them for you!" with a sudden, herculean effort, he powered through his laboring lungs and weakened limbs to wrestle himself out of Chloe's grasp. With a momentary look of surprise, he mastered himself and raced a short distance away, where he called to Saiph "Star-thrower! I have a gift for you: pain!!" and with that, the Ankh he carried gleamed red, and gripping a lance of fire that seemed to drip tongues like blood he threw it directly at Luke, hitting him square in the sternum!

[Scuffles]

"I'll settle for you blasting these guys!" Kristin yelled back at Luke, then cringed as a bolt of energy blasted into his chest.

Perhaps you could try that again when I am nailed to the wall? I dare say you could hit that"

Enough!

"Nailed to the wall can be arranged!" she snarled at Heqanefer as she planted her feet. Stock still, she raised both hands towards the arrogant magician and reached out for him with her telekinesis once again. Without her acrobatic antics distracting her, her aim was true, and he was enveloped in a green surge of energy that jammed him solidly in place against the theater screen.

"Let's see if everyone can hit that?"

[Ari]

GM

Heqanefer's freedom was short-lived, as the cloud of telekinetic power planted him squarely over the penultimate scene of the movie, a moving speech about the need for everyone to learn as many languages and as much about the history of the world as possible to foster a sense of universal brotherhood, turned into an ultra-cheesy and baffling diatribe on the virtues of science over primitive superstition*.

Writhing against the screen, struggling with his weakened body to release him from extended grip of Glow's mind, the acolyte of Set gave a thundering bellow like a dozen hippos bawling at once "Seized AGAIN?! Child, free me now, or I will have my servant Hed-Ra tear you to PIECES!" at his servant's beginning to raise his ancient hand he snarled "Shut up!"

*Not that those terms were particularly explained.

[Derin]

"Sorry," Chloe growled at the mummy, "but my friends are non-negotiable and you clearly have no control whatsoever over who this guy does and does not decide to hurt." She grabbed his arm. "If there's a way to unbind you from him, this would be an excellent time to share it. I have no wish to hurt you either," she said even as she pushed nanites through his bandages. The nanites in question were designed to remove dead flesh and foreign onbjects from wounds; they should have no trouble with a walking corpse.

So, she thought distantly. This is what it's like to try to kill someone. But it wasn't a someone; it was a lump of dead flesh threatening her patients. She'd tackled that before. The only difference was that this time, the dead flesh was several feet away from the patients, who were battling a magician.

The magician was the problem. She could put him down. Put him down, and not kill him. Do no harm. She released the mummy and headed for his summoner instead, reprogramming her nanites as she went. Sedation didn't seem to be working once he'd figured out what she was doing; it was time to try something more subtle.

Fear...

She was pushing herself harder than usual as she grabbed the magician (it was much easier with Glow already telekinetically holding him), allowing the nanites to move into his bloodstream and start building hormones. "I told you to stand down," she growled. "Release the mummy and we might be inclined to be reasonable."

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly heard the mummy speak, and was rendered speachless from what he said. As the rest of the group continued the pummeling, Net Fly was about to join in as well, when a sudden thought occured to him. Wait... this is a perfect chance to try THAT move. Though I've practiced it a lot on the academy grounds, I hadn't have the chance to test it on the field yet...

Net Fly gathered sonic energy in his gloves as he concentrated, his mind completely focused at the task at hand. Opening his eyes, he addressed Hed Ra "It is trully unfortunate that we had to cross paths under such circumstances, oh mighty King. I am sorry for what I am about to do, but rest assured that once we're done here, we will see to it personally that your unwanted master faces justice, and that you will return to your rest with all honours befitting a noble warrior such as you." While there was a certain theatrical flair on Net Fly's voice, it was quite apparent that his sentiments of respect were genuine. Turning to Medic, who was once again keeping Heqanefer under control, along with Glow's formidable telekinetic help, Net Fly shouted "Medic! Brace yourself!"

Losing no time, he started spinning, faster and faster, until his body had become a greyish blur with blue lines. Unleashing the accrued sonic energy from his fists in a quick succession of very short bursts, the blue-streak hero send a barrage of curving sonic blasts that seemingly locked on the magician and the mummy, to the exclusion of everyone else in the room. The attack hit them on low on their front and high on their back, so that it would not only hurt them, but also make it easier for them to lose their footing and fall. Performing the attack, however, required a great sonic energy output, as well as fine manipulation of said output, leaving Net Fly not only severely disoriented, but also exhausted and struggling for air.

[Ari]

GM

Chloe's nanite attack on Hed-Ra encountered an unforeseen resistance: the king's hide had been treated, embalmed, dessicated, filled with magical power, and the pharaoh's own spirit lending weight meant that the nanites could find no purchase, and though the burrowing metal creatures did their best, they couldn't break through Hed-Ra's powerful skin.

He seemed more than a little sheepish at her charge that he couldn't keep any kind of lid on Heqanefer. "I could do it..." he mumbled to himself.

The flood of terror that washed over the Setian disciple like a bath of needles did a great deal to sway him. "NO! I-I mean YES! Yes, I'll let him go, I'll send him back to his stinking tomb, just leave me be, I just wanted to show those jaded brats real magic, I just wanted them to understand what it was they were REALLY laughing at!"

"Please don't hit me!" he added, nearly gibbering with fear.

The lances of sound that Serge unleashed on the two magical beings echoed throughout the theater, and sent a wave of paper cups, popcorn and several hot dogs to crash heartily onto the screen, with one hitting Heqanefer right between the eyes, much to his dismay. Hed-Ra was sent straight to the ground with enough force from the sonic bullets slamming into him to wreak havoc on his bandaged body. Heqanefer did his limited best to dodge the air-distorting blasts, but had problems like being gripped by Glow's mind and Medic's arms. He had the wind knocked out of him, and seemed to wholly have lost the power to fight, mumbling "R'leeze meh, I wall send'im baaaa..." he panted painfully for breath "...ck"

[Airon]

Seeing both the sorcerer and the mummy falling down, Saiph flew down, landing as imposingly as he could besides Heqanefer, his hands still full of starpower. He put a fist crackling with cosmic energy under the warlock’s nose, and stared at him right in the eyes.

“Ok, listen to me now, you wannabe troubler of the public cheesy movie’s night, and of old King's sleep as well.†he talked with a firm and confident voice “You are now going to put back to bed that poor mummy. You are going to give us that trinket – I’m sure Eldritch would keep it safe. And then you are going to march quietly into the Aegis’ custody, and pray to Set or whoever your god is that they don’t send you to Blackstone for too long.†He slightly increased the amount of energy channeled in his fist, and little sparkles started dripping and extinguishing themselves before touching the floor.

“Oh, and you are going to do it fast, because I’d like to see the last movie – it’s sci-fi, it’s kind of my thing.â€

[Ari]

GM

Heqanefer nodded weakly, and recited a prayer for the soul of the dead king, which drew the fallen mummy to his feet. As the words were chanted, Hed-Ra retrieved his sarcophagus and, in a trance, lay down in it and assumed his original position. The lid moved back to cover the dead king, and a faint sound of gasping breath signaled the second departure of Hed-Ra of the Ninth Dynasty of Egypt from this world.

The police arrived quickly afterwards to secure Heqanefer, who to his credit didn't try to escape the moment he was let go into the care of the AEGIS agents who had arrived. He surrendered the Ankh willingly and after being fitted with power cuffs was moved quickly and peacefully into the AEGIS transport. The commanding officer spoke with the woman who ran the theater, and was overheard by Subito(who had relinquished his power rather sheepishly once the fight was over).

"Sorry to say ma'am, I doubt he'll be held for long"

"Why's that? He attacked this place wholly unprovoked!"

"Indeed ma'am, but he didn't really DO anything, did he? Those kids you mentioned, they stopped him pretty quickly after all. Minor damage to the seating, kind of dirtied the screen, mostly it was intent. People like him, they really want to hurt people, and I don't doubt he would have if given half the chance, but intent won't count for a whole lot yet as we need to find out more about who he actually is"

"Hm. He will answer for this, won't he"

"...Safe to say yes, he will ma'am"

"Thank you officer, good night, and my regards for your quick arrival"

"No problem ma'am! Thank you for calling. Alright AEGIS, let's head out!"

Meanwhile, the next movie in the serial was beginning. The event had been moved to a different room(cleaning in the theater the fight had taken place in was still under way), and the crowd had returned to see the rest of the festival. The successor to the Chinese mummy picture was a fantasy epic about the mythical continent of Lemuria, saved from being good by a badly clashing score, poorly-done special effects and a frequent use of internal monologues in the middle of battles to establish each characters' thoughts. The snowball fight in what had been a desert two seconds ago was pretty inexplicable too.

[Derin]

Chloe gave Heqanefer one last dose of nanites before he was taken away, to calm him from the effects of her fear-inducing nanites. "You know," she said as they cuffed him, "I don't know much about humans but it seems to me that it's easier to inspire long-term loyalty and respect by getting people to like you rather than fear you. If you want to show people the real power of your magic, you might have more luck using it to help them." She quickly checked to make sure that nobody required a quick healing before settling in to enjoy the movie. Only then did she allow herself to acknowledge the tiredness settling into her bones. She was going to have to learn her own limitations.

A simple school outing had turned into a supernatural attack, and they'd been able to put a stop to things without anybody getting permanently hurt. If they hadn't been there... It was starting to look as if, if she wanted to help people, coming to Claremont had been the right choice.

[Ari]

Subito sat through the rest of the event in relative quiet, partially because he was quite enjoying the evening, and partially because he was awed by the rapid, powerful displays of his schoolmates(not to mention chagrined at his own ineffectiveness). As the movie night proceeded, he muttered to Chloe and Luke "Sorry about that, there really are times where Claremonters go places and do things without anything weird happening. It just seems to be so..random on whether something happens or not. Hope it didn't spoil your evening?"

He found himself more and more intrigued as the night went on by the general 'tells', usually hidden skillfully, that gave the game away as a movie. A bobbing boom microphone, a forgotten line in a take, a miniature placed accidentally next to a real object, destroying the illusion. These and more sent him on a long internal tangent about other 'hidden' and illusory things in life. Like how the movie projector gave the illusion of the screen being the source of the lights that made up the movie, and not a bright light shining through film aimed at a blank sheet on a wall. He tried to explicate these thoughts to Serge, but they came out rather garbled and not at all as interesting as he had hoped.

"Hey Surge, did you see how that matte painting's edge was in the frame for that scene? Well, I was thinking about how usually you don't notice that, like how you don't notice the fact that the sound is coming from those speakers, and the lights are from that light back there. Makes you think, huh?"

[Scuffles]

Once Heqanefer was subdued and Hed-Ra was laid back to rest, Kristin distanced herself from the rest of the group until order was restored - she hadn't ever managed to get into costume and wanted to keep away from any attention as much as possible. Once the (in the end merely just misguided) villain was carted away however, she rejoined her friends.

The first thing she did was slap Luke on the shoulder. "Hey, nice job back there," She said quietly. "Looked to me like you've done that before! Oh, and yeah you owe me chocolate."

She shot a grin at Subito, then draped an arm across Chloe's shoulder. Her new roommate had done fantastically well and she was very pleased by it. "You did great you know, that was a really dangerous situation and you got everything spot on right. And I don't know what mojo you worked on that Magician but wow you took him down a notch. Top stuff Chloe!"

Serge she didn't quite know how to approach. His dash for the door had caught her totally by surprise. Clearly he hadn't had his gear ready, and of course he'd been very effective once he returned to the fight, but to be so unprepared .. well it bothered her a little.

I guess I shouldn't be mad at him, it all worked out. Maybe he can find a way to wear his gear under his clothes? Oh well, no sense worrying about it now and making a scene. I'll chat with him later..

[Airon]

Saiph was still pumped up from the fight “Kristin, I’ll buy you chocolate, I’ll buy you dinner, I’ll buy you a puppy if you are that helpful every time. Thanks, really†he almost hugged her, but it was the first time they had met, so maybe it would come off as a bit inappropriate. “it’s very important for me to feel part of a team.â€

Then he realized he was still hovering a foot above the seats, sparkling with energy, projecting his shadow on the silver screen. And now the chaos had diminished, so some eyes were on him. He awkwardly waved at the teens watching him and flew out of the door. He looked that nobody was around, then he turned back to his civilian self. He rejoined the group.

“Heh. Sorry. The headmaster has been really insistent that I keep a secret identity.†he told his classmates.

“And Subito, don’t worry: nobody got hurt, and I actually enjoyed fighting in a team. It felt very good.†He shook his hand, as he did with Chloe “You guys are great.â€

Finally he got near Serge “Man, we should really do something for that suit… that finishing blow was incredible, really, but you should work on miniaturize it… would you like a hand in the workshop next week? I don’t think I’m on your level with tech, but I picked up a couple of tricks form the Lor super-minds…â€

[Derin]

Chloe quickly inactivated her calming nanites before anybody touched her. She was going to have to keep an eye on that or it could get awkward. She shrugged at Kristin's words. "I just sedated him," she said to Kristin. "A mixture of luck and surprise, I think." Except that was a lie. She'd manipulated him, played with his emotions... and she wasn't entirely sure that that was the right thing to do. Not without permission. Sometimes patients needed to be sedated against their own will for their own safety, but had she gone too far? "It was Serge's... sonic... thing that did most of the damage, I think. Anyway, I'm glad we didn't have to kill the mummy. It wasn't its fault."

Sh felt a moment of panic when she realised that people were looking at Saiph hovering above their unmasked heads, but it was unlikely that anybody was looking away from the flying hero long enough to pay any attention to them and nobody seemed to have thought to turn their phones back on mid-marathon and take video. She reminded herself that she really needed to take her uniform everywhere, just in case. Since apparently, even a trip to the movies couldn't be guaranteed to be villain-free.

[Vahnyu]

By the time he had changed clothes and made his way back to the group, Serge had managed to calm from the fatigue. He had been inexplicably quiet during the whole clean-up, and continued so through most of the rest of the show. Subito's words finally snapped him out of his reverie. "Eh? Wha-?" Rethinking the statement, Serge replied "Yeah, it IS a bit weird." Staying a bit more quiet, he says again "Sorry, I've been thinking about that Heqanefer guy. He was a madman, to be sure, but he seemed to genuinely pull the king Hed Ra from the land of the Dead. The pharaoh was even mostly aware of what had happened to him, and more than a bit disapproving, so I'm inclined to believe that this was no mere parlor trick. I doubt you can just teach this kind of sorcery, which really makes me think... What was his deal? How did Heqanefer came to weild such power? Was it innate? Or did someone... enable him..."

At Luke's comment, Serge couldn't help but nod in agreement "Your help is appreciated, man! It was a nice trick, and the first test run was definitely a success, but I'm still working out some kinks, here and there. If I could manage the golden ratio between power input, effectiveness and controlability, the move could become useful for crowd control." He smiled back at him.

As the show came to an end, Serge addressed the group "Anyways, sorry for bailing out on you like that. I try to keep the fact that I'm Net Fly a secret, and while I could no doubt change were I was, I didn't feel all that comfortable. Not that you guys didn't handle things just fine without me. Heh." he joked lightly. "Especially you Chloe. You did a number on Heqanefer, and that's no mean feat. I count my blessings that I won't ever have to go up against you... well... hopefully. And Luke, I get the feeling that you weren't really giving it your all there. As if your mind was... elsewhere... Okay, look(hehe, sorry)" giving an exasperated sigh, he continued. "I won't even pretend that I begin to even imagine how you must feel. All I know is that, if you need someone to talk to, or even just hang out with, me and Subito will be more than glad to be there for you."

[Ari]

GM

The convention concluded with the showing of the cult favorite Dreams of Steel, a movie famed for its mysterious cut footage that supposedly took place on an actual starship, the owners of which objected to the potential security risks of releasing visual information about their vessel, or so the filmmakers claimed. Whatever had happened, the movie was almost good, its major failings being a truly unnatural amount of exposition offered about twenty minutes after the audience could easily figure out what was going on, aliens that looked like humans with weird pigmentation, and an over-reliance on jumpsuits as the de riguer extraterrestrial style of choice.

Otherwise, the story was an enjoyable one about four humans helping a mysterious though largely beneficient alien confederacy deactivate a warlike stellar empire's doomsday weapon, saving billions of lives. Space scenes were few, but more than made up by the amazing cinematography of the alien planets the movie portrayed, which had a photorealism unsurpassed by other films of the time when it was released in 1965.

When the end credits rolled, and the applause gradually depleted, the owner of the theater made an appearance, looking exactly as severe and respectable as she had sounded. She thanked the attendees, apologized for the unforeseen attack, and offered visiting students(who made up around three/fourths of the attending populace) a choice of the various movies shown copied to DVDs for no charge as an additional sign of apology. "We hope you remember this night for the enjoyment you had, and not for the reprehensible attack you have suffered" she concluded "and I would like to add as well that we are deeply indebted to those who defeated the magician and his mummy accomplice. This theater might be in ruins, or ablaze, if not for your defense" she bowed her head a little at that, and departed, the disruption having been smoothed away and the pleasant evening of watching bad movies at an end.

The sarcophagus of Hed-Ra was re-interred at the city's Museum of Egyptian History, where it had been stolen quite mysteriously, security footage of the day having somehow been replaced by a looping, grainy black and white film of the Set animal drinking from a pool on some lavish estate, with a handwritten note declaring angrily My children existed then as now. The display for the collection of Set animal artifacts had been vandalized, with the plaque explaining their fictitious origins cut in half and largely melted. Small drifts of sand turned up in corners for months after the strange attack.