When It Rains It Snows (IC)

[Electra]

"Let me save you the trouble of coming down!" With a careless flick of her hand, the auburn-haired powerhouse had shed her cloak and was in action, bouncing off the truck's thick wheel as though it were a trampoline and taking to the sky. With her bat held slightly awkwardly out to one side, she executed a dizzying midair roll, then smashed feet-first into the junction of armor between Steel Sentinel's right shoulder and chest. "Wannabe-robot villains and drizzling showboats, is this what Hades is sending out these days?" she snarked contemptuously. "You'd do better as the go-to raincloud for an agrarian compound, and maybe the tractor as well."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Your girlfriend has a good mouth on her," taunted Bloodstorm. "You must not be doing enough to keep her in line!" Another blast of lightning erupted from the sky at her words, cascading downwards and blasting Cobalt Templar right through his force field in a hair-raising jolt of pure electricity that nearly knocked him out of the sky. Bloodstorm might be a showboat, but there was no denying the sheer unnatural power behind that bolt of elemental fury! "I'll soon fix that, and you as well, my pretty," she taunted. "Hades' will will not be denied! Soon we'll have you, the robot, and everything will be going so well! Ahahaha!" Down below, Steel Sentinel was much quieter: he'd grunted when hit, but otherwise made no sound as he swooped in to fire a laser blast from his outstretched palm in Wander's direction. It was a well-aimed shot, if Wander had been flying: as it was it missed by a mile as she fell back towards Earth. This time, she distinctly heard him curse.

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar frowned at the "girlfriend" taunts, before gritting his teeth as lightning raked across his body, leaking through the protection of his "armor". Once it was done, he slowly drew a hand across his mouth, coming away a bit bloody. He hurt, but he was very much still in the fight.

"Thank you, ma'am. May I have another?"

He held out his right hand, and a large cruciform sword coalesced, formed of blue fire and will of equal measure. He grinned as he gripped it with both hands and adjusted his stance on thin air...

Then he was suddenly right in front of Bloodstorm, the blade of shining fire tearing through the air before driving across the weather controller's body, the construct of flame biting deep.

"She's not my girlfriend, you're lucky her boyfriend isn't here to kick your butt, and Hades needs to get in line."

[Avenger Assembled]

Cobalt Templar cut her in half. Without a sound, the vampire fell apart in two segmented ashy forms, her eyes rolling back in her head and her teeth erupting from her mouth in the instant before wet, sticky ash hit Cobalt Templar's force field like a puff of flour. The storms abruptly stopped when she did, a last rumble of thunder rapidly turning itself into a gentle breeze as the clouds overhead began to part. At the site of his comrade's demise, Steel Sentinel didn't hesitate: Wander distinctly heard him swear "Screw this!" before he took off into the night sky with a roar of jets from his battered power armor. For a moment, anyway, as he disappeared into the night Wander and Cobalt Templar were left alone with the rescued robot and the wide-eyed scientist who'd witnessed the whole thing.

[Electra]

It was hard to tell in the rain and the dark, but it seemed as though Corbin's old teammate was almost annoyed about her opponent fleeing the fight. She landed next to Corbin with a soft splash on the wet street, studying the results of his mighty blow. "Well, that was impressively lethal," she commented. "I don't remember you having quite such a mighty swing. Have you been getting more training lately?" Kneeling, she pinched up a sample of the wet ash, rubbing it between her fingers. "Definitely not human, whatever it was. Not a mechanical, either. Interesting."

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar had slowly floated to the ground, his face mostly showing a bit of shock. He clearly hadn't expected the result he got. He tensed slightly at Wander's first comment, but the sword remained in his hand, unconsciously gripped tightly.

"I...I just wanted to knock her out. That'd been the goal. I mean, that was...That was a home run swing, you know? But even still, it should have just knocked her down and out, maybe given her some sunburn and blisters. I got lucky, and she...no way she was even close to human. I think she was a vampire. Between the dusting, the name, and the way she was going about things, anyways. I dunno. I just...didn't actually mean for that to happen."

While not heartbroken, the large young man was clearly still shaken by the results of his actions. Finally his blade dissipated as he looked around.

"We need to get them out of here. Too exposed. I can carry us all, no problem. We'll need to leave the truck, but I can do it easy. Make a box for it, even. He just needs to say where to go."

It was a clear and deliberate change of subject.

[Avenger Assembled]

It was easy enough to get the giant robot back to ASTRO Labs after that, the scientist looking grateful for the rescue and with no ethical questions about who'd cut who in half with a sword during the big fight. They landed in a large open area near the edge of the ASTRO property, While ASTRO techs with anti-grav lifters mobilized to move the big robot into one of the nearby hangers, their host turned to Erin and Corbin. "Thanks again for the rescue," he said seriously, the weather overhead having evened out enough that he could talk to them without getting drenched or frozen. "I have no idea what Hades would want with one of these old things, but we'll make sure no gods come in and steal our giant robots. We've had some practice dealing with his kind before."

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar gave the man a nod and a smile.

"It was my pleasure to help. I don't entirely understand the reasoning, though it's certainly not for anyone's good. I remember what the books say these things could do. It's really rather impressive. Are you...going to disassemble him?"

The hero clad in faintly glowing blue armor seemed slightly sad at the idea.

"I mean, he's a piece of history and all, despite the armaments. It'd be a shame, but...well, I'm sure ASTRO knows better on the matter. Sorry for poking my nose in on that. Do you folks need help with anything else? If not, don't be afraid to try dropping me a line if something comes up again; I'd be more than glad to help safeguard such a potent part of our nation's heritage."

[Avenger Assembled]

"No, he's going to the Air and Space Museum in Washington once his weapons have been removed," said the scientist with a smile. "There was some debate about that, but since he could fly when his jet-boots were operational, all that class of robot was listened as a flying machine. He's a vital part of our nation's machine heritage, and we're not going to let him rust in a junkyard somewhere. Who knows?" Dr. Green's eyes lit up as he spoke, "With any luck, maybe the legacy of the old AEGIS robots won't be stuck in the museum, either. Perhaps in the future, all our wars will be fought by giant robots instead of by human beings. Think of the savings in men, material, and human lives, not to mention the technological achievements!"

[Electra]

"Until one set of robots polishes off the other side, then goes for the human population." One could always trust Erin to find the cloud in every silver lining. "Nobody ever finished a war just by taking out the front lines and then going home. If robots are going to win a war, it's going to be on the backs of human beings." Apparently indifferent to any discomfort her words might cause, she turned away to watch the massive machine being loaded for its final journey into obsolescence.