We are Legion

[cosmicarus]

It's loud in the club, but the Legionnaire instinctively turns when the red robed handmaiden enters the building. She pushes past a bouncer trying to stop her from entering as the Legionnaire closes the gap between them. When she begins to speak, the handmaiden is out of breath, "Please... Sis...Sister Valencia - she's in danger..." That's all that needs to be said. Legionnaire turns to his new comrades, "If you want to help and are prepared for abttle, come. If not, you will only be a burden." With that, he runs out the door, making a dash toward the portable chapel that Sister Valencia resides in; his well trained muscles get him there in little time. The outside seems ungarded, but as soon they enter, they see two men, dressed in some kind of yellow armour. They also both wield long, ornate staffs, the ends of which glow a stark, blue light. These two see the group as they enter, their posture clearly indicates that they're willing to fight.

[nareik123]

"Who in the name of Mars are you?" Legionnaire demanded, unsheathing one of his throwing spears. He looked around.

"Valencia! Where are you?" Legionnaire yelled. He looked at the German that he had invited to join him.

"It seems combat has reached us sooner than I expected. I don't know how good you are in combat, but if you are not a melee combatant, than get and stay behind me" Legionnaire hissed.

[Jack of Tales]

Keira watches the roman run out of the club and glances over at the doctor. She gives him a shrug and then runs after the man, wanting to look at his shiny bronze armor again. Oh, and the fact that she might be able to do more superhero stuff! What will her parents say when she goes home and tells them?

"Who in the name of Mars are you?" Legionnaire demanded, unsheathing one of his throwing spears. He looked around.

"Valencia! Where are you?" Legionnaire yelled. He looked at the German that he had invited to join him.

"It seems combat has reached us sooner than I expected. I don't know how good you are in combat, but if you are not a melee combatant, than get and stay behind me" Legionnaire hissed.

Kizzy creeps in behind the two and looks at the strangely dressed men. Do you think they'll share their masks? I have an outfit that would look lovely with.

She then steps behind Legionnaire and stretches out both hands as if they were holding a whip. As she does the few shadows in the temple flow to her hands and form a long, eerily moving whip of dark in her hand. So, Mr. Roman soldier person, who are you? I'm Kizzy. Should I get a superhero name? I want to bust up evil villains too! I'll try not to get in the way.

[Dr Archeville]

What the frack's going on now?

Don't know; only one way to find out!

Eh, that kid better just stay out of our way.

You'd best stay out of her way. You know some darkness manipulators can affect the darker parts of a psyche.

Oh, for the- will you stop making that stupid analogy? Manipulating photons is vastly different from manipulating brainwaves!

Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.

It was a testament to the persistence of Freedom-ians that the club had already started getting back into the swing of things, despite the superpowered tussle from just a few moments ago. Archeville looked back and forth between the fallen, crumpled plant-girl and Keira & the odd time-tossed Roman. Hearing the approaching police sirens (in response to his 'message') nudged him to go with his two new associates and investigate this new trouble. As he headed out he paused at the bouncer, "If you see eizher zhe Star-man, or zhe young man who came in mit zhe dark girl und me, tell him ve've gone zhat vay." He pointed towards Legionnaire, then continued after them via gravimetric flight, activating his force field as he went.

He looked at the German that he had invited to join him.

"It seems combat has reached us sooner than I expected. I don't know how good you are in combat, but if you are not a melee combatant, than get and stay behind me" Legionnaire hissed.

"I try not to melee," he said as he moved to the left side of the Roman, leaving enough room for him to maneuver, "but can do so vhen zhe situation calls for it."

To the Roman's surprise, the German did not take any sort of fighting stance, but instead seemed to merely point at one of the yellow-clad foes. "Oy!," he called out to the one on the left, "who are you? Vhat do you vant, und vhere is zhis man's friend, Valencia?"

[cosmicarus]

"Oy!... who are you? Vhat do you vant, und vhere is zhis man's friend, Valencia?"

The first Tech Priest takes a step forward, "That's enough talk." He turns to his ally, "Capture them now, debug them later." He turns back to the group, specifically at the good Doctor. In one, smooth movement he flips his staff around numerous times, as if building momentum with it. The ends of the staff begin to glow crackle and hum before, with a sound effect the folks at any Sci Fi convention would applaud, the Priest suddenly stops it, releasing a bolt of electrical energy which strikes the German Genius. The second Priest spins his staff around his body as he turns and fires the same electricity. This one flies forward with the same release of energy, hum and zap, but finds the Legionnaire as it's target.

[nareik123]

Legionnaire feels the electric bolt, but his body absorbed the blow, leaving a burn mark on his arm. With a yelled, he whips out a throwing spear and threw it. The spear flew across the room, more like a ballista bolt than a spear. However it hits stone work.

"Valencia! I am coming" Legionnaire roared.

[Jack of Tales]

The seemingly normal girl in black skirt and corset walks to the end of the tiled pattern on her left and grins wickedly at the priests. I think it's time for a blackout! She happily shouts out before waving her arms in two circles gathering all the shadows of the room to one place and expanding her own to create an impenetrable darkness 60 ft across centered on herself.

[Dr Archeville]

Ochre worms! How dare they assault us! Can they not see our magnificence?!

Probably not, since we are still in the process of making a name for ourselves.

Bah! We are known far and wide throughout Germany!

Yes, but we're not in Germany, you idiot, we're in America! Pay attention!

Bah! They should pay attention to our electromagnetic blaster pistol! I--

Yeah, you do remember I was able to talk him into giving that up, right? Makes it harder to do damage if you take over, and forces us to make a name for ourselves not on our tech but on our mind. Not that you'd understand such nuances....

"Debug?," the Super-Scientist repeated as the staff's blast diffused harmlessly across his force field. "Zhat's an odd term to use... almost as odd as zhose staffs." Archevill flies up the the Tech-Priest who blasted him and tries to use a pressure point/joint-lock move to make him release the staff and then immediately seize it before it can hit the ground. "Static electricity build-up, ja?"

[cosmicarus]

The Tech Priest near the good Doctor loses his staff to the German and groans in response. In the darkness, the staff-less Priest is heard to say, as if to someone else, "Roger. Copy that? Frag 'em!" It seems, however, that he does nothing else.

On the other side of the room, the Tech Priest who still retains his staff creates a light show! The twirling, electrical edges of the weapon are made all the more impressive by the darkness surrounding it. The energy travels through the room, however, when the Tech Priest releases the staff's energy at Kizzy! The darkness controller feels and sees the electrical energy whizz past her with a crackling hum, dissipating on the column in the back left of the room, plunging the room once more into complete darkness. Kizzy sees the Tech Priest move through the darkness, and even though he's as blind as the rest, he seems to be making his way in her direction...

[Jack of Tales]

No fair! You're not supposed to be able to see. Hmph! Try hitting me now. Kizzy scowls at the priests and assumes a defensive posture, whirling her hands around and preparing to deflect and reflect any incoming attacks against her or either of her allies.

[nareik123]

Meanwhile, Legionnaire looked up at his allies. They fought well, but Legionnaire decided to add to their enemies woes.

"Warriors! You fight with courage and honour, but is that what you fight with, or do you fight with more? You do fight with more, you fight with Mars glaring down upon your enemies! You fight with courage, honour and the blessing of the God of War!" Legionnaire roared over everything.

OOC: Using Hero Point to inspire Kitty and Dr Archville. Bonus' for you then!

[Dr Archeville]

Ha! We've got a weapon now! Now to.... waitasec...

Yes, weapons don't do much good if you cannot see the target.

Grah! Stupid girl! Her darkness hinders us as much as it does these monks! If only we had our goggles....

Time for recriminations later; besides, the goggles do nothing. For now, focus on the task at hand: taking out the monks. We've not heard any movement, so with luck the one we took this staff from is still in the same position. If we're lucky, we can get in a good hit and knock him out.

Yeah! Bust some heads! Crack some skulls!

... not quite the idea I was going for, and crude even by your standards, but since the likelihood of landing such a solid blow in these conditions is quite low, give it all you've got, slugger. And while you d that, I've got my own idea...

Archeville twirled the staff in his hands for half a moment, largely to see if there'd be any energy discharge from the ends as before. At one point his right hand moves quickly to his ultra-tech belt and taps a few buttons, then he lashes out with the staff at the spot where the mnk had been (and hopefully still was), though the 'whiffing' sound of the staff cleaving through empty air was discouraging.

"I zhink Odin or Tyr vould be more appropriate for me, but I'm not one to refuse aid!"

If there had been any flashes of energy from the staff, the foes may think it a trick of the light that the German seemed to fade from view. It was unlikely that they knew his gravimetric belt could generate a gravitic field that could warp electromagnetic energy around him, rendering him invisible to both visual and radio senses. If they can find some way to counter Keira's darkness, or she lowers it, he still wanted the benefit of some concealment.

[Jack of Tales]

With a snap of the fingers the pitch black darkness fades away, leeching back into the corners of the room and whatever dark dimension it had been pulled from. The murkiness leaves Kiera standing with a skeptical look at the Legionaire and a thin, shadowy tendril extending like a living whip from her right hand.

You know, I think your references are a bit dated. He's like, serious about that though isn't he? Poor guy. I wonder what it would be like to be stuck in the future somewhere..

Then with an almost casual action she lashes out with the shadow whip towards the priest in front of the Doctor. Unfortunately it falls far from its target and instead leaves a black scorch mark on the ground to the right.

[Dr Archeville]

Ha-HA! The lights may be back, but it's lights out for you!

With the darkness suddenly gone, Archeville seizes on the assailant's momentary reorientation period to thwack one over the head.

That... could've gone better.

[Jack of Tales]

Hmm should I help out Archeville or go for my own foe? I think I'll take down...that one.

Kizzy coils in her shadow whip and will lash out again at the same foe she had previously missed. The tendril roils around her arm and coils into her hand before whipping out across the field.

[Barnum]

While the Legionnaire gave a rousing speech, it just wasn't enough to overcome the skill and training of the Tech Priests. Dr. Archeville took a swing at the nearest Tech Priest, and even though the Priest couldn't see the attack coming, his other senses tipped him off. The Tech Priest deftly ducked out of the way of the blow. The second Tech Priest had an easier task. He saw the shadow whip lash out at him, but he quickly interposed his staff to block the attack.

The Tech Priest who narrowly ducked under Dr. Archeville's swing assumed a fighting stance, but didn't retreat or attack. He reached up under his hood and began fiddling with something at the side of his visor. The second Tech Priest counter-attacked, shooting a bolt of energy at her. It struck her dead-on in the chest.

[Dr Archeville]

I don't think our cloak is working so well against this guy. Maybe he's got some super-keen hearing, or some psychic 'danger sense'.

Blah, blah, blah. Less talky, more thwacky!

Archevile lashes out with the weird tech-staff again, but misses by a mile.

Care to change tactics?

Grrrr...

Unseen by his two allies, Archeville flies back five feet, then starts "pacing" in the air, going 'left' ten feet, then 'right' ten feet, then 'left' five feet, keeping his eyes locked on the tech-monk.

[Jack of Tales]

Kizzy makes a bad attempt to roll with the blast and avoid most of it, but instead simply ends up getting slammed in the shoulder. The energy bolt leaves a nasty burn mark along her arm and she stares at it in shock for a moment.

[nareik123]

With his inspiring speech finished, Legionnaire turns back to combat, the sole reason of his existence. He unsheathed another throwing spear, leaving one capable of being thrown. He wound his arm back, before throwing it forward with incredible strength, although his accuracy could have been improved.

[Barnum]

The disarmed Tech Priest looked intently at the place in the air where he thought Dr Archeville was supposed to be, but, apparently seeing nothing, he turned his attention to the Legionnaire. The Tech Priest pulled back the sleeve of his robe, and pressed a few buttons on the back of his gauntlet. His fist began to crackle with energy and glow brightly, and then he launched himself at the Roman. The Legionnaire, however, was far too deft at hand-to-hand to be taken off guard. The Tech Priests energy punch went wide, and the Legionnaire easily stepped out of the way.

The second Tech Priest, was just about to try to blast the Legionnaire when his comrade jumped into hand-to-hand. So he turned his energy weapon on Kizzy again . . . just for good measure. The blast struck her in the shoulder and sent her reeling.

[Jack of Tales]

Kizzy lets out a scream as the second blast hits her again. Oh this is not happening. Where the heck did Archeville go?

"Doctor? Where the heck are you?"

On her turn, Kizzy dashes toward the priest who shot her. " So you like shooting little girls and kidnapping women do you? That is it!"

As she does so, she blankets the area around the priest falls into darkness in a radius of 20 feet. Kizzy doesn't stop as she does this and heads into the darkness grinning maliciously.

[Dr Archeville]

Archevile held the weird techno-staff in one hand, and his electromagnetic screwdriver in the other. He began using the latter to try and open the former, and see what was inside the weapon.

Okay, let's take a peek inside and see what's what.

Hrrmmm... oh, that is nice.

Indeed, quite elegant.

You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?.

Thankfully, no, but I do understand what you're trying to say. If we cross this one here, and that bit there after threading it through there...

Archeville flew down as he worked so that he was as close to the two teach-priests as possible. He needed to be sure to get them in range so that when he sent out the energy pulse from the staff, it got them both; if he wried it correctly, the EMP-like burst would only affect the Tech Priest's own gear.

OOC: Attempting to use inventor/jury-rig a 1pp power feat for the staff's Blast power. The power feat is alternate power. Specifically, Nullify (all effects of a tech descriptor at once; Extras: Burst Area, Selective Attack; Flaws: Range/Touch, Side-Effect [failure to successfully use causes a backlash that affects Archeville as the Stun power]), at a rank equal to that of the Blast. It'll take one round to make, so he can try and use it next round.

[Barnum]

The Legionnaire wasn't so lucky the second time. The powered fist struck him right under his chin and sent him flying against the back wall of the room. He was out cold.

The Tech Priest that was enveloped in darkness began firing blindly at his opponent. His blasts never even came close to hitting Kizzy, but he did manage to punch a few sizable holes in the back wall of the building.

[Dr Archeville]

Hrrmmm... it would appear that, on closer inspection, this taff is actually little more than a very compact and very efficient flamethrower.

Damnit! Well, let's just keep blasting, maybe we can take out one of these guys with a shot to the face.

What? No, we're not here to kill them! We're going to secure them, let the cops take 'em, find out why they're here, why they attacked us, and where that Valencia woman is.

Eh, she's probably pickin' oranges in Spain.

Snapping the access panel shut, Archeville -- still invisible, though now on the ground -- twirls the staff around a bit and then fires a blast at the Tech-Priest standing over the downed Legionnaire. It would appear his exploratory tampering had set the 'barrel' off-kilter, though, as the blast went wide and slammed into a far pillar.

EDITED

[Jack of Tales]

Kiera stalked towards her prey, an almost evil look on her face. You ruined a perfectly good shirt, weirdo and now you get to pay me back for it.

Enveloped in the darkness and out of sight from her allies, Kiera suddenly feels an overwhelming urge to cut the priest. She stands next to him and lashes out with one hand, feeling the shadows swirl and solidify around it to form long, jet-black talons. The hatred for the priest fades as Kiera feels her hand burrow into his flesh. She pulls back, startled by her own actions and torn between disgust of what she had done and mild fascination as well.