ic Braving the Lair (IC)

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore was listening to his fellows, but his gaze was clearly scanning the alleyways around the target building.

 

"I'll have to ask the police if I can have a couple of those nightsticks when we're done. The battery tech could come in handy. The Boss Lady might like something like that. Hm...perhaps a system we could mount on our gloves?"

 

The last bit was half-muttered to himself, one of his gauntlet-covered hands tapping his chin in thought. Then suddenly he jerked a bit, his gaze focusing on one of the warehouse windows. He'd seen the silhouette, a decidedly inhuman figure.

 

"Either of you see that? I have a feeling, suddenly, that this gang's name isn't just for sounding tough..."

 

He glanced at Solvrytter.

 

"You ever tangled with threats that were, ah, larger than human? What about you, Polarity?"

[Thunder King]

"I fought a bear once. Half again as tall as I was and mean, but bears don't breathe fire as dragons are rumored to do. Even on my world, dragons were uncommon creatures. Assuming they existed at all, of course. It isn't easy to separate story and legend from truth." He shrugged.

 

"However, my spear is stout and my armor is well made. If it is a dragon, I can only hope they will be enough. Though..." He said, scratching his beard. "A dragon of truly frightening size and power would be difficult to control."

[GooseInduced]

Polarity gave Solvrytter a nod. “Yes. They should not have access to that kind of equipment.†She watched each young man as they both thought that through. Solvrytter understanding it less while Nevermore was already seeming to find a way to turn it in his favor.
 
Her gaze narrowed and Polarity turned to better face Nevermore. “No, nothing more than just street thugs. What are you-“ She stopped when the word ‘dragon’ stole her voice. “You are joking right? Tell me you are joking. There is no way they have a dragon in there. No way.†She let her eyes roam over the windows, trying to see a glimpse of whatever it was that seemed to spook nevermore. “Dragons aren’t real.â€

[KnightDisciple]

"Well, they have something or someone big and not-human in there. I didn't get a good look, and thus far I haven't gotten multi-spectrum backscatter lenses installed. Something about not giving x-ray vision to a teenage boy, like I can't be responsible or something."

 

Perhaps a touch of humorous exasperation, but otherwise serious.

 

"As for dragons not being real, there's a shape-shifting dragon on the Reservist list of the Freedom League. She typically goes around the city in a human disguise, but is from an alternate dimension and very much a dragon naturally. Besides, you teleport and shoot electricity out of your hands, and you're questioning dragons?"

 

He gave her a half-smile before shifting fully to "business time mode".

 

"Here's my thinking, feel free to help adjust it. Polarity, you see that generator in that alleyway over there? Do you think you could zap down next to it and pour as much juice as possible into it? I'd wager we could startle them, drop the lights, that sort of thing. Then you can pop inside and help us knock heads.

 

Solvrytter, I'm thinking the back door over there is calling your name. One or two good shoves should get it open, and if the guys up top see you, well..."

 

He gestured to the heavy armor the young knight wore.

 

"No offense, but I'd wager you can take it. Me, I'm going to get on the roof. When Polarity fries the generator, which should hopefully be right as Solvrytter is busting down the door, I'll break through and start working on them from the inside. The two of you can join me, and we'll take down everyone besides Bigsauce McGee in there. Then we take down the big guy. Your thoughts?"

[Thunder King]

Solvrytter nodded. "A solid tactic. Draw attention to myself so that the two of you can sneak in. The infantry distracting the scouts. However..." He lifted Forsynstang in the air, turned it in place, and pushed it towards his hip, where it disappeared from view. He reached beside him, and the two of them could catch a glimmer of magical energy as he pulled something from the space beside him.

 

It came into view slowly, first a wooden haft shod in leather with an blunt iron tip. Then the head, a large hammer, scored with runes of some kind. On the side was a decoration of sorts, silver and jet in the form of a stylized bear's head. The handle was a little over three feet in length, designed to be wielded in two hands. He rested it on his shoulder, and nodded.

"This is Jarnskurer, it breaches doors like a battering ram."

[GooseInduced]

Polarity’s face scrunched a bit. She had him there. She really shouldn’t be doubting things like that anymore. Not when she herself could be considered beyond belief. Seriously, a gymnast whose grandmother gave her superpowers while curing a supposedly incurable illness? Sounds like a comic book to her. “Yeah I guess you’re right.†She sighs, looking away from him in defeat, using a shift in weight and reaching to scratch her shoulder to not so hopefully disguise it.

 

She didn't even look back to them, instead her gaze roamed to find the generator Nevermore speaks of. “Yeah I see it…. Overloading the generator should be a piece of cake. Hopefully power surge will fry everything. With any luck we might knock out a few of those tazer-bats if they are plugged in to charge. I didn’t see a charging port but that doesn’t mean they don’t charge separate. Anyway, sounds like a solid plan.†She pointed to her tinted goggles. “These babies have infra and night vision so the dark won’t be any problem.â€

 

It was right around that time that Solvrytter ‘sheathed’ his sword and the motion definitely caught her attention The entire thing disappeared into what almost looked like a small tear in space. “OK, it is really cool how you do that.†She watched the new weapon appear, smirking at the way the teen just slings it over his shoulder. She didn't really have any gear to be all flashy like that with. “Also that thing doesn’t work LIKE a battering ram, it IS a battering ram. I definitely wouldn’t wanna get hit with that. Ouch.â€

Edited April 17, 2014 by GooseInduced

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore tilted his head to the side just a bit as Solvrytter withdrew Jarnskurer from...a pocket dimension? Magic, go figure.

 

"Handy way to store things. And that's one of the cooler door override mechanisms I've seen in a while."

 

Clearly when it came to overriding a door, Nevermore (and likely Raven) did not believe in half measures. The caped youth moved to the edge of the rooftop, his toes creeping out over open space. His body was...not rigid, but tense. Ready. He spoke again, in hushed, clipped tones.

 

"When I hit the roof, Solvrytter should give it a 10 count and then go running in. Soon as you hear him hit that door, Polarity, you fry it all. Ready? Good."

 

And then he was airborne, gliding through the air with dark, silent wings. The last bit of his flight started to arc down a bit...and suddenly a grapnel line shot out, and he was gracefully pulling himself onto the roof. As soon as his feet hit the flat rooftop, he began crouch-walking over to one of the half-broken skylights, where he stopped. And waited.

[Thunder King]

Solvrytter hefted Jarnskurer over his shoulder and stepped up to the door. On the one hand, he was confident in the hammer's ability to deal the blow that could destroy the door. On the other hand, this world had great craftsmanship at a level his could only dream of. Superlight, supertough metals so far beyond a smith's work as to be magic. He had read of them, and marveled at the technology.

 

Solvrytter did not take a measured blow. Rather, he hefted the hammer and swung it with all his might. The door shattered open, metal twisting and bending with a resounding crash. Bits of shattered metal landed in the room. It was evident that either this door was not the finest craftsmanship this world had to offer, or Jarnskurer was yet worth of the name iron burster.

[GooseInduced]

Juno had given her nod of approval, taking a deep breath and trying to ready herself for the attack they were about to carry out. This would be her first raid. The first hideout she would ever force her way into. This wasn't like the bank. This was the bad guys' home turf. They needed to be careful.
 
She watched nevermore descend to the other rooftop and Solvrytter make his way to the alley. Her trip to the generator was much quicker, aided by her teleportation it only took moments for the teen to reach the generator. Nothing fancy. Just a simple safety mechanism she can easily get around. This thing is little more than a big engine pumping power to the other building. She stood there, hands at the ready, watching down over her shoulder to watch Solvrytter step up to the door. It only took one good 'CRACK' for it to cave in a rain of splinters and that's her cue. Blue streaks of electricity arch between her fingers and then from her hands to the generator. The concentrated blast of energy overloads the machine and fries the wires. The loud rumble of the engine slowing with a loud creak as a few of the lights inside explode from the sudden surge and the entire building goes dark. 
 
With a smirk she turned toward the building, flicking on the Dark-vision of her goggles. "Showtime."

Edited April 23, 2014 by GooseInduced

[KnightDisciple]

He had moved through the air silently, like a shadow flitting from rooftop to rooftop. His effort to climb onto and move across the rooftop was textbook-perfect. He'd positioned himself next to one of the boared-up sections of the skylight and closed his eyes to wait.

 

For a fleeting moment, he felt like he was back...there....and that this was a training exercise. But then his mental barriers, and the training under Raven, slammed into place. These little "flashes" were few and far between by now, but this was his first "team up" raid on a criminal base. It was bound to stir up old memories.

 

Then he heard the *crack* of the door basically disintegrating, and smiled. Not only was that an excellent way to enter a facility, it was a good distraction. He wasn't one for leaving comrades swinging in the breeze, but even 5 seconds of focused attention on one point would allow him a flanking attack that may well cripple the organization of the enemy. Meanwhile, Solvrytter would be taking care of himself adequately. Now he just needed....

 

*ZAP*

 

There it was. The lights going out, spreading more confusion. Nevermore smiled, and if any criminals had been nearby, their superstitious, cowardly nature might liken it to the smile of some angel of death getting told he was about to work overtime.

 

A single kick broke trough a flimsy piece of particle board, and an eyeblink later, the young caped hero was descending on the gang's lair like blackened lightning from the heavens. He flared his cape for a moment, before kicking off of a nearby catwalk to alter his descent angle.

 

That pointed him toward the second-story ledge, which a single foot reached out to greet with another push. This time, he added rotation to his manuever, so that by the time he reached ground level, he was crouched down, cape splayed about his person, eye lenses glowing in the dark, teeth gleaming just a bit in that same predatory smile.

 

He didn't speak. All he did was slowly, carefully stand up, keeping the cape wrapped about his person, disguising where his hands were and what his exact profile was. Making him something less, and more, than human. A creature of the night.

[Ari]

GM

 

With the back door smashed from its frame and the generator overloaded, the young cavalier faced little opposition as he made his way into the warehouse, except for darkness and quiet. The floors were littered with the debris of some old goods that had come to rest in the brick and concrete tomb, from the look of things likely before Solvrytter was born. Old crates were everywhere, stamped with the sign of some old fishery, gaping empty or piled carelessly in heaps higher than their heads.

 

As the knight made his way up to the second floor, where Nevermore had reported two sentries, he emerged to find...nothing. More crates and disused equipment lying in corners, but not a soul in sight. And the way upstairs was barred with another heavy-looking door. This one without any exterior way to open it.

Gunnar felt the hairs on the back of his neck stiffen. The only thing worse than an enemy was one you couldn't see.

 

---

 

At that moment, that was something of a comfort for Nevermore. He landed, arising to face the baffled circle of people in white and silver outfits with dragon masks far more sophisticated than the wannabes the Claremonters had just tangled with, the costumes bearing the tell-tale marks of hidden armor and shock-sticks on their belts.

 

And face-to-face with the cold, dead stare of a mechanical dragon, easily twice his height, wingless but armored in steel and built like a viper. It began a slow, casual approach on silent legs and clicking claws, jaws opened to reveal teeth crackling with electricity. As one the gang members retread a couple of yards, though whether they were putting distance between themselves and the new arrival or their monster was unclear.

 

A soft, crystal-clear voice spoke from behind the young crime-fighter, a deep voice bearing a sharp French accent "Brothers, let this valiant face our greatest work. He'll prove his worth or die trying. Dragon oh-nine, attack!"

Edited May 15, 2014 by Arichamus

[KnightDisciple]

Sometimes, being right was pretty cool, even if one could crow a bit too loudly about being correct.

 

Sometimes it was just a confirmation of knowledge, like on a math test.

 

And sometimes....

 

"I hate being right sometimes."

 

Some analytical part of his mind noted that the dragon (apparently the ninth in a line?) was modeled after Oriental legends rather than European. Also, it was apparently equipped with a mouth-taser. As if the razor-sharp teeth weren't enough.

 

Not content to simply let the beast attack him, Nevermore moved forward with lightning speed and precision, his cape whirling behind him as his fists rang out in a one-two quick-strike pattern that was meant more to try and give him an opening. And they did; his hands scrabbled at the metallic hide of the dragon, his armored fingers latching on in between solid plates on its neck...

 

Before the creature seemed to give a great shudder, and he lost whatever gains he had made. Fighting the urge to curse in Romanian at the beast, he settled for giving himself a couple feet of space from those teeth.

[Ari]

GM

 

Even as Nevermore twisted and lunged away, the beast spun and lashed out with its whip-like tail, hitting him square just below the collarbone with a shuddering crack. Despite the force behind it though, the steel limb was no battering ram, and Aleksander nimbly rolled with the impact with only a dull throb in his chest to show for the cyberdragon's assault. Flowing into a crouch, the dragon began to prowl closer once again, face turned to Nevermore's with great intensity. The clear, dead eyes set in the narrow skull didn't seem to have much to do with its ability to perceive the world, if its elegant movements across the cable-strewn floor were any sign.

 

Meanwhile, below

 

Despite the deep sense of unease, Juno didn't see any cause for it besides the lights being off. And if a door was about to stop a teleporter...it wouldn't be that door, or that girl.

 

Gunnar, however, was a little luckier. If 'lucky' was the right word for it. At the very least he looked in the right direction: up. There he saw, mere feet above him, two shimmering shapes that looked very familiar. When the shimmering stopped and both shades resolved to his eyes as the sentries from earlier, it was almost comforting. 

 

The feeling wasn't mutual though, as both Dragons showed by hurling themselves at him, electro-darts and cyber-staves cutting through the air at the young armored champion!

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore didn't so much as grunt as the metal tail struck his body. The armor took most of the blow, and that last-second lean meant he'd have some nasty bruises, but nothing broken. Yet.

 

He did determine that the cyber-creature was a bit too inhuman to easily get into a complicated wrestling hold or the like. Joint locks tended not to work on robots.

 

So he went for the brute force approach. For a moment he rocked back a bit further on his heels, before rocketing forward with a lunging strike with the plated, reinforced, and padded palm of his hand, turning his entire forearm into a piledriver that struck the "dragon" square on the neck, not far behind the head. He didn't break the head off (that would have been kind of awesome, he wasn't going to lie), but he did feel something in the cyberdragon give way instead of in his arm, so it didn't go totally astray.

[Ari]

GM

 

The cement rang along with the steel, its cause jerking back and forth for a moment as it adjusted to whatever had snapped in the neck. With a hideously fluid movement it wheeled around and faced Nevermore with dead eyes, jaws opening to once again reveal the crackling inferno, but this time it wasn't just in unrobotic cockiness.

 

With a faint screech from overtaxed motors and a blast of heat, the coursing electricity roared from its metal lips, forming a single thin tongue of blue fire that snapped out towards the young crime-fighter...only for him to dodge at the last moment, causing it to hit the wall behind him and leave a smelly scorch-mark.

 

"Formidable." Commented one of the Dragons, to a general murmur of placid agreement. The gangsters had barely moved after the duel started, watching with the idle curiosity of an audience at a sporting match.

Edited May 12, 2014 by Arichamus

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore had seen the build-up of energy and the reposturing of the cyber-dragon. He'd trained in simulator scenarios that telegraphed incoming moves less.

 

Even so, a cybernetic dragon was mechanically precise and inhumanly fast. And when it fired a bolt of energy, that energy moved very quickly. So instead of missing by a mile, Nevermore made it so the bolt only just missed him. He felt the hair on his scalp try to stand up inside his cowl as he was bending backward at the knee to avoid the strike. He kept the motion going even as one of the gang members complimented his form. In the blink of an eye, he was starting to roll backward into a handstand.

 

Which just happened to give him the momentum to deliver a shin-strike to the same spot he'd previously struck with his fist.

 

It was only a couple more blinks before he was in a full handstand, and then standing upright once more, his cape dramatically settling down behind him as he stood in a cautious, defensive stance. 

[Ari]

GM

 

There was another murmur as the Cyberdragon took the surprisingly vicious blow to the neck, the Dragons suddenly sounding a little concerned that their 'greatest work' was currently spasming and swaying unsteadily thanks to the blows of an unpowered human. The thing wasn't down yet, though, and as its internal motors thrummed busily to get the dragon back into the game, their leader seemed supremely calm, his eyes drowsy(somehow, behind the bulky mask) and fixed on the proceedings in the moonlit ring.

 

The rest were careful to follow his example, eyes front and a swiftly-conjured air of smug superiority. Except for one who glanced lazily up at something in the rafters...but that was hidden by their own mask, and besides, they didn't say anything, so what could have been up there anyway?

 

Meanwhile, down below...

 

Evading the knights brutal swing by a hair's-breadth, the now-silent Dragon Solvrytter had been aiming at rolled into a crouch...and lashed his staff out at the young man's head! As he did so, his comrade leaped to take advantage of what he thought would be an off-center adversary...only to hit the floor with a burst of sparks, his target retreating and preparing for a strike of his own!

[GooseInduced]

The lights were out, but with her goggles it didn’t matter. She could see movement where Nevermore crashed in through the roof, so Polarity decided that might be her best course of action. Teleport in, scope out the danger and hopefully provided some very unexpected back up. She took a few deep breaths and in a flash she was inside, clinging to the wall that was closest to her, but now inside the hideout.

The dragons seemed to busy with her recently arrived teammate and that was just fine with her. She looked around at the group of men, all too busy to notice her. There really didn’t seem to be anything to surprise them. No traps or things lurking. Her night vision goggles gave her a pretty clear view of everything and she was confident if there was something she would see it. Unsure of what her teammate’s status is, Polarity clings up the wall and into the rafters, quietly making her way closer to see the fight below and how she might get a drop on the cybernetic dragon.

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore kept expecting the gang to jump in when he showed he was besting their "greatest creation". He kept himself poised and alert, ready to, at a moment's notice, spring into a general melee with them. But it kept not happening. So he kept focusing his efforts on the robotic dragon thing he was punching.

 

'Boss Lady does keep telling me criminals are usually stupider than you think. Might as well take advantage of that while I can.' he thought to himself, without even a smirk on the outside to hint at his thought processes. 

 

With a flourish of his cape, he crouched for just a moment...before launching himself in a perfect leap right at the Cyberdragon. But instead of seeking to punch its head off (yet), his hands reached out and found the perfect purchase on the already-dented plates, his body beginning to tuck in and try to contract around the somewhat serpentine's robot's neck and body. If punching it wasn't enough, he'd wrangle it until he ripped its head off. That said, he decided fighting smart and using group tactics outweighed looking cool (just like his Boss Lady taught him). 

 

"If either of you can hear me I would really like some backup now if you can manage it. No big rush though. Just take your time."

 

His harsh voice rang out in the warehouse hideout, clearly audible to Polarity (though he hadn't spotted her hiding place yet) and likely fairly audible to Solvrytter. 

[Ari]

GM

 

At first the jerking, mechanical thing flailed desperately(and uselessly) to twist free of its enemy's grip, neck segments swiveling back and forth with determined stupidity, the great mouth opening and slamming shut as it let loose blind flares of lightning.

 

Suddenly, it went limp, its claws and lashing tail dropping to the floor loosely. The lights on its body faded.

 

Then it burst into light and action, took hold of the floor, nails cutting into the old cement, and did a front somersault that slid the plates Nevermore was holding clean out of his hands, the artificial beast landing gracefully(if heavily) before the young vigilante in cat-like motion. Tail flicking back and forth, it began to again pace around the corvian apprentice.

 

If it hadn't been wholly impossible, Nevermore could sworn the robotic dragon was starting to get mad.

[GooseInduced]

Polarity saw Nevermore grapple with a giant metallic beast. He grabbed hold of it by it’s metallic scale-like plating in what look like an attempt to break the thing’s neck. When he called out, she took it as her cue. She hadn’t planned on waiting much longer anyways.

 

She readied herself, taking a deep breath as she watched the dragon wrestle free, and somersaulted out of Nevermore’s grip. If a robot could have emotions… the thing looked ticked. Really ticked. Fire breathing ticked. What kind of team mate would she be if she let her ally get cooked?

 

Polarity let go of the wall at the same time she phased out and reappeared within the span of a blink behind the metal monstrosity. Her hands were crackling with electricity as she forcefully pressed them into the metal plates near what she assumed was the dragon’s equivalent of a spine. Arcing blue electricity crackled over every metal part of the beast, licking out between metal plates like a serpents tongue. There was a loud ‘TUNK’ from within it’s metal body and a loud whirring as if something had overloaded or broken. If it wasn’t mad, odds are that it was then.

 

“Sorry, was making sure they didn’t have anything else diabolical up their sleeves.†She peaked around the robot, smiling at him from beneath a metal arm.

[KnightDisciple]

"Looks like they put all their eggs in one basket."

 

Nevermore had taken several steps away from the cyber-beast as Polariy appeared from nowhere and surged electricity into the robo-dragon. 

 

"​Time to make an omelet."

 

Taking one more step back, Nevermore dashed forward and went into a slide for a couple of feet, gathering his legs up against his chest...

 

Before driving them up into the dragon's chest with all his might. The move would leave him a bit open for a few critical seconds, but it allowed him to push a lot of power into the blow. Combined with the reinforcing plates in his boots, that meant that the blow half-caved-in the metallic ribcage of the beast, even as Nevermore rolled out from under it, staying within arm's reach of the creature as it started to sway on its clawed feet. 

Edited June 4, 2014 by KnightDisciple

[Ari]

GM

 

The Dragon's blasé nonchalance turned to a chorus of shocked splutterings at Polarity's arrival, "Wraugh, who-?! Bu-sh...gah! Oh my! That was...impressive." being the most subdued, and that was from the large and impassive form of the leader himself, the man leaping backwards with the rest when Juno let loose with her electric fusillade. For a moment the white-clothed circle stood out even as everything in the room was painted in savage brightness, their masks not enough to hide their wide, shocked eyes as they watched their ultimate weapon get blasted with lightning.

 

The Cyberdragon also stood still when Polarity jolted into the fray, its serpentine segmented head swiveling around just in time to see her crackling hands land on its back, legs starting to bow and tense to escape...and then its circuits, wires and casings were flooded with a wave of electrons, and it stuttered, staggered up onto its hind legs while bending backwards to form a massive 'S', and then was still. Its mouth-cannon flickered out in a hiss of electrical smoke, its dead eyes losing what light they'd had.

 

Nevermore's leap and mighty kick met no resistance, armored boots crashing through the dragon's underbelly into its fritzing chips and wires! As he retreated, multi-colored cords spilling out from the hole punched through the robot's armor amid a rain of metal shards, the thing slowly uncurled and fell to its forelegs, staring dumbly ahead.

 

"We will need to deduct points for your ally," the leader said after a moment's horrified silence, his voice's rich timbre mostly steady "but this is a remarkable display. If you would be so good," he gestured with a gauntleted hand to Polarity in a motion grand and courteous "as to deliver the finishing blow, I will be happy to give my critique and end our little game. Excellently done, my friends."

Edited June 8, 2014 by Arichamus

[GooseInduced]

Polarity's voice rang out crisp and clear. "Excuse me?" Her brow furrowed and while keeping mindful of the robo-dragon, looked up at the leader. "You're keeping score?! This isn't a freaking game!" Her eyes shimmered with the faintest electrical glow as her chest heaved.

"No! I'm not going to destroy this thing just for your amusement. I'm not playing to your sadistic whim. If you want me to deliver a finishing blow, come down here and let me deliver it to you!" Her hands spark with electricity and Polarity has half a mind to flash up there and put a stun this jerk! To emphasize her point she takes a step back from the hunched monstrosity.

She doesn't know what Nevermore is going to do, but part of her felt bad for the robot. It seemed to have some sort of intelligence in there. She couldn't 'kill' it.

[Ari]

GM

 

Polarity's outburst stunned the Dragons into silence. From the questioning glances being shot from one to the other, many ending on the impassive bulk of their leader, this was not something they'd anticipated. The leader himself took a moment to reply.

 

"Forgive me, ma'mselle, but...what of it? It isn't a game to me either, in fact this test is deadly serious to me and the livelihood of my comrades. You can hardly blame me for wanting to keep things light. And this...thing," he gestured to the jerking, stuttering Cyberdragon "is nothing more than a work of craft. Once you destroy it, we shall rebuild it, and stronger than it was. Your pity, if that is what makes the anger burn in your eyes, is wholly misplaced."

 

Smoke drifted from the dragon-mask as it turned to Nevermore. "And you?"