ic Braving the Lair (IC)

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore had never quite stopped moving after delivering his blow. He'd used the precious seconds it bought to get himself back on his feet and into a stance that allowed for equal offense and defense. He let Polarity speak what she wanted. Thing was, he felt a bit less sympathy for the automaton that had tried to rip his face off just moments ago. Then the arrogant leader spoke up, and Nevermore couldn't keep the snarl of menace out of his voice.

 

"Me? First, I'm going to break your toy."

 

He was a blur of motion, and suddenly his legs were helping hold down the creature's neck and forward body while his arms wrapped around it just below the head. Metal began to creak and groan.

 

"Then? Then I'm going to break you."

 

His milky-white eyes stared at the man, menace exuding from Nevermore's very being.

[GooseInduced]

Polarity didn't say anything else. She just shook her head, eyes darting from the man above, to her comrade below. She watches as Nevermore grapples with the metal beast. On some level she almost feels bad for it. How many times has it been reassembled. Does it remember being torn apart? Can it feel pain?

She knew it was an odd time for such feelings but Polarity isn't a brutal person. I just isn't her nature. "You guys are disgusting. I hope the dragon turns on you.... IF you get the chance to rebuild it." Electricity sparks from her hands and Polarity weighs her options. She could be up there in a moments notice but... was she really prepared to do what was necessary once she arrives. So she decided to wait. Nevermore seemed to have the dragon under control and she wouldn't be much use in dismantling the thing. Plus, as fun as it would be to shock the head dragon in the back of the head, something in her wouldn't feel right leaving her teammate behind.

Speaking of a teammate, where did Solvrytter go?

Edited July 23, 2014 by GooseInduced

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore had gotten his leverage. He had positioned his grip. He felt the Cyberdragon start to come to life, or at least more active life, beneath his hands and arms. His response was to tighten his grip, and place one of his knees at a spot a bit further down the robot's neck.

 

"I am sick. And. Tired. Of. This. Thing."

 

His words were emphasized by the increased groans from the structure of the dragon-shaped weapon as his (admittedly entirely human) muscles strained to basically tear the thing apart. Normally this wouldn't be possible, but with the leverage provided combined with the earlier blows he had dealt, he had a chance.

 

"Also, none of you punks are going to get a chance to rebuild this thing."

 

The implication being they might be busy rebuilding their faces. Or arms. Time would tell. 

[GooseInduced]

A look over her shoulder showed the robot at the mercy of Nevermore. How it was being slowly and carefully pried apart at the seams. She had to tell herself that it was just a robot. It couldn’t feel pain, or sadness…. There wasn’t much she could do with Nevermore straddling it. So she decided to go with the element of surprise.

 

And there was one particularly rude person she thought very appropriate.

 

In the blink of an eye Polarity reappeared next to the leader. Her arm was already reared back, hand sparkling with blue electricity. She wasted no time lashing out, determination glowing in her gaze. Though to her dismay it wasn’t enough. He must have seen her just a split second before she attacked, because the leader managed to turn and step back just enough for her fist to whiff into the open air. “Oh Crap.â€

[Thunder King]

Solvrytter finished cleaning up the opposition and stepped into the room. He took one look at the cyberdragon and stepped forward, Jarnskurer in hand. Then, with one mighty blow, he slammed his hammer onto the top of the dragon's head and shattered it. Then he turned towards the gang and rested his hammer on his shoulder.

 

"So, this mighty beast was your champion, do you think perhaps you should surrender?"

[Ari]

GM

Dragon Devine shrugged his weighty shoulders, a crackling staff sparking with electricity at either end appearing in his left hand as if by magic, similar implements emerging from the ill-lit circle of Dragons all around the Claremont students.

"You know, Monsieur Devine," one of the other Dragons offered with a touch of nervousness that belied her fearsome mask "we could always just cut our losses. They can't catch-" her voice faltered at a glare from the towering man, the techno-gangster quickly adopting the same crouched fighting stance as the rest.

Devine spoke "Our thanks for the demonstration, young friends. But we must refuse your offer. Too much rides on our work to give up that easily. Porro!"

At that shouted word, Devine sprang at Solvrytter, while the other seven split themselves between Nevermore and Polarity, the dragon a crushed heap of fractured metal and circuits lying forgotten and trampled on the floor, the room soon filled with a chaotic melee, electricity and fire blasting through the air amid shouts, cries and howls!

[KnightDisciple]

"You have chosen the way of pain, then."

 

Nevermore's voice comes out like ground glass, his body hunched and ready for a fight. The Dragons ran toward him with crackling weapons...but Nevermore suddenly wasn't there!

 

Instead he was racing along a grapnel line attached to a nearby wall right up until the moment he gut-checked the leader.

 

"Remove the head, Dragon dies. Promise this won't kill you, though."

 

That was an oddly specific promise as the pair tumbled to their feet and Nevermore started circling the bombastic, melodramatic leader.

 

"Can't promise it won't hurt."

 

And then the assault of blows began. No one blow would be the sort to knock a person out, oh no. Instead, they were stings. Light strikes that annoyed and ached and built up. At least until he started going for nerve cluster strikes, joint locks, and perhaps a couple of broken bones.

 

Sometimes a dragon is downed by a single might blow, and sometimes it takes half a hundred blows. Either way, the dragon is still down.

[GooseInduced]

"Now it's a party." One of the men tried to take a swing at her, baton crackling as it arcs through the air. She spared a thought, wishing that controlling electricity meant she was immune to it. When she ducked out of the way the thought was easily enough shrugged off. "Oh well." Her fist crackled with its own electricity as brought it forward. It wasn't the force of the blow that took the man down. It was the crackling electricity it sent through his body. "Not so fun is it?" She laughed.

[Thunder King]

Solvrytter did not quite feel right using his hammer Jarnskurer against human foes, so he took a split second to put it away and draw his spear, Forsynstang. He had received extensive spear training, but he was also trained in the quarterstaff. So, when he found himself using a lethal weapon against foes he shouldn't slay, he would instead twirl it and smack his enemies with the butt end of it.

 

He moved with quick, precise movements, if Nevermore observed him, he might deduce that Solvrytter's training was effective, but fairly basic. Then again, for a knight, he had no access to fancier techniques.

 

However, he was effective, finishing off a foe with a quick, decisive strike to the side of the head that sent him sprawling.

 

"When your foe slays a dragon, you should consider if you are over-matched."

[Ari]

GM

Too harried and and disoriented to even try for a counterattack, Devine slumped heavily to the floor, landing on the Cyberdragon's head with a *crunch* as it and the Dragon's body armor absorbed the powerful man's fall. His mask's strap broke during one assault, revealing a formidable beard and mustache over a hearty, tanned face contorted with pain.

With a jittering wail and a spasmodic plume of fire, the electrified gangster Polarity had intercepted was flung against a wall, where he smoked and trembled for the remainder of the fight.

Solvrytter's spear-haft caught the would-be voice of reason square in the mask as he whirled back from the thrust, bowling her head-over-heels to the floor where she lay in a dazed heap, head supported on the crumpled remains of the mask.

In a few minutes, the eight Dragons were lying in various states of consciousness on the floor, the more more awake ones moaning and groaning their protests at the three young heroes.

A map had fallen out of Devine's pocket as he weathered Nevermore's furious flurry of punches and kicks, showing the way right to the Dragon's main depot on the coast. With that and the contacts from all the Dragons' phones, they probably had enough to give the police an arrest and bring down the gang right then and there!

Not bad for one night's work.

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore stood, one foot casually placed on the solar plexus of Devine as the gang leader lay there insensate. Just in case. He was studying the map that had come from the man's pocket (he had been thoroughly searched and disarmed beyond that, as well). His free hand idly thumbed through contacts on the phone. 

 

"Told them. Way of pain. Still, this was successful. Was rewarding, working with both of you. Tight, efficient work, despite us busting into a pile of unknowns. It would have been too much for me. Boss Lady keeps harping on how backup is good. She's right."

 

His mouth is showing the hints of a smile, though it's clear he's working on keeping a professionally "grim" facade, what with being surrounded by half-conscious gangsters and with police rolling up any minute.

[GooseInduced]

Polarity was standing next to the fallen robot, frowning down on it. Part of her felt bad for it. Having been created and rebuilt how many times? Poor thing. She knew that it couldn't feel pain, so why did it's cries sound like it could?

 

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the silly thought. It wouldn't do her any good. She turned away from it, stepping toward her comrades as she crossed her arms in front of her.  "All in all... we kicked butt together didn't we?" She found herself smiling, looking between the two guys and then down at the gangsters that haplessly littered the ground. "Nevermore are you always so.... frowny? You're allowed to smile. I can see that you want to. Both of you." She looks at Solvrytter with a smile. "We kicked butt."

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore nodded at Polarity's semi-rhetorical question.

 

"Buts, guts, and faces. All kicked. We ran a weeknight special discount for them."

 

One last prod to the self-important gang leader, and he stepped off the man's torso and moved a bit closer to the other two young heroes. Only when the sight line from any thug, or the wrecked dragon-construct, was broken did he allow his mouth to turn up into a small smile for a moment. Then he fell back into that "content and confident neutral expression" he'd been strutting for a bit.

 

"Sorry. Professional hazard with my line of work."

 

From the context she can infer he means "being a night-time vigilante without superpowers who uses shadows and fear as weapons", not "being a superhero.

 

"Boss tries to keep me from being too...mopey. She stresses that serious is good, isolated is not. But I'm still working on how that looks...in the field."