ic Extracurriculars

[KnightDisciple]

For a moment, Thoughtspeed considered ignoring the last Cultist. What harm could he be, after all? Especially when there was a magical nuclear mech right there!

 

But that was just the sort of thinking that would end with someone catching a bullet in the shoulder. Best to nip that in the bud now.

 

--That seems like the sort of question to ask the pilot when we pry him out of the mech like it was a tuna can.--

 

Thoughtspeed's cheerful voice rang out over the impromptu psychic network even as his form blurred once more. When he stopped for a brief second, it became clear he was no longer wielding a polearm, but instead a pair of short swords, similar to Roman gladius. The twin swords flashed in a blurred pattern, striking multiple locations on the Cultist's person almost simultaneously. 

 

And then the young speedster was right next to the mech again, sizing it up to try and find a weak spot. 

[Gizmo]

"Tis the thing about a quality cult," Set answered Tsunami's question aloud as he numbly hopped atop a nearby bench before stepping across it over to the top of a newspaper dispenser. "Established correctly they can easily continue for generation upon generation without any further upkeep. For all his many, many failings my elder self certainly knew how to stir up a zealot or two." As he spoke the godling began gesturing with his hands and in response dark, foreboding clouds began to gather overhead.

Taking note, Sekhmet gave Set a curt nod of understanding marred by a sour expression that clearly communicated how annoyed she was to be following her charge's lead. Sprinting forward she transformed midstep into her lioness form, a tawny blur of lithe muscle that vaulted across the mech suit's limbs, leaving deep claw marks as she pinballed back and forth. Her trajectory ended with criscrossed mark on one of the armor's shoulders. Set snapped his fingers and as Sekhmet leapt away crimson lightning surged downward from the storm clouds, precisely striking the weakened metal, leaving a charred tear.

[Raveled]

Gene's face fell when the hulking mech was unaffected by his blast to it's legs. "Guess it was too much to expect the same trick to work twice" he said. Still, the thing was being worn down... but even as he watched more of the damage closed and reversed itself. More and more it seemed like this thing wasn't going to be taken out by a straight assault.

Gene considered his options and a handful of glowing spheres formed in his fingers, as he walked them over his knuckles. He waited for his opening, and when he had a straight shot at the pilot's face -- "Open wide, you gorilla," he yelled, launching his handful of explosions. They arced and seemed to hang in the air, then exploded with a thunderclap that left everyone's ears ringing from several feet away. From several inches away the effect was sure to be magnified.

[Thevshi]

Giang frowned slightly at Set's response, but it was not exactly a surprising answer. "Wonderful, so we are dealing with remnants of your former self's work. Do you know what they want? Or is simply to kill you?" The Asian teen asked .

"In the meantime, we need to bring this mecha down."

With that Giang executed a side arial towards her right, landing in a low backstance and sending another powerful blast of water at the giant machine. Once again the blast hit true, but while it again damaged the mecha, the machine still seemed to be far from finished.

[KnightDisciple]

"Iamonit!"

 

Barely intelligible thanks to his speed, the kinetic psychic's intent was easy enough to discern. He blurred up next to the robo-suit, taking just a moment to give his twin swords a flourish he had blatantly copied from his grandmother (but that had its own unique touch thanks to how they glowed and left motes of fading kinetic energy behind). 

 

"Time to recycle!"

 

And then he was a blur of motion, his swords darting and stabbing and slicing, beginning to carve deeper and deeper grooves into the material of the machine. A couple of times, he actually ran on the surface of the thing, leaving more holes and gouges, and even scratching the glass protecting the pilot from harm. 

 

Finally the storm of blades stopped and Thoughtspeed was standing in a guarded position next to a much-more-battered mini-mecha, posed dramatically with his swords akimbo. 

 

The whole thing had taken just a few seconds, mind, so to the average observer it might have just been a blur. 

[Gizmo]

"Mmh, still hot. As though a track team entire were combined!" Set observed appreciatively as Thoughtspeed zipped around the garish green robotic suit, waiting a blink of time it took for the speedster to get out of the way before letting loose with another round of crimson lightning bolts from the ominous clouds above.

Sekhmet focused her energies on the same knee joint the divine electrical attacks struck, raking away with tooth and claw sharper than any mortal feline possessed. "Thy nonsense means nothing to me," she informed the godling flatly when her jaws were unoccupied, clearly annoyed by his attempts at conversation in the midst of battle.

Shrugging without concern, Set allowed his jogging path around the harried mech to take him beside Tsunami, still foregoing Thoughtspeed's telepathic network for reasons that remained his own. "As to slaying me, oh liquescent lovely, they have met me," he agreed easily enough, reflexively taking a step back as the radioactive power core surged again and repaired some of the damage being dealt to the cultists' superweapon. "However, the Lady Sekhmet and I only arrived after our serpentine friends broke into a local treasury and made off with yon vault." He pointed to the cube of reinforced metal that was partially visible where it had been clamped into what would have been the stomach of the mech.

[Raveled]

TNTeen took a deep breath, looking over the battlefield. He felt the edges of a plan in his head. He couldn't really hurt the big robot... Not by himself. But with everyone working together...

It would all have to be at once, all of them working one after the other. He started forming his explosives, focusing on making them tiny and numerous. "Wi-- Thoughtspeed! Cat-lady! I need some openings in the armor!" If he could force those openings large enough for Giang to get a thick stream of water in there, and if Set could do the lightning trick twice... "Tsunami, Set! Once the armor's open, hit him with everything you've got!" He felt a curious churning in his gut. He'd never tried to think up an idea in the middle of a fight like this. The chance that it went wrong weighed on him, but if it went right it would be so cool!

Edited July 13, 2014 by Raveled

[Thevshi]

Giang gave a slight grunt at Set's responses, noting the bank vault that the cultists were apparently after.  Hearing Gene call out about needing to try to work together to try to bring down the mecha.  The Asian teen had to agree with his assessment, though they were damaging the machine, it was also self repairing.  Eventually they might well bring it down, but how much damage might be cause in trying to do so?  Far better to try to combined their efforts and bring this to a close more quickly.

 

"A good plan TNTeen.  I am ready!"  She called out as she pulled her hands toward her side, preparing to launch another blast of water at the mecha.  Water began swirling around the Asian teen's hands as she did so, her gaze fixed on the massive mecha.

[KnightDisciple]

Under his helmet, Thoughtspeed grinned fiercely. Maybe they could take the stupid robot down.

 

"I like this plan!"

 

With that, he zoomed in front of the robot and began weaving a high-speed pattern of black and green. It was practically hypontic.

 

"HereIam hereIam hereIam hereIam hereIam! Lookatme lookatme lookatme! Watchthebirdy!"

 

And then suddenly more rents are opening in the robo-suit's armor, those twin blades carving yet more furrows in its armor as Thoughtspeed races all over its body at incredible speeds, before coming to a stop just a couple feet away from it.

 

"Guess I got your nose!"

[Gizmo]

"Well, you heard the fine firecracker, Sekhmet--" Set began but the goddess was already circling around the mech's feet before pouncing upward from the side opposite Thoughtspeed's initial attack. Though the young speedster could cover many times more ground than the divine lioness she was more than agile enough to stay out of his way while adding her own raking attacks, ripping apart either side of the long cuts left by sword strikes as though shucking an oyster.

With a grin, Set told Tsunami in a conspiratory tone, "Tis precisely why the just and true of heart triumph so often, you know. Teamwork!" Lifting both hands palms upward, he splayed his fingers and allowed crimson sparks of energy dance between the tips. "Old Amir would have tried to steal my sandals by now. After you, oh worthy waterlily!"

[Raveled]

TNTeen couldn't believe his plan seemed to be going well. it might actually succeed! Of course, for it to do that, he would have to do his own part. He threw out his spheres with a grunt, a cloud of pulsing red and black energy. They clung to the edges of the holes rent by Thoughtspeed and Sekhmet. Explosions rippled through the jagged tears, opening them into a gaping hole in the side of mech. Gene pumped his fist in excitement, then turned to Giang. "Okay, now pour your water through the hole and Set can electrify the insides!"

[Thevshi]

Giang waited as Gene, Will and Sekhmet all began their attacks on the giant mecha, causing damage along the exterior armor.  The Asian teen noted that Set was ready, lightning crackling across his fingertips.

 

"Then let us finish this."  She stated simply, taking a step forward as her hands thrust forward, palms outward.  The water that had begun building up around her hands shot forward, the volume increasing exponentially as it shot forward in twisting jets that glittered in sunlight before slamming into the mecha with tremendous force.  As the water slammed into the mecha, Giang directed the stream of water up into the gaps in the mecha's armor, causing the water to flow into the internal systems, ready to conduct Set's lightning...

[Gizmo]

"Finish things we shall!" Set agreed with a toothy smile that promised impending fireworks. "You may wish to cover your eyes momentarily!" Snapping his fingers with a full arm flair, he released the building power all at once. With a window rattling boom of thunder crimson lightning lanced down from directly above the vulnerable robotic armor and crashed into it with violent force. Tendrils of arcing electricity leapt from point to point, running across Tsunami's water and seeking out every crack and hole created in the suit's formidable armor.

The mech locked up as its joints froze, the entire armor shuddering as smoke began to rise from numerous points along its torso. Finally something internal succumbed to the focused attack and exploded out the back of the green painted titan, shredding what would have been a spine in a living being! With a terribly creak of strained metal, it swayed for a moment then fell to the street with a tremendous boom, knocking over a fire hydrant as it fell, shooting a geyser of water into the air.

Hands of his hips, Set's grin widened even further. "Tis lovely when a plan comes together!"

[Raveled]

TNTeen watched as the water rushed in and the thunder crashed and the huge mech fell, smoking. He couldn't believe it; he approached the robot slowly, a giddy feeling rising in him. It had actually worked, everyone had listened to him and it had all gone well and it had worked! He poked the mechanical suit, and when it didn't leap up and attack them again he let out a loud yell of victory.

Suddenly embarrassed, he turned to the rest of the group, twisting his hands behind his back. "So, uh. Stopped the bad guys! Is there... anything else we were planning to do?"

[KnightDisciple]

"We should probably make sure the pilot isn't dead, crippled, or getting pumped full of radiation. Seems like the heroic thing to do. After that, pose for the press!"

 

With a flourish, the twin blades he had been fighting with were gone, replaced with what looked like a rapier of green energy. Two eye-blinks later and he was standing in front of the glass/plastic of the cockpit, raising the sword up.

 

"Don't worry in there! Totally just stabbing the glass, not you! We'll get you out of there so you don't turn extra-crispy or anything!"

 

And with that, he stabbed down into the glass, trusting the focused power of his blade in this form to make it easier to cut an opening and extract the pilot.

[Thevshi]

Giang looked out at the geyser that was spraying into the air from the damaged hydrant and reached out with one open hand.  The water in the air froze as she took control of it.  She then slowly closed her hand as she turned the water back inward against the water pressure and back into the water pipes.  Once the water was contained once more, she turned a section over the pipe up to the hydrant into "solid" water, effectively capping the hydrant.

 

The Asian teen then turned to look back to her companions as Thoughtspeed moved to check on the condition of the pilot of the mecha.  "A well conceived plan TNTeen."  She commented.  "For now, in addition to checking on the pilot, we should secure the area until the authorities arrive, particularly the vault that was the intended target."

[Raveled]

"Right. Secure the area." TNTeen meandered across the battlefield more or less as his whims took him. After all, unless someone wanted trip-wire bombs, he couldn't do much to 'secure' anything. He kneeled next to one of the cobra-headed soldiers, poking at the armor, looking for a release catch. They looked like something out of Nineties SF; if the suits could be deweaponized, they'd make incredible cosplay...

"Set, did you say you knew these guys? Why are they robbing a bank?" Besides the obvious, of course.

[Gizmo]

Apart from some confused groaning the pilot in the mech suit was far too insensate to respond to anything Thoughspeed was saying to him. His telekinetic blade cut easily enough through the cockpit, though even with no sign of the robotic suits mystical self repair undoing his work it was still slow going making a hole large enough to extract the barely conscious cultist.
 
Set, meanwhile, sprinted over to the fallen torso of the massive mechanism where the clamps holding the vault in place had twisted and collapsed, leaving the door to the metal cube hanging open. Ducking inside briefly, he reappeared holding a golden staff almost as tall as he was sculpted in the image of a hooded cobra, two ominously luminous green gems set in its eye sockets, fangs bared dangerously. "The 'intended target', I expect!" Before anyone could stop him, the godling plucked the emeralds free with long, nimble fingers and squeezed them tightly in his palm, uttering a word none of the Claremont students recognized. There was a rumble of thunder overhead and a flash of green light from between Set's fingers that looked something like the muffled death of a tiny star. When he opened his hand, dull grey dust blew away in the wind. Tossing the staff unceremoniously back into the vault with a clatter, he added, "Somewhat less desirable with the batteries no longer included, ha!"

Hopping down from the ruined metal supports, he cracked his back before shooting a finger gun in TNTeen's direction. "Speaking of desirable! Well plotted, oh explosive emir! I dare say I owe each of you a favour."

[Raveled]

TNTeen had taken to tapping at the snake-headed armor, trying to discern where the hollow parts were -- well, the hollowish parts, since there was a person inside. He looked up when Set ducked into the safe, and reappeared holding a snaked-headed staff. It wasn't hard to draw the inference between the staff and the men in armor, but he wasn't expecting Set to pull a pair of gems off the staff and destroy them! He opened his mouth and stood up, and was left gaping and blushing when Set complimented him.

"Do... don't try and sweet talk me! You just destroyed those jewels. What's going on, you can't just break stuff that's not yours!"

[Thevshi]

Tsunami had been listening to Set's explanation about why these cultists were robbing this particular bank, but was unable to react in time when Set emerged from the vault with the cobra headed staff before removing the two gems and destroying them.  While she had an initial reaction similar to Gene's at the sight, the Asian teen remained a sense of calm, as she considered that there could well be much more going on that at first blush.

 

"I have no interest in tallying favors."  She replied simply.  "But that staff seems an unusual object to be sitting in just any bank vault.  I take it that your 'elder self' had some experience with the staff?  Was it particularly dangerous?  How did it end up here, and, perhaps more importantly, are there other similar objects that could be in danger in other parts of the city?"

[KnightDisciple]

Thoughtspeed grunted a bit as he heaved the pilot out of the mech suit and lowered him enough that when he did drop the guy on the ground, it shouldn't break anything. Shouldn't.

 

He made a show of dusting his hands off, before zipping over to the others.

 

"I'm guessing the staff at least sort of is his, Ge-er, TNTeen. What with the snake cultists and the snake mech and enchanted plutonium-"

 

He seemed a bit sore on that subject.

 

"-and snake staff. Besides, while generally I'm all for not doing things to make the po-po madder at you or whatever, if that thing's some sorta magical WMD I'm fine with him dusting the batteries. If they want it in a museum they can always make fakes."

 

He was standing over by the mech suit again, giving it a critical eye and a couple pokes with his toe.

 

"Hm. Reckon they'll give this thing to Archetech? Or someone else? Robots seem to be a big craze these days, after all. And bigger is sometimes better."

[Gizmo]

"Sweet talk tis my only talk!" Set defended himself with an ear to ear grin, bowing theatrically before addressing Tsunami's less distracted concerns. "Bog down not in the details, oh dazzling sapphire! Were Sekhmet to crush one of our misguided miscreants' firearms between her freakishly strong man hands--" He gestured over to the warrior goddess who gave him a glare powerful enough to take years off of the life of anyone who wasn't already an immortal. "Well, she shan't now, but were she to do so we would all sleep a mildly sounder sleep, aye?"

Sauntering over to the telepathic speedster, he threw an arm around Will's shoulders. "Thoughtspeed has the right of things! Sharp fellow, here. And interest or not, a favour be owed," he added a little more seriously, though the change in tone was undercut by an nonchalant shrug. "Tis a god thing. Terribly technical, no reason to bore you."

[Thevshi]

Set's attempts at flattery did little to distract Giang from the fact that he was being evasive and declining to answer her questions.  But the Aisan teen realized that pressing Set on the issues was rather unlikely to generate any answers in any event.  So, she let the matter drop.  Set's insistence that he did owe each of them a favor was not lost on her either, a likely indication that he would be turning back up in each of their lives again at some point.

 

Instead she turned to Will's questions as they waited for the authorities to arrive.  "That is a decision for the authorities to make."  She replied simply.  "But I do imagine that they will seek some form of assistance in examining this technology."

[Gizmo]

"Shall be a treat for them, I expect," Set chuckled as he regarded the fallen mech suit before making a show of dusting off his hands. "Well! Tis only sporting to allow you precocious paragons to claim the spotlight here and you seem to have everything well in hand. Come Sekhmet, we should be on our way!"

The goddess growled menacingly as she walked over to the shorter Heliopolian, her desire to be done with the entire affair apparently outweighing her distaste for following Set's suggestions. "We shall have words about thy disappearance from the midst of battle, betrayer," she promised in a hiss that seethed with tested patience.

"And won't that be a delight!" her charge replied cheerfully, sauntering toward the alleyway where her and the high school students had emerged. Turning back to the trio he cupped a hand to the side of his mouth and called, "Remember to think on those favours! Raining out an intramurals match, tutoring for Ancient History exams, date to the Sadie Hawkins dance...?" With a wink and a flourish he stepped into the shadows and disappeared.