ic Hate Filled Stars [IC]

[Geez3r]

August 30th, 2014 - 10:07am

Liberty Park - Freedom City

 

GM Post

 

It was the closest thing to a lazy Saturday one could get in Freedom City.  Summer was just starting to wind down, so everyone was soaking up the last of the summer sun while they still had the chance.  Whether it was just running errands, people going out for an early morning jog, or spending some quality time with the kids, it seemed like everyone was outside today.  In a perfect world, the day would unfold without incident, but fate it seemed had other plans for this day.  Shortly after 10 o'clock in the morning, a piece of space debris made contact with the upper atmosphere of the earth and began its plummet to the ground in earnest. 

 

The fiery rock streaked across the Freedom City skyline, before striking down in the heart of Liberty Park.  The shock wave rumbled through the streets and a huge plume of dust and dirt hung over the impact zone.  Car alarms, police sirens and the cries of the terrified populace filled the air as everyone tried to get a handle on what just happened. 

Edited August 31, 2014 by Geez3r

[Blue Rose]

"You're right, Pam," Valerie says to a Super-Vision rep as they walk about the park. "An episode here could have some really dynamic shots. Great terrain, for some good acrobatics, while still having enough space for the cameras to get some good angles. I mean, that alley fight from the last episode... the editing crew did a great job salvaging it, but we hardly got any footage to work with. We should work this into the patrol route. As soon as something goes down here, we'll have a-"

KABOOM!

"-show..." her voice trails off as she looks off into the distance while her companion starts spewing a great many colorful words.

As something strikes down with a crash, Valerie hits a button under her bracelet, calling the hovercam rig from a nearby van to start recording. "Pam, stay here. I'll check it out. We may have our episode."

She pulls out her staff, expanding it to full says as she breaks into a sprint for the crash site to investigate, ready for action.

Wayward is on the scene.

[Supercape]

Carmen Cantos was itching to get an interview with Valerie Cain. Its just that her management team didn't think Carmen Cantos was going to write nice things about Valerie Cain. Perhaps they were right. She did have a habit of scathing reviews of pretentious wannabes. But Valerie Cain didnt strike her as a wannabe. She had the licks. She had the attitude. She looked good with a guitar. 

 

She had just managed to get a half blurred shot of the superstar, interviewed by Super-Vision, before a security arm thrust the Camera out of her way. 

 

"Get yer goddamn hands offa me, suit!" she implored. 

 

She was halfway to getting a couple of security officers introducing their shoes to her ass and her face to the pavement outside, when a meteor strike. 

 

"Now that's news!" she grinned, before exiting. 

 

She may have been a rockster rather than a reporter, but she could also seize oppurtunity when it came. And she did have a camera with a long lens. 

 

She ran to her bike parked illegally outside. Not fast, mind. A limp slowed her down, but fast enough. 

 

She threw away the parking ticket, kicked on the throttle, and sped off!

[Geez3r]

IC Post

 

Cassandra Steel was a couple hours into her morning jog this Saturday morning.  She liked to go for longer runs when the time allowed, which usually meant reserving them for weekends.  Granted most of her workout involved weight lifting, but she didn't want to ignore cardio entirely.  She preferred running on the city streets than on a treadmill both so it could double as going on patrol, but also so she could familize herself with the ins and outs of the city streets, she had a rather excellent memory, but even she found it difficult to remember places she had never been to before. 

 

Cassandra was running through the park proper on this day.  There were a few other joggers dotted about, a few people, teenagers by their looks, chatting it up on one of the nearby rock formations, and a mother playing catch with her two young children.  Then, out of the corner of her eye Cassandra noticed the sudden brightness in the sky.  She turned to take a quick look, but a moment later had stopped dead in her tracks as she realized both what the object was and where it was headed.  She whirled about to face the other people who had also taken noticed of the falling star and bellowed "GET DOWN NOW!" as she broke into a dead run.  She snatched up the further small child playing catch with his mother, while the mother snatched the other child, after a wordless conversation between the two women explained the plan.  The mother, child and the chatting teenagers dove behind the rock formation, whild Cassandra and the joggers found the nearest tree and threw their backs against them, Cassandra taking the extra time to clap her hands around the ears of the stranger's child in her lap. 

 

Not a moment later the meteorite struck down and its deafening shockwave echoed throughout the park.  Cassandra felt the wave crash over them like a kick to the chest, and it left her ears ringing, but otherwise unharmed.  Staggering back to her feet, Cassandra returned the now crying child back to his mother, who did her best to console the shell shocked siblings.  "Everyone needs to clear the area now.  Nearest exit is through that path back that way, and hang a left." she said to everyone in earshot, most of whom didn't need to be told twice.  Cassandra herself went in the opposite direction, towards the impact sight.  As soon as she was alone, she ducked behind some foilage and emerged as Maxima a moment later, allowing her increased stride to carry her towards her objective that much faster.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Geez3r

[N/A]

Astrid Kierkegaard slurped a raw oyster from its shell, leaned back into her wheelchair, and washed the oyster down with a swig of ale.  She didn't much care for the other clientele of the Wading Way Brewery.  There were too many stuffed-shirted would-be corporate raiders and popped-collar "brodudes" from the nearby university.  And the food was a bit outside what she normally considered to be her personal price range.  But she had to admit, that fare the other day hadn't steered her wrong when he'd recommended the "Twilight Summer Ale."  Since she agreed to become the mortal host of a goddess, she was trying to scale back on the quantity of her alcohol consumption in favor of quality.  She was glad she'd caught this one before the end of the season, and that she'd snagged an outdoor table, away from the chest-thumping apes dressed as people inside.

 

She was in the middle of her next swig when a piece of the sky fell down into the park across the street.  She did a spit-take onto the sidewalk, wedged her glass between her thighs, and started heaving the wheels of her chair as fast as she could around the corner.  She pushed herself a block down 51st, then into an alley.  She pulled a large, ornate drinking horn out of her messenger bag, poured the remaining ale into it, and raised the horn to her lips.  Argh.  Forgot to close my t-

 

A bolt of lightning stabbed down from the sky into the alley, sending chunks of asphalt flying in all directions.  Astrid and her wheelchair were gone.  Thrude Thorsdottir, Princess of Asgard, now stood in her place.  She heaved her massive axe-hammer Hridgandr up toward the sky, and a divine wind pushed her into the air.

 

[Tiffany Korta]

It was suppose to be a special day. Her manager had arranged for Agnus to meet with a possibly massive artist who wanted to record at Zenith Studio, even Simone wouldn’t tell her who it was though that be because she hadn’t been trusted with the information.

 

A bag of nerve waiting around the studio she’d decided to pop down to downtown Freedom City for a quick coffee, and as was normally the case she had just picked up her order when the object struck the ground.

 

“Well that’s bloody typical!â€

 

With a quick text to her understanding manager, she hoped whoever it was would rebook, she flew as quickly as she could in her costume, cooling coffee still in had.

[TheAbsurdist]

Amir al-Misri's wake up call was less than dignified that morning.  The violent impact, the explosion.  "Gwaah!"  Came his cry, as he bolt upright, and then found himself against the ceiling.  The ability to fly still took some getting used to, from time to time.  He didn't have time to think about it, before he fell to the ground with a grunt.  "Sonuva-..."

 

However the car alarms, and the sirens sounding told him that this was not his surround sound system randomly kicking on.  And he got up, pulling off the heavy inhibitor unit he wore when not wearing the suit as he stepped onto the shielding platform..  It took him the better part of a couple months to finally sleep with the damned thing around his waist, so he had slept harder than intended, only to be woken up by the blast.  Then he pulled on the suit on, shivering a bit, before stepping out.

 

"Open."  He barked a bit, and the skylight opened in the roof, before he pushed upwards towards it, and out into the sky, angling towards the epicenter of the impact.  Because why not?

[Geez3r]

GM Post

 

 

When a place can be referred to as the “impact zone†there is rarely any positive things to say about it other than “it could have been worse†which mercifully held true here. The meteorite had crashed down in the vicinity of the park's athletic fields, which had less than half an hour ago been hosting little league games. Thankfully, most people had cleared out of the immediate area, but there were unfortunately still many more people around.

 

The force of the impact had turned most of the surrounding stands and bleachers into scattered bits of debris. Trees were uprooted, statues toppled over and it even looks like the retaining wall on one of the nearby ponds has come loose. Most of the people near the blast were at best shell shocked into a stupor. A few people were scrambling about trying to get their friends and family to safety. There were plenty of injuries to go around between the blast itself and the flying debris, and many people were buried under debris or otherwise in peril. Police and ambulance sirens could be heard rapidly approaching the area, but none seemed to be on sight as of yet. In the midst of all of this, a small meteorite no bigger than two feet in diameter sat in the middle of a 30ft diameter crater, glowing like a red hot coal, with heat radiating off of it like a bonfire.

[Supercape]

Carmen Cantos stopped her bike near the glowing meteorite, surfing the wave of crowds and emergency services. 

 

Click Click

 

She was no expert Photographer. But she was good enough to make some solid bucks on these pictures. Good enough for a pinch. 

 

Then, she started feeling the heat, a singe in the air, a curling of hair. That red warmth of fire. Something crawled in her spine, and she put the camera back. She had enough shots. This felt...

 

...dangerous?

 

She turned the bike around and sped off into an alleyway, unseen, behind trash and dumpsters and the smell of stale urine. 

 

Fire Me Up!

 

The demon in her belly bled fire and brimstone into vein and muscle. The car that came out was all smoke, steel, bony thorns. The rider was changed too...the rider was Pitch. 

 

She smoked her way to the Meteor, the Cantos Cane in her hand, her eyes orange and black, her mouth flickering with the demon a blaze deep down in her. Her clothes were studded, leathered, and burnt. 

 

And the heat of the meteor was nothing to one infused with a demon. 

 

Striding forth, oblivious to the crowds, she crouched down to touch the meteor...

[Blue Rose]

On the scene, Valerie springs into action. She doesn't care about the meteor; she's worried about the people. She starts with a man trapped between a fallen lamp post and a rock, using her staff like a pry bar to try and get him free. A heave and a ho and nothing happens.

So, she takes a breath. She'd have to dig deep. She feels every muscle in her body tense up, the heat of exertion in her legs fade away, a euphoric sense of power fill her body. An illusion, all of it, but it's enough, as she tries one more time and pries the post free, far enough to kick it out of the way and clear a path for the man before she releases the state, letting herself return to normal.

She was no stronger than normal just then, not really. She'd just forced herself well beyond her normal limits, something she tries to do as little as possible, and even that little bit has her feeling it, a stabbing pain in her muscles, her hands raw and throbbing. But these are minor quibbles.

She helps the man up, and he can walk just fine. Probably broke a couple ribs, but he can at least get clear and wait for the ambulances to show up.

Which frees Val up for the next victim.

[Geez3r]

IC Post

 

Maxima arrived on the scene a few moments later.  Catching sight of a few of the heroes who were already on scene, and those who would soon be Maxima breathed a sigh of relief.  Knowing that help was on the way, Maxima focused on the big picture of setting up a triage area to treat those injured in the blast, which first meant making sure that there was easy access to the area, so all of the emergency responders could do their jobs.  As such, Maxima made her way over to the main road leading to the athletic fields, and hefted up the overturned bleachers that had been blown across the roadway from the force of the blast. 

 

She then got on her radio, calling the police dispatcher.  "This is Maxima.  Meteorite strike occurred in Liberty Park moments ago, near the athletic fields in the north east quadrant.  Many injuries, no casualties to report yet.  East entrance is clear, will be setting up triage station by east entrance.  Multiple capes inbound.  Over." finished Maxima, hoping to get the rescue effort organized as quickly as possible. 

[TheAbsurdist]

Whereas Asad was putting his earpiece in, and putting in a call on the matter as well, calling the report line that AEGIS had.  Because... weird things happened.  A lot.  Given his abilities, he immediately headed towards the epicenter.  Though he stopped a bit, at the site of Valerie/Wayward pushing a lamppost off and he was reminded of other things...

 

"Sitrep: we have an impact in parkside.  Meteor.  Meteorite.  Or whatever.  If aliens, will call back, possibly screaming as they eat my brains."  And then he hung up, before swooping down to land to the woman helping.

 

"Two pairs of arms are better than one.  Or something appropriate to the situation and moderately pithy."  Insert the award winning Asad smile.  "Come on, we can work better together.  We should work towards the epicenter.  There will be more people hurt there."  Holding a hand out to her.

[Tiffany Korta]

“Hi there need a hand?† 

 

Young Britannia dropped down beside Wayward surrounded by her aura of bright light and quickly focused her attention on the injured man beside her. She laid her hand upon him and with a few second concentration surrounded the wound with a healing light.

 

“You should be fine, though it wouldn’t hurt to get an paramedic to check you out.†she turned to the other hero

 

“Shall we go see who else we can help?â€

[Blue Rose]

Well, there's some serious artillery. A couple heavier hitters than herself set down next to Wayward and start working their mojo.

"Asad. Young Britannia," she greets the heroes by name, recognizing both. She accepts the gentleman's hand, letting him help her up. "Good to have you both here. Let's go with that plan. Asad, if you can handle the heavy lifting, I can squirrel folks out. Young Britannia, if you can take care of the injured, I say we've got a plan. We can worry about what that thing is after civilians are clear. That work for everyone?"

Even as she asks, she's already heading towards the next cries for help; a collapsed gazebo, with a few picnickers trapped below.

[TheAbsurdist]

"Got it."  And he hooked hands under Wayward's arm, "Hey Brit.  At least this time it isn't a gala event getting attacked by crazies, eh?"  Grinning cheekily at her, and he rose into the air, Wayward in tow.  And the other heroine got to feel what it was like being under the influence of his powers, which would be most noticed when they stopped sharply, and there was no inertia as they went from moving to completely halted.

 

Releasing her, he moved to the ruinous material, thrusting his hands into chunks a gazebo and lifting.

[Geez3r]

GM Post

 

As the heroes arrived on scene, it seemed like everything would be sorted out in short order. That however would not be the case. As one of the heroes took a closer look at the meteorite itself it reacted. A pulse of golden energy exploded from the meteorite itself. The force of the blast did little more than ruffle some hair styles in the immediate area, but in the aftermath the ground and everything in a 50 yard radius with the exception of the people in the area was covered in bright blue markings that appeared to be some kind of mixture between leylines and circuitry. These same lines covered the meteorite itself, and all other lines could be traced back to their source on this strange rock from space.

 

Then as one, parts of the surrounding landscape began to rise up and take on monstrous shapes, seemingly following patterns as laid out by these blue diagrams. The uprooted great oak tree forged itself into what could pass for a hydra, it's many branches forming into snapping jaws with its leaves forming a mane around each head. The nearby copper statue of “the everyday superhero†sprang off of its pillar, before hoisting said pillar like a club. From the nearby water feature, the silt took shape rising into a large blob monster with pockets of water in its bulbous frame, looking much the part of pustules. The scattered remains of the the bleachers and seating areas floating in the air before settling in as the individual feathers of a great eagle that began to beat its giant wings as it took flight. In the center of all of this chaos, a great pillar of dirt and rock erupted around the meteorite itself, engulfing it in a tornado of earth before it solidified into a giant golem nearly 40ft in height, its torso extending all the way to the ground like the trunk of a tree. And like that the newly awakened monsters began to attack anything and everything that dared be in their presence.

 

[Blue Rose]

Wayward's eyes dart around as things start moving. Tree monster... blob monster... rock monster...

Statue!

As the statue comes to life right next to a fleeing young woman, the star rushes it, crying out as she crashes into the copper, shoulder checking it hard, trying to take control before it puts that pillar to use.

One problem.

The statue is a giant wall of metal that ways ten times as much as its assailant, and has the raw physical strength to swing a stone pillar like a baseball bat. In one of her less dignified moments, Valerie bounces right off, hardly making the everyday superhero flinch as she lands flat on her butt.

[Supercape]

The fire and smoke of Pitch dimmed a moment, as she absorbed the animation. 

 

"What infernal force is this?" she asked the universe. If it was, actually infernal. That was pretty much her first guess about anything. 

 

She crunched her fist together, feeling knuckles crack and smoke belch. The Statue....copper, but any metal always belonged to the Infernal Forge, the endless plane of fire, smoke, and steel, where machines ground on endlessly, the whole apparatus appearing only to serve one function - perpetuating the apparatus. 

 

She could feel the copper in her hand, and exerted her will on it, lifting the statue ..but...it was so heavy, so powerful. Doubt crept into her mind, and the grip was gone. 

[Geez3r]

GM Post

 

The heroes paused only for a moment as their surroundings rose up and attacked them before taking up the cause of defending the populace from this new threat.  The animation of the heroic statue in particular seemed to cause the heroes some level of disgust as it was the brunt of two of the heroes' attacks.  Wayward's shoulder tackle however did little more than slide off the polished skin of the copper statue.  Pitch fared similarly as she attempted to exert her control over metal on the statue, but the same power that gave it life gave it strength to resist. 

 

The heroes' initial assult rebuffed the animated golems began their counter attack.  The great eagle composed of the wooden shrapnel of the bleachers took to the air with great beats of its wodden wings.  It circle the area, building up speed and looking for a target.  As its wings sliced through the air, it's "feathers" shot out at Pitch like spears, but hit nothing but the ground due to Pitch's superior reaction time. 

[TheAbsurdist]

"Oh.... so this is going to be a thing now."  The blue 'core' at the center of his suit kicked up, before he burst forward at full speed, with the intent on tackling or hitting the big... statue?  Not liking that people we being ganged up on, he threw his power behind, as a very visible burst happened behind him as he was able to accelerate at break neck speeds without worrying about the negative side effect of inertia or momentum.

 

But he missed.  Making him swear as he then careened wide, growling in frustration.

[Tiffany Korta]

Of course things could never go easy in this city, still the emergency services were more than capable at deal with this kind of thing.

 

“Okay I’m going to go after Sam up there.â€

 

Her aura flared into light and she took to the air heading towards the eagle statue that had suddenly started flying around. She probably took off a little too quickly as her bursts of light managed to miss the creature completely.

[Geez3r]

IC Post

 

Elsewhere on the evolving battleground, the many headed tree-hydra's necks slithered and writhed, it's scaly bark skin creaking like great oaks in a thunderstorm.  It snapped at anyone who dared get to close to it, dancing like a cobra stalkings its prey.  "Hey!  Leave them alone!" cried Maxima as she ran towards the beast, hoping to draw its attention away from the civilians in the area.  She succeeded in a her endeavor a little too well.  The heads of the hydra lashed out at Maxima, half snapping, half pecking at any piece of her they could reach.  Unfortunately for her, her greater size meant more of the heads could bite her at once.  Cuts and scrapes mounted on her arms and legs while she managed to avoid serious injury, but only barely and could not even mount a counter attack against this continued assault. 

[Geez3r]

GM Post

 

While it was the heroes that were to the first to move in this little exchange, it was these animated golems that would apparently be the first to draw blood.  While it did not go on the offensive, the large golem composed of dirt and rock that had encased the meterorite that had started this whole, the golem was far from inactive.  The blue leylines of circuitry that had traced its frame when it was first animated flared again, and its body became more compressed and defined, now having a clearly distinguishable head and torso, along with its arms appearing to have joints rather than being a clump of soil. 
 

The animated statue of the everyday hero attempted to alleviate its problem of being double teamed in one fell swoop as it was able to circle around the off balance Wayward and swung at her head like it was a baseball attempting to send her flying right into Pitch. 

 

Lastly, the blob filled muck monster that had crawled out of the lake spewed forth a torrent of foul smelling gunk at Young Britania who had taken to the air, attempting to get her back to ground level. 

[Blue Rose]

Oh crap.

As the statue shakes her off, it takes Wayward a moment to recover.

It takes less than a moment for a friggin' tree to bash her in the head. She manages to roll with the blow, merely getting knocked to the ground and bounce back up in one go, but there are some definite pretty colors from the thump. Something falls past her field of vision, then lands on her lips. Hot. With a sharp, metallic taste.

Blood.

The star rips a length of cloth from her top, tying it around her head to keep the excessive blood pouring from her forehead from blocking her vision. Head wounds always bleed so overdramatically. Makes for a good shot, and her fans have never complained about her baring a little more belly.

"Not bad. Ready for round two?"

Human versus metal man. Never a good match-up, but this thing is slow. Clumsy. So long as she stays on her guard and doesn't let him get off another shot, she can win this. And if it's through attrition, well, they can just pick the choice shots in editing.

She takes the end of her staff in both hand, brandishing it like a sword, then starts weaving in and out, playing for distance between jabs at the hero's knees. They've gotta be supporting a lot of weight, so keep aiming there and he's gonna go down eventually.

[TheAbsurdist]

"Right... so... now.  Now.  I.  Am.  Mad!"  Those stupid chips burning as the requisite lines on his containment suit started to glow, as the core kicked off, and the blue Charenkov radiation was rippling like flame.  He wheeled, lined himself up.

 

"How about I show you a trick I learned."  Holding up his hand, fingers open and outstretched before a ripple happened in the air, a moment before a visible blast of force lanced out, ripping into the side of the Hydra.  The impact was thunderous, sending out a shockwave that kicked up various bits of turf and sod into the air that had been knocked away.