ic Reflections: Do You Believe In Heroes?

[RobRX]

Earth ND - Freedom City, Some time ago...

Some random café...

 

"I tried to keep the visions away." The man says, while sitting in a coffee, his old hand tighly gripping his hot coffee cup. With a shaking hand, he raised it to his lips. A slurping noise soon followed, as he sloppily ingested the liquid. "I really tried." He said, in an old, broken voice, the voice of a weary old man who doesn't know what to do with life anymore.

 

"Come on, dad." His daughter said, worried about him and rightfully so. "Just...just go tell the doctor, he'll get you some new medecine or something." She reached out to touch his hand but he backed away, with a look of fear in his eyes. With his hand still shaking, he placed the coffee cup back on the table, making a loud noise.

 

"I'm not, crazy. I'm...not...crazy." He whispered. "It hapenned, I've seen it happen. I can see things, things I can't see with my old, sickly eyes. I can see worlds; I can see shining cities, I can see horrific abyss. I see them in my dream, clearly. Clearer than anything else." The old man said. He knew he sounded crazy, but also knew he wasn't crazy. Years ago he would have believed his own madness, but now the world has gone mad. The super men were real. Gods walked the earth. One old man with prophetic dream wasn't so strange, now was it? "It started, I don't know, probably more than a decade ago. I was at the hospital, you know, my cancer? All I wanted was to survive, so I could keep telling my grandchildren stories; that's all I wanted. And I got that, I got better but something changed in me, that day." He look at his daughter, who had an expression of unease on her face.

 

"There's only one word that can apply to what hapenned to me, it's what they call it on TV, on Radio." He said, as his daughter shook her head in denial. The old man leaned in and said, in a hushed voice;

 

"Breakout."

 

She shook her head, in denial, with tears in her eyes. "No, d-dad, you're just sick! Go to a doctor!" He slammed his fists on the table, causing her to step up in shock and surprise. Her father had never shown any signs of violence, having been a peaceful man all his life; surely, his behavior were the sign of dementia and old age. "I'm not sick! I'm not crazy! I've had a vision! Something...something terrible is going to happen and I have to stop it!"

 

"Even if you were right, what are you going to do about it? You...you don't have powers, right? I mean, not like them." the daughter said, trying to make an effort to listen to her old father, in the slim chance he was actually right.

 

"You're right." The old man replied, taking another sip of his coffee. "I can't fly, I can't summon fire from my hands; all I can do is see things. Other places. The past, the future. Strange places. That's why...that's why I have to go there, look for answers." Only he knew what he was talking about; strange realms beyond the senses of ordinary people. "What place, dad? What...where?"

 

"A world of fairy tales." The old man said, chuckling at his own insanity. Despite his diehard belief in how it was real, he still had those small moments of doubt.  "I know, I know...it sound crazy, we've talked about crazyness before. The thing is, I've seen them in my dreams; beautiful, imaginary cities you can visit. Somewhere, in there, I'll find an answer. A way to stop the disaster that is coming."

 

"If you can...um...see the future, then doesn't that make it impossible to change?" She then, mere moments later, realized she was actually buying into her father's senility. There was no way she could buy into this, yet here she was, believing him. Perhaps it was simply a matter of faith in him. He had always been sensible, why would he be crazy all of a sudden?

 

"I've seen it happen before; sometimes, when I try to act I can change the outcome. Sometimes good, sometimes bad." He explained, trying to reassure her that his quest wouldn't be in vain. The old man stood up and placed the chair back where it belonged, leaving the half-finished coffee where it was.

__

 

Later...

An appartment in the North End...

 

Sitting in his chair, the old man stared at the shot of whisky he was holding. He wasn't much of a heavy drinker, far from it. Just the occasional shot here and there, especially when seeing old friends but right now, he felt like he was going to need it as he prepared to do something he had never done before, tapping into his full powers as a paranormal. "I'm just an old man." he said to himself. "But who knows? I might find something to help me on the other side." The old man swallowed his shot of whisky. "Phew, well; time to feel like I'm a youngster again. Diving into the unknown, that should be something."

 

Briefly he turned to look at the open TV, showing the image of a young Paranormal, who was making a name for herself using her powers, perhaps for good or perhaps for fame. Briefly, she shook hand with people in the crowd, before fist-bumping someone in particular in said crowd. Another teenager-young woman. Without exchanging a word, it seemed the two knew each others, but the old man didn't pay more attention to it as he had began to use his powers to 'open a path'.

 

Around him, the appartment shifted, as if liquid. In fact, the walls appeared as if they were melting. Soon enough, they liquified. Rocks and plants began to grow on the walls and the floor and the ceilling morphed into a starry sky. "Amazing..." He said, with a sense of wonder he hadn't felt in decades.

 

Step by step, the old man walked toward his destination, deep inside the Imageria...

__

 

Earth-Prime - Freedom City, November 29 2014

North End

 

Interdimensional kerfuffles were really not Cho's area of expertise, not by a long shot. Not that she really had an area of expertise; mostly she just punched stuff and that was all she needed when it came to fighting crime and evil. As it hapenned, she and Stronghold hapenned to be in the area when...something...was apparently summoned or appeared in the North End. Some eerie, supernatural beast, of ill-defined shape.

 

"It's getting weak!" Cho shouted at Stronghold. "We can take it down together!"

Edited November 27, 2014 by RobRX

[horngeek]

Haukea had been having a quiet day, too.  Just hanging out with a friend, when suddenly, a...

 

What was that thing, anyway?  It didn't seem like any sort of creature that Haukea had ever seen.  Although it didn't really look like anything, really, or rather her brain was having trouble deciding what it looked like.  Almost gave her a headache.  

 

No matter.  It was rampaging, they were there, so they needed to take it down.  She considered how for a moment, before hitting on an idea.  "Rampart!  I'll try to bind it.  If that doesn't work- or if I look like I'm having trouble with keeping the bind up- you need to give it a few blows while I keep it down.  Okay?"

 

Focusing, the Orange Ring shone brightly, its magic responding to her mind as she formed orange bands of energy, trying to close them around the creature's limb and hold it firm...

[RobRX]

GM

 

Despite it's morphic shape, the creature found itself tightly wrapped in a bind, unable to escape. It howled, making noises that were barely comprehensible. Held under Stronghold's power, the creature could be more easily observed; it was a shadowy being, vaguely animalistic in shape bur just what animal, it was impossible to tell due to it's protean nature, a creature of shadow, with a starry sky for a body. Just glaring into it would make her head spin, as it always kept changing. Wings, or tendrils extended from it's back but that was the end what one could call a definite shape for such a being.

 

Around it, even the environment was warped. Dark, starry skies with unknown constellations could be seen on the surface of the nearby buildings, with trees sprouting at impossible angles from the environment. The details changed as soon as one looked ever so slightly away.

[RobRX]

In the confusion of the moment, Cho didn't waste any time. As the supernatural creature was restrained, she lept at it and punched it right in the jaw. Again. And again. It was hard to tell if it actually did anything to it, it's body merely twisting and reshaping under the blows.

 

"Sorry!" She shouted. "I think I misunderstood the plan!"

 

Finally, the creature collapsed to the ground, a formless, shapeless starry void with some stray tendrils. It was still alive (or at least they thought so), but it was apparently knocked out cold for now. With a sigh, Cho dropped to one knee, feeling taking a moment to relax after having been previously ragdolled around by the monster.

 

"I'm telling you, it's a crocodile!" Cho said, arguing over just what animal the creature was. Apparently she wouldn't rest until she figured out just what it was, like someone trying to find out which shape a cloud was closest to. A futile endeavor. "Or...a rhinoceros, I'm not sure. No wait, it's an hippo! I think. No wait it's - whoaaaa!"

 

In one last burst of strength, the creature broke free of it's binding and, in an instant, snapped it's shapeless jaw at Rampart, swallowing her whole. The phantasmal creature shook it's head left and right, before spitting her out. Cho landed a few meters away, hitting the pavement with a loud thus. Fortunately, the pavement was more damaged than she was.

 

 

 

 

[horngeek]

Stronghold winced as her friend was swallowed, and winced again as she hit the pavement.  Well, at least it seemed like she'd been able to hit the creature from the inside.  "Whatever it is, we have to stop it before it causes more damage.  Rampart, I think the best thing to do would be to get on top of it, then just keep hitting until it's down, okay?"

 

Thinking, she studied the creature.  "I'll see if I can't attract its attention..."

 

As the Orange Ring started glowing, she formed a spear of orange energy.  It wasn't ideal, it certainly wasn't the primary purpose of the Ring, but it did in a pinch- and it looked like they'd have to keep hitting this thing to get another bind to work properly.  "Okay, go!"

 

With a thought, the spear sped forwards, slamming against the front of the protean beast...

[RobRX]

Haukea's spear sank right into the creature's dark, spiraling void of a body. It didn't appear as it did any damage, but that was only because of the being's amorphous nature. It's reaction certainly indicated that yes, that had indeed done something to it. If Haukea was to look at her spear, she would see that inside the creature's body, it's shape was frayed and distorted as it slowly distorted and blended into the surreal colors inside the void.

 

Focusing energy and releasing it, Cho flew off (or rather rocketed) into the air. Using the momentum, she came down crashing on the amorphous creature, the two of them slamming into the pavement, caving it in and causing a non-negligeable amount of collateral damage in the process. Still, her combined effort with Haukea paid off as the supernatural being was now completely immoble, a shapeless mass at the bottom of a crater.

 

"I might have hit it a little too hard..." Cho said, as she rolled off the back of the creature, causing waves in it's flesh.

Edited December 2, 2014 by RobRX

[RobRX]

GM

 

With the creature knocked out for good thanks to their combined assault, Haukea and Cho found themselve with a different problem; what to do with an oversized mass of shapeless ideas in the rough frame of a living being. Of course, the solution was obvious; the creature had appeared via some hole in time and space, warping the environment. It no doubt had to be sent back from wherever it came from.

 

"Excuse me..." said a voice, sounding old and weary. "I'm looking for some someone." Out of the starry sky that was currently dripping (yes, dripping) off the side of a building, an old man walked out. Old, worn out, a balding head and with a scraggly beard. Wrinkled face, looking tired and thick glasses. The kind of look one would expect of some grandfather.

 

"Oh, this is not good." The old man said, looking at the creature. "You're not supposed to be here, aren't you?" He looked around, assessing his surroundings, with a pensive look on his face. "Strange, am I back home?"

Edited December 3, 2014 by RobRX