ic Matter Over Mind (IC)

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly visibly deflated. Grimalkin might have been a bit blunt in her analysis, but she was correct; theory and simulation were no substitute for actual field experience. "Well, ummm... yeah, you're right. Sorry..." slumping his shoulders, he scrambled his brain trying to come up with any ideas, while Kyle was suiting up. At Danica's introduction, he replied "Same here, Triakosia. The name's Net Fly. I'll be sure to be lending you a hand or two in air support, and I'm moderately good with a screwdriver and wires, though I guess computer programming is where I excel."

 

When Silver Magus spoke, Net Fly nodded. "Indeed, time is the key component here. How much do you figure we have, in order to mount a defence? Judging from the cloud's speed, I doubt we have more than a few minutes in our hands." 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Then I guess we'll have to Fast-Forward," said Richard without hesitation in response to Net Fly's comment, stepping away from his wife and the other meditating psychics. Looking down from the platform, they could see all of the great shape of the dish, as well as the big rotational arm that hung high above all the ones still on the ground. "First rule of stopping a space invasion, kids. The bad guy wants to land on Earth? Don't let him!" And with that he was off, time stretching like a rubber band around him as he dashed across the very face of the great radio telescope, and out of sight through the forest at mind-breaking speed.

 

As the heroes watched, something like a slow-motion tornado began to form beneath the descending alien vessel, the rising column gradually holding it in place...for now! 

[Heritage]

Grim nodded as the other heroes present began to offer up ideas, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Alright, I'm just gonna start." She indicated the circle of psychics with a jerk of her head. "These guys are way too exposed right now, so let's fix that."

 

The changeling waved her hand, and a low dome appeared over them, about ten feet high; it seemed to be made of some kind of stone, completely smooth other than several holes along the bottom edge and in a ring near the top.

 

"Okay, that won't keep out everything, but it will stop small arms fire, low-powered energy weapons and some blast damage." She clapped her hands together and rubbed them vigorously as she grinned and looked about. "So, who's next?"

Edited April 21, 2017 by Heritage

[EternalPhoenix]

Queenie literally had no idea what to do. No enemies to blast, nobody in imminent danger. She wasn’t about to presume she could just take charge and give everyone their marching orders. Well, she did have a few ideas, but you know…she wasn’t Fast Forward, Grimalkin, or Triakosia. She was just a chef, and this was as far from the kitchen as it got. Who was she to say anything? “Well, I can help with air support, too. Or I could put something over what Grimalkin did. I…don’t know how to do both, though.â€

[Tiffany Korta]

Triakosia wasn’t sure how, like many things in her past, but she had some military training in her past. It rarely applied in general superheroing but right now it seemed a good time to attempt to apply some basic tactics.

 

“I suggest we set up some form of layer defense with those of us that can fly trying to stop to many of them getting to the ground. then the rest can mop up an stragglers.â€

 

Maybe when this was over she could ask one of these psychic’s to probe a little deep and maybe find out more about her past.

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly looked astounded, as Fast Forward went to work on delaying the space vessel. "Well... yeah, that will certainly do the job." He commented, while he stretched his brain to come up with a good plan. "That's probably a good idea, miss Grimalkin. Certainly in this situation, every little bit of extra protection helps..." he nodded at the experienced shapeshifter. Net fly continued listening to what the other heroes proposed. "I agree with miss Triakosia. The problem is... we don't know how many enemies we'll be up against... We could very easilly wind up getting overrun, if we're not careful... If only we had more manpower..."

 

Net Fly pondered this conondrum, while he fervently scoured their surroundings for something that they could use. The observatory was filled with various high-tech equipment, high quality lenses, super-advanced computers, and enough energy resources to power an entire city or so. "... Or... we could make some manpower ourselves! Hmmm... There's... a lot of stuff in here. I think..." Net Fly begun explaining his plan to the others just as it was forming in his mind. "... yes, I think I'll be able to build a couple of laser cannons. There's certainly enough energy to operate quite a few of those at once, and with the proper tools, I could take some of those lenses and properly align them... that would help in making on-the-fly adjustments in the energy output and..." Net Fly continued rambling on, as he took out a couple of pens from his pouch, and started making notes on a small notebook that he kept stashed under his chestphone. He was too busy to notice that both his mind and body had been working in steadily increasing speeds "...wewouldneedawaytooperatetheturretsatonceperhapsicouldconnectthemalltotheobservatoryscomputersbutidoubticoulddesignanaithatcouldtakecareofsuchcomplexontheflycalculationhmmmwaitwhynothavethetargettingmadebyhandwhileusingthe computerstoassistbymakingadjustmentsand..." He was going faster and faster as his notes became more and more complex. In fact, Net Fly hadn't even noticed that, as he wrote, his body was releasing slight sonic vibrations, surrounding him in what looked like an aura. "...andbyaddingthethreerotationarypipesitwouldcreateanautofiringmechanismthatcouldincreasedamageoutputby120%... howeverIshouldslimdownthedesignidoubtillbeabletocompleteenoughofthemintimeiftheyretoocomplex..."

[Heritage]

Grim's eyes went a little wide as Net Fly began to do his thing; tearing her gaze away from him, she nodded in Triakosia's direction. "Yeah, so I'm pretty much useless at a fight in the air these days, so why don't I stay down here and do perimeter defense?"

 

She flicked out her razar-sharp claws and flexed her fingers.

 

"If they get past the Flying Circus, I'll be waiting down here, like the Cheshire Cat..." She faded away until only a wicked grin remained, and then that too was gone.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Heritage

[RobRX]

Net Fly pondered this conondrum, while he fervently scoured their surroundings for something that they could use. The observatory was filled with various high-tech equipment, high quality lenses, super-advanced computers, and enough energy resources to power an entire city or so. "... Or... we could make some manpower ourselves! Hmmm... There's... a lot of stuff in here. I think..." Net Fly begun explaining his plan to the others just as it was forming in his mind. "... yes, I think I'll be able to build a couple of laser cannons. There's certainly enough energy to operate quite a few of those at once, and with the proper tools, I could take some of those lenses and properly align them... that would help in making on-the-fly adjustments in the energy output and..." Net Fly continued rambling on, as he took out a couple of pens from his pouch, and started making notes on a small notebook that he kept stashed under his chestphone. He was too busy to notice that both his mind and body had been working in steadily increasing speeds

Sliver Magus raised his armored hand; "Now, perhaps I can assist you with this, althought I am somewhat limited in my tools, so I would be dependant on you. Now if you...could..." The armored mage stopped talking as Netfly's speed kept increasing until he couldn't even properly keep up with what was going on.

 

"Could you slow down?"

[Vahnyu]

"...butthestabilityofthetargetingadjusterwouldbecompromisedifthepipesaretooheavyhmmishouldpropablyusesmallonesand... Wha-" Snapping him out of his reverie, the words of Silver Magus made him slow down and brought him back to reality. "Ah, sorry, my mind literally went off on its own there, didn't it? Ahhh, so, anyway, what did you want?" After hearing Silver Magus' request, the young hero brightened up considerably. "O-Of course! I'd be greatful, in fact, if you helped me. I know Fast-Forward is doing his best keeping the ship at bay, but I doubt I could finish up with the preperations all on my own in time." With the help of the Armored Sorcerer, Net Fly was able to further speeden up the process. In fact, the older superhero was significantly more knowledgeable in the science department, and he was able to spot and correct a lot of mistakes that Net Fly overlooked, both in due to his relative inexperience in applied mechanics, and due to his haste in completing the project as swiftly as possible.

 

With the two of them working together at a fervent pace, they had completed the perimeter defenses in roughly 24 minutes, and they finished up the portable controller for the turrets in 5 minutes. "I think we're done! I can't believe we actually did it!" Net Fly congratulated himself and Silver Magus for completing the project with moments to spare. Looking at Fast-Forward, Serge clenched his hand. "Alright, see if the others are ready. I will try callibrating and preparing the turrets. We should be ready for the enemy to attack us at any minute now." Sure enough, Serge activated ten of the Turrets. He ordered 5 of them on standby, with an automated response, while he focused his efforts on callibrating the sights for the other 5.

[Avenger Assembled]

I like that kid, thought Fast-Forward, who had followed Net-Fly at least in speed as the boy had started talking. I wish I could understand what he was talking about - oh well, not the first egghead who I thought was talking bananas. Sometimes he worried about his own boy, who like Richard combined a super-fast mind with a brain that worked only about as well as any normal human beings. On the other hand, he mused, I don't think I'd have much to say to a kid that smart most of the time. Of course, that only brought up his worries about Holly, his little girl faced with a telepathic violation by the cybernetic creatures in the sky. And with that thought, Fast-Forward decided it was time to stop being polite, and start being real. 

 

Fast-Forward zipped around the spaceship in a growing circle, light tracing beneath his feet as he ran out a pattern underneath the vessel that glowed with supernatural energy - and that made a spot in the sky overhead glow to match it! Running back to join the others, he was finishing "andletthemburninthefiresofthedogstarandbeastroboletosforever!" as he ran back up onto the observation platform.

[Tiffany Korta]

Right now Triakosia figured that the best option was to try and buy the unconscious heroes as much time as they could. They aliens didn’t seem to keen on attacking yet, maybe waiting on whatever the psychic heroes were engaged in, which gave them a little while to make things difficult for them.

“Okay good luck everyone, I’m going to try and add us a little more time.â€

 

With that she shot up into the sky towards the the alien craft using the momentum she gained in the short flight to push against the spacecraft attempting to move it up further away from the various figures gathered below.

[Avenger Assembled]

All in all, for a plan by a scratch team, what happened next worked like a charm. Triakosia's strength tossed the Communion spaceship high in the air, far enough to let it be perfectly speared by a shaft of empowered sunlight that came flaring out of the sky at Fast-Forward's arcane command. With the threat the Earth was under, the roar was damn satisfying, Richard decided, as was the pretty light show as burning chunks of spacecraft came hurling down to plummet against the empty road that led up to the observatory. "Nice!" he called. "Nothing burns brighter than scumbag alien invader!" Having fought in the Invasion of '93, he wasn't one to show mercy to merciless killers from beyond the stars. 

 

"I-aw, crap!" 

 

Sure enough, he'd spoken too soon - a shimmer of light directly across from the observation platform showed where a collection of vaguely humanoid figures were materializing in thin air! Net Fly's pew-pewing turrets knocked several down, but a bare half-dozen simple humanoid robots, their armored skin pale and eyes gaping impossibly wide, remained clustered around a humanoid figure that seemed to be made entirely of long, dagger-like metal tentacles and staring mechanical eyes. It seemed to focus on Net Fly, perhaps because the teenager's blasts were the first to actually strike its skin. Tentacles lashed out and a mechanical voice chittered as as a bladed grip seized Serge's ankle. Grabbing on, it hurled the teen with great speed directly at the speeding Fast-Forward, missing him by inches as Net Fly smashed against the steel pillar in the middle of the observation platform that held up the radio antenna. 

[Heritage]

Though no one could see her, the invisible Grimalkin yelled a soundless 'no' as the bright young teen was cruelly thrown by the apparent leader of this band of monstrosities.

 

These things are bad news! We have to take them down fast!

 

The changeling sidled up to the nearest of the creatures, which looked to be some kind of foot soldier; once she was good and close, she suddenly appeared out of thin air, slashing at it with her razor-sharp claws! But while the blows appeared to strike true, they had no visible effect; this left Grim exposed, vulnerable and looking somewhat embarrased.

 

"Wow; you guys are tough!"

Edited April 21, 2017 by Heritage

[EternalPhoenix]

Before Queenie even knew what was happening, Net Fly had been flung into a pillar and Grim’s attack had failed. She wasn’t nearly fast enough. She didn’t get angry. Sometimes you were a step slow to start with. That was okay. Prep time was key in the kitchen, and rushing it could ruin a dish before fire even got involved. What mattered was your timing. And hers seemed absolutely perfect. She stepped in front of the rest of the group. “Hey there, bright eyes. Welcome to Earth. You’ve got here just in time for supper. Allow me to serve the first course.†Her words were sweetness and light. However, the foot thick beam that lance out from her outstretched hand and smashed one of the robots to splinters was anything but. Her voice hardened, not quite defiant but decidedly determined. Her initial awkwardness had vanished, as if it never was. Her force field caught the light just so. “I don’t know who y’all think you are, but if you want this planet you go through me.â€

[Vahnyu]

The remote control worked like a charm, and the automated targeting protocols did their job in assisting Net Fly at controlling the turrets, linning up their sights, and engaging multiple hostiles at once. However, the fact remained that he was devoting his entire attention to the controller, and the sharp pain from his leg came as a surprise to him. "HuyeeaaaAAAARRRRGGHH!!" He screamed out in pain, before he even knew what happened. The tentacle had not only gripped his foot, it had dug into his flesh as well, as if it were a saw. Getting thrown violently ripped Serge's skin around his ankle, and some blood flew as he was being plummeted towards Fast-Forward, who, while managed to avoid collision with Net Fly by the skin of their collective teeth, was not able to stop the speeding hero from crashing on the pillar. 

 

*WDON-NK-N-N-n-n-n!*

 

"GAAHGH!" He yelled once more, leaving a visible bent on the steel pillar's surface, which vibrated from the shock, and then he fell to the ground. He was out for a few seconds, but Queenie and Grimalkin's efforts shook him back to consiousness, and he struggled to get up once more. The controller was still firmly in Net Fly's hands, who seemed to be more concerned about the device's well being than his own, and as he staggered to regain his footing, he inputed an order for half the active turrets to make recallibration adjustments, while the other half opened fire at their locked targets. Three of the robots were pelted with high-compact rapid-fire electric energy, but only two were destroyed. Nevertheless, he was able to focus once more, as he made sure to let the other heroes know. "It's okay, everyone. I'm fine. A bit dizzy, but I'll manage. Don't let up on my account."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Don't worry, kid. We'll make scrap metal out of these tentacled two-bit tungsten tyrants!" declared Fast-Forward, raising his fists for battle as Net-Fly was tossed around like a kid with a toy. The world went on pause, time slowing to a crawl as he manipulated the temporal energy all around him by sheer instinct, before turning and running into battle. He zipped among the robotic minions of the tentacled mastermind, hammering at them with blows that hit every square inch of their metallic bodies, simultaneously aging the super-tough nanite-built steel while striking it with fists that were subjectively traveling at thousands of miles an hour with every punch. By the time he was done, running back among the others, all the minions the creature had brought with it were soundly defeated. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Dancia took just a moment to enjoy the satisfaction at a job well done before turning her attention to the fight going on below. Apparently the other were doing just fine without her, though one very major target remained standing.

 

Turning in the air she dove down towards the Conqueror gaining as much speed as she could, it wasn’t the most graceful of methods but hopefully it would be effective. At least she hope so as she slammed into the thing at approaching her top speed.

[Avenger Assembled]

It didn't work. The creature took her hit solidly but seemed to scatter at her blow. Underneath those billowing red robes she realized the creature had no central mass, just those blinking red eyes and those whipping chains. The latter suddenly lashed out and ensnared her around the arms, jagged points embedded in the gleaming steel digging right through her super-tough flesh. She was able to tear free before the creature could pull her deeper into its roiling mass, but the effort left long, shallow slashes along her arms that dripped an unfamiliar sight onto the tree-covered slope near the telescope: Triakosia's blood! 

[Avenger Assembled]

The blood on the creature's tentacles seemed to vanish in an instant, not evaporating but draining into the whipping spiked chains that made up the creature's mass. Suddenly, the tentacled horror began floating in the air - and a low chuckle arose from somewhere near the center of its body mass, a chuckle that sounded exactly like Triakosia's own voice. Before anyone could react to that ominous sound, the creature stopped floating and began flying - rocketing up into the air and out of sight so fast it left with a BOOM of displaced air that knocked all the heroes around. 

 

Shading his eyes against the glare, Fast-Forward looked up after the retreating creature, already a vanishing speck high in the clear blue skies of Puerto Rico. "Well, that...can't be good. That thing's almost as fast as I am...aaaand it's gone." He looked at the others and at the field of debris all around them, then cocked his head back towards the psychics. "OK, kids, in case that thing's about to come back at us that fast, I suggest we get a couple more shields up around our subjects before this telescope turns into meteor crater. Who's with me?" 

[Heritage]

Grim shook her head as she followed the creature's progress with her eyes. "Okay, did anyone else get a super-creepy vibe off of that laughter, especially after it just made off with a blood sample? Gyuh, that can't be good!" She shivered dramatically.

 

The changeling stepped over to her dome and gently wrapped her knuckles on its stony surface. "Yeah, a few more defenses can't hurt; maybe alternate different kinds in case they have the means to bypass some of them? Magic, energy, tech and so on?"

Edited April 21, 2017 by Heritage

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly let go of the remote controller on his right hand, and clutched his head with it. He was still feeling a bit dizzy, the shock of being tossed around like a ragdoll still verberating around his body. Still he was at least glad that he got some time to properly get his bearrings. "Yeah, that was a creepy laughter, alright... Well, more importantly... is everyone alright?" He asked, concerned.

 

Fast-Forward was requesting that they put up more protective barriers and measures for the meditating heroes. One of them was his wife, no? Makes sense that he'd be extra worried. he thought. "Hmmm... more defenses... I dunno, Grimalkin, I suppose we could add a force-field or two? I haven't really worked with those though... hmm... wait, maybe I could modify my suit to project a sound barrier at a radius? But that would take me out of the fight, or at least, I'd have to rely exclusively on the turrets. If they're still working after firing so many rounds, that is. They weren't exactly stress-tested..."

[Tiffany Korta]

Dancia floated down to the rest of the team feeling better than she would expect in the circumstances.

"You're the lucky one's it was my voice it was using."despite herself she gave a little shudder "I just wish I knew what it was up to, it can't be good in the slightest."

Whilst she knew her structure was unusual no one could tell her why it was so powerful. She hoped she wouldn't find out at the hands of an enemy, especially one so powerful.

[EternalPhoenix]

Maybelle McQueen didn’t know a lot about about, well, anything that was going on here. But, bad guy runs off with some of a hero’s blood? Come on now. She’d seen just enough fiction to know where this was going. “Don’t know what that thing’s gonna do, but if TV and movies taught me anything, it’s that when the bad guy takes somebody’s blood he’s either gonna do some voodoo stuff or make a clone.†She floated into the air, and of all things, a translucent silver Crock-Pot sprang up around the meditating psychics. “Like I said, I can do the barrier thing myself. Just means I can’t fight with you all.†The lid to the pot appeared and shut softly. Queenie landed on it and sat on the handle. “Always feels like cheating if I’m inside, you know?â€

[Avenger Assembled]

Fast-Forward zipped around the increasing layers of protection at super-speed, monitoring its construction like a hen watching a new nestbox under construction. When it was all done, he looked up to the sky again, looking nervously for whatever stellar threat was still lying in wait over their heads. "Okay, no sign of them. Damn, I hope we're not here long, Hologram didn't have time to eat anything for breakfast this morning." He zipped up to the very top of the "layer cake" the heroes had built around the psychics, which in this case meant parking himself on top of Queenie's Crock-Pot. "They've got my little girl," he finally said, donning sunglasses to watch the sky without blinding himself. "Some kind of psychic radiation, I don't know how it works, and they're in her head. The Freedom City doctors got her sedated with psychic blockers now. It was bad." He bit his lip. "You kids, you been in an invasion before?"

[Heritage]

Grim nodded as she looked up in the sky. "One or two in my time. Guerilla warfare on Mars, too, but that was in another dimension; reeeeaaaaally hope it doesn't come down to that this time." The changeling gave the speedster a sympathetic look. "Sorry to hear about your kid; no parent should have to live through that."

 

She thought back to another life on another world, worrying about her own children millions of miles away back on Earth while she endured the horrors of that foul POW camp far below the surface of the Red Planet. War was a trial for everyone, but doubly so for a parent; the stakes were just that much higher, the cost of failure that much dearer.

 

Filled with a renewed purpose, the elfin girl (or so she appeared) grinned an unpleasant grin as she returned her gaze to the sky. "So let's all make promise to make this real unpleasant for these bastards when we see them again!"

Edited April 21, 2017 by Heritage