ic [ToV] Thicker Than Water

[April]

It was fortunate that the crowd was thinning since Phaedra wasn't certain she could keep up appearances any further, not when she can sense the thread of infernal energy twisting its way further into the park.  Her first thought was an assassin, someone sent by her father or one of her mother's rivals, even her mother herself depending on how much further she may have Fallen.

 

With a surge of infernal power of her own, red-tipped black feathers erupted from the half-breeds back in a bloody spray, the half-breed leaped into the air on ebony wings.  Hunting now, Ardent rapidly followed after that malevolent twist of magic.

[Avenger Assembled]

Nina leaped along after the other hydrokinetics, then reluctantly took to the air to join them, flying alongside Tsunami and Temperance with her scimitar drawn, carefully positioned in her left hand and away from where the other women could run into it in the air. Monsoon's head was already beginning to hurt - but luckily it wasn't far to the pier. "A fair concern, water-witch," she said seriously to Temperance. The words were just a guess - but generally people without magic didn't talk that way. "My hydrokinetic abilities are diamagnetic. They work on blood - and all other liquids containing water." It was an innocous enough comment - save that Tsunami had heard of other hydrokinetics whose abilities had the same origin. "We must be mindful if we face one who controls blood. I have...seen this done. It is a terrible thing." 

[Tiffany Korta]

The idea that someone could control another's blood filled Cathy with horror, she’d never even considered someone could do something like that. But this was the world she was now part off, and she’d do what she could to stop this happening to others.

 

“As far as I understand it I draw moisture from the air for my ice, so I should be fine of that count. Unless they can make it rain blood, but that would probably ruin everyone's day.”

 

She considered the options for a few moments before adding.

“If they can do anything like that it’s probably best if we all stick together, they shouldn’t be able to effect all of us at the same time.” she realised something adding “We should find Ardent, a hero friend of mine, she has a nose for finding trouble!”

[Gizmo]

Even as Cathy suggest finding Phae it was hard for the collection of water warping women to miss the winged silhouette launching herself into the sky and heading off in the direction the frightened boy had pointed. As they all headed that way the crowds of park goers thinned but those they encountered were in increasingly bad shape, supporting each other as they stumbled weakly to safety or retching violently into the puddles of blood around their feet. Nina's warnings seemed to be prescient: whomever had wreaked this horror was getting more creative with their abilities as they traveled down the pier.

 

They caught up with Ardent near one of the park's attractions, an old building preserved as a historical site. Whatever no doubt interesting information was printed on the plaques along the walkway was somewhat overshadowed, however, by the pillars of gushing blood spinning around a lone figure. Pale as alabaster it was difficult to say whether or not she was beautiful. The symmetry of her face was so perfect, the lines so refined that they went past human and became almost difficult to look upon - at least for those who were human themselves. Her hair was raven black but shone crimson where the light caught it and was short enough to reveal her bare shoulders. Her dress, of the same black cherry sheen, hugged her body closely enough to appear poured on and from the way the hem dripped lazily where it ended high on her thigh that may well have been the case. Her feet were obscured up to the ankles by the river of blood trailing behind her but not a spec of it marred her exposed skin.

 

The woman turned casually to regarded the heroes as though she'd been expecting them. "A pathetic handful of the upholders of this city's sins finally deign to make an appearance, then!" As she spoke the river of blood pulsated in time with her words, rippling outward. At its farthest edges it was already seeping into the first floor of the historical building and spilling over the sides of the pier into the open water. What water it touched was transformed, the red spreading gradually into the bay. "Too little, too late!" she sneered with impossibly perfect teeth behind perfect, ruby lips that made the ugliness of the expression all the more unsettling. "The Plague of Blood is upon you!" The pillars of blood began to spin faster and faster, hiding her behind a whirling curtain that rose several storeys into the air. Behind it the heroes could make out larger, hulking shapes taking form.

[Thevshi]

Tsunami did not miss Monsson's comment about the nature of her hydrokinetic abilities, an origin that the young Asian woman had learned about a little over a year ago.  However, now was not the time to start asking too many questions, as the individual responsible for transforming the water into blood was still out there somewhere.

"While my abilities allow me to control available water, I do not need any for several of my abilities."  Tsunami commented as they were joined by Frostbite and began to follow after the teenager's friend.  Anything further she might have added was cut short as the four caught up with Ardent, and the one behind this incident. 

Seeing the blood spreading into the bay, Tsunami stopped her water spout as she looked to the others.  "We need to try to stop her as quickly as we can, before her transformed water spreads too far.  Then we can see about reversing what she had done."

[Gizmo]

As Tsunami drew the heroes' attention to the spread of the impending environmental disaster the first of the dark silhouettes stepped through the sanguine cyclone. Easily ten feet fall the misshapen brute looked like a child's attempt at crafting a humanoid shape from half-melted clay, were that claw clearly more of the dripping, coppery scented substance that covered most of the pier. Black pits in place of eyes focused on the group of young women and the brow of its mouthless face creased as it moved forward radiating malice. On either side a second then third golem joined it on the other side of the bloody curtain while more heavy footfalls on creaking wood boards could be heard behind them.

[Thevshi]

Tsunami wasted little time in acting when the woman responsible for all the blood taunted them with her claim that they were too late.  As large hulking shapes of blood began to form and emerge from the whirling curtain of blood the woman had around her, the Asian young woman moved her column of water slightly forward, as she swept her hands up from her sides to directly in front of her, palms outward. 

From the empty air in front of her hands, three thick jets of water exploded outward, each one twisting and turning as it shot through the air at one of the three massive blood creatures that had appeared.  All three blasts struck their targets, two of which exploded in a shower of blood and merged back in with the river and curtain.  The third however took the water blast with seemingly little effect.

[Avenger Assembled]

"<A storm is coming,>" pronounced Monsoon defiantly as she studied the situation. She made her focus not the monsters, but the witch that had summoned them: the cowardly woman who had hidden behind a shield when confronted with superheroes. Someone who hid had reason to hide - and someone with reason to hide could be pushed. "I don't have time to deal with your men of blood, you melodramatic monstrosity!" She leaped into the air and vaulted over the sanguine sex kitten, landing smoothly on her feet on the other side of Dam - hopefully leaving the other woman surrounded. "When we are finished thrashing you, you will return your outfit to the fifteen year old harlot you stole it from," she pronounced, her family scimitar flashing in the Freedom City sun as she drew it from its sheath. "Come, then, and entertain me." 

[Tiffany Korta]

As quickly as she could Frostbyte took to the air circling around the area to get a good feeling for the area as she could. They’d been through many different training scenarios during her time at Claremont but nothing quite like this. With a grim smile she thought how glad she was Riley wasn’t here, the coppery smell of so much blood was bad enough, without what he tended to use to hide his presence.

After getting the feel of the land she began to lay down a thin layer of ice on the ground, today apparently she learned blood freezed at around the same temperature as water. The best she could she weaved around her friends and allies the ice wouldn’t last long enough to cause them any troubles. Hopefully it would cause the enemy a lot more problems.

[trollthumper]

Well. Time for test herself. Temperance tried to avoid staring at the figure of perfection at the center of the swirling blood storm - I bet some metal band somewhere is kicking themselves for having their album cover idea stolen - in order to suss out her powers. Namely, which would be best here. An army of angry Kool-Aid Men... the bullets might just go through them without doing much ballistic damage... an ice cage might work, but -- why not more? Guess now might be a good time to test just how good she is with that blood... 

 

"So," she said. "I suppose you are going to talk at us some more, because with a display like this, you don't strike me as the quiet type. But I would like to know what sort of sins this city has committed to merit such a... spectacular show of wrath." Just as she finished the sentence, she focused her will, establishing a bead on one of the blood golems. She could feel the water behind the blood, even if the spiritual essence felt... weird. She drew on the connection, expanding the lattice, pushing the water to become ice. 

[April]

Ardent hung in the air on black wings, watching the battle below.

 

Her soulglaive shimmered into existence near her right hand and suddenly she was no longer flying but plummeting, wings swept back, toward the curtain of blood.  Then she vanished, only to reappear in a lurid flash of red light and the smell of sulfur right in front of the sanguine wall.

 

Ardent's soulglaive sank deep into the wall, disrupting the magic that held it together and causing all of that blood to come crashing down in one nightmarish tidal wave.

[Gizmo]

In the face of the coordinated assault the towering blood puppets proved not to be particularly quick on their globulous feet, one slipping on Frostbyte's frozen hazard and bursting like a disgusting, viscous water balloon as it hit the pier, while two more dispersed similarly under the onslaught of Tsunami's unconventional fire hose. Almost as quickly as they added to the now shin-high pool of blood covering the the dock and spilling into the bay, however, they began to rise back up, as good as new. Even frozen solid by Temperance's abilities they collapsed like so much cherry flavoured shaved ice only to rise again.

 

The pair of golems which had still been inside the curtain just before Ardent's glaive parted it focused on Monsoon, slamming huge fists toward the swordswoman. The impacts sent more blood splashing several feet into the air but the acrobatic princess remained a step ahead of their attacks for the time being. Unfortunately that gave the woman at the centre of it all the time she needed to regroup from her momentary surprise as her first line of defence collapsed. "Unclean demon!" she roared, the volume of her voice reverberating powerfully even with the note of petulant frustration at its edges. "You hypocrites are beyond shame or redemption! Only punishment remains! And Dam shall deliver it!" 

 

That was apparently all the explanation she felt like giving, thrusting out her chest and clenching both immaculately manicured hands into raised claws. Melodramatic or not the effect was immediate and brutal: the blood all around her surged as though a boulder had been dropped into from above and searing pain lanced through the gathered heroes as though they were being torn apart from within. Droplets of red began to well up under their fingernails and in the corners of their eyes, vision swimming as light-headedness threatened to overwhelm them. Monsoon better than any of them knew what was happening: Dam was pulling their very blood from their bodies, drop by excruciating drop.

[Thevshi]

Dam's attack had been excruciating pain as the other woman had sought to pull their blood from their bodies, succeeding at least to a certain degree.  Tsunami felt weakened, as blood ran down her race from the corners of her eyes.  But the young woman shook off the effects of the vicious attack, focusing on Dam now that Ardent had brought down the curtain of blood.

"Well done Ardent."  She stated as she moved her column of water off slightly to one side, bringing both hands up as a series of twisting coils of water shot forth at Dam.  The powerful jet of water slammed into the supercriminal, appearing to hurt her, but Dam otherwise remained on her feet.

[Avenger Assembled]

Nina had seen exsanguinations with her own eyes. She'd seen the looks on people's faces when their veins and arteries ruptured and dark mottling bruises spread across their skin - she'd seen the capillaries and orifices gushing blood and other fluids. She'd seen the way the blood ran, so much blood from a single body, across the polished sandstone floor of a Socotran castle. When the pain hit, a celestial, agonizing pain that seized every muscle in her body, she knew exactly what was happening. She tried to hold herself together, her noahic powers all that kept her from exploding on the spot, but as she felt things break inside she knew with exquisite understanding just how bad the damage was. 

 

As the world went dark and she felt her body begin to crash to the floor, she thought first of Mark - and then, as her hand clenched convulsively around the brand-new diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand, words that burned their way into the darkness as she mercifully lost consciousness. 

 

This is not how Monsoon dies! 

[Tiffany Korta]

As Nina feel backward Frostbyte came in fast and low on her ice platform snatching up the unconscious Monsoon. Whilst not as bad she’d been affected as well her ice body spattered with small patches of blood. But that wasn’t important nor defeating the villain, though she really wanted to fight, right now she needed to make sure her fellow teammates were safe.

Circling high above the melee she scanned the area for a safe location, before settling on the nearby historical building. Making a decision she made for the building not wanting to wait to long before returning to the battle.

[trollthumper]

That sucked, was all Temperance could think as she blinked the blood from her eyes. She turned, trying to assess her surroundings. Monsoon was down, and Frostbyte was removing the body. She considered the possibility of healing before ruling it out. She'd knocked around the dreadful possibility of being able to rip moisture from the bodies of living beings... but dehydrating with brute force was still a "safer" proposition than trying to magically rehydrate. If she didn't know what she was doing - which was very possible - she could turn Monsoon's blood into little more than red water. Best to focus on her areas of expertise. 

 

"Very well, then," she said, calling the water back to her. "Sodom, at least, got something of an explanation. Moses gave the Pharaoh a good long talk. Even if we're all damned, there's some good reason in letting the people know how they sinned." The water crystallized before her into bullets of ice. "But, no. That would require you to actually be able to verbalize. We have sinned, but you can't spare half a breath to say why. So either you don't know, you don't care, and you just can't find a way to break down our litany of affronts into bullet points." As if to punctuate the jab, Temperance hurled her own stream of bullets at Dam. 

 

"Which, in all honesty, makes you an abysmal scourge of God." 

[April]

Hellfire, especially the type Ardent wields, is more like fires estranged cousin than a sibling.  Sure it burns just like regular fire but that's where the similarities start breaking down.  The color was off for one; it was more of a lurid red than orange and it didn't crackle or roar but rather whispered and screamed.  As reluctant as Phaedra Morningstar is to call upon it, it is a tool and just as much a part of the half-demons heritage as the soul glaive.

 

Ankle deep in blood, wings held up and away from the sticky mess, the flame curled around her fingers while Dam talked.  Black-red eyes narrowed and finally Ardent snarled out a single word.  "Enough."  Raising her hand in Dam's direction hellfire screamed out to engulf her.

[Gizmo]

With a dismissive sneer Dam raised a hand and Temperance's hail of icy projectiles melted into ruby red blood, falling into the pool covering the pier with harmless ripples. Ardent's blast of hellfire, on the other hand, was nothing for which the self-proclaimed administrator of divine retribution was prepared. She shouted in surprise and pain as the flames engulfed her momentarily before she managed to raise a smaller version of the sanguine curtain the winged girl had cut through before, shielding herself.

 

Though the tide literally and metaphorically began to turn against Dam her hulking constructs had regrouped and lurched forward to defend their mistress. Tsunami and Temperance dodged viscous body slams and blasts of blood coagulated into jagged spears but one of the golems managed to take advantage of Ardent's focus on her attack to slam a massive fist into her, tossing her back end over end to crash gracelessly into a lamppost further up the boardwalk.

 

Given a moment to regroup Frostbyte was able to find a relatively safe place to set Monsoon down atop a table high enough to rise above the sloshing blood that had invaded the first floor of the historical building. The exiled princess' breathing seemed steady but the sooner they ended the fight and got her real medical attention the better. That sense of urgency raised a sudden question as she looked about: Dam could have easily made it to the bay by a more direct route, so why follow the boardwalk this way? She didn't see why the villain would be interested in a... 'pre-natal ward' judging by the informational plaque half covered by Nina's right arm, though, and there hardly seemed time to dig deeper into the mystery as a look out the widow showed the blood golems seriously jeopardizing her upcoming study date.

[Tiffany Korta]

Whilst Cathy wanted to go straight back into the fray the sensible part of her first wanted to make sure that Monsoon wouldn’t get hurt in the ruckus. So she took a few to create a ice shelter around the unconscious woman, whilst an less opaque shelter would be more sensible many people would panic if they woke up in a dark enclosed space. She’d also put in a tiny flaw in the ice that would allow the ice to be easily broken from the inside, something she’d been practicing back at the Claremont.

Once she was happy with the enclosure she took back to the air on her ice platform and made a quick once round the building in case she missed anything important. She remembered seeing something about building like this on the internet.

[Gizmo]

While Ardent regrouped and recovered her wits Dam clenched a fist in Tsunami's direction with a snarl. The younger woman wobbled unsteadily toward the villain as every drop of blood in her body attempted to force its way through the nearest orifice and flow in that direction. An ordinary person would have been killed almost instantly, Giang was sure but reflexive use of her own powers turned the deadly attack into a still agonizing tug-of-war.

 

The one point in her favour was that Dam was clearly splitting her attention as she gestured with her opposite hand to command the towering golems toward Temperance. The constructs slammed amorphous fists the size of cars toward the spiritualist, forcing her to dodge left then leap forward and to the right. As the fifth of the group reared up before her, however, there was nowhere left to move and she was sent flying backward toward Phaedra. If the heroes were to have any chance of prevailing against all odds they were going to have to focus on blood controlling woman shouting again about righteous judgement and stagnant hypocrites.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Cathy swung back down towards the very bloody scene where her fellow heroes were locked in combat with this mad woman and her blood golems. She hoped that no one else had been hurt, trying her best not to overly worry about her girlfriend, and how weird to be able to say something like that. And Phae was a very capable fighter and... best not to dwell to much and get down to business.

 

Swooping around for another pass Cathy threw a series of razor sharp icicles towards Dam with a pretty solid accuracy, she’d had many many years of practice at this even before she went to Claremont to hone her skills even further.

[trollthumper]

The sanguine golem hit Temperance like a freight train. It was bad enough that she had to dance like an acrobat across the barrage of bloody titans; getting hit like one of them was having an fire hose full of rancid ketchup turned on you. Copper ran over her tongue as some of it flowed into her mouth... and she wasn't entirely sure it was all the golem's. She drew herself up, trying to fight off what she hoped wasn't a concussion. She found her footing, eventually, knowing that the horde was converging on her. 

 

But she didn't care about them. 

 

There was a gap. Narrow, and closing with every second, but it was there. She focused her will into the water, cutting in into globules, thinning them, freezing them, until the air was filled with tiny needles. With all her will, she sent them off in a focused cluster, thick enough to squeeze through the gap... then wide enough to fall on Dam like the world's sharpest hailstorm. 

 

"Fine, then. Run your rampage. You just want to hurt? There's plenty of hurt in the world. And some of it knows just when to come around." 

[April]

Ardent pushed herself into a kneeling position and as she fought to remain conscious, she lost another inner conflict.  Her hands fisted under the shallow lake of bloods surface and the half-demon felt her nails bite into her flesh and as she drew deeply on her infernal heritage.  The blood around her began to bubble and boil and flame licked from her red tresses as she shoved herself to her feet with a snarl, fang like teeth prominent.

 

Hellfire blazed in her hands, and she must have heard Temperance because she looked at Dam and smiled.  "Behold, Hurt is here."  With that, a massive blast of hellfire screamed away from Ardent flash boiling the blood between her and her foe. 

[Gizmo]

Dam had just enough time to register the incoming blast and throw her arms over her face defensively. Reacting to her sudden spike of fear the two closest blood golems lurched between her and the incendiary teenager, crashing like waves more than running or jumping. It proved a futile gesture, however, as the hellfire punched a sizzling hole through the wall of blood and slammed into their mistress.

 

The fire didn't knock Dam back with physical force but those with the mystical inclination necessary to sense such things could see already taxed magics being torn away under the gout of unholy flame. Her form seemed to crack and peel away like moulting skin, cinders flying away behind her. Even her final cry of impotent rage seemed burned from her throat before it could reach the heroes' ears. As the last of the blaze left Ardent's fingers their opponent toppled sideways into the ankle high pool of clear water covering the pier, water joined by the harmless splash of what had moments ago been unstoppable golems, water that was quickly running through wooden boards and over metal rails into the bay now that no force was holding it in place.

 

The softly moaning woman left in Dam's place was the better part of a foot shorter, heavy eyeshadow and mascara running in the water. Her black cowl scarf, jacket and leggings would have been a little impractical for the weather even before they'd gotten soaked. Of the tremendous power and presence she'd wielded moments before there was no trace.

[Avenger Assembled]

The doors to the shuttered museum creaked open - and Monsoon staggered out. Battered and bloody, the Socotran princess was favoring one leg and holding one arm weakly at her side. Her skin was pale and her face bloody - she'd vomited blood on herself while Cathy was transporting her to safety, and looked to have bled from her eyes, nose, and mouth at some point in the last several minutes. She staggered towards the fallen form of Dam, murder in her bloodshot eyes, then collapsed at Frostbyte's feet. At least for a moment. 

 

"Monsoon is not finished with you, whore," she groaned weakly, pulling herself up to a crawling position as she focused all her attention on the fallen Dam. If not stopped, it looked like she was going to crawl over there and throttle the fallen blood controller with her blood-stained hands. "Not...finished..."