ic [IC] Irradiated Intervention

[Sophistemon]

Ethan reacted with the kind of instinct borne of countless hours practicing. He twisted the control stick and knifed the AMP's body, reducing the impact area, and dedicated additional power the to the X-09's force-field. When the fire faded, unable to find purchase on the AMP's metal skin to burn, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief when the internal diagnostics concluded he'd taken no damage. "You've made a mistake," boomed his metallic voice, distorted by the filters. He pressed a button, and an enormous Gatling cannon unfolded from the AMP's shoulder. He set it for a three second burst and pulled the trigger, spraying a maelstrom of rubber bullets at his fire-breathing opponent.

[olopi]

GM

 

Just before non-lethal bullets filled the Dragon’s position, he made his wings disappear, dropping him downwards just enough to barely avoid the hail of bullets above. Almost immediately afterwards, the wings reappeared again, looking slightly injured due to the previous telekinetic attack (who the Dragon himself didn’t seem to notice much, even if it had its effects.) He spoke, his dragon-like mouth still looking somewhat out of place on the mostly human body. “That’s all you’ve got?”

 

And then, he pushed himself forwards with his wings, right towards Upgrade. It was not unexpected; the Dragon would go for some sort of strafing attack most likely. But, when he didn’t change his direction at all, and continued to fly directly at the X-09’s midsection, it came as a surprise. He just managed to catch the dodging armor with his shoulder, performing a classical tackle, straight into the metal, and looking none worse for wear himself.

Edited October 19, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

 

 

PC

 

Oh, things had certainly take a turn for the worse. Now that was a fight alright. Cass wasn’t particularly afraid by the dragon’s display of power, he himself could do fire like that, and he didn’t even need a mouth for it! He would also be no nearly as affected by any fire as everybody else. Yes, he still got burns occasionally, but the natural layer of heat surrounding him and the way his body had changed ever since he’d gotten his powers helped with that in many different ways.

 

The cloud continued to climb at a good speed, starting to fade into the background more and more as it lifted upwards, while the edges became ever-less stable thanks to the winds. Then, once Bonfire had reached some distance, suddenly his form changed in colour, now looking like quite dark smoke. A voice boomed out, clearly assisted by his powers. Bonfire spoke quickly, not really making a lot of sense, but he certainly managed to get his opponent’s attention regardless.

 

“Yo Dragon-Man. Down here. You’re not the only one with fancy fire-powers, ya know? And you really expected there not to be back-up? Why’re you up there fighting? Go and run or something. Or come down here and fight me. I’m Freedom’s HOTTEST newcomer, man, newcomer,  and I can do much more with fire than your lil’ display up there. How do you do it anyways? Got bit by a dragon? Ate one? Or just found some fancy artefact? And what’s with your name anyways, man? “The Horned Dragon”? Who picked that? It’s far too generic, sounds like something out of a fantasy encyclopedia, not a proper name for a metahuman. Are you even human? Or are you like, actually a dragon and just look human? Like, one of those really old, dangero- nah, if you are you’re a young one, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten caught like that. “

 

Edited October 19, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

Adept winced with rare empathy when he saw Upgrade go spinning through the air from Horned Dragon's rush.  His heels lifted from the ground, instinctively ready to move closer (the distance made no difference to his own capabilities, but perhaps visibly entering the aerial battlefield would divide their enemy's attention and provide moral support), before remembering the other problem still kneeling nearby.  He shot the Gas Man an angry glance and snarled.  Fortunately, Bonfire stepped in (somewhat to Warne's surprise).  The agent wasn't unfamiliar with babbling techniques, even if he had no such skill himself; he had to admit that the kid seemed pretty good at it. 

 

With an ally on the way to assist Upgrade, Adept grudgingly maintained his watchful position and settled for another mental attack.  Let's see if you feel this one, Dragon.

[Sophistemon]

The Horned Dragon slammed into the X-09, knocking it off balance and promoting klaxons to scream bloody murder inside the cockpit as it fought to stay airborne. "Cripes," grunted the pilot, frantically working the stabilizers. "Adept, he hits like a truck!" When the enormous armor regained its aerial balance, he directed an arm to point at the villain. "I'm just getting started, punk."

[olopi]

GM

 

The Dragon’s Impact was a heavy one, even causing some noise. Afterwards, the Dragon stayed mostly in place as his opponent was pushed back through the air a bit. The Dragon looked proud, as if he’d proven something, and ready to continue onwards. He turned his gaze downwards, when he heard Bonfire do this thing.

 

The Dragon met the cloud’s babbling with confusion, he didn’t really understand. Understand why Bonfire would want to know. Understand why he would do it in a combat scenario. And understand just why, oh why, it had to be him that had to fight somebody as curious like him. The Dragon hovered in the air, not moving anything beyond his wings as he was listening to Bonfire.

 

Enough time for Adept to get in a proper attack once more. This time, the effect was easily visible, as the Dragon lost in height, tumbling through the air as if his wings had been disabled for just a few second, before regaining his altitude. It was hard to judge from the distance, but the Dragon clearly had felt that attack, and looked worse for wear after it.

Edited October 23, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

PC

 

Bonfire had finally reached an acceptable altitude, close enough to be able to hit the Dragon, but still far enough removed to hopefully not have to deal with his attacks. His appearance changed once more, as a head of smoke poked out of the cloud, about twice the size of an actual head, and featureless apart from eyes and mouth.

 

“Hey, Dragonboy. Told ya, you’re outnumbered. Sure, you can take down one of us, but there’s a lot more down there. And check it, I have flame-breathing powers too. Here it comes, get ready!” At the same time, a tiny cloud of smoke left Bonfire’s body, and took the long route towards the Dragon, flying behind him when possible. It moved at a rapid pace, and maneuvered around the Dragon’s cone of vision quite adeptly. “Wait, wait, it’s not working for some reason, lemme try this real qui- Hey, just saying, you may not want to turn around right now.” And then, with that, the cloud had reached the Dragon’s head, where it suddenly expanded. “Gotcha.” Then, Bonfire went quiet, as the cloud continued to stay at the Dragon’s head, slowly intruding into his mouth. The capnokinetic had to focus all his efforts onto sustaining the flow of smoke, not saying a single word anymore. But, it seemed to have an effect, as the Dragon’s body began to look ever less powerful.

Edited October 23, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

Hearing Stone's voice crackle through the comms relaxed Warne a bit; he wasn't sure what kind of automated piloting the AMP had, but apparently his fellow agent wasn't unconscious in a self-regulated robot up there.  Bonfire also seemed to have their opponent more or less locked in place (Warne resolved to compare this maneuver with the AEGIS files on Bonfire after the mission; it was one thing to read about someone's capabilities, but another to witness them firsthand and judge their efficiency--and limits).  In light of this, Adept decided to keep the pressure on.  His standard tactic had proven sufficient thus far, so he saw little reason to change it.  He continued to go after those wings; his brain gripped both of them and tried to squeeze inward toward Horned Dragon's center of gravity, to crumple them like an accordion.

[Sophistemon]

His systems out of whack, Ethan struggled to maneuver the AMP towards their common enemy. He raised the machine's right arm and arced the wrist up to reveal the missile tube hidden beneath, but when he gave the order to fire, the projectile failed to emerge. Swearing on a frequency that only Adept could hear, Upgrade instead kicked the jets and flew up, towards the Horned Dragon, to close the distance between them. "My systems are on the fritz," he shouted, an air of frustrated annoyance creeping into his voice. "Why couldn't I be born with powers? Then they might actually work sometimes!"

[olopi]

GM

 

In between Adept’s various attacks and Bonfire’s smoke-trick, the Dragon was starting to look worse for wear. He didn’t move his wings nearly as often, and because of it, was slowly loosing height. It would take significant amounts of time for him to get to a ground level this way, but clearly the attacks were working. The various attacks also had the effects of temporarily stunning the dragon, he was too focused with struggling against the smoke to actually do anything.

 

As he tried his best to avoid the smoke (which only made it come at more force), he also seemed to feel the pain inflicted by Adept’s attacks, as his wings didn’t move evenly, one of them clearly weaker. The Dragon was able to control his position enough for it to not have any further effect, but he was certainly starting to feel the effects of going up against three people by himself, and he probably knew himself that this was not a good position to be in.

Edited October 24, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

PC

 

It worked! Sort of, at least. It hadn’t worked as great as with the Gas Man, who had dropped pretty much as soon as Bonfire applied his smoke-hold, but it certainly had an effect. Bonfire continued to rise, he was still a fair distance away, but being closer would make further attacks easier. He rose only slowly however, focusing his concentration on keeping up the cloud of smoke around his opponent’s head. Manipulating the smoke to intrude into his mouth, which didn’t seem quite real, was no easy task. It required precision and concentration, the unusual form making it even more difficult than other times Bonfire had used this trick.

 

He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it, but so far it had proven effective. It ended combat quickly, and generally didn’t cause any unwanted damage. Yes, he could’ve just blasted away, he had the ability to do so just fine. But, judging by what it looked like, as radio wasn’t possible in this form, Upgrade wasn’t having the best of times either. And any attacks on the Dragon would probably mean catching him in the crossfire, at least until the distance between the combatants and Bonfire was closer.

Edited October 24, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

Adept squinted behind his sunglasses to watch the distant action, and at Upgrade's report, he chuckled lightly.  "That's modern technology for you.  Despite all the fancy features, half the time it never seems to work.  Of course, my ability will probably give me brain tumors before I'm forty, so pick your poison." 

 

Meanwhile, he had come to the same conclusion as Bonfire: the two ranged combatants were in danger of accidentally targeting one another, assuming Upgrade could reboot his systems and rejoin the fight.  Would the Dragon be wise enough to use this to his advantage?  Warne fortunately had no such concerns.  He varied his tactic slightly and aimed a concentrated mental punch at the green villain's solar plexus; hopefully, he'd gasp for breath reflexively, and thus, inhale more of Bonfire's strength-sapping smoke.

 

"Surrender, Horned Dragon!" he shouted.  "You can end this any time you want--but it will end with you in custody!  One way, or the other!"

[Sophistemon]

Seeing that Adept and Bonfire have things well in hand, Ethan turns his attention to his own malfunctioning machinery. He points one of the AMP's arms up, away from any buildings, and fires a harmless, low-frequency laser. Or, rather, he pulls the trigger and attempts to fire a laser -- the blast fails to appear as intended. The pilot swears, not even bothering to key to Adept's earpiece, and promises a terrible revenge on the people who'd build his vehicle. He reaches up and activates his comm-unit so that he can complain about it to Warne. "When I called this thing a flying coffin," he moaned, "I was joking about it! Can you imagine how bad this would have gone if the Horned Dragon was an actual threat? When I get back base, I'm having a long, hard conversation with my engineers. This kind of performance is not acceptable."

Edited October 25, 2016 by Sophistemon

[olopi]

GM

 

The Dragon was looking ever worse for wear, the various telekinetic attacks starting to show their effect more and more, as it became ever more difficult for him to maintain his height and general position. He simply floated there, his wings doing their best to stay in balance, not acting. And then, suddenly, the smoke became slightly thinner, just enough for Bonfire to notice it. He raised his voice “Ru-“ , and then, fire. A massive cone of fire, larger than even the previous one, erupted from the Dragon’s Mouth, cutting through the smoke.

 

The Dragon had aimed downwards, at Bonfire and Adept, and the fire made its way towards them at an impressive speed. Bonfire was the first to be hit, the flames fully engulfing his smoky form. The weak layer of smoke that had remained around the Dragon’s head, disappeared at the same time. Then, in the blink of an eye, the flame met the ground, where Adept still stood, next to the Armoured Van. It’s owner, the Gas Man, had seen the flame appear and tried to hide inside the still open van, managing only to trip and fall down onto his front, taking the brunt of the flame with his back turned towards its source. Meanwhile, above, the Dragon laughed, exhausted but clearly enjoying himself.

Edited October 25, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

PC

 

Bonfire had been focusing on further strengthening the grip on his opponent’s lungs and face, concentrating on the fine movements required to keep the smoke strong and have it intrude. It took a significant amount of effort, but had its upsides too. Sensing what was happening. Like, for example, the Dragon suddenly inhaling. Inhaling deeply. For a moment, there was confusion. Why would he make it easier for the smoke to do its job? Then, Cass realized what was happening. He’d managed to just about get a word out when the wall of flames met him. The fire, it was good. It was good, until it wasn’t anymore, and Bonfire started to feel his natural layer of heat, the one protecting him from most harm, turning against him. Fire interacted with it in a strange way, as he’d learned from experience. He’d never been massively injured by fire, both his own or one of foreign to his powers, but he’d certainly gotten his fair share of minor burns. And this, this was gonna be one of those.

 

As the flames washed over him, he could no longer properly focus on his smoke. Whatever had not been inhaled by the Dragon would simply disappear, there was nothing he could do. One second of not paying attention, and the smoke would no longer follow his manipulations. As the flames disappeared, he looked around, first downwards, towards the ground. It was not a pretty sight. The Gas Van had stayed completely untouched, not taking any visible damage whatsoever, it had probably been fire-proofed. The same could not be said for the surroundings. A massive Scorch mark filled the area surrounding the van, almost the entire … it probably was a parking lot or something. And looking even worse, the building the Gas Man had escorted the Dragon out. Most the flames had disappeared after just a few seconds, but Cass’ educated eye could tell that these flames would stay, and soon the entire building would be burning. And it could spread quickly in a place like this…

Edited October 25, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

The fire took Adept largely by surprise (he had escaped notice thus far, and rather naively assumed that big-and-scary Upgrade would continue to draw Horned Dragon's attention), but a lifetime of military training kicked his reflexes into action.  He dove sideways, rolled across the asphalt, deflected the outlying flames with his force field, and was back on his feet in an instant.  Nonetheless, he issued a short shout of pure rage when he saw that his prisoner, the Gas Man, had suffered injury on his watch--and worse, they now were in danger of fire spreading throughout the neighborhood if not quickly halted. 

 

"Clarkson!" he snarled into his earpiece.  "Contact Emergency Services; we need fire and rescue on the scene as soon as we end this piece of filth!"

 

And with smoldering eyes, Warne set about attempting just that.  He shot into the air, hoping to occupy the Dragon's focus away from the Gas Man (if that mercenary escaped, then so be it; they could track him down later, but recklessly endangering him was simply unprofessional), and with such effort that would've normally sent a migraine ripping through his skull if not for his steely fury, Adept slammed his full psionic strength against Horned Dragon's chest. 

[Sophistemon]

Seeing that things have taken a turn for the worst -- why did he think something good might happen? -- Upgrade activates his jets and soars towards the fire-breathing villain with one arm cocked back. When he gets within range he unleashes a powerful, albeit somewhat wild, punch at the center of the Horned Dragon's chest.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Sophistemon

[olopi]

GM

 

The Dragon was enjoying himself now, seemingly having forgotten about the various injuries he had already sustained. His voice was deeper than before, as he laughed, each individual laugh roaring through the air in all of its mocking glory. “Hahaha, that the best you can –“ Just then, Adept intervened, sending a massive attack into the Dragon’s chest. The rush of adrenaline brought by the fire seemed to have quite the effect, as the Dragon didn’t even flinch, and continued even louder. “Weak. These are the best the government has to offer? A guy with a mental fire iron, a cloud of smoke, and a hunk of metal?”

 

Just then, said hunk of metal made his attack, charging towards the Dragon. Casually making his wings disappear to lose enough height, the Dragon dodged seemingly effortless. But before he had fully dodged, he did something else. The adrenaline fueling him, one more roar filled the sky, louder than even the previous ones, probably loud enough to hear in all of Greenbank, and probably even beyond. His head grew multiple large horns, and now being on the X-09’s chest level, shot forward, meeting the suit of armor head on, with a massive amount of force behind it.

 

 

 

 

Clarkson sounded more stressed than the Agents had ever heard him before, as the radio transmitted his voice. “Just hold out, we’ve got back-up coming in. Emergency services have been alarmed, probably by us and everybody currently in the area. Media’s gonna have fun with this one.”

Edited October 26, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

PC

 

Okay, that was not good. Below him, the situation had gone worse. Above him, the situation had just gotten even worse. And to make it worse, somebody had out-fired Bonfire. All of those combining meant one thing. It was time for the big guns. It was time to ignite.

The cloud continued to float there, seemingly motionless, but in his mind, Cass went through the very precise steps of getting everything to work. He carefully ramped up the heat, first slow, but then taking large steps. First sparks started to appear, the cloud turned darker. Then, he concentrated on spreading the fire. Sparks became fire, as the core of the cloud began to light up.

 

And with that, he was ready. The sound of Ignition spread out, not as loud as the roars, but loud enough to be noticeable. The core grew bigger, and then, one moment to the next, the smoke was gone, replaced with a column of fire, some of it blasting outwards.

 

“Hey Buddy. Big mistake. “

 

One flame became two, splitting down the middle. While one stayed in its place, the other one shot off, towards the combatants. It accelerated, and then hit the Dragon, engulfing him fully. Bonfire’s voice sounded rougher, warped by the fire. “I’m just getting started.”

Edited October 26, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

Disappointed by his own ineffectiveness, alarmed by the punishment his fellow agent kept suffering, annoyed that the rookie blogger was stealing their thunder, and worried that the longer this fight continued, the more damage it inflicted on the city (let alone possibly letting the Gas Man escape, which was the whole point of this exercise), Warne gathered his strength for another push.  He felt the pain growing behind his eyes, but shoved it down.  If he had to, he knew he could perhaps use this level of mental force once or twice more, but what strength would he have left if he did?  Just how much did he dare to gamble?

 

Hopefully it wouldn't matter; he followed up Bonfire's impressive barrage with a downward slam of his own, silently praying that it would bring the Horned Dragon crashing to the ground. 

[Sophistemon]

Something sparked in the cockpit, a sizzling pop that landed a piece of glowing heat on Ethan's cheek hot enough to make him yelp. He worked frantically at the controls, just barely managing to maintain altitude, but accomplished little else.

[olopi]

GM

 

The flame hit the Horned Dragon. It hit him hard, as he was unable to keep his altitude and began to tumble for just a second. When he managed to catch himself just a bit later, Adept pushed down. Once more, it had little effect. The Dragon was already hurt, but he did not look like the telekinetic slam had further affected him. The only thing his green wings managed was to not loose altitude quickly, as it became ever more clear that he could not keep up for much longer.

 

He seemed to enjoy the sight of the X-09 not doing anything, however. As he breathed heavily, his attention remained locked on the armor, probably trying to find a way to further capitalize on the damage that had already been done. His horns disappeared again, slowly flickering away, probably from the fatigue, and he was now some distance below Upgrade.

Edited November 3, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

PC

 

Igniting always was an experience. There was something about it, it just did things. Good things. The rush of adrenaline. The rush of heat. And the sensation of the fire. Great feelings, and ones that only made Cass so much stronger. He felt better, more active. It felt like he could do whatever he wanted, like a wildfire spreading. It was difficult to control it, but it was destructive, and led to better things coming afterwards. He described it like that, but really, he just enjoyed having the opportunities where using it was possible and not a bad idea. The problems could come afterwards, for now it was time to burn.

 

Outside, one flame once more became two. Two became four, and four became eight, splitting down the middle every time. The central one, the one that had started the splitting, quickly grew back to its original size, as the others shot off one by one, each flying towards the Dragon hovering in the air, and each striking. The effects weren’t as visible as the last time, but they had certainly inflicted further damage, the Dragon looking weaker after each hit. Bonfire seemingly couldn’t stop himself from commenting, his voice sounding even more distorted than before. “Let’s heat this up some more.”

 

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

"Yyyyhhehhhhh!" Warne 'said,' a sound of pure annoyance.  This was not at all unfolding like he hoped, and that kid's ruthless efficiency only made it all the more infuriating.  He also couldn't help but worry a little.  He assumed that if he had to bring Bonfire down, the task would be simple.  Now, seeing him in action, Warne realized that this young hero wasn't as inexperienced or feeble as he expected...

 

He splashed his burning temper with a bucket of cold lifelong training.  Stop moping and get to work!  The job needs doing; what does it matter who does it?

 

His next tactic, though, wasn't easy to choose.  The last two times he struck with everything he had, to no avail...but if Bonfire's techniques were so devastating, maybe Warne could use that to his advantage.  He attacked more gently than before, to regain his strength and numb the ache in his brain; the telekinetic blows hit Horned Dragon from behind this time, in tune with Bonfire's rapid assault, to force their mutual enemy right into the full force of the flames. 

[Sophistemon]

Ethan typed at the controls, pulling knobs and pushing buttons, cursing all the while. Why was it the AMP worked perfectly during the training exercises but feel to pieces during actual engagements?

 

As if to prove the point, when he raised one of Upgrade's massive arms and attempted to fire a burst of nonlethal bullets, the limb sparked and refused to cooperate.

 

"Warne, remind me to have a chat with my engineers."