Heritage Posted July 25, 2017 Posted July 25, 2017 At Saber's wink, Casey frowned and shook her head slightly; this guy was a real jerk, especially how he talked to Aquaria. Ugh, stop winking at me, you creep! How did I ever like you? Then she addressed the barbarian's question. "The two agents are right, Rhaegar; it would be just as wrong to go to your world and expect everyone to follow our rules. Anyway, heads up; I might have found our last special guest." Turning her eyes upon the cell, she cycled through both the infrared and x-ray spectrums, scanning for signs of life.
Avenger Assembled Posted July 25, 2017 Posted July 25, 2017 Not one to let someone stay in a cage any longer than necessary, Sea Devil once again ignited her armor's tridents. Mindful of impaling the Surfacer within, she climbed up on the walls and shoved the blades in high, higher than a human could have stood, as she cut away an opening for the heroes to enter or their target to rescue. Saber's insults didn't seem to register on her, and indeed they truly didn't. What did it matter what a Surfacer from another realm thought of Dagon and Hydra? He would be enlightened when the stars were right, or his heirs would be. She'd heard far worse from the tongues of Atlanteans in this very world. When the wall section was cut away, she caught it by quickly slapping it with one hand, the metal coverings on her hands transmitting her own sticky grip through mechanisms she didn't quite understand.
Sophistemon Posted August 7, 2017 Author Posted August 7, 2017 Miracle Girl's miraculous eyes reveal the presence of life within the metal containment cell -- and not just one, but two life-signs, huddled in opposite corners. And then, without warning, Sea Devil's trident glows with strange and potentially forbidden energies before the amphibian uses its terrible tines to carve through the shrieking metal and remove a portion of the wall. Rhekgar watched with rapt attention, eyes wide in his face, and Adept can see him run his tongue between his lips and teeth. Clearly, the barbarian wants to get his hands on that trident and the awesome power it contains. Dirk Saber, though, has a more vocal reaction. Swearing in shock, he leaps backwards away from the cell and lands in a combat pose, hands raised and curled into loose fists. "Cor!" he shouts. "Watch it; you could take a man's head off with that thing!" Punchline elbows Adept in the ribs and quirks an eyebrow. "Not a big loss with this crew, though." Inside the cell a woman screams, and when the air in her lungs runs out she screams again, even more loudly, until someone shushes her. Eventually, after a moment or two of hesitation, a bedraggled Gabby Brown peers through the hole and blinks at the crowd of heroes assembled outside her prison. "Hi," she says. "Are you guys the calvar..." she then spots and comprehends the appearance of Rhekgar and Saber, and her mouth drops open. "God, he actually did it. Mom, he actually did it!"
Blarghy Posted August 9, 2017 Posted August 9, 2017 The screaming surprised Adept, who was expecting a very tough woman more likely to attack something frightful than howl at it, but even once he saw who they were actually dealing with, he still didn't relax. Careful. This may be a trap. Unlikely, but then again, so is everything I have seen over the past day. Warne hung back, figuring that Miracle Girl was probably a more welcoming sight, even though Gabby apparently had more courage than her unseen mother. "Ma'am, who did it?" he asked. "We're here to help, yes, but we also need to know whatever you know. Although by your surprise to see these two men, I assume you cannot point us toward Helen Ridley; we are still looking for her."
Heritage Posted August 10, 2017 Posted August 10, 2017 When the presence of two 'normal' females was made, Casey tentatively poked her head inside their cell: who locks up their own family? This Fanatic really was a piece of work! "Hi there. I'm Miracle Girl, and this is Se Devil, Punchline, Agent Warne of AEGIS, and our distinguished guests you already know." She chuckled without much mirth. "Yeah, I guess we sort of are he cavalry. Mrs Brown, can you tell us where you're son is? It's vital we find him right away."
Avenger Assembled Posted August 11, 2017 Posted August 11, 2017 Sea Devil hopped away from the others and crouched low, letting the Surfacers comfort the other Surfacers in their hour of need. She could have said something about the horror of being betrayed by your own blood, but somehow she doubted that the family of their target would understand what she was talking about. So instead she retracted the plates of her armor slightly, enough that she was listening to everything down below with her own ears. Ears made by the gods to hear in the depths of the deepest oceans - and to understand the songs that lay between the worlds, the ones whose melodies and words drove Surfacers mad just from a brush against them. If he is here - I will hear him.
Sophistemon Posted August 15, 2017 Author Posted August 15, 2017 (edited) Shondra Brown's eyes well up with tears while her daughter's head shakes from side to side. "We haven't seen her," Gabby states, addressing agent Warne. "We didn't... I mean, we didn't even know this was possible. I knew Jason was working on something for a while, something big and secretive, but when he told me what he was planning I thought it was a joke." While her mother sobbed, Gabriela turned toward Miracle Girl. "I don't know where he is! This is all so crazy -- none of it makes any sense!" She points a long painted fingernail at Dirk Saber, who blinks and looks to one side. "You! You're crazy! You aren't real!" Saber scowled, sniffed with an air of aristocratic derision, then crossed his arms over his chest. "All evidence to the contrary," he rebuts. Shondra wipes her eyes and stifles a whimper. "I haven't seen my son since the beginning," she answers Miracle Girl. "Not since that lunatic in the armor threw us in here... and dragged Jason off somewhere else." Edited August 15, 2017 by Sophistemon
Blarghy Posted August 15, 2017 Posted August 15, 2017 God damn it, the Fanatic is from the other dimension after all, Warne thought with a soft groan. So Jason Brown summoned him or her--hell, maybe the Fanatic is Ridley--and wasn't exactly rewarded for it. That's going to make prosecuting them a bit more complicated. Although, they did apparently kidnap American citizens on American soil, so that's clear-cut. And this still assumes that these two aren't lying. And I guess it's possible that Jason Brown brought his dead father back to life, and he's our culprit. Or the movie-personification of him, if his role as a stunt-man was strong enough to create a duplicate. Whoever it is, we still have to find them, and now we have vulnerable civilians to protect in the process, not to mention our bloodthirsty "allies." The agent reached for his phone, then stopped and scowled. Can't even call for help, because the Fanatic might be listening in, and worse, impersonate Chalmers to feed us false instructions. Whatever we do now, we're on our own. "We'll find him," Warne promised. "But we also need to get the two of you to safety. I don't suppose you know of an easy way out of this bunker, which was apparently constructed beneath your home without your knowledge." His professionalism slipped, letting sarcasm into his voice; it had been a long day. He rubbed his temple, then looked to Miracle Girl and suggested, "Alternatively, it might be best if you just flew them out the way you came in. I assume you can get to the nearest police station and return almost before we even register that you're gone, and then we can continue our search. "But first," Warne said to Gabby, "what exactly did your brother say his plan was, when all of this first started?"
Heritage Posted August 25, 2017 Posted August 25, 2017 "For better or worse, everyone here is a real as can be, ma'am; even the clown," offered Casey. "And right now, we're not in any position to turn down help from any world." The talk of the Fanatic as a separate entity was indeed very disturbing; many of the same thoughts Agent Warne was having occurred to the blonde powerhouse as well, albeit minus some of the more legal ramifications. It certainly seemed to be a nightmarish scenario with few easy ways out. At the agent's suggestion, she nodded vigorously. "I'd be happy to fly the Browns out to safety, if they're ready to leave."
Sophistemon Posted September 23, 2017 Author Posted September 23, 2017 Gabby nods, but her mother Shondra shakes her head vigorously from side to side so that the beaded braids clack together like clucking tongues. "No!" she blurts. "Not without my baby! Jason's out there alone with that madman and if you think I'm going to leave when he's in trouble you're out of your mind!" Gabby huffed air through her nose and placed a hand on her mother's shoulder. The muscles beneath the older woman's skin are tensed and trembling; she's like a wire ready to snap. "Mom," Gabby says. "Look at them, mom." She directed her mother's gaze to the assemblage -- a blonde young woman that practically radiated power, a grimly noble (or nobly grim) man in a dark suit whose smoldering eyes burned with a promise of justice, and an armored amphibian whose bizarre physiology was less terrifying than it could have been due to the look of concern she was giving them. And that wasn't counting the three others -- the enormously muscled barbarian, the dapper spy, and the clown. The clown gave Shondra pause but his glowing yellow eyes were soft, his brow was furrowed, and his mouth wasn't twisted into any unnatural expression. So far as clowns went, maybe this one was all right? "Let them handle it, mom," Gabby continued. "Whatever this is, they can fix it. Dirk and Rhekgar have fought off entire armies on their own; they can handle one armored weirdo." The barbarian nodded his craggy-featured head, but the spy spoke up. "Too right," he said. "Don't you worry a whit, darling; we'll have your son back to you right as rain." Shondra sighed, then nodded. "Okay," she said at last. "Okay, we'll go. Thank you." Gabby released her mother's shoulder and turned to face Warne. "My brother's a genius," she said. "Like, mom and I are pretty smart and my dad was a whiz with effects, but Jason's a certified egghead." Her eyes saddened. "When dad died, he kind of lost it. Started skipping meals, classes... showers. Spent all of his time tinkering in his apartment until we found out he wasn't paying his rent and had to move back here with mom. Then, when we learned they were working on remakes of some of dad's movies -- without practical effects -- he went off the deep end. Those movies are my dad's legacy, you know? They're what he's left behind and I guess Jason thought they were trying to replace his work, ignore his contribution to what made the movies good in the first place. I mean, it wasn't the acting. He started talking about... man, I don't know. Something metaphysical something ontology something pantheistic solipsism. It's beyond me, but the gist was that he wanted to make fictional things... not fictional anymore." She looks at Rhekgar, and shrugged. "It looks like he got it to work."
Blarghy Posted October 2, 2017 Posted October 2, 2017 It was a good thing that Shondra relented, because Warne was on the verge of cruelly pointing out that another pair of civilians to babysit would endanger Jason, not make him safer. He remained suspicious about the two ladies, Jason too, and wondered if sending them away was actually a mistake. Leaving them temporarily at a police station was probably safe, unless one (or both!) turned out to be the Fanatic after all. This was quite the predicament. "Alright, then was the armored man part of your father's films too? Or any other franchise? Knowing their origins could help a great deal. If you have any other information, now's the time."
Heritage Posted October 9, 2017 Posted October 9, 2017 (edited) Seeing as the two rescued women were willing to go, Casey was more than happy to get them to safety. "Ladies, if you could please stand on either side of me and hold tight." Then she turned to the AEGIS agent and spoke matter-of-factly. "If you want to keep questioning them, you're welcome to come along." She put her arms around them both, then gently lifted up into the air, her golden glow becoming more pronounced as she rose. There was no great need for speed, so flew much slower than she normally would in an attempt to minimize the Browns' discomfort. Once she spotted the nearest police precinct, she made a beeline for it, and dropped her two dishevelled passengers at the front desk, where she spoke with the officer on duty. "Good evening , officer. These women will need to provide statements, but if you could them some blankets and maybe something to drink first, I'm sure they'd appreciate it; theyve been through quite an ordeal." And with that, she flew back to the others at the fastest safe speed she could muster. Edited October 9, 2017 by Heritage
Sophistemon Posted October 22, 2017 Author Posted October 22, 2017 As Miracle Girl lifted the two women up into the air, the younger shook her head at Warne's question. "No," stated Gabby. "No, I don't think so. He looks like a cheap knock-off of some other movie villain, and my dad was more original than that. Everything my dad made was special, unique. He put himself into the work." And then, with a whoosh of collapsing vacuum, they were gone. Rhekgar looked up, watching the three women fly away, his stony face betraying nothing. Finally, he looked back down and his steely eyes pierced into Sea Devil. "You wear heretech," he stated. "Your armor, can it sense things? Can it sense my truncheon? There are men that need breaking and I am not at my mightiest without it." Dirk laughed at that. "The caveman wants his club," he chortled. Then, turning to Warne, he winked. "You and I can agree -- all a man needs in a fight are his wits."
Blarghy Posted October 28, 2017 Posted October 28, 2017 "I take it that you won't be needing your firearm, then?" Warne responded dryly, still privately thinking that reequipping either man was a bad idea. As would be telling them that in advance. "Come on; the only way to find something is to search for it, and we need to locate Ridley and the last of the Browns as well, to say nothing of the Fanatic himself. Miracle Girl should catch up with us before we know it." He looked to Sea Devil; Rhekgar might be right, in that without their blond speedster, the Deep One was probably their best scout. "Do you mind taking the lead? We could use your nose, and whatever sensors your armor has."
Avenger Assembled Posted November 26, 2017 Posted November 26, 2017 Sea Devil led the way, the green joints of her armor glowing as she disappeared into the darkness below. The truth was that while her armor did tell her things, she had long since learned to ignore most of it - and had actually enlisted Jessie's help to paint over or otherwise seal off some of it. After all, her armor had been created by enemies of the Star Knights, unknown criminals who sought to bring war and violence to the Sea of Stars, painting the beautiful blackness of the sky with the blood of sentients. Such a thought wasn't necessarily frightening - but these were criminals, not agents of the Gods Below! So she'd learned to ignore her armor's lies, and instead to sharpen her own senses. To one who listened to the songs of between the worlds and heard the voices of those Beyond, it was no matter to find what was lost, to uncover hidden secrets, or to find those who hid. Closing her eyes as she flew, she sang out loud in a soft voice - which sounded distinctly like the barking of a large crocodile to most of those who heard her.
Heritage Posted November 26, 2017 Posted November 26, 2017 As Agent Warne had predicted, Miracle Girl did indeed shortly return to their ranks. "Okay, the Browns are giving their testimony and getting some hot tea; let's finish this." As she focused her amazing eyes on the path ahead, the blonde powerhouse shook her head. "I have to say, I'm stumped as to who our masked kidnapper is; either someone we already suspect is acting very much out of character, or there's a third party we don't know about involved in all of this." Casey sighed and cracked her knuckles, a truly impressive sound. "Anyway, I'll be happy when were all done with this business." Suddenly a though hit her, and she turned to the weird clown in their midst. "Punchline, when this is all over, what are you going to do? Are you going to be okay? Like, do you have a place to live and everythng?"
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