Thrash the Crack House

[Dr Archeville]

Reflexion and ManBat, as well as the Hispanic woman, all notice a fairly large man being thrown out of the 2nd floor window. He lands with a (to Nightrival a very satisfying) THUD...

Doing a quick look-around, Nightrival sees he is indeed alone, with no sign of the Asian woman. His trained ears do pick up on some activity downstairs, though, lots of crashing and bashing.

---

The Asian woman's eyes go noticeably wide when she sees "Foreshadow," but seems unphased by his words.

"Maybe you should've worn sunglasses!" she says as an intense purple light radiates from her, accompanied by a deafening near-ultrasonic whine. [DC 18 Reflex save, please]

---

Reflexion remains hidden, planning what to do next.

Heavy stands up and yells out, "Dat da best yous got!"

As ManBat dives towards the Hispanic woman in the doorway, he feels another wave of pain tear through him! [Another DC 20 Will save, please]

[if the mental blast doesn't stun him], ManBat dives for the woman and connects with his claws, raking across her midsection (and shredding her rather nice dress), but she twists and turns at the last second to just evade his grapple. Eerily, she remains silent the whole time. Before he swoops back up, ManBat can just see past her into the living room, sees someone in there whirling about like a top. He could also see, out of the corner of his eye as he made his way back into the night sky, that the woman was now... smiling?

The lone moseying druggie reaches the crackhouse, and begins to clamber back into it through the broken window.

[pookaking]

Manbat could feel a wave

of pain try and wash over him again but it didn't hit as hard as before. Manbat was confused as to what exactly the woman was attacking him with. She didn't point, she didn't bellow some cheesy attack phrase, he just grinned like a cat playing with a mouse. Manbat dove in and attacked with his claws. Unfortunately, she twisted out of his grip. He took to the air before she could blast him again.

Manbat's head pounded from her first attack and he dissappeared over the edge of the rooftop. Sitting unseen on the peak of the roof he tried to gather his wits about him.

OOC: Move action - retreat to rooftop, where he can't be seen. Standard action - nothing, however should be able to regenerate that bruised level.

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival grins to himself when he hears Heavy collide with the ground. Well, that's one 'o them outta th' house. He approaches Slick Willie and kneels at the man's shoulders. In one motion, Nightrival heaves Willie over his shoulders in a firefighter's carry and walks over to the window. He takes one step outside and launches himself into the air, while simultaneously tossing his swing line over his shoulder and snagging the eaves with the hook. Nightrival swoops over the commotion below and releases the line to land near the edge of the front lawn. He slides Willie off his shoulders and checks his condition. Although Nightrival views criminals like Slick Willie as scum, he silently prays the man is not severely injured, or worse.

[Heritage]

The Asian woman's eyes go noticeably wide when she sees "Foreshadow," but seems unphased by his words.

"Maybe you should've worn sunglasses!" she says as an intense purple light radiates from her, accompanied by a deafening near-ultrasonic whine.

Still in her Foreshadow guise, Grim leaps through the kitchen door just in time to avoid whatever freaky power the Asian girl was laying down; once in the living room, she rolls to her feet in a battle stance, fists ready to fly.

[Dr Archeville]

The Hispanic woman, still grinning despite losing immediate sight of her quarry, scans the area outside. She sees Nightrival swinging about, and reaches out to him with her mind.

As Nightrival swings Willie to a safer location, he suddenly feels as if four daggers were raking across his chest and abdomen! Looking down, Willie's still very unresponsive, so what the heck could it be? A quick sweep of the battlefield reveals the Hispanic woman, the front of her dress shredded, glaring at him form the doorway of the crack house...

... and "heavy" charging right for him! Luckily, his eyes are apparently not yet adjusted to the darkness outside, and he trips over the curb and into a light pole. This does not seem to phaze him, though, as he turns to face Nightrival.

---

Reflexion continues hiding and planning. He can just make out the tip of ManBat's wings peeking over the roof....

---

Tucking and rolling, Grimalkin -- or, rather, "Foreshadow" -- finds herself in a ratty living room, with a dark-haired red-dressed woman looking out the front door, a disheveled strung-out druggie slowly crawling in through the busted front window, and 'Twitchy' Pete still whirling around. Pete's babbling squeals move another few octaves higher, and he comes right at her. In his whirling flurry, he just manages to clock her jaw.

[Shadowboxer]

The invisible daggers tear into Nightrival, leaving behind thin red lines across his chest and stomach. They certainly hurt, and he winces from his inexplicable wounds, but he is able to remain on his feet and shrug off the pain. He has felt worse in his short career as a costumed crimefighter, though if this mysterious woman continues to strike out at him she might be able to cause even worse damage. Her torn dress tells Nightrival the whole story. He sees Heavy fall over his feet and he grins to himself. The lummox won't be a problem for now; the other attacker is the real threat.

"I hate ta hit a lady," he growls to the woman, "but I'm guessin' yer far from one."

He somersaults across the lawn and lashes at her with a side kick, focusing all his strength through the narrow space.

[pookaking]

Manbat his head a little clearer leaps off the edge of the roof. He noticed a new masked man tusseling with the hispanic woman. ~That must be the one calling himself Nightrival~ he figured having heard part of the group's conversation on the rooftops. ~Good he can have her,~ he thought, as he sought out a new dance partner for himself. He noticed the big guy who ran into the light pole. ~Hit'em while they're down? Seems kind of underhanded...~ he thought with an evil grin. He flew over Heavy's head and let loose a sonic screech (DC21). Who knows maybe switching parters was the way to bring this nightly do-se-do to an end.

OOC: Not sure if this counts as a sneak attack or not so I didn't figure in the extra damage.

[Dr Archeville]

[[ Invisible Castle is down, so I can't check the rolls, but I had looked at it earlier and I don't believe Nightrival's attack did more than +9 damage ]]

The sheer force of Nightrival's impact knocks the Hispanic woman into the door frame, but her reaction was not what he expected. She doesn't cry out or even say anything, though she does gasp... but it's not from discomfort. Grinning like a cat that's about to eat a canary, the woman stares unnervingly at Nightrival, and the crimefighter suddenly feels a pain in his side, the same side he'd hit her! [DC 22 Will save]

---

The man-mountain Heavy was slowly picking himself back up as ManBat's sonic shriek slammed into him. One foot slipped but he quickly caught himself, and soon he was fully back up on his feet -- and looking up at ManBat. "COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT, CHICKEN-MAN!" he hollers.

---

Reflexion is still unseen.

"Foreshadow" goes that way, too, as Grim switches her invisibility back on while she dives towards the hallway for cover/escape.

The lone druggie, having crawled in through the broken window, curls up next to the busted television set. He seems oblivious to the few bits of glass sticking in his limbs, or the blood slowly dripping from the cuts.

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival groans, grips his side, and takes a step back. The house and front yard tilts and spins before him, and his feet have trouble finding the ground. He shoots a glare at the grinning woman. He knows what's happening to him; he doesn't know why. She could have superpowers or some kind of technology, though it really doesn't matter to him. He has to find a way to take her down without giving her a chance to reflect the damage back to him. That won't be easy.

His ears ring from a high-pitched sound coming from behind him. He turns his head and sees the thug Heavy yelling at a giant . . . . bat? He does a double take to make sure he's not hallucinating and indeed he sees a human bat flying high in the air. Is that what I saw earlier? he thinks. Man, I'm never gonna get used ta this town. But if he's giving Heavy a hard time then he must be fightin' fer our side. He returns his attention back to his new opponent, in an attempt to straighten out his fractured vision.

[pookaking]

From a safe distance, Manbat flew in circles around the big man. He let off a series of high pitches screeches that sounded more like the laugh of a hyena than anything else. At least this opponent he could fight. This one wouldn't retaliate with mental screams of pain. Manbat,once again, opened his toothy maw and let loose a blast of sonic energy towards the one called Heavy.

As he fought his own opponent he couldn't help but catch a glimps of the hispanic woman and her new opponent. ~Perhaps he could find a weakness to exploit.~

OOC: Feel free to roll an ordinary D20 on your end since invisible castle doesn't seem to be working still.

[Shadowboxer]

Though she doesn't know her opponent, Grim senses that this lady is not someone she can push around like a common criminal. Grim will have to rely on stealth and power if she plans to walk away from this fight. Her face still stings from the unexpected, savage attack from Twitchy Pete. She terrorized punks in the Fens with her supernatural abilities and she's learned a trick or two in the last few months. Grim needs to play on her strengths.

Grim remains invisible and inches towards the woman like a spider, lashes at her unsuspecting victim with her viscous claws, and then skitters back to the corner of the kitchen.

[Dr Archeville]

The Hispanic woman's eyes stay locked on Nightrival, and he feels another sharp pain, this time along his arm. Almost in the exact same spot as the large burn mark is on her arm. (A DC 21 Will save this time.)

Heavy shifts back and forth as he tries to size up were the Giant Bat-Monster will swoop next. "C'mon... c'mon!"

'Twitchy' Pete keeps whirling, whirling towards... well, one would be hard pressed to tell, really. He whirls about a bit, almost smacking into Grimalkin a few times but jerking away at the last instant, and then heads up the stairs. Or, at least, he tries to -- once he gets to the stairs, he falls over himself. If anyone were in a position to see, they'd see him sorta tumbling up the stair case.

But Grim isn't worried about that, at least not overly much, because she is totally focused on the Hispanic woman, the one who seems to be giving her partner/'boss' some discomfort. The woman does not appear to see her, allowing Grim to land a solid blow on the woman's back with her wicked claws.

The woman freezes, then begins convulsing and writhing, but from the look on her face Nightrival can see she's not in agony, she's in pure ecstatic bliss. She slumps back against the inside wall, face flushed, breathing quickly and heavily, and sorta slide off a few feet to one side, leaving a smear of blood on the wall.

ManBat's sonic blast hits Heavy almost right between the eyes. Heavy reels back, clearly injured, but does remain -- if just barely -- on his feet.

[pookaking]

Manbat clings to the corner of the building. ~It is like hitting a mountain! This guy just won't go down,~ he thinks to himself, ~...but even mountains can be eroded away.~

Manbat decided to give it one more go; he streatches his mouth wide showing off his fanged teeth. He then kicks off the wall and takes to the air. He circles the large man as he fills his lungs with air. Finally, he makes his move diving towards the man with a banshee-like screech. The air between the two ripples with sonic energy. Once again, Manbat flutters back into the night sky carefull to stay well out of reach.

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival feels a sharp pain enclose around his arm and shoot into his head, filling his head with brilliant white stars. He clutches his arm and staggers backwards like he's terribly drunk. All he can do is fight to remain conscious and standing or else he'll drop to the ground in a helpless heap.

---

Grim, still invisible and hiding in the shadows, grinds her teeth when she sees Nightrival suffering under the Hispanic woman's power. Besides, she always get grouchy if she doesn't kick at least one bad guy's butt by the end of the night. She stalks back down the hallway and slams her hardened claws into the woman's back.

"You're not playing fair, lady!"

[Dr Archeville]

The Hispanic woman continues to convulse in pain/pleasure as Nightrival slumps. She can just barely be heard panting.

Grim sneaks back and then forward again, slamming her claws into her. The woman lets out another gasp, but remains conscious.

Outside, Man-Bat's cry pummels Heavy into unconsciousness!

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival hunches forward and grips his knees with his hands. He sways from side to side; his eyes search for a single object to focus on so he can pull himself out of the murky fog filling his head.

---

Grim took a few steps back after she drove her claws into the woman's back. She grins when she sees the woman struggling with pain, and then she creeps down the hall again, though in her haste she quickens her pace to reach her beleaguered opponent. She coils the claws on one hand into a fist, which resembles a sinister-looking mace, and with great concentration she swings it at the woman's jaw.

"And I hate it when bad guys don't play fair!"

[Dr Archeville]

Grim dances back, then dashes forward for another hit... but the Hispanic woman turns and glares at Grim!

Grimalkin suddenly recalls every moment of pain she has ever experienced, from the tiniest of scrapes and splinters to the most severe of beatings and shootings. She also recalls pains she's never experienced before; perhaps they are pains the Hispanic woman has endured. All of it explodes into her at once, and the vigilante lets out a heart-wrenching shriek as she collapses into unconsciousness from the overwhelming pain.

The Hispanic woman smirks as she sees her prey fall, then leans her head back against the wall, still gasp-moan-sighing.

A purple flash of light in the next room (seen from between the gaps in the shoddy door) almost catches Nightrival's attention, but the sudden appearance of the Asian woman -- now carrying a very large and very full-looking duffel bag -- brings him fully back to the immediate area. As the very last of his haze clears, he sees the Asian woman grab the Hispanic woman by the hand, then both disappear, leaving behind twinkles of purple light.

And now Nightrival's head is fully clear, at least from the beating. Anger may be starting to cloud him again, though.

Manbat... is somewhere.

[pookaking]

Manbat drops out of the night sky like an ink drop from a bottle. With a dull thud he crouches right behind Nightrival. At first he appears to be more monster than man, but as he slowly stands it is obvious he is a mixture of both. "Some open house," he jokes. "Name's Manbat, I'm new to the neighborhood. I really hope you are the good guys. Mind filling me in on what exactly is going on here?" he asked as he shouldered his way through the doorway and into the house. His giant pointed ears swivled back and forth searching for more trouble as he eyes took in the remains of the battle scene.

"Who was that lady?" he asked obviously in referance to the hispanic woman.

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival was about to lunge at the woman in the doorway when she vanished with the other woman in a burst of light that burns his eyes. Though relieved he wasn't knocked out of the fight, the crooks' escape leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. The cops can haul Slick Willie, Heavy, and the rest of the occupants away, and the neighbourhood will have one less drug house, but the question remains: Who were those women? What was in that duffel bag? And what was really going on in that house? He looks into the doorway and sees Grim lying unconscious on the floor.

We'll meet again, lady. Just you wait.

He turns to face Man-Bat when he feels the earth slightly tremble from the hero's landing.

"I'm Nightrival, one of the good guys," he replies. "Thanks fer the help. We were bustin' up a drug house when everything got outta hand. We musta stumbled upon somethin' big."

He jabs his thumb in the direction of the house. "I gotta go and check on my partner. There was another dude with us, but he disappeared. Any chance ya seen him?"

[pookaking]

"Last I saw he was in the living room. I never saw him leave the house. I'll have a look around." Manbat leapt and clung to the wall; he ran across its surface heading for the upstairs. He kept an eye out for Nightrival's friend as well as searched for clues as to what the group may have been up to.

[Shadowboxer]

"Huh. Well, alright then."

Nightrival watches Man-Bat leave to investigate the scene. He strolls over to Grim and checks her vitals; she's breathing and her pulse is steady, though she is completely unconscious. He picks her up and places her down on one of the couches in the living room.

"Ya did good, kid," he whispers

He turns and begins examining the contents of the room, with the intent of searching the other rooms for clues. He knows there are more addicts shambling around but he ignores them at the moment. He'll round them up later and try to get them to the hospital.

Maybe the docs can stream 'em inta a rehab program. Right I gotta look around 'fore the cops run all over it. The bad guys musta left somethin' behind.

[Dr Archeville]

Skittering upstairs, ManBat sees 'Twitchy Pete' still flopping/whirling around like a fish out of water, on the stairs.

One of the druggies is lying on the floor downstairs, next to the couch.

[ No, these are not the results of your Search checks, this is just me explaining what's still left around. ]

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival kneels next to the man lying on the floor. He grabs his shoulder and roughly rocks him back and forth. Let's see if he's any use ta me.

"Yo, man. You awake?"

[pookaking]

"Hey buddy, you okay there?" he asked as he clung from the ceiling of the stairwell. "How 'bout you chill and tell us what is going on here yes?" he asked with a flash of his fangs. Manbat wasn't sure who this man was, what his role in things were, or if he was even in his right mind. ~Is this some sort of super siezure?~ he wondered.

OOC: Total Defense, just in case

[Dr Archeville]

"Dave's not here, man..." the druggie mumbles to Nightrival.

Spazzy McFoamMouth... spazzes and foams a bit at the mouth while still flopping about on the stairs. He doesn't really seem to see the hideous bat-monster hanging from the ceiling above him... or maybe he does, and this is his reaction.