[IC] Welcome to Terminus [IC]

[ThreadNecro5]

Not quite what I intended. Devin thinks as he finds himself on top of a roof.

"I'll see what I can do " he says to Ruth. "Next time you're up here bring me some other gun, this one is not so useful up here, It's the armour. Empress should be useful too. And we should get this to Anthony, He can make best use of it." he says gesturing at the RPG.

Once Ruth jumps back down Devin finds some cover against any incoming fire and begins taking shots against attacks in Ruth's way. Few make any real impact but just because Devin knows they are of minimal use does not mean they know, and so some attackers flinch or dodge granting time for someone to deliver a killing blow.

The occasional nail still manages to find the hip, neck, or similar area however, and so a few duplicates drop.

Spoiler: Actions

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Devin is providing covering fire as requested.

[Thematthew]

Alice makes a quick strike at sword-clone, lashing out with her power in an instant. She grabs the sword as it drops and wheels around to face the nail bat only to watch him fall as Empress shouts out.

Sighing as she stabs claw-hammer, she responds, "What do you think I'm doing?" And dives at a small group of clones armed with guns that have turned to face her.

[Ramsus]

Empress notes with some annoyance that Matthias ignored her request and decided to go do his own thing. "Well, if he wants to run off on his own, no reason for me to stick around here waiting for him." she thinks as she ends her previous area of control and rights herself just enough to perform the next action she has in mind. She takes a breath and rolls out of cover behind Alice, who has switched off of her blades and back to her aura, and notes how the bullets just seem to disintegrate. Thankfully Alice is between the Horde clones and Empress, though of course she knew that and wouldn't have moved this way otherwise.

As she gets up from the roll, she grabs a handgun gun dropped by one of defeated clones. Then as she moves quickly over towards Alice she also grabs up a combat knife, a handaxe, and another handgun. As Alice continues to fight, Empress walks quickly past and fires a shot into the face of the one clone that could spare it's attention from Alice. She keeps moving, throwing down a new area atop the other few clones that were shooting in their direction, freeing Alice up to switch back to her more stabby use of her powers. Stowing the gun as she moves, Empress walks into her new area and proceeds to quickly and efficiently execute the clones caught in it with the axe and knife as she walks through their midst to cover from the batches of clones coming from the East and fires a few rounds into their midst to hopefully provide some cover for Matthias while he does whatever it is he's doing to them. Also hoping the noise will let Ruth know where she is when she's available to come pick her up.

[Feralgeist]

Noticing Empress get up and showing herself to be capable in a battle, the two squires separate. The one already formed follows at her side, jabbing at any clones who come near and viciously delivering coup-de-grace to those Empress doesn't kill on the first hit. The other one, once reformed, stands by Alice and covers her six. The remaining three roaming squires have grouped up and are roaming around killing clones as they come across them. The other five work feverishly on the gate while Incarnate holds his own against the melee.

[ThreadNecro5]

From his rooftop position Devin finds himself hearing footfalls from behind.

I'm no help here.

Turning around and heading to the other edge he finds a large group of the attackers are approaching form behind, with yet more on the rooftops with him, seemingly creeped up when he was distracted.

Instead of thinking Devin charges, sprinting and leaping across rooftops, likely enough to land him in the record books were this being recorded. He is on them in seconds. Two attackers in melee, One ice pick, the other with a wrench. Farther away another lines up a shot with a flaregun.

Devin uses his momentum to send ice-pick off the roof while his left arm backhands the wrench wielder into the flare gun's arc of fire, the disorientating light and sound swamping the roof while the backhand continues, sending the burning duplicate to the ground. Devin charges forward again simply ramming the shooter off the edge. As he turns a cylindrical device rises from the ground floor, landing on the roof.

Explosive. Nonlethal variety going by shape. Flashbang.

As Devin pulls his eyes away just before the blast, the wrench wielder duplicates itself, one copy launched off the edge the other flailing on the ground as it is blinded.

The ones below saw the flare.

Retuning to the outer edge Devin stomps on the prone attackers neck before it can recover. It begins to disintegrate. After this Devin begins to find a good line to fire to the horde below, behind a rooftop air-conditioning unit. He places his nail-pistol safely on the ground.

He takes aim with the RPG.

The group is scattered. Priority Threats? Sniper rifle? no clear line of fire, attackers mostly use close range tactics. Fifty calibre? Same problems. Minigun? Seriously? Attacker can barely move.

Devin leaned out more. Gunshots sounded as the group advanced.

There. One chained to a large container of some kind. A Bomb?

Devin wasn't sure if he was shot. Pain was a non-entity to him at this time.

A moment to adjust his aim.

A moment to pull the trigger.

Seconds of flight before the rocket became active.

It hit just in front of the one with the container, launching it backwards with it's payload. The hurled container bursts apart scattering the attackers with burning liquid. Some of them duplicated, their own burst launching the liquid farther, the new copies forming in the midst of the burning hellscape that lay below Devin, lit red by the flare still burning behind him. Around two-thirds dead. Napalm and ash mixing into a quagmire of fire that blocks some of the street.

Hope we don't need to retreat that way.

[cameronpants]

[Geist]
The hallway is dark. You find that walking down the hallway moves you faster than throwing your senses forward five inches at a time.
The hallway comes to a short staircase, with maybe three risers. As you decent the stairs you find the hallway opens into a sort of foyer. A bank of elevators to your left are open, and their flickering lights throw disorienting shadows against the floor and walls of the room around you. It appears that someone tried to destroy the lights in the elevator in haste, not fully obliterating the light they create.

A clicking sound from the far, dark corner of the room catches your attention. It happens once, twice- and your brain kicks into motion.

Guns being cocked.

[Feralgeist]

As the squires slam down on the axles to form the makeshift hinges Incarnate cleaves downward into the flatbed with his blade, shearing through it. He cuts a nearby bike rack in half and wrenches the gate open, slamming the curved metal bars into the thick underside of the truck to form a crude handle. "You three, hold the gate. The rest of you squires, to me!!" As the gate finishes the light around Incarnate flares, repairing his helmet and armour to look brand new and unmarred. As one the squires charge towards the east end. "Hold the wall!!"Incarnate runs along behind them and just before reaching the eastern wall he throws his Atlatl into the side of one building and his cleaver into the side of another on the opposite side of the strip. He grips his chains and yanks them with all his might, jumping at the same time and sending himself soaring over the wall into where the mob is thickest. As he descends the squires hurl their javelins, aiming their trajectory so they'll land around Incarnate. "You DARE invade MY domain?! You shall all pay for your impudence in blood!" Incarnate roars seconds before impact.

One of the squires atop the gate hurls his javelin, disappearing while it impales one of the clones on the west end.

[herodofcows]

The second Caleb hears the guns click, he flings his consciousness outwards on instinct. A part of him is ready to teleport immediately out of the building as fast as he can and to resign himself to wondering about the figure he was following.

Another part is curious: who IS this guy? Why is he taking so many pains to wipe out a group of amnesiacs? What ties does he have to Guardian, or whoever it was that put them here?

In the end, curiosity wins out.

"What do you want?"

BANG BANG BANG BANG

Turns out the old adage about curiosity and cats has some merit after all!

Caleb yells in pain as one slug embeds in his shoulder and another in his leg. He collapses back into the darkness, panting and doing his utmost not to whimper at the searing HEAT of the slugs in his body. His consciousness goes flying out, thinking only of escape before he passes out due to lack of blood . . .

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm leaving a gap here just in case the shooter(s) feel like any expository dialogue. Otherwise, assume he teleports into the first available open space.

[Feralgeist]

10 of the 40 clones milling around look up to see Incarnate and his vassals raining from the sky like a herald of incoming pain haloed by 7 glowing blue streaks of light. The 10 clones begin to scream, readying their weapons. Incarnate flings out his feet and catches two of them by the jaw, crushing them into the ground with his landing. The ground trembles with the impact as the two clones' skulls are embedded deep within the ashphalt. A small crater spreads from the hulking Incarnates' feet, knocking down the surrounding 8 clones. The seven streaks of light cascade around Incarnate like falling stars, each one exploding with light to reveal a barbed blue spear that lands with a noise somewhere between the -WHOOMPF!- of an accelerant lit fire and the -SCREE- of steel piercing concrete. Each javelin lands in the mouth of a screaming fallen clone. As the ghostly squires fingertips start to emerge from their embedded javelins Incarnate simultaneously counts his heartbeats and the number of his foes.

Spoiler: Big ol' fight scene

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One. 30 clones remain.
Incarnate stomps the remaining fallen clone in front of him, crushing his skull. He brings his right foot forward and crushes the newly formed duplicate.

Two. 30 clones remain.
Incarnate rears back, clutching at the chain connected to his cleaver with two hands. He swings the mighty blade forwards, screaming with bloodlust.

Three. 26 clones remain.
The blade solidifies four times, flickering in an out of corporeality as it slices in a 180 arc. Each time it flickers it comes into contact with a clone, reaving him in twain and sending the halves flying at the clones adjacent, who have begun to scream. Incarnate lets go of the chain and grips the one connected to the shield. The screaming clones hit by the body chunks manage to split, avoiding the attack.

Four. 34 clones remain.
Incarnate follows the momentum of his previous swing as his power coalesces on the shield, bringing it into the physical world. The motion flails the spiked shield, taking out the eight clones standing closest to the wall, the impact collecting them all and ramming the mass of bodies into a nearby bus. Behind Incarnate the Jagged cleaver continues its' arc, extended to the full length of the chain now, bisecting 6 more clones through the arms and ribcages. Incarnate roars in fury.

Five. 20 clones remain.
Ghostly hands reach out from the javelins at wrist length. Incarnate finishes his spin and yanks the chains, bringing his weapons to him as they fade to incorporeality. The shield and Cleaver lurk at his side. The entire mob screams and splits, doubling his foes.

Six. 40 clones remain.
Incarnate charges forward, gripping two of the ghostly hands beside him reaching out, searching. He loads the javelins into his ghostly Atlatl and flicks it forward with a -Whoompf!- the two javelins streak out and impale 5 lined up duplicates. Incarnate grips his Cleaver and shield and rushes the clone in front of him.

Seven. 30 clones remain.
Incarnate stabs a clone and uses him like an oversized hammer, pounding down on four clones that surround him. As the pulpy dissolving body slides off his cleaver Incarnate lets go of his shield and cleaver, keeping the shield corporeal. He slams into the shield with both fists, sending it careening out through the mass of bodies then yanks it back in, gripping his cleaver and knocking it like a tetherball. The shield twirls around Incarnate in a deadly spiral, the ghostly chain wrapping about his waist like a belt until it lands on his back, the spikes facing outwards. During its' circuit it cuts down a further 6 unlucky clones.

Eight. 20 clones remain.
The clones who were on the outside of the mob to begin with rush forward bearing their weapons. A clawhammer smashes a dent into Incarnates' thigh armour. A Chainsaw whines across his breastplate, shredding through some of the chain-mail in the joints. A quick clone with a desert eagle darts in and fires into the gap between the armour at Incarnate's right knee, shattering his leg. Incarnate falls to one knee and another clone sinks a machete into his left shoulder, amazingly finding the chink in his pauldron. A clone from further back throws a molotov, setting the blue knight ablaze. Incarnate laughs madly, and two of the ghostly hands, now reaching out to the elbow, grip a wandering clone from a nearby javelin by the face and yank it forward, impaling it on their attached weapons.

Nine. 19 clones remain.
Incarnates' helmet goes ghostly and he lunges backward and to the side and bites the neck of the clone with the gun, bearing him down to the ground. As his teeth crush the clones' larynx Incarnate grabs his gun and unloads the clip wildly, taking out 3 more clones and wounding 2 more. He rolls back and regains his feet, hopping backwards on his left leg while the flesh of the right reknits. He spits out the gobbet of ashy clone residue before his helmet solidifies.

Ten. 18 Clones remain.
Six more clones' screams reach a crescendo and they split, evening the odds. Slightly. Incarnate Lunges forward, grabbing two clones and smashing their heads together with a sickening crunch. He grabs the pair and hurls them at a crossbow wielding clone about to fire, skewing his aim and making him shoot his comrade in the face. The ghostly arms on the javelins linger, reaching out at shoulder length.

Eleven. 21 Clones remain.
Three of the clones in front of Incarnate rush in wielding a spiked chain, a pair of knives and a third with knuckledusters with riveted drill bits on the ends. Incarnate dodges a dagger and takes the second to the torn links in his mail, feeling the cold steel slide into his side. He headbutts the daggerwielder and raises a gauntleted fist, catching the swung chain and yanking the wielder into the path of the first clones' knife strike. He stomps on the fallen chain-wielders neck as he catches the drill-fist clone by the bicep, gripping the arm and crushing to the bone. With a mighty heavy Incarnate plants a boot onto the clones ribcage and yanks, tearing his arm off and plunging the drill-studded fist into the temple of the dagger-wielding clone. The body of the knuckle-duster wielding clone flies out from the impact of the kick and knocks another clone into the path of the flailing cleaver, which solidifies and decapitates it. The flames on incarnate burn and smolder, searing his flesh as the light pours forth, healing it.

Twelve. 17 clones remain.
Incarnate pants within his helm, barely feeling the flames."Squires!! Formation severed hydra! He kicks up the chainsaw from beside him and the spiked chain and threads it through the handle, tossing it back towards the crater that he landed in.

Thirteen. 17 clones remain.
A group of 7 clones split from the remains of the mob and rush the ghostly warriors, hoping to vanquish them before they form. Heads starts to emerge from above the pairs of arms on each javelin.

Fourteen. 17 clones remain.
The 7 clones raise their weapons and charge. The squires reach over and grasp the spiked chain, swinging it in a massive arc. It cuts through the clones and the duplicates that follow. Incarnate runs towards a clone in the group of 10 remaining.

Incarnate grabs the clone who is wearing a bandolier of grenades, embraces him in a tackle, crunching him into the pavement in a dump-truck force slam. As impact cracks open the explosives the flames on his armour ignite the contents. Incarnate laughs maniacally. "Welcome to the kingdom! Squires! Clear the area."

Fifteen. Battlefield wreathed in smoke.The detonation echoes on the street outside the wall on the east end., shredding through the remaining clones around Incarnate, who is flung backwards at his own wall and impaled on the jagged barricade. As the smoke clears his armour is revealed to be blown wide open, chunks of shrapnel embedded in the pale glowing skin. The blast has snuffed out the flames on his body and the light courses out through his wounds and over the shattered half-plate, quickly beginning to reknit his seared flesh.

Sixteen. 2+ clones remaining.
The sound of a shotgun rings out and two of the squires are discorporated, their javelins fall to the ground. A clone comes out of the smoke and brandishes an iron pipe. He walks towards Incarnate avoiding the squires, dragging the pipe along the ground menacingly. Incarnate lolls about insensate.

Seventeen. 3 clones remaining.
The smoke clears a little more, revealing the double-barreled shotgun wielding clone and another holding a baseball bat studded with nails. The clone holding the bat begins to scream, as does the pipe wielding duplicate, which holds its weapon aloft, ready to strike

Eighteen. 3 clones remain.
Incarnate comes to and tilts his head to the left, narrowly avoiding getting brained with a pipe. He rams his elbow into the rebar sticking into his back and snaps it, then grips the spike jutting from his front and yanks it forward, driving it into the clones mouth. "SILENCE!" Incarnate wetly bellows with a garbled rasp. The shotgun wielding clone finishes reloading as the baseball bat wielding clone splits.

Nineteen. 3 clones remain.
The shotgun wielding clone pulls both triggers, taking out two more squires. He screams in victory and keeps it up.
Incarnate finishes driving the metal spike into the clone and bears him down, falling atop him. He raggedly pants as his helmet starts to reform in front of his burnt shrapneled face. The two new duplicates, one wielding a spiked club and the other wielding a nailgun charge the downed Incarnate.

Twenty.
The final squire finishes pulling himself free from his weapon and charges towards the advancing clones. He plants the butt end of his weapon onto the ground and vaults them, kicking off the back of the nailgun wielder to increase his momentum. The squire drives his spear through the shotgun wielders eye just as the shells click into place. The squire yanks the shotgun from the dissolving clone and fires it at the back of the other clones, taking out the club wielder and missing the nailgun-holder. The clone takes aim at Incarnate and begins firing. After 4 nails sink into his right arm Incarnate manages to wrench the shield in front of him with his left, pushing off the ground with the bottom to weakly stand. He limps at the clone deflecting half of the nails and swings his cleaver in a throw. It cartwheels through the air weakly and lands on the ground. The nailgun wielding clone rushes Incarnate and whacks the side of his shield with the nailgun, knocking it out of the knights' weakened grip. He takes aim at Incarnates heart and then frowns, an odd expression on his face. A barbed blue javelin lifts him up from behind and tosses him to the side, revealing the final squire

.

The remaining squire salutes Incarnate and readies its' weapon in a defensive stance. Incarnate slumps into a sit, soft plinking noises emanating from him as the shrapnel and nails are slowly pushed from his healing flesh and through ghostly holes that appear in the armour. The ragged edges of the ruined plates blur into spectral light and slowly begin to warp and mend themselves, sealing him up once more in cold steel. He rests against a car and pants inside his visored helm.
"Gather the others." He croaks at the squire, who nods and begins collecting fallen javelins. The two squires flung earlier finish forming and trot over, saluting to Incarnate and guarding him while he heals.

[cameronpants]

[Geist]
Waves of pain flash down and across your arm and chest. Your senses are thrown forward to the clones themselves, using the sounds of the gunshots to zero in on their exact location. Two of them are crouching and are wearing the same body armor you saw on all the other clones. The third individual is wearing a different style of coat, no helmet or mask, and is holding a highly modified submachine gun. A flood of information appears in your mind concerning firearms and maintenance- you find you are something of an expert. The individual with the fancy gun speaks.
"Geist, Geist, Geist..." he chides, "always sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong. You should have stayed back with your friends instead of gallivanting off into the den of the lion." His voice grates, buzzes in your ears, like he's speaking with two voices only a few tones apart. One sounds more strained than the other, but both together evokes memories you can barely put your finger on.
"Another piece of advice for you, because my time's almost up. This entire city block is going to be hit with a dozen MOBs in under a minute. And there's still civilians hiding in the blast zone. Tick tock..."
The man and his two clones turn and walk towards the far end of the room. Now that your eyes have adjusted to the dark you see a large archway on the far end of the room.

[Others]
One moment, you are fighting the clones with great efficiency. Walkabout and Baroness Brigitte have closed distance to each other, squaring off against a small band of insurgents who came through the window Tempest was thrown through. Morphean looks down on the carnage he's caused on the neighboring street as the surviving clones attempt to split only to be swallows by the same fast-spreading fire that swallowed their brethren. Incarnate has met the clones from the East gate head-on, and Prometheus, Empress, and Whiteout have finished off the clones at the West gate.

The next moment, the world is alive with a noise so loud it's a physical thing. Five wide, round-nosed planes soar across the sky at mach four. Each drops two five-meter-long white and black tubes from their undersides before they're out of sight again.

You have thirty seconds before they hit the ground.

[Ramsus]

As information about the bombs suddenly floods her brain Empress curses and shouts out, "Everyone who can't get over a hundred meters away get close to Whiteout now! Prometheus we need all your spindles in her now! Not a request this time!" As she shouts she runs over to Alice and says, "Time to run! Hope your aura can handle this!" and assuming Alice also begins running, Empress will try to do so as well, as closely as possible.

[Dromuthra]

At the sudden noise overhead Matthias looks up to see the bombs dropping, momentarily stunned. Oh, holy ****. Empress' cry serves to startle him back to his senses. Alice cloud protects her but doesn't inherently hurt us - yup. Immediately, Matthias sprints over towards Alice and throws 6 Spindles into her and 4 into himself. Can't risk her getting empowered wrong, not this time...

What Empress said - everyone needs to either get out or stay RIGHT NEXT to Alice! Damnit, Incarnate won't listen... except to courtly things. Got it. Incarnate! Quest Defeat Our Enemies Complete - New Quest: Help Us All Survive! Done shouting, Matthias will grab one of Alice's hands to keep them linked together.

Spoiler: Spindles

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Spindles
Alice - 6 [Empower]
Matthias - 4 [Empower] - Goal is to guide Alice's power to increase the radius of her Aura and its strength. First priority is radius, second strength/supply/amount it can stop. If he can also nudge the power he gets towards a brute/durability power, he'll do that as well, but as a tertiary priority.

[Feralgeist]

Incarnate looks at the sky and gasps sharply. He grabs a spike jutting out hurls himself over the wall, the squires vaulting after him. His newly healed voice booms out as he runs towards the others."Move out! Formation: Maidens' Virtue Protectorate!" The squires each split off and run at the metahumans, their armour splitting open like blooming flowers. They leap at the party and latch on to anyone available.

When Matthias asks him to help everyone survive Incarnate slowly shakes his head. "It doesn't work like that. This." He gestures at the bombs. "Will be what ends it. One way or another. Still....We will try." He holds out his Atlatl and four of the squires line up, one by one they load their weapons in and one by one Incarnate launches four blue javelins streaking skyward towards some of the ordinance. He tosses his shield onto the ground and grips the chain, then nods to Walkabout, gesturing to the shield. "If you want to get out of range, Now's the time."

[ThreadNecro5]

Well... ****

Devin sees the bombing run start up and hurriedly grabs his nail-pistol.

He runs for it. Towards the closer west end of the mall. once he runs out of roof he jumps for it, barely slowing after the landing, and keeps running.

Devin keeps going, other problems forgotten. As much distance created as possible with a passing mote of attention put towards taking a route that avoids the inevitable hail of shrapnel...

[Thematthew]

Alice, hearing Empress shout and the bombs overhead, begins running toward the group, hoping she makes it in time.

[herodofcows]

Fighting the tears and screams that are welling up inside him as the shock begins to take over, Caleb barely registers the man's words.

Geist? What the hell kind of name is that . . .

Some of it comes through all too clearly, however. Namely "MOBs", "blast radius", "civilians".

"No!" he yells, half-incoherently, trying to stand up on instinct.

Tell the team . . . no, team can take care of themselves . . . NO, they're your ticket out of here . . .

Oh, you no-good-sonofab****, they're CIVILIANS, they're gonna DIE if you don't . . .

But they'll probably die no matter what . . .

He does the moral and practical calculus in his head. It takes waaaay longer than he's comfortable with admitting to himself.

. . . F*** it.

Blink

"Bombs, incoming!" he roars as he blinks over to the first civilian group in the Endbringer shelter, sprawling as his leg fails to hold him up, "Get low, or get OUT!"

Blink

"Bombs coming! Run or brace yourselves!" to the first occupied apartment.

Blink

"Bombs! Run or brace!"

Blink

"Bombs! Get ready!"

Blink

"Bombs! Get-"

KRAKA-THOOOOOOM

[ElFi]

For the first time that she could remember, Ruth prayed.

She heard the bombs following, heard the jets screaming past, heard Devin's shouts of warning. And she prayed, please, God, please, let me save them. Then she hit the ground running, inertia rocketing her forwards as she closed in on Empress. With every step she sped up, air friction hardly a factor, ignored, inconsequential, as she moved faster and faster. Then she reached Empress, and before she had a chance to respond Ruth slipped an arm around her waist and spun a full one-eighty. Moving faster and faster, probably reaching on a hundred miles per hour now, mind and body screaming with exhaustion as her continued breaker state drained more and more energy from her. She dropped Empress unceremoniously at Whiteout's feet and bolted back for Incarnate.

And so it went, back and forth, springing across the the alleyway like a human hamster, grabbing everyone she could and dropping them in Alice's safe zone, burning even more power to keep her thought-break form running to process information at such a rapid speed. It was nearly impossible to keep her thoughts straight, so Ruth didn't think. Just ran. And prayed. She prayed a lot.

Clarissa, Tony, Matthias, and Mayara, all safely dropped within Alice's aura range and hopefully protected from the explosion. Caleb. Where was Caleb? There he- no, that wasn't Caleb that was Devin, running for cover. But the bombs were mere dozens of meters from the ground and he wasn't fast enough. She was. Summoning every last reserve of strength she had left, Ruth rocketed forwards and grabbed onto Devin, carrying him forwards on her momentum. And then the bombs hit, and all was fire and brimstone and explosions and screams. But no pain. They'd made it outside the blast radius. She'd saved at least one person, that should count for something.

And then, like a marionette's strings being cut, both of Ruth's breaker states cancelled out at once, and she faceplanted into the pavement. And again, as she passed out, no pain. It was like falling into the stars.

[Feralgeist]

Incarnate yelps as Ruth yanks him backwards, hurtling him towards Alice.

"What? No! Unhand me, Renegade!"
Standing in Alice's mist, the armour on Incarnate begins to flake off like snow, disintegrating into the grey fog. He lunges forward out of the mist and slashes at the
ground with his cleaver rapidly in a rectangle shape, then slashes along the middle vertically dividing it into 6 slabs.
"Squires! Formation; Startled Armadillo!The squires back off from the mist before they can latch onto anybody, their armour snapping shut. They each stab a slab of ground with their javelins and lever it upwards until it slants over them as a wall in front of the group inside the mist. Incarnate kicks his shield up into his hand and throws it out at Ruth like a discus. Mid-flight the spikes on the shield curl downwards and it slams into the ground around the prone Walkabout, digging in and holding fast. The pulsing light on Incarnates armour coalesces onto the chain connected to the shield and rushes down the length, flashing the shield into corporeality. Incarnate leaps towards the hole he cut and grips the cleaver two-handed overhead, driving it down as he falls into a mighty slash.

Spoiler: Actions

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Sacrificing the music to finesse the shield a bit to guard Ruth.
Attempting to make a squire wall.
Trying to cut down into the sewers if there are any under where we are.

[cameronpants]

Spoiler: Retcon Note

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Remove Anthony from ElFi's response above.

[Geist]

The bombs hit and you are thrown sideways. A window and wall that you just senseported through was obliterated, throwing thousands of shrapnel-like shards of glass into and through your jacket. The last group you warned barely registered your sudden appearance before the bomb hit. They are sent sprawling, the noise, debris, and roaring heat engulfing them and you in an instant. Something must have hit your head, because you lose little blips of time. On each occasion you become lucid, you are confused and appalled at your situation. Fire, screaming, building buckling, wall imploding, flames as tall as skyscrapers. When you get a few frozen moments of lucidity chained together, you teleport a few civilians down a hall, or to street level. Inevitably, you end up back in the fray, amidst choking smoke and searing flames. Your concussed moments leave you befuddled, lost in each fragmented memory like it's your first. You're not sure how much time you spend there, but eventually there are no more people around to save. You find yourself in an alley, unscathed by the fires that rage on either side of you, occluded from columns of thick, greasy smoke. You lay on your back, staring at the sky. Burned, bleeding, but alive.

[Ruth and Morphean]

While Morphean was fairly sure he'd be far enough outside the blast radius, Walkabout ensured it. She lifted and moved him with speed he could hardly believe she could achieve. Incarnate's shield protected her from the raining debris and concussive shockwaves of the impacts. Morphean's own modifications adjusted instantly to prevent any deafening or sight loss from the intense explosions. His body even dodged incoming flaming slag with ease. When the first torrent of explosions ends, he looks on to what used to be the strip mall: now an oily, burning landfill of chaos.

[Baroness Brigitte, Empress, Whiteout, Incarnate]
A bomb hits about fifteen meters away, close to the entrance to the strip mall. Another lands on the other side of the group, twenty meters away. All is fire. Whiteout's aura is intensified for energy, and eats away the extreme heat and concussive shockwaves that come from the blasts. It also slows the torrential shrapnel storm that occurs moments later. Incarnate's wall protects you from the majority of the shrapnel from the one direction, while you are pummeled from the other. Some of you take lacerations, others solid impacts of tire-sized slabs of concrete. When the explosions end, you find yourselves in a clearing of clean pavement, and all around you is smoke and fire and destruction.

Whiteout's aura will protect you, but moving takes extra energy; your clothes and held objects are heavier, harder to move, and are slowly disintegrating; Incarnate's healing does not function in the radius, but otherwise does not degrade any further.

[Tempest]

The clone with the machete is good, but not good enough. He telegraphs his overarm swing a bit too soon. Stupid. I flicker my combat knife once into a long, thin foil. I stab it through the man's heart as I flicker into three consecutive selves that were mid-lunge. Skewered, he shudders out a breath and collapses. His three friends, making a tactical egress, turn and sprint through and open store window. I follow on their heels, flickering my foil into a sabre and severing the rear clone's tendons. He falls and begins to scream. A triple flicker cleaves his head from his shoulders. I crash through the store displays and over a counter in a zigzag flicker, dodging the bullets the lead clone fires from where he stops by the rear door. Calm, controlled shots. Expertise at firearms... Like I have. They move and fight like me, react like me.

I flicker my Sig into an Uzi and spray the last two runners down. No hope for cloning. I take a deep breath and focus. The way they move, the way they fight... familiar. Too familiar.

Suddenly, a torrent of memories flood my mind. Guardian, the Consortium, the Slaughterhouse Nine, the crater, the team... It all makes sudden sense. It seems I flickered enough to regenerate memories.

I spring into motion, flickering from sprint to leap to sprint to exit the store--

Into the face of an explosion.

Funny how that worked out. Just in case, in my last moment, I screamed three words, in the hope that maybe, maybe, Geist could hear me. That he'd be looking out for the group, keeping his friends, his comrades and confidantes, safe.

But he wasn't.

[ThreadNecro5]

Devin stood there, oddly serene.

When I find out who dropped an air strike on me...

He looked around at the burning mall

...I am going to hunt them down...

And then looks down close by at Ruth, on the ground, probably passed out.

...And gut them.

Thinking back he couldn't recall if she was hit by the shrapnel.

First making sure he himself is fine he gives all his joints a shake, checks his artificial leg's alignment, and checks for this stuff, knife still in pocket and pistol in hand.

Best check if she's alive.

Devin proceeds to go over Ruths breathing, heartbeat, checks her over for shrapnel wounds, and preforms a look over with his Thinker power in case they've, whoever they are, resorted to biological warfare. The thought passes his mind he may have accidentally shot her with a paralytic needle while holding the airgun in some kind of death-grip.

Only exhaustion. Overuse of power? or just stress?

He gives Ruth's shoulder a rough shake to attempt to wake her. Should that fail he goes about picking her up and looking for the others.

[Feralgeist]

Incarnate slowly rises to his feet, the last of the shrapnel clinking on the ground as his armour seals.
"The area is clear. Our task is complete."
His dark blue armour flashes into translucency and the squires start to fade away abd discorporate into tiny motes and specks of light. Incarnate starts to shrink and the ghostly armour fades away.

Tony's blue eyes scan the wreckage around them.
"Woah. That was intense. You guys alright?"
He looks over at where Tempest was and trudges over awkardly in his torn shoes. He kneels down and puts a hand to the charred remains. "I wasn't fast enough....I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Goodbye, Tempest."
Tonys' eyes flare blue and he shuts them tight, pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb and letting out a sigh. He stands up and dusts himself off. "May as well have a look around, see what's left."
Tony removes the shredded parts of his clothing, ditching the shirts and tearing away the bottom halves of the legs of his pants. He discards his ruined shoes and nimbly starts across the smouldering wreckage, trying to see if any stores remain intact.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Reverting back to stage 1, Trying to find replacement shirt & some thongs (or flip-flops for you 'mericans) and ascertain whether anything in that hardlight store survived.

[Dromuthra]

Walkabout got them all into position, and then the world went incandescently red and gold. A flying chunk of cement slams into Matt's left leg with a sickening crunch, and he can feel the bone snap. Letting out a short cry of pain, he collapses to the ground, thinking between the pain. Gotta *wheeze* fix *gasp* healing power *shudder* AARG

In a moment of clarity, Matthias snaps his spindles out of Alice, slamming 5 back into her and 5 into himself, reaching more on instinct than anything else for the healing power he needs. As he starts to grow, he uses it immediately to make a cast of black-smoke around the limb, sighing in relief as the pain starts to recede. As Alice's aura winks out, he looks up towards her and says, Sorry Alice *pant* needed to. I'll beurgh okay in a minute or two. You should stay 30 ft. away though for now. I can't move on my own yet - the healing power's only dealing with the pain right now, the bone's still a mess. I can probably lean on someone though.

Taking a moment to look around, he grimaces at his (now patchy) clothes, his eyes widening when he sees Incarnate and Tempest's tableau. I... damn. Damn it! Matthias sighs. We've gotta find the others and get out as soon as we can, 'cause I don't think dealing with the fire's gonna be a possibility. Mayara, Empress, Alice, Tony... Ruth was moving fast, so she's probably fine. That leaves Caleb and Devin. Anyone seen 'em?

Spoiler: Actions and Spindles

Show

Actions
1. Take the cement to the leg and cry about it
2. Start fixing said leg.

Spindles
Alice (5 Dampen)
Matthias (5 Empower)
--> Grabbing the healing power to fix said leg. Playing it that the early stages of the power are just blocking the pain, and as the power strengthens over the next minute or so it'll start the minute healing process.

[Ramsus]

Empress shakes her head in the negative in response to Matthias and tries her best to support him while pulling shards of rock concrete out of various places on her body, thankfully none of them starting to bleed heavily after the shards are removed, though it's still pretty painful and there's still some amount of blood oozing out.

[Feralgeist]

"Find others. Right." Tony paces slightly as the others start to pick themselves up.
urgh, I don't even know where to start! We've lost tempest, possibly Geist....Ah! Stupid hot rocks. I need to cover more ground.
Nobody is lost, Tony. He can still help you.
Are you kidding me? Look at him!
His flesh may be gone, but the Legion still remains. Open the vault, Tony.
The Vault?

Spoiler: Hallucination

Show

In his minds eye Tony goes to the place Aurelius resides. The mighty armoured figure is still chained to the floor in that cold armoury of blue ice but this time Tony notices something he never saw before. Lying in the shadow of the hulking knight is a small steel safe, riveted with spikes on every edge. The front face of the safe has a handprint. Tony imagines putting his hand to it and the safe opens. Bright blue light spills out and fills Tonys' vision, bringing him back to reality.

Tony smiles as he feels another presence in his mind. "Tempest...."Tony's eyes flare with blue light again and three ghostly figures start to emerge from his body. Each is bare chested and barefooted like Tony, with transparent blue skin, glowing blue-white eyes and a shock of shining white hair. They each stand 6 and a half feet tall and resemble Tony but with more angular facial features and sharper expressions on their faces. Their bodies are bigger than him but smaller than Stage 2, as they move their "skin" begins rippling and swirling on the surface with the wind, smoke from the nearby fires limning them with a haze and giving them definition. At each of their waists is a large jagged cleaver with a blade the length of a mans forearm.

[herodofcows]

Caleb rolls over on his side and stares blankly at the carnage around him. It's a moment before he realizes that he's groaning and crying all at once.

"Aaaaaaah . . . ahuhhhhhhh . . . huuuuuuh . . ."

The sound of burning is almost hypnotic, after a while. There's just too much happening for his senses to want to get a fix on it. For the second time in less than a few hours, Caleb is in shock.

I can teleport people. That's cool.

I could have teleported people out of there. I could have saved people.

I could have saved people.

"Oh god . . ."

He retches, but nothing comes out. He tries to get to his feet, but immediately thinks better of it.

Are they even alive?

He casts his consciousness out, searching the area around the mall. Horror wells up inside of him as he sees the absolute destruction that the MOBs have visited upon the area.

And then relief: They're alive. They made it.

And then creeping dread: Where's Tempest???

He teleports over to the group in a supine position. He's gasping, bleeding from the bullet wounds, and still weeping.

"Had to help civilians . . . guh . . . Found the duplicator. He knew who I was and that the bombs were coming and I think he teleported out too. Guys, we're being targeted by Guardian. I don't know why, but they want us dead and discredited. Please, does ANYONE remember anything? Anything at all?"

He's weeping openly as he begs, desperately seeking some kind of sense to all this.

"Please?"

[Dromuthra]

Matthias grunts as Empress helps him up, shifting to support her more as his power kicks in and his leg finishes mending. As the last of the black smoke dissipates, leaving an intact limb, Matthias begins to comment, Alright Emp, let's get you looked a- when Caleb appears right in front of them. What, Guardian? ****, you're bleeding everywhere - one sec. Walking over, Matthias gently - but quickly - extricates himself from Empress and the soothing black mist begins to roll out of his hands, hardening around Caleb's torso where his injuries are the worst. Emp, I'll get to you next, but what's this about Guardian? I used to work for/with them, and I don't remember anything bad... well, I guess there's a lot we don't remember. I know I was at Melbourne with them, but I don't remember how it ended - only that I was working with Occam and Iron Hide to minimize casualties when **** went sideways... bad intel. Inexcusably bad, I think - they misclassified the attack entirely and missed the route Leviathan used to get past our defenses. Steeling himself to confront the last part, Matt finishes, Anthony... didn't make it. But you saved people; hold onto that. And if we're being targeted, we need to get out immediately. As soon as you can, could you start looking for somewhere to hide? Because we clearly don't know what's at play here.

Okay, he's clearly to panicked and stressed (with good reason) to be lying... but that doesn't mean that what he said is actually true. Gotta find out more about what everyone else remembers about Guardian, see how it matches up with what I know.

Spoiler: Actions and Spindles

Show

Actions
1. Finish healing self
2. Begin healing Caleb before he bleeds out.

Spindles
Alice (5 Dampen)
Matthias (5 Empower)
--> Healing power, tinkered to take less time between using it on living subjects

[Ramsus]

Empress gives Matthias a very quiet "Thanks". She's exhausted and her nerves are shot from the fight and almost getting blown up and she knows she hasn't even really emotionally registered that one of them just died. Still she forces the words out of her mouth, "I remembered some stuff too. Enough to know Geist is right. This was Guardian all right. I know Geist and I were ex-members trying to do something about.... bad stuff they were doing? We had a plan and some kind of tinker device. Pretty sure we'd recruited some of the rest of you personally. Which explains why we're all here. And why they're trying to kill us. And I think the discrediting thing is true too. If they just wanted us dead they could have walked up to us when we woke up and just handed us food and water full of poison or whatever. The way this place is messed up and they're putting a disaster that kills people right on top of a place we've been? I think they did whatever dirty work they wanted to do here and are trying to make us look like the problem. So uh.... great new guys. They probably meant to fail to kill all of us with the bombs?" As she finished she just looks a combination of tired and pissed off.

[Feralgeist]

One of the ghostly echoes falls to his knees and opens his mouth in a voiceless yell of despair. Another draws his cleaver and raises it to the sky in a sign of victory. The third stands and stares at his hands, flexing the fingers. After a half second they vanish and four more emerge from Tony. Two of them split off and run into a different store each. One plants his cleaver in the ground and shakes his head and the destruction. The final one runs a few steps, looks around wildly, draws his blade and charges Tony. They all flicker again, and a new batch of 3 echoes emerges. Tony's eyes widen at Calebs' bloody entrance and he moves towards him. One of the echoes moves forward towards Caleb, concern written over its face. It gets closest but dissipates before it reaches him. Another grabs a rock and hurls it through a window that had already been smashed by the explosions. The third charges off down a random direction.

With each new batch of ghostly echoes they seem to look ever so slightly different from each other. The height and build starts to vary slightly and the faces and hair are nigh-imperceptibly changing with every iteration.

[ElFi]

Pain. That was the first thing Ruth felt as consciousness ebbed back into her; pain, and it was everywhere- Pulsing in her chest, shooting through her neck, running a marathon of aches and bruises up and down her arms and legs. She hadn't even known it was possible to ache this badly. And the pain was in her head, too- a migraine, probably, though she was no doctor. Well, one thing was clear: she'd overused her power, a lot.

Someone was nudging her. Ruth painstakingly opened her eyes (it hurt to do even that much), looked up, saw Devin, who was looking down at her with concern clear on his face. And something else. Anger? Panic? Confusion, maybe? It was hard to tell, what with the pain in her head making it difficult to think linearly. She shook her head to clear out some of the cobwebs (ow, big mistake) and slowly pulled herself into a sitting position. "Are you okay?" she asked Devin, throat and voice both rather scratchy. "I overused my power getting the both of us away from the bombs. Can you see anyone else from here?" It was only then that she smelled the smoke and burning rubber, and Ruth started to get the sinking feeling that maybe she hadn't saved everyone after all.

[cameronpants]

Spoiler: Devin Flashback

Show

Time lapse from previous flashback
You're sitting in a motel, on the foot of a bed, putting on some nice boots. You're wearing a casual suit, something both functional and stylish. Sitting on the other bed in the room is Jack- even though he changed his name, you still call him that. After your identities went public, he changed his name so he could blend in. But the media still called him Jack Slash, the Butcher of Boston. It was a small grace the outlets and Guardian chose him to be the poster child of your little group- better him than Ned, who looked more nightmarish than ever. Though Ned was in hiding now, shamed for his appearance and unable to function even partially in normal society.

You two could still blend in with fake names and fake IDs. Work from the inside of the system that failed you. Protect others who couldn't protect themselves. You'd already found a few sympathizers on the inside- a man with shimmering shadows, another with an amazing mover power- but you needed more.

"I think," he starts, twirling a nearly-invisible glass shard between his fingers, "we should maybe start looking into the Villain sector. I know we agreed we wouldn't, that being seen doing that would re-affirm our status as one of them, but I think there're more people out there who've been burned by Guardian who need our help. And we need theirs to make any kind of difference. For example, this little number down South." He slides a picture out of his pocket and tosses it accurately onto the bed you're sitting on. "Long story short, Guardian is secretly behind bankrupting her dad, sending her entire life in a downward spiral. Unbeknownst to Guardian, she had triggered the summer before, and she goes on a mini spree trying to figure out who ****ed her family out of two hundred thousand dollars. Guardian learns about it and bam, she's target numero uno for a couple weeks. She has to throw in with a bad lot- some villain named Ill Logic and his crew- just to get out okay. She's just figured out Guardian is behind all her woes and is about to take the step into big-league Villainy. If we step in, get her before things go too far... I reckon we save her and we get some major power on our side."

Spoiler: Tony Flashback

Show

New Memory

"The implant is a success. How do you feel, Tony?"
You are strapped to a table. The doctor, a medical tinker of some kind, stands above you.
Memories in your memory rush in. You were in a new body. Transplant. Yes, one of the duplicates of Criss-Cross- Wormwood- was rendered brain-dead from an aneurysm. The doctor- Morphean? -found a way to save you from your crippled body. He implanted a self-replicating DNA program into the body with no mind. Morphean walks closer and holds up a mirror so you can see your face. It's older than you remember; your old body, Tony's normal body, was scrawny, frail, sickly. This one, while still lean, had a menacing demeanor, in both expression and stature. You looked into your new blue eyes and high cheek bones and tested a smile.
"I had some minor problems with your... pollentia. Your power wasn't what I originally thought it was. I figured it out, eventually, but not before I got this," Morphean says, indicating a large bruise forming around his left eye and forehead. "The blue man- what's his name?- was panicking that I was returning you to a healthy body. He was babbling something about me being a warlock. He manifested a spiked shield and scored a good hit in before I removed the electrode from your brain. Had I not strengthened my skin and bone last weekend I bet he would have lobotomized me."
Morphean chuckles at this and removes the mirror from in front of you.
"Your vocal chords should be coming online... now."
You clear your throat as more memories flood your mind, then and now. You had an accident and became paralyzed- quadriplegic. The only way you could move was to let Aurelius take over, all the time, completely. Living day to day on his endless quest, never healing past a certain point, body damaged beyond repair over, and over and over... Your mind broke. You spent what seemed like years as a blurred passenger in an engine of death and fear. Something... else happened, in that time. An epiphany? One last desperate push before succumbing to full madness? Whatever it was, someone took notice. A concerned, sympathetic stranger. Events transpired, people talked... and now you were here.
Guardian still hunted you for what you did, for all the heroes and villains you'd slain. They didn't know it wasn't you, that it was him, that did all those horrific things. Or maybe they do know and they just don't care that you were in a nightmarish, mobile prison of decaying flesh and constant, nerve-damage-induced agony.

Spoiler: Ruth Flashback

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New memory

It was your first mission together. You, Caleb, Ryan, Clarissa, and Ned sat in the back of a windowless panel van. The names you were more used to were Walkabout, Geist, Windup, Empress, and Crawler. You and Windup were very familiar with one another; being duplicated from the same hero tended to do that. You knew he needed a bit of adjustment when the six of you were freed from your unification. His entire life was spent as a conglomerate that identified and thought like a female; now, he was himself, a tall and lanky man with with a proclivity for football and cigars. You yourself didn't feel the same disconnection from your previous life; as far as you could tell, you were the closest to the original Criss-Cross there was.

Geist nods to each of you before spacing out. He disappears a moment later. You always wondered how it felt for him; you had some amazing gifts, and your five forms gave you a wide array of...

...a headache rips through your flashback, blinding you for a moment before the memory continues...

...you're walking down an alley between two warehouses. Empress and Windup are behind you a few meters, scanning the area for any sign of movement. Crawler is leading the way. His body looks almost reptilian around his upper torso and arms, scintillating diamond scales covering most of his flesh. He has multiple sets if eyes set symmetrically across his head, neck, back, and shoulders, and his entire body was larger than normal. He must be at least eight feet tall.
"Okay, talk me through this one more time." Says Windup. "Walkabout, take me through this extraction step by step."

Spoiler: Caleb Flashback

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New Memory

Your body is far away, near the limit of your range. Your senses are anchored to a spot in the rafters of a trendy apartment in the middle of the city. Sixteenth floor, prime real estate, great balcony and view. Lots of ways to get in and out for you.

Below you, two men sit on a couch. One is dressed in GTR (Guardian tactical response) gear, and the other wears a costume- the name Magnate leaps to mind. A high-ranking Guardian hero from the east coast. The costume is all golds and silvers, bands of gleaming metallic chevrons and a big, gaudy crest on a shield sitting nearby. He is unmasked- not that it matters, as you have seen countless heroes and villains without their masks. And with your secondary power, you could...

...the flashback blips for a second and the men are talking. You stumble to catch what they were saying.

"...ended up killing her." the GTR was saying. He was nursing a dark drink in a rocks glass, holding it up to his bruised left eye in between sips. "She took Enrich and Charlie down before we got the collar on. Damn she-devil just ripped them apart, like they were paper."
"I think she goes by The Baroness or something", Magnate was saying, "but you didn't kill her. Experts say she'll outlive the sun." He, too, had a beverage, but his face was immaculate and his posture regal. "Fitting, considering what she is to those... mongrels. Still, the Foreign Division is doing admirably, considering their task. Would you say you have achieved a three-star recognition rating?"
"No. Definitely two and a recommendation, but nothing noteworthy. I'll make sure to push for the three-star closer to my evaluation. I have another big mission coming up- black ops, wet work. Some little villainess changed her routines and fell off the grid. Admin thinks she hooked up with _them_."
"The renegades we call 'the Slaughterhouse Nine'? I'll admit, that would be slightly problematic."
A buzz, and Magnate reaches for a phone in a secure pocket in his costume. You blip closer to see what he does. It's a map with a pin on it. The title says 'PRISONER #44941'. You memorize the location; near the outskirts of town.
"Hm?" grunts the GTR, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, the secure location of the Baroness. Due to her impressive power, I think we'll settle for two months of systematic torture and brainwashing. She could be a very useful asset."
"Need to know, I bet."
"Quite right, and you don't need to know where." Magnate deletes the marker and restores his Guardian issue phone to factory settings. "Can't be too careful with these things."

Spoiler: Mayara Flashback

Show

Same Memory, a few moments forward

"Gladiator, scout the perimeter. I'll finish up here." Tempest says, walking over to where you and Gladiator were kneeling.
"Yes, sir." Gladiator responds as he stands and walks briskly away. Tempest looks at you a moment and sits on the grating beneath him.
"So this is bad." He starts, looking at the pile of dead flesh behind you. "Remember how I told you I wanted to tell you something this morning, and then I got pulled away by the Major? Well... it was about this." He nods towards the remains of Crawler and the other bodies.
"We're... kind of on the same side. Crawler- Ned, to me- and the rest of these guys. Guardian has villified them to cover their own tracks. I know you're aware of some of it. I know you've been working with Guardian as a front to taking them down. Don't look shocked, I know about South America, what you did when they cornered you, left you without options. You did what you had to do. I get that. I'm not here to catch you or turn you in... Just the opposite. I'm here to make you an offer."
Tempest grows silent for a moment, wistfully pulling out random objects and flickering them into other things. It was almost a tic, a kind of Tourette's, flickering between knick-knacks and small mementos.
"You met Matthias back before he was secretly part of Guardian. He's the one who got you to escape that holding facility. He's the one who got you the cover identity to start working from the inside of Guardian. Thing is, Guardian got hold of their own secret weapon- parahuman they call Quarantine. He infected poor Ned here in a way his body couldn't adapt to or overcome- made him crazy. If it weren't for you, I'm pretty sure he would have killed Undine and Ja--- I mean, Undine and Prometheus. I forget sometimes he's got his own cover identity now. He's making something of a name for himself, over in the Endbringer fights. Got him next to big names like Occam, Meteor, and Legacy. Anyhow... I saw how you froze up. Is this the first time you've seen combat since you were in your village? I got to say, good thing Undine was here- steering your body to take down Crawler probably saved mine and Glad's life too. You feeling okay?" Tempest reaches out to move a strand of hair off your face, delicate in a way you didn't expect from him.

Spoiler: Clarissa Flashback

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New Memory

You're standing in the street. They had your group cornered, run ragged. They had a machine that could track Geist, bullets that phased through walls... It was miraculous you were all still alive. Whiteout's aura had saved you dozens of times by now. You quietly thanked the heavens her memories came back- she had been so brainwashed by Guardian as some kind of secret weapon she could barely talk. Once she remembered who she was- who she had been before the split- things began falling back into place.

But that was when Guardian pulled out all the stops.

You had all been working undercover for some time. Not you, so much- no, the subterfuge was nice, but it was beneath you, now. You'd much prefer to face things the way they were than try to hide from the truth.

That's why you dismantled the web of lies you and your team made about your power. You came up with a new persona- Undine- and a new power that could partially explain how you operated. Made it about water- ha! And Guardian and the media ate it up, slurped up every word. You straightened all that out. No way Empress would live another minute under the shawl of lies any longer. Let them know your power. Let the idiots in suits in high towers fear what you could do.

The others approach from different vectors. This was a meeting planned for a long time. It was the first time some of you had met in person. You, Empress, something of a leader for the rest of the team. Those that didn't see you like that would soon enough. Geist, your most trusted team mate, even friend these days. Ruth, whom you are just meeting; but Geist trusts her with his life. Whiteout, Incarnate, Windup, and Walkabout, all previously duplicates of a man who called himself Criss-Cross; something happened, and now they were their own people, with divergent lives. Incarnate's name used to be Wormwall or something; Incarnate was a boy named Tony who had his mind shunted into the braindead body. He was nice enough, if a bit shrill. Windup was holding the device, in front of him in both arms, like he would a large, sleeping child. Tempest and Jack stood nearby- or was it still Prometheus? It was getting hard to keep track which persona he lived by. Behind them was Baroness Brigitte, a secret weapon they were slowly introducing to the team from South America somewhere. And finally Morphean, the medical tinker. He was one of the originals, like Jack, and was around when Ned was killed.

"Okay," Morphean starts. "You know what we're here for. Guardian ships dropped Quarantine into the vicinity half an hour ago. The plan is to locate him as fast as possible, activate the device within two hundred meters of his location, and get out as fast as possible. Guardian has the place locked down in standard Class S procedures, but they've also blocked the lion's share of their own radio signals- and tacked on our own encrypted signal into the scatter. That means that even other hero groups will be gunning for us after all this is over. But we expected this. Plan is this: Windup, you go ahead. Geist, you scout with him. Promethe----"

Morphean is cut off by a loud, sudden whining noise. Suddenly, the world explodes into chaos and combat. Windup disappears, there's screaming, Alice yells for Jack to spindle----

The same shrill noise pulls you out of the memory, and the rest is blank. That's all you remember.
[END OF MEMORY]

Spoiler: Matthias Flashback

Show

Melbourne

Pounding Leviathan enough to make him leave took every ounce of strength your wave had. Meteor and Legacy were left battered, broken. Iron Hide was left in a coma the best medical tinkers doubted they could rouse him from. Ninety seven B- and A-listers perished or were injured so badly they'd likely die in the next month.

You did what you could, between the lies and the double life, but you were jaded. You wanted to know why, why did Guardian get it so wrong when you saw it right away? How many others suspected something was off but didn't say anything?

You went digging. You found the truth.

Major Carson Donovan. The name on so many reports, so many ledgers, so many orders. It was none other than...

...A headache pounds its way through your well-trained mind, and a new memory picks up...

You stood above a bleeding man. He was a parahuman, you knew. Middle-aged, dressed in a suit, broken glasses clinging desperately to his broken nose.

You had nine shards in yourself, and you held the tenth like a blade of glass. Tenderly, as if not to break it with the strength of your hand.

But you know what it could do. You knew the things it could sever, from any distance. As long as you could see it, you could cut it.

Cut like you just cut away your last shred of a secret identity. Slashed your last way to stay out of the shadows, to remain a part of society. You couldn't be Prometheus any more. There were security cameras everywhere, bio readers even Devin, your best friend, could not fool. This was a secure facility, safest in the world- or so they thought. And you slashed, stabbed, and gutted your way into it.

Only to find yourself face to face with the Major himself. It was all for this. After this, Guardian would pull out all the stops to kill you all. There'd been a kill order on the 'Slaughterhouse Nine', on your Consortium, for years. This time it would all come to a head and Guardian would know how deep your crew really went. But they wouldn't have their super-thinker at the top anymore, nobody calling the shots for a while. You'd have time for you last mission: to save Terminus from Guardian.

Spoiler: Alice Flashback

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Flashes, chopped up, chaotic.
**
Zigzag spins and throws a mancover at Geist. He blips behind her and swings a club of metal at the costumed hero's head.
**
Morphean gets thrown back by spectral mouth, all teeth and tusks. He smashes a vial at his feet and a cloud of purplish smoke encases his wounds.
**
You drive your fist into the pavement to resist the wind from Aerokid's air blast. He flies out of reach before you can counter.
**
Prometheus cuts Aerokid's leg mid fly-by; arterial blood sprays downward.
**
Zigzag faces off with you, Geist is nowhere to be seen. She zigs into your outstretched zag- you feint left and snap out with a short beam of energy to your right. She runs through it and drops dead.
**
Mayara is chased by a spectral head of a dozen gnashing mouths.
**
Promethus brings down a helicopter.
**
You're pinned down. Reinforcements.
**
You look at Promethus and nod. He nods back, grimaces, and---

---everything goes white as your aura expands. It shelters your friends and pulverizes your enemies. In his last moment, before he's erased, Guardian's own head parahuman, Magnate, Major Carson Donovan, reaches out his hand, and screams a single word-

.forget.