Futuristic Arcadia: Heroes World Brave

[PiePillager]

Henry was able to swing over to the window of the building across from him. Two voices could be heard, huddled behind a bed. In front of them was a door, that had a dresser propped up to ensure no one would break in. Large stomps could be heard outside in the hallway. "Hey...Hey," Henry whispered, reaching over to tie the rope to a small desk near the window.

"I'm here to help! We've got transport for you outside..." he continued, as he got a better look at the two hiding behind the bed. A mother and her son, around 8 years old.

"Take him first!" the mother exclaimed through sobs. "The rest of my family is on the other side and-,"

"If you're trying to stick around, that's not an option right now. This city is a warzone and who knows how much worse it'll get before it's over. I can get the rest of your family out too! I promise!" Henry noted.

"Be careful! They're...they're..." the woman began to trail off, unable to finish the words. She appeared to be in a state of shock. Henry frowned before he heard the sound of the VTOL passing by.

"Here, look. Your ride is here. Whatever's going on, I promise I'll make sure to get the rest of your family out of here as safely as possible," Henry noted, patting the woman on the shoulder, assuredly. She simply nodded and picked up her son as the VTOL arrived to transport them elsewhere.

As the VTOL took off, the sounds of its thrusters were enough to shake the room slightly and agitate whatever was stomping around outside. It didn't take long for the footsteps to increase in volume, swiftly followed by the door splintering into pieces as a jagged, bony blade sliced the door and the dresser in front of it, into splinters.

The blade belonged to a humanoid creature. Around eight feet tall. the right side of his face remained human while the left was a hellish red carapace. Bones jutted out from his gorilla-like left arm, bones jutting out of it, giving it an appearance akin to a spiked club. "Just my luck..." Henry noted, as he raised his blaster and set it to stun mode.

 

[DarKnight36]

"Alpheum isn't the only one interested in finding out what happens when you inject souls into people," Sasha said after a moment. "Russia also entertained the notion. Although they weren't so focused on human souls." Sasha paused. "This might seem off topic but trust me - what did you think about the creature that attacked Atlas City?"

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko paused, spoon halfway to her mouth, eyes narrowing at Sasha.

"...It was..."

Her brows furrowed in thought. She put the spoon back in the bowl and placed a hand on her chin.

"Formidable. There were a lot of heroes fighting it and the damage it caused was tremendous. Its size alone was daunting and at first, it seemed like we were hardly making a dent. Well, from what I saw. It... wasn't normal. Nothing like I had seen before."

 

[DarKnight36]

"Right, nothing you've seen before," Sasha agreed. "And that's because of its nature. It was something of Kaos, a dimension very, very unlike our own." Although the title Sasha used sounded like chaos, there was something sinister about the word, some unnatural emphasis that attached itself to his tongue.

"Russia has fought something similar before," Sasha said, taking a bite of his steak. "And that's because of the адский проход. Hell's passage. They have a device that opens it. They call it тусклая дверь. Roughly the dim door." Sasha pointed at himself. "That's where my demon came from."

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko's first instinct was to shout something about chaos being out there, but as she realized Sasha was still talking, she strongly restrained herself to listen. She was nodding along until Sasha got to the end and with that, she recoiled from him like as though he had just tried to throw acid on her. She quickly regretted it though when her knee hit the table and some of the soup spilled out.

"Ow!" she cried out, rubbing her knee and pouting slightly. Catching Sasha's expression, she explained, "I was going to make a joke about you coming to take my souls from me but my knee apparently thought that wasn't a good idea."

She sighed and grabbed napkins for the mess, adding, "...unless?"

 

[DarKnight36]

Sasha smirked slightly but said nothing for a moment as he ate. He then looked at Akiko. "Well, now we know a little bit of each other's pasts. Similar enough, yes?"

 

[Lord Saethos]

• Richard Mackenzie
• SINS Senior Agent Private Office, SINS Field Office, March 25th, Morning.
• Washington DC, March 25th

• 
  
  
  ​
  
  
  Los Angeles, California: March 25th, 2045 - 8:20am
  
  Feeling a rush of wind strike him, Richard turned to see as Chizuki manifested in front of him. "Well good morning. I knew you were fast, didn't realize you were this fast." He smiled before indicating to the bags he was carrying.
  
  "I uh... Don't exactly pack light, sorry. Think it'll be okay?"
  

  
  ......................................................................................
  ​

  Anthem, Nevada: March 25th, 2045 - 11:20am
  
  Before too long, the two ice supers were barreling through the air, which Richard realized only afterwards might look a bit strange to those looking in the sky. Well, nothing to be done about it now...
  
  Anthem City came into view, and Richard could already see the destruction that was being wrought. He felt his heart sink a little as the scope of the issue began to settle in. He'd gotten somewhat used to spying on warehouses lately that he'd forgotten that, somewhere up the supply chain, there was a manufacturer. Evidently, Anthem had been one of them.
  
  Richard called out to Chizuki, still in cold air/gas form, to land them on a rooftop near the frontlines of the fight, but still about a block away to give them a buffer zone.
  
  After they landed, he began trying to scope out a good area to set up as a sort of storage area for some of his gear.
  
  "Thanks for the lift by the way Chizuki. Though I must say, you have a funny idea of what 'getting close' to someone means." He gave her a slight smirk as he began checking on his gear.
  
  As Richard began to remove the mask of his suit from a bag, he heard Henry's voice calling out.
  
  "White Death here, just arrived in Anthem. How you doing down there Macroman?" Richard felt a small sense of relief and happiness to hear Henry's voice again. Was good to have some backup here, bring the team back so they could tackle this crisis together. He wondered where George might be right now as well?
  
  Richard looked back to Chizuki, realizing the severity of the situation.
  
  "Do you have gear that's up for the task here?"
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  ​
  Agent Peter Radovan's Radical Private Office, SINS Field Office: March 25th, 2045, Morning
  

  ​

  Peter nodded along with Hudson's break down of the situation behind the privacy screen, throwing bits and pieces of clothing helter skelter as he tried to decide what to wear.
  
  "Good observations Agent, but the 'Red Army' is called Rubra Morte, and I'm about 90% confident this factory has been doing sketchy stuff for a much longer time than you or I know."
  
  Peter started slightly when he heard glasses shatter against the wall. Why did Nina do that? Why on Earth did she think it was okay to just break his glasses? His moment of confusion was soon replaced after he realized...
  
  Oh, right... He had done that.
  
  When he came out from the privacy screen, Peter was uncharacteristically dressed in combat gear, which to this point, Nina and Hudson had likely never seen him in.
  
  He peered over at the screen the news was being displayed on, to see that some heroes had already shown up to interfere in the situation. The slightest narrowing of his eyes indicated recognition. "Definitely not locals..."
  
  Peter turned his gaze back to Hudson, then to Nina.
  
  "Listen, you're wrong about the government. Sure, they don't normally care about Anthem, but at this moment, they absolutely do."
  
  He walked over to a portion of the office where the wall had a square recession built into it, and a glass countertop over the finely lacquered dark wood. The recession was deepened to allow the space beneath the recession, and to its sides, to have hidden cupboards, book shelves, and more. Above the recession, lights were set that allowed a soft glow to illuminate the area. Within the recession itself sat a copy of Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion.
  
  Peter pressed a hidden button, and the painting was mechanically drawn up into the wall, revealing a cache of weapons now on display. He began grabbing pistols, knives, some hatchets, and a rifle that had been perched on a mount inside.
  
  As he pulled it out and into the light of the office, the words 'This Machine Kills' could be seen etched into it.
  
  "The problem is folks, the government probably does not know who they're dealing with here. I can almost guarantee that."
  
  Peter turned to Hudson again, a small smirk on his face. "The factory is a bonus, just can't decide if we should blow the whole thing up, or secure it."
  
  
• 
  
  
  The White House, Washington DC, March 25th
  
  Claudia Burke marched down the hallways of the West Wing, cursing both under her breath, and out loud, as she made her way to the Situation Room. "Can't get through a month without another terror attack..."
  
  "I hear you there."
  
  Claudia turned suddenly to see Victor Novadrak standing there.
  
  She sighed in slight relief. "Victor, where have you been all day? We should have had statements our already!"
  
  Victor rose a hand to urge calm. "I had some matters to take care of Claudia, we're preparing a very multi-faceted response to this. This can't be like Atlas City if we want to-"
  
  "Keep our jobs?" She interrupted with a bite in tone. "That's the least of my concerns Victor, and it should be the least of yours too."
  
  Victor chuckled slightly as he approached her to join in the walk to the Situation Room. "I was going to say, if we want to assure the American people, and the Peoples of the World, that we're capable of handling anything that comes our way."
  
  "Of course we are Victor, screw this Cold War propaganda nonsense. I don't care what the commies say, it's not like they're gonna start changing governments because squashed an invasion in a slightly more heroic looking way."
  
  The Secretary of Defense shook his head. "It's a lot more complicated than that Claudia. The balance of things is shifting. The Russians, China, they're both hungry for... More. And they're not the only ones."
  
  He let out a soft, almost melancholic laugh. "It's a good day to be in charge of DOHA, isn't it?"
  

  
  .................................................................................................................................
  ​

  Several Hours Earlier, the Pentagon...
  
  Victor pursed his lips as he looked at the figure sat across the table from him. It had been hard to sneak him into the Pentagon, seeing as he was covered in very light tactical gear, and a balaclava that covered his face, along with sunglasses covering his eyes.
  
  "I'm surprised you came." Victor said pleasantly. "I thought your boss might scare you off."
  
  The unseen expression of the man across from him, even if it were seen, would have told Victor nothing. It was stoic and cold beneath the mask.
  
  "We server America, not Douglas MacNamara, and not you." Task Force Grey inspired a level of coldness that was absent from almost all other branches of America's forces, both the known and unknown. The coldness wasn't necessarily something that had always been present among their ranks, but it had certainly fomented more as time went on. Experience, perhaps, had carved out that which was deemed unessential.
  
  "So I've heard. Which works just fine for me, actually." Victor responded with a smile and he clasped his hands together.
  
  "Is that so, Mr. Secretary? Because as I indicated as well, we are not interested in participating in any feud between you and Douglas."
  
  Victor nodded along. "Good then, this will hopefully make for an easy conversation between us. SINS is going to try to capture the ruined factory. I want you to make sure that happens."
  
  The agent sat quietly for a moment, before responding. "You want us to capture it? To follow through with these supposed orders you think Douglas will give?"
  
  Victor smiled. "Yep, that's pretty much it. That, and I want you to play nicely with all other forces we send in. No friendly fire, please."
  
  "The second part won't be an issue. I'm simply confused as to why you want SINS to hold onto this factory."
  
  "I didn't say 'hold'. I want to make sure whatever happens, SINS is in control of that situation. As for why... Does it matter? It will be a reflection on SINS, not you. You'll be clearing paths for your agents, securing parts of the city. What Douglas does is none of your business."
  
  The agent continued to sit almost like a statue. "Fine. But whatever happens, it will be on Doug's head, and yours."
  
  "Works for me. Though I do have to say agent... I feel like, despite your calm demeanor, you don't like me very much?"
  
  The agent tilted his head slightly. "Whether or not I 'like' you is irrelevant, isn't it?"
  
  Victor chuckled and leaned in. "Not exactly. I have an opportunity here to ask why. See, I've got few friends in this job, very few allies, and many people besides Douglas MacNamara who want me gone. I'm wondering what someone on the frontline is thinking."
  
  The agent was quiet again.
  
  "Because you're not different from any of the rest of them, sir. You're another politician, a rich guy with experience in the arms industry, sure, but you're fundamentally no different."
  
  "And you do realize that in order to be Secdef, one has to be a civilian, right?"
  
  "I do."
  
  "But you seem resentful of that."
  
  "With all due respect sir... I think offices should be filled by people qualified to fill them. And as far as I can tell right now, you're not any different."
  
  Victor leaned back, taking a moment to consider what he heard, and smiling. "Well then agent... It is my hope you'll come to see me in a different light, in time."
  
  The agent stood from the table, pushing in his chair. "I suppose we'll see then, sir."
  
  

 

[PiePillager]

Henry had narrowly dodged a swing of the creature's club arm, which smashed into the wall of the room, shattering into rubble. Before the creature could swing again, Henry rushed out through this new opening entering a hallway. Looking around to get his bearings before the creature caught on, he spotted a staircase to the lower floor of the house where a few of those mercenary soldiers lay in a pool of blood.

They must've been fighting the creature and the battle had spilled into here. Henry wondered why this didn't attract more attention, but before he could collect his thoughts, he'd heard a groan from a room across the hallway. This one sounded human. Henry made a beeline there as he quickly accessed comms. "Uh, well, we've got another hero with us. Uh...Albert, you know the uh,..." he paused to switch his blaster to heat mode and fired several shots at the ceiling. "Well, I forget his hero name, but you remember him from Atlas, right? Dude with the plane," Henry rolled out of the way, hearing the creature smash through the room he'd previously exited from, towards the sounds of the blaster fire.

"He cleared out a bunch of the forces fighting on the street! Cobalt is gonna attempt some sort of time stop field on the forces in the street so we can apprehend the mercenaries...and maybe the monsters too if there's anything left of who they once were in them!" Henry continued, charging into the room where he'd heard the civilians in pain. There was a man on the floor and his body had a nasty gash in it. Cradled in his arms was a younger girl. His daughter, Henry supposed. From the way it looked, he'd been attacked by either the creature or maybe even one of the soldiers trying to shield her.

Henry didn't have enough time to check for breathing or any other life signs with the creature about, so he 1quickly hauled the father over his shoulders, while picking the daughter up with his other arm. Luckily, she wasn't too heavy. "I'm trying to get the civilians left in the city out of here...moving a little too slow for me though. So, if we could divide our forces, that'd be cool!"

At this point the monster had caught in by now, so Henry was already making a beeline for the door. The mutant shot forth his spikes, but Henry leaped onto the railing leading to the staircase, grunting under the weight of his two evacuees. Thankful the staircase wasn't far, he made a small leap and slid down the banister, firing more shots at the ceiling before he reached the end of the stairs. The roof had now been loosened enough to collapse on top of the monster.

Thinking that wouldn't hold down the monster for long, Henry quickly spoke to the family he was carrying out. "Sorry about your house. Luckily I may know someone who could help you out with that..." he sighed, wondering if even George's funds would be enough to cover the damages done to this city once this conflict had ended.

Scoping out the street to see if any more hostiles, were present, Henry once again raised the VTOL. "Got another two for pickup. Same family," he said. "Cobalt, Albert! How are things looking on your end?"

 

[MisoraUni]

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  How she's feeling...

  
  
  
  

  Oh boy there's more fleshy zombies, wowza.
  

  
  
  

  
  
  
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  What she's wearing...

  
  
  
  

  Sporty sweat pants and tank top - black.

  
  

  
  
  

  
  
  
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  Where she's at...

  
  
  
  

  Anthem, Nevada. March 25th, 2045.
  

  
  
  

  
  
  
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  Mentions/Interactions...

  
  
  
  

  Lord Saethos
  

  
  
  

  
  
  

Yukisa

-----

Yukisa takes her backpack off and sets it onto the ground of the roof.


“…Though I must say, you have a funny idea of what 'getting close' to someone means."


It is barely noticeable but a slight pinkness appears on Yukisa’s cheeks. “Huh?- I… Huh?”

Yukisa stares at Richard, her head tilting to one side.

Yukisa shakes her head and mumbles, “You can’t just say shit like that out of nowhere, geez."

"Besides, we needed to get here quickly......” Yukisa continues mumbling under her breath until Richard interrupts.


"Do you have gear that's up for the task here?"


Yukisa turns around and starts rummaging through her backpack. She pulls out her helmet from it.

“Hmm… well I have this helmet. It’s been upgraded with headphones and an internet/cell phone network connection.”


“And what else do I have in here?...” She continues rummaging through her backpack.

“A rope, throwing knives, a chain, some matches, paper scraps, some athletic gloves, a gas mask, and a few other things.”

Yukisa looks behind her at all of Richard’s gear.

“I’m not a gun type of person like you…”

♡coded by uxie♡

 

[obscured_light]

Spoon in mouth, Akiko narrowed her eyes at Sasha. She dropped her hand but kept the spoon in as she studied him. After a few moments with a sigh from the corner of her mouth, she grabbed the spoon and plopped it back in her soup before hurriedly wiping the stray drops on the table again.

"I don't know if that's supposed to be reassuring or comforting, but it really isn't either," Akiko said once the table was clean. She didn't look at Sasha, choosing to focus on the napkin in her hands instead. "After what we saw in Alpheum, if anything, it's discouraging to know that this is a more common problem than I thought."

Akiko looked up, grinning.

"But if we're in the same boat, do you mind taking the other oar then? I'm rowing my way to Alpheum and apparently, your home's destruction."

 

[DarKnight36]

"I wouldn't say it's common, but the two do seem to be aligned in the same direction," Sasha agreed. He smiled back at Akiko. "It would be remiss of me to let you do all the rowing, Akiko. Russia's reckoning will come, but in the meantime, I may have to deal with their attempts at reclaiming my allegiance."

***

"Well, I'm not a genius time wizard but I'd say better than I expected," Albert called back, grunting as he shoved one of the putrescent beasts further away from his face. The monsters had gotten smarter than he'd given them credit for, forming blades that even if halted, were still sharp enough to cut him. However, the energy he was absorbing from their blows was allowing him to out-heal the damage.

"Cobalt Clock's got the barrier nearly set up, we're just luring in as many of the beasties as we can," Albert continued. "I figured the Abominations are the harder of the two to, er, reason with." He paused. "Also I know it's silly but if you're going to use each other's hero names, I'd appreciate it if you used mine as well." If anyone remembers it, Albert sighed.

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko held a hand out to Sasha.

"Then tell them your allegiance is already sworn to me," she said in a joking tone with a laugh. "Or the Brave or that they can take their allegiance and suck it and I'll do the same with Alpheum.... I mean, Alpheum doesn't want my allegiance as much as my body but for the sake of this, let's say allegiance."

 

[druidquest]

A streak of light shot into the sky over the city, looping around the block surrounding the VTOL before diving down to street level. A monster with arms like wrecking balls barreled toward a line of red-capped mercenaries, threatening to tear through them before the light slammed into it like a missile, carrying it back up into the sky before dropping it like a stone. There was a resounding CRACK where it hit the ground, though the shuddering twitch of its thorax showed that it lived still.

The soldiers approached to finish it off, guns raised. With a lash of her arm a ball of silvery moonlight shot from Lynne's hand. It burst like a grenade where it hit the ground, halting the soldiers in their tracks. The squad captain's eyes met Lynne's, their gaze holding each other for a long moment. Then he turned to give orders to his men, and they moved on to find other battle lines.

"I'm doing what I can on my end, too," Lynne chimed in over the radio. "Not sure how long-term broken backs will be at keeping the monsters down, though, so..." A short sigh escaped her throat. The veteran team apparently had a plan set up already, and she wasn't sure how much her efforts were really contributing to that. Maybe she should've just stayed on the sub with the detective and her boyfriend. She shook her head, clearing the thoughts from her mind. It was too late for that, now.

Lynne lowered herself down to the street, feet touching ground next to the broken body of the monstrous warrior. She crouched down, lifting it up onto her shoulders before raising back up into the sky. She could hear a faint cracking and clicking within its form; just as she'd feared, its body was already knitting itself back together.

"Klaus- um, Cobalt Clock. Where are you at? I'm gonna try to bring some of these guys over to you."

 

[druidquest]

"Secure it," Hudson said in an instant. "Regardless of what creeps have been hiding in it, there are still things there that are too important to lose. Besides," she added, lowering her eyes back town to the screen. "Reopening it would help revitalize the city after this mess is cleaned up. Get people working again."

"Very small town hero," Nina giggled. Hudson shot her a look, but she shrugged it off.

"Anyway," Hudson continued, picking the tablet off up the table and tucking it under her arm. "Even if the government decides to get off their fat ass and do something, it would be faster to secure resources on the ground. Anthem has a high gang and supervillain density, and I doubt they're happy about someone starting shit so close to them. We could turn that to our advantage and get them mobilized in our favor." She went to cross her arms, but stopped when the tablet almost fell. "......It could help keep those heroes pinned down, too. Before they find anything we wouldn't want them to."

 

[DarKnight36]

Sasha took Akiko's small hand, a hand that felt frail in his own. His expression didn't change but he felt... I'm going to miss this.

"Yes, that sounds wonderful Akiko," Sasha said, smiling steadily. "Now that we've got that out of the way, I'd love to talk more about your powers and see if I can help you or not!"

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko beamed at Sasha and nodded. She cleared her throat and then slammed her hands on the table in enthusiasm, thankful that very little soup remained in the bowl. The bones in her arms felt like they were gonna shatter however so she just meekly sat back down with a small grumble.

"Anyway, stop me if you've heard this one before," Akiko said as she rubbed her arms. "But I was just 14 when my parents... Well, actually, I was like 22 and Alpheum performed experiments on me and my parents. I don't know the specifics of what they did but I know I'm able to 'take in souls'."

"This only works with supers and they have to have died recently. The souls retain a lot of information, independence, and gain control if I'm not conscious or careful. They can be expelled through a rather intense ritual, I can influence them as much as they influence me, and I gain a version of their original set of powers. Sometimes a copy, sometimes just similar."

"Currently, there's Gray which is my own personal power. Witchfinder, fire powers. Earth Shaker, earth. Violet Dance is whatever. Moon Oath is like paladin from that critically acclaimed romance sim. And, uh, I think that's it for now. They all tire me out though and I can't combine power sets. It would be cool but I think I'd be knocked out longer than I usually am when I go all out. Doesn't hurt though."

Akiko paused.

"Was any of that, uh, useful or....?"

 

[PiePillager]

Henry thought for a moment, putting a hand to his chin. There was still a lot of fighting, he didn't need his sonar device to hear it breaking out amongst Anthem's Streets. What he did need it for however, was hearing faint noises of distressed voices, held up throughout town. With everyone concentrated on containing the threat, he may not get too much assistance in clearing out the civilians.

Richard's recent arrival could help, depending on where he arrived at, but if they wanted to hurry and save the civilians...perhaps, a new plan would have to be formed. One that could potentially put an end to some of the fighting on the ground as well. "Everybody..." Henry began, activating his communicator. "Where is Cobalt situated? Maybe we can triangulate all of the footsoldiers to that location."

 

[DarKnight36]

Sasha steepled his fingers. "Yes, it's mostly what I assumed. From that, I can offer a guess that you have yet to converse with the souls on a conscious level. Is that correct?"

 

[obscured_light]

"I mean if you count their insults, then I would say yes. If you don't, then no."

 

[DarKnight36]

"That doesn't count, no," Sasha said. "Although it doesn't surprise me that the souls inside you aren't in the best of moods. They were killed after all."

 

[obscured_light]

"They were also evil," Akiko frowned. "Villains. I made sure of that."

She paused and placed an elbow on the table, resting her head on the back of her palm.

"It was the only way I could justify using this power after... after I found out how it worked."

 

[DarKnight36]

"That does complicate things," Sasha agreed. "But I think I understand the missing ingredient. You need to form an agreement. A pact."

***

Albert glanced up. "East tower, big church. I'm in the courtyard, but the more the merrier. Cobalt doesn't think numbers is what's going to stress this."

 

[PiePillager]

"Got it..." Henry nodded. He then hailed the VTOL pilots as they gathered the rest of the family Henry had rescued from the building. "I think I'll be able to locate any remaining civilians stuck in the middle of all this. Fly towards the furthest exit point in the city and be ready to transport them outta there." He looked around. "East tower at the big church. That should be doable..." he noted, as the VTOL began to fly off.

He lifted his hand in the air, holding his blaster. It split apart to cover his knuckles. "Arisen Sun!" the Red light began to envelop Henry. "Endless Space!" with the blue light following in tandem! From the light arose Macroman, in almost an instant. He soon took off and flew towards the direction of some of the voices he'd heard that were crying out in fear.

It was in front of a convenience store, one in which a group of people were huddled in, afraid of the fighting outside. Macroman hovered in the air, taking a second to analyze the scene. He lowered a hand and used one hand to grab a handful of the red troops and used the back of his fist to lightly swing at the mutated monstrosities, knocking the two attacking the soldiers backward, causing both to land on some of the abandoned cars now scattered across the roads. With his free hand, he opened it, extending a palm and lowering it toward the people stuck in the store.

Apprehensive at first, the first of them eventually acknowledged that he had made no moves to harm them and took out the monsters warring outside. Eventually, all five people inside stepped into Macroman's palm and once all were present he took off. Zooming above the city he quickly dropped off the civilians and quickly made his way to the next set.

People and animals both, he aided all he'd heard huddled and scared and crying for aid, all still alive in a conflict that had nothing to do with them and brought them to the extraction point outside of the city. He was sure there were more, and they would have to be rescued soon. But now the number of civilians saved were enough that the VTOL would have to make several trips and that was enough for Macroman to decide to divert some of his focus to the fighting for now.

As he launched his way back into the city, he made a point to visit all the areas he had rescued civilians in and scoop up any of the soldiers still fighting in his left hand. Dashing between buildings, flying sideways so as not to ram into any of them, he'd gathered more in his hand, moving suddenly enough to catch many of them unawares as he flew to the point directed by Albert.

He didn't have too much time left in this form, but if the others can cut off all points of fighting and box in all the forces...Macroman reached the church and tossed the handful of combatants he'd collected into a pile on the ground for Klaus to immobilize with his time-stopping devices and as his timer began to sound off once more, he quickly made his way towards more of the fighting.

From there, he simply....walked. Unable to really form much retaliation against this other than wasting their energy attempting to fight back, both the red army and the army of mutants were slowly forced back either physically or sent flying back from his stomps, all combatants being hauled towards the direction of the church, where they would eventually be suspended in time.

 

[DarKnight36]

"There's got to be a better way to do this," Albert muttered, as the forces began colliding again, this time in the courtyard of the church. Those gathered by Macroman were calling for reinforcements, and the rest of the city was being drained into one singular point of battle. But that was not what Albert was referring to.

No, he was thinking about his powers, particularly energy transfer. It had been some time since he'd been in an all-out brawl and his attempts to contain his power was straining. Usually, the equation was simple - receive energy, convert, then store or release. Storing gave high interest rates on the output, but even an immediate release granted a boost of around 15%. But now, he was attempting to contain that release - it was receive energy, convert, heal / store / release but not too much, because too much would kill the enemies.

It was annoying! He could do it, certainly; despite his pessimism about it earlier, having more control over himself wasn't bad. But in a large battle like this, incapacitation was taking too long. Further, it exposed one of his weaknesses - he needed to rely on enemies to attack him first before he could reliably hit back. Normally this wasn't a problem, but the more missions Albert went on, the further his stored energy was depleted. Especially after the Beast of Decay. He'd worked to try and restore that storage but the process was all too slow.

Albert concentrated on the opponent in front of him. The abomination was moving, using energy. What if he just... took it?

Albert raised a hand and envisioned what it would look like to take that energy. Would he need wires for the conduit? No, the air would work fine as a medium. How much to take? Could he freeze the abomination in place? In a sense? He could steal any energy the abomination expended to move. But that would require his attention to be on one opponent alone, not ideal for a group either.

But what if it was automated? He would need to...

His thoughts were interrupted as Klaus' tools crackled. It was almost time.

"Brave, clear the courtyard!" Albert called out, using an abomination as a jumping pad to leap away from Klaus' trap.

 

[obscured_light]

"Is that what you did with yours?" Akiko asked, genuinely curious. "Did you guys make like a secret handshake or write up a contract? ...Did you have to eat the contract?"