Realistic or Modern Novel Comics: Cinematic Universe (Timeline 1)

[Lord Moldoma]

At that moment, it seemed Palladium Chariot wasn't the only one who thought it would be a good time to test a new weapon; Harry and "Palladium Chariot" suddenly received an emergency broadcast notification on their respective devices/systems; a secure transmission from American officials for Palladium, a simple text message to Harry's contact lens eyeware from the EBS, but the contents were... not from the US Navy and slightly aggravating.

Chariot would pause for a moment.

"Considerations have changed. You are free to operate as you please, Harry." Chariot's voice echoes out, before it turns. "There will always be more targets to test on, in fact, if you'd like to stop by the R&D in Texas, I'd pay you well for live target practice. Make sure if Technetium gets himself hurt in that hodgepodge powered armor of his, you bring him back to the shore. Or at least bring back his suit. Personally, I don't care if he drowns, but I do care about his tech..." The voice echoes out again. The chariot suit turning, and rocketing back off unceremoniously.

"Palladium is cold but... I like to think they do care at least a little..." Harry sighs, and looks back to the ocean.

Harry couldn't possibly know that he was right. Dimit, at least, did care, but Palladium was meant to be someone that nobody would expect to be her. Cold, efficient, ruthless, and determined to design weapons for warfare. It was tough having to play up a character that was so mysterious, overbearing, and ultimately militaristic. But it was the easiest way to do hero work remotely.

Then again, she knew that not even the good press that Palladium had could save their image if Technetium got hurt from the missile test. He'd probably file suit, and that might put a dent in her pocketbook for once, or worse, reveal the nature of Palladium Chariot's existence.

As for why she didn't simply ask him to hold off. She had no sway with his sort. He was too overconfident in his own tech to recognize that it was better for everyone if she blew up the monster and everyone went home. He was exactly the type who'd make some post-contemporary 'owned' comment about her design choices for her robot, or some minor controversy/the fact that the Killjoy Conglomerate was a weapons tech company supporting The US Government. And she didn't feel like responding to that level of rabble today.

She did not like technetium. Her brief period as his protégé after winning a contest to become his 'Sidekick' taught her that he was: incredibly hard to work with, Insufferable, and unearthily 'faux-intellectual' as she put it. But she respected his business acumens, even if she strongly believed Techne Motors was a shabby company compared to the appropriate sections of the Killjoy Conglomerate - Considering Ross Arms was only Anthony's by inheritance. - Ultimately, she couldn't be mad at him for inheriting his father's business and trying to pivot away from the bad press of "making weapons for world governments." essentially, she did a similar thing, although her father got to reap the benefits of her advice and projections, while she was more or less forced to play the public role of the mostly unremarkable autistic daughter of her father. Then again, she loved her father's attention and approval more than anything else in the world, so she was content with it, and didn't see herself as hypocritical.

But ultimately that contest had only taught her two things. One, even people who seem smart can be idiots sometimes, and two, she had given at least one supervillain a backstory's worth of hatred of her to stew on, which was an entirely unintended consequence, but it's not like he was much of an issue. Said supervillain, Monarch, was a bumbling idiot, and compared to her as the standard was practically as intelligent as the animal he themed himself off of.

 

[Gadg8eer]

Chariot would pause for a moment.

"Considerations have changed. You are free to operate as you please, Harry." Chariot's voice echoes out, before it turns. "There will always be more targets to test on, in fact, if you'd like to stop by the R&D in Texas, I'd pay you well for live target practice. Make sure if Technetium gets himself hurt in that hodgepodge powered armor of his, you bring him back to the shore. Or at least bring back his suit. Personally, I don't care if he drowns, but I do care about his tech..." The voice echoes out again. The chariot suit turning, and rocketing back off unceremoniously.

"Palladium is cold but... I like to think they do care at least a little..." Harry sighs, and looks back to the ocean.

Harry couldn't possibly know that he was right. Dimit, at least, did care, but Palladium was meant to be someone that nobody would expect to be her. Cold, efficient, ruthless, and determined to design weapons for warfare. It was tough having to play up a character that was so mysterious, overbearing, and ultimately militaristic. But it was the easiest way to do hero work remotely.

Then again, she knew that not even the good press that Palladium had could save their image if Technetium got hurt from the missile test. He'd probably file suit, and that might put a dent in her pocketbook for once, or worse, reveal the nature of Palladium Chariot's existence.

As for why she didn't simply ask him to hold off. She had no sway with his sort. He was too overconfident in his own tech to recognize that it was better for everyone if she blew up the monster and everyone went home. He was exactly the type who'd make some post-contemporary 'owned' comment about her design choices for her robot, or some minor controversy/the fact that the Killjoy Conglomerate was a weapons tech company supporting The US Government. And she didn't feel like responding to that level of rabble today.

She did not like technetium. Her brief period as his protégé after winning a contest to become his 'Sidekick' taught her that he was: incredibly hard to work with, Insufferable, and unearthily 'faux-intellectual' as she put it. But she respected his business acumens, even if she strongly believed Techne Motors was a shabby company compared to the appropriate sections of the Killjoy Conglomerate - Considering Ross Arms was only Anthony's by inheritance. - Ultimately, she couldn't be mad at him for inheriting his father's business and trying to pivot away from the bad press of "making weapons for world governments." essentially, she did a similar thing, although her father got to reap the benefits of her advice and projections, while she was more or less forced to play the public role of the mostly unremarkable autistic daughter of her father. Then again, she loved her father's attention and approval more than anything else in the world, so she was content with it, and didn't see herself as hypocritical.

But ultimately that contest had only taught her two things. One, even people who seem smart can be idiots sometimes, and two, she had given at least one supervillain a backstory's worth of hatred of her to stew on, which was an entirely unintended consequence, but it's not like he was much of an issue. Said supervillain, Monarch, was a bumbling idiot, and compared to her as the standard was practically as intelligent as the animal he themed himself off of.

Before the Palladium Chariot robot could disappear back to a local warehouse owned by Dimit, a bolt of lightning shot from somewhere over the distant coastal waters, causing some sort of anomaly. Palladium Chariot may have been controlled by Dimit, but it was still a robot and not Dimit herself, and the attack seriously damaged the robot's thrusters, causing it to plummet onto the roof of an apartment building. As it dropped, the robot's sensors detected another bolt, this time aimed at a distant aerial target... a suit of silver and blue armor powered by a Technetium power core that suddenly began to fall towards the mountainside homes of Oakland...

 

[Lord Moldoma]

The machine stood back up, its armor was mostly undamaged aside from the modular jetpack.

"Repairs are gonna be a bitch." She said, running a diagnostic from her vr headset as she sat in her bed-like-piloting-seat back at her home. "It's mostly damage to the thrusters, likely due to the fact that I didn't secure them for high tier electrical resistance, though. And the payload is still in good condition..." She says. "I'll send out a recovery drone later."

"I'll triangulate whatever shot at me and carpet bomb it... After I get my drone back..." She says, setting her various AI systems to start working on calculating the intensity of the damage, the location of whatever shot her, and the likelihood of a successful bombing run.

"I should... Probably go and make sure whatever Anthony made his machinery out of didn't explode and fry the poor bastard. Burning to death in an iron coffin is a horrible way to die." She also sent a directive to a smaller drone to go out to Oakland and make sure Anthony Ross wasn't Anthony-Roasted.

---

Said cutesy drone robot would arrive fairly quickly, floating within the vicinity of Ross's downed suit, this one of course, having the standard armor plating and specifications, scanning the area to assess the situation and any injuries or destruction of property



"Technetium, are you alive? I noticed you got shot down too." A voice echoed out of it. "If you need me to cut you out of your suit, I'll agree if you let me take the parts and figure out what sort of flying death trap you've built yourself this week..."

---

"Yo, Harry. You get called out here too?" Dark Matter asked, walking up to the beach.

Shuffle was walking alongside her, she held out her hand and waved to harry.

"Not exactly, although I was lead here by luck of the draw." Harry says.

"That's cool!" Shuffle says. "They said a kaiju is headed towards the coast, I contacted Hydroclasty but she said she was already heading here as fast as she could."

 

[Gadg8eer]

The machine stood back up, its armor was mostly undamaged aside from the modular jetpack.

"Repairs are gonna be a bitch." She said, running a diagnostic from her vr headset as she sat in her bed-like-piloting-seat back at her home. "It's mostly damage to the thrusters, likely due to the fact that I didn't secure them for high tier electrical resistance, though. And the payload is still in good condition..." She says. "I'll send out a recovery drone later."

"I'll triangulate whatever shot at me and carpet bomb it... After I get my drone back..." She says, setting her various AI systems to start working on calculating the intensity of the damage, the location of whatever shot her, and the likelihood of a successful bombing run.

"I should... Probably go and make sure whatever Anthony made his machinery out of didn't explode and fry the poor bastard. Burning to death in an iron coffin is a horrible way to die." She also sent a directive to a smaller drone to go out to Oakland and make sure Anthony Ross wasn't Anthony-Roasted.

---

Said cutesy drone robot would arrive fairly quickly, floating within the vicinity of Ross's downed suit, this one of course, having the standard armor plating and specifications, scanning the area to assess the situation and any injuries or destruction of property

View attachment 1119843

(( Awww! ))

"Technetium, are you alive? I noticed you got shot down too." A voice echoed out of it. "If you need me to cut you out of your suit, I'll agree if you let me take the parts and figure out what sort of flying death trap you've built yourself this week..."

Ross coughed and stood up with difficulty. "Normally I'd say 'screw you too, Chariot', but whatever that was fried my electronics. This suit is a paperweight as it is. What the hell was that?!"

"Yo, Harry. You get called out here too?" Dark Matter asked, walking up to the beach.

Shuffle was walking alongside her, she held out her hand and waved to harry.

"Not exactly, although I was lead here by luck of the draw." Harry says.

"That's cool!" Shuffle says. "They said a kaiju is headed towards the coast, I contacted Hydroclasty but she said she was already heading here as fast as she could."

At that moment, a sharp siren was heard from the ocean just off the coast. It was coming from the Avara structure's floating surface entrance, and sure enough a creature could be seen in the distance, its silhouette just beneath the waves as it rapidly approached the undersea community...

The entity referred to as "G.B." seemed to have reacted. Masterstroke received a list of Sadie Mackenzies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Surprisingly there were only 3 possibilities, one of whom was out of the country according to a brief phone call to her workplace and the second of which was well older than the sheriff. The remaining one was troubling, however; Sadie Mackenzie, a programmer for ZetaSoft with a paraplegic girlfriend to take care of. Due to skyrocketing rent prices she commuted by subway from the old offshore arcology built in the mid-1990s a few thousand meters beyond the Golden Gate Bridge...

...and according to official channels, the arcology was still in the process of evacuating; families with underage children were given priority on the trains out of the structure via the undersea BART tunnels to the mainland, leaving behind childless couples like Sadie and her wife to try and leave on a later train.

Sheriff Mackenzie was looking a lot more stressed despite Harry's reassurances. Even corrupt and bigoted as he was, he didn't want his daughter dead and he knew firsthand that the arcologies of the late 20th century tended towards extremes; they either became exclusive palaces of the mega-wealthy, or were overtaken by some degree of organized crime and crippling poverty. Sadie's residence was thoroughly in the latter category, it was entirely possible that someone might try to cover up a failure to evacuate Alcatraz Valley Aquatic Residential Arcology ("Avara") and she'd complained about the crowded trains all too often.

It was while the Grimhawk remained where it was, awaiting Masterstroke's orders, that the prison DMMWV and the Sheriff's vehicle were quickly met by several silent matte black electric vehicles bearing no license plates. Several well-dressed agents stepped out of the three Catalytic Escapade Sport-Utility-Paranoiamobiles with their attention towards the vehicle.

"Sherrif. You were given very specific orders." one of the suits told Sheriff Mackenzie.

"You didn't tell me Chocolate Harry was in town. You didn't tell me my -ing daughter might be at the mercy of some godawful sea beast at this very moment. If you're going to give me that juris-my-diction crap, you can shove it. Who is this brat and why was he involved with whatever compartmentalized bullshit happened over at the prison that you won't explain? You give me a good reason, then I'll trust you CIA spooks to tell me I'm better off not knowin', 'cause the way I see it, you provided me with nothing but a description and a cartoon drawing shopped onto a photograph taken in North Dakota and expect me to fall for your Patriot Act parading around everywhere? And then my daughter wonders why I vote Republican."

"To be fair, I only broke Card out of there to hand him over to the FBI so they could lock him up again- oh crap." Gadg8eer muttered, only to realize he'd accidentally pressed the button to activate the DMMWV crowd control megaphone PA system and not the "silently send recorded content to nearby law enforcement" button on his modified Neo GamePlayer console.

"We're aware. Gadg8eer, we need you to accompany us to Las Vegas for a line of questioning." the CIA Agent responded. "Technically this is also a black op, what happens in Vegas will stay in-" he tried to finish, only to receive a notification via secure channels. "Hold on, change of plans. Washington wants the highest level of security with this."

"Do I have a choice?" Gadg8eer sighed, popping open the cargo compartment of the Dumvee.

"Wait, where'd the bird go?" Sheriff Mackenzie pointed out.

 

[Lord Moldoma]

whatever that was fried my electronics. This suit is a paperweight as it is

“Hardening electronic systems via the implementation of a cohesive anti-surge system, or armor that’s meant to deal with high voltage is never something you should skimp out on. If you weren’t at least as good at your caddyshack suit construction as you are, I wouldn’t be politely removing you from the suit, I’d be scraping you out to have a closed casket funeral. And frankly I don’t want to have to do that on a Wednesday morning. Even if it’s not my hands doing the scraping.” She explains. The drone moving down and producing a small mechanical arm which connects into the side of the suit and disables several of the joint-locks and the core harness, manually opening it.

What the hell was that?!

“My guess is some sort of electrical metapower, likely villainous, or horrible at controlling their collateral. It could also be a kaiju. My computers will triangulate the position in around t-minus 5 minutes so I can see if carpet bombing the bastard isn’t out of the question. The air particles are still working off a charge and it’d generate a lot of ozone, so it can’t be that hard to figure out whatever it is that shot at me.”

 

[Gadg8eer]

“Hardening electronic systems via the implementation of a cohesive anti-surge system, or armor that’s meant to deal with high voltage is never something you should skimp out on. If you weren’t at least as good at your caddyshack suit construction as you are, I wouldn’t be politely removing you from the suit, I’d be scraping you out to have a closed casket funeral. And frankly I don’t want to have to do that on a Wednesday morning. Even if it’s not my hands doing the scraping.” She explains. The drone moving down and producing a small mechanical arm which connects into the side of the suit and disables several of the joint-locks and the core harness, manually opening it.


“My guess is some sort of electrical metapower, likely villainous, or horrible at controlling their collateral. It could also be a kaiju. My computers will triangulate the position in around t-minus 5 minutes so I can see if carpet bombing the bastard isn’t out of the question. The air particles are still working off a charge and it’d generate a lot of ozone, so it can’t be that hard to figure out whatever it is that shot at me.”

At that moment a ping went off on Dimit's comm line, alerting her that the computer she built had exceeded her own estimations as it sometimes did.

Spoiler: Target detected.

Target matches American Justice System Profile No. 1988-06-16-1790332 "Ashen Witch". Target has retreated underwater.

 

[Lord Moldoma]

Target matches American Justice System Profile No. 1988-06-16-1790332 "Ashen Witch". Target has retreated underwater.

“That’s… disconcerting… even given the electrical nature of the attack, that was leagues above what she’s usually capable of…” dimit says to herself.

She changes the screen on her headset. “Computer. Prepare launch protocols for a Poseidon unit. Keep it on standby and mount a Klein field. Prepare supercavitation torpedoes with mass ordinance warheads.”

“We’ll wait another hour to see what we’re up against. If it gets to be too much for Harry and the others to handle, we’ll have the Poseidon step in…” she tells herself.

---

The small drone continues to remove pieces of the suit, being careful not to compromise the energy systems, or computerized parts. But mainly just making sure it can get Anthony out of the suit.

“That should be enough. Now let me confiscate this piece of junk, and call yourself a ride-share service like CartMe, or your personal chauffeur or whatever. From this point forward, as far as I’m considered you’re either a disabled combatant, or an unarmed civilian. Either way, technetium, or should I say, Anthony Ross — you need to vacate before you get yourself hurt… no amount of money in the world can cure death.”

“You’re on your own going forward. I will not be held responsible for your death should you choose to continue playing hero.” The drone continues, organizing the removed pieces of the suit and running a material scan on them ocasionally interfacing with computerized pieces to run diagnostics and figure out what they were for.

---

Ultimately, dimit was lying, she would probably swoop in to save technetium assuming she had too. But she’d definitely hold it against him in the future if she did.

---

(OST - The Darkness is Always There First)

“Seems like that’s our call…” dark matter said. She held her hand up and a large cloud of black smoke glowing purple began to emerge from it. Soon ballooning in size too well over the radius of a jet airliner.

“They said, smoke, that’s a useless power. You what’re you gonna do? Suffocate people? Fly in on a cloud of smoke…? I’ve mastered my ability… I’ll show you what I can do with smoke…” she spoke to herself as if she were psyching herself out to manifest the full force of her power.

The large cloud would crackle with purplish electricity, this was her ultimate move, “Pyrocumulonimbus: Cloud Make Make”

The cloud would then densify into a large animalic form, resembling some sort of odd mix between a serpent and a dinosaur of some kind, and soon bearing the striking details of a large eastern style dragon which would swim through the air and bring itself crashing down towards the entity just as it began to rise above the water’s surface.

“The truest form of creation is the ability to create life…”

 

[Gadg8eer]

“Hardening electronic systems via the implementation of a cohesive anti-surge system, or armor that’s meant to deal with high voltage is never something you should skimp out on. If you weren’t at least as good at your caddyshack suit construction as you are, I wouldn’t be politely removing you from the suit, I’d be scraping you out to have a closed casket funeral. And frankly I don’t want to have to do that on a Wednesday morning. Even if it’s not my hands doing the scraping.” She explains. The drone moving down and producing a small mechanical arm which connects into the side of the suit and disables several of the joint-locks and the core harness, manually opening it.

"In my defense, I didn't. Skimp. On the- never mind." Anthony stumbled. "Point is, be careful. I'd like to say I don't want to say I told you so, but I do. So if it fries more than your jetpack, you might want to think about calling in someone with a different skill set than us. I might know a few guys... but then you don't need me getting in the way?"

“My guess is some sort of electrical metapower, likely villainous, or horrible at controlling their collateral. It could also be a kaiju. My computers will triangulate the position in around t-minus 5 minutes so I can see if carpet bombing the bastard isn’t out of the question. The air particles are still working off a charge and it’d generate a lot of ozone, so it can’t be that hard to figure out whatever it is that shot at me.”

"Whatever it was, it completely drained my Safe Technetium Atomic Reactor Core." he said, looking at the sphere of lead which was now in the center of the STARC instead of the glowy exotic Technetium isotope.

“That’s… disconcerting… even given the electrical nature of the attack, that was leagues above what she’s usually capable of…” Dimit says to herself.

"Who?" Anthony asked, but suddenly coughed up a bit of blood. He looked at his hand. "...oh shit."

The small drone continues to remove pieces of the suit, being careful not to compromise the energy systems, or computerized parts. But mainly just making sure it can get Anthony out of the suit.

“That should be enough. Now let me confiscate this piece of junk, and call yourself a ride-share service like CartMe, or your personal chauffeur or whatever. From this point forward, as far as I’m considered you’re either a disabled combatant, or an unarmed civilian. Either way, technetium, or should I say, Anthony Ross — you need to vacate before you get yourself hurt… no amount of money in the world can cure death.”

“You’re on your own going forward. I will not be held responsible for your death should you choose to continue playing hero.” The drone continues, organizing the removed pieces of the suit and running a material scan on them ocasionally interfacing with computerized pieces to run diagnostics and figure out what they were for.

---

Ultimately, dimit was lying, she would probably swoop in to save technetium assuming she had too. But she’d definitely hold it against him in the future if she did.

"Might be... a little late... for that..." he responded, "Palladium... Do you... do you remember... the car crash... that revealed my identity?"

(OST - The Darkness is Always There First)

“Seems like that’s our call…” dark matter said. She held her hand up and a large cloud of black smoke glowing purple began to emerge from it. Soon ballooning in size too well over the radius of a jet airliner.

“They said, smoke, that’s a useless power. You what’re you gonna do? Suffocate people? Fly in on a cloud of smoke…? I’ve mastered my ability… I’ll show you what I can do with smoke…” she spoke to herself as if she were psyching herself out to manifest the full force of her power.

The large cloud would crackle with purplish electricity, this was her ultimate move, “Pyrocumulonimbus: Cloud Make Make”

The cloud would then densify into a large animalic form, resembling some sort of odd mix between a serpent and a dinosaur of some kind, and soon bearing the striking details of a large eastern style dragon which would swim through the air and bring itself crashing down towards the entity just as it began to rise above the water’s surface.

“The truest form of creation is the ability to create life…”

At that moment, another beam of lightning struck Dark Matter despite her vantage point.

"And the truest form of destruction is the ability to destroy death." Ashen Witch's disembodied voice said.

 

[Lord Moldoma]

Shuffle was fast enough to slam her hand down into the sand and cause a wall of said sand to shoot upwards in front of the lightning, crystalizing it, and preventing Dark Matter from being immediately killed by an attack that, I should remind you, was strong enough to blast through the armor of one of Dimit's Palladium Chariot robots. (Albeit a low-end one for testing purposes. See power-scaling chart for details on why Dark Matter would've died.)

Although the shock from the attack caused Dark Matter to lose her concentration and collapse onto her knees. "F-Fuck... That was my best attack!" She shouted. "How powerful is this thing? It's like it can see all around itself!"

"I-It's okay! You're not hurt are you?" Shuffle asked, looking back.
"N-No, a little shaken, I don't think I can pull another one of those Cloud Make Make attacks... I'm pretty much down for the count outside of trying to keep any remaining civilians safe.

---

Harry looked over to the wall of glassed sand, he examined the large burnt blast imprint.

"Hmm..." He got down and drew some lines in the sand, setting down a sea-shell and a rock, and looking at something with his contact lens.

"Shuffle. Can you keep Dark Matter safe for the time being... I think I need to check something."

"G-Go ahead! If we get shot at again, I can keep her safe with more sand." Shuffle says.

"What do you plan on doing?" Dark Matter asks.

"Well, I checked with a Killjoy Brand telemetry app on my lens, and those bolts of lighting must've been coming from a second source. Whatever it is, I'm going to go pay it a visit, because from what I can tell, it's playing keep away with our monster friend here! And besides, I could use a good swim." Harry says.

"W-What if it shoots lightning at you?!" Dark matter asks.

"Don't worry-" Harry begins. "It'll only improve the Shine!"

---

[OST - It Only Improves the Shine]

He dashes straight into the water, his running-speed uninhibited as the water parts, and he jumps, flinging himself in a high speed tackle into the distance, over the water (As a body-builder, his mass is too dense and he sinks in water. Not that he couldn't just jump out if he needed to.

He had oriented himself straight towards the path of Ashen Witch.

---

[OST - Bat Outta Hell]

popping open the cargo compartment of the Dumvee.

A red motorcycle of a high-tech design would come racing down the street from a distance, letting out a mechanical "VURMWAAHN"

A girl in a long green trenchcoat with white hair fading into red ochre drove by and pulled to the side, making a dramatic entrance.

"Yo! Toon Kid! I got your message! You left your stream on, so I thought I might check in with ya' cause it seemed like you were in a tizzy. Good thing I did huh?" The girl asked rhetorically.

Her skin was grayish-purple (sort of like Carrol's) and she had sunken eyes.

This was Closed Casket. One of the few remaining 'Vigilante' heroes, of the era. Named for the fact that she bore no pulse, had a remarkable healing factor, and was essentially a biomechanical corpse golem created by the efforts of the "House of Ascension"

She had met Gadg8eer a few times in the past, since both worked in the hero underground.

"Looks like these suits were giving you some trouble so... If I can kindly ask them to leave... I know a place where your expertise would be a lot more useful than in Las Vegas."

 

[Gadg8eer]

Shuffle was fast enough to slam her hand down into the sand and cause a wall of said sand to shoot upwards in front of the lightning, crystalizing it, and preventing Dark Matter from being immediately killed by an attack that, I should remind you, was strong enough to blast through the armor of one of Dimit's Palladium Chariot robots. (Albeit a low-end one for testing purposes. See power-scaling chart for details on why Dark Matter would've died.)

Although the shock from the attack caused Dark Matter to lose her concentration and collapse onto her knees. "F-Fuck... That was my best attack!" She shouted. "How powerful is this thing? It's like it can see all around itself!"

"I-It's okay! You're not hurt are you?" Shuffle asked, looking back.
"N-No, a little shaken, I don't think I can pull another one of those Cloud Make Make attacks... I'm pretty much down for the count outside of trying to keep any remaining civilians safe.

---

Harry looked over to the wall of glassed sand, he examined the large burnt blast imprint.

"Hmm..." He got down and drew some lines in the sand, setting down a sea-shell and a rock, and looking at something with his contact lens.

"Shuffle. Can you keep Dark Matter safe for the time being... I think I need to check something."

"G-Go ahead! If we get shot at again, I can keep her safe with more sand." Shuffle says.

"What do you plan on doing?" Dark Matter asks.

"Well, I checked with a Killjoy Brand telemetry app on my lens, and those bolts of lighting must've been coming from a second source. Whatever it is, I'm going to go pay it a visit, because from what I can tell, it's playing keep away with our monster friend here! And besides, I could use a good swim." Harry says.

"W-What if it shoots lightning at you?!" Dark matter asks.

"Don't worry-" Harry begins. "It'll only improve the Shine!"

---

[OST - It Only Improves the Shine]

He dashes straight into the water, his running-speed uninhibited as the water parts, and he jumps, flinging himself in a high speed tackle into the distance, over the water (As a body-builder, his mass is too dense and he sinks in water. Not that he couldn't just jump out if he needed to.

He had oriented himself straight towards the path of Ashen Witch.

---

[OST - Bat Outta Hell]

A red motorcycle of a high-tech design would come racing down the street from a distance, letting out a mechanical "VURMWAAHN"

A girl in a long green trenchcoat with white hair fading into red ochre drove by and pulled to the side, making a dramatic entrance.

"Yo! Toon Kid! I got your message! You left your stream on, so I thought I might check in with ya' cause it seemed like you were in a tizzy. Good thing I did huh?" The girl asked rhetorically.

Her skin was grayish-purple (sort of like Carrol's) and she had sunken eyes.

This was Closed Casket. One of the few remaining 'Vigilante' heroes, of the era. Named for the fact that she bore no pulse, had a remarkable healing factor, and was essentially a biomechanical corpse golem created by the efforts of the "House of Ascension"

She had met Gadg8eer a few times in the past, since both worked in the hero underground.

"Looks like these suits were giving you some trouble so... If I can kindly ask them to leave... I know a place where your expertise would be a lot more useful than in Las Vegas."

Gadg8eer jumped onto the bike behind Closed Casket, trying to ignore the gross cigarette smell for the time-being. "Floor it!" he shouted.

 

[Sir loin of beef]

(Hope its okay to drop a random, spur-of-the-moment NPC...)

At that moment, she was confronted by someone more... unexpected.

No one knew his name, or if they did they weren't telling. They called him the Traindancer, a poverty-stricken street performer whose appearance had changed with the times... ever since New York got its first railroad line way back when. What didn't change about the Traindancer, whoever or whomever he was, was his powers; An inexplicable and acute control over every part of every train network in New York within his line of sight (or, as rumor has it, within line of sight of any rail worker), and an uncanny ability to show up in places no one else had been in for decades or centuries.

Like the newly-discovered abandoned subway station in Brooklyn... "Pippemaze Station" ...that wasn't recorded anywhere and was much too far underground to have been built prior to 2017 but appeared decades old. Such subways had been discovered hidden around and under the New York City and New Jersey area, but so far all - even those related to a Traindancer sighting - were ordinary, if long forgotten, pieces of one of the most complex cities in the world. The Brooklyn Pippemaze find was odd but was probably part of a forgotten or incomplete New York Central line, judging by the long-missing locomotive and carriages that were sold to an unknown buyer back in the 1950s.

Today Traindancer was strumming a well-worn ukulele, singing something in an unknown language the hipsters would cry for - before moving on to the next "not currently cool" thing - and the Major Label Added New Revenue Scouts would kill to sign a deal with him for. Also odd, the Trandancer wasn't really known for having music that stuck out in any way.

Oh, right. What was so 'unexpected' about the Traindancer's prescence as Fei turned a corner if he was always showing up in weird places? Simple...

"He got smart this time, I see." Traindancer said, referring to either Grater or Kodos, Fei couldn't discern which. It was at that moment that she noticed the street performer's leg caught in a barb-wire snare, strangely not bleeding but clearly unable to free himself from the trap.

There wasn't a single rail network in sight, despite the known extensiveness of the Technodome's internal freight and passenger system, the Sidneyland Anaheim Resort Chocovator™, sponsored by the Smugway corporation, the first daily-operating Gadgetbahn in the United States of sorry, let me rephrase. Despite the prevalence of the Elegrater Lattice Doom-y Evil Railroute system within the former fallout bunker known as the Technodome. That couldn't bode well...



"Oh, hey, dedushka." his teenage daughter, Annabelle, said affectionately to her grandfather, walking past the door of the office. "Um... The garter snakes you're trying to use as a robot bio-electricity source got out of the robots again."



"Something like that..." Ashen Witch's voice echoed.



"Oh, I'm sure you'll find it a lot more... fun... than it sounds."



"Well let's have a vote then. All in favor of locking those against in the brig?" Ashen Witch pointed out. All but von Octopus raised their hands/fins/claws in approval.

"Oh, this is some buuuuuuuuuullsh-"

---

Five minutes later, after the heavily-damaged main module of the KRAKEN UNDERWATER HQ PLAYSET! (batteries not included) had surfaced, still held by Gula and with Ashen Witch nowhere to be seen, in the brig laundry room brig of the HQ...

"Wow. Didn't really think this through, did you?" Captain Nemo rolled his eyes while twirling the keys to the base's laundromat front-loader washing-machine-slash-dastardly-cephalopod-trap tauntingly while keeping watch (or maybe "keeping watch"? Not sure where Nemo's loyalties would lie) over the prisoner.

At the Technodome, with Fei.
Fei was needless to say confused when she caught a look at the traindancer after dropping the last ninja out of the squad that had ambushed her, she found it odd that traindancer was caught in a barb wire yet wasn't bleeding even if she didn't know a thing about Traindancer or who he was, just that the lair apparently had an intruder in it. She herself was as far she was concerned a guest in the technodome, the reason why was a long story though In reality however she and the traindancer had both Tripped the technodome's silent alarm.


At the Technodome, with the Grater.
Meanwhile after throwing a temper tantrum for 10 minutes Grater had finally calmed down from his anger and Rage and sat down in a swivel chair that he had bought specifically because it could spin that the villain had dubbed his "Secondary Command chair" he hadn't even been sitting in it for a minute when he noticed that 2 alerts had appeared on his advanced Pager.

Technodome security system said: 1 INTRUDER ALERT IN SECTOR 22P

Technodome Security system said: DOUBLE INTRUDER ALERT IN SECTOR 22P.

"Double Intruder alert in sector 22P? That's near the main entrance! Who would dare enter the Technodome without my permission besides those blasted thundercroaks?" Grater inquired angrily as he read the alerts on his Futuristic pager before proceeding to get up and go to a nearby monitor that showed the aforementioned Sector 22P, traindancer trapped in barbed wire and Fei having managed to curbstomp his not so mighty Palmsoldiers

"I can't believe it. Not only is the Traindancer Inside the Technodome but A small teenage girl managed to beat my Palmsoldiers!? Unbelievable." Grater pressed the intercom button. "Bullwinkle! Spike! Report to Sector 22P, we have an intruder!" Grater declared over the intercom system. "Scratch that, two intruders!

"We have intruders?" Spike asked

"Uhhh Yeah, didn't you hear that announcement? It's Probably those Frog wimps." Bullwinkle said with a crack of his knuckles emphasizing that he was ready for a fight.

"No no it can't be them, there are four of those thunderjerks " Spike responded to his rhino partner.

"Yeah Bullwinkle acknowledged "So what do you think we're up against?"

"We better find out before the boss berates us." Spike said as he began running towards Sector 22P or the Nearest Cyberportation pad, fortunately the latter came first
They arrived at the central cyberport, which was really just a storage closet with a typical consumer-grade cyberport in it. The two minions stepped on the pad one at at a time, each one being "consumed" by a wireframe grid that covered their body and then caused them to seemingly disintegrate, though the truth was more complex. Either way, they'd used the machine and its ilk plenty of times and were not one bit concerned.

Each reappeared in something much like a parallel realm. Being an 80s villain, the Grater had been using a custom operating system derived from the TanaCorp Entertainment System's bios as recently as 2012. It was only after Ziggy Hawx broke into the Technodome via one of the pads that the Grater hired a professional to come in and install truly secure software on the aging systems.

As a result, there was only one word to describe the realm that Spike and Bullwinkle now found themselves in as they stepped off the small raised pad they stood on. The two already knew the fastest way to get around in this place, something few were entrusted by the Grater to know. In front of them was a road of glowy blue grid lined by glowy green and yellow neon sign palm trees and framed by a portal resembling a sun from the detailing on a 1980s RV on each end. A street sign marked the location as a bus stop and the street as "Sector 7G".

"Taxi!" Spike shouted, stepping up to the curb. From the sun-thing to their left, a deLectric taxi time machine thing appeared in a flash of light and screeched to a halt in front of him and his coworker, automatically opening its gullwing doors. The two got into the vehicle and it closed its doors again, and squealed forward again at high speed. Upon reaching 99 mph, it disappeared in another flash of light and a trail of flaming tire tracks.

It arrived at a location that didn't look much different except for a different shade of glowy lines on the road and a new street sign... Sector 22P. They stepped out of the sports car and stood on another small pad, and reappeared in another room, this time a storage area where a few dozen crates of various illegal goods like automatic weapons and cocaine bricks were stored for potential sale on the black market and/or to be applied against the Thundercroaks. There after opening a door to leave the room, they saw Fei and the Train dancer and the dropped Ninja's.

"No way! Dude look it's the traindancer!" Spike tapped his best friend on the shoulder. Upon which the rhino man looked and saw the traindancer stuck in the barb wire snare, and Fei cleaning her katana with a paper towel,

"Yeah I see him, but I don't think he spun the block on our rank and file here." Bullwinkle said staring intensely at Fei, it seemed as though he was aware of the confrontation that was about to take place.

"Heh heh heh, I didn't think I'd actually meet the legendary bumbling twosome so soon." Fei jeered with a smirk on her face, "Though I don't know just why your bosses goons tried to jump me it provided a good warmup"

"Hey! You don't have to remind us!" Spike pointed angrily at fei

"Yeah! What he said!" Bullwinkle responded Also not happy at what little intelligence he had being insulted. "And cut us a break why don't you? We're not that bad!"

"Clearly these two haven't seen the memes people are making about them" fei mused as she analyzed the situation "Well then..." The girl said before a green aura appeared around her and she ran up and punched Spike in the chin hard enough to send the warthog man's Shades flying into the ceiling hard enough to Break and the man himself to the ground, though he wasn't out just yet.

"As they say, Have at thee you ugly fuckfaces!" Fei said, making the "Come at me Bro" gesture with her hand

(Here's some Boss music for this fight)

"You insulted our intelligence and that was bad enough but now You've hurt my buddy! NOW IM MAD!!! RAAAAAGGGHHH!" The rhino man charged at fei with Spike joining him, Fei got ready to punch them both at the same time and they wound themselves up to punch fei at the same time, their punches landed...and collided with Fei's fists, all three combatants were sent stumbling back by the combined power they had put into their attacks

"Uhh, I'm confused, how is she on me and Bullwinkle's strength level even as a tag team? Unless she has superpowers then I understand
How she's keeping up with us." Spike 'Monologued' internally

"I wonder what the bosses next plan to defeat the Thundercroaks is, oh wait I'm in the middle of a fight." Bullwinkle thought internally then suddenly an idea came to him "Hey spike!"

"Yeah?" Spike asked

"The MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! move?" Bullwinkle said

"The MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! move." Spike replied knowing just what Bullwinkle had in mind.

The two charged forward not nearly as close together as they had the first time and headed to positions right next to Fei and started launching what to someone who had plenty of experience fighting were rapid but unprecise and amateur blows.

They posed something of a challenge to Fei to dodge between all the Left and right hooks being thrown her way, though I am not gonna lie. Spike and Bullwinkle managed to get some decent hits in even though they rely way too much on raw power to get the job done, but that was primarily because they had Fei surrounded on two sides so they had an amateur understanding of Tactics.

But unfortunately, the MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! Move kinda backfired because between all the Punches spike and Bullwinkle had thrown at Fei, they had been unwittingly hitting each other with their team attack which Granted didn't Take the two out of the fight because they were parrying each other's punches while also hitting Fei, who countered by Elbowing them both in the stomach, knocking them both onto all fours.

Spike and Bullwinkle after getting up decided to get into a huddle like one of those Football teams,

"So, the MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! move isn't working, now what do we do?" Bullwinkle asked.

"Don't worry, I have a plan, we get in front of and Behind that girl, like about 10 feet, and ram her really really hard with our heads." Spike pitched his idea.

"That's Brilliant! She won't know what hit her!" Bullwinkle replied clearly unaware of how the plan could go wrong.

With the plan in place spike and Bullwinkle broke the Huddle and made sure to corner Fei about ten feet in front of and behind her,

"This is almost too easy." Fei smirked sinisterly already having a plan due to having some combat experience. With a loud "RAAAAGHHHH!" the duo charged at Fei, who jumped up above their heads just in time for the duo to literally bump heads with each other hard enough to leave the two unconscious.

"He got smart this time, I see." Traindancer said, referring to either Grater or Kodos, Fei couldn't discern which. It was at that moment that she noticed the street performer's leg caught in a barb-wire snare, strangely not bleeding but clearly unable to free himself from the trap.

"WHAT? THIS TIME!? What's that supposed to mean?" The Grater asked infuriated partially due to assuming that Traindancer was talking about him and Partially because the razor bladed maniac needs to learn how to take a chill pill, a fact emphasized by the fact that he was unironically "Milking the giant cow" as the Great big book of art tropes put it "Does thqt foolish traindancing moron dare to imply I, the Grater, the ultimate ninja master am just a bumbling fool?" The evil self proclaimed ultimate Ninja master asked unaware of how accurately he had described himself. "I'm gonna teach that Traindancing Dunderhead not to slander my Evil name!" The ninja warlord vowed, getting up from his command Chair and making his way over to a Cyberport that would take him to sector 22p.

At egghead's lair.
"Oh I'll take care of that little issue shortly." Egghead nodded in acknowledgement turning to a monitor showing the room where the snake bio electricity experiments were underway, now you're probably asking why use animals to power your robots? In egghead's mind the answer was simple, animals were a renewable energy source because they reproduce as long as you carefully managed their populations. Still though it's pretty fucked up to be using animals as a power source for your robots.

KRAKEN HQ
"You would dare mock my genius!?" Von octopus asked Captain Nemo from within his prison, initially meant to hold Cephalopod commando when KRAKEN inevitably battled them again but now it held the world's Evilest Octopus.

"Hey, look I'm on your side, I don't agree with that Sorceress's plans either, I've got a bad feeling that things just got a lot more complicated than one of Plankterror's plans." Captain Nemo replied, "we're gonna need some help."

"Well? Then get me out of here and be quick about it! We don't have a lot of time!" Von octopus replied. "Especially if those imbeciles are planning on using that Lightning Cannon Kraken tried to use the first time he fought that accursed duo!"

From his isolated headquarters, Masterstroke watched the two unfolding situations with increasing interest. One issue at a time, he thought to himself. This was going to call for some more... direct intervention.

---

In Indian Springs, the grimhawk met Sheriff Mackenzie's eyes with a steely glare. Analysis: Heart rate accelerated, sidearm drawn. He wasn't keen on seeing how good an agitated officer's aim is, and keeping his secrecy was vital, but Gadg8eer - and Card - were too valuable to lose. It was time to make a decision. The grimhawk rapped its talons on the metal roof of the Dumvee and prepared to strike... when suddenly, something caught its eye. It was a man, stepping out of a nearby dollar store. A very large man. And judging by his gait, he looked like he wasn't scared of being in any danger. A superhero? Not one he was immediately familiar with. If this guy had a file, it was probably buried in the mess of papers on his desk on in his filing cabinets. But maybe... Masterstroke put his hand up to his face, thumb and pinky extended Inspector gadget-style, and spoke.

"I need info on this guy, G.B. What are we looking at? ...Rowdy who? Well, what do we know about him? ...You're kidding. What the hell's he doing here, then? ...Really? Yeah, that figures. Better do something before this escalates into a problem."

The grimhawk waddled backward a little bit and ducked out of the sheriff's line of sight. If Masterstroke played this right, he could get Gadg8eer out of there in one piece without risking him getting in trouble with the law. The sheriff turned to look at Harry, and in that single moment of distraction, the grimhawk leapt into action, wrapping its dexterous, raptor-like claws around the handle of the driver's side door and pulling it open.

---

Out in the Pacific, half of the fangfish school darted after Swim as fast as they could. They were outmatched in a physical fight, without a doubt, but if they could relay some information to Captain Crustacean, maybe he and his allies could more easily deal with the problem that had just ripped KRAKEN HQ clean off of its supports. The other half of the school, and the orcastrator, which was still some distance out, rocketed in Gula's direction. Sure, they were villains, but if they were in danger, he wasn't about to let them just die. As it was, he had no way of knowing that most of them had just thrown their lot in with Ashen Witch and her dangerously-playful companion.

As Captain Crustacean and Cephalopod Commando considered their course of action, there was a loud splashing around the ship as the horde of fish emerged onto the surface. Once they had the heroes' attention, they carefully arranged their bodies to spell out a message: "HERE TO HELP" - and then another: "TALK TO US"...

It was needless to say that the two heroes noticed the display of the fish which needless to say Briefly confused the two heroes who hadn't seen what appeared to be ordinary fish clearly arrange their bodies with the intent to communicate in a human language before, both of the heroes began to think up ideas of how to communicate with the fish when swim offered up a perfectly good solution.

"Can either of you talk to fish? I have some experience, but my translations are a little bit rough. I'm not exactly the most emotionally stable person so sometimes that stuff where I have to translate emotional signals into English gets kind of shaky." Swim asks her two hero upperclassmen, looking back at them while leaning over the side of the boat, then looking at the fish themselves, which seemed to be ready to communicate.

"And, the talking to fish aside, depending on what's happening, we might need to call in someone with a little more kick to their powers. And if the league of aquatic villains, or whatever the hell they're calling themselves now are teaming up with Ashen Witch, it might be necessary to call in the entire Pacific League of Aquatic Heroes." Swim says.

"I know we generally stay away from stuff relating to the other members like Rainyday, Armament Hydroclasty, Octoman, Mr.Gyo, Strange Binding Dial, Dr. Silver A Gunner, and White White Shell, but if something this big is threatening the coast, the PLAH is the first line of defense. I don't want to imagine what sort of monster would come up from the sea that'd get past us all together..." She thinks back to facing Dallas the Unspeakable alone, how even though he wasn't at full power he absolutely wiped the floor with her, and how she wouldn't've survived if it weren't for the Longinus Analogue activating and flinging Dallas to the far end of the spacetime continuum.

"You can do it swim i'm confident in your translation abilities." Captain crustacean said with the demeanor of a Gently Teacher "We'll need to figure out if anyone sent these fish or if they came here on their own accord."

"You know, now that I think about it, it's been a minute since we've seen the other PLAH members, it'll be nice to see them all again for another adventure." Cephalopod commando said with some nostalgia in his voice as he recalled the last time the three-person team had gone on an adventure with the PLAH, though not necessarily the villain they had fought.

"I know we generally stay away from stuff relating to the other members like Rainyday, Armament Hydroclasty, Octoman, Mr.Gyo, Strange Binding Dial, Dr. Silver A Gunner, and White White Shell, but if something this big is threatening the coast, the PLAH is the first line of defense. I don't want to imagine what sort of monster would come up from the sea that'd get past us all together..." She thinks back to facing Dallas the Unspeakable alone, how even though he wasn't at full power he absolutely wiped the floor with her, and how she wouldn't've survived if it weren't for the Longinus Analogue activating and flinging Dallas to the far end of the spacetime continuum

Unfortunately both the Captain and the commando had battled a monster that was likely to get past all of them, as swim thought back to Dallas the unspeakable, her heroic upperclassmen thought back to the Deep sea overlord, a monster in both the capital and lower case M senses of the term who had sought to devour mankind under the belief that because he considered himself the strongest in the sea and because life had begun there he was the mightiest creature on the planet.

"Ain't no use, boy, that's a stolen prison guard vee-hick-al. They shade the windows on 'em. I'd say break in the glass on this joyriding punk, whoever he is, but they make 'em out of some special method like on my cruiser." Sheriff Mackenzie pointed out.

---

At that point the container ship's captain showed up on a bicycle (the ship was as long as the Empire State Building is tall, so they used a few bicycles to travel around the ship) looking like he'd seen a ghost. "I just got off the radio with the Coast Guard. They said something big is headed east, straight for San Francisco."

"Thank you sir, we'll see what we can do." Captain crustacean responded, he had a bad feeling about this, "Alright you two heard the captain right?"

---

"O-Okay!" Swim leans over and presses one of her fingers to her temple, focusing on clearing her mind and attempting to manifest the info to the fish, which could faintly be heard by the surrounding persons.

 

[Lord Moldoma]

"Might be... a little late... for that..." he responded, "Palladium... Do you... do you remember... the car crash... that revealed my identity?"

Dimit's chest tightened as this hadn't been what she had expected. She could read it, Anthony's vitals were steadily dropping. "Anthony... Fuck.. This... Damn modulator.. H-Hold on." She paused only briefly "Yes, I remember the incident." Her voice comes through. turning off the modulator. Hoping he'd remember what she sounded like when she served under him as a pupil/sidekick.

"If you're dying... You need to let me know. You're hard to work with, but you're still human damnit." She says. "P-Please, don't die." She was panicking at this point, the thought of her co-worker dying overwhelmed her weak emotional intelligence.

It was rare for Dimit to speak with any sense of urgency or weakness like she was. For her, Palladium Chariot was just an act, meant to be someone that she couldn't, as to draw people away.

Even if she had trouble with Technetium, they had a history, and Dimit was only human after all, something she couldn't accept. She had put down the mask in order to speak heart to heart with him.

 

[Gadg8eer]

Dimit's chest tightened as this hadn't been what she had expected. She could read it, Anthony's vitals were steadily dropping. "Anthony... Fuck.. This... Damn modulator.. H-Hold on." She paused only briefly "Yes, I remember the incident." Her voice comes through. turning off the modulator. Hoping he'd remember what she sounded like when she served under him as a pupil/sidekick.

"If you're dying... You need to let me know. You're hard to work with, but you're still human damnit." She says. "P-Please, don't die." She was panicking at this point, the thought of her co-worker dying overwhelmed her weak emotional intelligence.

It was rare for Dimit to speak with any sense of urgency or weakness like she was. For her, Palladium Chariot was just an act, meant to be someone that she couldn't, as to draw people away.

Even if she had trouble with Technetium, they had a history, and Dimit was only human after all, something she couldn't accept. She had put down the mask in order to speak heart to heart with him.

"It's alright, Dimit. I knew. I just wanted to let you know." he said, and then fell silent, his eyes glazing over as the secret he'd kept, the shard of the steel-titanium alloy of his earliest suit that he had kept at bay with the electromagnet in his suit's chest plate. No wonder he had always seemed to have a slightly bigger chest, he'd probably never removed the chestplate in over a decade.

It was difficult to tell, but those capable of watching the event from afar would likely to have the words It's okay, Anthony. You can rest now... ringing like an echo in their heads.

((Hope this is okay, I didn't know whether Closed Casket was/is a persona))

"Palladium? Do you read me?" Closed Casket asked over their agreed private channel.

 

[Lord Moldoma]

(She's not a persona. She's just an OC.)

"Y-Yeah..." Dimit says. "What is it?" She asks, shakily. Watching people die always made her hurt in a way she hadn't learned to cope with yet. It wasn't the first time, but it was the first time she felt so powerless and disconnected from reality.

 

[Gadg8eer]

(She's not a persona. She's just an OC.)

"Y-Yeah..." Dimit says. "What is it?" She asks, shakily. Watching people die always made her hurt in a way she hadn't learned to cope with yet. It wasn't the first time, but it was the first time she felt so powerless and disconnected from reality.

"I heard you had a problem with Ashen Witch. I'm bringing in some special assistance, if you get my drift." Casket explained from the seat of her motorcycle as she and an escorting convoy of CIA paranoiamobiles headed west...

 

[Lord Moldoma]

"Good... Make sure they take her in alive... I'm... Gonna send out some recovery drones and... Get ready for a funeral..." Dimit says, before closing the Private channel temporarily.

---

"Jeez... And I thought I was sensitive about death..." Casket says.

"So uh, Kid, you've fought ashen witch before. Which is why I think it's good if you help me out on this. I don't really get involved in stuff with other heroes but. That kaiju attacking the city ain't a normal kaiju. It's an entity called Gula. One of the deadly seven. Similar powers to me and you, immortal and stuff. You'd probably have to hit the poor bastard with something like a divine analogue to do any real damage. So no matter what they throw at it it's just gonna power through. That's where you come in. You know more about Ashen Witch than just about anyone, 'cause ya've fought her. So I reckon ya can talk down Gula and convince him that he shouldn’t be siding with ‘er.” She explains. “Sound like something you can do?”

 

[Gadg8eer]

"Good... Make sure they take her in alive... I'm... Gonna send out some recovery drones and... Get ready for a funeral..." Dimit says, before closing the Private channel temporarily.

---

"Jeez... And I thought I was sensitive about death..." Casket says.

"So uh, Kid, you've fought ashen witch before. Which is why I think it's good if you help me out on this. I don't really get involved in stuff with other heroes, but... That kaiju attacking the city ain't a normal kaiju. It's an entity called Gula. One of the deadly seven. Similar powers to me and you, immortal and stuff. You'd probably have to hit the poor bastard with something like a divine analogue to do any real damage. So no matter what they throw at it it's just gonna power through. That's where you come in. You know more about Ashen Witch than just about anyone, 'cause ya've fought her. So I reckon ya can talk down Gula and convince him that he shouldn’t be siding with ‘er.” She explains. “Sound like something you can do?”

Gadg8eer's goggles translated "Gula" from ancient Latin to contemporary English as she said it.

"Gluttony? I wish I could help, but my offensive powers haven't been much to talk about since I defeated Invidia." Gadg8eer admitted, "I think my powers were supposed to be for that specifically, because they've never worked on any other of the Deadly Seven Beasts. That, and I'm kind of the last person anyone wants to try and talk down a-"

"Now entering the San Francisco Smartgrid. Thank you for choosing AmeriCall an-an-an-" one of the overhead flatscreen highway signs said as they approached it, before suddenly spitting up a BSoD.

 

[Lord Moldoma]

"Gluttony? I wish I could help, but my offensive powers haven't been much to talk about since I defeated Invidia."

"..."She's silent, sighing a bit. "Listen, kid, you can't die, and Ashen Witch is your villain. That means it's your responsibility to do what you can to stop her." She begins. "My only powers are a trained body and the fact that I can't die and I'm doing pretty well for myself. I don't even got toon physics or the super-fabrication powers, so apart from the fact that I can't feel pain anymore, and I spend more time missing limbs or with my head blown in than not, I'm pretty healthy for a girl that smokes six packs a day."

"She's your nemesis. You know, considering I'm pretty sure that doppelganger or whatever you had is probably dead -again, don't know, don't care, he hasn't caused problems for me yet, so I don't gotta get to the bottom of that, not my place - Maybe it shouldn't be the way it is, but if anyone knows what it's like to deal with a controlling, genocidal bitch like her, it's gonna be you." She explains.

"Here's the deal: If you don't do it, a lot of people are gonna die. Because we'll have to evacuate and launch a nuke on the poor bastard. You were there when 9/11 hit, you wanna know what it's gonna be like in 10 years if we have to nuke san-francisco? 20 times worse than that. I don't even wanna know what the US itself will do with it's own internal politics at that point." She says, sighing again. "I know you like to do this whole 'adults suck' thing, and how your opinions on politicians is that they can go die or whatever, but think of it this way, if you don't, there'll be a hell of a lot more kids suffering than if you did."

"You're playing a dangerous game by saying no. So if you can't do it for yourself, do it for me. Believe in the me that believes in you. I won't force you to do it, but I want you to think about what you'd be doing by not doing it."

 

[Gadg8eer]

"..."She's silent, sighing a bit. "Listen, kid, you can't die, and Ashen Witch is your villain. That means it's your responsibility to do what you can to stop her." She begins. "My only powers are a trained body and the fact that I can't die and I'm doing pretty well for myself. I don't even got toon physics or the super-fabrication powers, so apart from the fact that I can't feel pain anymore, and I spend more time missing limbs or with my head blown in than not, I'm pretty healthy for a girl that smokes six packs a day."

"She's your nemesis. You know, considering I'm pretty sure that doppelganger or whatever you had is probably dead -again, don't know, don't care, he hasn't caused problems for me yet, so I don't gotta get to the bottom of that, not my place - Maybe it shouldn't be the way it is, but if anyone knows what it's like to deal with a controlling, genocidal bitch like her, it's gonna be you." She explains.

"Here's the deal: If you don't do it, a lot of people are gonna die. Because we'll have to evacuate and launch a nuke on the poor bastard. You were there when 9/11 hit, you wanna know what it's gonna be like in 10 years if we have to nuke san-francisco? 20 times worse than that. I don't even wanna know what the US itself will do with it's own internal politics at that point." She says, sighing again. "I know you like to do this whole 'adults suck' thing, and how your opinions on politicians is that they can go die or whatever, but think of it this way, if you don't, there'll be a hell of a lot more kids suffering than if you did."

"You're playing a dangerous game by saying no. So if you can't do it for yourself, do it for me. Believe in the me that believes in you. I won't force you to do it, but I want you to think about what you'd be doing by not doing it."

"Alright, I'll try." he said as they arrived at the center of the Golden Gate Bridge's span. Gadg8eer hopped off the bike, jumped the barrier and took a look from the bridge's footpath towards the Pacific Ocean. "Where is Gula?" he asked, looking over the edge of the foot path railing.

---

Romanov's Secret Evil Vampire Nuclear Bunker and VIP Nightclub, Moscow, Russia
November 05, 2023 (Moscow Standard Time)

"Hermes. What a surprise. What brings you to Russia?" Vladimir Rasputin asked, annoyed that his night alone with the ladies had been interrupted.

"A gift." Hermes said, producing a small package wrapped in exquisite-looking fabric and fine gemstones.

"How thoughtful, but... Who, exactly, is giving me this gift?" the closeted vampire lord asked.

"...Persephone sends her regards." was all Hermes said, before turning and walking away. Vladimir would have had someone follow the Greek god of messages, but everyone knew Hermes had many ways to avoid capture.

"So she did." Vladimir smiled, and undid the bow on the strange box.

Inside was a pair of big spiky shoulderpads that wouldn't look out of place in that Mikey Black music video with the dancing zombies, which Vladimir turned over. The word Ταπεινότητα was apparently printed on the leather inside.

"Yes... I knew that pathetic excuse for a Goddess would have to follow through, and now..." he began to monologue to impress his bodyguards and any potential eavesdroppers, "...I am as God!" he strapped the shoulderpads on, feeling power course through his undead veins... The wrong kind of power... "No.... This cannot be!"

They invented the key to your salvation, Rasputin, but you didn't take it... and now, just as I promised long ago, when you made our deal, YOUR SOUL IS MINE!

---

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California, United States of America
November 04, 2023 (Pacific Daylight Time)

At that moment, an enormous shadow rose over the two heroes from behind...

"Did it just get cloudy?" asked Gadg8eer.

 

[Lord Moldoma]

At that moment, an enormous shadow rose over the two heroes from behind...

Closed Casket turned immediately. reaching her hand into her coat, ready to pull out one of her oversized "Good Samaritan" style auto-pistols if needed. Although she stopped once she saw what was casting the "enormous shadow."

---

Meanwhile, on the other hand of the conflict, a group of heroes had essentially gathered between the coast and the cargo ship to watch both ends of the conflict. Arriving on the ship was Hydroclasty, Octoman, and Rainyday, and on the coast was White White Shell, Strange Binding Dial, Dr. Gyo, and Dr. Silver A. Gunner, who made his way via a crablike mobility machine built by Gyo.

"Oh, uh, mister gunner, that walking machine you have, have you been injured since we last saw each other?" Dial asks.

"No.. Well.. Not unusually injured. I'm just old. It's hard to get around like I used to, and I'd rather prefer Shell not have to carry me places. I maybe be a little eccentric, but I'm not so eccentric that I'd request that."

"Really, Silver, it's not a problem if you would request it." Shell says. "I am welcoming to any contact or usage you have in mind for me, even if it is not my prime directive. I am your dutiful assistant."

"Rehehehe, if I were younger I might've taken advantage of that... But... I don't have that same stamina anymore." Silver Says.

"Gross... But.. She is your robot wife, and mine looks like a fish, so... I guess you get more of a pass than I do." Gyo says.

"Well... Innuendo aside... Any signs of Hydroclasty and the others?" Silver asks.

"They've gathered with Captain Crustacean, Cephalopod Commando, and that young Gonfube girl on a freight boat some knots out there." Dial says.

"Gonfube?" Gyo asks.

"In seafairer culture, there are four traditional genders. Men, women, Gonmane, and Gonfube. Gonfube are recognized as possessing the hearts of women and the bodies of men, and are accepted as such. Not unlike the Japanese Okama or the Zapotec Muxe." Dial says. "I call her that because.. I cannot remember her name, but I do remember she is of that sort. It is simply a term in my language I am more familiar with, and the main thing that immediately comes to mind about her because of how... Vocal she is about it..."

"That's fair enough. I think her name is Swim?" Gyo says.

"Hey! Crab-seat guy! Are you guys heroes?" Shuffle calls out, recognizing the group has gathered only 17 meters away.

"Yes, we are!" Silver calls over, before coughing a bit. "Ah sorry. I'm not good at yelling." He says to Gyo and the rest.

---

Meanwhile, Hydroclasty arrives on the ship, a massive trail of bubbles following her before she jumps on. "Have no fear! The Megalodon Hero Armament Hydroclasty is here!" She says.

"Ribbit... Does she have to introduce herself like that every time?" Rainyday peeks out of the water nearby, before slinging out her tongue and vaulting herself onto the ship with Octoman holding onto her waist, seemingly able to carry him as if he were no weight off her back.

Octoman lands and sets down Rainyday, who retracts her tongue with an "alm" sound.

"Oh! You guys got called out here too?" Hydroclasty asks "Awesome!"

"Yeah, everyone on the coast got a notification. A lot of people have other stuff to do though, so only so many heroes could show up. Otherwise it'd be pretty crowded. Ribbit Ribbit..." Rainyday says.

 

[Sir loin of beef]

Closed Casket turned immediately. reaching her hand into her coat, ready to pull out one of her oversized "Good Samaritan" style auto-pistols if needed. Although she stopped once she saw what was casting the "enormous shadow."

---

Meanwhile, on the other hand of the conflict, a group of heroes had essentially gathered between the coast and the cargo ship to watch both ends of the conflict. Arriving on the ship was Hydroclasty, Octoman, and Rainyday, and on the coast was White White Shell, Strange Binding Dial, Dr. Gyo, and Dr. Silver A. Gunner, who made his way via a crablike mobility machine built by Gyo.

"Oh, uh, mister gunner, that walking machine you have, have you been injured since we last saw each other?" Dial asks.

"No.. Well.. Not unusually injured. I'm just old. It's hard to get around like I used to, and I'd rather prefer Shell not have to carry me places. I maybe be a little eccentric, but I'm not so eccentric that I'd request that."

"Really, Silver, it's not a problem if you would request it." Shell says. "I am welcoming to any contact or usage you have in mind for me, even if it is not my prime directive. I am your dutiful assistant."

"Rehehehe, if I were younger I might've taken advantage of that... But... I don't have that same stamina anymore." Silver Says.

"Gross... But.. She is your robot wife, and mine looks like a fish, so... I guess you get more of a pass than I do." Gyo says.

"Well... Innuendo aside... Any signs of Hydroclasty and the others?" Silver asks.

"They've gathered with Captain Crustacean, Cephalopod Commando, and that young Gonfube girl on a freight boat some knots out there." Dial says.

"Gonfube?" Gyo asks.

"In seafairer culture, there are four traditional genders. Men, women, Gonmane, and Gonfube. Gonfube are recognized as possessing the hearts of women and the bodies of men, and are accepted as such. Not unlike the Japanese Okama or the Zapotec Muxe." Dial says. "I call her that because.. I cannot remember her name, but I do remember she is of that sort. It is simply a term in my language I am more familiar with, and the main thing that immediately comes to mind about her because of how... Vocal she is about it..."

"That's fair enough. I think her name is Swim?" Gyo says.

"Hey! Crab-seat guy! Are you guys heroes?" Shuffle calls out, recognizing the group has gathered only 17 meters away.

"Yes, we are!" Silver calls over, before coughing a bit. "Ah sorry. I'm not good at yelling." He says to Gyo and the rest.

---

Meanwhile, Hydroclasty arrives on the ship, a massive trail of bubbles following her before she jumps on. "Have no fear! The Megalodon Hero Armament Hydroclasty is here!" She says.

"Ribbit... Does she have to introduce herself like that every time?" Rainyday peeks out of the water nearby, before slinging out her tongue and vaulting herself onto the ship with Octoman holding onto her waist, seemingly able to carry him as if he were no weight off her back.

Octoman lands and sets down Rainyday, who retracts her tongue with an "alm" sound.

"Oh! You guys got called out here too?" Hydroclasty asks "Awesome!"

"Yeah, everyone on the coast got a notification. A lot of people have other stuff to do though, so only so many heroes could show up. Otherwise it'd be pretty crowded. Ribbit Ribbit..." Rainyday says.

Captain Crustacean turns to the three new heroes, and waves at them "It's good to see all three of you here, we were about to contact the rest of the pacific league."

"Rainyday! Octoman! Hydroclasty! How have the rest of the Leaguers been?" Cephalopod commando asks

"Believe it or not we were just here to Fight Man-ray and his crew and stop them from looting this ship. Speaking of which We just got some Intel, It appears KRAKEN has returned and their commander has gathered up an entire league of me, cephalopod's and Swims worst enemies." Captain Crustacean explained "and it appears that the Ashen witch and some sort of Kaiju, likely one of the Deadly seven have aligned with them."

"Everybody on the west coast got informed? You were right captain! This might be our toughest battle yet!" Cephalopod commando exclaimed

 

[Lord Moldoma]

"I've been getting around like usual. Still running that 'keep the seas clean campaign' thing. Ribbit." Rainyday explains. "Logistics are a lot easier for that sort of stuff when you have people like Gyo and Gunner working to make sure stuff happens, Ribbit."

"I'm sure we can handle it together, Big bro!" Octoman tells Commando. "That mean ol' kaiju won't know what hit' him... Uh... If he gets back into the water I guess."

"Octoman has a point, we could all probably jump that thing at once, and it'd still take something like Hydroclasty beating her fists into the damn thing's temples while the rest of us hold it down to deal with it on land. Ribbit." Rainyday says.

 

[Sir loin of beef]

"I've been getting around like usual. Still running that 'keep the seas clean campaign' thing. Ribbit." Rainyday explains. "Logistics are a lot easier for that sort of stuff when you have people like Gyo and Gunner working to make sure stuff happens, Ribbit."

"I'm sure we can handle it together, Big bro!" Octoman tells Commando. "That mean ol' kaiju won't know what hit' him... Uh... If he gets back into the water I guess."

"Octoman has a point, we could all probably jump that thing at once, and it'd still take something like Hydroclasty beating her fists into the damn thing's temples while the rest of us hold it down to deal with it on land. Ribbit." Rainyday says.

Captain Crustacean nodded as much as the mutant crab could "that I agree with without a doubt."

"Me too Little Bro, that Kaiju will learn not to mess with innocent civilians as long as we're around." Cephalopod commando nodded.

"I'm not surprised considering what we're dealing with here, is the rest of the team waiting for us?" Captain Crustacean asked rainyday

 

[Gadg8eer]

Closed Casket turned immediately. reaching her hand into her coat, ready to pull out one of her oversized "Good Samaritan" style auto-pistols if needed. Although she stopped once she saw what was casting the "enormous shadow."

At 220 feet above the sea, the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge was far too high for Gula to reach. Instead, the shadow was indeed cast by clouds... but menacing, purple clouds that crackled with green lightning. A bolt struck Gadg8eer, illuminating his bones a rich green color as his Toon Force kept him alive.

"OW! What the frick was that?!" he turned around, but was taken aback by the intensity of the storm building overhead, and the silhouette of an all-too-familiar shape winding through the clouds. A loud, roaring noise like a snake's hiss mixed with a freight train's brakes squealing could be heard within. "No way.... that's not supposed to be possible!"

Captain Crustacean nodded as much as the mutant crab could "that I agree with without a doubt."

"Me too Little Bro, that Kaiju will learn not to mess with innocent civilians as long as we're around." Cephalopod commando nodded.

"I'm not surprised considering what we're dealing with here, is the rest of the team waiting for us?" Captain Crustacean asked rainyday

At that moment, something felt off about the motion of the container ship. It was at that moment that something far more dangerous - even if more easily defeated - than one of the Deadly Seven Beasts rose out of the water.

"My god... It's Mobius!" the captain shouted.

Spoiler: Notes on Mobius the Leviathan by ActionFigure-kun!

Mobius, the legendary 4th dimensional horrorterror is some sort of plantoid equivalent of a shark or orca. It swims through spacetime itself, so it can float in water, air and the vacuum of outer space. It's not invincible, but it is metaphysically immortal. You can injure and kill it, but once it disappears, all you really did was drive it back to its home unreality where it'll hopefully stay for a while this time!

Mobius isn't evil, just grumpy, carnivorous and hungry. Fortunately, unlike other horrorterror species, Mobius can't survive on flesh. Instead it consumes the constructs of civilizations and supersapient entities, mostly metals and plastics. Now you know why there's no Pacific Garbage Patch!

I know you can't hear me, but I hope you can send her home. She's not supposed to be out of her exhibit without a collar!

 

[Sir loin of beef]

At 220 feet above the sea, the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge was far too high for Gula to reach. Instead, the shadow was indeed cast by clouds... but menacing, purple clouds that crackled with green lightning. A bolt struck Gadg8eer, illuminating his bones a rich green color as his Toon Force kept him alive.

"OW! What the frick was that?!" he turned around, but was taken aback by the intensity of the storm building overhead, and the silhouette of an all-too-familiar shape winding through the clouds. A loud, roaring noise like a snake's hiss mixed with a freight train's brakes squealing could be heard within. "No way.... that's not supposed to be possible!"



At that moment, something felt off about the motion of the container ship. It was at that moment that something far more dangerous - even if more easily defeated - than one of the Deadly Seven Beasts rose out of the water.

"My god... It's Mobius!" the captain shouted.

Spoiler: Notes on Mobius the Leviathan by ActionFigure-kun!

Mobius, the legendary 4th dimensional horrorterror is some sort of plantoid equivalent of a shark or orca. It swims through spacetime itself, so it can float in water, air and the vacuum of outer space. It's not invincible, but it is metaphysically immortal. You can injure and kill it, but once it disappears, all you really did was drive it back to its home unreality where it'll hopefully stay for a while this time!

Mobius isn't evil, just grumpy, carnivorous and hungry. Fortunately, unlike other horrorterror species, Mobius can't survive on flesh. Instead it consumes the constructs of civilizations and supersapient entities, mostly metals and plastics. Now you know why there's no Pacific Garbage Patch!

I know you can't hear me, but I hope you can send her home. She's not supposed to be out of her exhibit without a collar!

"Don't worry! We're on it!" Cephalopod commando declared as he and Captain Crustacean ran up to Mobius to joint tackle the plantoid entity

"You heard him team! First we have to get Mobius away from the ship." The captain said before running up to tackle Mobius along with his crime fighting partner. Then as soon as they had gotten Mobius away from the ship Captain Crustacean began to use his Aquakinesis to restrain Mobius so that (Assuming The PLAH fought Mobius before) they could send him home without too much trouble.