Partly Cloudy. Arc 4: Abberance.
Sähkö stared down at the carnage of the battlefield from the rooftop Jericho, no, Wendigo had dropped her off at. She turned to face Ray- no, Seraphim, who was standing next to her, also having been deposited on this rooftop.
..... "Hey, Seraphim?" Sähkö started, "What's with the foggy haze around Tangle?"
..... Seraphim turned to Jasmin, her eyes the only part of her body visible through the mosaic of worlds that was her armor. "What haze? There's nothing around Tangle, that I can see."
..... Sähkö turned back to look at the plant abberation that was Tangle. There was a very faint, but obvious, bright haze or fog around the serpent. Similar to how mountains disappear in the horizon behind a blue haze that is the sky or atmosphere, but bright, more purple. Violet. "It's like the sky but bright purple. I think I can see ultraviolet light?"
..... Seraphim shook her head. "No, Jaz, you definitely can't see UV light. This would have come up before, because lots of things would look different to you. Some glass wouldn't be clear, for example. Not only that-"
..... "Tangle doesn't give off ultraviolet radiation." Chrysopoeia interrupted.
..... "What he said. Tangle gives off x-rays and gamma rays. Maybe you can see those in high quantities? I mean, lightning and plasma does give off lots of those types of radiation. It's highschool-level science."
..... Sähkö nodded. She knew this, but she wasn't quite sure. Regardless, there was nothing she could do about it in this moment. Maybe it was a part of her ability she hadn't 'unlocked' yet. Her power was like that. Some people came with full control of their abilities from the start, not having room to grow, and they have to be creative. Like Wendigo. But others, like Sähkö, came with no automatic control of their abilities, and have to flex it like a muscle, let it grow, and learn new things about it all the time.
..... Though her brief exchange with her teammates had distracted her, it was hard not to find her eyes drawn back to the fight. It was carnage, and Jasmin realized that, like her team, most capes who couldn't do jack shit were standing by the 'sidelines,' on rooftops, down the street, blocks away, just observing, twiddling their thumbs, not knowing what to do, or maybe looking for opportunities to help injured capes in need. Jasmin was sure any capes with healing powers of any type definitely had their hands full. Hopefully some among their ranks could reverse radiation damage.
..... But no one could reverse death. And a lot of that was happening to. The fight hadn't even started five minutes ago, and her bracelet-thing had already listed off dozens of aliases. Heroes and villains, they were dying.
..... While the less capable capes sat on the sidelines and acted as observers and support, the strongest capes were around Tangle. The triumvirate was easy to pick out, all four of them, with the addition of Synergy, were hovering within Tangle's death-range. Suit pummeled Tangle with plasma and particle beams, barely scratching the surface layers of the Abhorrent's skin. Explosives were less likely to hurt Tangle and more likely to hurt other capes. And lasers would be reflected, or worse, used by Tangle. Legend brawled with the beast, flying away and then zooming towards Tangle, but instead if smashing Tangle into the ground or surrounding buildings, Legend would throw punches upwards, dispersing all of the energy into the Abhorrent, and not the asphalt under the beast. At first, it perplexed Jasmin. Why not throw it into the ground, like in destructive super hero movies? Then she realized, to beings like Tangle and Legend, with immense strength and invulnerability, that the ground was more like a mattress, or cotton, and the energy would hit harder not being dispersed into something as soft as concrete, to them.
..... Hero and Synergy were another league, themselves. Hero was flying, well, hovering in place, wreathed in green flames around his body, matching the black-and-green aesthetic of his suit and cape, and from his shoulders emerged two massive spectral green wings of flame, like a lime-green phoenix. Each of the fingers on his hands elongated into wicked foot-long claws, and he'd fly at Tangle, and swipe, cutting easily the entire foot into Tangle's flesh, but have to dance around, careful to avoid attacks.
..... "He got lucky, I think." Chrysopoeia stated, noticing Sähkö watching. "He most likely got some power that let him pierce Tangle's defenses. The Triumvirate are on him like they are excited. It's probably rare to get such a power."
..... "Lucky? Maybe. But he's also gambling. I don't think he has any defenses. He's being very careful to dodge Tangle. He's probably as squishy as an unpowered human right now. Besides, though his claws are cutting deep, a foot deep isn't anywhere near it's core." Seraphim followed.
..... "Hey, guys? Watching is boring. Let's do something ourselves." Decided Sandstorm, who had been excitedly fidgeting this whole time.
..... And in that moment, a feeling of impulsivity overcame Jasmin. "Watch me really, really regret this, later."
Partly Cloudy. Arc 4: Abberance.
"Yikes-" was all Chrysopoeia had managed to get out, before his world turned white. He saw Sähkö, in her blue hoodie, black yoga leggings, and black iron-sand mask, step forwards and thrust a hand out, palm facing Tangle. Immediately, he knew that she would release a lightning-bolt.
..... But he didn't expect this.
..... Usually, when Jasmin has any visible electricity, it's thin strands, arcs, that stay close to her. Once or twice, he's seen her do an actual blast of lightning, at inanimate objects, but she never does it at humans. And this was a league of its own, a depth to Jasmin's power he didn't even realize she was capable of.
..... Even through his sunglasses, the world was blindingly stark featureless white, with deeply contrasted pure dark long shadows creating the shapes of the building and silhouettes of the people around him. She was holding a stream. An actual stream, of lightning, plasma, bright white ionized air, for several seconds.
..... Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Lucas's vision was dark, blinded, and the world was just a muffled ringing, as if he'd been flashbanged. A few more agonizingly long minutes later, and he could start to regain his senses.
..... Tangle was unharmed.