Project Oddity » Places

         The new group of three consisting of The Shape, Aegis and Hush were quick to move out. Hush could provide transport and a forward offense, Aegis would provide a strong defence and protection for the people they found, while The Shape could provide support, covering fire and direction. At least, that was what Hush had intended, but watching the strange display Shape made with his powers made Hush curious just what he was capable of. Regardless, it was a relief that those powers were on their side; but she internally grimaced at the prospect of how it would feel to have those powers turned on her. After all, she had no idea how he was controlling them, and the idea of losing control of her own body… Well, that brought back a flood of memories that she really didn’t need distracting her right now.

Subconsciously, a hand went to her neck as she ran, feeling the scar there and reminding herself of the event that triggered her powers. That day with Victoria… Was she still out there, alive and hurting people? She’d vanished the day of the incident, and no one had managed to find her since. Was she a villain now? It would make sense, especially if she was living off the grid… Could she be at something like this? If Tess saw her again… Could she work with someone like that? Darting forward and slicing clean through a plant monster, Tess kept moving, even as her thoughts were clouded and distracted. No. There was no way someone like THAT would help fight off an abhorrent. Victoria was sick. Sadistic. A different kind of monster that revelled in the suffering of others.

Closing in on a nearby signal, Tess stopped, looking to the pile of rubble where once a building had stood. There was a reading coming from inside, meaning whoever was alive was likely buried in this mess. They had to get them out. “Shape, hold those things off as best you can. Aegis, can you help me clear this stuff?” Moving up, Tess knew she wasn’t strong enough to lift all this stone and concrete, so hopefully Aegis had a quick way to do so. In fact, maybe… “Aegis, you said you need to be able to see to make a barrier, right? If I can cut you an opening, could you expand the field and use that to push all the rubble out of the way?”

As she waited for his response, Hush darted to the side, avoiding a stray tendril that reached for her. Pivoting on her leg, she made a clean vertical slice through the creature, sending more disgusting plant juice scattering to the pavement. Gross. Even though Shape was powerful and could hold off a number of creatures, they still had to do some degree of looking after themselves. With the threat temporarily cleared, she continued. “If you can hold it all up for a moment, I can try to warp in and back out with whoever’s in there. I just need enough space to make my portal.”

Hush was quick to take charge and that didn’t bother Alex in the slightest. He was used to it when working with other solo capes before so he defaulted to his normal role. Defend, contain, and suppress. Only going on the offensive if it was called for. After The Shape displayed a somewhat concerning control over the plant monsters, forcing them into their short lived frenzy. The makeshift knight felt like there was less need to provide cover for the man. A quick thrust of his hand generated a few random walls for Shape to stick behind. A brief moment of eye contact and a nod was all Alex needed to know that it was sufficient for the gunner.

Aegis would restrain some plants as he followed after Hush, either to crush or fling the thing himself, or give an opening for Hush or Shape. One plant seized him by the wrist with a vine like tendril. When it failed to cause any noticeable pressure and just barely drag him towards its main body, Aegis couldn’t help sighing with some relief. The plants couldn’t hurt him much at all it seemed. But he wouldn’t push his luck. A crude blue sword formed in his other hand as he hacked off the vine and bubbled the minion. Without thinking much on it, the bubble thickened and quickly compressed as much as it could, crushing the plant as it flailed helplessly. It was flung away moments later. The realization of how easy it was for him to crush something that was definitely stronger than the average human didn’t sit well in his stomach. He gave Hush a thumbs up when she had stopped to see if he was ok. The two kept moving. It was easier for him, focusing on helping how he could. Kept his mind from drifting to his grandparents, Dean, or any of his other friends. Was Vic even ok in all of this? Focus, right.

He snapped out of his own head when the two came in front of what remained of a building. He checked his band along with Hush. A signal, so someone was still stuck in this mess? There was a good chance whoever it was needed medical attention. He nodded at Hush’s plan. ”Yeah, I have no idea what the inside of this looks like. Give me any sort of opening in there and I can fortify it and make more space, my constructs can take the weight easy. I’ve . . . had a building fall on me and friend of mine once.It will hold.” He raised his hands up in a ready stance, a sky blue energy glowing behind the lenses of his helmet before a thick, glassy dome formed around him. ”This should give you a safe place to warp back to when you grab them. Also will keep anything from sneaking up. I’m ready when you are.” That felt like it took a second too long. It might have been the adrenaline mixed with the fear of being so close to the Tangle fight. The Abhorrent’s roars still heard over the crumbling city.

A quick look back showed that Shape was following behind them, daggers in hand this time as he carved through two of Tangle’s minions that had attempted to tackle him. Maxwell was starting to feel the physical strain, but needed to conserve ammo as much as possible. Couldn’t run back to the base for the time being, so his only alternative would be a gun store in the town, and at any rate, he had no idea how long this battle could go on for.

The Shape was now up beside Aegis, giving him another nod of approval. ”Nice work so far, both of you.” Maxwell said as he took a quick survey of the area around, taking note of more of the minions in the area. ”I’ll keep working on the minions for now, but it’s sounding like we need to work quickly. Impossible to guess when and where Tangle could move next, but we need to be ready to leave in an instant.” Maxwell charged forward once more towards the writhing plant creatures around them, directing his hands towards several groups of them and sending them into crazed frenzies once again. Aegis put up a few walls for Maxwell to work around, perfect for some of the stragglers that hadn’t been affected by his power yet. He grabbed one, pinned it up to Aegis’ wall, and began stabbing through what seemed like a neck until he severed what seemed like a head. All the while he contemplated what might be going through Hush and Aegis’ heads. He’d noticed more than a few times that the girl was looking in his direction since he started using his powers. Perhaps there’s something about it that’s familiar to her? Or perhaps it’s off put her. Either way, he noted it for now and decided he would keep it in mind for later, assuming there was a later.

Clearing her mind and increasing the intensity of the lightblade in her hand, it began to glow far brighter as she made her way up onto the rubble. Taking it into both hands, she moved to thrust it downward, feeling a slight resistance that immediately gave way to the intense heat that her weapon produced; a white hot glow around the area where the weapon pierced the rubble, along with bits of melted rock dribbling out. ”Shape, I’m counting on you to watch Tangle. I’ll only have a few seconds to get us all out of here if it does come this way, so don’t hesitate the moment you notice anything strange.” Dragging her sword roughly through the rock, somewhat like a heated cutter, Hush pulled back, taking a quick glance to get stock of the area for more of Tangle’s plant monsters before making her way back towards Aegis. ”Aegis, you’re up. If you need light to see in that hole, I can probably do something.”

Getting into a stance where she was ready to create a portal, she nodded to Aegis to indicate she was ready to match his timing.

Shaking his head, Aegis lifted his arms and concentrated. He had a good enough view inside now to get a general idea of how much space he had to work with. He focused and soft aqua colored light started to fill the inside of the rubble pile. Sheets and panels formed on what was left of any ceiling, thick pillars and braces thumped downwards and reduced the weight further. He lifted his hands gradually, causing the debris to shift and slide.

Alex was sure it would hold, but he didn’t want to push Murphy’s law more than he had to. ”Alright it’s up and holding. Go now!” He felt an irritation was forming in his head a moment later. A glance in The Shape’s direction showed one of his walls starting to crack as Shape took cover momentarily. A moment’s focus repaired the wall. He mentally kicked himself a bit for not practicing holding multiple constructs up more often. A push of his will caused all his constructs to thicken a few inches. ”Gotta hurry and stay mobile. I'd prefer not being a sitting duck for too long.”

Maxwell took a small step back as he noticed the cracks in the Aegis’s energy wall. They were only there a few moments before Aegis patched them up and called out. Still, it was a worrying sign for them, these walls not being indestructible. He took a look around the area once more, seeing that Tangle’s minions were fairly spread out, with a few small battles taking place between the ones he was controlling, and the ones he wasn’t. The Shape didn’t know how well Hush’s powers would work, but decided not to chance it.

”I’m going to make a clearing for us. Aegis, focus your walls there. Hush, focus on getting a portal set up in the clearing.” He moved quickly to a spot where the rubble was less dense on the ground, in the shadow of a few apartment complexes. Maxwell’s pistols were out once again as he took a few shots at some of the more distant minions, and used his powers to cobble together a few groups he could control. He sent his groups to the opposite side of Aegis’s barriers where they could be an obstacle to the uncontrolled minions, while The Shape himself took shots around the edges of the barriers at whatever targets he could hit.

Maxwell took a quick glance back to see how Aegis and Hush were handling things. For now he had a clear area for them to work in.

Once the rubble was up high enough, Hush was scanning the area and debris for any sign of the injured individual, but it was still very dusty in that mess. She'd need to get closer. Estimating the distance based on the signal ping, she made a quick slash, forming the blue portal and stepping through, appearing deeper into the area. Between the glow of her light sword and her new proximity, she was able to make out the silhouette of a hero, his body beaten down and battered. Moving up, she quickly did a check for pulse, relieved to have something, as well as the faint sign he was breathing. His bruising and bleeding was pretty bad, but the main thing she had to hope was there was no spinal damage - they didn't have time to keep him still.

Heaving him over her shoulder, she made another slash in the air and pulled him through, reappearing next to Shape through another shimmering blue hole in the air. "He seems stable… If he wasn't, I doubt we would've gotten to him in time… Aegis, you can let it drop, but slowly. We don't need a dust cloud." Glancing about the area, Hush wondered if they could hold this position long enough to fetch more people, or if she should just take whoever she finds immediately to the triage point. It would waste time on the continuous trips, but was far safer. She decided to check in with her two teammates before making a decision. "Do you think you can hold this position for very long, or should we just keep moving?"

Aegis followed The Shape’s idea and started to fortify the space he had been clearing out. Erecting angled walls a bit over a foot in thickness. A walled off circle had been made with openings that would bottleneck any groups trying to rush in. Satisfied, Aegis had already started to lower his barriers holding the rubble once he noticed Hush came out with the now rescued cape. Though the comment in regards to a potential dust cloud made him be a little bit more careful not to drop everything at once. A quick glance towards Shape answered the immediate question if he was ok. He seemed to be in his element.

Aegis looked back to Hush and jerked a thumb towards the new fortification as his own dome that had been around him dropped. ”If we want to stick around any longer we should stay in there. I can hold it up, but I still think we work fast.” He quickly through out an arm in a wide sweeping motion. A rectangular curved sheet flew out and scooped up three minions that had tried charging in at them. The creatures were thrown against a wrecked building in the same motion. ”I can't say how long Shape and I can keep this up, but we’ll manage.”
A cluster of azure orbs and geometric shapes formed in mid-air and orbited Alex. His body was tense as he quickly made his way towards the fortification, firing off a barrier like a telekinetic bullet to give the Shape some extra support.

The Shape gave a wave to Hush and Aegis, indicating them to move to the area he was currently covering. ”We can hold here long enough to take a few more survivors and leave in one go.” There was a rumbling that shook the area as a nearby building started to come down. ”We have to work quick. Tangle could head this way, or another one of these buildings could come down on us. I’d give us five minutes maybe.” A blast of energy flew by and crashed into a group of minions, ripping some apart, and sending others flying. Maxwell gave a thumbs up to Aegis before getting back to shooting down more of the minions.

Hush and Aegis quickly reached The Shape, laying the survivor in the middle of the clearing, the safest distance away from the minions. ”Where’s the next one?” Maxwell called out to his teammates as he beat away a stray minion with his pistol grip. When he finally got it a few feet away, he raised the pistol and put three rounds through its head, dropping it instantly.