New Congress

Episode 1: Trials of Champions

The story of the Paradigm IX begins in a large industrial warehouse in the center of the metropolis. It has been set ablaze, with explosions and fires piercing from it throughout the night. Cameras from all manner of media outlets have set their optics upon the scene, letting the entire world watch in horror as the three beloved heroes of the Paradigm VIII are literally destroyed, with Caucus the only one yet to die. The state police have sanctioned off the warehouse after losing many of it's brave uniforms in battle and it would seem that tonight, all hope is lost.

[[As Caucus]]

Blood erupted from his mouth as the mighty fists of Bombshell slammed into his back again and again. He was prone on the ground, trying desperately to reach out for the dead bodies of his two longtime friends and partners, Glory and The Vote. Their bodies had been riddled with gunfire after they had been ruthlessly slain by the host of Villains that awaited them.

Ever since the great Flux of energy from the Lacuna, there had been plenty of super-powered individuals for the Paradigm IX to take out and have sent to the new Kalhoun Prison that had been made specifically for those that were captured. However they had been primarily used to defusing situations that included normal human beings. They were not ready for this situation. The Paradigm VIII had been tipped of a shipment of foreign children to be smuggled into New Congress for slavery. They had immediately descended upon the warehouse where they found waiting for them a host of thugs & super powered individuals:

[Cosmos, a man who has the capabilities of absorbing and re-channeling cosmic energy to shoot at his foes. Possesses the ability to fly as well as enhanced strength.]

[Pride is a Jynall Human-Lion hybrid. He has all the strengths of a lion wrapped in the package of a human being.]

[King is a man of enormous size and strength. His baton is capable of sending out dangerous bolts of concussive energy. Surrounding him are 20 "Pawns" ((shown in the pic)) that carry small arms, and are extremely adept in hand-to-hand combat.

[Tallok is a man whose flesh has given way to a damage-resistant metal that can produce sharpened *barbs*. These barbs are able to be shot forward at his opponents and can be regenerated at will.

[Bombshell is Tallok's sister. She is of great strength and her wild fighting style makes her pummel her foes into submission. Like Tallok her skin is of a steel material]

[Valkyrie wears a suit of armor that gives her enhanced strength and protection. She carries a shield and a lance made of pure energy]

[Funnybone is a brute who has lost all sense of pain. He carries into battle 2 titanium baseball bats and can quickly regenerate physical injuries inflicted upon him.]

[Marron is a berserker who carries into battle a medieval-style set of Aramid armor that is able to resist small-arms fire. He carries a devilish looking axe]

[Duality is able to make clones of himself. He masters in agility and is well-versed in dangerous martial arts]

[Shear is a dangerous acrobat who uses giant blades that protrude from his wrists to impale and shred his foes. He also carries a pair of modified pistols making him twice the threat.]

[Murphy is an expert gunman that wields an assortment of firearms. He currently holds 2 desert eagles, a modified M-16 and grenades. Most of the explosions are due because of him and his 13 men that are at his side. He wears a complete casing of body armor that is able to deflect even armor piercing rounds and is resistant to fire.]

The Paradigm VIII did not stand a chance against this threat, and while they fought bravely they were savagely taken down. Caucus could hear the cries of the children as the fists of bombshell went into his back once more. A loud cry of pain erupted from his mouth as he felt the bones in his back begin to shake. He still tried to crawl however towards the bodies of his two fallen comrades, and when he was ruthlessly kicked in the gut by a boot from Bombshell's brother Tallok, he tried to crawl towards the children that were trapped inside a large container. However those that were assembled laughed at his plight, their leader finally making his way towards Caucus. He stopped infront of the bloodied and crawling hero, shaking his head at Caucus's defiance as even still in his condition tried to fight by grabbing the ankle of Testament, the ringleader of those gathered.

Testament kicked Caucus's hand from his boot and spat down at the warrior, looking up as he knew that the many automated cameras of the news channels were watching. His face could not be seen beneath his mask but his voice was all too clear as he spoke, pointing towards the cameras as he reached down to yank Caucus up, holding the man by his head and forcing the cameras to train on him.

"Witness now as your heroes fall beneath the will of Truth! The time of change has been brought upon you and the secular ways of the world which has led to naught but to chaos, turmoil, entropy, apathy and destruction shall be smitten under the beauty of the Lacuna! All who do not separate themselves from their hedonistic way of life shall be given judgement at the hands of my disciples and myself. And if you fight" -he pushed the head of Caucus forward, the stubborn superhero still trying to cling to whatever life he could- "You shall be judged underneath our heels"

Testament then tossed Caucus down, turning to those gathered and saying "Finish this now" before opening up a Lacuna gate and walking through it, disappearing as soon as he stepped through.

With the entire world watching, Bombshell walked towards Caucus's body and placed her foot on the back of his head. She looked up at the camera's smiling about to stomp down and finish off the superhero once and for all.

((SCENARIO))

The warehouse is currently ablaze, about 70 children are trapped within various canisters within the complex. Caucus, the last remaining member of the Paradigm VIII is about to be killed. The Villains assembled are all dangerous in their own rights, and are staying behind as insurance that Caucus is finally dead. Firefighters are rushing outside to put out the flames, but their lives are also in danger as soon as they enter the complex. Thugs from both King & Murphy bolster the ranks of the villain's numbers.

The villains gathered have been ordered after Caucus is executed to immediately lay waste to the civilian forces gathered outside. That includes the police, media, bystanders ect. They must be stopped!

Any attempt at a rescue will be perilous. Surely anyone who tries to defuse the situation alone is facing suicide...

Is this the end of Caucus?
Will the kidnapped children truly be shipped away to a life of slavery?
Will there be an answer to the despair now felt by the people of the world watching as the last of their heroes is about to fall?

Find out as Episode 1 of the Paradigm IX continues!!!!!

He was laying there, completely drenched in sweat, in his favorite patch of grass on the outskirts of New Congress. Desmond was completely oblivious what was going on within the city, silently complaining in his head about how nobody takes time to enjoy nature anymore (as he often does). Desmond had just finished finished his 4th or 5th circuit of training, so he was taking a break, drawing energy from nature when his phone rang. "Why do I have one of these again?" he muttered while checking the caller id, "Oh, Ileana? She never calls me." Desmond flipped open his phone and put it to his ear, "Oh isn't it a joy to hear your lovely voice!" Desmond joked, however his mood changed as the call continued, "No, I don't know what's going on..... Why would I know what's going on IN the city? When am I ever there, Ileana?......." He glanced to his left at his brown, hemp bookbag, "Yes, I have my bookbag, why?..... I told you I don't do that superhero stuff........ CHILDREN?! FOR WHAT?! Ohhhh, do you even know how far away I am...... Oh yes, thats right, I forgot you could do that....... Ileana this is really going to deplete my energy if you want me to make it there in enough time to actually help.... I'm just saying, I doubt I'll be able to take anybody head on...... Well if somebody is already there then I might be able to get a hit or two in.......... Oh?..... HAHA! Riding a stream of water?! Well, I'll go just to see that!... Yes, yes, of course and try to rescue the children....... Where is it again? Ok, ok, I'm on my way, soon as I change..." With that, Desmond hung up the phone and grabbed his bookbag. Nobody was as far as he was so Desmond changed into his all blue uniform with it's gray dot on the chest, slung his bookbag over his shoulder and took off towards his destination, full speed, using the energy he had drawn from nature while out there training.

Decoh ran up in enough time to see that a giant hole was in the building where the children were located. Oh.. somebody's stealing my schtick, haha, He joked to himself. Decoh ran up to the building and noticed splashes of water on the ground where the hole had been made, Oh yes, the water dude! He looked through the hole and saw The Baptist going at it; he appeared to be holding his own, so Decoh, drained of his nature energy due to the run, decided to sneak inside and head straight for the kids. Thank goodness The Baptist had drawn the attention of the villains. Decoh stayed on the wall as he climbed through the hole and proceeded to move very cautiously towards where the children were held, checking in The Baptist's direction every so often to make sure he was okay. Things weren't looking pretty, Pride had leapt on him, and Decoh hesitated, just in case he would have to interfere. The Baptist had successfully fried Pride and Decoh thought it was safe for him to move on. As he resumed his cautious walk towards the kids. Not more than 5 steps later, Decoh heard what sounded like electricity and immediately looked over to where he heard the sound. It was Baptist, in the arms of Bombshell. Damn.... this sucks, Decoh thought to himself as he looked for the most suiteable spot to blast Bombshell and free The Baptist.

Crap... the leg it is... maybe i'll just vaporize her ankle, that ought to knock her off balance or something. With that, Decoh layed on the ground, rose his index finger in the air, and as soon as he had what he thought was perfect aim to make the circle, he felt a sharp pain on his right side and flew a few yards to his left. Decoh, gripping his side with one eye squeezed shut and his teeth tightly clenched to help bear the pain, looked over to see where that came from and there stood, where he was not too long ago, King, with a huge grin on his face. Damn... this really sucks... Decoh raised his hand, about to where King's knee should be, and twirled his finger as the shape of a knee sized circle appeared in mid-air.... *click*

Ileana flopped onto her bed with a huff, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. She was already wishing that her sleek new hands-free interface was back in the package and she had passed on the opportunity to try it out by giving a call to her mom. "Yes, mom. What do you think, I've gone all mother-earth on you and chosen to forego life instead of the iron supplements? Come on now..." She rolled her eyes and suffered through another few minutes of nagging when suddenly...

Ileana shuddered, her eyes going wide and her dark mahagony skin swam with silvery lacework tattoos. Her mouth hung open as her glazed over eyes flitted over the invisible facts and figures streaming silently from the computer on the other side of the room, which was humming, displaying a flowing field of binary. "Um, mom?" she whispered breathlessly. "I gotta call you back." She hung up on her mom's stream of babble and stretched a hand toward her television, blinking her eyes purposefully. The screen lit up, flipping for a few seconds to the appropriate channel. Ileana jumped up and scrambled to the edge of her bed. Her fingers flew in mid air and within seconds the handsfree in her ear was ringing.

After calling twice with no answer, finally a voice came over the line.

"Oh, isn't it a joy to hear your lovely voice,"

Ileana rolled her eyes, climbing out of bed to be closer to the television. "Cut it. Do you have any idea what is going on out here?" She put her hand against the plasma screen, her heart thumping wildly at what she saw. "Do you have your pack with you? It's the Paradigm XIII, Desmond... fuck that, I don't care what you think you do and don't do there are kids in there!" She quickly ran through the place and the situation, she summed it up quickly and efficiently. She could see That kind of thing was in her blood. "And Decoh," she added as she was about to hang up, "Keep your cell on you."

Binary gathered her hair in her hand as she rushed out of the room. In the living room she passed her hand over a hidden pannel in a wall and stepped into the familiar cool, dark space and the comforting hum of technology. She could feel the gentle tug of metal shifting under her skin as she slid into her well-worn leather chair before her massive computer console. A few seconds clicking away on the keyboard and she was in. She whispered under her breath, processing the images coming in from the video-cameras, the reports from the police, the questions from other heros that were streaming in to her, all at once and within seconds. "Firepower," she mumbled and again she went tapping away on her keyboard. Within seconds, a single message was sent to the contacts of every hero she had ever communicated with.

The old warehouse in the center of New Congress. Follow the sirens. The Paradigm VIII is fallen... Coucus has a chance. Binary".

Aleksander silently muttered equations and facts to himself as he sat on the roof of his appartment building, looking out over the city. He liked to come here because it felt like it offered some perspective. Oftentimes he would just sit there for hours, meditating like a monk but with his head filled with algebra, models and schedules. If he ever got around to building his own space station (he only really needed to get his hands on a suitable fuel) that would be the perfect place but until then this would just have to do.

He chuckled as a new feature for a combat drone he had been designing formed in his mind. ""Needs more firepower." He muttered and made the necessary adjustment to the design in his head. Yes, that would work out much better. Now he would have to get his hands on some more titanium...

Getting the supplies he needed for his work had always been a problem for the poor immigrant from eastern Europe. Poverty had also been the reason he didn't have a real PhD. Capitalism was such an ineffective system. It made this society's refusal to acknowledge his genius hurt even more. He had once considered a life of crime to gain the funds he needed but had quickly realized it wasn't really in him. Being a supervillain was just beneath him. It would take so much time that he would be better off just working with what he had right now. Printing your own money to fool the lady behind the register at the supermarket wasn't that hard anyway so he wouldn't go hungry anytime soon.

He turned back to one of the other problems he had been working on and it didn't take him very long to figure out another possible cure for cancer. If the alterations he had made to his own genome would ever turn on him he would probably need as many possible treatments as possible. It was worth it though. He no longer cut himself while shaving no matter how hard he tried. Perhaps he should use this new power to get himself some test subject to try some of these possible cures. Of course they would already need to have cancer or he would be forced to give it to them...no that wasn't really possible right now. It would have to wait.

If only the people of this world could see beyond their own little reference frames. He could've helped them in so many ways. Instead they feared him or attempted to stifle his massive intellect. They didn't succeed but still...it was annoying. And only because he sometimes caused an explosion or occasionally tried to dissect animals and people who weren't quite dead yet. Such feeble little minds would never be able to really fulfill the potential that science offered.

He grunted as his concentration was broken. When he opened his eyes and became aware of the surroundings again he noticed the commotion. There were sirens and screams.

"Odd." He commented before seeing the smoke. His expression turned from surprised into thoughtful again and he quickly picked up several stimuli which allowed him to construct a list of possible causes. People in the street were talking excitedly about a big fight going on. In the appartment on the other side of the street the TV was showing images of a ruined warehouse.

"I see." He said to himself again. He had often wondered if the fact that he talked to himself so much meant he was just lonely or going insane. Eventually, he had dismissed the idea because there were so many thoughts going through his head at the same time some were bound to be vocalized.

He considered going down to his appartment to watch the news but decided against it because the limited scope and idiotic comments would only annoy him. No, this was something he had to see himself now that he still had the chance. He adjusted his tie, put on a surgical mask he had stolen from the hospital and grabbed the gun-shaped grappling hook. The young genius anchored it to the roof before scaling down the side of the building.

----

He hurried towards the commotion but when he finally got close the police had already blocked the streets. As the Doctor approached, on foot like a commoner but in full costume and with a posture suitable for a man with his IQ, an officer moved in to stop him. Dr. Damnation spoke before the man had even opened his mouth.

"I am Doctor Damnation." He announced in a low voice. "Out of my way, insect. I wish to see the meta-humans do battle."

A mocking smile appeared on the man's face but it quickly disappeared when Aleksander pulled a device out of his labcoat and pointed it at him. It looked like a small digital camera but the word 'Neuralizer' had been scratched onto the top with a sharp object. It flashed as if it was taking a picture and the policemen promptly slumped to the ground. He hadn't even succeeded in slowling down the Doctor.

Nobody challenged him after that and he calmly made his way to the source of all the smoke.

"Awesome." He whispered to himself as he confidently paced towards it. He could hear there was still a fight going on inside and noticed some of the camera's were pointing at him. A sliver of nervousness formed in his stomach. He slowed down somewhat and carefully approached a large hole in the side of the building. When he peeked inside he saw only chaos.

"I guess I'd better wait untill things die down a little in there." He whispered and looked at the small neuralizer in his hand. He reached into his labcoat with the other hand and pulled out an even smaller scanner. The small device gave him a good idea of what kind of power was being throws around in there. "Oh, yeah, I'm definately waiting a few minutes."

Binary cursed under her breath, watching the backup slowly trickle in. It was too little, too slow, although she noted with approval that Decoh had gotten over himself. Her eyes scanned through the footage from the cameras that were stationed over the warehouse. There were well into thirty adversaries, an incapacitated hero and a pack of children in there. Two objectives: Caucus and the children. Possibly three, that fire was out of control. Binary skimmed through the opperational status logs of the warehouse. The fire had yet to affect the power to the building and the numerous bots and converyor belts were still functional...

A wicked smile crept across her face and she chuckled as she cracked her knuckles. Those that were there needed a distraction to get to the kids and it seemed that The Baptist and Decoh could use a bit of backup. "Let's make this interesting," she said and lost herself in the click-clack of her keystrokes.

---

Somewhere in the back of the warehouse, a red caution light flickered to life and a long, piercing buzz echoed throughout the cavernous building. All at once all of the conveyor belts began to move, dumping one thug off of his perch and onto the point of his own knife. The other thugs cursed and drew their weapons, looking around suspiciously for any sign of movement. Suddenly, gunfire echoed toward the end of the aisle before it was cut off sharply. The group of gunmen turned as one towards the sound, squinting though the flickering, shadowy gloom that the smoke and fire caused.

And then, a compact little droid wheeled its way out of the smoke. One of the gunmen jumped and fired off a round before he gathered his wits once more. His comrades laughed and razzed him for it and he grumbled back. Sour-faced, he bent over to retrieve the little droid when suddenly it whirred backward and zipped forward it ram itself hard into the gunman's ankle. The man instantly began to howl as the space in front of them was suddenly bursting with droids of all shapes and sizes, some wielding some deadly looking attatchments, all rushing past, or through in some unfortunate cases, the group.

One group of the droids rolled purposefully through the warehouse and finally came out across from the struggling Baptist and Funnybone. Decoh had just formed his circle and there was a small click followed by the sound of a gunshot. A large droid, fitted with short, thick, flat blades for lifting shot forward at the same time, ramming as hard as it could into Funnybone's back, hoping to throw the villain off balance.

*bang* King fell to the ground as he was no longer able to balance due to the absence of his knee. Hell yea, Decoh smirked. And looked over to see Funnybone getting the smackdown from a droid. Go Binary...... Alright, gotta get to these children Decoh attempted to move, wincing in pain as he did so I shoulda borrowed some more energy.... I'd at least be able to function right.... I'm making Ileana put a garden in the house or something if I survive this... With great effort, Decoh finally made it on his feet, using the wall as support. Decoh skimmed the room to notice the presence of..... a butler? With a mask??? Tossing silverware around and taking good care of the bad guys, Note to self... don't fuck with the butler dude... especially not during dinner... Decoh continued to look around and noticed the whole building practically came alive, brushing that off, knowing that was his sister's doing, Decoh began to head towards the children, and heard a loud crash, Decoh quickly turned his head, wincing in pain, and saw a.... Humanoid Rhino.... Haha! I wonder who else is coming... With that, Decoh continued his trek towards the children, that is, until he felt a blast in his back and once again went flying quite a distance. He rolled over to his side to search for where the blast came from, and sure enough, it was King, his baton pointed straight at Decoh... "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FREAK OUT A LITTLE LONGER!!! JEEZ, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU VILLAIN PEOPLE?!?!" Decoh yelled, cringing in pain. He didn't have too much time to take aim anymore, Decoh had to hurry up and get those children. All he had to do was get rid of the baton and he would be home free, Decoh raised his hand.. *click*.. *bang*.. No baton, King was able to get out of the way. Oh great... not only do I punch holes, but apparently they don't hurt.... Decoh had to do something about King and that baton, and he had to do it fast..... For now, he would have to keep King busy enough not to use the baton. Decoh propped himself against the wall, raised his right hand, and started twirling away, while reaching for his cell phone in his bookbag at the same time.

Decoh hit the send button twice, straight to Ileana's phone. "Heyyyyy, can you have one of those droids kee--" *click*.. *bang*.. *click*.. *bang* "p King busy or something... and have another one come" *click*.. *bang* "pick me up" *click*.. *bang* "and take me to the kids?" *click*.. *bang* "I'm not going to" *click*.. *bang* "be any help if this pattern" *click*.. *bang* "keeps up." Decoh felt his bubble being popped and moved his head just in time to dodge a punch from Duality. "SHIT! Gotta go, HELP ME!" Decoh closed his phone and threw his right hand right in front of him, where duality was standing, but before he could even BEGIN to draw his circle, ANOTHER duality kicked him pretty damn hard and Decoh was no longer where he began. Okay seriously.... this pattern has got to stop.. I'm so useless right now..... I'm serious about this garden thing..... Duality came rushing towards him, just enough time for Decoh to draw a circle *click*.. *bang* there went one of the Dualities' feet before it could make contact with Decoh. Somebody, please help me so I can get to those kids!

Binary scoffed, even as she went to do what her brother asked. "What am I, a soccer mom?" she grumbled. She had no idea what kind of crap this warehouse had been storing, but they sure had some crazy mechanical muscle. The computer screen whizzed through inventory lists and Ileana quickly zeroed in on a few nice looking models. "All right, starting transport duty... go."

In the warehouse, a pair of long iron bar hanging from the air lurched forward and then glided on its track near the ceiling. The bars stopped near Decoh and a large platform lowered quickly, the red lights on its edges flashing briefly, waiting patiently for Decoh to step onto it. In her apartment, Binary was searching frantically on the feeds for where the children were. It looked like there was some movement in one of the containers on the northwest corner, but the camera was not mobile and it wasn't at a good angle for her to see the contents clearly. Still, that was their best bet.

It seemed that there was more than the usuals who were helping out today. She took a moment to admire the fluid way that he moved... and the creep factor of his costume... She remembered The Baptist and Animal from around town, they were good at what they did. This could possibly end up in a good way.

*click*.. *bang*.. *click*.. *bang*.. Okay, this is really getting old now.... Why couldn't I be like any other NORMAL hero, haha... *click*.. *bang*.. Decoh was having a hard time fending himself off from those god-forsaken dualities AND King. He was able to keep them from hitting him too seriously by constantly blasting at them but things were going to be really difficult if he couldn't get any help soon. Suddenly King was no longer in the action and there was the masked Butler offering him help up. Decoh took his hand, "lo--" before he could finish his sentence, there was a steak knife in one of the Dualities' eye. Decoh couldn't help but laugh at this while simultaneously being freaked the hell out. He had never heard of a deadly Butler before, and he's so thin! “You had best get to those children, young sir,” came out of The Butler's mouth before he turned to block Marron's axe... WITH A SILVER TRAY?!?! Strange man.... But he had helped Decoh so he was cool. "You sure you don't want any--" Decoh said, only to be cut off by The Butler who seemed to be enjoying himself despite his current state of affairs, "Better run along." And with that, Decoh, using the wall for support once again, headed towards a large platform that lowered from the ceiling. Awww, she's got me riding in style. I knew she loved me! Decoh joked to himself. Decoh, after great effort, got himself onto the platform and it began to move... He was not going to be able to do much for those children after he vaporized the containers, at least not in his current condition... What if someone were there waiting for somebody to come try and free the children... Oh, maybe not, all the villains were over by the hole.. right? Decoh flipped open his phone again, hitting send twice, he needed some energy, just in case.

"Heyyyyyy... I know, i know, i've called you way too many times but you're the one who told me to keep my cell on me...... Oh right, first of all, let me say thank you for this luxurious ride you gave me. I feel like royalty," Decoh laughed silently to himself, he knew Ileana was probably rolling her eyes at this point, "Secondly, I need some type of natural energy. I don't know where from, but I need something if you expect me to be able to actually defend these kids in case a threat rears it's ugly head..... I just said I don't know! There's a fire SOMEWHERE around here, and a dude that shoots electricity and water, not to mention the loads of machinery, i'm sure you could run them into each other to create a spark, or set them on fire, SOMETHING. Look, if you want me to save these kids, bosslady, you're gonna find me some energy... and probably some help, too... Thank youuuuuuuuu," he said like a 4 year old who just got his favorite action figure from his parents, "and make sure it's natural!!" he said as he hung up the phone. Decoh rolled his eyes, "Damn machines..." he let out as big of a frustrated sigh as he could and layed completely still. Nothing left to do but wait...

Binary answered the phone with a snarl already on her face. "Heyyyyyyyy..."

"Damn it, Decoh, will you lay off the speed dial? This is not as easy as I make it look!" she snapped as she lifted the platform and got it moving along its guiding track and then had to send two more lifting droids to guard the bottom rungs. After a few moments she figured out how to raise those high enough that the stupid gunmen would stop trying to climb it. There were thirty-four mobile droids of different shape, size, and function and seventeen other stationary units, and Binary was coordinating each one, her gaze flicking through the camera feeds stationed over each one in rapid succession. Any other person simply would not be able to keep up with the stream of data, let alone analyze and implement it, but this was her element. Her mind had had its time to warm up, and now she answered Desmond before he had even really finished his sentence. He finished it anyway, of course, used to the way she worked.

"Excuse me? Where the hell am I going to get some natural-ass energy in the middle of New Congress?!" she shouted, swinging one of the droids around to smack Pride in the face and then quickly retreating it back. "I know this is a difficult concept for you to grasp, but I'm actually a genius, not freaking Jesus!" She bit back several scathing remarks. Her brother really was a butt sometimes. The platform he was suspended on continued steadily along its track and then clattered to a stop above the container that she thought the children was in.

"All right, let's see if I can grudge up some sissy natural energy for Decoh..." From opposite sides of the warehouse, two tiny droids, squat and solid that only came about to one's knee started up, gaining speed and mowing down villans as they went until they swerved at the last moment, smashing their back ends where the motors were located together. A huge explosion rocked the warehouse. Binary had timed it exactly so that the explosion had a big shockwave, one that Desmond could absorb, but not so much fire. "Great, I run transport and go out to the store to pick up some gas..."

The platform began to move. We were in business. Decoh just laid there as the platform took him to where the children were located, waiting on some energy to at least give him enough strength to stand. As he lay there, he noticed the entrance of a flying woman, clad in all black... "Well isn't she quite dark.. hehe... i'm so lame..." Grey-Wraith had taken care of some thugs and suddenly became locked in battle with Cosmos. That sucked, he was stuck there, unable to do anything but draw circles, and they were moving way too fast for him to take proper aim, and the pain wouldn't allow him to swing his arm fast enough to make a larger blast and it actually hit something... Decoh was pretty much screwed. Fortunately, Cosmos' head ran into a blade on Grey-Wraith... Unfortunately, Decoh was suddenly blind and he heard Grey-Wraith scream.... That couldn't be good.... Decoh really needed some energy and he wanted to look around to see if he could do SOMETHING to make some but he was still regaining his vision thanks to that damn light.... LIGHT! Thats it! He could blast a hole in the ceiling and use the moonlight... Not as potent as sunlight but he kind of can't be picky right now. Decoh raised his arm above his body, facing toward the ceiling and began to draw a circle, but his concentration was thrown off when he heard the loud almost roar of the Baptist.. At least he was up and at em again. Decoh glanced down to see who had helped and sure enough, it was Animal, currently pummeling the hell out of Bombshell... She totally had that coming. Decoh fixed his gaze back up on the ceiling and raised his hand yet again, this time his concentration being thrown off by a big shockwave caused by an explosion. A shockwave big enough for Decoh to absorb, and absorb he did. Decoh was finally able to stand and NOT feel pain, go Ileana for thinking on her toes... or on her butt... Decoh knew he was going to have to make dinner or something... Maybe he'd hold off on asking to remodel the house.

Decoh stood up and bounced a few times to get the energy flowing as the platform came to a halt above a container that would hopefully have some children in it. Decoh leapt off of the platform right onto the container, it felt good to be able to move normally; what was Ileana's favorite meal again? Decoh waisted no time, he drew a circle right on the container, click, and leapt off of it before the container disappeared and he landed on those poor unfortunate children. bang. No more container, and there were kids in there, thank God that wasn't a trap, Decoh was quite fed up with surprises for that day, plus all that technology was throwing off his flow. Even worse, the kids were foreign.. How was he supposed to explain how that container just disappeared, or, better yet, get them to follow him to safety... Guess he was winging it. Decoh already had the kids attention, now it was getting them to follow him. He walked towards a wall, making sure the kids' gaze was fixed upon him the entire time. He turned quickly to draw a big circle facing toward the wall, CLICK..... BANG. There was the kids' exit, hopefully they would take it, but he had no time to try to get them to understand what the purpose of that hole was, 3 of Murphy's thugs came running up, however this time, Decoh could take em. He'd probably need backup soon though.

Decoh rushed toward the first thug, finger hovering about where the thug's shoulder should be click.. bang there goes his shoulder. With the first thug caught off guard, Decoh gave him a solid punch right in the nose, effectively knocking him out. click.. bang, that thug was now armless. Decoh raised his hand in the air and drew a medium sized circle at an angle Click.. Bang and immediately took off towards the thug to his left, the thug to his right falling into the hole Decoh had made in the ground with his blast. He rushed straight for the third thug and swung at him, but he missed and the thug gave Decoh a solid one in the gut. That crap stung but Decoh had no time to waste, he had to get back to the children. Decoh grabbed the thug's hand to hold him where he was and drew a circle on the thug's throat click.. bang No more thug. Decoh ran back to the kids while pulling his cell phone out, this time to send a text, for some reason he felt Binary would read the text before it made it to her phone physically. "Thugs r coming. Need help. Send cops to hole in NW corner. Thanks <3 :)" [[Send]] Before Decoh could get all the way back to the kids, he got a bad feeling. He turned in just enough time to get rid of a bomb that had been tossed, only to look down and see more thugs, and Murphy, on their way. Damn.... this sucks...

Binary flicked her eyes to the top corner of one of her computer screens. Incoming Text, it said before it was shuffled off the edge of the screen by more incoming figures. Binary opened it quickly and scanned its contents. She allowed herself a bit of a smile. The children were safe and Caucus was on his feet. Things were actually going their way. She summoned a box and quickly obtained the frequency of the radios the local police force used.

"This is dispatch," she said brightly into her headset with a grin. She did not cease in her typing even as she spoke "Be advised, one of the heros have freed a group of hostages at the northwest corner of the building. If you could pick them up for us, that would just be lovely-- what the hell??"

Binary shot forward in her seat, her nose practically pressing into the screens of the computers, and her keystrokes redoubled and got louder. The droids, all at once every single one of them was unresponsive. A second later, she was thrown out of the system all together and one nano-second after that her screens glitched. Her face paled and her fingers became a blur. "Come on, baby, come on, you are not doing this to me right now," she mumbled. Her eyes darkened as she worked. There was someone in her system and if they had smashed through her firewalls just like that, that meant they weren't just anyone.

Suddenly, her screens blanked and from all four of them a thin, grey-skinned woman with ropey tendrils of writhing hair appeared. And she was looking right at Binary, her eyes very aware. Binary's eyes went wide. "Who the f--"

The unholy sound seemed to slam into Binary's entire body as the ghostly Medusa-looking hag stretched her mouth wide, her eyes glowing white. Binary scrambled backward in her chair until her back hit the opposite wall, her body folding in on itself as she writhed in pain. The scream resonated in her head, but the problem really was the metal spread throughout her body. It picked up the high frequency all too well, jarring her bones. Binary choked off a scream of pain, clenching her hands over her ears as the patterns on her face, hands, and eyes writhed, the metal responding to her spiked adrenaline levels, but with no where to gather to protect her. "Cut the audio!" she gasped, even as she reached out with her mind to stop the power to her sound system. But by that point bugs had flooded the system. The sound system stuttered and then redoubled in volume. Binary screeched and slid out of her seat onto the floor, twitching. She opened her eyes and noticed the bundle of wires leading to her surge protector. Gritting her teeth, she reached out to the panel. She remembered the day she had installed the system, it was the last to be hooked up, the last outlet on the right side...

With a grunt, Binary yanked the chord out of the outlet. That terrible scream was silenced immediately. Binary's entire body sagged, but she wasn't clear yet. She hauled herself into a seated positon so that she could see the woman staring at her from the screens. The woman mouthed something with a sneer and though she could not hear her, the idea was as clear as a bell. "Right back at you, bitch," Binary mumbled breathlessly. She tiredly, but quickly dragged herself into her chair and reached for her keyboard, but the electronics in it shorted, sending sparks out toward her hands. Binary scowled. "Fine then." She held up hear hands and wiggled her fingers. "I can do the no-hands thing too." With narrow eyes, Binary sank her mind deep into her home network, wiping clean and re-programming with every milisecond. Binary knew everything in the city, every hero, every villan, and especially every technopath. No one was faster than her. Her eyes gazed over and her lips moved soundlessly. She was completely immersed in a world humans had created, but only a handful had ever truly walked in the way that Binary did. She was in about six places at once, shoving the Medusa out of her system, reparing damage, rebuilding firewalls with mutating algorithims to keep her out, and all the while sniffing for and eventually stretching through the minute, almost invisible trail that led back wherever the thing was based.

Binary shuddered as she touched the Medusa's home network. The thing was huge spanning thousands of networks all at once, but that didn't mean it was without a heart. It had a soft spot, a place to hit. It was guarded, but let's be honest. She was Binary. The locating program she had run had accomplished its objective in two-point-two seconds, long enough for her to shove the Medusa back outside of the firewalls and fortify them. Binary hefted a tiny grin and leaned forward in her seat to stare into the thing's eyes, ready to do a dual battle on two fronts, offensive and defensive, all without moving a muscle.

"Let's get nasty."

Decoh was going in and out, hearing certain things but not others. "I am Doctor Damnation!"... That name was way cooler than 'Decoh'. He would have laughed at that thought, but he was almost gone. "I still haven't ruled out all the possibilities of how it came to be this way." Damn, was he that smart? Decoh sort of wished he were a bit smarter, but he was fine with being smart enough to not be dumb... Decoh was really starting to lose it, fighting to keep his eyes open, they slowly began to shut. "Try to stay awake, hero," Decoh heard come from the Doctor's mouth.. Yea, how about YOU come take my place, the young man thought to himself, mentally rolling his eyes.

"This will get you your precious energy." Decoh twitched at this next sentence, Energy?! Please let it be natural! Then he felt some serious heat near him and heard sizzling sounds. Damn, whatever the Doctor dropped was HOT. Decoh fought to hold on to his consciousness.

The sizzling continued, and the reluctant hero felt the street under him melt away. Part of his body was no longer on the street.. it was... On the earth under the street! Oh thank GOODNESS! Decoh thought to himself as he opened his hand and placed his palm on the dirt and closed his eyes. He began to visualize the energy from the lacuna-fied earth flowing into him, he felt the dirt giving him energy and charging him. Decoh felt his strength begin to return to him, and at an exceptionally faster rate; because the earth was blocked by the street, the energy of the lacuna had could go no further allowing the earth to store a pretty good amount of its energy within it. Decoh stayed completely still for about a minute then leapt up out of where he was laying. Decoh was "maxed out", he'd actually be worth something this go around.

The hero looked at Doctor Damnation, his eyes wild with excitement, he could finally be of some use. "Thank you sooooooo much! Remind me to give you my address, would you like some mashed potatoes as well?" Decoh began to laugh wildly - see, the energy from the lacuna not only reenergized him but it drastically lightened his mood. He would have to call Ileana at some point and tell her that they were having steak for dinner.

The human holepuncher celebrated, running and jumping for about twenty more seconds then calmed himself, he looked down and noticed a cylinder in the middle of the light hole that had been made in the street. He looked over at the Doctor once again, "Is that what you used to make the hole? You and my sister would get along."

Decoh focused his attention on the chaos going on all around. Damn... this sucks... The young man realized that there was no way he'd be able to handle the situation by himself, even if he was maxed out. "Hey Doc," Decoh glanced in Dr. Damnation's direction, "I know I keep asking a lot of things from you, but do you have any idea on how to wake these two up?" he said, pointing at Baptist and Caucus, "We're definitely gonna need their help," the young man said as his thoughts trailed off again, How do we even know who's hurting or helping who? What will those two be able to do after they come to? How did all of this even happen anyway? The hero was getting a headache, maybe he'd just leave all the thinking to the Doctor.

Binary narrowed her eyes, masking the weariness building up in her body. She could feel the Medusa withdrawing, pulling off her attack. That was a good thing, because as she danced around the perimiter of her firewall, Binary found herself almost in awe. She could have cracked it, that was for sure, if her own network hadn't been so savagely corrupted only minutes before. And the battle had already raged for minutes, which translated into days in tech-time. All of her tools, her pre-written search programs, viruses, all of it was corrupted, most of it erased. She could rewrite it all in a few hours, but not while taking the offensive.

"Let's do this," Binary said quietly, outloud and through her mind. "I'm installing a few nice tripwires around my perimiter. I've got your signature. If you so much as slide some spyware through a crack, I will find you and trust me," she leaned forward with a snarl, "I will turn your circuits inside out. Understand?" Even as she spoke, she was erasing all traces of herself from around the Medusa's network, altering her own signature, basically making herself invisible again. "See you around," she said, and all at once, gave the Medusa a mighty shove and ran the software to take her back off of the grid. The Medusa's face cut all at once from her screens around her and after a moment, they quietly resumed working order. Binary sighed and wearily pulled up the signal for the communication unit she had been giving out.

"This signal is corrupted and will be terminated. Come see me for a replacement. Binary out." She pressed a button on her console and a satisfying sizzle-pop sounded over the frequency. She had installed a kill function in every unit she gave out. Now, the insides of every device should be a nice melted, destroyed mess. She had a lot more of those stocked up somewhere. She would have to tune them to a new signal, but it wouldn't be too hard.

She was ready to get back to work, and was a bit worried about what could have happened during her absence, but it had only been about five minutes. What was the very worse that could have...

"Holy shit!"

Junoichi forced the scowl off of his face as he was pulled to his feet. He crouched as the Grey-wraith began handing out orders, his eyes narrowing. Here was the woman who had slept through his own requests, but had now popped up in order to make a flashy re-entrance. He said nothing, there would be time for curt remarks later. He gathered up a few of his arsenal, mostly the spoons he’d been using earlier. He wandered over to one of the fallen Dualitys and pulled the serving fork from his eye. The Butler heard Animal making a ruckus, but ignored it as he picked up a few more pieces of silverware, including the carving knife.

He slowly made his way back to the scene, scowling obviously. This was a mess, they should have just killed the lot of them but many of these heroes seemed hesitant to end life. The Butler slunk into the fray, his slim figure hardly noticed by the murderous cops. The carving knife slit throat after throat as he stealthed through the crowd. It was a daunting task, but the other heroes had finally begun to cooperate. He raised the knife on a SWAT member, frowning when his helmet blocked the slash. He dodged backward, performing a one-handed cartwheel (as his other arm was becoming more and more immobile from the gunshot wound), his heel managing to knock the man to his feet on the landing. The Butler snarled and kicked the man’s helmet from his head before stepping on the man’s arm to keep it stationary. “How bothersome.” He threw the blade between the man’s eyes, lips turning up in a sinister smile.

He peered around, pleased to see that the other heroes seemed to take over. He switched to defense and fell back, nursing his shoulder. He slid out of his jacket rather grudgingly. He didn’t find wearing only a mangled dress shirt very proper. His shirt had a large slice in it which had penetrated the flesh of his stomach, staining the white shirt and the front of his trousers. His pale navel was revealed which proved it to be as thinly muscled as the rest of his body. The arm of his shirt was also bloodied from the gunshot wound that was causing him so much grief. His silk tie was used as a tourniquet reluctantly, but a tie could be easily replaced. He tore a strip of the lining of his jacket and wrapped the wound, wincing softly.

The Butler drew a silver pocket watch from his pocket, scowling. There was no way he’d be able to get breakfast prepared on time.

((Double post, ignore!))

After all that had happened, Vasilisa was ready to kick ass. This "King" fellow was making her life a nightmare. He had been ended, but his rampant 'chess pieces' still lived. She was going to put an end to that....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUy8uX7thJ4
She growled as she walked a towards the rogue chess-piece-soldiers. They must've had a real deathwish if they wanted to engage her now.

The first up was a 'rook', ironically her favorite chess piece. He toted no weapons, but came with his fists ready, in somewhat of a boxing stance. Vasilisa took her frighting stance, the gleaming metal of her arms shining lightly, but then was joined by the briilliance of her teeth, as she grinned widely. The rook came at her swinging just like a kickboxer. She batted his futile punches away from her form, almost as if it was a child playing with an adult. Finally, he threw a waist-high kick at the woman, and this is what she was waiting for. An arm flew to his leg to stop him, catching his leg. Holding him by his kneecap, she lifted him off the ground, and threw him lightly, causing him to backflip and land on his face. She then stepped hard on his back, and spun around. She reached down and graabbed both of his arms at the wrist, and jerked his arms hard, pulling both of them from their sockets with a sickening snap. She then picked her leg up sharply, and jammed her foot sharply and repeditiedly into the back of his head, untill his arms stopped flailing.

Vasilisa frowned as she turned to see one of the pawns aproaching with a knife. A rather large one at that. He was smirking as approached her, and began to swing at her, unable to hit her. She nimbly dodged each slash and jab that came her way, watching the moron throw his weight everywhere. She eventually tripped the man, and stepped on the man's elbow, and pulling his wrist back towards her, the man's joint snapping back against her foot. She walked over him, and picked him up by the back of his gear, and slammed him back down on the ground. She turned sideways, and slammed the heel of her boot hard into the back of his head, resulting in a resound crack. She moved on...

She reeled forth, and saw a Bishop; one of the stronger units. She advanced towards him, and brough her fist back to slug him, only for him to catch her fist. Her eyebrow raised and he returned smirk. She tried to break his grip on her fist, jerking away from him, only for his grasp to stay solid, she twitched he only smiled. She then let out one of her loud russian battlecries, and brought her other fist around, which he also caught. He brought her knee foward, and began to smash it into Vasilisa's gut,knocking the air out of her. The assault finally endeded, as Vasilisa raggedly drew breath as the man held her up by her arms, holding them out as far as the would stretch. She panted heavily, and looked up to him, whom only grinned. She growled, and lunged forward, her foot smashin ginto the man's torso. He grunted, and stumbled slightly. Gathering her energy, Vasilisa pushed off the ground, bringin her other leg off the ground, suspended in mid-air by the man as he held her. She was literally upside down beside him. Twisting her robotic arms uncomfortably, she brought her leg high in the air down on the man's head. He dropped her, causing the russian to hit the ground. She panted hard, and rolled out of the way as the man fell to the ground. She was quite sure she had at least cracked his spine.

She pushed herself up off the ground, and retook her stance as another rook approached. She was clearly tired, but she wasn't going to give in. She had been taught better. The man lunged at her, and she swung her elbow around to block the attack. She spun into a backfist, knocking the man around. She thrust a foot into the man's kneecap, and as he fell, she caught him in a chokehold. She pressed all of her mechanical might into the grip, untill she was she she had crushed the man's windpipe.

She looked behind her, and retook her stance, breathing heavily, as three more encroached her. This...was not going to be fun.

Black Friday had stared in amazement as the metal-clad woman had descended from the sky so majestically. As she spoke, the words slipped off the surface of his mind, leaving no trace of their intentions. Instead, it was the sound of the words that caused him to bare his teeth and growl. The distorted edge of her voice, so unnatural, so monstrous. There was only room for one monster in New Congress as far as Black Friday was concerned. A smell tickled his nostrils, sickly sweet and metallic, a conundrum of flavours. The scent of blood.
The metal woman had drawn knives, glinting with dangerous intent and slick with blood. This one wasn't prey, she was like him, a hunter. He smiled through a lipless mouth, the result more filled with horror than joy.
"CRUSH!" He bellowed as he leapt at the hovering woman, swinging his mighty, right fist.

[Black Friday]
His eyes rolled around in his skull, as the foreign presence in his mind dug deeper. It was like a bridge between him and her and when he looked across it, he could see her mind. It terrified him, terrified the monster that struck fear in the hearts of the powerful. His head and ears were filled with her derisive cackling.
"Would you be my cute little slave pet?" If his mind was intact, if his psyche had not splintered beneath the weight of his prison-tomb, he would have destroyed her for her impertinence. He was Black Friday, wrath and fury and violence incarnate, not some madwoman's plaything. But, the years trapped in the cold darkness had taken their toll and now this once unstoppable beast was nothing more than a neutered puppy. He whimpered, shaking the ground with the inhuman noise, and bowed to her.