Walpurgisnacht [IC/PG-16/Conditional Acceptance]

[Chaos Sonic 445]

The moment Override, A.V.D. and Minos exited the casino, Override took to the skies. "I'm going on ahead, I'll give you directions after I get a direction for everything." he said, before blasting off upward. "Director, this is Override. We've officially left the casino, I'm having P.I.X.E.L. send you the information we gathered from there." the Tech Hero flew quickly in the direction of the Battle Labs, noticing the blip on his radar. "Care to inform me on what's going on at present?"

"Roy and two of the Fates are setting up a perimeter, making sure we cut off all the escape routes before we send in a larger strike team."

"Alright, that takes care of one situation...but what about..." Override stopped mid-air, looking at the beast on the horizon. "...that's a big guy... I'm going to go on a limb and say that's Caesar's doing?"

Director Sekelsky sighed. "I don't have time for this, Override. I'm trying to save the world right now. Yes, that's fucking Project Rubicon."

"Look, I get that, but I've already had to deal with the fact I went on a wild goose chase to the casino where Legion and Tidebinder was...only to realize that was basically a wasted effort." Override replied a bit irritated, but sighed. "Give me one second..."

The armored hero put himself on mute as he looked in the direction of the Battle Labs and then in the direction of the beast known as Project Rubicon. Both were situations that needed addressing as soon as possible...if not sooner. He sighed slowly. "P.I.X.E.L., I need you to run some data for me...some calculations..."

"Finding out the probabilities and odds between the two, sir?"

"...yeah..."

"At once." the Scottish voice simply said, before going silent as various calculations and numbers started scrolling through Override's HUD. It was a few moments before the A.I.'s voice returned. "Data has been processed. The success rate between both finding Caesar at Battle Labs and fighting against Rubicon both sit at an approximate 65%." He paused, as the next set of data started scrolling on the HUD. "That said, the casualty rate for each is drastically different. Rubicon's casualty rate is approximately at a 87%, unfortunately."

"Damnit..." he cursed, weighing his options. "The bigger threat, literally and figuratively, is Rubicon. The damage that thing will do and the casualties it'll make are high...but at the same time..." His eyes drug towards the direction of Battle Labs. "He's the mastermind behind Project Rubicon...which means if anything...he might be able to know how to exactly stop it."

"In theory."

Override nodded, before resuming the connection. "...alright. I'll be rendezvousing over at Battle Labs to join in the hunt for Caesar. If necessary, I can divert A.V.D. and Minos to assist with the evacuation and dealing with Rubicon."

[radio414 912]

Abyss Angel

“Where’s DEUS?” someone asked.

“Short North,” was the answer. “But he was headed north from there, so if he takes the right turns from there, maybe?”

Clotho was in charge of the front lines facing off against Project Rubicon. She had an earpiece on, and if one was really paying attention, they’d notice a few more capes going around with similar paraphernalia. She broke off from mumbling into it when she saw Sibyl arrive, though. “Did you win?” she said, in the sort of tone that made it clear there hadn’t really been any doubt. “You’ll have to tell me all about it. Later, obviously. Right now, well…” Her tone made the conclusion of that sentence obvious too.

“We’ve got two things to worry about: Figuring out what’ll actually shut that thing down… or kill it? I guess figuring out which of those verbs is the right one is step one of that. The second is keeping it from being able to focus on the main bulk of Scarlet City. That’s what all the fliers are for.” She gestured upwards. Flying around Project Rubicon’s face were all sorts of airborne capes, some winged, some with tinker tech, some with some other power. They were like tiny mosquitos to Project Rubicon, though. Every so often, the behemoth raised its arm to cut a swath through the swarm, and they all scattered, but they came back just as determined. One of them streaked right across its eyeline, and it turned its whole body to try and follow.

Project Rubicon took a step. It was away from the main hub of Scarlet City, though that flier still had to get completely out of the thing’s sight.

A voice blasted over her earpiece so loud that it was audible to everyone in the vicinity. “Maybe we could lead it to where DEUS is?”

Clotho winced. “Levels, watch it,” she said as she tapped her headset. “We’ll call that Plan B.” She returned her attention to Sibyl and produced some Tinker tech that Sibyl would hopefully recognize. It was two of the items she had pilfered from Dee Moxley’s warehouse a week ago, the toy-looking ray gun one of them had wielded, and what looked like a puzzle box with a bright red button on top of it encased in a safety glass dome. “Catch,” Clotho said, though she only held the items out for Sibyl to take. “Maybe we’ll try these too, whatever they are. Can’t hurt.”

Project Rubicon took another step. Clotho turned to watch this one, and one could practically see the gears turning in her head. “Oh that’s a thought,” she said. She turned back. “Hey, gotta run and find a Tinker or a Thinker or… something, but yeah, we’re in ‘throwing stuff at the wall’ mode right now. If something does work, make sure to let someone know, yeah?” And she went off.

But Sibyl was not alone for long. In Clotho’s place, drifting down from above, was Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia looked like she had just fallen across the sky about as fast as her power could manage, though her clothes still somehow looked no worse for it. She gave Sibyl a light smile and tapped her cheek like she meant to say, “You sounded like you really want to punch that thing in the face. Need a lift?”

The Killer

Battle Labs was a pretty unassuming building just looking at it from the outside. It was of the brutalist school of architecture -- an all-concrete exterior that had been painted white to give the faintest impression of an aesthetic beyond that. It was mathematically interesting in that the part of the building that was above ground was a perfect cube, but only the sort of nerd who eventually wanted to work there cared about any of that. Many of the windows on the ground floor were broken, but it was safe to assume that, on a normal day, they were perfectly intact.

Roy was in the middle of his second lap around the makeshift perimeter surrounding Battle Labs when the capes arrived. “Lavender… Ochre…” He kept mumbling even more colors to himself as Sarah and Lachesis trailed behind. Lachesis had altered her gait into an exaggerated lockstep, arms swinging wildly back and forth. She was just careful enough to not whack Roy in the back of the head but was more careful not to distract Sarah, who was taking notes on Roy’s musings on a legal pad. They passed by the original strike team, who had pulled themselves back out to the perimeter and were in the process of licking their wounds -- metaphorically in most cases and literally in one.

It was Lachesis who noticed the two heroes first, somehow, despite her blindfold. “Heyyyyy,” she called out, making sure to pronounce each and every one of those ys as one of her arm swings turned into a lazy wave. “World’s ending and Captain Rainbow over here thinks we have time to go cross-checking every entry point. Atropos is by the main entrance back that way, if you care, which, you know, apparently we don’t.”

Roy stopped and sighed. “We’re not going in the main entrance. I don’t care if you mistrust my power or not, that’s also how they -- the original strike team -- went in, and look where that got us. Azure.” He made sure Sarah made a note of the new color and kept walking.

Lachesis put her hands up, and her tone and posture immediately changed. “Hey, I’m not doubting anything. We’re both Thinkers. I get it. Rubicon’s first beam hit near the old fairgrounds and went north-north-east, right? I know you don’t think I- my sisters and I can be altruistic, but at least believe my selfish desire to protect our territory, huh? And we’re not just that strike team anymore. We’ve got an actual force now, and we know where we’re going.”

“A larger set of capes is all the more reason to have a plan in place,” Roy said. “Especially with you two here. That’s two extra sets of orders when we need continuity of motion.” He took a few more steps and grimaced. “Gamboge. No, Amaranth.”

Roy still wasn’t looking at Lachesis, so she stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to the new arrivals. “No hard feelings about me being right about where Caesar was, right Override? That Tinker guy built a cool trinket, we were just looking at two different things. But I know you were hanging out with that guy, I’d understand if you were upset on his behalf or whatever.”

Lachesis turned around and started heading the opposite way to Roy and Sarah. “There’s a side door back around this way,” she said. “There is kind of a plan. We’ve arranged a couple of waves, one after the other. That way if someone needs to fall back again, they can do so with confidence that someone is right behind them to take their spot. And if someone –” she looked over her shoulder at the heroes again, a clear knowing look on her face even through the blindfold “-- cuts a swath through whatever Gibbons are down there for us, well, we’ll all be that much closer to apprehending Caesar down there. Not that you need me telling you what to do, right?” She smirked.

“Wait!” Minos’ voice rang out running after the three as she tried to catch up with everyone. “I’m coming too!” she said. “Sorry I’m late, had to make sure A.V.D. was okay and talk to Ophiuchus a bit, but I’m here now. I know Override’s got those floor plans like he had for the casino, but I can help too. Hey, were you just standing around? Let’s go!”

---

Spoiler

Subtitles are songs by the band glass beach

We're all in new fights now, so I just moved everyone to where they said they wanted to be and set the scenes a bit. Seems self-explanatory where I might expect you all to go from here, but feel free to tell me to kick sand if you really want. That's always been an option, I promise. Just let me know,

-r

 

[LordCowCow 846]

Thessa arrived just in time. That is to say the boost from the time she had used was wearing off so had she not gotten there before then it would have taken more time, one way or another, to get to her destination.

The building itself wasn't much to look at. Certainly not a place that lived up to the "Battle" part of its name. "Labs" was still fitting enough she supposed. Still if that was where Caesar had gone she could forgive the boring exterior.

Her information must have been good after all given that there was a large amount of people gathered outside the place. Apparently they had found out where he was hiding as well. It was a bit weird they hadn't gone in yet but maybe they were waiting for something.

She frowned a bit as she listened to Roy and Lachesis speak and explain the situation. Apparently they had tried to go in after all and just failed. From the sounds of it she would have to use some more of her power to get inside, maybe even before meeting Caesar, which she supposed had its upsides as well as downsides. After all lately it seemed that she was being challenged, as in people trying to fight her not that they were hard fights of course, more often than she liked. Having to waste her time like that was starting to be a bother.

Perhaps if she made a show of it today that might shift a bit. Like an investment for the future.

It seemed that Roy was about to head off. Before he did Thessa spoke up. "Honestly didn't think there would be other people here. I was just gonna go through the front door."

"You're not the only one with a bone to pick against Caesar," Lachesis said, smiling a little.

Sarah added, "Director Sekelsky's call was for two locations, the other one a bit more obvious as to the scale of the fight. There are any number of reasons why a cape might choose this one over the other."

But Roy was firm in his conviction. "I'm not sending another team in the front door when there are so many other possible options. We just have to pick the right one."

It didn't surprise her, really, that Roy would say that. He was cautious. Which was probably good for the many lesser heroes he had to manage.

"Oh, there was a call. Guess that makes sense then." She looked over at Roy and giggled. "Oh, silly boy. I never said anything about a team." She began to walk in the direction of the main door. "I'll go myself."

In response to her words Lachesis looked at the other two capes who had just arrived and back at Aeon but said nothing.

Roy sighed. "Take a walkie talkie with you at least, so you don't miss another call. Not that you tend to listen. Sarah, do you have a spare?"

Sarah hesitated. "They're all.. by the main entrance, actually."

"Aight Roy Boy I'll pick one up on the way then. T B H I'm glad you guys are here, it's a long time coming that you actually see what I'm about." She waved and started picking up her pace.

Lachesis waved back, Roy did not, as she headed for the door. She noticed a cape handing out walkie talkies on her way there and called out to toss her one. She could at least carry it with her, though it was likely to get broken at some point during combat anyway, to appease Roy. It wasn't as if she hated him, or at least she didn't think she did, and it WAS on her way anyway.

She continued to the door. It was a revolving door, which she vaguely remembered enjoying using as a child, with one handicap door on either side. A sudden urge to see how fast she could make the door spin came over her but she decided against it and simply pushed her way through it and into the building. "Honey, I'm home!" She called out as she pushed on the door.

[Skaia 582]

As Sibyl approached the hulking mass that was Project Rubicon the girl let out an impressed whistle. As Clotho handed her the devices from the warehouse she had raided the girl looked them up and down and said, "oh, neat." As they then left her with the current plan, if one could call it that, Sibyl really only had one thing she was expecting to throw at the big Rubicon monster. With a laugh she waved to the Fates saying, "I doubt you'll need me to tell you if what I throw at it works. Later Clo."  

The girl looked to the side as Cassie had rejoined her, smiling as the woman gave her an offer.  "Oh yeah, you fly! I've never really done that before so sure, get me where you can so I can sock this guy." Cassie gestured to her shoulders and stomach, to which Sibyl took as a sign of what to put her own hands on. As soon as the demon girl placed her hands on them, she suddenly felt like her every step was lighter and floatier. "Whoa." Then, as she held on tighter suddenly she felt herself move. She didn't know if it what she was doing was considered flying or not, since it felt more like she was just falling but in an upward direction. All the same she couldn't help but let out another, "whoa-ha-ho!" And as they had finally "fallen" to be eye level with the monstrous Rubicon the girl shouted out, "this is awesome!" 

A wide grin formed on her face as she was already feeling the excitement of the situation pump through her. The weightlessness of her body, the sensation of falling through the sky, being face to face with the glowing eyes of a titan rampaging through the city. She hadn't even thrown a punch yet and she could already call this one of the best days she'd had in a long time. "Alright, I'm getting fired up!" Shadows formed and coated the girl's arms as she looked back towards Cassie. "Toss me at it's face!" 

Cassipoeia pointed "down" toward the ground  and then gestured to the other fliers also around Project Rubicon. She grabbed Sibyl's wrists -- shadowy or otherwise -- and fell in closer before tucking her legs in and spinning around like a discus thrower, letting go after the third revolution and launching Sibyl right on target.

"Wahoooooo!" The girl shouted out as she went flying throw the air like a cannon ball, eventually reorienting herself and seeing her target clear as day. Reeling back her arm, as soon as she got into range, the girl slammed her shadowy fist between the space between its eyes. Project Rubicon recoiled from the hit, prompting Sibyl to shout, "haha, didn't like that did you!" As she began to fall, the girl grabbed onto the creature's nose, feeling something weird about it. Sure, it gave enough for her hand to find purchase and grip but there was something not really skin like? She had been in her fair share of brawls so even through her shadows she knew what it was like to punch flesh. She also knew what it was like to punch robots and metal. This was neither of those. Or maybe it was somewhere between? She wasn't really sure and she wasn't Thinker enough to particularly care about what it meant. 

The girl couldn't help but notice how physically hot the thing's skin was, though. And she realized it was only get hotter as the beast let out a loud hissing noise, steam starting to pour out of both its nose and eyes. With enough survival instincts still to know that a steam like that would give her some serious burns if she stayed in it, she planted both of her feet on the creature's nose before boosting off of it. She didn't really have a plan beyond simply jump, but as Cassie had told her there was any number of flier capes around. So all she needed to do was fall. 

As her free fall brought her to about neck level of Project Rubicon she was caught by a familiar, to her, face. A man with a large sail-like fin that jut out of his back, a cape by the name of Windsurfer, managed to keep her from splatting against the ground. As he stabilized, his own power being more akin to a glide than a fly, he called back to her. "Just want you to know, we did all see that." 

Grinning at the comment the girl called back, "want to bring me up higher and see it again?" 

"Hell yeah, let's do it."

Righting herself by climbing more onto his back, holding onto the fin to stabilize herself, Sibyl waited for her chance until the two had managed to climb high enough into the sky for repeat performance. "Thanks for the lift!" She called out before jumping off of him. "And let's get ready for round two big guy!" She shouted out to Project Rubicon, her shadowy fist becoming thicker than before as she smashed it once more against it's forehead. Shadows forming against her legs, and stretching into a clawed shape around her feet, the girl dug her feet and hands into the creature's skin again to keep herself from immediately falling down. 

[Chaos Sonic 445]

Override did have to give some props to the architect of Battle Labs for one reason and one reason alone: the perfect cube. It was geometrically and mathematically sound with this design. Pure poetry in the shortest terms, but alas, the Tech Hero had other plans right now… While the rest of the super-powered individuals would go against Rubicon and minimize the damage there, he would join the team to deal with Battle Labs and Caesar himself.

Once he touched down, he proceeded to rendezvous with the others. There he found the individuals in question… Roy being one of them who seemed to be pacing back and forth with mutterings. As per usual. The other Lachesis herself…

“No hard feelings about me being right about where Caesar was, right Override? That Tinker guy built a cool trinket, we were just looking at two different things. But I know you were hanging out with that guy, I’d understand if you were upset on his behalf or whatever.”

"None whatsoever." Override simply said, rolling his shoulders slightly. "As long as the mission is a success right now, I can overlook the small details like that."

“There’s a side door back around this way. There is kind of a plan. We’ve arranged a couple of waves, one after the other. That way if someone needs to fall back again, they can do so with confidence that someone is right behind them to take their spot. And if someone cuts a swath through whatever Gibbons are down there for us, well, we’ll all be that much closer to apprehending Caesar down there. Not that you need me telling you what to do, right?”

“Wait! I’m coming too! Sorry I’m late, had to make sure A.V.D. was okay and talk to Ophiuchus a bit, but I’m here now. I know Override’s got those floor plans like he had for the casino, but I can help too. Hey, were you just standing around? Let’s go!”

“So much for helping with Rubicon…” he muttered quietly to himself before shaking his head. "I provided the floor plans to the Battle Labs team originally before we set off, however...I believe having them pull up real quick wouldn't be too bad." the armored hero said, pulling up the holopad and immediately pulling up the floor plans to the facility like he did the last time. "Lachesis, what's the current plan you all have been utilizing thus far?"

"The current floor plan?" Lachesis tilted her head slightly. "Same as the one you've got, I think.”

"...not the..." Override let out a long drawn out sigh before shaking his head. "...that one's on me, I'll take that bullet...what has been your plan to navigate through the facility thus far?”

Lachesis' head tilted even further, but she answered more plainly this time. "Well, Roy and I are fighting over that right now. Don't want a repeat of what happened before, right? I thought we'd just need a bit *more*, some new powers and some new people running support. Roggy's insisting on everything needing to be perfect, though, and to me that's just something that's going to lose us time." She straightened back up and brushed her dress with her hands. "Doesn't matter much right now, though. I think the current plan's about to be 'Follow Aeon until either she stops moving or Caesar does." She stuck a thumb over her shoulder at the immortal hero, now charging off.

…how did he miss Aeon just rushing off ahead of them like that. Override face palmed, dragging the hand along his helmet slightly. “...right…that tracks..." he nodded, collapsing the map. "Then I suppose we best not waste any more time then." Override proceeded to move past Lachesis and then past Roy. "Best get a move on, Roy. We got to get the ball rolling...and as you can see..." he paused, pointing at the immortal hero's charge. "...the immovable object is now in motion."

[radio414 912]

Unstoppable Force

There was a reception desk just inside Battle Labs’ entrance. It had been abandoned, for reasons that were surely obvious, but even still the area’s still air was punctuated by the sound of the phone ringing. It had that classic office tone, a sharp trill that lasted for several seconds. Perhaps oddly, it took another several seconds to ring again. It oscillated between ringing and not ringing in equal measure.

Past the reception desk was an open area, replete with all the things one might expect of an office space like this. There was faux plantlife, newspaper pages detailing many of Battle Labs’ achievements, some comfy chairs to wait in, and, perhaps most importantly, easy access to wherever else in Battle Labs one would like to go. There were hallways to the left and right that led to various laboratories or administrative offices, perhaps a meeting room or two, but it didn’t take access to the floor plans or some supernatural pathfinding ability to see the two elevators just ahead and/or the accompanying stairwell in the corner were the best way to find Caesar.

Before Aeon (or anyone who decided that being behind the human-shaped wrecking ball was the best place to be in the conflict) could proceed any further than the entrance, however, all the lights in the area switched off. There was still light streaming in through the glass doors, but the further into Battle Labs one looked, the harder it was to see anything.

Three knives flew out to Aeon’s left. They tumbled end-over-end and their aim was true unless someone did something about it. Strangely, though, the only indication that there might even be anyone over there was the new addition of three knife-shaped holes in the wall, but that would have to be investigated after the more obvious and pressing issue.

Immovable Object

Sibyl’s second blow to Project Rubicon’s forehead managed to break through the thing’s skin, tearing open a shadowy fist-sized gash right above the nose. As she probably expected, beneath Project Rubicon’s artificial skin was entirely unlike the flesh and blood of a human being. It appeared more like a white mesh or a hexagonal grid of tubes. That same hot steam Sibyl had encountered already blasted out of one of the tubes and into the open air. It also seemed to be knitting itself back together. For each steam blast, a few of the tubes would stretch out into the wound and reconnect, dragging the wound a bit more closed as it did so.

Project Rubicon’s eyes swiveled in their sockets, searching for the puny, insolent creature that had dared to strike it twice. That was another inhuman thing about it -- its eyes moved independently of each other. It could only catch a glimpse of Sibyl where she was situated, so it had to do what it could without locking on to her position.

It began to flail about.

The sheer scale of Project Rubicon meant that it did not appear to be moving quickly at all, but anyone close to or attached to the thing could not help but understand the sheer distance covered with every movement. Even the action “Swaying this way and that” meant covering distances in the hundreds of meters, and Project Rubicon was doing more than just swaying. The fliers all had to scatter once again as Project Rubicon moved its head in any way it could. Twisting, turning, swinging… All of it was violent, and all of it was accompanied by a deafening roar.

Whether Sibyl had managed to cling on through all this or if Project Rubicon had flung her off, it did not matter. What happened next would be the same either way. Project Rubicon ended up in a hunched-over position, looking down at the land-locked capes arranged in front of it. Its eyes glowed, and it took a deep breath.

The beam just missed the main encampment, but Project Rubicon did not move to narrow down its aim. Instead, it whipped its whole body back, sending the energy outwards and away, again cutting through Scarlet City proper. The beam kept going after that. Project Rubicon continued leaning back, arching its back now as the beam collided with the far border of The Shimmer. The Shimmer rippled on impact. It dispersed the energy, yes, and remained unaffected overall even as the rest of the beam’s path erupted into flames.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Team Battle Labs - I don't know how to end a post section with "Oh no, knives!" apparently despite having a character in another RP where that's his whole thing. I'd normally have a formal introduction ready for the new enemy you're fighting, but he's still in stealthy sneak attack mode right now. I admit, some of you seem like the type to ignore and move on. If that's the case, let me know, obviously. Not like he's going away.

Team Just Sibyl - You have learned new information about Project Rubicon's build and composition! And maybe about The Shimmer too, how exciting! If you do fall off, Windsurfer will manage to catch you again. If you don't, I mean, you're in a better spot to determine what happens next than I, I suppose.

If you can't post within the two week deadline, please let me know. There doesn't need to be a reason attached. I just don't want to find myself waiting and wondering if I should be writing more of this or not. For my part, my schedule is complicated because of some family stuff for the next few weeks, but I will be around to respond whenever I can. Happy posting,

-r

 

[LordCowCow 846]

Thessa paused for a moment as the lights went out. She supposed this is where the ambush would happen. She didn't know what form the ambush would take and what kind of attack it would be but it certainly felt like a moment for an ambush. However she felt that regardless if she kept going then she would be fine. 

She couldn't know if anyone following her could say the same but then again she never asked anyone to come with.

So she pressed on. Even with the darker room she had seen where the elevator was and thus knew which way to go to reach it. And so the knives passed her by as she strolled forward into the darkest part of the room.

Unknown to her the knives didn't stick nor bounce off the opposite wall when they hit. Instead they collided and then sunk into the wall.

Logic dictated that Caesar would be at the lowest floor so all she had to do was get into the elevator and take it down to the bottom. Nothing could be simpler.

Even in the dark, and it certainly was quite dark over by the elevator, she could see the light of the buttons on the panel next to it and made that her goal. She was mostly there, and began to raise her hand in preparation of pushing the down button, when she heard the sound of a knife going through the air again from the wall that the previous knives had vanished.

The knife went right past her and hit the panel. She watched as it sunk into the "up" button on the panel and the panel began to spark. Thessa braced herself and stopped moving in case something exploded, as things are wont to do in these situations, but not much happened except that the elevator door opened up.

With a shrug Thessa continued on into the elevator and went to push the down button.

However as the doors closed and the elevator began to move she felt something was off. After a moment she realized that the elevator was going up instead of down. Which brought into light what exactly the ghost knife from before had been intending to do.

She shook her head and spoke up, "I wasn't planning on busting the place up but I guess gonna have to."  Before she did she decided to hold up the walkie talkie and speak into it, presumably to Roy, "hey heads up they're gonna need to get a new elevator."

Thessa stretched. An unnecessary motion but one she enjoyed nonetheless. She had enough waiting around and holding back for today. If they weren't going to simply let her make her way to Caesar then she would have to show them undeniably that there was no stopping her.

She could nearly feel the time slipping away from her as she used it up. In moments 100 years of life vanished from the end of her timeline and she felt her power surge to a level she hadn't used in quite some time.

Then she reached down and punched her way through the floor of the elevator. It was a durable material but even that wasn't much a problem to her powered up strength and she tore a hole in it before jumping down towards the bottom of the shaft.