Gods Among Us: The Big Apple (IC|Superhero|Open)

[Primordial Luxa]

Anna and Atlas looked into the room and immediately notice the large metallic body of the Whispering Iron standing over a computer and casually reading various documents laid out on the table. Meanwhile his gruff and muscularly gelatinous looking friend was chipping away at the walls with the butt of a three barreled pistol. He was searching the walls of the room for something hidden. Already he was carrying a duffel bag filled with money.

However, the creak of wood and metal from the old door frame echoed around the room and both of the Knight immediately turned towards the door weapons raised. Purple waves of lumicent energy danced across the silver hands of the Whispering Iron while Mark Ultra aimed his peculiar looking firearm at the door.

“Come out with your hands up and no one needs to get hurt,” the Whispering Iron said.

[Anowa]

-snip-

Psychonaut
The tactic of an older time did little to actually slow the destruction of elbows knees and necks that Psychonaut was dishing out. the amount of people surrounding him just made dodging incoming projectiles easier. And given that they were in the enclosed space of a sewer tunnel made thing that much easier for the middle aged man.

-snip-

Anna and Atlas entered, but the only action from their hands was Atlas putting his revolver back into it's holster. Atlas ducked into the room as Anna entered behind him. Atlas paused as he took the situation in better. "Uh huh... I'm gonna be blunt, fighting in a room that's filled with explosives is a bad idea."

To Whispering Iron the biggest immediate threat wouldn't be the large armored soldier, but the five and a half foot tall girl behind him. It was easy to percieve her abilities through the Tillinghast energy he utilized.... especially since they seemed to concentrate less than an inch from any surface on both MarK and Whispering Iron.

[Dyelli Beybi]

"He's a mayor,he must do something in his giant free time. Must have run out of options,I think. And we are heading to the harbor. The warehouses. Dietrich always carry a great number of weapon and people. So,he must have brought in his toys to the city,and guess what: The city was flooded. So,I guess that it's worth a shot. But first,I must get my car. And yes,I have a car,but most of the time I'm in alcohol,so I take a cab. It's in a parking lot near here,if you don't mind walking. Do you want to grab something to eat while we head there?"

"Where do you park it?" Imogen asked, then shrugged, "Eh, wherever you park it, you know I've got your back. I'll follow while you try to find the Nazi guy."

---

Anthony
I chuckled, "Well going off that description, yes. Because Literally every planet out there has metal in it, is big, and reflect light to some degree. As for big spooky spaceships I see fuck all." I pulled my head away from the lense and towards Alisa, "Are you sure that something's supposed to be up there?"

"Quite the opposite in fact." Alisa had seated herself on some kind of console with little regard for what she might be doing to the equipment, "Anyway... as there is nothing there then this will be the last you see of me for a while, perhaps permanently... unless I think you're about to do something irresponsible with that time machine research, but if you have gone that far down that path the fairy will probably have cut your head off or made you believe you're her dog or something. She's good that way."

She smiled as if that last bit was a great joke.

[Kingdom of Irhk]

"He's a mayor,he must do something in his giant free time. Must have run out of options,I think. And we are heading to the harbor. The warehouses. Dietrich always carry a great number of weapon and people. So,he must have brought in his toys to the city,and guess what: The city was flooded. So,I guess that it's worth a shot. But first,I must get my car. And yes,I have a car,but most of the time I'm in alcohol,so I take a cab. It's in a parking lot near here,if you don't mind walking. Do you want to grab something to eat while we head there?"

"Where do you park it?" Imogen asked, then shrugged, "Eh, wherever you park it, you know I've got your back. I'll follow while you try to find the Nazi guy."

---

Anthony
I chuckled, "Well going off that description, yes. Because Literally every planet out there has metal in it, is big, and reflect light to some degree. As for big spooky spaceships I see fuck all." I pulled my head away from the lense and towards Alisa, "Are you sure that something's supposed to be up there?"

"Quite the opposite in fact." Alisa had seated herself on some kind of console with little regard for what she might be doing to the equipment, "Anyway... as there is nothing there then this will be the last you see of me for a while, perhaps permanently... unless I think you're about to do something irresponsible with that time machine research, but if you have gone that far down that path the fairy will probably have cut your head off or made you believe you're her dog or something. She's good that way."

She smiled as if that last bit was a great joke.

"I keep it parked near here,a few streets down if my memory is right. Owner of the parking lot owes me a favor from a few months ago,let me keep it there almost free of charge."

The duo walked through the streets of New York. It was a hurry,but William kept his calm manner. The oldest mage of the duo was hunting a Nazi commander,who had an army to help him,and he hadn't the brightest idea of how he would beat him.

A few streets down,they entered a parking lot. At a corner,William 's vehicle:a black Dodge Challenger.

"Now you must be asking yourself: How did he get this car? Long story short,poker has interesting bets sometimes."

As he entered the car,opening the door for Imogen to enter the passenger side,he started the car,waiting for Imogen to enter.

"Ms. Chase,ready to go?"

[Anowa]

"Quite the opposite in fact." Alisa had seated herself on some kind of console with little regard for what she might be doing to the equipment, "Anyway... as there is nothing there then this will be the last you see of me for a while, perhaps permanently... unless I think you're about to do something irresponsible with that time machine research, but if you have gone that far down that path the fairy will probably have cut your head off or made you believe you're her dog or something. She's good that way."

She smiled as if that last bit was a great joke.

I hummed to Alisa's declaration, I had a lot of stuff to actually do since I still had that contract with DARPA, although I was hesitant to actually finish any of it since the Knights would no doubt get their bloody hands all over it. And I really didn't want to be even partly responsible for their actions.

"Well, I guess this is where I say good luck on your endeavors. And I'll try not to open up a gate to hell or make a blackhole." With that I started towards the Observatory's door and then I paused, remembering something, "I remember you saying something about getting rid of Kosa... Did you actually mean that or was that just something to get my attention?"

[Primordial Luxa]

MarK Ultra relaxed as Atlas put away his weapons lowering his own pistol and letting it point at the floor but he wasn’t ready to put it away just yet. He squinted at Atlas, not seeing what Exior did and his entire body seemed to be subtly shifting as the C-Cells in his body continued the mutagenic effects. He was on the razor edge between liquid and gas so he looked hit an obscene creature trying desperately to cling onto its human form.

“What are you doing here?” MarK snapped “This is our scene. Besides your organization doesn’t care about this sort of mundane stuff.”

MarK wasn’t as stupid as he looked even though he acted like it. He and Knights might not know everything about the ET/ED/S:R.C.D.A. but they hadn’t gotten where they were without keeping tabs on other powerful organization. MarK had learned a lot from his tortured prisoners and he was guessing that Atlas was after this immortal criminal. However, MarK knew that N.U.M.B. certainly wouldn’t want that happen.

The Whispering Iron on the other hand was more focused on Anna and while MarK focused on Atlas he was using his Tillinghast Fields to analyze her own strange abilities. He wasn’t entirely sure what they were but he was cycling through all the different patterns of his own powers and was slowly working out which ones of them would have the power potent effect should things start to get ugly.

[Anowa]

MarK Ultra relaxed as Atlas put away his weapons lowering his own pistol and letting it point at the floor but he wasn’t ready to put it away just yet. He squinted at Atlas, not seeing what Exior did and his entire body seemed to be subtly shifting as the C-Cells in his body continued the mutagenic effects. He was on the razor edge between liquid and gas so he looked hit an obscene creature trying desperately to cling onto its human form.

“What are you doing here?” MarK snapped “This is our scene. Besides your organization doesn’t care about this sort of mundane stuff.”

MarK wasn’t as stupid as he looked even though he acted like it. He and Knights might not know everything about the ET/ED/S:R.C.D.A. but they hadn’t gotten where they were without keeping tabs on other powerful organization. MarK had learned a lot from his tortured prisoners and he was guessing that Atlas was after this immortal criminal. However, MarK knew that N.U.M.B. certainly wouldn’t want that happen.

The Whispering Iron on the other hand was more focused on Anna and while MarK focused on Atlas he was using his Tillinghast Fields to analyze her own strange abilities. He wasn’t entirely sure what they were but he was cycling through all the different patterns of his own powers and was slowly working out which ones of them would have the power potent effect should things start to get ugly.

Atlas became deadly still, only three people outside the actual agency knew they existed. And only one was on the planet currently, "Please, do be so apt as to inform me as to what my organization is involved in? Because regardless of either of our intentions before, now I'm sure my CO will very eager to allow me to remain here a little longer."

Anna was now looking behind Whispering Iron, at the stack of papers spread out upon the desk. Something caught here eye and she levitated it over to her. Upon it would be the steps to creating methamphetamine... at least to someone who hadn't spent a very large portion of her life around meth factories. She looked between the paper and the lab setup contained near the window. She stared at the set-up wordlessly, before she hovered a flask over to Atlas, "Does this set off any warnings in your suit?"

A moment later, and Atlas' eyes moved from MarK to the flask, "That's Sarin... When the fuck is Sarin put into meth?"

[Primordial Luxa]

“That’s not the question you should be asking,” The Whispering Iron said in his hoarse mechanical voice “The question you should be asking is ‘What can I possibly do to help you?’ Because from where I’m standing it looks like members of an unauthorized non-government international espionage group are trying to get in the way of an executive investigation. You see we have written permission from the President of the United States to lead this investigation into the death of 700 kids and from what I know about your group, which frankly needs to work on simplifying its abbreviations, this is way outside your purview.”

“Now the last thing, I think you would want is for a group of trusted government agents to call up the police and say that there is a group in the business of collecting super weapons trying to stop us from doing our jobs. Because then the police, the army, the FBI, and CIA would show up here ask us all sorts question. And the answers to those questions might describe a certain organization that doesn’t legally exist and therefore has no legal authority, but which have been doing various things as though it did. Such as kidnapping criminals without due process and stealing metaphysical WMD’s.”

“You see legal power can only come from things that exist. Like constitutions, laws, elections. We are authorized by elected officials. You…” Exior said pointing a finger glowing with purple energy at Atlas “aren’t. Legally we can’t find any scrap of documentation on the east or the west side of Berlin that gives you any sort of real jurisdiction. We don’t know we exactly who you are. But that lack of knowledge robs you and CO and whoever you work for. Of any real power. People do what the FBI says because they know who they are. Officially in the eyes, me and the legal system of the United States, you’re just a guy who came off the street with a bunch of guns and a homemade badge.”

“You see, being a secret organization doesn’t really help. It hurts more than anything else. So when I say, I’m not going to call the cops and expose your whole organization as an illegal unsanctioned international espionage group you should respond with ‘My, Whispering Iron, that awfully kind of you. Just for not doing that here’s what my organization knows about the attack on the school. Also I’ll go wait outside until your done before I conduct my illegal unsanctioned investigation.’ Right?”

[Anowa]

-snip-

And like that Atlas had been backed into a corner, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he was truly angry. However, try as he might to wring the metallic neck of the 'up his own ass babykiller' in front of him. He couldn't, simply because his partner was now restraining him fully with what felt like a few dozen pythons preventing him from moving.

With the aversion of any imminent hostilities between the two parties Anna spoke, "With your experiences, you must be aware of the issues of upsetting the status quo. People get rowdy due to new opportunities and things change in ways that become unanticipated. With that out of the way, I must say this, in the event that an organization such as what you are speaking of -which I can neither say that me nor my friend here are a part of or not- gets attacked in the manner you speak of, than their supporters get scared of legal ramifications and cut all ties with the organization. This in turn causes the normally large budget to shrivel up and die."

"Now I'm sure you two now that with the wonders of capitalism if you don't have money you become bankrupt and left with nothing. If this were to happen with a group of people dedicated to concealing and imprisoning what could be believed to be hordes of mutant and magical terrorists who are a threat to not only this country, but the rest of the world. Than said facilities would most likely become unkempt and eventually fail at containing what they were designed to contain."

"It's also within the realm of possibility that said organization has a very vast wealth of knowledge on not only meta-humans but aliens as well. And they are keeping this knowledge held secret to avoid unnecessary deaths of those who are yet to come out of the super-powered closet or to avoid the unwanted death of an alien ambassador, who may or may not be waiting in this metropolitan area to appear in an upcoming presidential speech on the grounds of the UN Headquarters."

"But all this speculation assumes that A) The organization is based within your jurisdiction, and B) That the perhaps public knowledge of your organization bribing elected officials, or killing them to get your way, wouldn't lead to public revolt upon the further funding to what they would see as a corrupt group of Meta-Humans. All to find a shadow organization, which may not even exist."

Atlas was internally screaming, "Anna, all this hypothetical information would surely be above your hypothetical paygrade."

Anna flinched a bit, "It most likely would. But enough about that, perhaps we should simply leave you be, trusting that you'll take great care in not only ensuring that those you arrest for whatever reason are truly guilty. But also insuring that the members of your species avoid their end by going after someone who isn't their enemy."

Atlas sighed, still a bit angry of the steam punk wannabe's implications. His voiced was strained in the way an irritated person's would get "As for our knowledge of the massacre. All we know is that the asshole who owns this apartment was at the scene around the time the gas attack was initiated. And a tip from someone who's acquainted with the point of a knife: butchering them to pieces won't get you fuck all for info, just screams and lies. Next time let's just skip the pissing contest and get to the important shit." With that Anna nodded respectively at Whispering Iron and MarK. Before following Atlas towards the door, only to smack into his back when he paused, "Also a little heads up, if you see a big motherfucker made out of metallic bone. Try to evacuate the surrounding city blocks before they get destroyed."

[The Landfish Colonies]

The warehouse was dark, save for the few streetlights outside. It was fairly empty as well. There were a few tables scattered about. A chair or two. Off in the corner was on old looking mattress with a few blankets and pillows, makeshift bedding. A handful of rats scampered about, looking for food scraps. In the center of the floor, a young girl was restrained to a plastic chair, hands and feet tied and a strip of duck tape covering her mouth. Her mind was racing for an escape plan but everything seemed hopeless. Especially seeing as she was no longer alone.

In the darkness of the room, she saw the small light. An faint orange glow, and herd the crackle of burning paper. A boy emerged from the darkness, scrawny with messy brown hair. A cigarette in his mouth. He was wearing a heavy looking jacket and jeans, with a gas mask hanging around his neck. He removed the cigarette from between his lips and exhaled long and slow. Finishing, he flick the but onto the pavement, taking a second cigarette out of a cartoon in his pocket.

"You know, I'm really burning through these." The boy raised his eyebrow, waiting for several seconds, "Get it? Burn?" He held the cigarette over his open palm and it ignited, "Tough crowd. Is that because you know who I am, you do right? I think they're calling me the Flame now, aren't they. I don't know what I think of that, not very cool. Not very COOL. Jesus Christ, nothing? Okay, well, my name's Tobias, if you were wondering. And you are Ashley if I remember correctly. Very appropriate name. Well Ashley, it's a pleasure to meet you. Now I know you're afraid, and that's perfectly normal, but I want you to know that this is nothing personal. It's just, oh, if you could see yourself, if you could feel what I feel, you would understand."

Tobias swung his arm around, carrying a flamethrower, "Don't worry about the pain. Your nerves are the first to go."

[Primordial Luxa]

“Thank you,” the Whispering Iron said primarily to Anna “We will keep all of them closely at mind, oh and if you ever want to increase your ‘paygrade’ just give us a call.”

Once the two of them had left MarK and Exior began quickly to pack up everything else of possible value which the room had to offer not leaving behind a scrap of paper or cash as they stole everything not nailed down. All the while MarK looked at Exior with raised eyebrows.

“What?” he finally asked as the two of them were leaving and he took pictures of the crime scene “as they had found it” for their official write up.

“You handled that a lot different from how I would have expected. You’re usually a more nice guy than you were back there. What gives?”

“I wanted answers. I wanted to see what kind of organization they really are and that girl told me a lot. Don’t get me wrong MarK, I’m the nicest one of any of us by the long shot but never get between me an information.”

“Still do you really think that girl was telling the truth. If she was she made some good points. It might be bad if a bunch of Meta’s started popping up all over the place.”

“Yeah it would be bad but John could spin it the right way. Besides I’m not sure how much was truth and how much was exaggeration. Still we know more now about both who killed those kids and who else is interested.”

The two knights exited the building with a pair of duffle bags filled with clues and threw all of the evidence into the back of their car offering Atlas and Anna a slightly sarcastic wave as they left.

“You know doctor I just got a very wicked idea.”

“Oh yes what’s that?”

MarK whispered into Exior ear through his mask and as he did so Exior smiled a sadistic grin.

“Oh my MarK that is quite wicked.”

[Dyelli Beybi]

"I keep it parked near here,a few streets down if my memory is right. Owner of the parking lot owes me a favor from a few months ago,let me keep it there almost free of charge."

The duo walked through the streets of New York. It was a hurry,but William kept his calm manner. The oldest mage of the duo was hunting a Nazi commander,who had an army to help him,and he hadn't the brightest idea of how he would beat him.

A few streets down,they entered a parking lot. At a corner,William 's vehicle:a black Dodge Challenger.

"Now you must be asking yourself: How did he get this car? Long story short,poker has interesting bets sometimes."

As he entered the car,opening the door for Imogen to enter the passenger side,he started the car,waiting for Imogen to enter.

"Ms. Chase,ready to go?"

"I wasn't asking." Imogen gave a vague shrug, "I'm sure magic can pay quite well if done for the right sort of people." she paused, eyeing the car, "And before you give me a Master Yoda speech on morality I'm not suggesting doing anything illegal - just that there are people who might be willing to pay quite a lot for someone to make the impossible a reality... just like some people will pay to get into one of those planes that takes them into zero gravity for three minutes then straight back down to earth."

She paused, apparently realising she was rambling, "Err... yeah I'm ready to go, where were we going again? Was it down to the docks?"

[Kingdom of Irhk]

"I keep it parked near here,a few streets down if my memory is right. Owner of the parking lot owes me a favor from a few months ago,let me keep it there almost free of charge."

The duo walked through the streets of New York. It was a hurry,but William kept his calm manner. The oldest mage of the duo was hunting a Nazi commander,who had an army to help him,and he hadn't the brightest idea of how he would beat him.

A few streets down,they entered a parking lot. At a corner,William 's vehicle:a black Dodge Challenger.

"Now you must be asking yourself: How did he get this car? Long story short,poker has interesting bets sometimes."

As he entered the car,opening the door for Imogen to enter the passenger side,he started the car,waiting for Imogen to enter.

"Ms. Chase,ready to go?"

"I wasn't asking." Imogen gave a vague shrug, "I'm sure magic can pay quite well if done for the right sort of people." she paused, eyeing the car, "And before you give me a Master Yoda speech on morality I'm not suggesting doing anything illegal - just that there are people who might be willing to pay quite a lot for someone to make the impossible a reality... just like some people will pay to get into one of those planes that takes them into zero gravity for three minutes then straight back down to earth."

She paused, apparently realising she was rambling, "Err... yeah I'm ready to go, where were we going again? Was it down to the docks?"

"If anyone heard that you were expecting a morality speech of me, they would laugh out loud. And remember when I said that illusion helped outside the magical world? This car is proof of it. "

William pulled out one of his business cards from one of his pockets.

"Turns out that when you, by accident, obviously, a card that carry very little things, or it is even blank, you can pull some... Very interesting tricks."

Each time that his hand passed through the card, it changed appearance: An ace, a king, queen or jester, the cards looked exactly real.

"Now that you know what one person can get with one blank card and an illegal gambling house, let's get down to the docks, shall we?"

As the girl entered the car, William quickly drove to the docks. What he was looking for? Even he didn't know: But now he would have to use another one of his talents. The investigation.

"Alright Immy, so we are looking for nervous people, and by that I don't mean standard new yorker nervousness, the contained but noticeable one. Marks of anything big being moved from one of the warehouses or something like that."

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Sturmmann Gabriel Hertel

Man, we`ve been waiting for these people for half an hour now! When are they finally going to show up? I don`t feel too good about standing with weapons right here in the open. Can lead to unwanted attention."

, a soldier said to Gabriel. They had been waiting for a truck from a New Yorker firm that would bring them construction materials which they needed for their construction site. Sadly, they were waiting a little too long for his taste too. But what could he do? He had orders to follow and he wouldn`t disobey cause disobedience has alwaysled to death so far. But he would make sure to complain about this. Then this firm would get a nice little visit, reminding them who is the boss around here. But for now he had to calm down his men.

"Do you maybe also want to stand here in our usual uniforms? Bet that would lead to a lot more unwanted attention. Since the Block Island Disaster everyone is on the lookout for people like us. Atleast they kept the disaster in North Dakota small. Didn`t hear too much about it. Probably because no uniforms were ever found and the little advanced weaponry we had on the top was restlessly desroyed. And now shut up and keep watching!"

As if to answer his thoughts, a truck came around a corner and slowly drive towards them. It had the firms logo on it so nobody had any doubts that it was their truck. So Gabriel just stepped into the middle of the street, effectively blocking the truck`s path, leading to the truck coming to a halt right in front of him. He then walked over to the driver`s window, which the driver immediately opened.

"Soooooo, Herr Fahrer. Did you ever hear about delivering in time? Cause this is not in time! We`ve had to wait for you for half an hour now! HALF AN HOUR! Stop with the stupid grinning and get out. Your job ends here. We`re taking over."

With that he opened the driver`s cabin and quickly dragged the protesting driver out of the truck. On the other side one of his men did the same with the co-driver. They stopped complaining immediately when someone pointed his gun barrel at them. Gabriel however didn`t have the time for this kind of fun. He quickly got into the truck and started the engine again before begin to drive it. His men hurried to not get left back and jumped onto the truck so that he had 2 people haning on each side of the driver`s cabin and two people haqnging at the back of the truck. With their weapons they were always checking their surroundings for possible pursuers. They were going for a long ride through New Yorks harbour first to shake any pursuers off either way.

Standartenführer Dietrich Ekerhart Haegler

Back done in the sewers, the Nazi troops on the balconies had finally managed toi set up their heavy MGs, an almost impossible to dodge hail of bullets was now flying down towards the Psychonaut from several directions, making short work of any Nazi still around the Psychonaut. At the same time Dietrich came back up from the construction site, now holding another strange Nazi Weapon. And cause trouble never comes alone, several Nazi Super Soldiers were with him. Thzey were very well armoured so that the Psychonaut could never just rip them apart or do any damage to them and their strenght exceeded his own. However, they were rather slow. But who`d need that if he had a heavy Laser MG? Yes, a heavy Laser MG! SOmething they were putting to use now, firing like crazies at the Psychonaut while slowly advancing.

Just in from of them walked Dietrich. He seemed to be pretty lax and didn`t worry about anything. Looks like the Protection from his companions was enough for him. But maybe the weapon in his hand was so strong that he didn`t care? (Wolfenstein lore) He was having the Leichenfaust Mk44, a wonder weapon developed by his division in (oh wonder) 1944. Back then their efforts were laid to waste but he had preserved the knowledge about it and now, in modern times, he had begun production of this weapon. It was basically a bazooka firing disintegration explosions whereever he aimed at. It only worked on organic material though. It usually led to a short fail of gravity on the target area while disintegrating the flesh of it`s victims. Something that often led to Skeletons flying around in the target area before gravity came back in and everything fell down.

"Now, now, my little Pikachuu. Do you want to surrender? You`re trapped..."

As if to support his words all entrances to the room they were in were immediately closed with thick steel plates. Except the way down to the construction site.

", outnumbered and outgunned. It`s hopeless. You will die down here. You will learn just like all the others that we can not be put down. That we will never be defeated!"

With this he pointed his weapon at the Psychonaut and fired.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Sturmmann Gabriel Hertel
...
With that he opened the driver`s cabin and quickly dragged the protesting driver out of the truck. On the other side one of his men did the same with the co-driver. They stopped complaining immediately when someone pointed his gun barrel at them. Gabriel however didn`t have the time for this kind of fun. He quickly got into the truck and started the engine again before begin to drive it. His men hurried to not get left back and jumped onto the truck so that he had 2 people haning on each side of the driver`s cabin and two people haqnging at the back of the truck. With their weapons they were always checking their surroundings for possible pursuers. They were going for a long ride through New Yorks harbour first to shake any pursuers off either way.

"If anyone heard that you were expecting a morality speech of me, they would laugh out loud. And remember when I said that illusion helped outside the magical world? This car is proof of it. "

William pulled out one of his business cards from one of his pockets.

"Turns out that when you, by accident, obviously, a card that carry very little things, or it is even blank, you can pull some... Very interesting tricks."

Each time that his hand passed through the card, it changed appearance: An ace, a king, queen or jester, the cards looked exactly real.

"Now that you know what one person can get with one blank card and an illegal gambling house, let's get down to the docks, shall we?"

As the girl entered the car, William quickly drove to the docks. What he was looking for? Even he didn't know: But now he would have to use another one of his talents. The investigation.

"Alright Immy, so we are looking for nervous people, and by that I don't mean standard new yorker nervousness, the contained but noticeable one. Marks of anything big being moved from one of the warehouses or something like that."

"Well I don't know about nervous people." Imogen remarked as she had a quick look around before remarking dryly, "I can see a few surly people... and a fast moving truck full of suspiciously over-armed gentlemen. I'm going to take a random stab in the dark and suggest they might be working for your jack-booted friend."

She didn't look worried, to a casual observer she would look like she had barely registered the existence of the truck but William would probably notice the play of multi-coloured light in her hair - she was sucking magical energy in like a sponge, readying to unleash her (admittedly somewhat limited) repertoire of spells at the slightest hint that things were about to get violent.

[Kingdom of Irhk]

Sturmmann Gabriel Hertel
...
With that he opened the driver`s cabin and quickly dragged the protesting driver out of the truck. On the other side one of his men did the same with the co-driver. They stopped complaining immediately when someone pointed his gun barrel at them. Gabriel however didn`t have the time for this kind of fun. He quickly got into the truck and started the engine again before begin to drive it. His men hurried to not get left back and jumped onto the truck so that he had 2 people haning on each side of the driver`s cabin and two people haqnging at the back of the truck. With their weapons they were always checking their surroundings for possible pursuers. They were going for a long ride through New Yorks harbour first to shake any pursuers off either way.

"If anyone heard that you were expecting a morality speech of me, they would laugh out loud. And remember when I said that illusion helped outside the magical world? This car is proof of it. "

William pulled out one of his business cards from one of his pockets.

"Turns out that when you, by accident, obviously, a card that carry very little things, or it is even blank, you can pull some... Very interesting tricks."

Each time that his hand passed through the card, it changed appearance: An ace, a king, queen or jester, the cards looked exactly real.

"Now that you know what one person can get with one blank card and an illegal gambling house, let's get down to the docks, shall we?"

As the girl entered the car, William quickly drove to the docks. What he was looking for? Even he didn't know: But now he would have to use another one of his talents. The investigation.

"Alright Immy, so we are looking for nervous people, and by that I don't mean standard new yorker nervousness, the contained but noticeable one. Marks of anything big being moved from one of the warehouses or something like that."

"Well I don't know about nervous people." Imogen remarked as she had a quick look around before remarking dryly, "I can see a few surly people... and a fast moving truck full of suspiciously over-armed gentlemen. I'm going to take a random stab in the dark and suggest they might be working for your jack-booted friend."

She didn't look worried, to a casual observer she would look like she had barely registered the existence of the truck but William would probably notice the play of multi-coloured light in her hair - she was sucking magical energy in like a sponge, readying to unleash her (admittedly somewhat limited) repertoire of spells at the slightest hint that things were about to get violent.

"Well...time for the less soft approach. I mean, we still have to meet the City's Finest Vigilante in a few hours. So, Ms. Chase, be a dear and stop the truck. Obviously we could follow them, but they are probably paranoid enough to notice. We could hijack it, but Mr. Haegler would move from his current place and we would have to start it all over again. Now, I'm letting you choose your method. Don't kill them, I'll have to talk with them a little while. But a good hint: Watch out for their radios. In your time lady."

William was eager to test Imogen's evolution in her studies and skills. As an older mage, he could stop the truck if anything went wrong with Immy's magic. He was already readying his spells mentally: As part of his training, he didn't need to talk or make any gestures most of the times. The calm and uncaring demeanor that made up the image of a mage without potential hid the proficiency of a magical prodigy that worried the Councils of Mages worldwide. But at that moment, he was worrying a nazi operation.

[Anowa]

"Quite the opposite in fact." Alisa had seated herself on some kind of console with little regard for what she might be doing to the equipment, "Anyway... as there is nothing there then this will be the last you see of me for a while, perhaps permanently... unless I think you're about to do something irresponsible with that time machine research, but if you have gone that far down that path the fairy will probably have cut your head off or made you believe you're her dog or something. She's good that way."

She smiled as if that last bit was a great joke.

Anthony
I nodded, "Well, I suppose I'll be on my way then. I trust you can find your way back to wherever it is you live from here?"

Right now I could hear multiple voices in my head spewing out ideas, most of them weren't worth my time or were simply out of my reach currently, but a few were quite alluring. Especially from what I learned of the current events going on in the world... I really needed to refill my prescription.

[Dyelli Beybi]

William was eager to test Imogen's evolution in her studies and skills. As an older mage, he could stop the truck if anything went wrong with Immy's magic. He was already readying his spells mentally: As part of his training, he didn't need to talk or make any gestures most of the times. The calm and uncaring demeanor that made up the image of a mage without potential hid the proficiency of a magical prodigy that worried the Councils of Mages worldwide. But at that moment, he was worrying a nazi operation.

"I'm not a killer." Imogen replied quite matter-of-factly, which was not to say that she was not prepared to use her magic in a manner that was recklessly dangerous.

She paused for a split second, wondering what to do. She couldn't draw anything into existence at such short notice, which left her with only one other thing she was confident with doing... a ball of light burst into existence in front of her, homing in on the driver like a guided missile. It was one of Imogen's light blasts - when they impacted they usually had about the same effect on someone as a stun grenade exploding at a person's feet...

---

]
Anthony
I nodded, "Well, I suppose I'll be on my way then. I trust you can find your way back to wherever it is you live from here?"

Right now I could hear multiple voices in my head spewing out ideas, most of them weren't worth my time or were simply out of my reach currently, but a few were quite alluring. Especially from what I learned of the current events going on in the world... I really needed to refill my prescription.

"Of course." Alisa inclined her head politely, "Take care... and don't meddle with the timeline too much, though if by any chance you do manage to get a dimensional portal working, look me up. This world is a little too sanitized for my liking."

[Primordial Luxa]

---

-----New York-----

---

Through a variety of channels and systems a message was sent out to the hero’s of New York.

Code: Select all

“This is an APB for all potential allies of the Knights and the US government. An attack in currently underway on United States military property by a powerful supernatural entity of unknown origin. The entity has already destroyed an entire city. We are planning a counter attack at the Knights Bunker in Queens. Please, if you can hear this, we need your help.”

[Kingdom of Irhk]

---

-----New York-----

---

Through a variety of channels and systems a message was sent out to the hero’s of New York.

“This is an APB for all potential allies of the Knights and the US government. An attack in currently underway on United States military property by a powerful supernatural entity of unknown origin. The entity has already destroyed and entire city. We are planning a counter attack at the Knights Bunker in Queens. Please, if you can hear this, we need your help.”

Exo

"- Mr. Miller, you are inside your house for weeks.

- AI, I think that you have better functions than being a calendar.

- Sir, New York is in chaos.

- It's New York City. It's glamourized chaos since Sinatra made the music.

- It's the Knights sir. They are asking for help.

- You could have said that before AI. Ready the usual suit.

- Which one?

- Exo-08. Full suit.

- Classics never die, do they sir?

- Fortunately not this one."

Exo went flying straight to Queens, full speed. As he landed atop one of the buildings, he answered through the radio with his modified voice.

"Knights, this is Exo. What's the situation?"

[Anowa]

“This is an APB for all potential allies of the Knights and the US government. An attack in currently underway on United States military property by a powerful supernatural entity of unknown origin. The entity has already destroyed and entire city. We are planning a counter attack at the Knights Bunker in Queens. Please, if you can hear this, we need your help.”

The King in the Mountain
In a massive room with a seemingly endless amount of wires, blinking lights, and buttons. An entity known only as the King in the Mountain received a message. A message in which he had read what seemed like a lifetime ago. A message in which they had studied for a very long time... A message in which they responded to before. He remembered what someone said to him about time travel, and he remembered why he had to go back on his promise.

He made a reply to the message from the Knights.

To: The Knights
From: The King In The Mountain
Subject: Open the message please.

Dear Knights, I'll skip the formality. I am with the Extra-Terrestrial, Extra-Dimensional and Supernatural: Research, Containment, Deportation, and Assimilation Agency of the United States and United Kingdom and their respective colonies. Or the ET/EDSRCDA for an acronym. For simplicity sake most just call us the Men in Black or The Agency. We have received your message and I will -to the best of my and my charges abilities- aid your fellows in the next endeavor you undertake. They will arrive momentarily and your briefing will be forwarded to them.

---

Atlas
It wasn't often I broke the speed limit by more than ten miles an hour with some very obvious sirens on, but when the director of every operation in the Agency tells you to get your ass to the Knight's bunker, you fucking move.

Anna knuckles were white from holding onto her seat belt so tightly, and her eyes rather wide, "Could you slow down please?!"

"No time."

She shifted her eyes to the speedometer, "Your going sixty in a thirty-five zone! You're gonna kill someone!"

I shrugged, "They won't feel much."

"You're a terrible human being!"

"I know. Besides the Bunker's less than two blocks away."

Anna scoffed, "Two blocks in which a kid could jump onto the road."

"I can react fast enough trust me."

[Anowa]

Standartenführer Dietrich Ekerhart Haegler

Back done in the sewers, the Nazi troops on the balconies had finally managed toi set up their heavy MGs, an almost impossible to dodge hail of bullets was now flying down towards the Psychonaut from several directions, making short work of any Nazi still around the Psychonaut. At the same time Dietrich came back up from the construction site, now holding another strange Nazi Weapon. And cause trouble never comes alone, several Nazi Super Soldiers were with him. Thzey were very well armoured so that the Psychonaut could never just rip them apart or do any damage to them and their strenght exceeded his own. However, they were rather slow. But who`d need that if he had a heavy Laser MG? Yes, a heavy Laser MG! SOmething they were putting to use now, firing like crazies at the Psychonaut while slowly advancing.

Just in from of them walked Dietrich. He seemed to be pretty lax and didn`t worry about anything. Looks like the Protection from his companions was enough for him. But maybe the weapon in his hand was so strong that he didn`t care? (Wolfenstein lore) He was having the Leichenfaust Mk44, a wonder weapon developed by his division in (oh wonder) 1944. Back then their efforts were laid to waste but he had preserved the knowledge about it and now, in modern times, he had begun production of this weapon. It was basically a bazooka firing disintegration explosions whereever he aimed at. It only worked on organic material though. It usually led to a short fail of gravity on the target area while disintegrating the flesh of it`s victims. Something that often led to Skeletons flying around in the target area before gravity came back in and everything fell down.

"Now, now, my little Pikachuu. Do you want to surrender? You`re trapped..."

As if to support his words all entrances to the room they were in were immediately closed with thick steel plates. Except the way down to the construction site.

", outnumbered and outgunned. It`s hopeless. You will die down here. You will learn just like all the others that we can not be put down. That we will never be defeated!"

With this he pointed his weapon at the Psychonaut and fired.

Psychonaut observed the situation at hand, the pathways were blocked by thick steel plates, and he was surrounded and outgunned. Not to mention wounded from a few bullet wounds, whatever it was threat the had SS trooper had fired at him wasn't something he wanted to get hit with. He was quite keen on giving up at this point should they have let him, but then they turned out to be assholes (big surprise) and shot at him anyway.

However the steel plates merely blocked the doors with gravity, and could be lifted with enough strength. So Psychonaut did what any logical person would do, and huffed a big ol' fistfull of PCP before making a beeline towards one of the steel plates. A hail of gunfire raining around him, the sting of bullet wounds became a mere annoyance after a few moments, less than a few seconds of time and he had lifted one of the massive steel plates just high enough to slip under before it slammed back down. It was then he was faced with a duo of late guards who had come to join in on the fight or just simply ensure that Psychonaut wouldn't escape.

However Jason's arms pretty much refused to move, so with a quick flail his mask came down to his chin and his teeth were bared. A quick movement and one was gurgling upon the sewer floor with a large chunk of his neck missing. Spitting out the remains of the man's windpipe, Psychonaut kicked the second one in the groin after a burst of fire found it's way into his own body. The Neo-Nazi crumpled and received a large gaping wound in the side of his neck. His last moment were spent watching a bloodied and bleeding Pikachu sprint away into the nearly pitch black tunnels.

Within the next hour almost no trace of the man could be found in the sewers.

[Primordial Luxa]

---

-----Knights Bunker-----

---

Standing outside of the concrete walls of the bunker underneath a pair of automated anti-material torrents stood several of the Knights. First among them was the disgustingly elastic Hierophant, whose body was more of a blob cradling a dozen or so silver hoops big enough to fit over a man’s head. Next to him was the Gold Spirit, her body looking like a mannequin of solider gold covered in yellow star fish and blond insects. There was the silver form of the Whispering Iron whose unreadable face shown with purple light in the evening sun. Finally behind all of them almost hidden by the others who didn’t seem keen on being so close to him was the Lunar Ghoul, his white pristine Apollo space suit covered with a tattered America flag.

“We’re happy you all were able to make it. There has been an incident an attack on the city of Green Bank, West Virginia,” The Whispering Iron said.

“38°25′12″N 79°49′53″W” Hierophant said.

“Home to 143 people, a Moutain Ski Resort and the Green Bank Telescope, the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. This thing is massive, it’s the world's largest moveable land object. As far as we can tell three hours ago something happened. No one in the city is responding and when a satellite tried to take photos it was shot out of the sky.” The Whispering Iron let that part sink in for a moment.

“Three different search teams were sent to investigate, all of them started screaming and stopped responding when they got within one and half kilometers. The only intel we have is that people in a town three kilometers away say that the telescope is still moving and something is happening with it. Radar satellites are showing some sort of unknown energy signal coming from the town which is wrecking having with basic sensors.”

“Not totally unknown,” Hierophant said “It is very similar to something my friend Atlas here brought to me a week ago.” He turned his neck 180 degree’s around and projected from his helmet an image on the nearby bunker wall that read “Basilisk”.

“This code is the most advanced piece of software I have ever seen.” The image zoomed into to reveal that the word was in fact made up of what must be billions of small circles. These circles were then further enhanced to reveal what looked like a map of a human brain. Hierophant continued “It’s a perfect replica of a human brain down to the quantum level. It has quarks and even physics strings in some places. It can be programed and edited with a set of simple codes and electrical impulses as well. Whoever made this knows how to control a human brain with a simple radio-electrical signal.”

“This is big people. I’m sure you can all image the worse possible scenario. However, Hierophant and Hyde have work up a set of head bands that should grant the brain some protection from these effects,” Whispering Iron said as snake like hands reached out to hand each of the members one of the silver rings he had been carrying.

“We have procured a way to travel to the town discretely but we need to know that all of you are in and ready what could be a very important fight. Are there any questions?”

[Kingdom of Irhk]

---

-----Knights Bunker-----

---

Standing outside of the concrete walls of the bunker underneath a pair of automated anti-material torrents stood several of the Knights. First among them was the disgustingly elastic Hierophant, whose body was more of a blob cradling a dozen or so silver hoops big enough to fit over a man’s head. Next to him was the Gold Spirit, her body looking like a mannequin of solider gold covered in yellow star fish and blond insects. There was the silver form of the Whispering Iron whose unreadable face shown with purple light in the evening sun. Finally behind all of them almost hidden by the others who didn’t seem keen on being so close to him was the Lunar Ghoul, his white pristine Apollo space suit covered with a tattered America flag.

“We’re happy you all were able to make it. There has been an incident an attack on the city of Green Bank, West Virginia,” The Whispering Iron said.

“38°25′12″N 79°49′53″W” Hierophant said.

“Home to 143 people, a Moutain Ski Resort and the Green Bank Telescope, the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. This thing is massive, it’s the world's largest moveable land object. As far as we can tell three hours ago something happened. No one in the city is responding and when a satellite tried to take photos it was shot out of the sky.” The Whispering Iron let that part sink in for a moment.

“Three different search teams were sent to investigate, all of them started screaming and stopped responding when they got within one and half kilometers. The only intel we have is that people in a town three kilometers away say that the telescope is still moving and something is happening with it. Radar satellites are showing some sort of unknown energy signal coming from the town which is wrecking having with basic sensors.”

“Not totally unknown,” Hierophant said “It is very similar to something my friend Atlas here brought to me a week ago.” He turned his neck 180 degree’s around and projected from his helmet an image on the nearby bunker wall that read “Basilisk”.

“This code is the most advanced piece of software I have ever seen.” The image zoomed into to reveal that the word was in fact made up of what must be billions of small circles. These circles were then further enhanced to reveal what looked like a map of a human brain. Hierophant continued “It’s a perfect replica of a human brain down to the quantum level. It has quarks and even physics strings in some places. It can be programed and edited with a set of simple codes and electrical impulses as well. Whoever made this knows how to control a human brain with a simple radio-electrical signal.”

“This is big people. I’m sure you can all image the worse possible scenario. However, Hierophant and Hyde have work up a set of head bands that should grant the brain some protection from these effects,” Whispering Iron said as snake like hands reached out to hand each of the members one of the silver rings he had been carrying.

“We have procured a way to travel to the town discretely but we need to know that all of you are in and ready what could be a very important fight. Are there any questions?”

"- AI, speakers.

- Yes sir. Good day, gentleman.

- To everyone here, this is AI...

- Darwin.

- This was just the name of the project. Continuing it, AI is my masterpiece. It is a complex code that I don't know how I did...

- Sir, you were hallucinating from LSD.

- AI, don't. Coming to our worries, AI can hack a satellite and check the place. And the helmet provides provides protection from the waves, thanks for the bands however. What we are dealing here is the creation of a mastermind, a series of codes that generate a series of reactions inside the human brain. I could develop it, but I never found it amusing. The worst possible scenario is annihilation of a considerable part of the human race. And how discreetly will be our entrance? I have a suit specific for this scenario..."

Exo was already hacking the satellites, just for precaution. He was also searching their identities or agencies behind them.

[Anowa]

---

-----Knights Bunker-----

---

Standing outside of the concrete walls of the bunker underneath a pair of automated anti-material torrents stood several of the Knights. First among them was the disgustingly elastic Hierophant, whose body was more of a blob cradling a dozen or so silver hoops big enough to fit over a man’s head. Next to him was the Gold Spirit, her body looking like a mannequin of solider gold covered in yellow star fish and blond insects. There was the silver form of the Whispering Iron whose unreadable face shown with purple light in the evening sun. Finally behind all of them almost hidden by the others who didn’t seem keen on being so close to him was the Lunar Ghoul, his white pristine Apollo space suit covered with a tattered America flag.

“We’re happy you all were able to make it. There has been an incident an attack on the city of Green Bank, West Virginia,” The Whispering Iron said.

“38°25′12″N 79°49′53″W” Hierophant said.

“Home to 143 people, a Moutain Ski Resort and the Green Bank Telescope, the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. This thing is massive, it’s the world's largest moveable land object. As far as we can tell three hours ago something happened. No one in the city is responding and when a satellite tried to take photos it was shot out of the sky.” The Whispering Iron let that part sink in for a moment.

“Three different search teams were sent to investigate, all of them started screaming and stopped responding when they got within one and half kilometers. The only intel we have is that people in a town three kilometers away say that the telescope is still moving and something is happening with it. Radar satellites are showing some sort of unknown energy signal coming from the town which is wrecking having with basic sensors.”

“Not totally unknown,” Hierophant said “It is very similar to something my friend Atlas here brought to me a week ago.” He turned his neck 180 degree’s around and projected from his helmet an image on the nearby bunker wall that read “Basilisk”.

“This code is the most advanced piece of software I have ever seen.” The image zoomed into to reveal that the word was in fact made up of what must be billions of small circles. These circles were then further enhanced to reveal what looked like a map of a human brain. Hierophant continued “It’s a perfect replica of a human brain down to the quantum level. It has quarks and even physics strings in some places. It can be programed and edited with a set of simple codes and electrical impulses as well. Whoever made this knows how to control a human brain with a simple radio-electrical signal.”

“This is big people. I’m sure you can all image the worse possible scenario. However, Hierophant and Hyde have work up a set of head bands that should grant the brain some protection from these effects,” Whispering Iron said as snake like hands reached out to hand each of the members one of the silver rings he had been carrying.

“We have procured a way to travel to the town discretely but we need to know that all of you are in and ready what could be a very important fight. Are there any questions?”

Atlas sighed and grabbed the headband, "I'll be back in a second." Turning back to the MRAP the Agency duo had arrived in Atlas procedded to enter and then close the vehicle. The windows then tinted to a near black and various thumps of what seemed like some very heavy objects hitting the deck of the vehicle.

Anna however had her own question before grabbing the silver circlet, "When you say 'human brain' do you mean exactly that? Or brains in general? If it's the former I may not need a headband."