Venture of Heroes
OOC
The world had changed irrevocably. For better or for worse, for the first time in history, men and women with powers roamed the Earth freely. Some called them metahumans, others, demons. Governments labeled them as menaces, terrorists, heroes, weapons. But if there was one thing that they all, collectively agreed on. That these metahumans were here to stay, and they would all have to live or die with that fact in mind. The world was scared, and some would say rightfully. The world's scientists had still not managed to stop the pulses from the Xantheian box, and it was indestructible. When they threw it into space, it flew back. With this failure had come a constant advent of new metahumans who could not be tracked. They had all thought that nuclear weapons would be the cause of their destruction. While then and now, they had the power to press a button and rain hell upon any nation in the world, now there were people who could fly. Every plan laid out 10 years ago by any of the world's superpowers would now have to be altered.
Washington, D.C.
It was around 6 pm, and the sun had started to lower itself under the hills, the sky flaring pink and red and yellow in a splattering, beautiful cascade of colors that was a sunset. Summer had just begun, and thousands of kids now roamed the streets, descended into their basements or set sail with their families on vacations. Well, that is, all but one. One 16 year old, African American teenager named Craig Thomsen was perched atop of a skyscraper, surveying his city. Well, he liked to call it his city, but in truth, it belonged to everyone. The capital of the free world was home to many, and he was proud to have the opportunity to protect it. Spotting a robbery, he put back on his helmet, beginning to calculate the fastest route to the store. Sending an text to a nearby police officer's phone, he took a breath, and leaped off the building. However, the young metahuman immediately regretted the action as his lungs began to act up. A conglomeration of irritation, anger and resignation filled him. It was irritation at his weakness, anger that he had overestimated himself, and resignation at his condition.
Using his inhaler, he felt a little better and prematurely stopped his descent with the ejection of his wings and the activation of his jets on his feet, allowing him to stabilize himself just above the robbers. "Stop!" he shouted, connecting to a nearby speaker to augment his voice.
One of the robbers with a sack of his shoulder and a machine gun in hand sneered up at the hero. "Make me." He dared, bringing up his weapon and firing at Craig. However, Craig swept his hand in front of him, creating a shield out of his microbots that swarmed out of his armor, the bullets pinging off the shield. However, his sight was limited and so he utilized one of the nearby cameras to use as a second eye, successfully seeing the other robber who was trying to sneak up behind him. Landing, he repurposed his shield into a whip and swung at the first robber, who jumped over it, dropping the bag in the process. However, the second robber was closing in, and so, he rolled over to some nearby cover, and launched one of his drones, which shot off his back into the air, firing stun shots at the robber, who quickly fell.
To his dismay, three more robbers emerged out of the bank and also took cover behind some cars parked next to the bank, occasionally popping up and shooting at him, while the first robber snatched his bag back up and began fiddling with a cell phone, no doubt attempting to call the getaway car. Craig, frowning at that, scrambled his connection, severing the link to all cell towers. Then, reaching carefully over his back as bullets whizzed above and all around him, he grabbed his two discs, turning on their electricity. Then, as they buzzed in his hand, he activated his shield and stood up, throwing his discs at two different walls. That was completely intentional. Using his superbrain, he had calculated the vectors needed for his discs to hit his targets and so, the first bounding off the wall and hitting one of the robbers in the head. However, the electricity, conducted by the cars, also zapped the other three robbers crouched up against the car. The second disc, bouncing off a wall and then a trash can before hitting the first robber with the cellphone, who also fell, unconscious.
Waiting, and scanning the area with the street camera to ensure that none of them were still conscious, he carefully clambered over his cover and used his microbots to create handcuffs to secure them, as the police showed up. As he waved hello to them without looking back, he didn't hear a reply, he frowned and turned around, to see them all, gaping up. He too, then, looked up, and his mouth dropped.
Above the city, a huge portal had opened, and out of it, an army that numbered in the hundreds descended upon the capital of the United States, riding on what seemed to be huge, glowing hexagons. However, a solitary figure was riding on a hexagon of his own, and at the raise of his fist, the hexagons stopped. "Earthlings!" he boomed, in a voice so loud that all of D.C could hear it. "You have been plagued with a disease, a sickness, of land, sky, and body. And yet, you welcome it into you, this infestation. You call it technology, a wonder that you profanely use for your everyday use. The stench of all the technology around you sickens us. So, I give you a choice. Carry every single piece of technology out of your little buildings of wood and steel and gather it below me, and we will set it aflame in a holy fire that will wake within your souls the truth. Or die with your technology. Magic, is the only true way. We are the Inquisitors. We come to save you. This is a purge. Bear witness." he finished.
And for a moment, the city was completely quiet. And then Craig spoke up, using the speaker again. "Let me think about this. How about...no!" he shouted, flicking his hand, sending a storm of his microbots at the Head Inquisitor. But the alien simply held up a hand and the microbots were rendered inert, and Craig felt his connection to them torn asunder, his mouth dropping in shock.
The Head Inquisitor swooped closer on his hex, peering at Craig. "You are covered with the sickness. You are past healing. Prepare yourself, little human, for your purge." To his army, he said quietly, solemnly, "Kill him."
Craig's eyes widened at the dozens sent to exterminate him and he bolted off into the sky, his pursuers close behind...
Meanwhile, the rest of the army descended on D.C, and the city began to burn, as buildings crumbled and the Earth opened up as the magic of the Inquisitors was unleashed upon this world of technology. The President was evacuated, and the National Guard was assembled on the outskirts of D.C, but damage had already been wrought, as every major news network reported. The city's one prominent hero, Craig, was busy running for his life and trying not to exert himself too much, multitasking by sending an army of drones from his house to D.C, programmed to attack any Inquisitor. But the drones would only keep the Inquisitors busy for so long, and technology appeared to fail against the Inquisitors whenever it was touched by them. It was time for the heroes to rise up once again.
Pandora City, Southern California
She was quite angry, or perhaps, a better word would be furious. Her plants had just alerted her of an apartment, right in Pandora City, under her nose, where women and girls of all ages had been kidnapped and trafficked into sex. She stormed down the streets in a run, turning blocks and corners quickly, the dark rage on her face enough to let people know that Valancy Stirling, Mother Earth, was coming through. The earth rumbled with her rage, a warning to all those who would attempt to hinder her or attract her wrath. As she neared the apartment, she slowed, and considered subertuge. But a glare crossed her face and she decided for the direct. Under the grass where she stood, a tree grew, and its branches carried its creator and lifegiver up the stories, higher and higher, until she reached the apartment's floor. Then Valancy thrust her hand out, towards the apartment's window. The tree, mimicking her action, gathered up its branched and smashed through the window, Valancy jumping through, changing into her wooden form mid-jump. And then she was in. Scanning the room, and using the wooden appliances and floors, she walked towards one of the walls, and punched it, the wall giving way. WIncing at the damage, she reminded herself to be careful not to collapse the entire complex and ran through the narrow hallway, launching herself through the door with a flying kick. Seeing two men in front of a cage, she grabbed their shirts and hurled them towards the bars, knocking them unconscious.
After she had freed the women, taken the rapists to the police station, and brought the women to one of her care centers, she returned back to the Justice Tower via floraportation, ending up in the living room, where several other Justice Queens were gathered around the television, which displayed a invasion above D.C and several Inquisitors chasing a lone flying hero through the streets. However, the news quickly shifted, and they all rushed to the window, seeing a giant tidal wave approaching the city. The Weather-Man, as he called himself, had struck again. But that was not all. Something had also happened at the Pandora City Zoo. Another Xantheian pulse had just passed by, and had apparently, unexpectedly, mutated the animals. Valancy frowned especially at that last set of news, and then turned to the other Justice Queens. "It looks like we're going to have to split up. I, and perhaps another person can start on the Zoo, that is best suited for my abilities."
"And I can go over to D.C, with hopefully several more of you guys. That looks serious, and I think I'm the only one who can get us there fast enough," said Elena. "I can take Lorn with me, and Cora, perhaps you should go with Valancy? I'm not sure it would be totally safe for you if one of those Inquisitors got their hands on you. What do you guys think?" she asked the other heroines.
