Are we Heroes: The New Guard [IC]

[WhatsamattaU]

(Colab, with Dentali)

Los Angeles
The Evacuation Corridor

Ken Masuta - Demon Samurai

Rounding up the last few stragglers, Ken swept his zone over the area, not finding anyone who had yet to evacuate. His zone had managed to pick up looters breaking into an electronics store as well, but they wouldn't get far with all the traffic. Taking a moment to think, Ken began jogging to the next area where he had detected another super. Some of the civilians were talking about a hero called The Stilt Man. Perhaps he would know more about what was going on? Rounding the corner, Ken spotted a man in seafoam green spandex. Without a doubt, this was definitely a super. Slowing down to a walk, as to not come off as intimidating, Ken stopped 2 metres from the Irish man and struck up a conversation.

"You there, have you been helping other civilians evacuate? I'm known as Demon Samurai and I just finished the other street," Ken said, gesturing behind him, "I propose we temporarily team up. What say you?" Holding out his palm for a handshake, Ken waited for the man's response.

Can usually wasn't one for teams, but it's not like he could single-handedly take on Yaldaboth anyway. A few stolen TVs isn't worth disregarding human lives either, but it would be best if some heroes spread out to prevent more people committing theft.

Tom Long - The Stilt Man

Tom turned toward the voice that seemed to be directed at him, to see an unfamiliar figure in Japanese armor. It would have been really odd for a villain or a looter to approach him and offer an alliance, so Tom decided that he'd take the offer at face value.

"Well, now," replied Tom, "the evacuation seems ta be goin' fine an' two strong backs lighten the load, so certainly!"

He closed the distance between them. Then he reached forward with his own hand and clasped Samurai's with it. "Well met! In this garb, I'm called 'The Stilt Man'." Then as an explanation, Tom added, "I can project force fields down me legs..., me arms telescope like that, too, so I have a long stride and a long reach."

In his goggles, it was hard to see Tom's winking eye, but the smile was unmistakable as he said, "Let's go an' have a 'talk' with the hooligans in these parts about not takin' what's not theirs ta take!"

In the distance, the sounds of battle echoed across the Los Angeles basin.

"Lord Jaysus, bless us all against Yaldaboath," said Tom as he battled along side his new ally

[Okayanos]

Los Angeles

Eloise Aube
Los Angeles

Eloise considered herself to be a smart girl, if a little rash at times. She had the tendency to be, excusing the pun, hot-headed. This was not one of those times. She mostly busied herself with making sure the perimeter was clear, considering herself too green to go toe to toe with what amounted to a real life eldritch horror, or as close to one that she would ever see. Her fears were only confirmed when she saw Yaldaboath absorb explosions and flame like he drank it for fun, basically negating her powers. Still, seeing all these supers fight, and some die, for the people of LA was inspiring to say the least. When she saw Manthanein, Eagle, and Clossus gang up to actually knock back Yaldy a little bit, she had a brief moment of "I can do this". She ran up to Manthanein and said "Hello, sir? I'm Inferno, I light things on fire. I know I can't do much, because this guy seems to eat fire for breakfast, but if there's any way I can help just say the word."

Manthanein turns away from his weapon’s display for a moment to glance at Inferno. It almost hurts him, how young she is. Still, coming out into the field at that age requires bravery and confidence, and that remains commendable. “An unfortunate power to possess against a foe such as this.” His cannon’s barrel expands, slowly lighting up as it draws in power for another shot.

Shine’s voice breaks over the comms, demanding the attention of both supers. “My power’s about out of time, so I’ll lose eyes on Yaldabaoth. Um. I noticed some hidden power usage from him, though. I think he senses energy. The cars leaving the evacuation corridor, I mean. He’ll probably head that way.”

Manthanein looks up, a fresh sense of fear coming over him. After the sinkhole had brought down many of the frontline attackers, Yaldabaoth seemed almost unconcerned with them. The supervillain’s amorphous form seems to turn this way and that, as though the green ‘eye’ in the center were looking for something.

Yaldabaoth sets off towards the evacuation corridor, hovering with the lowest parts of his body mere feet off the ground. It billows at surprising speed, the black smoke of his main body streaming behind the green center. Bolts of white lightning arc off of Yaldabaoth as he travels, shattering glass and scorching buildings. Ambitious supers find themselves weaving to avoid the electrical arcs, with mixed success.

Arms Race, deceased.
Dexterity, deceased.
Wildside, deceased.
Wyvern, deceased.

The radiation emanating from Yaldabaoth is having even worse effects- many supers that escaped the lightning, or followed behind Yaldy’s trail instead of trying to intercept him collapse, coughing and vomiting blood. The results are fatal.

Roosevelt, deceased.
Camazotz, deceased.
Gozu-Tenno, deceased.
Yellowstone, deceased.

“Damn...” Manthanein swears, hearing death after death rattled off in the comms. He takes the briefest moment to collect himself, and speaks to Inferno once more. “He sees energy, and you can make fire. Make the biggest ball of heat and light that you can, over the Bay Area. The bigger it gets, the more it will draw his attention.” Manthanein gestures for Inferno to get a move on, while speaking into the comms. “I need pyrokientics, electrokinetics, and energy manipulators of all kinds to head to the Bay Area as soon as possible. Manthanein out.” He rests his gun-sword over his shoulder as it collapses back down into a claymore-sized melee weapon. Thrusters on Manthanein’s boots and back fire, lifting him off the roof and down below. Not strong enough to offer true flight, but enough to allow jumps and falls greater than a normal himan.

Evacuation Corridor

Chaos is easier to create than order. A fireball the size of a car soars out through the air, exploding in the midst of the line of vehicles and sending a whole cluster of them up in flames. Further blasts follow, aimed at vehicles, buildings- and supers. Yaldabaoth approaches ominously, his mass stretched out wide as flames burst from the edges of him every time he spits forth another glob of fire. The flames at his edges coalesce and morph into electricity, locked in a static, fluid arc like a flailing limb, similar to what he’d used to beat against Unicorn’s forcefield. As Yaldabaoth hovers over the roadway, his electrical limbs lash downward- vehicles are bisected, with hot, glowing edges along the split. People are cooked alive, scorched down to smoldering corpses by the heat.

And the nearest heroes would be the ones chosen for evacuation over combat. They’d need luck and time whilst Inferno and the other pyrokinetics worked up a distraction.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Pro Heroes

"So that's how it senses things," Simmons said to himself from within the Rhodes. He was still carefully picking the mech up again. A mixture of jet thrust and mechanical movement returned the mech to its knees. The Rhode's core could be a flashy target for ol' Yaldy, but lowering the shielding would make most ranges of motion impractical. And he would still need a way to deliver the canisters he'd whipped up. Of course, Colossus had hoped brute strength would work, but now was the time for a hail Mary.

A few long strides of Rhode's legs led him near the bay with the rest of the kinetics. "Deactivate control," Colossus said, allowing himself to slip out of the harness. "Lower core shielding."

"Warning, core is still active."

"Disregard."

"Voice print matched, lowering core shielding"

"Eject modules from R1 and L1."

"Modules ejected." The muffled sound of two heavy objects hitting the ground confirmed what the computer said. "Prep the Barletta"

[Sraelyn]

Johan Vermaak
Vektor
LAX

The Eagle turned to look over his shoulder at Vektor. "Get them back to safety!" The Eagle shouted, pointing at Cryos and Kapitan.

Johan simply nodded and rushed towards the Russian heroes, swerving amongst the debries of the incresingly devastated landscape, while Colossus, The Eagle, and Manthanein attacked Yaldabaoth one after another. He had to act fast, while the misty behemoth was distracted. If that damned abomination could take down three pro heroes in a matter of seconds, all while withstanding the attacks of some of the heaviest hitters around, then he wasn't looking forward to what it could do to him.

Once he had reached his maximum speed, he leaped forward, propulsing himself in a low arc in a low arc towards his targets. Decelerating normally would be too slow, and he wanted to do this as fast as possible. 'Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the mind killer.' Recited Johan like a mantra mid-air to steel his nerves, as giant boulders, explosions, blasts, and another myriad of attacks rained on the evercloser beast. He could not allow himself to be afraid, not now, not ever. He was supposed to be a bloody hero, he had to act like one.

Crash landing a few feet away from Cryos and Kapitan, he quickly moved to their side. They were both badly injured, in particular Kapitan, who carried on depite looking like he was on the verge of dying, still standing by force of will alone. The Russian was a tough man, he had to give him that.
"Let me carry her." He said while picking up Cryos in a bridal carry. "Can you hold on to my back, Kapitan?" The hero complied, and with the weight of both of them, Johan could barely move his legs. Luckily, as long as he could hold the weight, he could direct his vector of movement with a slight upwards direction and get moving. Finally the gruelling training session and years of rugby paid off in this line of work, as he rushed backwards once again, in search of a safe place to drop the pair off.

Once a few blocks away, he let the Russian heroes down.
"This is Vektor requesting a med-evac for Cryos and Kapitan on this marked position. Im going back in in search of any... shit." From where he stood he could now see that the fight had moved away from the coast and into the city. Yaldabaoths movement distinguishable by the destruction it left in its wake, crumbling buildings, dead heroes, and bursts of flame and lighting. If he wasn't stopped, and soon, it would decimate the city and the thousands of civilians that were still trying to evacuate. With his body already sore, he surge once again towards the hulking monstrocity. For once, he was starting to loose hope for the outcome of this battle.

[Holy Lykos]

Finnbar O'Setanta - Wolfhound
Basically in Yaldy's Way

He glanced up after shifting enough stone to clear one of the lanes, all the vehicles and people really needed, and thought he noticed something in the air soaring towards this area. A super? Probably, there were plenty of them flying around bein all hero- Oh shit no that was defiiintely a chunk of rubble flying. And right at the damn road he just cleared?! What a bitch of a rubble-chunk. Hopefully it was something churned up by the monster and not a fellow super. Damage control for one ultra powerful entity was enough of a job.

Finn sighed, "Welp, this is gonna hurt," stretching himself out before dashing his way over to a fire escape. It took but a few moments to scale and haul himself up, hand over hand, foot over foot, along the exterior. He steadied himself, bouncing from foot to foot. He glanced over towards the bay, seeing the advancing monster. Fuck, he's coming this way now. A good bit off, so he had t- oh fuck stop getting distracted.

"Three... Two... One... Fuckit lets do this." He breathed in deep, gauging the soaring rock a moment longer before sprinting his way across the rooftop. A mighty running leap launched him over the street stories below...

And then he smacked into a rock going at high speed, feeling his jaw dislocate as his body hit the boulder-sized chunk hard. He held onto the boulder with all he had, not wanting to lose his momentum to the ground below. The boulder tumbled and rolled, even bounced a bit. But he wasn't so easily smeared into paste on the ground, and the force of his impact proved enough to divert the path into the roof of the opposite building. The roof shattered, collapsing to the floor below it in even more rubble. A few more floors caved in before the force dissipated enough. But the sides held well enough, and the road remained clear.

Finnbar had to work to extracate himself, noting a few definitely broken bones here and there. Nothing major, just a few fingers had hit the wrong angle of rock. He took stock of everything, standing in a pile of rubble a story or so deep. Man, was that painful. Worth it, but painful. At least he could still stand and help. He set to work resetting dislocated limbs and getting bones set before they healed back poorly. One hand held the broken fingers in place, shifting his jaw to make sure it still had full motion range. Had to check these things.

Finn figured he'd climb out once everything was in working order again. Y'know, before Yaldabaoth arrived and just insta-gibbed his whole deal. But he had some time before that...

[WhatsamattaU]

The Stilt Man

Jaysus, Maire and Joe! thought Tom. All the heroes that gathered here ta stop Yaldy an it still might catch up to us!

The looters that he and the Demon Samurai were quickly routed and dispersed, so that Tom had a chance to briefly power down. He went over to his brother in arms to talk.

"Samurai," The Stilt Man began, "the monster seems ta be breakin' through the heroes at the beach an' comin' our way. But I've been thinkin', sure Yaldy ain't human and can't be expected to think like us. It may be that it simply wants to destroy, but what if we're missin' something? What if it's movin' now because it senses something in the area it wants? If it wanted ta just kill things, heroes included, it could come ashore at anytime, couldn't it?"

The Stilt Man hadn't thought before about going to a museum exhibition or a science symposium while in Los Angeles, and so he needed to ask....

Tom asked, "Samurai, can you think of anything happenin' in Los Angeles that Yaldy would want, or would want in particular to destroy? Do you know of any ancient exhibits or science demonstrations that are happenin' in the city? If we find it, maybe we can use it, or use it to lure the monster away...."

[Triassica]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

As Andrew continued his search for straggler as Lenny and Susan led the way to help with the search as an extra pair of eyes. Both of them, one being a King Cobra and the other a Black Mamba were venomously deadly, two of the most dangerous snakes in the world. However, soothed and tamed under command of their master, they were both relatively harmless and even friendly to most people. Sure, people would be frightened at first, but once they learn that their was a Lovecraftian abomination on it's way, they would be quick to follow.

Snake Eyes found several people already who have yet to leave and berated them a little for not leaving while they still had the chance earlier. However, as he did so, a loud and most inhumane shriek not heard on this Earth scrapped through the ears of everyone present. Andrew could feel the fear now induced into the minds of his snakes, one with his own, as Lenny and Susan slithered up through his black jacket. Rango, the boa constrictor acting as eyes for his blind master, also felt uneasy as he stared out from Andrew's hood, and urged him to leave.

"That must be the Yaldaboth..." hissed Snake Eyes, before turning around at the opposite direction of where the noise came from, "Come on, we need to get out of here quickly..."

Luckily they were not too far away from the evacuation site as Snake Eyes led the way with frightened citizens behind him. However, it got troubling as the Yaldaboth wasn't too far away from the site as well. Andrew cursed told the evacuees to stay close as he approached one of the heroes nearby. "Found these people that straggled behind." Andrew spoke up as he ran towards who he recognized as Ken Masuta, The Demon Samurai, "Hopefully that's the last of them..."

The snake man frowned as Rango poked his head to look behind them to see the looming abomination. Yaldaboth was getting uncomfortably close. "I'm Snake Eyes, by the way. Any further ways I can help?" he asked, "I don't think even my venom is good enough against that.... thing."


Filia "Tenebrous" Umbrarum

Filia followed the Dodge Demon till they stopped together at an alleyway, which by the sound of things wasn't too far away from the path of death and oblivion. For a moment she also thought as Wraith did about her own vehicle, before remembering that she had about a dozen of these motorcycles at her various properties, and plenty more back home. Besides, what is one motorcycle, of which the woman was wealthy enough to build ten times over again, compared to millions of people?

Lady Tenebrous followed Wraith, who didn't seem to be aware of her presence, till she found herself on top of a crumbling building , left behind in the wake of Yaldaboth's warpath. She saw Wraith down on one knee. firing at the beast with explosive arrows from a bow. She wondered if the arrows would do much damage against a creature of kaiju-like proportions, even with the explosions. "Need any help?" the cat burglar asked, announcing her presence with a masking synthetic voice that was still feminine and inquisitive in tone, "Surely those arrows alone, from this distance, aren't going to be enough to topple that thing. Need to get closer and yet there's the radiation if we get too close... Any thoughts?"

[The Cyberiad Council]

Allan Crane, Aka Overgrowth

"Shit shit shit," Allan hissed as he piloted the Floran out of the path of raining rubble. Yaldy's attacks had collapsed buildings to varying degrees of being fubar. That and his various attacks had launched rubble skyward. Allan had been growing Floran as large as he could, but even with that and his variable jungle of plants in his football field-and-a-half power radius wasn't enough to move cars out of the way. He could move them, sure, water pressure in what amounted to a cellulostic hose was a hell of a force, but even with his power, the plants could only pump so much so fast. It was like controlling a bowl of spaghetti with your mind. Except every noodle was made up of dozens of hydraulic presses. Strong, but very gradual.

Still, Allan was coping. He focused his efforts on causing rapidly growing shoots of bamboo-like vines to nudge the largest of the debris into a safe path to the ground. The ghastly horror was extremely close to where he had been stationed though. Weren't the kinetics and converters supposed to be making some kind of flare to draw him off course? Whatever they were doing, it wasn't affecting the monster fast enough. His rampage had brought Yaldabaoth to the edge of Allan's power range, and while he doubted Yaldy had a pollen allergy, he could try to annoy him.

Focusing, a thick grove of plants sprouted up near the bottom of the foggy sphere. The vines and plants rapidly climbed into the sky, weaving together like a living mesh. They were flimsy, but they were beginning to grow into the mass of the body, hopefully it would feel... unpleasant.

---

"Eagle, this is Colossus, I need you at my position. I have a plan."

With a pneumatic hiss, the paneling that made up the Rhodes' back opened, revealing a smaller figure inside the large mech. The Barletta dropped from its docking point like a diver going over the side of a boat. Small maneuvering thrusters flared to life, and the mech rotated in the air before landing on the ground with a thump. Compared to Simmons' other creations, the Barletta was the smallest. It was only 16 feet tall while the Rhodes was slightly over 100. The lack in size allowed it to be much more nimble, and Simmons' hoped it would allow him to get close enough to Yaldabaoth with one of the canisters. Unfortunately, it was only strong enough to carry one of the two chemical containers. That's where The Eagle came in.

"What is it, Simmons?" The Eagle asked, coming to hover near the smaller mech.

"I made these containers to disperse an aerosol into the air that will cause an endothermic reaction to act as an energy sink. They're a hail Mary, but I don' t think we have much choice. Hopefully, they'll weaken or hurt Yaldy enough to drive him back out to sea. I planned to disperse them with the Rhodes, but this might work better. I can use the Barletta to deliver one canister, but I'll need you for the other. Just drive it into Yaldy when the time is right and I'll detonate them."

The Eagle nodded, not in the mood to argue. Now it was only a waiting came to see if Yaldy took the energy bait and turned around.

[Mystika]

Los Angeles

Eloise Aube
Los Angeles

Eloise considered herself to be a smart girl, if a little rash at times. She had the tendency to be, excusing the pun, hot-headed. This was not one of those times. She mostly busied herself with making sure the perimeter was clear, considering herself too green to go toe to toe with what amounted to a real life eldritch horror, or as close to one that she would ever see. Her fears were only confirmed when she saw Yaldaboath absorb explosions and flame like he drank it for fun, basically negating her powers. Still, seeing all these supers fight, and some die, for the people of LA was inspiring to say the least. When she saw Manthanein, Eagle, and Clossus gang up to actually knock back Yaldy a little bit, she had a brief moment of "I can do this". She ran up to Manthanein and said "Hello, sir? I'm Inferno, I light things on fire. I know I can't do much, because this guy seems to eat fire for breakfast, but if there's any way I can help just say the word."

Manthanein turns away from his weapon’s display for a moment to glance at Inferno. It almost hurts him, how young she is. Still, coming out into the field at that age requires bravery and confidence, and that remains commendable. “An unfortunate power to possess against a foe such as this.” His cannon’s barrel expands, slowly lighting up as it draws in power for another shot.

Shine’s voice breaks over the comms, demanding the attention of both supers. “My power’s about out of time, so I’ll lose eyes on Yaldabaoth. Um. I noticed some hidden power usage from him, though. I think he senses energy. The cars leaving the evacuation corridor, I mean. He’ll probably head that way.”

Manthanein looks up, a fresh sense of fear coming over him. After the sinkhole had brought down many of the frontline attackers, Yaldabaoth seemed almost unconcerned with them. The supervillain’s amorphous form seems to turn this way and that, as though the green ‘eye’ in the center were looking for something.

Yaldabaoth sets off towards the evacuation corridor, hovering with the lowest parts of his body mere feet off the ground. It billows at surprising speed, the black smoke of his main body streaming behind the green center. Bolts of white lightning arc off of Yaldabaoth as he travels, shattering glass and scorching buildings. Ambitious supers find themselves weaving to avoid the electrical arcs, with mixed success.

Arms Race, deceased.
Dexterity, deceased.
Wildside, deceased.
Wyvern, deceased.

The radiation emanating from Yaldabaoth is having even worse effects- many supers that escaped the lightning, or followed behind Yaldy’s trail instead of trying to intercept him collapse, coughing and vomiting blood. The results are fatal.

Roosevelt, deceased.
Camazotz, deceased.
Gozu-Tenno, deceased.
Yellowstone, deceased.

“Damn...” Manthanein swears, hearing death after death rattled off in the comms. He takes the briefest moment to collect himself, and speaks to Inferno once more. “He sees energy, and you can make fire. Make the biggest ball of heat and light that you can, over the Bay Area. The bigger it gets, the more it will draw his attention.” Manthanein gestures for Inferno to get a move on, while speaking into the comms. “I need pyrokientics, electrokinetics, and energy manipulators of all kinds to head to the Bay Area as soon as possible. Manthanein out.” He rests his gun-sword over his shoulder as it collapses back down into a claymore-sized melee weapon. Thrusters on Manthanein’s boots and back fire, lifting him off the roof and down below. Not strong enough to offer true flight, but enough to allow jumps and falls greater than a normal himan.

Evacuation Corridor

Chaos is easier to create than order. A fireball the size of a car soars out through the air, exploding in the midst of the line of vehicles and sending a whole cluster of them up in flames. Further blasts follow, aimed at vehicles, buildings- and supers. Yaldabaoth approaches ominously, his mass stretched out wide as flames burst from the edges of him every time he spits forth another glob of fire. The flames at his edges coalesce and morph into electricity, locked in a static, fluid arc like a flailing limb, similar to what he’d used to beat against Unicorn’s forcefield. As Yaldabaoth hovers over the roadway, his electrical limbs lash downward- vehicles are bisected, with hot, glowing edges along the split. People are cooked alive, scorched down to smoldering corpses by the heat.

And the nearest heroes would be the ones chosen for evacuation over combat. They’d need luck and time whilst Inferno and the other pyrokinetics worked up a distraction.

Eloise Aube

Eloise blinked for a couple of seconds before processing exactly what he said. "HE WANTS ME TO DO WHAT?! Oh god, oh god. Okay, I can do this. It's just a giant amorphous cloud that's killing everything in the area, all I have to do it make it come closer to me and hopefully NOT DIE in the process! It'll be fine!" She said as she ran as fast as she could for the tallest building in the Bay Area she could see.
Eloise turned around only to see several civilians staring at her with various states of alarm and confusion. "Ehehehe... You didn't hear that. Evacuation zone is that way, get moving! And don't tell anyone I was talking to myself! Please!" Continuing on her way, she realized there wasn't any particularly tall building on the coastline, and decided just to walk out to a pier that was still within view of good old Yaldy. When she stopped, she took a deep breath. She's made fireballs before, sure, but one big enough to attract the attention of a massive being that ate energy, that was a new challenge. Looking towards Yaladboath, still very large even from a little further away, she again took a deep breath, looked up, and raised her hands to the sky, already focusing with everything she had on forming the largest fireball ever. As the beginning of the fireball started to form over her, she put even more power into it, straining not physically, but mentally. The fireball only continued to grow as she put more and more into it, shifting her hands so it continued to grow up instead of in all directions. Still growing the beacon, she looked to Yaldy.
"Man, I sure do hope this works..."

[Okayanos]

Los Angeles
Evacuation Corridor

Yaldabaoth is unaffected by the plants growing through him- for a moment. When his center passes through one of the vines, the oversized villain almost seems to stumble in midair as he floated past. The flames around Yaldabaoth’s outer edges narrow and focus, turning from orange to a blue shade before vanishing altogether. They’re replaced by a mirage-like wavering, and raw heat. Cars directly below him begin to glow orange, the metal and rubber slowly starting to melt and collapse inward on civilians too slow to escape being trapped. The plants get the worst of it, drying out extremely quickly as the water in them is boiled in the heat.

Another forcefield is thrown up in front of Yaldabaoth by Unicorn, atrempting to forcefully push the giant villain away from the road like a bulldozer. Yaldabaoth’s green center core slowly turns to orange- and he explodes. A wave of force, heat, and fire erupts outward from Yaldabaoth, angled somewhat downward as none of it emerges from the top of him. It’s as though it was designed to cause as much damage as possible. Allen’s poor plants got the brunt of the explosion, freeing Yaldabaoth from the annoyance. Supers and civilians underneath him get the rest.

Unicorn, deceased.
Jackalope, deceased.
Krankenwagen, deceased.
Slapshot, deceased.
Imprint, deceased.
Afterthought, deceased.
Excelsior, deceased.
Trishula, deceased.
Big Chungus, deceased.
Northwest, deceased.
Brushfire, deceased.
Arclight, deceased.

The super names are listed, one after the other. The civilian casualties number too high to list in a convenient amount of time.

Bay Area

“Don’t let those brave heroes and villains die for nothing! Keep the energy held together- the more packed into one place, the more irresistible it will be!” Manthanein spouts encouragement over the comms, directing a huge number of pyrokinetics, ekectrokinetics, and energy manipulators of all kinds, forming a massive, pulsating orb of fire, lightning, heat, and light. It’s like staring into the sun whenever he looks at it for too long. “Keep at it!” He continues, as he spots the first traces of black smoke billowing towards them.

Yaldabaoth is on the move again, gliding back the way he’d come after he’d obliterated so much of the evacuation corridor. His green center is staring at the energy manipulator’s creation, transfixed and hypnotized, seemingly unaware of the outside world. Until lightning arcs off of him, striking down a builder in a bulky suit of power armor that’d spewed huge quantities of flame from its arms.

Surtr, deceased.

“God help us... Colossus, we have him here, but he’s going to start picking off the energy manipulators! Whatever you have, use it! All of you, stand your ground! The city is resting on your shoulders, and you cannot let it down now!”

[Parcia]

Filia "Tenebrous" Umbrarum

Filia followed the Dodge Demon till they stopped together at an alleyway, which by the sound of things wasn't too far away from the path of death and oblivion. For a moment she also thought as Wraith did about her own vehicle, before remembering that she had about a dozen of these motorcycles at her various properties, and plenty more back home. Besides, what is one motorcycle, of which the woman was wealthy enough to build ten times over again, compared to millions of people?

Lady Tenebrous followed Wraith, who didn't seem to be aware of her presence, till she found herself on top of a crumbling building , left behind in the wake of Yaldaboth's warpath. She saw Wraith down on one knee. firing at the beast with explosive arrows from a bow. She wondered if the arrows would do much damage against a creature of kaiju-like proportions, even with the explosions. "Need any help?" the cat burglar asked, announcing her presence with a masking synthetic voice that was still feminine and inquisitive in tone, "Surely those arrows alone, from this distance, aren't going to be enough to topple that thing. Need to get closer and yet there's the radiation if we get too close... Any thoughts?"

Wraith
Battle for LA

She indeed did not sense the Thief sneaking up on her, and when the women spoke, Wriath dropped the bow, spun on her heel and drew her revolver with inhuman speed. She recognized Tenebrous upon seeing her and sighed. She had a profile on the woman and knew her Modes Apairandi to be that of a "Honorable Thief" if such a thing exited. Still, she didn't trust the women not to try to nic her gear.

"You should help the civies, or not. I don't really care what you do." She turned back only to find the beast out side of her range. Sighing again, she turned back to the cat women. "We need to draw it off the Evac Corridor, I dont know what you can bring to this, so just stay alive, we already lost too many heroes today." She gathered her bow and began to make towards the fire escape she had used to reach the roof.

[Triassica]

Filia "Tenebrous" Umbrarum

Tenebrous immediately got into a defensive position the moment Wraith turned on her with a gun, summoning black sharp tendrils from the surrounding darkness. It was a bit of stand off for a moment, with the thief capable of whipping of the gun out of the hero's hand, but just as Wraith relaxed his weapon, so did Filia. She assumed that she was already on Wraith's records and that the hero was aware that she meant no harm from her reputation.

"Civilians must already be covered by now." noted Tenebrous synthetically with a shrug, "The other heroes have already began a massive evacuation. I'm sure they're already going after any stragglers who got left behind. Besides, I'm not sure that they'd trust me considering what I am..."

Tenebrous then pondered on Wraith's other suggestion. "We can get on my motorcycle and get close enough to the monster." she replied, "You shoot Yaldy in the face with the arrows while I drive. Certainly that would be enough to get it's attention to chase after us, right? Anyone would be pissed off by an explosion to the face. That is for certain. Would be risky, but what fun would that be without risk? The fun of the chase! Sounds good to you?"

[The Cyberiad Council]

Pro Heroes

"No, pressure, right?" Simmons muttered as he spurred the mech into action. The canister was resting on his shoulder as the Barletta nimbly moved through the destruction. It was almost three times the height of a human, but could move much faster. "Ready Eagle?"

"Yep," the hero called back over comms. A blur streaked past as the Eagle flew in close to the monster. He slammed into Yaldabaoth, opposite the side where his green spot was currently looking. It was like a bullet, sinking deep into the monster's flesh. Colossus was quick to follow up, leaping into the air with the aid of jump jets, and driving his own canister into the monster. "Here we go."

At first, nothing happened, then two muted explosions erupted inside the mist. A white vapor billowed through Yaldy's form, rapidly dropping the air temperature and robbing his body of energy. At the same time, hundreds of Evangelion's orbs descended from the sky, trying to draw even more power out of the monster.

[Okayanos]

Los Angeles
Bay Area
One Last Push

Yaldabaoth screams as the vapor and orbs eat into his mass, carving out pieces and seemingly leaving empty holes in the giant villain's body that fill back out in a few seconds. The monster's screeching begins tearing the bottom of the bay up, the same way it had to the ice and the road previously. The Eagle powers through it, releasing a shockwave with the force of his impact into the most solid part of Yaldabaoth's body. Manthanein jettisons the drone from the back of his armor, letting it fly up above his perch until it's only a tiny spot in the sky. Around 20 other spots appear, falling downward- a fleet of drones, now following behind the first. As they dive down low, skipping across the water's surface, the hexagonal machines gather into groups of four, locking their shapes together and fusing into 5 larger machines. Each of the new 5 unfolds wings from their sides and powerful thrusters from the rear, turning hovering drones into sleek, fast-moving jets. Each one projects a violet forcefield from the front in a 50 foot by 50 foot square, slightly concaved into a rounded cone shape. Flying together in impossibly close formation, the fields are overlayed, multiplying their overall durability and allowing them to cover a greater area.

The projector aircraft follow up behind Colossus and the Eagle's attacks, focusing in on Yaldabaoth's center of mass. They barely inflict any damage, but damage isn't the goal. Pushing against the mass of the giant villain, the jets' thrusters fire at maximum capacity, spewing focused blue flames from behind, bright enough that they'd be painful to look at. They strain against Yaldabaoth at first, but progress is made. The eldritch monstrosity is pushed back, meter by meter, picking up speed as the aircraft push him whilst Evangelion's barrage of orbs keep him too weakened to resist. Evangelion breaks off from the efforts as Manthanein's jets angle themselves downward as they reach the mouth of the bay, diving underwater and pushing Yaldabaoth down with them. The lights of the engines and of Yaldabaoth's green center shine up to the surface, visible for a long time until they eventually fade beneath the surface.

Silence holds for a time. A long, tense minute passes by as the surviving heroes focus weapons and powers on the water's surface, primed to fire at the slightest disturbance. Half the crowd jumps when something flys up through the surface, breaking the tension- but it's two of Manthanein's jets, clamped together to bolster their durability. Even then, they're smoking and sparking, noticeably in need of repairs even to an untrained eye. But a cheer erupts all the same. "Yaldabaoth has been repelled, confirm please." Manthanein speaks amidst the rising sounds of celebration- professional as his words are, the joy in his voice is unmistakable.

Shine's voice comes soon after, once his power came off of its cooldown period. "Can't see any powers out in the ocean. Yaldy's gonna be deep underwater at this point. God, we did it." In spite of the huge amount of the dead, for a brief moment, the heroes of Los Angeles were allowed to celebrate. They were the champions, after all.

[Parcia]

Battle LA.
Wraith


She cocked her head, hearing the update over her radio in her helmet. Now that the beast was dead...or banished, she had to go about her second mission here, the other reason she showed up and one she been meaning to do for a long time. She turned back to the Thief and spoke, her voice being distorted by the modulator in her mask.


"This is going to sound...a bit crass, but I need DNA Samples from the Fallen Heroes. Blood, Saliva, the like. I wont bother with the why, but I can promise you a sum of money for each sample. If possible, try not to arouse to much ire."

She gathered her bow and arrows and spoke again. "I can see this being fun for the both of us."

[San Har Jasta]

Mr. Big

Walter heard the news from Architect; Yaldabaoth had fallen but it had left it's mark. Many heroes died in the battle, many heroes with extraordinary powers Big wants for his own uses. Mr. Big turned towards Doorman and said "Get Mr. Han and start collecting the bodies. Tell Architect I want him back here to speed up the process on our special weapon. When collecting the bodies I want Big Chungus first, then Roosevelt, and finally Dexterity. I want as many as possible but these three take priority as their powers will be the most fruitful for our cause." He waved his hand at her "Now go."

Mr. Big went back to his office to keep working. They have had great business with his Private Military but it was time for him to make some more power deals. Power deals cost time and money, time that he is loosing. The first thing he needed to do was choose the meeting place. It has to be secretive but accessible and known. The hardest part of being a secret power dealing villain was getting your power deals known and then having enough people come. Of course those that have the best powers are offered jobs at his company. Bigg and Beltran Private Military are always in the market for easily corrupted and greedy metas.

[Joohan]

Washington D.C., Smithsonian
Natural History Museum

Wes was taken back when Warlock pushed his comrades back across the room with his powers. He turned back to face up at the sorcerer. Upon hearing the command to surrender, he paused momentarily... and then smiled. Things had taken an unexpectedly interesting turn in the job. Wes crossed his arms and looked up at Warlock.

" No. "

[Sraelyn]

Johan Vermaak
Vektor

Johan followed alongside Yaldsbaoth from a distance, joining the rest of the heroes at the shore, just in time to watch Colossus' drones push back the beast deep into the water from where it came.
"Looks like they fucking did it."

Although it would be cause of celebration, it felt bittersweet at that. The price of repelling the beast had been enormous. More than a dozen pro heroes laid dead, along with possibly hundreds of civilians and whole blocks of the city being razed to the ground. Could today even be considered a victory? Yaldabaoth was merely stopped. It would eventually return from it's watery grave and bring forth another wave of destruction in it's wake, as it had done more than once in the past. What would have happened if Colossus hadn't brought those canisters? Would they have been able to do anything other than just stalling it in an attempt to evacuate as many people as possible? Where the coastal cities of the world just playing a masive macabre game of russian roulette, hoping to not be the next target of it's ire and ununderstood motives?

Johan felt a wave of tiredness wash over his body, and took off his tattered charcoal suit jacket and tie. However, he could not remove the feeling of being woefully unprepared for these types of scenarios. He was drenched in sweat, covered in dirt, and adrenaline still pumped through his veins. Those would be questions for another time, and there was still much work to be done. He turned around to adress those gathered at the coast and still standing.
"Im going to search for any injured survivors, anyone care to tag along?"

[Okayanos]

Emma Beltran
Doorman
B&B private military HQ

Emma's black, featureless eyes flick over Walter's obvious anticipation as she follows him back to his office. The big man liked to play the part of the emotionless, calculating boss, but she'd known him since they were both young. She could tell when there was something he was excited about. She stands behind his intimidating armchair, custom-built by Ethan to support Mr. Big's full weight. Emma puts her hand on his giant shoulder- he'd refreshed her powers so many times that even brief physical contact could bring her back up to maximum effectiveness instantly. And unlike the majority of power granters, he didn't use the abilities he gave as his sole means of controlling underlings.

She loiters outside of the boss' office after getting her recharge. The point where Emma's pupils should be turn white. She raises one of her hands, and the entirety of the limb turns white as well. A golden ring forms around her glowing hand, and she gestures as though pushing it outward. It hovers in the air, before space is torn asunder within the radius. The first super, in its last designated location according to Ethan's monitoring tech. She forms the corresponding portal below where the body should be. Tyrone O'neill, better known by his infamous alias, Big Chungus. A rather portly man, built more like a weightlifter than a bodybuilder- someone who cared about their health more than their appearance. Chungus' grey costume was well-fitted and functional, with the only noticeable ornamentation being small, rabbit-ear protrusions on a mask that covered the upper half of the man's face.

Next, she went for priority #2- Roosevelt, their fallen comrade. The portal in Los Angeles closed, while the one in front of her remained, hazy and impassable until she opened a counterpart again. Unfortunately, Roosevelt's body was gone. Moved or more likely vaporized. Emma sighs closes the portal, and re-opens it underneath priority #3. Dexterity, a young hero who'd previously gone by the alias 'Diddle Kid' before being forced to change it. Dexterity is obviously youthful, African-American, with a yellow-lensed domino-style mask and a mess of black hair. His costume is dark grey, uncustomized- likely a blank template that had been intended for customization later on.

She repeats the process, following the blips on Architect's monitor. Many of the fallen are too far gone or too out of reach, but many others are left in decent enough condition. Soon, Slipstream, Wildside, Wyvern, Jackalope, Imprint, Afterthought, Trishula, and Northwest are retrieved. She finds one last hero, Maita Sojuro, or Camazotz. His body seems in good condition. White hair, slightly crazed red eyes, clad in tight-fitting armor with red detailing. When Emma dumps Camazotz' body down, however, she notices something- a faint rising and falling of the chest. Grinning, she opens a portal into Mr. Big's office to tell him.

"Sir, we have one that's still alive."

[Holy Lykos]

Finnbar O'Setanta
Wolfhound

Through the Other Side Alive

Finnbar joined the other heroes at the beast, dusty, clothes torn, and obviously bloody. He definitely needed a shower. No real outfit, just a jacket and jeans. He shed the former for his tank-top underneath, and tied off the arms at his waist. "Fuckin' hell that was tiring." He mumbled, sitting himself down. It'd taken him longer than expected to fix up his limbs enough to climb out, and he immediately went back to sheparding people into safety. Every single body he helped get through would be worth the strain of moving cars, rubble, and blocking impacts. But it was done, for now.

He sighed heavily as he glanced over the group. So many dead. So many professionals. Yet, this shitty kid from County Louth and the Southside managed to outlive them. What cosmic purpose fate had in store for that... He'd never know. Perhaps it'd be for the best. Perhaps not.

But, he did know one of the other heroes desired to head back into the wreck to keep helping the public. A small, brief, happy smile graced his face. He strode across the beach to him and stuck out a hand. "Aye. Name's Finnbar, by the by. Shit, uh. Wolfhound, I guess. Where you thinkin' of headin' for first?"

[Higher Japan]

Marilyn Willow

As the dust cleared, Marilyn merely sighed and smirked to herself. "Looks like the threat is over and my job is done." She looked towards the horizon. The smell of death heavy in the air as she turned around. Her presence was no longer needed, they could clear the mess up themselves. "Turning back to passive mode, deactivate and return to passive phase." Her engine began to slow down to a slow hum, her suit now receiving regular power rather than combat power. However, she continued ahead into the remains. If she had to do something she should at least look through the remains for survivors. Entering the remains, she scrunched her nose at the smell before getting to work, looking for the bodies of all the metas caught in the front. A list in her HUD showed that many were dead, but just maybe, one could be saved.

[Triassica]

Filia "Tenebrous" Umbrarum

Lady Tenebrous watched from afar as the monster fell and vanished at the power of the heroes. With that in mind, there was no longer any need for her to get all heroic. Thinking about it now made it seem like she wasted her time going out when she could have actually helped the evacuees earlier.

The woman glanced at Wraith, however, and thought about her request for a moment. It was certainly odd to br collecting super DNA and she took some offense to being offered money to help"I don't do my shtick for profit, you know." said Tenebrous in synthetic modulated voice, "I already have an income from my day job that most likely out ranks yours. So I'm not desperate."

The Cat Burglar then turned to Wraith completely, grinning behind her full face mask. "Although, I'm willing to help you if we can hit some jewelry stores along the way." Tenebrous offered, "Will take time to bring things back to normal. So for the time being, the city is mine to loot."

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

It didn't take long at all for Andrew to learn that Yaldabaoth was destroyed and he gave a sigh of relief knowing it was now over. He walked through the entryway of the evacuation corridor and, Rango poking out of his jacket, surveyed the damage. "Well that wasn't so bad, now was it?" Snake Eyes spoke to himself, "Luckily we managed to keep civilian death to nada, I hope..."

Rango nodded mentally. Indeed, thanks to help from you. he noted to his master, Just because you didn't directly fight that thing, doesn't mean you didn't play a big part in being a hero saving people.

Andrew smiled at his boa constrictor's words and stroked his chin. Rango was always one who helped kepted the young snake man's spirits up. Rango glanced around and spotted some top superheroes, which made Andrew grin. "Snake Eyes, reporting for duty." He said, running up to them, "Helped with Evacuation. Any way I can further help now Yaldabaoth is gone?"

[Sraelyn]

Johan Vermaak
Vektor

"Aye. Name's Finnbar, by the by. Shit, uh. Wolfhound, I guess. Where you thinkin' of headin' for first?" Said what appeared to be a fellow hero, his hand streched out towards him.

"Johan." he said as he gave Finnbar a firm handshake and a small, albeit warm smile. "I go by Vektor."  He took a glance at the young man, who was wearing casual clothes and covered in grime just like himself. Johan's smile widened. A pair of suitless heroes that looked more like civilians than potential saviors would have to make do.

"We might as well start with the downed heroes nearby. Someone HAS to have survived. Then we can move on to the buildings closeby. Some people are too stubborn to heed the call for evacuation and might still be trapped in the rubble. Although Im not that suited for the latter, as strength is not my forte. Im more of a speed guy. What is your power bru? Im not really based around here."

[Holy Lykos]

Finnbar O'Setanta
Wolfhound

"Nice ta meet ya Johan." He nodded, before grinning. "Strength, as it be. Though, right now only a very strong person. I can move a car ifs I really try, and I got stamina for days. Ya don't wanna know what it takes to really amp up my strength." He held up a hand, counting out on his fingers. "Also some healing, and speed, but again, only really super super when I'm in a bit of a state. And not exactly the state that leaves me able to actually... help people."

He frowned for a moment, glancing at the sand and kicking at it. But he shook his head, gave another grin, and a thumbs up. "Not gonna stop me from helping. Lead the way, Jo. And how's your speed work? Just normal sorta speedster, or more specific?"

[Okayanos]

Alaric Kirin
Shine
Los Angeles

Alaric focuses on fighting off what’s probably seasickness as he steps off the boat onto dry land. It’d be undignified if he threw up, and it’d probably get the inside of his mask filthy, what with how long it takes to get the thing off. He already looks like a hobo next to the real professional, successful heroes, he doesn’t need to look like a hobo with a weak stomach.

He ignores Manthanein, Eagle, and the other folks of that caliber, instead heading off towards where the search and rescue operation is going down. Cleaning up bodies, and trying to find any miraculous survivors among the fallen supers. Shine’s power is back up and active again, so he puts it to use, projecting his senses high up above the city. A golden ring forces his attention towards it, before disappearing. Power usage, it’d have to be.

Shine trudges towards Wolfhound and Vektor, crunching asphalt gravel under his boots where Yaldabaoth had splintered the road. “Someone’s using a teleportation power to snatch dead bodies away. Don’t fall into a portal by mistake.” He uses the radio in his mask, letting the rest of the gathered, heroic individuals know what he’d found out.