NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, this is how it's going to work. I want the most committed RPers only, and i also happen to be somewhat short on villians and long on heroes. So this is what i will do. You should have come here from the signup thread, which SHOULD have led you here, but regardless how you came here, this is how it's gonna work. Just because your character is in the IN list doesn't mean his or her place is booked, oh no, but you will have to do an intro within the first 2 pages. If you do your intro later than that, you're out. So, let it begin!!!

IC:Hikoori Dojo, the City of Darkness, capital of the Atrosian Empire of the Gothic Underworld of Atros....

Michiko Hikoori, Heiress of the Hikoori Clan of ancient martial arts, sit at her table in her Dojo, regarding the letter which arrived a few days ago. Even after these few days, her countenance is one of dread, as she read the message the letter contained:

The world is unworthy, and for that it must be punished. It is a cruel world, where a life is not important compared to self interest. Very well. Soon, the world will bow down to my demands!!! I have a trump card up my sleeve, and if the world does not acqueisce to my demands and provide me with all the funds i require, i will use this trump card, and soon, there will be no more bargaining!!!

Everyone is welcome to try and stop me, if they can. But I doubt they will succeed. I know you will fail, Michiko of the Hikoori Clan! Still, you are welcome to try and stop me!!!

I await your reactions, and i look forward to seeing your pathetic actions.

RV

She crushed the letter in her hand. Putting her head on the table, she thought. This is not good......she will need Arashi Hiyuuki and Shinji Hikurai, but even they may not be enough to solve this. No, she will need help, and soon.

She had sent out letters of invitation to the world's heroes, to come to Atros and help her solve this crisis. Although the government had not yet deigned to blow it up into a big matter, due to lack of other evidence, her instincts told her, this was for real this time.

She waited, for the next new hopes of the world to step into her Dojo........

OOC: Ok, i know some people will misunderstand the settings, so i will describe. The City of Darkness is actually a city that is a cross between New York and Gotham, and the Hikoori Dojo is a Japanese dojo with ice-crystal stylings added into its features.

"Auntie Curio! Auntie Curio!" Kayla Starr yells as she bursts through the doors of Madam Curio's Antiques.

"What is it, child?" Madam Curio, a gray-haired woman draped in numerous shawls, hurries out from behind one of the many racks of clothing. Out of breath, Kayla simply hands Madam Curio a wrinkled letter. Madam Curio adjusts her glasses and skims the the paper. "Your mother didn't see this, did she?"

"Mother's been passed out since she got home at one o'clock this morning." Kayla's eyes narrow. "I did catch the man she came home with looking through our mail as he went out the door, but he didn't open anything."

Some life I've got. First Hailey was kidnapped, then father left us, and now mother's an alcoholic and a whore. My only real family is Auntie Curio, and we're not even related! Kayla feels a tear beginning to form in the corner of her eye. She quickly wipes it away as she walks into the back room to change.

"Well, if your mother calls, I'll tell her your staying over here for an indefinite length of time. But, if she stops by-"

"Don't worry, I doubt she'll even call." Kayla steps out of the room clad in tight black pants and a loose fitting black shirt. She snaps the clasp of the black cloak draped over her shoulders and picks up a grinning silver harlequin mask. She looks at it for a moment, smiling slightly, before she puts it on and tucks her once-blond-now-black hair into the cloak's hood. Then, she and Madam Curio walk out the back door.

"How are you going to get to Atros?" Madam Curio implores.

"I'll use the Spirit Channels. That should get me there in a couple of hours."

"I know that. By 'how' I mean, how will you get to a place that you've never been to before."

"Simple, I'll ask directions." Kayla reaches deep within herself. Anyone going my way?

I lived in the City of Darkness. I know the way there and back like I once knew the back of my hand.

A small blue Willow-the-Whisp flame appears near Kayla's forehead. It rises and Kayla, now wreathed in light blue flames of her own, follows. Madam Curio waves goodbye as the girl and the blue fireball race toward the horizon, gaining speed as they slip out of sight.

"Shit!",Moaned Tala Wolf dragging herself through the window into her dorm room. Just because she healed fast didn't mean that getting cut didn't hurt. "Oh GOD!"

The pain was getting unbearable. She caught the bank robber easily. Some dumb kid who was short on cash. Hell, she was short on cash, you didn't see her robbing banks. He hadn't been all that fast and hadn't planned his route out all that well. She caught him in less then five minutes. The problem had been that the dumb kid had a switch blade. She'd turned to make sure that she didn't get gutted again. Tala cringed at the memory of the other robbery she had stopped last week. Unfortunatly, the little pisher had sliced open her bicep. She had to rip the bottom of her tanktop to make a bandage. "It was new!",She growled flopping on her bed, also remembering how little her friend and roomate, Maxine, had reacted to her being on her bed. Luckily, the silver scar was healed now.

Tala slowly untied the knot on her left arm. She looked down at it, before turning away quickly trying not to gag. The wound had stopped bleeding but she could see in heal in rapid time. The veins and tight muscles were throbbing and closing. It was a disgusting sight. Tala yawned and snuggled into her mattress. She'd just take a tiny little nap, after such a busy day she deserved it. She'd had morning training, two classes, stopped three beatings, gone to work, had her final class, done afternoon training, and stopped the robbery. Of course this didn't include studytime, eating, showering, and homework. "There enough....",Tala yawned loudly."Hours in a day." She ran her fingers through her shoulder length white hair. "Just a little nap.",She muttered, drifting off to sleep.

Tala's joy was short lived. She hadn't been laying down for six minutes when she heard a cry. Her super sensitive hearing caught the sounds from across town as though they were just outside her dorm room. 'Don't go!',Cried a little voice in her head. 'C'mon even werewolf, super heroine co-eds need their rest.' Tala nodded in agreement when a louder, more authoritorian voice replied. 'Some heroine you are, Lycan Girl!' Tala opened her eyes and frowned. Her conscience was mocking her? Either she was really sleep deprieved or her sense of responsibility was getting stronger. 'Get off your ass!',Cried the voice.

Tala stood up and looked at her arm that was now fully healed. She rolled her eyes and changed her shirt, then ran her out the window again and toward the sound of the voice. "On the upside, if I'm going insane then I'll never have to do this hero thing again.",Reasoned Tala. "But I doubt that'll happen." Tala tried to convince herself that that was a bad thing, but she couldn't. She loved being a heroine, and no matter how stupid and dangerous it became, it was never boring and it made her feel good. Her eyes blue eyes scanned the alleyways for the woman. She quickly located the woman and her assalent. Sliding down a fire escape, Tala landed behind the attacker and tapped him on the shoulder. When the man turned she smiled. "Hey!",She said before knocking him out. She then turned to the woman in front of her. "You got a cell?" The woman nodded. "Then call the police." Tala began to climb back up the fire escape the the woman called to her.

"Um...Lycan Girl?"

"Yeah!",Replied Tala turning around.

"Why do you do this? Do you get paid from the police?",Questioned the woman.

"Trust me lady!",Answered Tala with a look of disbelif and sarcasm. "If I got paid for this, I won't be so pissed about it." With that Tala climbed up the fire escape and started to run back to school wondering, 'Why can't crime take just one day off?'

Had Tala had more time. She may been able to check her mailbox to see an important letter.

OOC:Okay that's it. It's a little rushed. Hope it's good enough.

Evening in the City of Atros...

A plane headed for the runway at Atros International Airport, dropping quickly out of the sky as it neared the "City of Darkness". It was no less than 300 feet from the ground when the cargo door of the plane was pushed open by 3 mechanical tentacles that pushed out and clamped onto the posterior of the plane joined by 3 more, making it look something like an alien hatching out of an egg.
A Bespectacled, Brown-haired man, lightly bearded, clad in a trenchcoat with the back torn out and brown trousers, holding a satchel in his arms, was at the core of these many arms, all of them extending from a mechanical harness he wore on his torso. To protect from the roaring of the engines, he wore a large pair of earmuffs.

"I hate flying," he thought to himself as the wind whipped around him. "Bad food, Too expensive, and to top it off, I'm stuck ridin' as baggage!"

3 tentacles held fast to the plane, while the other 3 pushed the cargo door shut. He gripped his satchel and thanked God he was wearing earmuffs.

He climbed up onto the top of the plane, crouched low, and waited for it to pull into the terminal.

A few minutes later, the waiting paid off. As quickly as he could, he walked across the "Boarding-Tube" attaching to the plane's door, trying to get up onto the roof and out of sight before someone noticed six mechanical tentacles and called the police...

Once on the roof, he breathed a little sigh of relief, and looked out at the airstrip. He was very close to the city.

"Well, Allan," he said to himself, "You're in quite a bit of trouble, aren't you? Yesterday you were doing just fine. Had a nice apartment, money, a good job... Now you're a fugitive on the run for stealing 'Government Property'..."
He mentally slapped himself. No, you did the right thing, he thought.
He looked around more, searching for a way to get into the city. He couldn't exactly 'walk' in...

He saw a Semi below, with its trailer doors open and no-one watching. Now was his chance. He jumped down, landing on all 6 tentacles, and crawled toward the open door. He turned around, looking for anyone who might have been watching him, saw there was no-one and crawled backward into the truck, slamming the doors shut.

Then he turned around. "Aw, no..." He muttered.
He'd just stowed away in a trailer full of meat.

Sides of beef hung from the ceiling, and a fine frost covered the walls of the trailer.

Allan shivered a little and drew his coat tighter about him.

He pulled a letter out of his satchel, opened it, and looked it over. Just before he'd left Grazhkjistan, he'd found it on his desk at his apartment.

"Whoever this 'Hikoori Michiko' is..." he thought, "she had better have a damn good explanation..."

(OOC: Mageddon! Very nice intro!)

OOC: Ya....I know I fought hard to get into this RPG....but....heh.....

Stuff has come up in school. The teachers are in some sort of conspericy where they make a bumch of projects due one day after the other. not to mention loads of tests.

Sorry, UG, but I'm out. Sorry for intruding on your thread.

OOC: If I recieve clarification on which character I'm to use, I'll change this. Otherwise, I'll use both...
IC:
Another blasted street gang! This one looks new- I wonder were they came from. The police have been doing fairly well recently...
Great, they've cornered somebody. I'll have to deal with them myself.

With a crash of thunder, Levin Bolt flashed down to the alley behind the gang.
"Surrender now, and you will all survive." he said in the sudden stillness. However, the thugs chose to ignore the path of reason. Forgetting about their victim, the gang of five - two armed with pistols, two with long knives, and one with a heavy length of steel pipe - turned to face their far more dangerous opponent.
Levin Bolt sent a jolt of paralyzing electricity crackling into the first gunman's arm, then leapt into the air as the other opened fire. Bullets whizzing beneath him, he lashed out with a bolt of lightning. The man was dead before Levin Bolt landed. He zapped the first gunman again, then blasted one of the charging knife wielders in the chest, stopping his heart. Levin Bolt sidestepped as the thug with the pipe reached him, and knocked him unconscious with a quick blow of his metal-clad fist. The other knifer left a deep scratch in his armor before falling to another blow. The remaining thug dropped his gun and fled. Before Levin Bolt could pursue, however, another voice sounded.

"Don't move, Andrews. I've got a machine gun pointed at your back, and not even you are fast enough to dodge if I pull the trigger."
Levin Bolt froze. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Bwahahahahahaha!! Considering the situation here, Andrews, I'll be the one asking the que- Ack!"
"Loudmouth." grated a harsh voice. "You can turn around, Jack. I've got him."

Levin Bolt turned, relaxing. "Thanks. What brings you here at so convenient a time?"
"Actually, I was looking for you. I got an interesting letter; I figured that if they managed to find me, you probably got a copy, too. Think you could arrange a ride for me?"
"Sure. What's the situation?"
"Here, take a look at this."
Keeping a blade at the assassin's throat, the Hooded Claw produced her copy of the letter. As Levin Bolt floated up to the window, she handed it to him. Even now, though, she kept her hand hidden by the sleeve of her black robe.

OOC: How's that for a start? The assassin can be part of the villians' crew or something purely internal, whichever is better suited to the plot. If you find the Hooded Claw's colored speech annoying, tell me and I'll stop it.
Sorry you're so busy, AO. Good luck.

OOC: Ok, Lycan Girl, Spiritwalker, Levin Bolt, and the Hooded Claw are officially IN. AO, i acknowledge your withdrawal. Marshankh, you may use both of your Heroes, but if you want to have a villian in this as well, you may have to withdraw either one of your Heroes.

RPers may also introduce their villians here as well. However, take note that all villains must be suitable to take orders from the "Chief Villain" Raven Vandell, whom i will RP. Also take note that, until i decide otherwise, no character, whether it be hero or villain, will know Raven's true identity, and will only know him as "RV", as was shown in Michiko's letter. Now i will RP the situation for villains to intro themselves.

IC: A giant airship, black in every part, floats over the sea south of the island nation of Atros. The airship, looking somewhat like an airborne catamaran with its two helium-filled rigid air balloons on either side of a command center, is named Vengeance.

Inside the command and control center of Vengeance

A command center, not unlike that of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek, crewed by pilots, monitoring their stations. At its command seat, a tall figure sits shaded in shadow, his profile hidden from all sight.

"Have the invitations been sent out?"
"Yes, Sir", a secretary in attention in front of him replied. "The invitations have been sent, and should have reached all parts of the world by now. Soon, those you have invited to join your cause will respond."
"Hmmph. Good work. Dismissed."

The secretary bowed, and walked out of the control room.

The hidden figure bowed his head, and seemed to fall asleep. However, anyone near him could have heard him mutter, "Sarah......soon, the world will listen, and they will soon help Daddy cure you. Wait, my baby, wait. You will run on the grass again, see sunlight again, call me......call me.....Daddy, again........"

OOC: In case anyone misunderstands, this is the situation by which villains are supposed to sign up for the RP.

OOC: I'll add in the Chief Henchman of RV, who will do most of the social interaction with the other villains, and act as the middleman between them and RV.

Chief Henchman:

Zell Alderin
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Fighting Style: Martial Arts + Derivative styles from casino games
Strengths: Excellent at long-range combat, very tricky and fast, hard to hit, also good at psychological games. Also is darned lucky, part of his job description as the region's top gambler.
Weaknesses: Not that great at hand-to-hand combat, having no training or weaponry to engage in such combat, and thus relies on keeping away the enemies with his flying cards.
Fave Quote: "A Royal Flush, and I take the trick!"
Description: Wears a tuxedo, has very well-styled hair, very dashing in a "bad boy" sort of way, often has a rose in his hand.

Bio: Zell is the current Lord of Gamblers in the region, and true to his reputation, he packs a mean game of cards. Although he works as right-hand for Raven Vandell, who owns many casinos around the world from which Zell had won money off from before, Zell relied purely on his gambling skills to win, and as a result, due to prior training in his youth in martial arts, he had developed a style of fighting arts based on his gambling skills. His specialty is in his custom-made bladed poker playing cards, which he can throw in bunches like shurikens, and which come in silver or gold plated edges (the former with which silver-phobic creatures like vampires and werewolves might face some trouble with) that cut like blades. Other weapons include smoke-grenade dice, explosive roulette balls, bludgeoning mahjong tiles and other custom-made casino phernaphalia made as weapons. In fact, anything from a casino which can fit in his hand, he can use as a weapon. His relationship with Raven Vandell is purely for profit, and although scheming, he is not without conscience, merely awaiting for that special person who would make him come to his senses.

Special moves

Blackjack: Zell throws 2 cards, an ace and a royal card, which if it hits the opponent, deals so much pain that he is immobilized. This depends very much on Zell's knowledge of pressure points.

Game of Chance: Zell throws 6 explosive dice, which, according to the order in which they land, will cause destruction in ways determined by the face up of the dice.

Winning Hand: Zell throws a stream of cards at the opponent, who, if he cannot dodge fast enough, will undergo an agony of bladed cards cutting him everywhere on his flesh.

Heads or Tails: Zell throws a rose at the opponent, and at the same time flips a coin. If the rose hits, Zell will do one of 2 things depending on the outcome of the coin. If heads, Zell will throw a pack of cards that form a tornado around the opponent, cutting him even worse than in Winning Hand. If tails, Zell throws a hand of cards that embed itself in the enemy's pressure points, causing pain and immobilization, sometimes even a fainting spell.

Xuanyu stood quietly atop the mountain on the roof of the world, waiting not particularly for anything. It had been years since he killed his master, the last of the dragonlords, Omnus Stormrider in cold blood, a deed that had finally branded Xuanyu as evil, an enemy of the dragons of the east. It could be said that Xuanyu was the personification of a hypocrite, for he was the amalagation of both the evil and good aspects of the world. He was a paradox, the living modal of the yin and the yang... With a smirk, Xuanyu had departed west, heading towards the lands of the "less civilized," intent upon creating a new life for a being of unknown age...

As he moved, Xuanyu arrived in a land known as The Gothic Underworld, an ironic name for such a disturbing place. With a sigh, Xuanyu stopped his travels, content to begin anew a life long lost to him. Adopting a human guise, Xuanyu began to live the life of a mortal. Renting a small apartment in the middle of a rundown neighborhood, Xuanyu lived a life not filled with content, but filled with brewing hatred and rage, for Xuanyu was angry. Angry at his long captivity in the sword known as the Hellblade and angry that he could live a life that he truly wanted... Adopting the name, Constantin Amerigo, he continued to live...

As he continued his dreary life, Xuanyu, one day, unexpectedly received a letter, an intriguing letter addressed to his pseudonym... With cold-hearted eyes, Xuanyu read the letter. But he knew that he was ambitious and would eventually chafe under the command of the one above... With a shake of his head, Xuanyu decided to join, for he had nothing better to do... Soon, this person will fall to the timeless being that I am... He will understand that behind the facade of a worthless man of the gutter lies a being of matchless ability and power...

OOC: 5CN, are you using Xuanyu as a hero or villain?

(OOC: Villian... But his actual status will be pretty static as he ocillates between his two natures...)

A 3/4 ton diesel truck pulls into the driveway of a small ranch house in the boondocks of Pottsylvainia. Riding close to the mailbox at the end of the gravel driveway, a large muscular hand reaches into the tin box, reemerging with a variety of letters, magazines, and the local newspaper. Shuffling through it as he subconciusly avoids the bumps that no gravel driveway would be complete with out, Henry Richards eyes light on the letter postmarked from Atros.
Henry:*As he pulls up to the house, and gets out* Atros, Atros... It rings a bell, but I can't place it..
Moving into the house, he lays the mail on the dining room table, and hangs up his brown Carhart jacket. Getting back to the mail, Henry's mental map finally places Atros.
Henry: Crap, that is halfway across the world. I wonder what anybody over there wants with me.*Opens the letter and reads it* Hmm... now there is some serious stuff. I guess I should alert headquarters, try and book a flight.
..............
Four days later, The commercial plane Henry rode out to the forbbingly nicknamed "City of Darkness" lands at the Atros international Airport after one refueling stop in Grazhkjistan. As the plane lands, he pulls a backpack out from under the seat, and heads into the terminal. Henry, upon reaching the inside of the building, quickly skirts most security, making his way down to the cargo door. Nobody is going to touch my stuff, except me. Reaching The door as the baggage people just start ot unload it, his keen eyes notice the damage to the door. Someone, or something was in here. Something that could have opened my case, and mucked with my guns! Running up the ramp, Henry quickly found his case. Rolling the huge hardcase down the ramp, he quickly found a dark corner, and popped open the steel box on wheels. Taking five minutes to search the weapons and case carefully, he finally decided that nothing had been touched. Lugging the case back inito the terminal, he is confronted by several security guards, who had either seen him sneak out, or had been alerted of his presance by the baggage handlers.
Henry: Is there something I can do for you guys?

OOC: Sorry, something of a hurried intro.

OOC: GU I'd love to do a villian ,but LG is hard enough to keep track of so I'm not going to. Two since you already said that she's in I'm going to to another reply. Just to get her where she should be and all that. Oh, and I'm adding some desciption of the dojo that was not provided. If it's wrong I'll change it.

IC: Tala nodded to the taxi driver and grabbed her bags. She eyed The Hikoori Dojo closely. It didn't look like some superhero meeting place, she was half expecting some brilliant tower, but whatever the dojo seemed pretty cool. Tala had come to The City of Darkness after recieving a letter from Michiko Hikoori saying that she needed a team of hero's to help her solve a crime or something. "This better be worth what I did?",Muttered Tala angrily. She had gone on stress leave from school and would return when she was prepared. She also gave notice at her job. If this whole thing turned out to be for not....Heads would roll.

Tala caught her reflection in a small Koi pond. She looked like an average 19 year old girl. She was wearing black sneakers; baggy, old, blue jeans, a red shirt with white lettering that said read: "Kickboxers Kick...."; and her shades. Her shoulder length white hair was pulled up into a high ponytail hinting to the fact that Tala may not be exactly normal. She watched the large fish swim for a few moment then when to the door to the dojo. She removed her shoes and placed them and her bags outside then bowed before entering the dojo. She saw a woman sitting at a table. Tala went up to her and bowed as she had learned to do in kickboxing. When she raised her head, she removed her sunglasses. Her eyes blue eyes pierced the other woman's gaze. The Tala spoke.

"I'm Tala Wolf. You wrote about needing my help??"

OOC: Aren't you gonna be in the continuation of spectrome story thread?

OOC: Howcome?

Allan climbed along the bottom of an el rail. It was late, and no one was about. Ironic, for a city this big... Still, he didn't want to take any risks. He was almost to the address, and he would have no explanation for crawling along an el rail like a giant spider, should the police show up.

He checked his progress with a map of the city he had swiped off a streetstand, and saw he was almost there. He stretched a few "arms" out and grabbed onto a building, magnetically clamping to the infrastructure. He crawled along the side of the building for a while, then dropped to the ground in a dark alley, deciding it was safe enough to walk along the ground for a while.

After a few minutes, he finally stood before his destination. Looked like a Dojo. Looked cold in there, and he didn't care to remember the truck... He just hoped the driver noticed something was wrong before it all went bad...

He shook off the thought and headed for the entrance.
He rapped on the door, and a young woman with Ice-blue hair answered.

He extended a hand.

"Good evening. I am Dr. Allan Fisher. I recieved a letter from this address yesterday. Do you mind if I come in?"

Kayla lands softly in front of the Dojo and enters. Within, she finds the growing group of heros.

"Hello, I got a letter to come here. What's going on?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(ooc: I feel like we need some more villians. There's a description of Phobia on the sign up thread. If you don't want me to use it, tell me and I'll delete)

In Atros, an asian man hurries through the streets. He soon reaches the casino and enters. Within the mamoth gambling house, he somehow manages to find Zell.

"Exuse me. I got a message to come here. My name is Phobia," the man extends his hand.

OOC: Ok, status report.

Grazhkjistan, i thought you are already in? Well, i'll confirm that Kraken is now IN. So you can stop asking me whether or not you're in. Cause you're in. And everyone else who was in the IN list and have posted their intros are IN.

Pretty nice rhyming from me, huh? :p

Mageddon, if Phobia can take orders from RV, i don't see why not. Have him come in. Ok, now i'll acknowledge those characters that have reached the Hikoori Dojo.

IC: "A crisis is forming.......beware.......your new-found friends are in gravest peril.......beware......."

"WHAT???!!!"

Michiko snapped out of her trance, and found herself sitting at her desk. Apparently, she had unintentionally fallen into the prophesy trance while making plans for the operations that is to come for the new Hero Team. Just then, she heard footsteps. Soft, wary footsteps. Like that of a wolf. Swiftly, she exited her study and took her place behind the Master's table at the Great Hall of the Frozen Fire, the main hall of the Dojo.

A 19-year-old teenage girl entered the Great Hall, and walked up to her. As she did so, Michiko noticed a strange aura enamating from her, something.....wolfish. "A Lycan.", Michiko thought. However, this one seems in control of her powers somehow, and as the teenager came and paid her respects, Michiko could see a profound wisdom in the girl.

"She's a deep one", thought Michiko.

As the girl introduced herself as Tala Wolf, Michiko heard mechanical clanking. Knowing she has to go investigate, she said to Tala, "Wait here", and went to the front door......

To meet quite a strange sight. A man, almost scholarly in his appearance, if not for a strange assortment of metallic tentacles strapped to his back. Michiko almost didn't hear what the man said, but in the interests of courtesy, she replied, "Please do, and please wait in the Great Hall. I will be with you shortly."

Right after the octopus-man walked in, to Michiko's relief at his not deciding to crawl in instead (OOC: tentacles :p), another teenage girl somehow landed in the courtyard, and walked in without noticing her. Michiko went back into the Great Hall, to meet Tala, Dr. Fisher, and the apparating youngster. Seeing the teenager seat herself, Michiko said to the group:

"I am glad you have come, and I will attend to you all shortly, after some people i've been expecting comes as well."

She then seated herself at the table, Arashi Hiyuuki, Shinji Hikurai, and the Sinsei Hiyuuki should be here soon, to help her explain the letter........

_______________________________________________________________


In the meantime

In Atros' greatest casino, the Casino Royale, situated within the City of Darkness, a young debonair man in a tuxedo stood by the poker table. His name was Zell Alderin, and his mission, given to him by the man he knew only as "RV": meet the henchmen RV has invited to his cause..........

It had been another quiet day in Detroit. Most of the super crims had taken to other cities since the Heroes of Detroit had taken down the last ring-leader. These things seemed to come in waves. Another thing that seemed to come in waves was departures. Roughouse had gone to work with the FBI. Numina was a full time mother. Rebel had found some other aliens and had gone on a trip around the galaxy or whatever. Dreadnought was too busy with University. Artemis had been taken back to Area 51 or some such place. All that was left right now was Orca and himself.
Sitting in the rec room reading a book and drinking coffee, since old habits were hard to kill, he looks up when Orca comes into the room.
“We got this summons from the mayor” he says as he throws the letter on the coffee table.
Mr Mercury picks up the letter and reads it.
“Atros?” he asks, raising an eyebrow on his face he has formed as a courtesy for those that know him well.
“Nasty place” replies Orca, “I sure as hell don’t want to go. The climate does weird things to my lungs… And yet the mayor…”
“…Wants to look good by loaning out his renta-heroes…” finished Mr Mercury.
Orca nods, “Budget cuts suck man. It’s been real quiet here anyway, you should go and have some fun. Send me a postcard…” it was obvious Orca was going to miss Mr M as they shared a similar sense of humour.
“We got a back out clause?” Mr M asks.
“Yeah, usual, three hits and you’re out.” Orca refers to the regeneration theory that once Mr Mercury has been close to death, as close a dead man’s spirit controlling several gallons of mercury can, 3 times was enough before he had to take some serious regeneration time.
“Sooo…. Guess I better be going. I hope they have decent coffee in Atros…”
Orca stood on the roof and shook his hand before he left.
Mr Mercury dissipated into a cloud of gas and using his power of elemental control he stopped the Brownian motion and forced all the atoms into linear direction. He had plotted a course and time, the longer he flew the faster he got as he could keep adding more energy to the atoms as he went making them move faster while keeping them closer together instead of the usual effect.
He took great care to co-ordinate his flight path with the guys at the air traffic control centre and flew higher than usual to get an excellent view of the vista beneath him. If nothing else it gave him a great excuse to take a sight seeing tour.
On the way a confused satellite would freak out a young systems analyst in a navy submarine and he would seriously panic a seagull but otherwise the trip was uneventful. The sunrise was spectacular from up here.
Calculating his travel time to the second he descends straight down above the dojo and decides not to materialise inside, out of politeness, instead solidifying outside the door and walking in. (ooc: I assume the door is open?)
“Greetings. I hope nobody minds me not taking my shoes off… I haven’t got any” says the very shiny metallic figure with no face that walks into the dojo and joins the group.
“Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mr. Mercury of the Heroes of Detroit. I have come to see what part, if any, I can play in this little scenario.”

(ooc: villain to follow if required)

OOC:..Hearing that the apparater introduced herself as Kayla Starr...
ooc: Couple things. My character didn't introduce herself, if she had, she would have called herself Spiritwalker. Also, she flew, not apparated. I'll change my villan post so that Phobia is in the casino.

When asked into a small room by the chief security guard for questioning, Henry Richards willingly complied. He looked much like a normal guy. Brown crew cut hair, grey eyes, grayish-green T-shirt, and loose cut blue jeans. The only things that made him stand out was his height (6' 2"), his boots which seemed to change color with the background, and the huge metal box that he wheeled with him. Flipping out his passport when asked, he proceeded through the questioning session with ease, stating that he had entered the country when summoned by a local. However, the trouble started when they brought in his case, and insisted on his unlocking it to show the contents.
Henry: *producing a key from a secret pocket on his belt* I will warn you now, in this case is days of my hard work, and most of my best friends. You touch anything, you will get hurt.
He opened the case to reveal his guns, most of his ammo, and rather large fighting knife. He explained that he was Pottsylvainian special ops, and carried no ID. Even with the warning, one aspiring officer tried to take the situation into his own hands. As he reaching in to pick up the huge revolver, a lightning hand struck, grabbing the wrist of the man, and twisting it just enough to dislocate the wrist. As the rest of the guards reached for their service weapons, Henry calmly explained to the offending man (but meant for all), that if he wanted to inspect the guns, he would show them to him. Making their inspection in this manner, the satisfied their curiosity.
After declaring him clean, they finally let Henry leave the airport. As he left, another man drove up with his truck, which had been shipped over beforehand.
Other agent: *Getting out of the truck* Took you long enough, Henry, if it wasn't for my orders to stay with this piece of crap, I would've gone in to get you.
Henry: Thanks anyway Frank. You have a good trip home.
Henry got into the truck and consulted a mapquest printout. After an hour of following weird backstreets, he finally pulled up in front of what must be the dojo, discovering that only two blocks away was a major highway that ran right past the airport. Grumbling as he got out of and locked his truck, he gingerly lifted his gun case out of the back of the truck, and walked to the door of the dojo. Knocking on the doorframe and peeking his head in he called out, "Anybody home?"

Gah! That turned out kinda weird, with me playing the guards. I would have gotten out of there without that, but I couldn't figure any way that my character could've, short of putting on his camo....

Tala had never been one to follow orders, a problem she should probably deal with. She watched Michiko walk away and once she was out of sight, Venus moved out to the back. She stepped bare foot onto the cool grass in the back courtyard. It felt nice. Tala took a deep breath catching all the scents in the wind. She smiled sweetly and untied her hair. The warm breeze ruffled through her everwhite locks. Tala slowly lowered herself until she was laying on the grass. She crossed her arms behind her head. "This is so nice.",She muttered to herself looking at the clouds swirling above. Probably due to her hectic schedule, Tala soon fell asleep. Her breathing slow and steady as the ground became her bed and the wind her blanket.

Allan walked into the Great Hall and hung his coat on a nearby coatrack, noting the architecture and decoration of the House. He politely introduced himself to the white-haired girl, whose name she hazarded as Tala Wolf. An odd feeling seemed to follow her... a feeling that whispered in your ear, told you she lived up to her name...

Next, he shook hands with the Girl in the Harlequin mask. She introduced herself as "Spiritwalker".

He extended a hand to a man with a crewcut, examining a metal box full of guns, but recieved a hard stare in return, and made nice from a distance.

(OOC:Movin'rightalong... :p )

After introductions were exchanged with everyone in the room (and reluctanly shaking the hand of Mr. Mercury, who was, in fact, a walking puddle of Mercury), he briefly spoke to Michiko and gestured to the harness. It covered his torso with a layer of body armor. (OOC: kinda like Saiyan Armor... without those ridiculous shoulder plates... just 2 straps.)

"I don't wish to knock anything over. Do you mind if I take this off?"

Seeing a nod, he walked into a corner, put down his satchel, and pushed open a sliding panel on the chest of the harness. He hit a few buttons, and shut the panel.
The six Tentacles arranged themselves on the floor in such a way that the harness would stand on its own.

Allan winced as the Neural Interface Pins retracted out of his spine. It wasn't really painful, it just felt... weird. Like losing an arm. Or Six. The straps released and curled backward. A joint cracked open on either side and down the front of the harness, and the two halves swung out like doors.

Allan was ironically muscular for a bookworm. (OOC: he has to be. He's carrying about 100 lbs on his back.) two rows of pinpoint scars ran down his back. He quickly reached into his satchel and pulled out a dress shirt and tie.

A few minutes later, he seated himself at the table, leaving the OKTO in the corner like a misbehaving child.

"I apologize for that, but all that weight can be rather hard on one's back. Now tell me, what's going on, that you send letters of distress all over the world?" He held up his letter for emphasis. "And for that matter... How did you find such... unconventional people?"

OOC: I will reply later, since i don't have time now. And BTW, the window for signing in villains have been extended another page until i say otherwise. And if anyone wants to increase the pace, you may all RP Michiko passing the letter she got to each Hero in turn, since that's gonna be part of my next post.

She steps through the kitchens un-noticed as, universally, kitchen staff are always too busy to notice unauthorised personnel
She steps out of the kitchen into a service corridor and follows a sign to the main gambling floor. A guard foolishly challenges her. “Hey who are you, what are you doing here? You can’t go throuuu-ugh…” but his sentence was cut of as she made a very neat puncture in his windpipe with a finger like a stiletto heel.
She smiled sweetly at him as he slid to the floor, clutching at his neck, unable to breathe, before stepping through the door and onto the main casino floor in her sparkling sequined dress of many colours. She never had arms on clothes, they got covered in blood too often…
Zell would spot her, she stood out too much not to be noticed so she could have some fun.
She wanders over to the million-dollar slot machine and instead of inserting a 100 dollar bill she slips her fingers in instead. She closes her eyes and concentrates on manipulating the wheels and mechanics before sighing with a smile as the lights flash and sirens sound as the dials show the million-dollar winning line. “I should do casinos more often,” she mutters to herself collecting the winning ticket and heading to the cashiers desk. “Wire this please, here is an account number, give me 100 k in fifties please and don’t stare at my skin or it will be the last thing you see…”

Mr Mecury hold up the letter and chuckles softly.
"Amateur. Cruel world, sob sob, too much personal interest so I’ll have the world bow down, thank you as I want a lot of money… sounds like personal interest to me… hypocrite.”
He passes the letter on for the next person in the room to read.
“By the way can anyone get me a raincoat and a hat please? I would but I am a little strapped for cash myself” he pulls out imaginary pockets or mercury from his legs which look like he is wearing a pair of silver jeans. A moth made of mercury takes flight before he catches it with his hand and re-absorbs it. As usual Mr Mercury tries to bring a lighter tone to his surroundings knowing full well it can irritate those that take themselves too seriously… He looks for any reaction without showing it for a face with no eyes cannot be read. He thinks to himself “so who is the psychic then?”

(ooc: liking it so far)

At the Hikoori Dojo

Michiko heard a voice calling out, and called back "Come in!" Soon, the man who would introduce himself as Henry Richards came in and took a seat. Michiko looked around, and saw that the girl named Tala was missing, and watched with interest as Dr. Fisher took off his harness of tentacles, while shuddering at the liquid form of Mr. Mercury. Nevertheless, she decided to start with what she had.

"Good evening. I am glad all of you have come, for I have had a problem which i knew would require much resources to handle, more than i currently have. That's why you are all here, because i need a team of heroes to help me settle the problem."

"A few days ago, I received this letter. I think I shall make this short, here, this is it."

She passed the letter on to Mr. Mercury, who read it and made a flippant comment, before passing it to another. Michiko stared at the liquid-man with piercing blue eyes.

"You make a joke of it, I see, but this 'RV' is the biggest player in the Atrosian criminal empire, and apart from being head of the Atrosian Mafia, has plenty of other links. This RV has caused trouble before, and nobody knows who he really is. I have asked you all to come because i feel sure that he is in the final stages of his masterplan. I cannot say for certain what that is, but i CAN say for certain it needs to be stopped."

"Now i ask you, heroes of your nations, will you assist me?"

Just then, 2 more figures stepped into the Great Hall. Both tall, athletic-looking and emitting an aura of power similar but distinct from that of Michiko's, all the people in the room could immediately see that it was not a good idea to engage either in battle, if anyone had the mind to do so. One had shoulder-length brown hair, with an ironed-out look to it, and he wore jeans, a leather biker jacket left undone, and underneath it was a black shirt, while his eyes were hidden by sunglasses. The other had long silver hair, a off-white trenchcoat left undone, a white shirt underneath, and brown pants. He also wore clawed gloves.

Michiko stood up, and greeted the newcomers by forming the Glacial flame hereditary to her Clan in her hand, and immediately the others felt a sense of Wisdom, enamating from Michiko. In reply, the newcomers reciprocated by forming flames of their own in their hands. The biker's flame was red, and heated up the surroundings very quickly, and people could sense Courage enamating from the biker. The silver-haired figure, on the other hand, held black-colored flames, and they sensed Fear from the man.

"Arashi Hiyuuki", Michiko said, addressing the biker. "Shinji Hikurai", she addressed the silver haired man. She extinguished her flame, and Arashi and Shinji did so.

"Well, Michiko, looks like we have a bit of a problem here, eh?" Arashi said.

_______________________________________________________________


At the Casino Royale

Suddenly, a playing card came flying out of nowhere, and whisked the ticket out of Shard's hands. The card stuck in the far wall, the ticket pinned by it.

Shard whirled around, ready to give the offender carnage. What she saw though was a tuxedo-clad young man, flourishing a hand of cards in front of her.

"You really should not cheat in a casino, lady. If not for the fact i was expecting you, you could expect the whole of the criminal empire in Atros to be after your blood. And good as you are, you cannot survive us all. Trust me on that."

Shard snarled, "Who are you?"

"Who am I? Maybe you should answer me that first. But anyway, I am Zell Alderin, Lord of Gamblers of the region, and I will be your proxy to the job offer you are about to receive." Zell turned, and started towards a private playing room.

"And what about that?" Shard pointed to her winning ticket, still pinned to the wall by the flying playing card.

"That? That'll be your payment, after you have done your job." Zell disappeared in the room.

As Shard turned to follow him, she took one last look at the ticket. She noted that the card pinning it was the Ace of Diamonds.

Interesting.

Henry skimmed the letter, then passed it down the line. "Awesome, I love a good mfia takedown. Give me a list of names and face.."
Henry looked in suprise at the newcomers, and the strange fire-in-the-hand greeting.
"Well, I guess, considering the company, I really shouldn't be all that suprised." With a smile directed at Mr. Mercury, "To bad you aren't made of gold or silver, huh?"

"If he was made of silver I'd have to destroy him.",Said Tala without further explanation, as she stepped back in the dojo. She yawned loudly, making her fangs extend and retract. She tied her hair back up and walked over to where the rest of the group was. She took the letter from Henry and read it carefully. "It's all riddles. Obviously he wants to destroy the world, but why?",Tala asked Michiko. "I mean, there's pain here. Something happened." Tala shrugged then. "Forget what I said, destroying the planet is unforgivable. I'm in." She eyed the people all around her, she could sense lots of power off of many of them, but there was no sense of harm. She had never trusted other people, especially those with powers. Tala crossed her arms. "Forgive me for asking all of you, but I want to see your powers. I'll show you mine, if you show me yours sort of thing. I'm not all that good with humans or anything. Well except you,"Added Tala pointing to Mr.Mercury. "It's pretty obvious what's up with you."

Allan took RV's letter and adjusted his glasses, peering at the script.
He then looked to Tala with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't quite agree with you there... Why destroy the world? No one will be left, and It's not very fun ruling over rubble. I'm sure you're going to give me the usual 'insanity knows no reason' speech... but this RV seems perfectly clear of mind. But whether he's a Madman or Genius, I swore a long time ago to use my talents to help mankind, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm in."

He passed the letter on, and leaned back in his chair, popping his back.

"I, just to let you know, can't fly or read minds... But I do like to build things and my previous job paid quite well. Soon as I find a place where I can set up a lab, I could build you guys all sorts of fun stuff to play with."

"You don't use silver do you?",Questioned Tala sounding both angrily and with fear. She didn't need any gadgets to fight the nasties. She had her smarts, strength, and lycanthropy abilities. But silver was a problem that she didn't want to deal with. "Well?",Pushed Tala, still not discussing her powers.

Preceded by the distinctive clatter of someone walking in full plate armor, Levin Bolt finally arrived. The Hooded Claw moved a few paces behind him, the sound of her footsteps covered by her rather noisy companion.
"I do apologize for our late arrival. The only transportation we could find in Marshahnk heading this way on such short notice was a merchant ship, hardly the speediest mode of travel. I am known as Levin Bolt; call me Jack, if you prefer. This is the Hooded Claw."
She nodded silently, the gesture visible only as a movement of her dark hood.



Levin Bolt examined the letter, then passed it to THC.
"What a modest fellow. He seems pretty confident, though."
"[i]Huh. We'll see about that."

"You don't use silver do you? Well?".

"No, I don't," Allan replied, raising an eyebrow and smiling. He'd suspected, the fear in her voice had affirmed. "Silver doesn't have many uses in the field I'm in."

He sat back and shut his eyes, and a few words whispered from his lips in Grazhkjat. It sounded like a bizarre mix of Polish and Russian. "Ik wetsz was di besza. Jen Likantrzopa."

"You think I'm a werewolf?",Questioned Tala making a guess at what Allan said. She raised her sunglasses to the top of her head. Her ice blue eyes burned into Allan. Tala smiled deviously with her fangs in plain view. "Well you are smart. Aren't you doctor?" Tala nodded toward the two men who at just entered the dojo, without retracting her fangs. "Hey how are you?"

Allan, unfazed, gave a benign smile and held up a finger. "I don't think. I know." He reached into his satchel and pulled out a battered copy of Skantinavski Mitoladzika (Scandinavian Mythology), which he opened and put his eyes to.

"Besides, you don't have to be a Genius to notice those pearly-whites of yours. Your dentist must have a ball with you..."

He noticed the new entries out of the corner of his eye and greeted them with a slight nod in their direction.

IC: Michiko was interrupted from her conversation with Arashi and Shinji by the entrance of Levin Bolt and the Hooded Claw, and she said to them, "Please be seated. I am passing around a letter now, so i'll leave someone to explain to you what was happening."

Turning back to her old allies, she said,

Michiko: "Arashi, Shinji, as you can see, this RV has given his warning again. And both of you know as well as I that he always delivers on his promise. I fear this."
Shinji: "Bah. What is it to me that he should strike again? It's not like we're supposed to be heroes, we don't take any part in this."
Michiko: "No, Shinji, hear me out. I believe that this time, RV is gonna do his final stroke, and once it is done, no one can stop it. I do believe that it is up to us to stop him once and for all."
Arashi: "But Michiko, I hate to say it, but I agree with Shinji, for once. Why should we take any matter in this? Let the police solve it, if they will."
Michiko: "Sigh........Arashi. True, we are not police, if we are caught doing this, we will only be treated as vigilantes. But think about it. We are respected members of Atros, Arashi, and you too as well, Shinji. We of the Prime Clans, if anyone, would be expected to help Atros. We cannot let this slip from our grasp. We have to do what we can."
Arashi: "Well......Michiko, if you say so."
Shinji: "I still don't see why I should be involved.......especially if I have to work with this fool here."
Arashi: "Hey! Watch your tongue!"
Shinji: "You want a fight?"
Michiko: "Calm down, guys. I'm asking you, Shinji, because i need your strength. You know as well as I do that the strength of the 3 Prime Clans is at its strongest when the 3 of us fight together. Together, we defeated the Dark Power. And we will need this strength again. I feel it."
Shinji: "..........If you insist. But don't expect me to be nice to HIM!"


Michiko sighed. Arashi and Shinji, life-long rivals. It's hard enough to get them to work together........

She turned to the rest of the heroes, and spoke:

"I am glad you have decided to join me in my quest, my fellows. Your strength will be most useful. However......right now, I do not have any other clues. All we can do right now, is wait."

OOC: Unfortunately, I'm not joking. I can only wait until i get a reasonable number of villains before i can go on with this. If you wish, you may RP your heroes getting their own rooms in the Dojo for the night.

Mr. Mercury smiles at Tala as he replied to Henry.
"Yeah cos being murdered woulda been nicer if I had been pushed into a vat of silver..." he says bitterly hinting somewhat at the bitterness and sadness he had kept hidden for so long with the HoD.
"Don't worry about quarters for me..." he mutters all trace of his previous light mood gone. "Just shout for me when something happens."
He turns to Tala "want to see our powers?" With that he vanises as he turns into a could of gas and goe to patrol the sy above the dojo...

Tala made a face at Allan. "Don't believe everything you read, doctor. Most of the things written are fable and fantasy. They have nothing to do with what I am." She then turned to yell after the cloud of Mr.Mercury. "I kind of realized what your powers were like Merc!" She examined the other heroes in the dojo. She caught sight of Arashi and Shinji. She could smell fire off of them giving her an idea of what their powers maybe. That wasn't the reason why she smiled in their direction. Neither man had noticed Tala, and Michiko was to engrossed in conversation to notice her. She quietly slipped away and morphed. She returned in her wolf form. The great white wolf with ice blue eyes padded quietly toward Michiko, Arashi, and Shinji. She made her way soundlessly and unnoticed to them. When she did reach them, she began to tug at their pant legs the way a puppy did when it wanted attention.

OOC: Here's a villan I created. Hope you like it. Oh and Faolan is Gallec for wolf so you get the point.

Faolan Slayer read over the "invitation" from RV. His glowing black eyes scanning every word carefully. 'Not interested', He thought crumpling up the letter. He wasn't interested in this freaks cause. All he cared about was his mission. He walked over and looked into the full length mirror. His black hair was spiked up. His face was hard and cold, but handsome. In his left ear there was a single, hooped, silver earing. He hand work boots and old jeans. His chest was bare, the scars from his countless quary were like badges of honor. He looked at a particular one and frowned darkly. That one was from "Lycan Girl", a werewolf and a vigilanty. Most saw her as a heroine, but he saw her as dangerous. 'She's a challenge though,', He thought with a smile. And hot. Definetly hot.' Faolan shook his head. He shouldn't be lusting after the enemy.

Faolan pulled on a wife-beater and walked to his video message machine. He recorded and sent the following message;
"Listen, RV I appreciate the offer. But I have better things to do then help you. Sorry, unless you can find something to intrest me. I'm out."

Allan chuckled inwardly at Tala. She was smart, yes, but rather immature, he thought. He didn't believe what he read. He believed what he saw.

He wondered if she had a boyfriend, and decided, if she did... he was glad he wasn't him.

He flipped through Mitoladzika some more. He wasn't "researching" as Tala thought he was. He was trying to find an appropriate name for himself... He didn't think "Doc Ock" would go over well...
...then a picture caught his eye. A Squid-like Creature, wrapping its 10 tentacles around a ship and capsizing it as sailors fell into the sea. He looked at the Entry's name. The Kraken: Terror of the Sea

I think we have something here... He got up, picked up his satchel and went outside to think for a while.

IC: As they were turning back to their conversation with Michiko about what to do, Arashi and Shinji felt a wet nose prod their legs. Instinctively, Shinji turned with a speed that shocked the wolf, and his hand struck down at a lightning speed. The next thing anyone knew, was that Shinji was holding up a great, white wolf by the skin of its neck.

"Shinji!", Michiko exclaimed with horror, "that's Tala! Let her go!"

Shinji proceeded the drop the wolf with casual ease, and it changed back into a disgruntled-looking Tala, while Arashi chuckled.

"Well, well, well, young lady, you can do that to me, but Shinji here, he's a little testy, so you might wanna watch yourself around him", patting Tala's head all the while, to the irritation of the 'young lady' in question, and with a glare from Michiko at Arashi for his presumptiousness, while Shinji turned away in a huff, ignoring Tala.

_________________________________________________________________

Zell seated himself at the head of the playing table, waiting for Shard to enter. Then, his cellphone rang, and he listened to the message a "Faolan Slayer" left on his voice box.

Zell chuckled at what he heard.......he's researched into this particular personality, and it appeared that he had a personal vendetta against a vigilante named Tala Wolf......whom Zell, through his numerous sources, had heard that she had made contact with Michiko Hikoori, Heiress of Clan Hikoori. Tala Wolf would probably be part of any attempt to stop RV's plan......and Zell used it to his advantage.

He quickly recorded another voice message, to be sent to Faolan:

"Faolan Slayer, you will go to the Casino Royale in the City of Darkness, capital of the nation of Atros, if you want to know where Tala Wolf is."

Spiritwalker sits in the corner, taking it all in. She had never liked people other than Auntie Curio and Adam... The throught of her late boyfriend sends a tear sucurrying down the cheek of her silver mask. She wipes it away and looks around, hoping no one saw. Her eyes rest on the OKTO. Curious, she stands and walks over to get a better look.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Asian man follows the other two villians into the private room.

Spiritwalker felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you."

Allan had snuck up behind her while she was preoccupied with the OKTO.

"This harness is built for me and me only. The Neural Interface pins have to dodge vital nerves to get to the motor nerves. It can do that with me. Anyone else, a pin could drive itself into the bone, or hit a vital nerve, perhaps killing them instantly. Feel free to look, but don't touch, please."

With that, he walked back outside again.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lin Sukohara walked through the doors of the Casino Royale. She brushed her purple hair out of her eyes and looked around. The usual "Rich man's" Casino. Soft music played throughout the massive "Gambling Room". Lots of pretty neon lights, flashing signs, and the dinging and beeping of slot machines. The air reeked of Cigar smoke. She decided before she talked with "RV", she'd have a little fun first... She walked over to a Chip trader and slapped 500 BVs on the counter. She collected her chips and headed for the roulette tables.

The men at the tables (most of them 20 years her seniors) made some very disgusting comments, and before she'd walked 100 feet, Lin was about ready to start cracking skulls.

She stood over the table, and placed all her chips on the 00 square on the board. Everyone at the table looked at her like she'd lost her mind. She just smiled sweetly at them, placing her hands on the table.

The wheel started spinning, and the marble was thrown in.

Here we go... She thought to herself with a sly smile. All the old men were so busy watching the wheel, they didn't notice her raise a finger off the table. The ball landed in the 00 slot with such perfect timing, no one suspected anything. The numb stares she recieved when they saw the outcome were met with another smile.

She collected her reward (OOC: 4x Bet, if I'm correct) and headed off to another table... (OOC: Zell, do your thing... :rolleyes: )

"This harness is built for me and me only. The Neural Interface pins have to dodge vital nerves to get to the motor nerves. It can do that with me. Anyone else, a pin could drive itself into the bone, or hit a vital nerve, perhaps killing them instantly. Feel free to look, but don't touch, please."

With that, he walked back outside again.
Spiritwalker shakes her head as the man leaves. He thought he was so smart... well, perhaps he was. She turned her attention to the others in the room, waiting for something to happen.

Tala sneered at both men, shooting a momentary 'I know it's not your fault' look to Michiko. "I have something to say to the both of you. Shinji, I accept the fact that you attacked me do to instinct and the want to protect yourself, but should you ever do that again when I'm sniffing around, I might just take protection matters also." Tala then turned to Arashi, and began to growl low in her throat, ever as she spoke. "As for you Arashi, don't patronize me like that. I have a name, Michiko told it to you. In case you've forgotten so quickly, it's Tala. Learn it, remember it, because if you give me that down-speaking, 'Young Lady' crap again. I will be very angry. Also, I am not some little pet dog that you pat on the head and say 'Good girl' to. I'm a werewolf, and I have a short temper. My first thought was to bite off both your hands." Tala looked angrily between the two men. "But since I'm going to be working with you two, I decided I shouldn't do that. This I will do though." Tala crouched and clipped kicked both men in ankles, knocking them to the ground. She jumped back quickly before they could do anything.

"Michiko,"Tala spoke calmly and sweetly. "I'm sorry for doing that. I know their actions were not your fault. If my actions offended you, then I apologize." Tala bowed quickly. "I'm going to look at the Koi now." Tala walked out the front door of the dojo, past her shoes and luggage, and sat bare foot in front of the Koi watching the fish swim around. Tala shivered suddenly, as though a cool breeze had hit her, but the air was still perfectly warm. No, the weather wasn't what had her shaking. Faolan was searching for her again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan walked into the Casino Royale. He was sure that Zell was bluffing, but had to know if it was true. He had driven to Astros from his home. All his clothes and gear were in his black pick-up, along with his Harley. Faolan had changed before coming in. He knew from his first glance that the Casino Royale was a very high class establishment. He hand put on a pair of black trousers, a black silk shirt, and black dress shoes. All the black complimented his hair and eyes. His hair was still spiked and the ring was still in his ear. He walked through the casino. He noticed one of the female dealers had blue eyes.

'They're not as blue as Tala's.',Thought Faolan and instantly he frowned. Why couldn't he get her out of his head? He tried to convince himself it was because she was the only Lycan that had escaped him. But he couldn't believe his own lie. When she had beaten him, destroyed his equipment, Tala had began to walk away. She turned to him with her hands behind her had and said, "Too bad, you were cute." The shock had nearly paralyzed him. Then she had kissed him. He couldn't understand how she could be one of them, she couldn't be older then 19 two years younger then he was, but he knew that he had to destroy her.

Faolan finally reached the table where Zell was. "You have information for me?", Asked Faolan leaning in.

"Nice night, huh?"

Allan stood in the garden, about 10 feet from Tala, staring at the sky. Clouds hazed and obscured the half-moon.

"So..." he said, watching her watch the koi, "...You got any family?"

No answer. He sighed and looked back up at the moon. It was well beyond his field of study, but even he knew it was a bad idea to have a supernatural creature mad at you... especially if you were working with said supernatural creature.

Well, in the interest of Teamwork and Cameraderie and such... Here we go...

He cleared his throat and looked at Tala again.

"Listen, If I offended you any in there, I want to say... I'm sorry. Ok?"

Again, no response. He remembered an old saying his father used. Just because they don't answer doesn't mean they didn't hear you.

He dropped the subject and looked up once again.

OOC: Thrope, I can't say i'm pleased with what you did to my characters, they are Legends after all, and making them look bad doesn't really please me. Anyway, forget that, let's go on.

Oh yes, now i have Lin and Faolan, all i'm waiting for is Phobia to sign in, then we can start.

At the Hikoori Dojo

IC: Both Arashi and Shinji, caught off guard by Tala's tantrum, sat up on the ground. Arashi started chuckling, but Shinji was literally fuming.

Arashi was laughing hard now, "Headstrong girl.....she's gonna be interesting to work with......hey, Shinji, what are you doing?!"

For Shinji had leapt up, and went in pursuit of her, snarling, "I'LL HAVE HER BLOOD FOR THIS!!!"

He rushed out to the Koi pond, and Tala, who was looking at the Koi, was alarmed to see Shinji charging at her, with an aura of dark energy that struck Fear into her heart, despite her confidence at her own ability. She knew then that Shinji was not someone to be trifled with, but it seemed almost too late for her......

....had not Shinji suddenly found himself thrown away from Tala in a burst of red flames.

Tala watched in astonishment, as Arashi commenced battle with Shinji in order to keep him away from her. The energy emitted from both fighters were a sight to behold, as Arashi and Shinji exchanged fiery punches and fiery claw-strokes respectively, each attack parried by the other in a succession of quick attacks Tala could barely follow. Finally, Arashi found a weakness, and diving under Shinji's guard, delivered the Sword Thrust, a fiery abdomen-level punch that set Shinji on red flames, then followed up with a Fiery Uppercut, which spoke for itself, and finished off the combo with a Shutdown, a downward-arcing fiery punch that knocked Shinji onto the ground in flames.

Shinji leapt up quickly, his bloodlust unappeased, but Michiko reached them then, and grabbed Shinji's arm.

"Enough, Hikurai!", Michiko ordered, and Shinji turned to glare at Michiko. From Michiko and Shinji, the Wisdom and Fear auras developed and tussled with each other, while Arashi's Courage aura still burned strong from him. Presently, the auras died down, and Shinji looked calmed.

"Bleh, that bitch ain't worth it", Shinji said, and walked off. As Michiko went with him, Arashi turned to Tala, and sat down besides her.

"Well, Tala, girl", Arashi began, "I'll have to tell you this. You can do that to me anytime you want, i won't mind, but Shinji.......when i said he's a little testy, that was kinda an understatement. Or like a certain person named Bush would put it, an misunderstatement. Try to stay clear of him, eh? I can't always be around to put things right, and you may be pretty confident of your own abilities, but I have to tell you that Shinji's power is not something you can match yourself against. Anyway, let's forget that for the moment."

He gave her a warm smile, the continued.

"Well, youn.....Tala, so tell me. What made you decide to help people?"

_________________________________________________________________

At the Casino Royale

As Zell watched Shard enter the playing room, he also saw an Asian man entering as well.

"Hey, who are you? You aren't supposed to be here!"

Then, he noticed something on one of the many big screens set up in the playing room. Standing up, he excused himself from Shard and the mystery Asian man, "Please wait here a minute, i have business to attend to."

Striding out, he watched the floor of the entire area. Ah, yes, that woman, who somehow won money on 00 at the roulette.....moving to the slot machines! Swiftly, he flicked his hand out......and a couple of glass dice barely missed the woman, causing her to turn to him with a snarl.

Zell merely walked to her and said, "RV doesn't like cheaters in his casino." Turning away, he said, "If you are who i think you are, follow me." He then walked off, knowing that the woman, whoever she is, will follow."

He reentered the private playing room, and sat down at his chair. Before he could start saying anything, a man dressed in smart attire approached him. He seemed to have a wolfish aura about him, Zell thought. The man approached him, and leaned in, "You have information for me?"

Smiling, Zell replied, "I think you should see this first, before I start explaining everything", handing the black-clothed, and black-haired man photographs of Tala Wolf entering the Hikoori Dojo.

He then sat down, and addressed everyone seated at the playing table.

"Well, before i begin. I presume you have all received invitations from a man named RV?"

Allan, stunned by the impressive fight which had unfolded and folded again in less than a minute, stood numbly, then stamped out a small blaze in the grass near him.

These Shinji and Arashi characters would make this job interesting... He remembered his first plan had been to leave Grazhkjistan and go into hiding until the "Incident" had blown over, then find another job... maybe a teaching job... Looks like that plan had been thrown out the window.

He laughed quietly to himself, and went inside.


______________________________________________________________

Lin had just laid a hand on a slot machine, when 2 dice whipped past her ear. She whirled around, and her hands began to crackle with electricity. She scoffed as the thrower (decked out in a tux) used the word "cheater".

"I don't cheat, Tuxedo. I bend the rules," she said with a smile.

He asked her to follow, which she grudgingly did. She entered the private room. She tore her eyes away from the girl who seemed to be carved from crystals, and saw the Chinese man and the Punk with spiked hair and an earring trying to look classy...

Great... first it was crusty old perverts, then some Die-Slinger who looks like something outta Sailor Moon, Now this. I'm SURROUNDED by Freaks!

She seated herself at the table, and looked at everyone.

"Well? What're YOUR stories?"

Flying around above the dojo Mr Mercury does the mental equivalent of slapping his forehead, grimacing and saying “d’oh”. It hadn’t taken long for there to be some gorram frikkin TENSION. He always disliked people who took themselves too seriously or were self important. It was clear to him he was working with a few.
He grinned when he saw Tala do her kick thing and figured that she could have a sense of humour under there somewhere. If nothing else she seemed the most honest, well, she wore her emotions on her sleeve a bit. At least it was straight forward, he liked that.
He had been here, what, twenty minutes and still no-one had offered him a cup of coffee. Dammit it was a long flight from Detroit.
He cleared his head and looked around the area a little wider, spreading the gas thinner and seeing more all the time, checking alley ways and rooftops. Finding suitable a rooftop over looking the dojo he goes solid there and starts practising his Tai Chi and meditating.
http://img66.exs.cx/img66/5083/mrm.th.jpg (http://img66.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img66&image=mrm.jpg)

----------------------------------------

She frowns at the tone of the newcomer (“YOUR stories”?) hmmmph.
She giggles a little. Try cheating did you?

(ooc: and villain tension too. There has to be some ;)

Henry was formulating a reply to Tala's somewhat rude(in his estimation) question, when she stalked outside, before trying her stunt on the "flame throwers". Becoming bored with the whole scene, Richards set his case next to the scientist's synthetic arms, before walking towards the corner which Spiritwalker sat, for lack of a better word, brooding. As he approached her, he suddenly heard the roar of flames behind him, and his experiance honed instincts made him duck down to the floor. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw the two fighters bashing each other. He momentarily considered trying to stop them, but that thought was thrown out the window seeing as the only thing he could break the fight up with was bullets. Or maybe a jumbo sized fire hose. So, keeping a wary eye on Shinji and Arashi, he completed his walk, and sat down next to Spiritwalker.
Henry: *Smiling* It's nice to know that we will be near those two for a while, huh?

"Freak, am I?" The asian man raises his eye brows at Lin. "Yes, I supose that's acurate." He extends his hand, "I prefer the name Phobia, however. Who might you be?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritwalker can only chuckle as she watches from the doorway. She shakes her head as she looks at Henry.

"Indeed, I feel much safer in the company of pyschopaths."

Lin normally wasn't surprised easily, but the man's words put her mind into "What the Hell?" mode.

Can he hear my thoughts?! Jesus, what have I gotten myself into?

She quickly snapped out of it and extended her own hand with a smile.

"Lin Sukohara, but there are some who call me Livewire."

_______________________________________________________________

Allan tapped Michiko on the shoulder.

"Are you expecting any more guests?"

"Lin Sukohara, but there are some who call me Livewire."
"A pleasure to meet you," Phobia turns to the others in the room. Noticing Faolan, he smiles a twisted grin.

Quite the little assassin we've got here. He brocasts this thought directly into the werewolf's mind. I must sugest, out of experience, that you don't entertain thoughts of attraction toword your prey. It makes them much harder to kill when the time comes.

OOC: Sorry, Tala's temper is very bad. But I'm making up for it.

Tala stood up and smiled at Arashi. She bowed then straightened. "I'm sorry for being disrespectful earlier.",Muttered Tala. "I was just in a bad mood because of Shinji's cruelty. He's faster to anger then I am. And you kind of put salt in the wound with the 'Young Lady' comment. I'm 19, an adult that everyone treats like a child. I know I shouldn't have attacked the two of you. I was just angry." Tala bowed again. "Thanks for saving my butt though. I don't think extra crispy Lycan sounds all that appatizing do you?" Tala smiled her ice blue eyes dancing with merriment. "I officialy have distaste to him now, because no one should interrupt my meditation time. I just space when I'm watching Koi. There so serene and lovely." Tala smiled at the fishies. Then she smiled at Arashi. "You know, I'd hug you if I didn't think it was disrespectful and unapproriate."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan leaned back in a chair and examined the pictures of Tala. 'God she looks good', he thought. Then swore, out loud under his breath. He shouldn't be thinking about her like this. She was a menace. Good and evil didn't matter, what mattered was erasing the werewolf menace from the earth. He'd been working on his mission for the last seven years. He noticed the other people were introducing themselves so he decided he might as well do the same. "I'm Faolan Slayer. I don't have a pseudo." He then returned his gaze to the pictures and scowled. He would destroy her just as he did the others. No matter what she seemed like, Lycan Girl was a werewolf and his blood enemy.

Arashi smiled. Then,

"Guess I'll be presumptuous with you again then." And with that, Arashi gave Tala a warm hug.

When he disengaged, Arashi smiled at Tala's expression on her face.

"Heh, well, you don't quite look 19 to me, that's for sure. Bleh, if i had known that you were only a year younger than me, i'll treat you with a little more respect. As it is, i'm starting to love you more already." He grinned.

"Well, try to take it easy on Shinji, huh? He's had a hard life.....even I, who has been his life-long rival for years on end, have to give him that. He's already trying his best to mellow himself, in fact he was worse back then, in the good ol' days. Ah, the times when me and Shinji fought battle after battle to prove each other the weaker....."

He sat back, and sighed.

"Well, if you can catch him in a good mood, he's actually a pretty nice guy. Just try to catch his nuances. I'll help you out on that." he said with a grin.

Spiritwalker stood and began to walk over to Arashi and Tala. Then, thinking better of it, she proptly turned and walked around back where she ploped down next to a small waterfall. Sitting cross-legged, her breathing became rhymatic.

Out with the emotion, in with the calm... In a few moments, her form is wreathed in blue flames and she began to levitate, her cloak billowing out in unfelt winds.

"Indeed, I feel much safer in the company of pyschopaths."

It would seem that I am already in the company of psycopaths....
Henry watched Spiritwalker leave, deciding that the group was not in need of company. He then leaned back in his chair, pulling a pocket bible out. Turning to where his margin notes ended in Romans, he began to read, occasionally adding more words to his already somewhat crowded margins.

Allan was starting to miss the sensation of his extra limbs... He'd have to find a way to get over that, or he'd never lead a normal life... then again... it wasn't like he was now...

He stripped off his shirt and tie, stuffing them into his satchel again, and stepped up to the OKTO, positioning himself inside it. He pushed the chest shut and punched a few keys under the hidden panel. The OKTO locked the chest joint shut, lowered and locked the straps and pushed the pins between Allan's vertebrae, linking into his motor nerves. The arms picked themselves up off the floor and hung limp behind his back. He reached out a claw and grabbed his coat off the hook, pulling it on over the arms, which poked out through a hole in the coat's back.

He walked out the door, and clamped 4 arms onto the walls of the building, magnetic pads firmly anchoring them in place as he was lifted up onto the roof, where a gleaming form sat, deep in thought.

"Mind if I join you? Things are a bit dull in there."

______________________________________________________________

Lin saw Faolan's face soften briefly at the pictures, and giggled, putting her boots up on the table and her arms behind her head, singing, with that same little tune that seemed to be reserved for poking fun at someone, or revealing a secret. "Someone's got a Cru-ush!"

IC: At the Casino Royale, the meeting room.

Zell watched as the.....questionable characters, he had in front of him, started getting acquainted with themselves. Not bad at all. This will save him quite some trouble. Soon, he felt sure everyone had known each other, and then he stood up and spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Zell began, "I believe you are all here for a job offer promised by my boss, who i know only as RV and nothing else. Believe it when i say i do not know who he truly is. Of course, there's some of us here who have our own agendas," looking knowingly at Faolan, "but the fact that all of you are here seems to suggest to me that you are all ready to do the job RV promises. I also believe that he promised a US$100 million reward for the job."

"Ok, so how should i put it......well, put it this way. There is no job."

Stunned silence. Zell smiled. He liked stunning his audience.

"However......there IS, a series of jobs for all of you. With the salary of US$100 million, per job"

Now there was much muttering. Zell smiled.

"So. I gather it's time to take a vote. Who's in, and who's out?

_________________________________________________________________

At the Hikoori Dojo

Michiko turned at Allan's question. "No, I think that's all. Good night, Dr. Fisher."

She walked around the Dojo, watching everyone go do their things. Well enough that they should find the chance to relax. She didn't know when things will start getting screwy, with RV and all, but she knew it would be soon.........

OOC: Ok, once we have the meeting of the villains out of the way, it's time for some real action.

She simply nods and smiles.
"Just tell me who I have to kill, where and when."

"Let me just change into something a bit more comfortable. These human forms make me itch." The Asian man's form lengthend, growing to seven feet. His nose, mouth, and hair withdrew into his skull. His flesh darkend while his eyes spliced, like an ameboa splitting in reverse. His hands grew larger while his fingers and arms elongeted until his knuckles brush against the floor. His single bloodshot eye survyed the crowd as he brodcasted his thoughts for all to hear:

That's better. You can certainly count me in, but not for the money.

Lin sat, thunderstruck by Phobia's shift in form. (OOC: No pun intended. :p)

Sure, she could do something akin to that herself... but it still freaked her out to see other people do it... especially to that degree.

She shook her head again and tried to clear the thought.

"T-tell me what to do, and I'll make damn sure it gets done!"

IC: Zell listened to the villains giving their support one by one, then smiled. Almost all had given their support, and as for Faolan.......he'll snap out of his daydream soon enough and give his support too.

"Very well then, all of you, follow me."

He turned, and strode up a winding staircase, the questionable characters following him. They reached a large helipad, with a helicopter ready for them.

Zell turned back to the gathered villains, "Please board the chopper, and it will take you to your next destination, where your first job will be revealed. Next stop, the airship Vengeance."

OOC: Ok, you guys have your villains board the chopper and RP it taking off, then i'll RP the arrival at the airship.

She climbs into the helicopter first, she didn't like heights all that much but...
She turns to the large cyclops as she puts her hand on a handle and her foot up into the chopper.
"Perhaps a slightly smaller shape?"

(ooc: I am assuming Allan is climbing onto the same roof as Mr Mercury as I am fairly sure no-one else is on a roof. If I'm wrong I will simply delete the post.)
So much for the meditation. Ah well, at least there was one benefit, it looked like he was going to get to know someone a bit better which is always beneficial when fighting for your life side by side.
He looks up at the OKTO man climbing onto the roof and answers his question.
"No problem." He inspects the mechanics on the mans back closer.
"You know, you've given me an idea..." he morphs into an exact copy of Allan as he uses the liquid mercury inside to form the his own extra arms sprouting out of his back, becoming slightly hollow inside.
"We could work on something together..." he withdraws the extra arms and goes on, "I have often combined my power with anothers to create a double whammy, whether it be purely provide armour for that person or help them achieve something they couldn't before. It can be an effective solution to many problems... You want to try working on some tricks?"

"Perhaps a slightly smaller shape?"
Phobia nods its featureless head and jumps, his body shrinking and growing fur, landing in Shard's lap as a black cat.

"We could work on something together... I have often combined my power with anothers to create a double whammy, whether it be purely provide armour for that person or help them achieve something they couldn't before. It can be an effective solution to many problems... You want to try working on some tricks?"

Allan thought it over, taking all but 2 seconds.
"Of course! What did you have in mind?" He bombarded Mr. Mercury with questions for the next few seconds, then composed himself and held out a hand. "Sorry I was so reluctant to greet you before. I'll give it another shot. Pleased to meet you! Dr. Allan Fisher, Freelance Scientist, formerly of Jarikos Industries."

_________________________________________________________________

Lin stopped for a moment, and calmed herself down... She'd never really liked flying, and the fact that she was basically a walking electromagnet never really helped... she'd have to suppress it, or the helicopter's instruments would spin out of control...

She breathed deeply and stepped onto the chopper.

Tala blushed crimson. "You're a very forward guy, Arashi.",She replied with a giggle. Then she smacked herself in the forhead lightly. "Duh, I forgot to tell you why I'm a heroine." Tala thought for a second then replied. "'Cause werewolves are evil!" She laughed at the confused look Arashi gave her. "Lycans are viewed as evil blood thirsty beasts. But we're not. I have control of my powers." She smiled at Arashi then ran over to her bag and pulled out a frisbee with bite marks on it. She then ran back to him. "I'm also immensely at ease with my wolf side and a bit immature. I wanna play fetch!" Tala quicky transformed and tugged at Arashi begging him to play with her.

OOC:GU you can RP the game a bit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan got on in the chopper. He leaned back frowning. He first turned to Zell and said, "You got me I'm in. As long as I get her." He then turned to Lin handing her the picture. Speaking very coldly and deliberately. "That's the only lycanthrope that got away from me. I don't like her. There kind disgust me." Faolan leaned back more and crossed his arms. It was mostly true, lycans did disgust him and Tala had gotten away, but there was a chance that he may like her. That was not a good sign.

Lin smirked at Faolan. Classic. A man at war between his hormones and his mission. She sat back in her seat with that distinctive "Hmm" that women use when they know the man near them is lying.

She looked at the picture. No wonder. This one looked like a heartbreaker.

Zell stepped in and shut the doors. She handed the picture back to Faolan, and looked out the window as the thrumming of the rotors intensified, making the entire cabin vibrate.

"I hope we get there soon... I don't like flying..."

Spiritwalker's meditation had brought her deep into the depths of the astral world. She no longer had any focus on what was happening in the real world.

Spirits swirled around her, merrily discussing their lives or maniacally plotting revenge on their still living enemies. From this chattering mass, brilliant light suddenly stabbed forth. From out of this beam, a four winged, blindfolded angel stepped.

"Beware the one who brings forth fear!" Her voice was like music when she made her decree.

Beside her appeared a samurai in crimson armor leaning on a war hammer. He shook his finger at Kayla as he spoke with a voice cracking with age, yet full of wisdom: "The one who shifts their form could be the doom of you!"

A blazing streak of fire blazed in over the other two's heads. It formed into a bird of roaring inferno. When it spoke, it's voice was joyous, yet somehow also threatening: "Do not worry, for the one who is lost is under my care."

Completely overwhelmed, Spiritwalker passed out and fell, with a splash, into the pond she had been levitating over.

IC: At the Hikoori Dojo

Arashi chuckled when Tala asked him to play. She may be 19, but she still was a little girl at heart, and that Arashi quite liked. Taking hold of the frisbee, he threw it far, and Tala-the-wolf went chasing after it like any family dog would. Chuckling, Arashi remained seated, waiting for her.

He heard a splash, and a louder one. Soon he saw......a soggy wolf returning, dripping water all over. The wet wolf changed back to a wet Tala, who dropped the frisbee, and stuck out her tongue and accused, "That was intentional, wasn't it?"

Arashi laughed. That was not intention on his part, but it sure was still funny. "C'mon, Tala, i'll dry you out."

With that, he pulled Tala onto his lap, with a gasp from her. Then, fire burst from both his upturned palms, and he moved both palms above and around her body, not touching her, but letting the flames dry her out. Tala sighed.......

(OOC: Sorry, was in the mood to be a little cheeky there :p)

Meanwhile,

Shinji, still fuming, was taking a walk around the Koi pond. He saw the psychic who called herself Spiritwalker, levitating over the pond. He then saw a frisbee land in the water, with a great white wolf following soon after, and then the wolf bounded out the way it came, frisbee in hand.

He growled. Nobody disrespects him like that, nobody......as he moped, a splash broke him out of his reverie. Spiritwalker had, for some reason, dropped into the pond. Growling, he strode into the water, and lifted the pyschic out, putting her gently back on dry land.

He turned a queer eye at the unconcious girl. So now what was he supposed to do.......? Shrugging, he held up an upturned hand that he formed into the shape of a claw, and black fire burst from his hand. He sat down besides her, and waited while his flame dried her out.......

OOC: I'll RP the villains arrival in the next post

Allan was snapped out of his knowledge-craving frenzy by a crack of thunder. He didn't feel or hear rain... he looked up.

The clouds flashed and crackled like a stone struck on metal, reaching out spiny hands of lightning, but no rain fell.

He briefly remembered something his Babuszka (OOC: Grazhkjat for "grandmother") Berlka had said. "A rainless storm is drawing its sword."

But with Babuszka's wisdom or without it... something bad was going to happen. He could feel it.

Zell sat in his seat in the somewhat cramped helicopter, lost in his own thoughts. The conversations erupting across the other villains did not interest him, he thought himself far too refined for that. Soon they were over the sea, having left the coast of the island nation of Atros.

Soon, he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, will you please look out on your right side?" Predictably, they all did just that, and collectively gasped.

What they saw was a giant airship, and 'giant' was an understatement. It looked similar to an airborne catamaran, with 2 giant blimp-sized, and -shaped rigid helium vessels on each side for the airship, and in the middle of it was a smaller section, which is probably the engines, bridge, crew quarters and just about everything else that can be found on a regular cruise liner. Huge thrusters stuck out from the back of the airship, and the bridge itself was a lump rising out of the front part of the ship, and if it was not lighted by many lights from windows all over the place, it would not be seen in the night, as it was painted totally black.

The helicopter flew over the airship, and everyone but Zell marvelled that the airship was big enough to hold a helipad on its top. The helicopter landed on the helipad, and soon everyone got out.

"Welcome to the Vengeance, the airborne base of RV!", Zell shouted over the din of the copter rotors, "The air is a little thin at this attitude, so watch yourselves a bit! Alright, everyone follow me!"

They followed Zell into a door leading into the airship, and after winding through many narrow passages, they came to a large chamber, almost like a throne room, where a cloaked figure sat on a large chair behind a desk, awaiting them.

Zell bowed to the figure, said, "Master RV", and turned.

"Now, are there any questions?"

Lin held up a hand.

"How the hell could you build something this big with no-one finding out?"

Phobia nods its featureless head and jumps, his body shrinking and growing fur, landing in Shard's lap as a black cat.

"Much better," she says as she smiles and begins to casually stroke the kitty in her lap, perhaps this was going to be a more pleasant journey. She was now very interested in this shape shifter and his/her motives. Would they come to work for her once these missions were over? Would there be anything after these missions? Hmmm that was a more worrying thought...
(OOC: sorry for delay, been busy, and she says nothing else on the heli trip)

Allan thought it over, taking all but 2 seconds.
"Of course! What did you have in mind?" He bombarded Mr. Mercury with questions for the next few seconds, then composed himself and held out a hand. "Sorry I was so reluctant to greet you before. I'll give it another shot. Pleased to meet you! Dr. Allan Fisher, Freelance Scientist, formerly of Jarikos Industries."

(ooc: sorry for delay, slot this in before the thunder)
Mr Mercury shakes the mans hand and forms his face for the first time since arriving in the city, he looks like a mid to late twenties man, and smiles. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
He pokes one of the artificial arms inquisitively. "So, how much weight can you lift with these babies? They're very shiny by the way. Very cool. I was thinking about making myself into a giant baseball bat (ooc: go on, picture it) or sword and shield maybe... I can also do a handy power armour thing whereby I would absorb any attack thrown your way. We owuld need to practise so I can learn to anticipate your smallest muscle movement and move in the same direction. We could do all sort of mad mid air nonsense too.." he smiles in a far off kind of way as he remembers some of the stunts he has done with Orca who was a relatively underpowered hero but could come up with the wildest ideas to prove incredibly effective at fighting villains.
"Yes... we could have some fun..." he is snapped out of it too by the thunder and lightning (ooc: I assume he sees it and it is not a mental thing for Allan only?)

On the Vengeance

The cloaked figure stirred.

"Greetings. I am RV. I will be your paymaster for this expedition. All i ask, is that all of you perform to the best of your ability......and every installment i am offering is yours."

"As for your question, Miss Lin, let's just say I have my resources. Even now as we speak, no one can detect this ship, as it is cloaked by both Stealth Fighter technology, and EM anti-radar shielding. That's why no nation has ever found this baby......yet."

"Anyone else? If no, I will give you your briefing for the first mission, worth US$100 million to all of you."

Tala dried off in the head of Arashi's flames. When he was done she hopped off him. "You really are forward.",She muttered eyeing him. "I was just joking before. Well, since you want to be SO helpful, you can be my sparring partner. I haven't practised my martial arts in a while." Tala then proceeded to show off her fighting styles. Careful to avoid Mr.Friendly Shinji. "Now this you'll love. It's my wolf's bite double punch. Master Mitsorugi taught me how to concentrate my energies. It's so awesome." Tala moved her arms into many different symbols then punched out her right arm followed by her left which lined about exactly below the right. A moment later and blast of energy in the form of an attacking wolfs head escaped the from the fisher between her hands. Unfortunately, it hit Shinji square in the shoulder because he had just stood up after drying off Spiritwalker. "EEP!", Cried Tala, her face turning to the same shade as her hair. She quickly bowed her head and muttered, "I am an arrogant child, undeserving of my powers. I must train harder and do my best not to attack allies. I accept any form a penance you wish me to undergo." She then whispered to Arashi. "Also, something I learned from Master Misorugi."

OOC: I know that Shinji would have probably sensed that, but I was just thinking he was to busy helping SW to take head. I can change it if you want.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan was still fuming over Lin's comment on him having a crush on Tala. He'd spent the whole trip to this point in silence. But RV was talking about the first job and he was interested.

"So what is it?",He questioned curiously.

Allan gestured to the tentacles on his back.
"I designed these things to be able to lift a lot of weight. The test runs showed two arms could easily pick up a Suburban and throw it up to 40 feet. They're made of an alloy that can stop bullets, but doesn't weigh much... I also added a few other things as well... Care for a demonstration?"

Seeing a nod, he extended the arms out in a circle in front of him. The claws snapped open, and a red field of energy pulsed and glowed, flowing from them with a humming sound.

"This can easily protect from most energy-based attacks... unfortunately," he shut off the field and retracted five of the arms, holding one into the air. "The devices that power that and what I'm about to show you, are experimental, and quite prone to breaking down."

He held the arm skyward, and a pulse of red energy burst from it, flying into the sky like a flare, and dissipating before anyone could see it.

"It can fire energy enough to stun a human, or blast through concrete or steel. I'd like to see what we can do around this..."

The arm withdrew. "Any more Ideas?"

The black cat hissed and Phobia returned to his true from. Rubbing his huge hands together he though-spoke:

I may have to withdraw my earlier comments. That kind of money is too good to pass up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritwalker woke and grogally pulled herself into a sitting position. Her mind held no memory of her vision.

By this time, Henry had finished his two minute devotional (he liked to take things a couple verses at a time), and stood at the doorway, taking in the chaos taking place in the garden. Taking interest in Tala's "shadow boxing", he watched her let loose the wolf's head energy attack. Somewhat ignoring the final destination of the strange energy attack, he called, in a carefully measured mocking voice:
"Looks like something out of a video game. Maybe I should increase my fighting abilities by playing Mortal Combat more often."


OOC: First Hezakiah 4:15, "Blessed are the instigators." :D
P.S. For referance, there is no First Hezakiah.

Allan heard a rushing sound behind him. He whipped around and extended the OKTO's arms, creating a shield, just before what seemed to be a wolf's head made of energy struck him.

With a great crackle, the energy was dissipated.

Allan dropped the shield and looked down into the garden to see Tala, shadowboxing.

He reached an arm down and tapped her gently on the shoulder.

She turned around and saw what, at first, looked like a metal snake.

Allan decided to mess around a little, and moved one of the grasping claws in time with his talking, making it look as though the arm were talking.

"Please watch where you aim that nifty little blast. You almost hit us!"

OOC: That thing hitting Shinji is okay, Thope, just so you know.

At the Hikoori Dojo

IC: Arashi chuckled again as the wolf's head hit Shinji, causing him to turn and growl. "Nah, he'll understand that, at the very least." Sure enough, Shinji turned away from her, muttering all the while.

"Well, Miss Tala, you wanna spar? Very well then, let's see how you fare against the Hiyuuki-ryuu kobujutsu of the Hiyuuki Clan. Ready?"

Tala nodded, and Arashi picked himself up, getting ready in the Hiyuuki guard style. He issued the standard Hiyuuki Clan challenge, fire sparking in one hand he held out to her, then slashing his hand away, and extinguishing the flames, before getting in his guard position, saying "Let's roll!"

Tala reciprocated, and Arashi started off with a Fireball, throwing a hand of flames at her, which formed into a flaming projectile streaking towads her........(OOC: Thrope, don't embarass Arashi, he is supposed to be the top fighter in the region, and more skilled than Tala)

Meanwhile, Shinji was muttering after the unintentional attack by Tala, which almost caused him to lose his temper again. He hated to admit it, but Arashi was right, he still had a long way to go to control his temper, even though it was better than before. Then, he noticed the teenage psychic Spiritwalker stir, and turning to her, spoke,

"Hey pipsqueak. You alright there?"

_________________________________________________________________

On the Vengeance

"Eager to get this over and done with, i see. Well and good", RV said. "Tell them, Zell."

"Yes, Master RV."

The room darkened, and a projector desk appeared, with an 3D image of a map of what is apparently a top secret research structure. Zell started speaking.

"This is the Iradel Research Station, situated on one of the barren atolls surrounding the island mainland of Atros. It is protected by an automated defense system, as well as many well-armed guards.

This is the objective", Zell said, pointing to the exact center of the structure. "In this main lab, specially-made lens diamonds, made to focus a laser beam, are kept. Your objective is to capture this structure, and then hold it until 3 of our Stealth Chinooks come to take the load of diamonds back to Vengeance.

"Right. This is how it will work. We wil commence the operation with Faolan here, drawing the guards away by killing some of them, to a corner of the atoll where former Spetznaz personnel will ambush them. While they are doing that, Livewire will overload the power system of the research station, by using her energies at this power transformer here, at the south of the atoll. The backup will take some time to kick in, so at this time, Phobia will take the identity of one of the research scientists, and attempt to infiltrate the main computer system."

He handed Phobia a computer CD. "Once you're in, insert this disc into the mainframe, and open it. This will cause the defense system to turn to our side, killing all the guards remaining, but leaving alive the scientists and our own soldiers, including you lot here. Hold the scientists, we have use for them later, don't kill them or you get your pay docked. The rest of you will then enter with ex-Spetznaz reinforcements, and hold the facility until our Chinooks have flown off with their load. Then, you will all retreat by Blackhawk back to the airship. Be advised, the military will take some time to respond, so you have a total of one hour to complete this, however, we have reports that a league of Heroes led by the local Prime Clans of Atros may attempt to interfere before the mission is over. Stay alert at all times."

"The operation commences 10 p.m. tomorrow. Until then, you all have your quarters on this airship. Any questions?"

Allan gestured to the tentacles on his back.
"I designed these things to be able to lift a lot of weight. The test runs showed two arms could easily pick up a Suburban and throw it up to 40 feet. They're made of an alloy that can stop bullets, but doesn't weigh much... I also added a few other things as well... Care for a demonstration?"

Seeing a nod, he extended the arms out in a circle in front of him. The claws snapped open, and a red field of energy pulsed and glowed, flowing from them with a humming sound.

"This can easily protect from most energy-based attacks... unfortunately," he shut off the field and retracted five of the arms, holding one into the air. "The devices that power that and what I'm about to show you, are experimental, and quite prone to breaking down."

He held the arm skyward, and a pulse of red energy burst from it, flying into the sky like a flare, and dissipating before anyone could see it.

"It can fire energy enough to stun a human, or blast through concrete or steel. I'd like to see what we can do around this..."

The arm withdrew. "Any more Ideas?"

Mr Mercury looks very impressed at the energy blasts."Whoa..." he says after a few seconds. "Bullet proof? Well screw the idea of armour. We will maybe experiment with the baseball bat idea later but for now... Tell me Allan," a grin spreads across his face, "how do you like heights...."

With this he starts changing shape and before long looks like a giant spring with a rollercoaster chair on top complete with belt and buckles.

"Whaddaya say? Care for a small trip?"

(ooc: heh heh, boing!)

OOC: By the way, I have been keeping track of this. I just haven't seen a good opening to get my characters more deeply involved that came at a time I was logged on.
Sorry about the lack of posts.

Allan sat down on the chair and buckled the belts down.

"What'cha planning?"

Allan sat down on the chair and buckled the belts down.

"What'cha planning?"

The seat lowers closer to the roof as Mr Mercury coils up the spring creating just the right amount of tension before... *TWANG*
The G-forces are more powerful than any rollercoaster Allan would ever have experienced as the spring, seat, Allan and claws are shot high into the air at a calculated angle and height. Reaching the apex of the curve and slowing down for the momentary weightlessness before plummeting towards the road below. With a sickening crunch the spring hits the road surface and fractures it a fair bit before the spring absorbs the force and launches them into air again, the second descent Mr Mercury spots a flagpole jutting out of the side of a building and instead of hitting the floor the spring morphs into a hook that catches the pole flipping them into the air again. He performs this feat a few times to take Allan around a few blocks then back towards the Dojo. When the dojo is in line of sight the spring flips up over Allans head and becomes a glider wing and they fly silently for a block or two. Directly above the dojo the glider wing become helicopter rotors and the descend (somewhat noisily) back onto the exact same spot of roof the left from.

On the Vengeance

"Eager to get this over and done with, i see. Well and good", RV said. "Tell them, Zell."

"Yes, Master RV."

The room darkened, and a projector desk appeared, with an 3D image of a map of what is apparently a top secret research structure. Zell started speaking.

"This is the Iradel Research Station, situated on one of the barren atolls surrounding the island mainland of Atros. It is protected by an automated defense system, as well as many well-armed guards.

This is the objective", Zell said, pointing to the exact center of the structure. "In this main lab, specially-made lens diamonds, made to focus a laser beam, are kept. Your objective is to capture this structure, and then hold it until 3 of our Stealth Chinooks come to take the load of diamonds back to Vengeance.

"Right. This is how it will work. We wil commence the operation with Faolan here, drawing the guards away by killing some of them, to a corner of the atoll where former Spetznaz personnel will ambush them. While they are doing that, Livewire will overload the power system of the research station, by using her energies at this power transformer here, at the south of the atoll. The backup will take some time to kick in, so at this time, Phobia will take the identity of one of the research scientists, and attempt to infiltrate the main computer system."

He handed Phobia a computer CD. "Once you're in, insert this disc into the mainframe, and open it. This will cause the defense system to turn to our side, killing all the guards remaining, but leaving alive the scientists and our own soldiers, including you lot here. Hold the scientists, we have use for them later, don't kill them or you get your pay docked. The rest of you will then enter with ex-Spetznaz reinforcements, and hold the facility until our Chinooks have flown off with their load. Then, you will all retreat by Blackhawk back to the airship. Be advised, the military will take some time to respond, so you have a total of one hour to complete this, however, we have reports that a league of Heroes led by the local Prime Clans of Atros may attempt to interfere before the mission is over. Stay alert at all times."

"The operation commences 10 p.m. tomorrow. Until then, you all have your quarters on this airship. Any questions?"
(OOC: 5CN's puppet)

As Zell completed his briefing of the situation, a being materialized in the center of the chamber. With his eyes closed, Xuanyu had arrived aboard the Vengeance much earlier, content to remain ethereal and invisible, so as to explore on his own... Having walked back to the briefing room, Xuanyu had listened quietly, his mind slowly working over the details of this seemingly "easy" mission. With little effort, Xuanyu returned back to the human plane, his body once more taking shape. Slowly opening his eyes, Xuanyu glanced briefly at Master RV, his eyes burning with fiery light as he regarded his new superior. With an arrogant smirk, Xuanyu turned his attention back to Zell.

In an arrogant, condescending tone, Xuanyu spoke, addressing Zell. "Surely, you underestimate our abilities and overestimate their abilities... There is no need for these ex-Spetznaz reinforcement... We should be more than able to these weaklings that defend this installation..."

Without another word, Xuanyu turned and glanced at the gathered villians. With a contemptuous tone, cleverly disguised as respect, Xuanyu addressed them. "You are powerful in your own right... This mission is nothing more than a walk in the park... Why overthink the situation?"

They landed and Allan stepped off the chair, turning back to Mr. Mercury and giddy as a schoolboy, almost shouting "That was more fun than...uh... Some Fun thing!!! LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!!!"

_________________________________________________________________

I'm having an interesting evening... Thought Lin as she saw a man materialize before her. Nothing could surprise her now...

"Hey pipsqueak. You alright there?"
"I'm seventeen, hardly a 'pipsqueak'... aw, whatever," Spiritwalker smiled at Shinji. "Thank you, I must have nodded off there." Something was there, in the back of her mind, a memory of something... After a few moments of struggle, Spiritwalker gave up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phobia's mind boomed out for all to hear:

Cockiness gets people killed. I say we stick to the current plan. Better to have more man power than needed than less.

Then, as an after thought, it added:

I presume you have an initation,Xuanyu.

Tala had been distracted by Allan's little snake act with his tentacle things. She was about to yell at him for being a jerk when she heard Arashi shout "Let's roll!" She turned to see him throwing flaming projectiles. Tala couldn't fight Arashi using his powers! She tried to jump out of the way, but did it too late and the flames caught the seat of her jeans. She screamed and plopped her butt in the ground to extinguish the flames. She got up and examined the damage. "You ruined my favoirte jeans, Arashi.",Pouted Tala angrily trying not to let her temper get to her. "I suppose I should have been specific. I wanted to do some hand-to-hand sparring. You have an unfair advantage over me with your powers." She sighed deeply. "I supposed it's my fault for giving you the wrong idea. But I know you're more powerful then I am. I just wanted to see if, without our powers, I could be a challange to you. NOW I HAVE BURNT BUNS!" Tala frowned and muttered quietly, "I don't like fire when it's a weapon." Tears weld up in her eyes and she ran away, around the dojo to the back courtyard to clear her mind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I don't like killing normal humans, but the money seems to good to pass up.",Replied Faolan before Xuanyu came into view. He listened quietly to both Xuanyu and Phobia. After, they were done he put in his two cents. "I agree with Phobia. As my father used to say; 'Though being petrified will get you killed, so will fearlessness. Be wary of your task and confident in yourself, then you shall succeed.'" Faolan then turned to Zell and RV. "I do have a problem. I have no gear. My Lycan hunting gear, my truck, my Harley, are still on the ground. And I don't have any regular weaponary."

OOC: 5CN, you really need to step up the pace of your RPing, cause i'm gonna go really fast here.

IC: At the Hikoori Dojo

Arashi watched in horror as Tala ran away, than shook his head in confusion. Women......they always say less than they mean, and that always meant trouble.......shaking himself out of his reverie, he ran after her.

"Tala! Wait up!", Arashi yelled, when he saw her at the back courtyard. She looked at him, and made as if to run, but Arashi caught up to her and grabbed her by the arms. She struggled hard.

"Let go of me, you jerk!", she shook herself, trying to free herself, but Arashi held on with a grip that is strong and yet not ungentle. Before she knew it, Arashi had her in a tight embrace, and she could not shrug herself out of it.

"I'm sorry, Tala, girl, I should've known better, I'm sorry, I really am", Arashi pleaded. She still struggled, but she could sense the sincerity in his voice, and she felt a wetness on her neck......a tear?

_________________________________________________________________

Shinji frowned. "You all right there?" Spiritwalker merely shook her head, as if trying to remember something, rather than an answer.

With a growl, Shinji took hold of her shoulders, and lifted her up quite effortlessly, somewhat strange considering his athletic, but not overly large frame.

"Oww!", Spiritwalker exclaimed, and Shinji growled at himself. Too hard, his grip. He set her on her feet, and then dusted her off, saying "sorry, sorry".

Suddenly, he realized he should not be touching her that way. Drawing his hands back quickly, he growled at himself, and put his hand to his head. He had never been that good at social interaction, and it showed........

________________________________________________________________

Michiko was outside the dojo, watching the stars. She frowned, troubled by what she had seen.

"A danger.......to us all.......but what?" she muttered. The stars don't look good......

________________________________________________________________

In the Vengeance

RV kept silent at the apparating figure, who displayed his arrogance for all to see, and instead let Zell do the talking.

"A walk in the park, sir?", Zell began, "Infiltrating the facility will be a walk in the park for us. Not so defending the facility against these vigilantes. You do not understand. They are not just mere vigilantes, they are heroes with powers probably as powerful as the rest of us here. And the three leading them, they are deadly beyond estimation."

The projector screen changed, to show 3D images of the Heir of Clan Hiyuuki, Clan Hikurai, and the Heiress of Clan Hikoori.

"These 3 here, in order from left, are Arashi Hiyuuki, Shinji Hikurai, and Michiko Hikoori. They are not known outside Atros, but make no mistake, these 3 fighters, if they go out into the world to challenge all others, they could easily make quite a name for themselves in the world. They are Legends. 2 years back, their combined efforts defeated a supernatural entity, so powerful that he was almost god-like, and one we know only as the "Dark Power". Imagine. These 3 can defeat a god if they work together, so even us will have trouble defending against them. We WILL need these reinforcements to at least delay them for a while, until we get what we need. And from what i hear, the vigilantes they have gathered to attempt to stop us are powerful in their own right too. Do not underestimate them."

Zell then turned to Faolan.

"Yes......that would be a problem there......but like he said so himself, RV has his resources."

RV's soldiers suddenly emerge, carrying anything and everything the new allies would need, including Faolan's equipment. Faolan himself could only gape at the efficiency of the soldiers.

Well then, the operation starts tomorrow night. Have a good rest, ladies and gentlemen. It will be a busy night."

With that, Zell and RV seemed to disappear into the shadows, while the soldiers led the villains to their quarters on the ship..........

OOC: Alright, everyone is to RP their heroes and characters bunking in for the night, and those with villains will also have to RP them riding by helicopters to the facility the next night. My next post will be the start of the villain's missions, and the heros' mission will commence soon after.

Henry almost fell over laughing at the results of Arashi's first attack. However, when he saw the distressed look on his face as he ran after her, he concluded that it wasn't a laughing matter. He also finally noticed Spiritwalker and Shinji for the first time in detail. He watched him nervously back away from her. Way to much close interaction, way too soon. I wonder what these guys are thinking. Ah well, its getting late. Walking over to Michiko, he pulled up beside her for a moment, then addressed her softly.
Henry: I hate to disturb you M'am, but I was wondering whether I would be staying here, or if you could give me some advice on where to find a good hotel.

Allan climbed down off the roof. (noticing Tala crying, and deciding to stay out of it) He asked Michiko where the Guest rooms were, found one, entered, and went through the process of taking off the harness again. A futon and a small table sat in the otherwise bare room. Allan changed into a set of pajamas he had in his satchel, and placed his things on the table. He laid down in the futon, and read Mitoladzika for a while, before slipping into sleep. In the morning, he would go to look for an apartment. He would go nuts if he didn't set up a lab soon.

_________________________________________________________________

Lin, having been escorted to her quarters, shut and locked the door, and looked around. Spiffy. A bed, a metal night table and a bathroom. She took a quick shower, changed into a baggy black T-shirt and shorts from her black duffel bag, covered with patches bearing band names like The Used and Slipknot, which RV's goons had ever so nicely gotten from her car back in Atros, and sat down on the bed. Time for her "exercises" as she now called them. She was slowly gaining more control over her abilities, which, when she was young, used to go off at random, often when she was scared or angry. She held out her right arm and concentrated. Suddenly, lightning danced and crackled around it, like a glove woven from Nature's Fury.

Ok... here we go... She focused, willing the energy around her arm to shift and change, forming it into a blade of electricity around her arm (think Soul Reaver). Ten full minutes passed, and the energy dissipated. "New Record," she said to herself with a smile. She fell back on the bed, dropping off within minutes.

Suddenly, he realized he should not be touching her that way. Drawing his hands back quickly, he growled at himself, and put his hand to his head. He had never been that good at social interaction, and it showed........
Spiritwalker shook her head as she slowly stepped back away from Shinji. In her mind it was like a flashbulb went off. Behing the silver mask, her eyes rolled into her head as it all rushed back. Her body went ridged and she spoke, her voice gaining an erry quality.

"Beware the one who brings forth fear... The one who shifts their form may be the doom off you!"

She colasped, but quickly got back up.

"I-I think I'm j-just gonna go lie d-down." She hurries inside where sleeps sitting in a corner. Her lips moving with endless muttering.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phobia stood in the center of his room, waiting. It had never needed sleep, resting only when the human it had assumed would need to. They had said the job wouldn't start until tomorrow. Phobia had seen countless centuries pass, one night was nothing.

Finding an unclaimed guest room, Levin Bolt stacked his armor neatly beside the bed. He changed into pajamas and switched the light off, then summoned a ball of crackling electricity into his hand to augment the light of his glowing blue eyes. He arranged himself comfortably, then lay in bed thinking for a while before he finally fell asleep.

The Hooded Claw simply settled down in an out of the way corner, looking like a pile of dirty clothes, or an extremely strange piece of art. It's difficult to tell exactly when she fell asleep; there was no visible change in the black-robed form.

OOC: There are guest rooms in the Hikoori Dojo the heroes can use.

IC: Michiko turned, and smiled at Henry Richards.

"Of course I have guest roms prepared. Pick any you want."

With that, she walked off, to start preparing the infrastructure and equipment they might need for the coming days ahead....

Needing no sleep Mr Mercury slips away as a gas and reforms on a high rooftop with a view of the dojo in the disguised shape of an air conditioning inlet vent with a 360° view of the surroundings and watches for the night.

She went to her assigned room and closed the door. She meditated for a short while but found that not being able to hang from her feet from anywhere was a problem. She spread her shape out until she covered the ceiling, walls and floor in a thin transparent crystal layer.
She thought about this RV and Zell and decided she already did not like them but money was money. Still... she would not be happy if the world was blown up, where would be the fun then? She would have to watch very closely.

Tala stopped stuggling. She could feel Arashi's tears on her neck. She turned her head so she was resting on his chest. "Please don't cry.",She murmured. "You didn't know. I'll tell you what happened." Tala sighed deeply. "When I was 14, three years before I was bitten, my parents were murdered. They were just some punk kids trying to rob us." Tala gulped. "They....they shot my dad. They screamed at my mom about where I was. She told them I was sleeping over at a friend's house. It wasn't true, I was watching the whole thing through the crack in my door. I wanted to stop them, but I was too frightened. They shot my mom after that. Then they burnt the bodies. I don't know why. All I know is my mom wasn't dead, I could hear her scream as the flames engulfed her. I ran to my friend Maxine's house. Ever since then I've been a bit pyrophobic." Tala shivered in Arashi's arms. "I guess that's another reason why I'm a heroine, not for revenge, but because I want to stop that stuff from happening." Tala sighed again and shut her eyes. Soon she was asleep in Arashi's arms.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan followed as the soldiers showed him his room, and brought him everything he needed for the next night. He grabbed a quick shower, trying to wash away his feelings for Tala, but it didn't help. When he went to sleep he dreamed about her. He woke up many times. He knew the only way to get her out of his mind was to kill her. And maybe tommorow would be the night. He fell asleep for the last time that night, and had a nice dreamless sleep.

An owl drifts silently across the sky...
(Tag)

Spiritwalker awoke with a start, her vision sharp in her memory. She pulled a small, thick book from the pack on her waist. She snaps her fingers and a willow-the-wisp flame ignites, giving her light to read by. She flips through the pages, stopping at a picture of a blind folded angel.

"Faith," she reads aloud, "Omen of life and healing." She flips to the next picture, one of a crimson samuri clutching a war hammer. "Justice, Omen of dilema or cross roads." She flips through again, this time stopping at the picture of a flaming bird. "Passion, Omen of friendship or love." Exasperated she drops the book and moans, "What does it mean." For a moment she wished Adam could be with her. He had been the one who had introduced her to dream inturpritation. She looked back at the book and all throughts left her head. It had fallen open to a picture of a man with four arms. His eyes were black and a tail snaked out behind him. From the center of his forehead a single, multi-colored eye stared at Spiritwalker. Shudering, she remembered the vision she had the first time Adam put her under hypnosis...

Fires burned everywhere, the roaring inferno streaching to the horizon. It had stepped from the flames and held out his hand...

When she rellayed this to Adam, he asked her if she had taken the four-armed man's hand. Kayla told him she hadn't. She had lied. Adam told her about that thing, that it was the most feared Omen, the Omen of destruction, The-

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Destroyer, greatest of all the Demon Gods, guide me tonight as I prepare to further your work, Phobia's arms where out streched, palms up, and it's arms pointed skyward. It prayed to it's god as it readied it's self for the coming mission.

Henry thanked Michiko as she walked away, then grabbed his belongings, some of which he had to retrieve from his truck. Carrying all of it up to his room, he took a quick shower, and dragging his gun case with him to the bed, He began cleaning and inspecting his guns. Still dressed in jeans(these were in much worse shape, though) and t-shirt, he disassembled each gun, and added a thin layer of oil to the actions. He then pulled the switchblade out of his pocket and stoned it to an edge that cut with the slightest touch. Being satisfied with the state of his tools, he closed the case, lay down in bed, and did a somewhat more in depth devotional than before, and finally turned out his light, and instantly fell asleep.

Lin awoke in the middle of the night. She heard nothing but Vengeance's engines, rumbling softly.

She got up and changed into her jeans and tank, lacing up her boots, and, jacket over her shoulder, went to look around the Vengeance. Maybe she could find a gym... she needed to get some practice in...

OOC: Not a bad effort so far, congratulate yourself, people. Alright, the plot is gonna go this way. The villains will be setting out to the mission the next night, while the heroes will have the day to themselves, before moving from the Hikoori Dojo to the Hiyuuki Dojo, the base of operations of the heroes. So RPers, RP your heroes doing whatever they want for the day, while the villains get ready for the night mission.

IC: At the Hikoori Dojo

Arashi kept silent, gently holding the sleeping Tala on her feet. He marvelled at the trusting nature he held in his arms, the softness of her body......shaking his head, he gently picked her up in his arms, and bore her back to the Dojo from the courtyard.

He saw Shinji staring at him from afar. Growling, Shinji turned and stalked off, and Arashi sighed. Shinji was one to hold a grudge......he should know himself, Shinji had held a deadly grudge against him for years, and even now, though Shinji no longer wished to kill him, Arashi knew there was still a burning rivalry in his heart. All he could hope now is that Shinji would not hold anything against Tala, for he is deadly.......

"Arashi-san?"

He turned to look straight into the deep blue eyes of Michiko. Those eyes that could draw you into its depth, and you would never return.......shaking his head again, he looked back at her, and all he said was, "Shhhh."

With a knowing smile, Michiko led Arashi to a guest room, where he gently placed Tala on the bed, although he had to struggle just a bit to disentangle himself from Tala's surprisingly strong cling.

"Go on, Hiyuuki. I'll take care of her."

Nodding, he turned, and left Michiko with Tala. Maybe a beer would do him good......he walked to the kitchen, only to find Shinji already there, crossing his arms, with his back to the door, staring out the window.

Sensing his presence, Shinji said, "That little brat's asleep?"

Smiling, Arashi walked to Shinji's side, and looked out the window with him, to the sight of the courtyard. Not looking at each other, they stayed like that for a while. Finally, Arashi broke the silence.

"So, Shinji, old pal, what is it with her and you?"
"I'm not your 'old pal', Arashi", said Shinji in a smirking, lightly humorous tone. "You know that as well as I do. It's just that.......well, never in my life has anyone thrown such impudence in my face......with the exception of you, that is."

They both laughed, at the thought of their past feud.

"But then, your powers rivalled mine, so I had to give you that. That brat.......well, she didn't know her place, and that's one thing i cannot tolerate."
"Chill, Shinji, she's just a child. Cut her some slack."
"A child? She's only a year younger than we are."
"Still......she requires warmth and love, Shinji. She's an orphan."
"Oh?" That, turned Shinji's head.
"Yeah.......and if you betray me, I'll cap you", Arashi observed with a laugh. "Cut her some slack, Shinji. She's still young, compared to us. She hasn't seen the things we have seen."
"Very well then......I'll try."

Arashi walked to the fridge, opened it, and tossed Shinji a bottle of beer, which he expertly caught out of the air.

"Well, the next few days are gonna be interesting, huh?" Shinji observed.
"Yeah, so let's make the most of this night. Cheers." They clinked each other's bottles, but before they could drink, a hand took their bottles.

"Allow me." Michiko said. The beer bottles in her hand seemed to catch into cyan flames which dissipated quickly, and as Arashi and Shinji took back their bottles, they felt that the bottle was icier than ever. That's Michiko's powers.

Taking a beer bottle of her own, she turned to Shinji, who was already drinking. "So, what's with you and that Spiritwalker kid?"

Shinji choked, and spat out his beer, with Arashi and Michiko laughing. "Her? Bah.......mysterious kid. Never really knew what she was thinking. Not worth mentioning."
"In other words, a lot like yourself, eh?"

Michiko and Arashi laughed again at the latter's observation, while Shinji sulked and drank again. Michiko raised her bottle, and proclaimed, "To our health!"

"To our health!", both Heirs proclaimed, and they clinked their bottles together.

The Legends Team, the legendary heroes of Atros, are back in action.

(OOC: Hope you don't mind... The ship's gotta have a place where they can train, right?)

Lin spotted a large door and walked through. She now stood in a decent-sized training gym. Punching bags and dummies, weights, other such stuff, sat about.

She pulled a pair of biker-style fighting gloves out of her pockets and slipped them on. She set herself up by a kickboxing bag and cracked her neck, going into her stance (OOC: DOA fans, think Jann-Lee) and sending a flurry of punches at it, followed by a roundhouse kick and a loud "WATAAH!"

She relentlessly attacked the bag, breaking out into a sweat. Her mission started tomorrow! She needed to practice, release some tension! She backed up, and rushed at the bag, and let off a flying kick, which landed squarely in the center of the back, almost breaking both chains. She fell hard on her side, and lay there panting for a while. "I gotta work on that."

(OOC: Any villains close to the Gym I just created, feel free to join her.)

Xuanyu shrugged and left the briefing room, his monstrous strides taking him into the crowded corridors of the ship, shaking his head, Xuanyu sighed, barely able to comprehend his idea of joining this ragged group of also-rans. The fools, he thought, I am older than any of them, more powerful than the gods they worship... I have fought alongside the guardians of the earth, dragonlords of old... I have battled against Arithon, the demon that threatened this world... These fledgings barely out of the tit-sucking behavior dare to be so impetuous to me!?! This is unheard of... I possess the power of the Yin and the Yang, the amalgation of light and darkness never duplicated in the history of the mortal plane... Swallowing his anger, Xuanyu closed his eyes, furious for debasing himself in front of those who were inferior... These fools think that those three are strong, able to defeat a god-like being... But they have not seen the raging sun that is my ability... I will show these fools what I mean and restore myself in the eyes of the mortals of these plane...

OOC: Let's pretend Arashi took Tala's things in for her.

Tala tossed and turned in her sleep. She woke up in a cold sweat. She had been dreaming of the night those two hunters had come and killed Master Mitsorugi while trying to capture her. They had killed an innocent human. It disgusted her. She had escaped as commanded. But she heard him shout as the bullets hit him. The hunters were unable to find her. When she returned Master Mitsorugi was barely clinging to life. He had made her swear she'd never kill anyone. Tala hadn't understood this, she had already sworn so. But her master told her to and so she again swore, this time on her master's soul.

That had been only shortly after she had recieved her powers. It was also a year before she met Faolan Slayer. He was the nephew and son of the two hunters who had tried to capture her. The only thing she wanted was her revenge. Especially when he'd grabbed her wolf form by the scruff of the neck. That was probably why she'd gotten so angry before. But instead of killing Faolan, she'd beaten him and walked away.

'I need a drink!',Thought Tala. 'But first my PJ's.' A few moments later she entered the kitchen in only a black tank top and boxer shorts. She saw the three fire users at a table. She muttered something about not being able to sleep, grabbed one of the beers, the sat in the lotus position in the corner watching them all very closely. Eventually, she spoke again. "Arashi, Michiko if I'm bothering either of you I'll leave. But I know I'm bothering Shinji, and I can't apologize any further for my earlier actions. So if he wants me to move I must disrespectively say, 'I'm not taking orders from a hotheaded fire user who can't accept an apology.'" Tala quietly returned to her beer. Only moving to get another, before returning to her post.

Henry’s eyes snapped open at the sound of people in the kitchen. In a combat situation, sleeping through the slightest whisper, or crackling leaves, could get you killed in your sleep. After listening for a minute, he decided that this would be an excellent time for getting to know these people that he would end up spending, what looked like it would end up being, quite a while. So, he got up off the bed and made his way downstairs.

“Evenin’ Ladies and Gents. You guys mind if I join you? *Without waiting for an answer, he made his war over to the fridge* You wouldn’t happen to have anything besides beer, would you? I don’t need any alcohol right now.”

Richards ended up just fixing himself a glass of water, making a crack about being the designated driver, and hopped up to sit on an open space on the counter.

"You're the army guy, right?",Questioned Tala eyeing him consideringly. "Do you believe in werewolves?" She sipped her beer and wished Arashi would come over and sit with her. "Did we wake you?"

A knock at the doorframe of the kitchen heralded Allan standing in the doorway, hair a mess, eyes sleepily squinted shut.

"You mind quieting down? Some of us are trying to sleep," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

_________________________________________________________________

Lin nipped up to her feet. She set herself into her stance and began to shadowbox. Whatever was coming up tomorrow, she'd be READY for it.

She stopped, hands on her thighs, panting. This just wasn't working. She needed a sparring partner.

OOC: Feel free to add anything you wish to Vengeance......except anything as kinky as an SM room, lol.

IC: Arashi came and sat with Tala, ruffling her hair affectionately. "Don't worry, Shinji's ain't gonna bother you, aren't you, Shinji old pal?"

"Hmmph", was all Shinji said, and turned away.

"Allow me", Michiko said, and taking Tala's and Henry's drinks, she cooled them with her Glacial flame. Their eyes widened, as they beheld the flame of ice, which was beyond any prior comprehension to them, and mutely took back their cooled drinks.

Then Allan came in, and complained. "Sorry Allan, go on back to sleep, why don't you?" Michiko said.

Allan mumbled something to himself in German and groggily stumbled back into his room, unconsious before he reached the mattress, hitting the floor with a loud "thud".

_________________________________________________________________

Lin had completely worn herself out. She slipped the gloves off and into her jacket pockets and returned to her room, changing into her T-Shirt and shorts and flopping onto the bed, out like a light.

"Well, I end up working with all the branches of Pottsylvainias military, but yeah, but after direct from the dictator, army orders come first. If I didn't believe in werewolves before, I ain't gonna doubt their exsistence now, seeing as I now have the pleasure of knowing you. And, as it happens, you did wake me up, but it was my choice to stay up. I kinda figured it would be a good idea to have more then passing knowledge of the people that you are going to work with to take down a mob boss."

Henry takes a sip of his newly cooled drink, and thanks Michiko. He then turns back to Tala.

"For the record, I wouldn't mind knowing how you ended up in the superhero buisness. Or for that matter, how anybody here ended up on the *Slightly emphasized, somewhat mocking tone* side of righteousness ?

Tala drank the now cool drink. It was nice. She answered Henry's question. "I did this because werewolves have bad reps, and to stop things from going from bad to worse. Dont' call me righteous." Tala took a drink of her beer then tugged Arashi down so he was sitting next to her. She laid her head on his shoulder. She took a deep breath. "You smell nice Arashi. I'd like to thank you for being such a great guy today. Even after I got pissy with you. It's nice to know that you care and that you're not some arrogant, self-righteous hero guy. Good to know there's more to you then a good-looks and a nice butt." Tala laughed a bit and snuggled into Arashi's shoulder. Then she pointed to her woodland elf ears. "I have hyper-sensitive hearing, you know? The dojo is quiet at night, and my bedroom is right above the kitchen." She saw Arashi's eyes widen a bit, but she could tell he wasn't really suprised. "I know I'm not as "worldly"", Tala actually made little quotes with her hands. "But I'm no child. I'm just a bit emotional. It comes with the territory. Wolves always look for fights, even against opponents they know they can't beat." She made a shrug. "Of couse, you're the only person I was mean to on purpose, and you brushed it off." Tala sat up again. "I guess I'm just trying to thank you for being such a cute little sweetie." Tala kissed Arashi on the cheek, then stood up and smiled. "I'm going to sleep now. I have a strange feelings that tommorow's going to be big." Tala blew Arashi a little kiss and returned to her room. She snuggled into the warm blankets and went to sleep.

Fire burns the horizon. The sea parts and darkness spews forth.

The door to Kayla's room burst into blue flame and begins to shake. The faint screams of people dieing could be heard.

(If this is a purely mental thing, or if Wraithfire doesn't burn, I shall edit and act like nothing ever happened.)

Allan awakened again, this time to a rattling, crackling sound.

Not again... Then he heard the Screaming. Holy--!

He sprang to his feet, grabbed his glasses and ran into the hall.

One of the rooms' doors burned with blue fury and screams echoed down the hall.

"GUYS! We've got trouble!"

He tried to kick in the door, but recieved a nasty burn on his foot as a reward.

He sat on the floor, muttering, "Scheiße! Schieße! Gott-Fluch Es!" for a few moments, then looked into the kitchen, looking for someone stronger than he was. He shouted the first name that came to mind.

"HANK! A little help here!"

(Ditto)
Henry was very close to making a snide comment about Tala's treatment of Arashi, when it happened.
As he heard the urgent call for help and roar of flames, the half smile that was developing instantly disappears. Henry automatically drops the glass and sprints upstairs to the burning door. Mentally wishing he had his combat boots on, he rips off his T-shirt, wraps it around his hand while internally praying, spits on it, and gives the door a very solid punch. The fire weakened door barely caves in, but a small back burst singes Henry's eyebrows. He hurriedly tears off the burning remnants of his shirt, and stomps on them.
*Wincing slightly and shielding himself from the fire, yells* "We need some damp towels, any sort of water."

He re-assembles himself next to Allan. "Somebody shout?"
He walks up to the door and pushes against it slowly. The catch in the door-frame proves the weakest link and with the smallest of crunches the door topples and hits the floor. Mr Mercury stands in the middle of the flames, for a split second, the cool blue (ooc:I am assuming) light flickering on his silver surface (ooc: think silver surfer). He melts on top of the door smothering the flames and starving them from oxygen providing a safe path into the room. (ooc: I will edit if the flames do not need oxygen)
"Mmmm toasty."

OOC: Ok, not too bad, but people, let's increase the pace of the new day a little. First off, for the heroes, they might either stay and train at the Hikoori Dojo or go out into the City of Darkness in the day, and everyone meets at the Hiyuuki Dojo in the evening, where the base of operations for the heroes will be. Take note, the City of Darkness is more New York than Gotham in the day, and vice versa in the night, so don't get it wrong. As for the villains, have them spend the time until 10 p.m. comes, the time for their operation.

IC: Arashi just sat there, mute, even after Tala left. Stunned.

Slowly, everyone in the room started laughing. Even Shinji managed to take it in his head to give Arashi a big grin.

"What? I can't help it if I'm so lovable", Arashi said, brushing his hair in a suave style that would have made any teenage girl swoon, but in this case had the desired effect, that of arousing more laughter.

He replaced his sunglasses on his face, eager to hide what he was really thinking from the others. "Lil' Miss Tala really is starting to get really serious about me. Hmm. The other reason why it's never a good idea to move too fast. Still.......maybe she and I can work it out. We'll see......."

Then suddenly came the shout from Dr. Fisher. Before anyone else could react, Henry was already up the stairs, and as everyone else including the Legends came running, they saw that Mr. Mercury had already smothered out the flames, much to the disappointment of Michiko, who already had her icy flames at the ready.

Shinji, without delay, came striding into the room, and started shaking the mumbling Spiritwalker.

"C'mon, wake up, goddammit......" he growled, with a tone of real distress in his voice.

Elsewhere...
The cold night air whipped his open black linen suit jacket around behind him, held down only by the laptop bag slung around his shoulder as his bike cruised at 170 along the highway to Atros. The street lights glint off his shades, the left side round and red the right side rectangluar and green, and the tattoos on his bald head and chest. (ooc: see Spider Jerusalem from "Transmetropolitan" look it up on Amazon then buy it all) he slows to 150 to light another cigarette and grins.
He had had the familiar twitch. Something was going to happen and he had to be there. He always was. First in, last out, and all too often the only one out.

ooc: Sorry everyone, I ment to post again, but I fell asleep. The fire is a spirit fire: it burns your soul rather than your flesh.
IC:
Spiritwalkers eyes flashed open and she jumped back, plastering herself against the wall.

"Where is it?!" She demanded of Shinji. Her eyes softend slightly when she realized who it was that she was talking to. "That's right, you can't see spirits," she muttered as she rushed over to the bed to check under it. She jumped back as a black, spectral snake lunged out.

"You!" She yelled.

They can't see me you know. They must thing you're talking to yourself. They must think you're crazy, just like everyone back home! The snake laughed an evil laugh.

"What the hell do you want with me?" Spiritwalker's voice is quieter, but full of anger.

Same thing I've all ways wanted. I just thought I'd let you know that the time is almost upon us. Soon, this world will tremble at your feet! The snake paused for a moment, Shame that you won't be the one controling those feet! With another evil laugh, the snake coiled in on itself and was gone.

Noticing the stares of everyone in the room, Spiriwalker shouted, "What the hell are you all looking at!" and stormed out the front door.

*Henry shrugs* "I guess that is just one of the advantages of hanging with a bunch of other superheros."
Henry strides into the room after Shinji, and gets in just as Spiritwalker is waking up.

"It's okay Spirit, we have the fire under control, but how did it get started?"

Allan leaned against the wall, feeling slightly woozy. The world he knew was being ripped out from under him piece by piece. He stood in the same room with things his teachers and research had told him were not possible.

He needed a drink. Bad.

"Hey, Michiko, you have any more beer, or something stronger?"

OOC:I'm assuming it's the next day.

Tala came racing down the stairs. Her hair was pulled back in a blue bandana. She was wearing a plain red tank top, tight torn blue jeans, biker boots, and a biker jacket with a wolf on the back. Her shades were over her eyes. She had a backpack on her back and her helmet under one arm. She was yelling into a small blue cellphone. "No I did not embarass myself!",She screamed. "Maxine! NO! I did not scare the bejeebus about of the guy I was telling about. You know I'm just really affectionate." Tala paced around the kitchen her anger fading as she started to frown. "umm...no i didn't tell him that.....not that either." Tala suddenly groaned. "Great my new teammate thinks I'm a crazy teen stalker girl. Yeah, I'm sure he doesn't either. Bye Maxine." Tala hung up the phone and stuck it in her back back. She put on her helmet, ran to her Harley, and went for a cruise. She needed to clear her mind and figure out what she could do to make everyone not think she's insane.

OOC: Ok people, we start RPing the next day from here.

IC: At the Hikoori Dojo

Michiko, still somewhat bemusd by the sudden turn of events, turned to Allan when he asked his question. "Umm, yeah, in the fridge. You might also find some sake wine somewhere in the kitchen, i forgot where, and oh, i think i have a lot of stuff in the wine cabinet."

She turned to the others.

"Right, people, it has been an interesting night. Do get some rest. We will be moving to the Hiyuuki Dojo tomorrow night, so you may have all the next day to sightsee. Good night, all."

As she moves to her room, she looked at Arashi and Shinji.

"What about you two?"
Arashi: "I'll go back to my home. Father's expecting me."
Shinji: "Me too. I have no reason to be here."
Michiko: "Very well, see you tomorrow."

They went their own ways, leaving the rest to decide what to do......


______________________________________________________________

The next morning

Before everyone else was awake, Arashi had left on his Yamaha racer bike, making his way to the Hikoori Dojo.

"I wonder how lil' Tala girl is doing. Hope she sleeps well......isn't that her?"

For he had just seen her speeding away on her Harley, although she didn't see him. Gunning his Yamaha, Arashi went in pursuit of Tala, intending to ask her what she's doing.......

Well that was strange. He could feel that the fire wouldn't have burned him if he had been alive but it would have done something a lot worse...
Shrugging he followed Allan downstairs.
"Aw man, you really shouldn't drink and fly."

One bike passes him at high speed in the opposite direction. He doesn't get too much of a glimpse of the rider but when the second bike zips past him he instinctively follows. Hauling the bike around in an impressive screech of tyres, smoke, engine screaming and cigarette lighting. He uses a crash barrier anchor, a slope of concrete to jump the barrier and follows the two other bikes.

Arashi, chasing the as yet unaware Tala down the road, suddenly heard the sound of engines gunning, and sneaking a peek back, he saw another rider chasing him.

"Not now", Arashi groaned to himself, "Not the paparazzi now!"

Being a celebrity in your homeland has its advantages. Unfortunately, it also has its pitfalls.

"I don't have time for this", Arashi thought. Lifting his left hand from the handlebar, he summoned his flames on his left hand, and without looking, threw a Fireball backwards. That'll serve as a warning, that he doesn't wish to be disturbed......

Noticing the peek, "uh-oh, spotted..." he thought. Expecting some sort of attack he jumps up and over the bike so he hangs off one side as the fireball shoots over his handlebars too high to actually have hit him. He captures the image of the rider as he launches the fireball in his shades anyway. "ok, so now i know who that is... oooh grumpy grumpy... there was no need for that. Man, all you've done is make me moreinterested..." and with that he hops back on the bike and guns the accelerator, performing a wheelie and gets a few lanes of traffic in between him and the nutcase. Civilians often got hurt when an over zealous hero thought more of his privacy than bystanders but two or three lanes of traffic ought to be enough and he accelerates to his new quarry, the bike in front.

Shrugging off Spiritwalker's aggresiveness, and went back to bed.
-----------------
The next morning, henry got up, got dresed in his normal clothes, and went downstairs for breakfast. Finding much of the available ingrediants to have a distinctly east asian flavor, and having no idea wha to do with them, he went out to eat. Rolling down the highway in his truck, he searched for, and found an open resturaunt. As he left the resturaunt(he remembered it's name was something along the lines of "the fiery dragon", and the food lived up to that), he heard the loud roar of a hog, and the annoying buzz of a rice burner. A bright flash of light then caught his eye, and he saw the rider of a Yamaha(now obviously Arashi) throw a fireball aimed at another biker.
That idiot, what happens when that thing hits somebodys gas tank? It must be a pretty serious situation, for him to not consider that.
Throwing the doggie bag of leftovers on to the passenger side of the seat, he roared the diesel engine, and took off after the bikers. Unfortunatly for him, the delay time needed to warm the glow plug on the diesel set him a good 200 yards behind the last biker(OOC: Simon Bethlehem)

Spiritwalker awoke lieing in the grass. She fely more awake than she had in the past couple days... in ever.

"Dam metamorphosis," she muttered, "Worse than PMS, I swear." She dicovered that it bearly took a thought to wreath herself in blue fire and levitate into the air.

"Makes me feel like hell, but it's always worth it." She smiled as she floeted off over the city.

Xuanyu hadn't slept at all, as he silently stalked through the halls of the ship, his will maintaining his invisibility as he moved. A silent wraith, Xuanyu had moved constantly, never stopping, as he explored the entire vessel. When morning arrived, Xuanyu heralded it with a frightening roar in imitation of his master. Satisfied, Xuanyu reappeared, releasing himself from his invisibility. As he stepped once more into the light, Xuanyu grinned, a grin that seemed demonic, as Xuanyu gazed at a mirror. He was ready for anything. For the first time in more than several million years, Xuanyu was free to exude and exhibit his true power, a desire that Xuanyu had been unable to do. With a manically evil laugh, Xuanyu stalked to the conference room and waited...

Tala pulled into the parking lot of a small jazz club, not noticing the two bikes following her. She parked her bike and stuffed her jacket and helmet in her backpack. As she's doing this someone sneaks up at her and pokes her in the side. Tala jumps and spins around, not seeing anyone.

"Down here Ms.Freakishly Tall.",Called a voice.

Tala looked down to see a girl about 5'2" looking back at her. The girl had copper hair hanging down loosely around her face. Her brown eyes were sparkling mischieviously as she smiled showing off a set of braces. She had in large hoop earings, was wearing a long peasant shirt and skirt, and lots of bangle bracelets. Her hair, braces, and the light sprinkling of freckles over her cheeks and nose made the girl look simply adorable.

"Hey little girl.",Teased Tala. "Where's your mommy?"

The girl punched Tala hard in the arm and Tala cringed. No matter who she fought, this girl still had to hardest right hook. "Geez Max! Don't be mean."

Maxine laughed and then stopped looking at a guy walking up to them. "You must be Arashi?",Muttered Maxine with a giggle.

Tala slowly turned around to see Arashi standing behind her. She gave him a once over and frowned, "You followed me?"

"Oh, Lover's Spat", Laughed Maxine.

"I just met the guy!",Yelled Tala.

"I was just teasing hun.", Assured Maxine in a calming voice as Tala been to walk in the club. She then leaned in to Arashi. "Do you like Jazz? The more the merrier you know?" Maxine followed Tala inside.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan was still sound asleep in his room.

Allan padded down the stairs, wearing a red sweater and Jeans. Walking down the stairs into the kitchen, he saw Michiko... In her underwear. She blushed and asked him to wait in the dining room. He, red as a ripe apple, quickly obliged.

He kept his eyes down during breakfast, joined only by Michiko. Wow, this girl was beautiful... He turned even redder at the memory. He'd spent most of his life in books, and hadn't really developed many people skills...

When he was finally able to look Michiko in the eye, he tried to make conversation.

"Do you know where I could find a place to set up a lab? I said I'd make you guys equipment, and that's what I plan to do."

_________________________________________________________________

Lin woke up and stretched, then slipped on a black The Used T-shirt and her black jeans, lacing up her boots, tying a red bandanna over her hair in the "housework" style, and, just because, slipping on her fighting gloves.

She'd have to look around for someone so she could find out where to get breakfast... Damn, the ship was huge...

IC: Arashi merely smiled, and followed Maxine into the bar.

Inside, he joined Maxine and Tala, who still seemed to be mad that he had followed her. Sitting down besides her, he tried to cajole her, "Hey, Tala, don't be mad, you seemed kinda pissed about something, and so i followed you, ya know. Not nice to disappear from someone's house without warning, makes them worried. I'll tell them later. So what's so wrong you had to run?"

Tala merely pouted even more. Maxine chuckled, and teased him, "You shoulda known what you were handling when you picked her up, Mister James Bond." That got a scowl from Tala, and a resigned look from Arashi.

Then someone walked into the bar (OOC: Simon Bethelem), and Arashi muttered, "Oh no." To the surprise of Tala, he pounced on her, and pressed her back against the sofa, such that anyone walking by would merely think they were making out on the sofa, to the great surprise of Maxine and Tala.

"Wha......", Tala muttered, about to scream, but Arashi placed a hand on her lips, and said "shhh......." Maxine, catching on, helped Arashi out by excusing herself to the washroom, leaving them alone to play out the farce convincingly. Arashi, pressed close to Tala, noticed that she smelled good......the scent of a woman.....

Whoever that man was, he didn't see Arashi or Tala, and walked out of the bar. Only then did Arashi sat up, leaving a red-faced Tala glaring at him. "What....." she muttered, ready to scream at him.

He raised his hands, "Sorry, but it's paparazzi." Comprehension dawned on her face and she started to understand why Arashi did what he did. "Whoever that guy was, he was tailing me, and tailing me hard even after i warned him off somewhat, very likely it's paparazzi, and a very zealous one at that. I'm kinda famous in this land, and most people show me some courtesy, but the paparazzi.....anyway, it's interesting how anyone recognizes me here, but i can make myself really inconspicuous if i want to."

Maxine, who had rejoined them, also showed that she understood.

_________________________________________________________________

At the Hikoori Dojo

Michiko woke up in nothing more than a Japanese bathrobe and her underwear, which is customary for her, and went out to fix breakfast, forgetting that there were now people in her home........the result was that Dr. Fisher bumped into her, and noticed her state of undress......

Blushing furiously to find a stranger staring at her half-naked, she composed herself quickly. It's not like she's a prude, far from it, she thought with an innate smile. Regaining her composure, she said, "Dr. Fisher, please wait in the dining room while I fix breakfast", with her usual air of grace. Dr. Fisher, himself embarassed at finding himself in such a situation, eagerly took the chance to escape. With a sigh, she went back into her room to change.......(OCC: Graz, if you want to have Allan make snide comments on Michiko's figure later, do also RP Michiko retaliating by freezing his ass off with icy fire, all in the name of fun, of course :p)

Later, she noticed that Henry was gone, and so was Tala. Moreover, someone seemed to have ransacked her store of Eastern ingredients. "hmm", she thought, "Someone found the Asian ingredients, but they failed to find the Western ones....."

She quickly fixed American breakfasts for everyone, pretty sure that they might not take too well to an Eastern one, and served it on the dining room table. They would be down soon.....probably excepting Tala and Henry. Only Fisher was there to eat with her.

Then, Fisher asked where he might set up a lab. Thinking for a while, Michiko said, "The Hiyuuki Dojo. Arashi's Clan is even richer than mine, and I won't be surprised if you can find a suitable site amongst the many storehouses in the Dojo compounds for your lab. Sinsei Hiyuuki would probably be glad to have you too."

________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance

On the onboard dining room, Zell was happily tucking into his American breakfast, when he noticed Lin walk in, almost by accident.

"Here, you want breakfast? It's right here", he beckoned. A waiter came and took her order, and quickly, it was served. "That insane thing that challenged the power of the Prime Clans last night gave out some crazy roar in the morning. Very unpleasant, but well, it's a pretty good wakeup call."

Seeing that Lin had no interest in conversation, Zell shrugged and continued eating. The rest will be escorted to the dining room later, then to the conference room......when they were done, Zell and Lin entered the conference room to wait, to find the strange being already there.

Zell's eyes gleamed. Taking out a deck of cards, he beckoned to Lin and the being at the table. "Anyone for a game of Blackjack?"

OOC: If your character really takes up Zell's challenge, be sure to make your character lose to Zell. Hey, he's a freaking cardsharp, what do you expect?

(OOC: Believe me, Allan is not a snide person about things like that.)

Allan, happy to know where he could build a lab, thanked Michiko for breakfast. After Michiko reminded him when they'd be leaving, he put on his trenchcoat, grabbed his satchel and headed out the door, saying he'd be back by noon.

_________________________________________________________________

Lin, finishing her eggs and toast, accepted Zell's challenge with a smug grin.

6 rounds of blackjack later, she was surprised she hadn't broken her head open from beating it on the table so much. This man was unnaturally good! It was like he was... like... Oh, how the hell did she know?

"How the hell do you DO that?!" She almost shouted at him, as a metal ashtray on the table started to scoot toward her.

IC:
Then someone walked into the bar (OOC: Simon Bethelem)

OOC: Gothic Underworld, I am going to take you up on this right now. Where I come from, they call that power gaming. Even for the gamemaster. I could understand a little pushing around of player characters, but unless you are reading between the lines about another characters behavior and goals, I wouldn't suggest just assuming the character is going to conform to how you think the character should act. I realize that you haven't done it to my character yet, but I have found that some PC's can be very different from their first immpresions. In other words, assume nothing.
------------------------
Sorry, I am somewhat perfectionistic, but I find things work better if everybody plays only their own characters.

OOC: Where did you come from, Potts? lol. Ok, but joking aside, i understand fully what you mean. I know it seems a little unfair of me to do that, but Scotsnation had already TGed me with a bit of the personality of the character i powermodded, and so i did that with some confidence that Scotsnation would fully agree with what i did. Here's what i will do; however this turns out, it will all be up to Scotsnation. I will kep this post as it is for now, for Scotsnations' perusal, and if he likes it, he can RP with it. If he doesn't, he may RP his character in a different way, and when i see that he has done so, i will edit my post such that it is not his character i was using, but some other random character i made up myself.

Potts, remind me to use this policy whenever i do something like this. Thanks.

IC: On board the Vengeance

"Wouldn't you like to know", gloated Zell, as he dealt out another hand of cards to Lin. "How do you think i make a living as the Lord of Gamblers, huh?"

Allan quickly poked his head back in the door.

"Call me Allan. Knowing people by title alone gets to be a little boring." He chuckled and left with a wave.

Once outside, he started walking down the street, along the route he and Merc had taken last night, and he thought of his run-in with Michiko.

I wonder what she thinks of me now...
________________________________________________________________

Lin stared down at the hand dealt to her. She was starting to lose the will to live. The only reason she hadn't strangled Zell by now was because she thought he was kinda cute...

IC:At the Hikoori Dojo

"Very well, ......Allan", Michiko said, before he went off. Staring at the open door, Michiko reflected on their accident earlier in the morning. "I wonder what he thinks of me now", she thought with a grin to herself. "Sigh.....for a scholar, he has such appeal.......scholar's appeal coupled with a manly physique (OOC: You said Allan had a strong physique to support the OKTO, right? lol), what a combination......"

And so it was that others caught Michiko daydreaming at the dining table, with a dreamy look in her eyes.......

________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, in the conference room

"You know, you don't have to play if you don't want to."

Lin looked up, to see a sympathetic look on Zell's face.

"I'm surprised you hung on as long as you did. Most people would be discouraged to lose to the banker's Blackjack 6 times in a row."

His hand went over, and closed over Lin's cards.

"You don't have to play if you don't want to. I was just bored enough to screw someone over, and i think i've done enough of that with you."

OOC: Ok, this is my last post for a while. Graz, you may turn over Lin's cards to find she gets a Blackjack that beats Zell's cards, if you want to. Consider it a favor from Zell :p

(OoC: Ok. Thankyewmuch.)

Lin, just before Zell took the cards, flipped over the bottom card. Queen of Hearts. That, the 10 of spades and the Ace of clubs was a... blackjack.

She looked at Zell with a lopsided smile. "Gotcha." She pushed the cards back to him and looked around the room, wondering when everyone else would get there...

ooc: I don't mind too much. I wasn't even going to take him inside though. Simon and Shard I don't mind but I would be happy if Merc was left for me to rp. :)

ic: So. Not a bad guy but a come-here-and-make-out-with-me chick.
Damn but these shades were handy. He flicked through the digital video taken, until he stopped at a frame that would suit a fight between Hello and OK, and sent it to his laptop and sat in the parking lot typing a story. Of course he could make a few more bucks selling to OK or Hello but he wasn't that kind of journo. He wrote a piece about how superheroes can fall in love and the complications some of them had to face citing the story of a couple of superheroes that had to go into outer space before they could....
And the couples that didn't make it. The story quickly took on a feel of sympathy toward these luncky (un?) individuals. Sure it wouldn't be more than a page 3 or 5 but it felt nice to do something different for a change.
With that he hit send on the laptop and the story, pictures and all, zipped off to his editor back home. As usual the subjects would receive a copy in the post. Heh heh, the time that the semi-evil Magman received his story in his obviously-not-so "secret" lair and he caught a picture of the news paper burning in his hands fueled with rage...

An invisible cloud of Mercury gas followed Spiritwalker.
He had watched Spiritwalker levitate and leave the dojo and decided to follow. He had to ask her what the hell those flames were last night and why he had been troubled by certain... images. This was not good. Action hadn't started yet and one of his own team was unstable (hell when was anyone fully stable?) and had adversely affected him.

IC: At the Hikoori Dojo

A Lamborghini drew close to the Dojo gates, and made its way into the compound. Shinji stepped out of his sports car, and made his way into the Dojo.

Inside, he found that most of the people were still asleep. "Sluggards", he thought to himself. Making his way to the dining room, where he smelt food and assumed that there would be people there, he found......Michiko, daydreaming away in the freaking morning. He sighed. This would be one of Michiko's "teenager" episodes.

He went over to shake her up, as it became apparent that Michiko was so deep in she didn't see him, even when he was standing right in front of her. That he did, and only then did Michiko come back to reality with a "Wha-? Oh, it's you, Shinji."

She composed herself, and became the coldly formal Michiko again. "Ah, glad you came, Shinji. Care to have some breakfast?"

"No thanks. Where's Arashi?"

"No idea. Tala rode her Harley out a while back, and there was a Yamaha engine afterwards. Arashi may have gone after her or something, I guess."

With a growl for a thanks, he stalked out of the dining room. Just when he felt like sparring too.......

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance

Zell smiled. "Good one", he said, handing her some of the cash he had bummed off her earlier. What she didn't know was that her Blackjack was intentionally given to her by Zell, who saw that she was getting frustrated......no point making an enemy, and helping her cut her losses made her happy enough, he thought.

He waited, wondering who's up next for a game.......

OOC: www.eopoint.com, the message board of pointless. May not sound like much, but that is where I learned to RP. Sorry about last night, I was kinda tired and whiny. Thanks for taking that well.

Henry saw the three bikers pull in front of the club, and hung back a little being parking in front of it himself. Getting out, he met the man that looked like a reporter coming out. Henry's eyes had been in contact with enough spies and terrorists to notice that something was wrong with the sunglasses.

"Nice shades.", was all he said as he walked past into the club.

Spiritwalker was blissfully unaware of Mr. Mercury as she finished her tour of the city's skyline. Drifting peacefully back to the dojo, she entered.

"Hello everyone!" She said with a smile which perfectly complemented the one on her shining mask.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phobia stepped intothe confrence room.

"This is becoming a waste of my time. When shall we begin the mission?"

OOC: This following RP, shows how Tala isn't a little goodie-goodie.

Tala and Maxine nodded to Arashi's explanation. A young waitress walked over. Tala and Maxine ordered Pepsi's and some potatoe skins. The waitress went off and came back a few moments later with their orders. "I'm sorry, but the show won't be starting for a while. We'll be having open-mike afterward, and as your waiting why don't you play some pool." The young girl pointed to some pool tables in the back of the club. Both girls nodded in understanding. Once the girl was gone, Maxine nudged Tala.

"Oooo! Poll!" Tala frowned at Maxine's comment.

"It's wrong, Maxi."

"Since when were you one to blinding enforce stupid laws. C'mon let's play."

Tala shrugged and walked over. They found a table and asked some guys to play. Maxine was pretty good, but Tala stunk up the place. She scratched and messed up alot. After the game was over Maxine said she was tired and just sat by the tables. Tala smiled and suggested she might be able to concentrate better if they put some money on the games. Tala continued to lose until see was 2.5 grand in the hole. She sighed.

"Oh, gee! Maybe I shouldn'y play the next game."

The guys insisted saying they thought she was fun. And the next game would be double-or-nothing. Tala smiled deviously.

"So, if I win I get 5 grand?",She asked. The guys nodded and she played. But unlike before, she creamed them. She didn't give them one chance. The guys insisted on another game. And once more Tala won.

"Well, it's been fun!",Laughed Tala counting up the ten thousand dollars. "Good game though?" The guys muttered something and both Tala and Maxine returned to the table.

"To pool sharks!", Laughed Tala clinking glasses with Maxine.

"May your hustle never get old.",Added Maxine with a giggle. Then she said to Arashi. "I swear, that girl got into uni on a billiard scholoarship."

At that moment a quartet took the stage and started playing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan entered the conferance room with a plate of french toast in one hand and orange juice in the other.

"How come no one woke me?", He asked angrily sitting at the table. He ate his food there in the conferance room.

The kid at the Hardware/Electronics Depot in downtown Atros looked confusedly at the Bespectacled, Scruffy man who stood at the counter, having placed a basket full of Wiring, Electrodes, circuit boards and breakers, several packs of C-cell batteries, some wire netting, a screwdriver, wire cutters, and a soldering Iron before him.

He stopped into the gun shops and bought a few powder charges as well.

Allan paid for these with cash (putting him back about 300 BV), and stepped out into the streets, putting the bags in his satchel. He was going to try something out once they got to the Hiyuuki dojo...

He saw a flower shop and went in... he wondered if Michiko liked Roses...

He bought a small bouquet of blue roses, and quickly rushed back to the dojo, set them on a table, and left before anyone could notice... he hoped.

_________________________________________________________________

Lin smiled sweetly at Faolan.

"Well, I went in to check on you, but you just looked so Peaceful, sleepin' there, I just couldn't bring myself to wake you up!" She reached over and ruffled his hair.

Indeed, Phobia added mentally, And you were enjoying that dream of yours so. He added a private message that only Faolan would hear:

How do you expect to kill that girl when you can't even deal with your feelings for her?

Faolan dazzled Lin with something very rare, a goofy, toothy sweet smile. "Nice to know you're concerned!",Laughed nudging her with his elbow. That was before the message from Phobia. He wasn't sure whether Phobia could read his mind, but he guessed it could. Faolan thought a thought he hoped Phobia would pick up on, 'Stay out of my mind!'

OOC: Well done, people, the pace is finally picking up. Alright everyone, have your heroes get a day out doing whatever they like in the city, but be sure to have them at the Hiyuuki Dojo by sundown in RP time. Also, have your villains do the same on board the airship. The mission starts at 10pm RP time, so you may have your villains doing whatever they liked on board the airship, getting ready or whatsoever. But, one thing, I expect all these to be done within the next 24 hrs, cause i'm gonna go on to the actual missions from there. Afterwards, if you haven't finished this, take note that I am gonna powermod your characters to suit the plot. Sorry about that, but i think we've tallied on the intros long enough.

IC: At the jazz bar
Arashi watched, and almost chortled at the stunt Tala pulled on the men from a distance away. As they rejoined him, he laughed again at Maxine's joke.

"Nicely played, Tala", Arashi said, "Too bad i can't pull stunts like that anymore. Real bad PR for a guy like me." They laughed again.

"Say", Arashi said again, "We need to be at my home Dojo by evening.....which pretty much leaves us the whole day. Anywhere you gals want to go?"

(OOC: Thrope, feel free to RP the day's events, and i'll take over at the 'evening')

________________________________________________________________

At the Hikoori Dojo

"Ah, Spiritwalker, glad to see you're well. Care for breakfast?" She gestured, then left her seat to clear up her own plate.

"Erm.....Michiko?" Shinji's voice sounded out from the Great Hall. Michiko immediately went over, to see Shinji staring at something on the table......a bouquet of blue roses?

She picked it up, grinning, and smelled the scent. "For me?"

"In case you're wondering, i didn't send you those flowers. I found them on the table there", Shinji grunted, and groaned when he saw that Michiko had lapsed into her "teenager" episode of dreamy giggling again. He went out, not wishing to be a part of any of this........

________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

A bearded middle-aged man stood in the vast basement of the Hiyuuki Dojo, dressed in a fiery-red traditional Japanese robe. The basement had so many screens, computers, other such hi-tech stuff, that it easily rivalled that of Batman's Batcave.....Except this is real, thought the man with a grin.

This man, is the Sinsei Hiyuuki, master of the Hiyuuki Dojo, father of Arashi. He remembered that the new team of heroes were coming this way by evening.....he'll have to prepare for them.

Meanwhile, a slender, brown-haired girl was training in the courtyard. Wearing a tight-fitting, but slit-skirted Chinese cheongsam custom-made to allow her free movement, she dealt out a series of imaginary kicks to the air. And with each kick, fire shot out, burning the imaginery foe. This 18-year-old beauty was Reiko Hiyuuki, sister of Arashi........

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, at the conference room

Zell smiled at Phobia's question. Good, so they were getting restless. That'll make them all the more eager for action. "I told you it starts tonight, 10pm, Phobia. We have to work by dark for this one. RV's gonna give me the briefing later. So.......since you're all here, anyone for a game of cards?"

He winked at Lin, and she immediately understood. Zell is gonna do her a favour.......

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, in a private planning room

The cloaked figure known only as RV, now hidden in shadow, pores over his plans. A little alteration here, a change of route there......it's gonna be complete very soon.........

At about this time, the Hooded Claw glided into the room. Never very vocal, she simply said "Good morning." nodding to the others, then sat down. As always, she kept her hands hidden within the long sleeves of her robe as she ate.
~~~~~~~~~~
A short time later, Levin Bolt clattered in. He wore his armor, but carried the helmet under his left arm. He yawned, covering his mouth with his free hand, then sat down at the table.
"Good morning, everyone. Did you all sleep well?" He started eating, then paused to add "Nice flowers!" with a cheerful grin toward Michiko.

Allan stepped off the bus. This city never ceased to amaze him. At night it looked and felt like Gotham, but in the daylight, it became New York City.

He headed for the door of a small Jazz club. He liked jazz. It helped him think. A perfect place to think over his latest idea...

He stepped inside, and noticed Tala talking with Arashi and another girl... Oh, crap. He'd have to keep his distance.

He settled into a small booth in a corner far from them, taking off his coat and putting it next to him, and took out a notebook. He asked the server for a Scotch and looked over a "Lined Paper Blueprint" he had drawn out several weeks ago. He'd have to find something to build the body and fit the electronics in... wouldn't be difficult.

Spiritwalker feels a tap on her shoulder and turns to see Mr Mercury who wasn't there before.
"Erm," he says sounding a little more serious than normal, "can we have a word?" he beckons with his head to mean somewhere else

She remains in her room coating the walls, ceiling and floor with a crystaline coating until someone comes to tell her it is time to go.
Crowd control? Crowd control? Is that all she is here for? Bah, the money was good and she would doubtlessly get to kill a lot of people. Her jealousy of not being a bigger part of the plan faded.

"Thanks". He nods to Henry as he captures an image of him in his shades. It is sent to his editor within seconds. He would find out who this guy was. And if he didn't then the guy covered his tracks and that made him in.
He noticed the good doctor, minus the extra arms and captured another image. Well well well...
He didn't want to feel smug and congratulate himself on arriving in time to prepare for something going down but he did anyway.
He walked into the bar and ordered a double malt, what? no laphroaig? ok a macallan will do, and wandered over in the direction of Allan catching his attention and gesturing towards a seat next to him. "Mind if I sit here?" Maybe he could do more again than just report.

Allan slapped the book shut with a hard look at the stranger.

"Matter-of-Fact, I do. I'm trying to work on something here, and I don't wish to be disturbed."

He noticed the sunglasses... There was something not quite right about them... Besides the shape and the colors of the lenses... What was it? The Size? The way the light reflected off them? It was something... "Nice Shades. Where'd you find 'em?"

He grins an un-nerving grin and sticks his hand out to shake. "Simon Bethlehem, freelance reporter. Sorry to bother you Doctor. As for my equipment I keep my sources as secure as you keep your reading." He nods to the sudden closure of the book. "But if you don't want to talk now that's cool. I'll catch up with you all later..."
He lights another cigarette and takes a sip of his malt whisky.

Henry sits down at a corner of the bar, with his back to the wall, where he can watch the whole room. He ordered a shot glass of whiskey, and took a small sip. He watched the reporter, Allen, and Arashi's group, who seemed to be enjoying themselves now that they weren't under the constant scrutiny of the freelancer. Everything seems alright, just some nosy idiot news dude. I hope he won't be around when the fighting actually starts. Henry finished his whiskey, paid the bartender, and started moving towards the door.

Spiritwalker followed Mr. Mercury outside. Internally, she prepared for anything. Mercury she knew, was a deadly poison and she hadn't forgotten her warning about "The one who shifts their form."

"What do you want?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not much of a card player, I'm afraid, Phobia moved over to a corner of the room. And besides, I didn't come here to play games.

OOC:I'm taking it you're letting me powermod. Thanks

"Yeah it's like back home for me. Sharpe Corp is a big company back in Thrope. I'm always in the media, it sucks. Tala here is lucky enough not to be caught on camera very often.",Pouted Maxine. "Plus, the little mooch gets a ton of money for nothing."

"That seems kind of strange.",Replied Arashi then he smiled saying, "Unless you hustled Maxine, too."

Tala laughed. "No, Maxine's parents adopted me. But the media don't know that. So I get all the perks and no down sides." Tala smirked mischiveously. "Now as for our plans for today, i was thinking of a kids day."

Tala dragged Arashi and Maxine from club to mall to arcade to coffee shop all over the city. By the end of the day, Tala had a ton of new things including some chemicals for more syrum. She went back to the Hikoori dojo and picked up her bags placing them in a trailer behind her bike. She then followed Arashi (Maxine had gone back to her hotel at about 5.pm) It was now 9:30pm. When they arrived at the Hiyuuki Dojo, Tala parked her bike then whispered to Arashi. "Any warnings for me before I go in? For some reason, I don't feel as though it's a strange thing for you to show up here with a young women."

OOC:I'll leave it there for you
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan gave Zell a once over. "No way in hell!", He scoffed. "I saw you at the casino. I like what little money I have!" Faolan excused himself and went into the gym to train. He only stopped twice for lunch and supper. He wanted to be prepared for tonight.

Allan left the club and hurriedly got on the bus with his coat collar up. He had to get out of there, before the reporter got any pictures of him.

He hurried back to the Dojo, ran in and shut the door behind him.

"The sooner we get out of here, and the more quietly, the better... The Press have caught on to us, and chances are, our pictures are on the editor's desk right now."

_________________________________________________________________

Lin slipped into the gym and watched Faolan for a few minutes. He eventually looked over at her, and she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes.

"You're pretty good... care for a spar?"

Henry pulled out of the club slightly before Allan. Getting back and getting getting lunch settled. When Allan came in, he nodded agreement.

"Besides,*jokingly* the press makes only for more innocent bystanders to rescue in a fight."

Goofing off the rest of the afternoon, mostly in the gym lifting weights, and practicing a fighting style combining many styles of martial arts to make a powerful, if not fluid and graceful, style of fighting. He also practiced with dummy knives. He also went and cleaned his guns about an hour before they were scheduled to leave the dojo. Finally, he came down and packed all the things in his truck. After getting directions to the Hiyuuki dojo from Michiko, he started out the door. Then he remembered noticing that there were some still lingering around the dojo, so he called out,

"Anybody still need a ride to Hiyuuki dojo?"

Faolan nodded. "Might as well get some hand to hand combat done." Faolan and Lin sparred for a while. Soon they were both out of breath. "Want to get some food?", he asked.

"I could use one... I hope you have room for the OKTO, though..." He checked the Cabin of the truck and saw there was plenty of room. He stowed his harness in the back, curling the tentacles around the chestpiece to save room, and sat in shotgun.

_________________________________________________________________

Lin leaned over, panting. Faolan was pretty good. He wasn't as fast as she was, but his defense was a hell of a lot better.

"Sure, why not?"
She walked from the gym, hips swaying.
"You comin'?"

Faolan smile. Lin was kind of cute, and she was a great fighter. It was going to be fun to work with her. "Right behind you!",Shouted Faolan running after Lin.

Phobia began to pace. It caught itself and shook its head. Never, in countless centuries of life, could it remember ever being bored. Yet, here it was, restless.

Dam mortals are wearing off on me, it thought to itself.

OOC: Right, thanks a lot guys. Ok, the Sinsei Hiyuuki has prepared dinner for all the heroes, so have your heroes do just that. Meanwhile, the villains are to get ready, and go to their mission on Blackhawk choppers. Have your characters do the part they'll supposed to play in the scheme.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo
Arashi chuckled at Tala's remark. Before he could answer, a young lady with long hair that is brown like Arashi's shoulder-length mane, wearing a fiery-red custom-made cheongsam walked out of the doors, and went over to them with an impish grin on her face. She went up to Arashi.

"Hooked another catch, Brother?"

"Hey! Be nice, she's here to help out with the villain-bashing, Reiko." He poked her forehead for her remarked, which resulted in much chuckling from her and a slap on his arm. Arashi ruffled her hair, and said to Tala, "Tala, meet my sister Reiko."

Reiko extended her hand and shook Tala's. "Welcome to the Hiyuuki Dojo, home of the Hiyuuki Clan! Come, dinner is served in the Great Hall of Courage. I'll take you there, if you may."

Tala glanced at Arashi, who nodded, and allowed herself to be led to the Great Hall of Courage. As Reiko led Tala along the way to the Great Hall, she noticed the stylings of the Dojo, Japanese like the Hikoori Dojo's, but instead of ice-like structures, it had many different shades of red in flowers, paint, and what not.......

They arrived at the Great Hall, and Reiko led her to her seat, which she noticed was placed next to Arashi's. There, she saw at the head of the table, a middle-aged man with a long moustache, who promptly stood up and greeted, "Welcome, Tala! I am the Sinsei Takeshi Hiyuuki, master of the Clan. Please be seated. Dinner will be served shortly, after everyone is come." With that, he sat down, regarding her with a kindly eye.

Reiko sat on Arashi's seat in an irreverent mood, intent on making conversation with Tala. "Brother will be down shortly. So, what do you do where you come from, Miss Tala?"

Tala regarded Reiko. She was very pretty, as naturally beuatiful as Arashi was naturally dashing, and she exuded a sense of her older brother's irreverence and energy......the Hiyuuuki Clan must have really good genes, Tala thought.

______________________________________________________________

On the road

A Lamborghini cruises down the highway at top speed, almost causing quite a few accidents as a result. Shinji had always been a reckless driver. Yet, Michiko remained impassive as she watched many opportunities for dying in a car accident pass her by.

"What's the rush, Shinji? Never figured you'll actually look forward to getting to the Hiyuuki Dojo, your rival's home."
"Hmmph. Arashi's an ass, but the Sinsei's a good enough guy. Besides, his sister cooks well, and she's hot to boot too."

Michiko almost choked at that, but managed to preserve her emotionless mask. She never thought she'll be the one in a long line of Hikooris to actually hear a Hikurai say anything good about anything Hiyuuki......she thought of the bouquet of blue roses again, which she had already planted in a vase. Who would have sent her those? She knew herself to have plenty of suitors, and she gets flowers all the time, but this time, she felt the answer to her question would be a whole lot more unexpected.........

_____________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance

Over the PA system, Zell's voice suddenly boomed out.

"All merceneries, please proceed to the conference room for your briefing." By which, he meant the motley crew that RV had gathered for the mission......

When they were all in the conference room, Zell produced a 3D image of an L-shaped building on the 3D projector.

"Everyone of us will be travelling on Blackhawks for this mission. Firstly, Faolan will arrive on the first chopper", he pointed at the furthest point in the open space between the north-pointing and east-pointing buildings from their meeting points, "here, with a group of Spetsnaz. Faolan, you will show yourself and lure the bulk of the perimeter guards back to your landing point, where your Spetsnaz will ambush them and create commotion. Your chopper will then pick you up again, preventing you from being outnumbered by the rest of the guards. At this time, Lin will arrive alone on her own chopper here," he pointed at a structure at the tip of the north-pointing building, "and disable the transformer here, cutting off the facility from mainland power. Now, there's a back up generator here", he pointed at another structure at the tip of the east-pointing wing, "but no one is to touch it, we will need it to power the defense mechanism we will hijack for our own uses. The facility will take 10 minutes to switch to backup power, and will be in total darkness, so during this chaos, Phobia will arrive on his chopper, kill a guard and take his uniform, enter the facility, knock unconscious a top-level scientist and assume his or her identity, then enter the control room and subvert the defense mechanism when the backup power is on. Once we have the base under control, the rest of us will arrive and take the base, then we will stand guard as our people load the diamonds on 3 Chinooks which will arrive at the landing pad here," he pointed at a circle inside the space between the wings of the facility.

"Right, any questions?"

OOC: Ok, everyone have their villains get ready, and ride in the choppers at 10pm RP time.

(OOC: Nuts... I was hoping for some on-the-road RPing.)

Allan had a nice chat with Hank on the way to the dojo. He didn't say much about where he was from, or his family, but it was nice, nonetheless.

They walked to the door of the address, and Allan rapped on the door.

A Girl answered, likely Arashi's sister or something. Beautiful.

Not as beautiful as Michiko... She introduced herself as Reiko, and led them into a great hall. The decor was similar to the Hikoori dojo's, but more... fiery.

In the great hall, Reiko took her seat next to Tala. A Man at the head of the table stood and greeted them, asking them to sit.

Allan, unsure of where to sit, sat close to Sinsei Hiyuuki, as he had introduced himself. If he was breaking some sort of rule, he was counting on someone to point it out...

He extended a hand.

"I've been told you like Gadgets."

_________________________________________________________________

Lin raised a hand.

"Do we have to wear these," she gestured to her clothes, "or do we get uniforms?"

(OOC:Cut to everyone suiting up in their vaguely X-Men-esque bodysuits! :p )

OOC: Sorry, it seems I was just a little to late. Oh, and just for reference, it's Henry. Although it could be Hank.....

It was a pleasant drive with Allan, he proved to be a bit more talkitive then Henry, but he didn't mind.

Arriving at what must be the Hiyuuki dojo, Henry got out. The girl that answered Allan's knock was what Henry would call good looking, in an oriental sort of way, and he knew it, though he didn't show it. Greeting her pleasantly, he walked into the great hall, or what their guide, now known as Reiko, called the Great Hall of Courage. Nice name., he thought. Taking the handshake offered him by Sensai Hiyuuki, noticing the firm handshake of the middle aged man. Greeting all who were presant, he took an empty seat next to Allan.

"Well, there is a few of us. Where did Arashi end up though?"

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

Sinsei Hiyuuki turned to Allan. "Indeed, Dr. Fisher, I do appreciate your being here. I always appreciate scientists who have a knack for the unbelievable, like your OKTO, from what my son has been saying about you." He grinned, then leaned close to him, "I've also heard of your....problems, back home. You will be safe here, for the moment. But for now, I will need you later to help me go over a toy i've commissioned someone to build, and which is now complete, save for a few minor hitches which no one has been able to rectify. Would you do me the honor?"

"Where did Arashi end up though?" someone asked.

As if in reply to that, a sudden explosion sounded throughout the compound. Everyone rushed out the Great Hall to the courtyard, to see....Arashi and Shinji. Sparring with each other again. With Michiko staring impassively at the unfolding epic.

Both had fired Fireballs at each other, the cause of the explosion sound they had heard, and even now were tearing into each other. It was Shinji who drew first blood, having broken away and firing a black Fireball at Arashi, catching him unawares, and lighting him up in black flames, which dissipated quickly, but the power of which made everyone think ouch. Shinji charged up, eager to press his advantage, and delivered a Fiery Claws combo, of 3 slashes from his claw-like hands spouting black fire finished by an X-slash in midair.

Arashi dropped and slumped to the ground, but recovered his feet before Shinji could press his luck any further, and went in, fists aflame. Shinji blocked his Sword Thrust attack, a fiery fist from Arashi punching at his abdomen blocked by an arm, and he tried to retaliate, but Arashi jumped away, and this time, surprised Shinji by jumping forward. Before Shinji knew it, he was down from Arashi's Heavenly Combo, which consisted of an Avenging Angel, where Arashi leapt forward and dealt a flaming roundhouse punch into Shinji's face, which linked into a Secondary Smite, a upward arcing low firepunch that lifted Shinji into the air, then jumping up to link into the Rising Sun, where Arashi's shoulder slammed into the soft of Shinji's stomach, and finally finishing with an Aerial Rave, usually an anti-air move that this time dealt the final blow of the combo by Arashi spinning in the air and punching Shinji twice with both fists afire.

Shinji dropped to the ground in red flames that dissipated quickly, and jumped to his feet to continue the fight.....but before he could reach Arashi, a rolled newspaper whacked Arashi's head first, with an audible "Yeow!"

"How many times i said before, no fighting in the courtyard, it destroys the grass!" The next blow from the roll landed on Shinji's head as well, giving out a grumbling growl from the victim. "Now let's have no more of this until after dinner!" A visibly huffed-up Sinsei strode back into the Great Hall.

Rubbing their heads, Arashi and Shinji shook hands.

"Nice fight, Shinji. You've been training."
"Nah.....not as much as I want to." Then they turned to follow the Sinsei back to the Great Hall. Shinji caught sight of Reiko looking at him, and cheekily asked her, "So, liked what you see?" He got a tongue from the feisty girl in return.

Arashi asked him, "So....where's your sister Naomi?"
"Her? Hmm.....grr, haven't seen her all day. I didn't even have the chance to tell her about the dinner tonight. Likely enough she'll find us anyway", as they walked to the Great Hall.

OOC: About the 'uniforms' question.....gee, i haven't really thought about that one yet. I would prefer the villains (and heroes for that matter) go about as they are, but i'm amenable to a popular vote.

Levin Bolt and THC arrived in a fast looking (though somewhat dusty) black car with blue stripes along each side. (I decided they need some form of relatively normal transportation.) Levin Bolt left his armor with their luggage; he wore black sweat pants and a T-shirt marked with his yellow lightning bolt symbol, and was moving quietly for a change.
"Sorry we're late." he said, as the two found seats. "I tend to lose track of time when I'm reading."
"He'd still be there if I hadn't told him everyone was leaving."
He glared at her. "You'd still be in Marshahnk if I hadn't arranged for your ride!"
The Hooded Claw merely chuckled in response.

He asks SpiritWalker, "Those flames on the door, when you were sleeping, what were they all about? is something bothering you while you sleep?" he pasues for a second this next part obviously being difficult to talk about.
"Err, I'm basically a ghost right... so whatever those flames are they scare me a lot"

OOC: Sorry for short post, don't have a lot of time.

“Nice”

Henry used that one word to congratulate the elder Hiyuuki, while trying, with little success, to hold in his laughing.

“I doubt I will cease to be impressed, and slightly amused, by the antics of your son for a long time. *Greets Levin and Claw*That leaves Merc and Spiritwalker, then we will all be here.”

Hmmm…Henry thought. I’m already considering us a group. Never thought I would get so attached to a bunch of people so fast.

"I'm from Thrope.",Tala replied to Reiko. "I live in Lycan City."

Tala looked carefully at the set table, there were both Western and Eastern Utensils. She stared at them, with her arms crossed. She'd watched Shinji and Arashi spar and when they returned, she was laughing. "Dinner AND a show. Wow.",She giggled into her hands and then her eyes hit the utensils again. She pushed away from the table.

"Please tell me that's not silverware!",She said sounding desperate and kind of frightened. "Because, as you all know, Silver is not my friend!"

Tala was about to continue her rant when he phone rang. She excused herself and answered it calmly. That calm soon disappered though. There was alot of screaming. Tala finally hung up the phone. She dug in to her bag and pulled out what looked like a PDA. She placed it on the table. She pressed a button and a hollogram of a new reporter appeared.

"That's right you heard it here first!",Announced the lovely anchorwoman with a smile. "Lucas Sharpe, the owner of Sharpe Corp, has two daughters! It seems he and his lovely wife Cyrah adopted a Ms.Tala Wolf five years ago. We have just received this information." A hand with a page in it appeared in front of the woman and she took it. "This just in both Maxine Sharpe and Tala Wolf were spotted with a young man in Darkness City, Astros. We will keep you posted. We solemnly swear to get every waking moment of Tala and Maxine's day, and also the young man they were with. This Alicia MacMaster signing out!"

Tala gasped hitting her head off the table and a spoon.

"Well, on the upside these aren't really silver.",She said between clenched teeth before moaning. "This can't be good! I'm starting to wonder if today can get any worse?!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan nodded at Zell's orders. "I accept that. But I better get a shot at Lycan Girl soon." Faolan walked off to get ready for the mission.

Spiritwalker calmly shook her head, "Don't worry about that. My powers are back under my control."

Dam it, She thought, Now I'm late. So, without another word to Mr. Mercury, she took off, ariving at the new dojo a couple minutes later.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
That one's a loose cannon. Phobia gestured to Faolan as he left. He's so obsessed over this "Lycan Girl" that he may endanger our mission. Once I finish my part, I'll try to keep him from wrecking everything.

"Back under control??" he thinks to himself as he flies to the new dojo

Allan saw the vid, and thought:

Ferdem di Medja... Ihren hace nikt reszpekta fur Privazje...

He placed a hand on Tala's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Tala, if there's one thing I've learned over the past few months, it's to never say things can't get worse, because, when you do... they do."

He looked at the HoloV (He himself wanted one... but they were quite expensive in Palkov)

Will I be on next...?

Henry listened to the recorded newscast. He mulled over it for a while, then stuck with pointing out the obvious.

"Sounds like someone blew your cover. *Jokingly* Want to borrow my crystal camo for a while? Or should I just pick off every newsman the comes within a mile of you?"

"Thanks Allan.",Tala smiled sweetly at him. Then glared at Henry. "I didn't blow my cover. I was being me today. But my cover could be flown! I DON'T WANT MY IDENTITY KNOWN!" She smacked her head off the table angrily.

Spiritwalker entered shaking her head.

"What did you expect, girl? You don't even wear a mask!" She pointed to her own grinning silver one.

(ooc: Gees GU, I know your the thread leader and all, but how many characters do you plan on having? Also, is it finally time for the villian's mission?)

Spiritwalker entered shaking her head.

"What did you expect, girl? You don't even wear a mask!" She pointed to her own grinning silver one.

(ooc: Gees GU, I know your the thread leader and all, but how many characters do you plan on having? Also, is it finally time for the villian's mission?)

"Sweetie,",Said Tala in a voice most people use for slow children. "They don't know my heroine identity. They know that I'm the biggest buisness man in all of Thrope's adoptive daughter. LG is so respected that I can't live up to her. No one would believe it. But if I'm followed around all the time then the damn papparazzi will force everyone to believe it. Besides, a mask would break if I wolfed!"

Allan Smirked at Tala. The little issues from last night seemed to have been laid to rest; everything would be ok.

He turned back to Hiyuuki-Sensei and reached into his satchel, pulling out his notebook, looking about conspiratorially.

He opened it and laid it in front of his fellow gadgeteer, on the page he had been working on.

Hiyuuki-Sensei picked it up and looked at it. He saw a gun that bore a resemblance to an M-79 Grenade Launcher. If an M-79 were ever packed with Electronics and other gadgets of who-knows-how-many varieties.

4 rings, covered with electrodes, were placed along the inside of the barrel. Several circuit boards filled the stock, excepting a space near the breech where a C-Cell battery would be inserted. A drawing off to the side showed what looked like a net, stuffed into a bullet-like cartridge.

"Something I dreamed up a few hours ago. An Electronet Launcher. Michiko has told me you have several labs here. If you could be so kind as to lend one, and give me a few days, I would gladly put together a prototype for you."

At Tala's disrespectfull tone, Spiritwalker's eyes narrowed. She quietly walked over to the table and sat down. She said nothing, but internally she was fighting the urge to give the Lycan a dose of respect.

"I apologize.",Said Tala a few moments later. "I'm just upset about this information. I care a lot about my private life. The only part of my life that was ever really public was being Lycan Girl. And even then, the media kept their distance. But now," Tala sighed with frustration. "Now I may have to look over my shoulder before I blow my nose, you know?" Tala shrugged off her own question. "My point is, I meant no disrespect by my comments a few moments ago. I'm just in a rotten mood. My life is hard enough already without the papparazi craming themselves down my throat." Tala bowed her head. "I hope you accept this."

OOC: Graz, it's spelled "Sinsei", and in Japanese it means "master" or "teacher". It's not a name, it's a title. Get it right.

Thrope, yes, it's supposed to be the villain's mission by now. Since you people aren't taking the initiative to start the mission, i'll have to do it, i guess. As for the characters thing......Scotsnations said that Simon is a cameo character, just like Maxine, so i let him in.

Ok everyone, i'm gonna powermod the villains getting into their choppers for their mission. Sorry to do this.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

Arashi, seeing his report, could not help but have his eyes narrow at what he saw. He made as if to stride out, but Michiko took his arm.

"Arashi.....where are you going?"
"Where the **** do you think i'm going? I'm gonna find that ass of a reporter and have it out with him!"
"ARASHI!" Michiko yelled. "This won't solve anything!"

They glared at each other. Finally, Arashi relaxed.

"Yeah, you're right", Arashi muttered, "It's not gonna help. But i'm used to this, and Tala's not, and it bugs me that people not used to this have to suffer along with me."

He walked over to Tala and patted her head. "Sorry, Tala girl. I dragged you into this."

Meanwhile, the Sinsei was engrossed in Allan's sketch, even though it was so advanced, quite a bit eluded his understanding. "Most interesting, Dr. Allan. Indeed I do have a few labs about, and you may take one for your own use. But before we get you settled in, I ask you to take a look at my toy first......and before I do that, let's get settled in for dinner, people."

They sat in their places as the Sinsei requested them to, and pretty soon fusion-culture dishes were served up to them......

(OOC: Feel free to decide what kind of dishes are served up to your characters. Graz, RP that when the dinner is over, Allan follows to Sinsei to a garage where the Sinsei shows him what he has. I'll RP what it really is later)

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance

"Uniforms?", Zell said. "No uniforms. You go as you are. You'll look far better in what you have anyway", he said with a grin.

"Ok, any more questions? No? Right, let's go then!"

9.30pm on the Vengeance

They were in the hold of Vengeance. In it, at least 8 Blackhawks were loaded, plus many other types of aircraft, and ex-Spetsnaz commandos were everywhere. Faolan and Phobia is to ride in one chopper with a team of Spetsnaz, and so is Lin, with her own Spetsnaz team, due to their special roles in the mission. The rest would come along in 3 other choppers, with their Spetsnaz reinforcements......

He watched as Tala was upset and almost grinned. Ah the hero unmasked. Heh, Spiritwalker with her mask. He himself could take on any shape and had experimented with make up and then finally spray paint to look human again but had given it up except for the most important impresonations. He stands in a corner and waits for something to happen.

He flipped off the tv and swore. Ah well, so he wasn't the fastest this time. Some other reporter... no... hack had the luck. Pity about blowing the girl's cover like that. Way unprofessional.

Xuanyu stood nonchalantly in the hold of the Vengeance, his eyes glowing eerily as he waited for the mission to begin. Closing his eyes in deep concentration, Xuanyu mentally steeled himself for the coming conflict. I must not fear, for fear is the mindkiller... Opening his eyes once more, Xuanyu continued to wait impatiently for the hold doors to open and for him to enjoy the wonderful emptiness of the sky.

OOC: Ok, people, I want you all to start the Villain's mission by yourself, i'm not gonna start it for you guys. Have your villains play out their parts until the time Phobia gets into the facility and takes control of it with the CD, then have the rest of the villains barge in and take control for real. At the same time, have the heroes do their own thing for a while in the Hiyuuki Dojo until they see a special report about the facility being attacked, then they get ready to go out and play.

Henry was somewhat taken aback by Tala's outburst, but then again, his Government tried to keep him out of most of the limelight.

"Sorry Tala, but I wasn't saying that you blew your cover, I was insinuating that dude on the motorcycle with the camera shades. Or, I can't rule it out, someone else. We'll have to see."

Sitting down, Henry tried a little of everything during dinner. He wasn't a picky eater, even though he was a crappy cook.

Shard sits bored in the chopper wishing she had that cat to stroke again

(ooc: aren't you glad I didn't say pussy?)

Allan looked over the table, and spotted a plate of Pierogies and Gołumpki (Polish Dumplings and Stuffed Cabbage Rolls), as well as a pot of Borscht. Wow. These people really knew how to make their guests comfortable.

While he ate, he kept (discreetly, he hoped) glancing over at Michiko. Does she know? Does she Care? The suspense was killing him! This was the first time he had ever done anything like this... Was everyone's first crush like this?

After dinner, Hiyuuki-Sinsei led him downstairs into a huge basement, filled with tools, glowing computer screens and work tables covered with mechanical and electronic equipment. It was quite a lovely sight... to a gadget-freak, anyway.

"Very nice! The Only thing missing is a Batmobile!" Allan's voice echoed around the Cave of Wonders.

Hiyuuki-Sinsei Smiled, like there was some joke afoot he wished to keep to himself.

He led Allan over to a corner, where a large object sat, covered by a tarp.

Hiyuuki-Sinsei grasped a corner of the Tarp and pulled.

(OOC: GU, You know the Drill. You post however you want. I edit this to fit.)

_________________________________________________________________

Lin boarded the Helicopter with the Spetznaz in kind of a sour mood. She had been hoping for a uniform... she thought she'd look Damn good in one of those skintight black bodysuits like the ones they wore in X-Men. Oh, well.

They got to their destination after a few uneventful minutes, and the Chopper landed. Lin jumped off and ran toward where she remembered the Transformer was located.

It loomed over her, humming with power, surrounded by a chain-link Fence and "DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE!" Signs. She ignored them and climbed over the fence.

She opened the maintenance hatch, and grabbed the two main cables. Lightning snaked and crackled over her arms. She didn't even flinch. Her hair didn't even burn off.

She smiled.

"Time to Bring down the Lights and get this party Started!"

She took a breath, and sent enough energy to run a small town for a month into the Transformer. Lightning leapt and frolicked on the outside of it, and an arch of Blue Fury rose into the air as the sound of Lightning echoed for miles.

She let go and ran for her life, leaping over the fence and rushing back to the helicopter, diving inside and shouting "Punch it!" as the Transformer, unable to go any further, burned out and exploded in a great plume of black smoke.

"Here we go!"

_________________________________________________________________

Johnny and Tom stood at their posts, as usual... bored...

"I can't wait to get off duty... I'm gonna get tanked tonight.."

"No way. I'm not draggin' you home agai--"

An explosion rocked the building.

Then Everything went dark.

"--shit."

Phobia saw the light go off and jumped from its chopper, transforming in midair into a squirel. It shoot across the tree tops, the disc on a line around its neck, until it arived in a tree near the entrance to the compound. Due to the darkness, nobody noticed when a pair of huge hands plucked a guard from his post. Phobia's eye stared into the eyes of the man. It drank up his memories, his habits, everything. Then, it staped his neck and left the body in the trees.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eddy the gatekeeper was as scared as everyone else when the lights went out. He heard a noise in the darkness and, pointing his gun, called out:

"Show yourself!" A man in a guard's uniform stepped from the shadows. "Geese Lary, you scared the crap out of me! What are you doing out of your post?"

"I what to make sure Lorreta's okay," the guard answered.

"I'm sure your wife's fine, but all right." Eddy opened the gate to let the guard in. And that is how Phobia entered the compound.

OOC: Okay everyone listen up. No one knows that Tala is Lycan Girl. Alicia MacMaster hacked into some records and found out about Tala's adoption into the Sharpe family. She also heard Maxine was in Astros so she sent a crew to follow her. This means;
1)Tala's secret was not revealed. NO ONE KNOWS SHE'S LYCAN GIRL.
2) She's freaked out because someone COULD not DID find out about her being Lycan Girl.
3)All this means. Simon had nothing to do with the report.
If you have any questions, TG them to me before you make a post. Also, I play off what others do. The whole Simon thing gave me an idea, and I ran with it.

IC: Tala frowned again. "You all realize that my secret identity as Lycan Girl is still a secret don't know?! That dude from the bar who was after Arashi didn't file this report. Alicia MacMaster will do anything for a story. Including hacking into government accounts and having a crew stalk me and Maxine. I'm scared that WHILE I'm being stalked for being Luke's adoptive daughter, my secret identity will be outed. This whole thing has made me lose my appatite." Tala stood up and moved away from the table. She bowed to Sensei Hiyuuki. "Excuse me for leaving so suddenly. But I feel I am playing my role here the wrong way." Tala then went out side, wolfed out and slept in the yard, like a common dog.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan saw Phobia slip inside the building. Technically, he supposed that he didn't have to do his job. But better safe then sorry. Faolan shot off a round with a shotgun into the air. The guards saw him and chased him, right to where the Spetsnaz were waiting. He let them do there job. But instead of taking the chopper back to the Vengance, he waited there. He wanted his shot at Lycan Girl when she arrived.

OOC: For everyone's information, I'm really sick today so I'm in a crappy mood.

Spiritwalker forced some food down her throat. She wasn't really hungry, but she had skipped breakfast. Then, she felt it. Something was wrong.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm sorry, sir, but until the lights come back on we aren't letting anyone in or out of this area." Phobia had expected this kind of hold up, but it still took all of its will power to avoid killing the guard who now stood in his way. It walked back around the corner, took the disc out of it's pocket and hung it around its neck, and transformed into its true form. Pushing aside a celling panel, Phobia slid into the crawlspace.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Sue Peters was nervous about the black out, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. She closed the stall door behind her and turned just in time for a pair of narrow-fingered hands to grap her throat...

OOC: Ok, people, there's no need to start arguing. It's all my fault, really. I should have started an OOC thread where we can plan how the plotline goes. I'll do it when i have time, or anyone here may do so if they can do it earlier. Graz, i'm sorry, it IS "Sensei"......i'm really sorry about this, i was half-asleep last night. Sorry.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

Arashi watched as Tala ran out of the Great Hall, and made to go after her, but his father pulled him back.

"Let her simmer for a while, son", the Sensei said, and Arashi knew he was right. He took his time to finish his dinner, then went out to the yard, to see Tala in her wolf form. He gently shook wolf-Tala up.

"Hey", he softly murmured. She looked at him, then turned away.

"Don't be mad, okay?", he said. "It's kinda hard to deal with this, i know, but......really, try to get along with them. We need to work together, Tala."

He sat down besides her. "So what was it anyway that made you so mad?"

Meanwhile...

The Sensei, having had his dinner, saw that Dr. Fisher was also ready. "Come with me please, Dr. Fisher", he said. Leading him down to a basement, the Sensei turned around and said to Dr. Fisher. "This is what I have for you to look over.

He pulled over the tarp, and watched the Doctor's face show astonishment at what he had......

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UAAAAAUa0EpJ*gfQeW6oqND1BdJm7Z0fgRvrIDERHfgN3UL9vdxA29rF6zSRoG3LZAzsiQ9Fth23Uce9uor*RoAqn7SqQtDeStb kXQ!cXtEVLq!4qZVJUTAjbA0FAAAA/transport.jpg

(OOC: I know this is Tiberian Sun's Orca Transport, but hey :p)

"This baby here is what i call the Hoverbird", the Sensei said. "It utilizes four never-before-made all-directional VTOL engines to fly, and can just about carry the whole lot of you here." He smiled to see the Dr. Fisher literally gag. Then he said, "However, there are a couple of problems even my engineers can't quite figure out. One is that it take the Hoverbird a LONG time to accelerate to its full speed, and the second problem is that the software seems to be having quite a few bugs with the cameras, and with its coordination of the engines. I'm hoping you would look over it, and help me fix it. It shouldn't take you more than half an hour, not with your expertise......"

_________________________________________________________________

At the facility......

RV sat in his darkened room, watching the operation. So far, all seems to be going well........

OOC: Ok, when Phobia has subjugated the base, everyone RP your villains taking over the base with Spetsnaz, then start the diamond-loading operation. Then, have the heroes get a flash news report about the attack on the facility, and everyone will take the Hoverbird there.

Allan gasped, took off his glasses, cleaned them on his shirt, and put them back on. The Hoverbird was still there... He then remembered that cleaning your glasses doesn't make something big sitting in the middle of the room go away...

"...So... do you want me to start now?"

_________________________________________________________________

The chopper headed for the battlefield and flew low a few times over Faolan and his little party.
Lin would do what she had to; put enough power to run a christmas tree through as many people as she could. All she needed was a black cloak and a creepy voice, and she'd be Emperor Palpatine.

She turned back to the Spetznaz.

"Sorry, boys. This is my stop." without another thought, she jumped out of the chopper from 40 feet up. She concentrated, and--

A blue-white bolt seared through the air and blew a few soldiers away, clothes and flesh charred. Faolan glanced at the place the lightning hit to see Lin smiling and giving a thumbs up as the chopper retreated again.

He aks politely if he can use a phone after Tala has run out.
He makes a very quick call. saying only this.
"Alicia. Toast."
And hangs up the phone.

He puts the phone down and grins.
In a few seconds he is on his laptop and in a conversation with a contact who works in the same company as someone named Alicia. Someone who has cctv cameras of his own in the building that nobody knows about.
Pretty soon a video of Alicia in her bosses office giving him, what can only be described as "sexual favours" for the anchor position. The boss speaks about something highly illegal to impress her and that goes for a court case.
Two careers toasted in so many seconds... Tailing Tala all day? Not any more you're not...

IC: In the basement of the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei smiled. "If it pleases you." Then he walked away, obviously a message to leave him to his own devices.......

_________________________________________________________________

On a chopper in the middle of the sea, bound for the facility.....

Zell sat in one of the choppers, along with a few other of the mercenaries and some Spetsnaz troops. The others were on 2 other Blackhawks, and once they had taken over the facility, 3 Chinooks would come to ferry the load out. He played with his cards, hoping that it would go right this time. The Heirs of the Prime Clans of Hiyuuki, Hikurai, and Hikoori were formidable.......he only hoped they would not pose too much of a problem. That would be Xuanyu's job, to delay them, since he seemed so confident in his abilities. If he dies......good riddance to him, Zell thought. That only means one less mercenary to pay.......

Allan quickly searched the lab and found several tools and a diagnostic computer, which looked like a small laptop with several wires sticking out of it. He stepped inside the Hoverbird, hooked up the DiaCom, and hit a few buttons. He didn't know why he was doing this... he'd never worked with VTOL engines... he supposed that was why he was working on them... to figure out how they worked.

The DiaCom beeped and a hologram shaped like the Hoverbird floated above the screen. The area around the main power supply was glowing red. Bad Wiring, perhaps?

He walked to the back of the ship and examined ship's power supply, a generator about as big as he was. He smiled as he found the problem ten minutes later. The Engines weren't getting enough power to run properly. He looked around the lab again and picked up a few tools off a work table and went to work on the generator.

... a few minutes later, after tuning up the Power, he examined the computer system... this took a little longer. He managed to figure out the problem, and after nearly 2 hours of sweat and toil, he ran upstairs to find Hiyuuki-Sensei.

"It's done."

Dr. Sue Peters returned to her work station. A few moments later, the back-up generators finally kicked in and the lights came back on (ooc: Hey, we need power to do this!). Booting up her computer, she inserts a disc into the drive and began typing.

==DENIED==

The scientist shrugged. Phobia had taken several hackers over the years. Dr. Peters began to type. The clicks of her keys became faster and faster as her fingers lengthend and darkend. After a few moments, a computerized voice called out:

"Download complete." Another scientist walked up behing Dr. Peters' chair.

"What are you up to?" The man screams when Dr. Peters' chair turn to reveal Phobia, in its true form, sitting quite casually.

Well hello there. Then, the sentry guns went off.

Lin and Faolan (mostly Faolan...) had taken out all the guards, when they heard the firing of Sentry Guns.

"That's our cue!"

Lin rushed over to defend the building as the choppers landed and the Spetznaz swarmed it like ants over a honeybun.

A door was blown open and the soldiers spilled into the building.

Wiping the corners of his mouth on his napkin, he noticed that almost everyone had left the table, and were on their own little adventures. So, he turned to Reiko:
"You're a good cook. Thank's for a most excellent meal. Just for the sake of conversation, and curiosity, as Arashi's sister do you do the fire stuff too?"

OOC: Sorry for belated postage, I had a high school youth group lock in to help with.

OOC:I powermodded a bit.

IC:Tala woke up to Arashi shaking her. When he went to talk to her she looked away, she was mad at all of them. Arashi told her not to be mad and just try to get along with everbody. She mentally scoffed him. Then he sat down next to her and asked her what she was so mad about. Tala morphed back into human form. She looked out at the yard, but never looked at Arashi as she spoke.

"Everyone was ragging on me because I let my identity become known. Just because I don't run around dressed like Batgirl, doesn't mean I'm not cautious of my identity. No matter how many times I explained it to everyone, no one believed that my secret was still safe." Tala sighed. She then reached into her jacket and handed two photos to Arashi.

The first photo was Tala sitting sideways on her Harley. She was only wearing acid washed jeans and a black tank top. Her hair was flying freely in the air.

The second photo looked to be of someone completely different. This is girl seemed to be Tala's height, weight, and skin tone. But it couldn't be Tala. She had on white boots, white pants, a white shirt Halter top that covered the small of her back, a white bandana with black designs, and black designer sunglasses.

Arashi handed back the photos to Tala. "The picture of you is nice. Who is the other one?"

"It's Lycan Girl!", Laughed Tala as Arashi gave her a confused look. "Doesn't look like me, does it?" Tala then frowned. "I'm very careful with my identity, there are very few people who know the truth. That's why I was mad. I don't like people treating me like that little kid a Christmas that if you're nice enough to you will tell you what Mommy and Daddy bought you." Tala sighed and then looked Arashi in the eyes. "I'm 19 years old. I'm an adult and have seen a lot of terrible things in my life. Things I'm sure would even shock you, Shinji, and Michiko. I'm immature at times for one simple reason, I had no real adolescence. Ever since my parents died I had to go through alot of stuff that a kid that old shouldn't have to. Now, I'm a super heroine, college student, I help run Sharpe corp, etc. So when I get a free moment outside of duty, training, school, work, etc, I like to play around, that's all."

"So the reason I'm angry, is because everyone's treating me like I'm five." Tala looked away and crossed her arms and added in a whisper. "Pretty trivial, eh?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan kept close to Lin. They seemed to be working well together. Even though he preferred to do things on his own, he knew that Lin was an invaluable asset to taking down the guards, and finishing the mission.

Spiritwalker, who had wandered over to the back door, couldn't help but over hear Tala.

We're not that different, she thought. Her little sister had disapeared, her family assumed kidnaped, three years ago. Seven moths ago, her father, who had seemed so determined to keep the family together, had left on a buisness trip and never come home. Her mother had changed so much after her father left that she might as well have died. And then there was Adam, a single tear streaked down her mask, killed when a group of escaped prisoners took over the school in an attempt to evade the law.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as the soldiers the scientist off its hands, Phobia went to the roof. If what Zell had mentioned was true, Phobia wanted to personally greet this group of heros.

OOC: Thrope, i won't call that powermodding :p

Mageddon, if you're posting under a puppet, next time do identify yourself. I was wondering who the hell Dancing Penguin was.......

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

Arashi looked at Tala, not saying anything as she told her story. Then, as she crossed her arms and turned away, he went up and hugged her from behind. She struggled briefly, then relaxed in his arms.

"Tala", Arashi said, kissing her hair, "that's pretty sad, I know it's not something I would understand. Don't mind them, okay? You gotta cut them some slack, I'm guessing they're as nervous about this as you are, that's why they did to you what they did." He kissed her neck, and took off his sunglasses.

"It's not easy being a hero anywhere, girl. I know that well. Many times, people will say that you could have done this better, you should have known better than to do this, you should have thought of doing that......sometimes, even heroes like us forget the fact that we are not perfect. We are more than the average mortal, true, but even so, we are not perfect. We have our own histories, and sometimes people just forget all of that in the present moment. Like me......"

His eyes suddenly clouded over, as if remembering something painful from his past. Tala turned to look, and noticed his brooding state. "What is it, Arashi?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just thinking of my own past. I've had things happen to me too.....to my loved ones.....never mind about that."

He put his sunglasses back on, and Tala turned away to sulk again. "I just don't want them to razz me like i don't know better. I hate that."

Arashi smiled. "You know, you have no choice but to take it, but i've found that there's an easier way to do so."

She turned. "What?"

"Yeah. I've found that it's easier to take razzing from people.......if you give them some back. You know", he said with a grin, "They razz you, you razz them back. If you can do that, the joke's on them. Pretty cool, isn't it?"

Finally, Tala smiled. Arashi continued,

"Don't worry about them treating you like a girl. You know I'm not, and big bad mister Shinji won't touch you while i'm around, he respects me that much even though he doesn't like me all that much as well. So......you just go prove yourself to them, and you shouldn't get any razzing anymore."

"Yeah."

Meanwhile....

Reiko giggled. Already this Henry was hitting on her (OOC: I'm assuming that's what he's doing, after all this is more interesting, right? :p Anyway, tell me if you don't like it), and being the natural flirt she is, of course she's gonna play along. It's a good thing her bro was somewhere else, otherwise Henry would be burning by now......

"Oh yeah. Everyone one of the Hiyuuki family Clan have the "True" flames of Courage." She turned her palm up, and a small flame appeared on her palm. "We call it 'True' fire, as it is hotter than most other pyrokinetics ever in history, with few exceptions. Arashi can wield flame better than any of us however, for some reason. It's been many generations since one of the Hiyuukis have ever managed to wield as powerful flames as Arashi could, and for that alone, he is considered a Legend."

She looked conspiratorally around, then whispered. "Don't tell my father that i told you this, or he'll whup my ass. Do you know that although my father is the Sensei of the Clan, my bro could defeat him regularly?" She saw Henry's eyes go wide. "Yeah, Dad's not the most powerful amongst us, Arashi is. The only reason my bro's not the Sensei now is because.......he's not exactly the most hardworking guy around." She giggled.

Meanwhile......

The Sensei was relaxing in his favourite chair when Dr. Fisher came to tell him he was done, giving the Sensei a wide grin on his bearded face. "Excellent, Dr. Fisher. If it works out, I'll reward you handsomely. No, scratch that, I'll give you a good job here instead. If you'll accept, that is."

Then the TV showed a broadcast of a flash news report.

OOC:It wasn't meant that way, but it would be bad RPing if your character reacted differently then she would regularly. Besides, I always kinda wondered what Henry would do if a girl started flirting with him. :D

IC:
Henry did a mental double take when Reiko started babbling at him. He kind of expected a rush of words, but not the seemingly private information she so easily divulged. He kinda wondered what possesed her to start, what he could only call, flirting. Ah well, some girls are just like that, it seems. So, he tried to do what he considered his best conversation skill, calm people down. He smiled a lazy smile and continued in a low, slow, slightly joking voice.

"*Chuckles* Almost sounds like an Anakin Skywalker type of story. The all powerful one that will bring balance to the fire, but not willing to accept the responsibility of controlling his power. Kind of a funny thought... Arashi is a good guy though."

*Greets Levin and Claw*That leaves Merc and Spiritwalker, then we will all be here.”

Hmmm…Henry thought. I’m already considering us a group. Never thought I would get so attached to a bunch of people so fast.

Levin cheerfully returned Henry's greeting, and THC nodded to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~
The two were eating when the "flash news report" started playing. THC elbowed Levin, who wasn't paying attention to the news.

[i]A band of unknown attackers... Blown transformer... Somehow infilitrated the compound and seized control of the automated security system...

Not waiting to hear more, Levin Bolt flashed across the room and right into his armor with a clap of thunder. A moment later, he ran out of the room to alert the others, settling his cape around his shoulders as he ran. The Hooded Claw followed swiftly, seeming to glide across the floor.

OOC: Sorry about the delay between posts. Those who are outside would probably hear the thunder, and wonder what happened. Where-ever he first finds someone on the team, have him blurt out the news of the attack immediately.

A flashing icon appears on his desktop and he opens the browser after reading the headline he is out of the window and sliding down the fire escape towards his waiting bike hitting redial on his phone as he goes.
He blurts out the situtation and destination as he fires up and accelerates out of the alley-way.
So, it has begun.

He looks up as if listening to something inside his head, he smiles and says "and I thought she had retired." He walks into the room where the tv news is on and awaits instructions.

OOC: Ok, i'm gonna do some major powermodding here. Sorry about that, but I want to pick up the pace. If you wish, post a flashback scene to link the events needed.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

At the same time Levin went out to alert everyone, the Sensei jumped up and yelled in a surprisingly loud voice, "EVERYONE HERE, NOW!!!"

They came running one after the other, and watched the news report of the Iradel Research Facility being attacked. The reporter also said that the attack appears to be from an unknown entity known only as.....RV.

"RV", Michiko gasped.

"Yes, RV", the Sensei said. "He has started his first move. We must react quickly, the military is not gonna be there on time."

"But how are we gonna get there", Reiko asked, "the Iradel Facility is on a small barren island off the southern coast of mainland Atros. There's no boat going there at this hour."

Silence, then.......

"I think we might use the Hoverbird."

Everyone turned to look at Allan, who was getting uncomfortable with the sudden focus of attention on him. Still, he picked up his voice, and said,

"The Hoverbird.......it's the Sensei's personal aircraft, with a twist........anyway, i've fixed it, i believe it should be able to take us there......" he trailed off.

"Good idea, Doctor", the Sensei said. "Now why didn't I think of that myself. All right people, let's go now, we have no time to lose!" At that, everyone scrambled for whatever they might need, then they scrambled after the Sensei to the basement.

Once they were there, they also marvelled at the Hoverbird. The Sensei strapped himself into the pilot's seat, while Allan strapped himself into the copilot seat to teach the Sensei how to handle the bird with the new code he had just installed, while Reiko climbed in as well to take over from Allan when it's his time to fight. As Arashi climbed on board in his normal attire of black leather biker jacket, blue shirt, jeans, leather shoes and sunglasses, he turned to see Tala, now dressed in her Lycan Girl outfit.

"That's pretty hot", Arashi commented, with a grin that showed off his shining teeth, then he climbed into the surprisingly spacious compartment, which could easily hold everyone in comfort, and even had space for a round projector table in their midst.

"Alright then, everyone strap in and hang on!" the Sensei yelled.

The roof of the basement opened up, showing the night sky full of stars. With a roar of epic porportions, the 4 VTOL jet engines fired vertically downwards. The Hoverbird slowly lifted, then gradually picked up vertical speed, and as it cleared the basement, the roof closed back onto itself.

The Hoverbird turned in midair, then shot off.......

(OOC: Ok, my next post will have Michiko briefing everyone on the Hoverbird before arriving at, and depositing the heroes on the Iradel Facility island. So don't shoot ahead of yourselfs here, keep to your heroes getting ready inside the Hoverbird. Also, OOC post here who you would like your characters to battle later, so i can assign battles for each character.)

OOC: More powermodding here......sorry guys, i'm trying to set up the battles.

IC: At the Iradel Research Facility

The guards were taken aback, turned upon by the very sentry guns they had come to rely upon. Even surprised, they still managed to put up a fight against the sentry guns, destroying a great deal of them......but once the Spetsnaz came, they had no chance. Neither did the top-level scientists directly involved in the laser-diamond project, who, while not targeted by the sentry guns, were quickly captured for transport back to the Vengeance.

Faolan and Lin ran to the control room to meet up with Phobia, as the Spetsnaz reinforcements swarmed the facility. Soon, Zell and the rest caught up with them at the control room.

"Ok, you people know the drill", Zell began. Then he saw the body on the floor, that of a scientist.

"I thought the sentry guns were not supposed to attack scientists?" Zell wondered, but Phobia enlightened him, "Not the top-level scientists involved with the diamond project, Zell. This one's not one of them."

Zell nodded. "Well then, what are you people waiting for? Get moving! The Hero Team may very well be here any minute! Take up your positions and hold the facility against them!"

Phobia said, "I'll be at the roof if anyone needs me." Then it left, and so did the others, leaving Zell in the control room to monitor things. He turned to see the cameras, noting that carriers have already started carrying the first load of diamonds to the waiting Stealth Chinooks. Ah, efficiency......

"Sir?"

Zell turned around to see a group of Spetsnaz dragging along the scientists needed for this mission. One of them was a pretty young blonde, whose beauty is in no way obscured by the geeky-looking glasses she wore.......and she was bound and gagged.

"Whoa", Zell thought, "almost exactly like my favourite fantasy....."

"Er, sir?" It was the captain leading the squad. "What do we do with them, do we load them on one of the 'nooks?"

Zell turned on him, annoyed. "No! Strip them naked and hang them upside down from the ceiling, then have your men screw them all! Of course load them on the Chinook, you dolt!", he nearly screamed.

The captain saluted stiffly, "Yes sir". He gestured to his mates and said, "Move out."

As they dragged the scientists away, Zell had another glimpse of the pretty young one trying vainly to struggle away from her captors. He sighed. RV had told him he could take his pick of side perks.....maybe he could ask RV for that woman? He grinned. Later, perhaps. Not now.

He turned back to the cameras. He only hopes that the Hero Team will not give him too much trouble now......

OOC: Ok, have your villains get ready to face the heroes. Personally, I'll like my 3 Heirs to fight Xuanyu. The God against the 3 God-killers......lol.

(OOC: Right, Gothic... That'll be an interesting battle...)

Hovering silently above the science facility, Xuanyu shook his head in disgust, angered at the dramatic waste in his abilities. The fools... I am a being to change the very course of history and they send me to do the dirty work of some evil lordling seeking world domination!?! With a snort, Xuanyu slowly began to descend, finishing his overview of the entire facility. With a heavy sigh, Xuanyu closed his eyes, hoping against hope for some challenging task to perform. By the cosmic events that created me... Mortal life is filled with such unexplainable and endless boredom...

Muttering darkly to himself, Xuanyu landed on the roof of the central complex of the science facility, "drowning" himself in the power of both the light and darkness that formed his being. Slamming the palms of his hands together, Xuanyu slowly began to display his skills. With a powerful roar, flashes of energy emerged from Xuanyu's joined palms, creating sparks of wondrous light, beautiful to behold, but deadly beyond belief... In a voice that transcended the noise of the energy emitted from his palms, Xuanyu began to speak. "Come ye... For I am the personification of the paradox, the paradigm, I am Xuanyu, God of both Light and Darkness, Conqueror of Arithon, Killer of the Dragonlord, Omnus Stormrider..."

"Finally," she says as she steps out of the chopper.
She stands at the main entrance to the facility happily skewering anyone who approaches her.

He declines the ride in the hover thing opting instead to fly alongside.
"You never know what might happen. It's safer not to have all eggs in one basket. Besides I might be useful clearing a landing zone..."
He flies alongside, behind and infront of the hover craft all at the same time amusing himself with the air currents zipping through him.

He doesn't need a map to tell him how to get there. He just drives and luck makes all the turn decisions for him. Only a few more minutes at top speed...

Henry quickly slipped into his battle duds. These included a sweatshirt, pants, gloves, and a breathable mask with mesh over the eyes, all of which were a nondescript grey color. He also had on a tactical vest and two hip holsters of the same material. One holster carried a huge revolver, the other, a massive fighting knife. Grabbing his sniper rifle and five loaded magazines on the way out the door, he jumped into the hovercraft. First, he reached up and pressed a small hidden button on the neck of his shirt. Within a couple seconds, all that could be seen of him was a wavy shadow, and a tiny distorted outline. Satisfied that his camo worked, he turned it off, and jacked a load into the chamber of his rifle.

It's party time.

Tala did a quick little show off spin of her outfit before getting on the Hoverbird. She sat next to Arashi, granting him a wolfs grin. "You look pretty hot yourself there, Arashi." Then she sat in the a thinkers positions and shrugged. "Of course, you're always hot. You're pyrokenetic!" Tala laughed at her own joke. She double checked the syrum guns. She had a white one attached to her belt along with about twenty viles of syrum. She then took out a black one and shot herself in the back of the neck twice. First with the same blue syrum that was on her belt, second with a black green syrum. Tala didn't so much as blink at the first injection, but at the second, she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. It bled for a second then healed.

"What are those?", Arashi asked her.

"The blue ones on my belt stop freshly biten people from ever turning. For me it just helps me control my transformations. As for the black-green one, it's a new innovation. It's silver nytrate and some 'Special Chemicals'. It's to help me become Immune to silver, if only momentarily. The longest I've tested for succesfully is an hour. I'm hoping this new batch with last 3."

"Are you sure you need to do that? The silver one seems to really hurt you.",Inquired Arashi looking concerned.

Tala blushed a bit remembering when he kissed her neck in the yard. She had to admit, she was starting to feel something for Arashi.

"I've got a bad feeling there's a Lycan Hunter on the bad guys team. And if there is, they'll have silver."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The heroes are coming, eh?", Muttered Faolan as he and Lin went off to wait for the good guys. "This means I may get my shot at Lycan Girl tonight." Faolan smiled evily.

Spiritwalker stepped into the hoverbird with a sly smile on her face. Finally, she was going to get to show everyone what she could do.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phobia shook his head as he listend to Xuanyu rattle off his titles. Arogent fool. He then turned his attention to the horizon, waiting...

(ooc: Phobia'll take Henry. That is, if your up for it, Pottsy.)

ooc: I'd like to see:
Simon v Faolan (I have a funny lined up)
Merc+Allan v Livewire (another funny)
Shard v anyone who wants to take her on

Levin Bolt made a few minor adjustments to his armor and cape, then settled down in the Hoverbird. He seemed to be trying to relax and rest, but his blue eyes glowed brightly with excitement. THC took a seat with her usual quiet calm, but spent most of the trip checking over an assortment of her Claws. These ranged from simple knives to intricate metal hands to strange-looking dart guns, and she did not repeat one once.
OOC: I'm happy to have my characters go against any of the villains. Levin Bolt and Lin are probably most capable of handling each other in a fight, but least capable of actually damaging each other. I also think that THC v. Shard might be an interesting fight.

Allan, now clad in the OKTO and his trenchcoat, boarded the Hoverbird.

He looked around at everyone on the ship (His eyes lingering on Michiko) and pulled a pair of black leather gloves from his pockets.

"I've never worked with VTOL engines before... so the ride might be a little bumpy. Oh, and one more thing..."

He pulled out a pair of clip-on sunglasses, attaching them to the frames of his specs. Now he looked like the scientist he'd modeled himself after... if not a little scruffier.

"When we're on the job... call me Kraken."

He strapped himself into the CP's seat (with a little difficulty), and went about instructing Hiyuuki-Sensei in the handling of the freshly upgraded Hoverbird.

(OOC: I'm thinking Lin and I also have a little stunt planned involving merc and a chinook...)

OOC: Ok, here's the definitive "battle list".....

-The Sensei and Reiko will be flying the Hoverbird, so no fighting for them.
-Arashi, Shinji and Michiko vs. Xuanyu
-Tala vs. Faolan
-Henry vs. Phobia (subject to Pott's approval)
-Kraken and Merc vs. Livewire and Zell (I might RP Zell coming a bit late)
-Levin Bolt and THC vs. Shard (Scotsnation, you might try having Shard divide into 2 or something, lol)

Oh, Scotsnation, keep Simon out of the fight, unless you can incorporate the funny somehow. He's not supposed to be involved in the fighting, but go ahead and try to fit your funny in and see if it fits.

Graz, i originally planned for having only 3 Chinooks, which would have been all i need.......so to accomodate your stunt, I'll have a 4th Chinook fly in, if you need to destroy anything.

Ok people, the fun officially starts.....NOW :D

IC: As the Hoverbird sped towards the Iradel Research Facility, Michiko summoned up a 3D projection on the table of the facility, and started briefing them.

"Alright, we don't know where the supervillains are, but they are definitely here somewhere, so keep your eyes peeled. Our target is to get to the Helipad, and stop them from lifting off whatever they might have taken. Everyone okay?" They nodded. "Good. We'll be there soon. Let's get the ball rolling!"

Arashi turned to Tala with a naughty grin. "Now don't you go about hurting yourself out there, little girl." He chortled as Tala slapped him on the shoulder for his teasing, and Tala was smiling away while pretending to be mad, knowing full well what Arashi was just teasing her.

Then Michiko fell silent. But it was not the silence she usually kept anyway. It was a silence that bespoke great worry, and Arashi and Shinji picked up on it instantly.

"What is it, Michiko?" Shinji asked.

"There's a powerful force there. Powerful......"
"The Dark Power?" Arashi's eyes glazed over.

"No, not the Dark Power.....but just as powerful. Not the Dark Power though......we'll have to take care of this ourselves, the three of us."

Arashi and Shinji nodded.

As the Hoverbird landed and disgorged the heroes, the Legends ran to the roof, and saw......a supernatural being, powerful like the Dark Power......but both light and dark......

Whatever the being was, it had also sensed that the 3 mortal figures standing up to him now were no ordinary mortals........they had great powers for mortals, and even though they are not as powerful as he was, together, the being sensed that an ancient charm made them, the descendants blessed with this nameless, powerful charm, capable of actually defeating beings like himself.......(OOC: this would be Xuanyu)

OOC: Ok guys, have your heroes head out and meet the villains. All systems go, I repeat, all systems go!!!

OOC: I was kinda hoping to do this, but if it doesn't work, I will change my post to try and take out Phobia first.

IC:
Henry activated his camo the minute before the hoverbird landed. Leaping out, he rolled and crouched. then noticed the chinooks making a speedy escape. Bringing his rifle up to his shoulder, he put four Raufoss rounds(Armor piercing incendiary) into the air, letting the huge rifle bounce almost vertical with each shot. Two rounds were alotted for the general area of where the fuel tanks on a normal chinook would be, on two helicopters.

Xuanyu nearly chortled with happiness and joy with the arrival of his first challenge in many years. However, Xuanyu could feel that even with their powers and abilities combined, they would be nearly impossible for them to defeat him. Shaking his head in sorrow from the lack of truly equal or superior opponents, Xuanyu turned his back upon his new opponents, as he slowly brought down the level of his power. With a wry smile, Xuanyu thanked himself for not showing his complete mastery of both light and darkness.

Glancing up at the dark sky, Xuanyu slowly raised his hands, extending his arms as he seemingly beseeched the heavens. In a thunderous voice that seemed to transcend the mortal plane, Xuanyu began to speak. "Why is there no one left of ability and power upon this mortal plane? Why must I debase myself to face youngsters with scant ability, power, and knowledge of the ancient ways? Why am I to exist upon this pathetic when I could be anything?"

With a morose shake of his head, Xuanyu lowered his head, turned and faced his young antagonists. With a sly grin, Xuanyu gazed evenly into the eyes of the three heirs of the Hiyuuki clan. "Now then, who are you?"

OOC: Okay Scotsnations, since GU said you can do it I'll let you try to incorporate you're funny in. You have to write it after Faolan gets back up though, nothing before or during his fight with LG because it screws up my little plot.

IC: Faolan and Lin had gone their separate ways. Faolan knew that Lycan Girl would be here somewhere he'd just have to find her. He walked into a room with high walls, the corners were dark so he couldn't see if anyone was hiding in them. The worst thing was that the back up lights didn't do anything to help. He placed a hand on his nyrate filled water gun, well that was the layman explanation, it was more advanced then that. He was about to leave when he heard a voice.

"Yay, 'tis Fae! You know you're my favorite hunter!"

Faolan looked around ,but couldn't see her anywhere. So there was something tying for first with the darkness, Faolan couldn't get where the voice was coming from. He spun around looking in every direction.

"Come out, you coward!",He yelled angrily.

"You think I'm frightened?",Laughed Tala from the darkness. She stared straight at Faolan, thankful for her wolfen seeing abilities and the fact that the emergancy lights shined on Faolan, but hid her. "I think not. I think you're frightened." Tala teased Faolan by singing; "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? The big bad wolf? The big bad wolf? Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Hahaha, it's you."

Faolan was getting very angry. His first reaction was to shoot at her, but he didn't have enough nytrate. He couldn't risk wasting in on a guess. He'd just have to draw her out.

"Come out here you evil creature!",Called out Faolan.

Suddenly, a bolt of white came and hit him in the chest. It knocked him back. He kept his eyes open and saw the huge white wolf transform into Lycan Girl. She stood over him, practically sitting on his chest.

"You think I'm evil?!",Laughed Tala before going completley serious and frowning. "Well I think you're stupid!"

Faolan went to stab Lycan Girl with a silver daggar, but she jumped out of the way after kicking it out of his hand.

"Bad Fae. Now that's an unfair advantage.", Tsked Tala trying not to smile. She knew that Faolan couldn't beat her. She was a much better fighter and now he was unarmed. Even if he had been armed, she was sure that the new syrum would protect her.

Faolan jumped to his feet. He quickly grabbed the squirt gun and shot her in the arm. Tala only felt the liquid hit her, but she was still angry that she had forgotten about the guns. She hit him with the Wolf's Head Punch and he fell back. The gun slide across the room and landed next to the gun.

"Now that was really stupid Faolan!",Growled Tala. "Even though I'm now immune to silver, it still makes me angry."

Tala saw Faolan's gaze flash to her shoulder. She didn't have time to check, but was sure he was shocked that she wasn't hurt. She tossed Faolan into a corner away from his weapons. Faolan quickly got to his feet and started hand to hand combat with her. The fight didn't last long. It was as she had thought, Faolan had bulked up and fixed his equipment, but he didn't take the time to learn how to really fight. It only took Tala about two minutes to knock out Faolan. It had taken her less time to beat him before, but of course then he had still been concious.

Tala ran out of the room after making sure he was out. She ran down the hall to the right and stopped in the bathroom for a second, to splash some water on her face. When she took a good look in the mirror she it. The shoulder where she had been hit with the silver was scarred. It looked like a 4th degree burn. Tala shook her head, she'd erased the pain but not the scarring. She'd have to monitor her heal time and then work on the syrum tommorow. She quickly exited the bathroom, and then the building. She ran a straight line to the Hoverbird and got in.

Reiko gave her a confused glance and Tala sighed.

"My syrum's not as good as I thought. It still injured me, though I didn't feel it. I can't take the chance of fighting anymore until I figure out what went wrong. For all I know, the syrum just numbed me and the silver hurt me worse then normally. It's best if I just lie low here and wait for the rest to get back."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan woke up twenty minutes later. He looked around the room to find that Lycan Girl had escaped. He punched the ground with anger. He had to catch her. He grabbed his gear and ran down the left hallway looking for Tala.
OOC:Scotsnation, there you can powermod the situation from there. But don't do anything that would make me angry.

OOC: 4rth degree burn? A first degree burn is like a sunburn. 2nd, it starts blistering. 3rd, things get black, and will not grow back. 3rd degree burns kill. There is no fourth degree burn. Just wanted to pick up the loose ends here.

ooc: Sorry, been buisy. Oh, yeah, GO RED SOX!!!!
IC:
Phobia heard Henry's gunshots and lept from the rooftop, transforming into a squirrel. It took off through the trees. It hadn't gone to far when it sensed it: a human mind nearby. It was then that Lycan Girl darted underneath Phobia, her thoughs full of recent victory.

Ooo, wolf-boy isn't gonna be happy. It ponderd the idea of attacking, but decided to let her live her short glory. When she disapeared, Pobia realized there was still a mind nearby, yet no one in sight.

Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Phobia brodcasted to the mind, hoping to pin-point its location.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritwalker followed Lycan Girl and grinned as she watched her beat the crap out of Faolan. When she left, she almost gave the guy one last kick, but instead continued through the complex, trying to head off the theives.

Mind reader, eh? Nice. I suppose you are a shape shifter or camoflage artist too?

Henry didn't deal with mind readers all that often, but he treated this one the same way he treated everything, calm and cool. Keeping the rifle at his hip, he slowly straightened and turned, carefully scanning every detail of the ground, and trees around him.

OOC: Erm, 5CN? Try not to godmod Xuanyu too much, i have every intention of making RV the final boss here......ok, this battle, the villains lose and have to retreat, but they get what they come for. Looks like i'll have to fly in a few more Chinooks to make up for those you guys have destroyed.......:S

One more thing 5CN, the three Heirs are from different Clans, not one Clan. As for the fight itself, Arashi, Shinji, and Michiko are bound by their bloodlines to what is only known as the Ancient Charm, a charm from ancient times where the three of them could defeat gods once their hearts are linked in the full-blooded fury of battle. Think of it as the charm of the sister witches in the TV series "Charmed".......writ large. Very large :D

IC: Arashi's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses as he stepped slowly forward, while Shinji and Michiko fanned out. The three of them sensed that, even before the godlike being in front of him had toned down his power, that innately, this being was powerful beyond their visible abilities........but no more powerful than the mysterious Dark Power. Still, overwhelmingly powerful.......but it also meant that the Ancient Charm, to which all three of the Prime Clans are bound, will subjugate this being. If they could get it to work.

Arashi stepped up further, facing the being, his palm upward, the True flame of Courage bursting forth.

"I, Arashi, Heir of Clan Hiyuuki, the first of the three Prime Clans of Atros, the Wielder of the sacred Flame of Courage! You shall not win, demonic one!"

Shinji stepped up, his claw-like right hand upturned, as well, and the black shadowflame of Fear burst forth from his hand. Gradually, the color of the Shadowflame changed color, becoming a dark blue flame that was the original power of the Hikurai Clan, before their corruption which turned their poewr from Respect into Fear. Now, at this moment, the true Flame of Honor burst forth again, in this moment of great need, against a being powerful beyond their abilities.

"I, Shinji of the Hikurai Clan, Heir of the second of the three Prime Clans of Atros, the Wielder of the sacred flame of Respect, challenges you! Be gone, fallen one!"

Finally, Michiko, in her battle dress of a light sky-blue evening gown and shawl, stepped forward, and the sky-blue Glacial flame of Wisdom burst forth from her upturned palm.

"I, Michiko, Heiress of the Hikoori Clan, last of the three Prime Clans of Atros, the Wielder of the sacred flame of Wisdom, answers you! You shall not triumph, unclean one!"

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

The spell is completed.

Suddenly, the crystal amulets the two Heirs and the Heiress of the Prime Clans gave off an astounding amount of light. A force from beyond this dimension suddenly made itself felt, and as the three Legends threw a fiery red, a deep blue, and a sky-blue Fireball respectively, the godly being suddenly felt that, with this inter-dimensional force aiding them, they could very well have a chance against it, who otherwise might have had no chance against it.......

IC: On board the Vengeance

RV gritted his teeth, as the first 4 Chinooks went down in flames from some AA shot (OOC: This would be Henry's doing). He sighed. It's a good thing he had more of them out there......always be prepared for a contingency, he thought.

Time to play serious now. RV spoke a command into his radio, then waited. Let's see the mysterious shooter deal with some Hinds......

(OOC: Hind= Russian chopper gunship)

_________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Zell watched the various battles from the control room. The mercenaries were doing their jobs, so far everything is going smoothly, except for those Chinooks that got shot down......good thing nothing were on those choppers, he thought.

He noticed on the cameras that Livewire was outnumbered....quick as a flash, he ran out to join her......

He solidifies inside the hover as Allan unstarps himself from the control seat.
"So... what you got planned. Some helicopter baseball perhaps?"

ooc: I'm gonna let Allan powermod interaction with Merc until Livewire attacks them or whatever. Have fun.

She smiles sweetly at THC and LB approach her, flexing her arms and stretching her neck with a clicking sound.
"Lets play"
Suddenly her arms whip out, turning into thousands of 20 metre long thin strips, almost tentacle like but hair thin and razor sharp surrounding LB and THC gripping and cutting them with hundreds of tightening coils. Clothes and skin are lacerated as she grips them like a squid and lifts them up into the air... (ooc: literally just thought of that, have fun getting out of it)

He jumps his bike over the fence using a handy angled flat rock he finds at the outskirts and heads towards the main buiding. He looks around at what is going on and hears the screaming.
He passes an exit as Faolan steps out. Faolan, startled, levels his shotgun but doesn't get to pull the trigger as Simon, more alert (having not just sustained a sound kicking) has his "bowel disruptor TM" out first and hits Faolan square in the guts.
Faolan's eyes widen as horrible unmentionable things happen in his trousers.
Simon roars away laughing at the images his shades have just captured.

(OOC: Not to be rude or anything, but the fact that Xuanyu has been in existence for as long as the Earth has existed should count for something... His wisdom and understanding of the world, albeit slightly archaic due to his long tenure in the prison of the Hellblade would be a lot more than even the combined understanding that you're heirs possess. If you really want RV to be the final boss, I will have to insert something to remove Xuanyu from the evil group, such as finding Lance Crusade for revenge... Otherwise your heirs will have to either persuade Xuanyu to stop abetting evil and help them...)

Allan looked at the Chinooks coming down from the sky.

"I need something that can cut through the rotors. We gotta take down as many of those choppers as we can."

"Got just the thing." Merc smiled to himself and began to shift form, forming into two heavy metal balls, complete with chain.

Allan snaked out a tentacle and grabbed the chain, then opened the Hoverbird's hatch and climbed out onto the roof, whipping Merc around and slinging him through the air at a Chinook. Merc sheared easily through the rotor stand at the back of the chopper, sending it spiralling down through the air.
(OOC: Scots, I'd like to fight Lin on my own for a while. Saying of which... Enter Livewire.)

Lin spotted the motorcycle leaping over the fence, but was too surprised stop him from shooting Faolan. However, seeing him fall sent her crazy.

She shut her eyes, and shifted.

BOOM! Lightning danced and crackled around her as she transformed into living lightning. her form now glowed white, with two patches of green being her eyes. Power pulsed through her. It was incredible. She started to run toward the man on the bike... then realized,

Oh, wait... why run when you can strike?

She concentrated on the bike, and she suddenly felt herself rushing at it with blinding speed. Those around her saw her transform into a bolt of lightning and streak into the air.

She landed in front of the bike, causing the rider to swerve off course with a cry of surprise. She pointed a finger, and the bike leapt off the ground and planted itself firmly onto the fence, pinning the rider.

The rider's glasses began flashing a small Error message in one of the corners. The shades' memory had just been scrambled, likely beyond repair.

Lin raised her hands (emperor Palpatine-style) and lightning arced at the bike while Lin screamed, "I'm going to destroy you!"

She smiles sweetly at THC and LB approach her, flexing her arms and stretching her neck with a clicking sound.
"Lets play"
Suddenly her arms whip out, turning into thousands of 20 metre long thin strips, almost tentacle like but hair thin and razor sharp surrounding LB and THC gripping and cutting them with hundreds of tightening coils. Clothes and skin are lacerated as she grips them like a squid and lifts them up into the air... (ooc: literally just thought of that, have fun getting out of it)
As the deadly tendrils flashed in, LB shifted into lightning and blasted into the air. Returning to his normal form, he hovered above Shard.
"Yes, let's. I've always liked games..."
Electricity arced through the air to him from the walls, swiftly building a visible charge around him (think one of those little lighning-ball things, except in reverse). The positive charge below Shard, on the other hand, was not so easy to detect...

The Hooded Claw managed to jump above the first grab, but was snagged out of the air by a second set of tentacles. Her dark robe was tougher than any ordinary cloth, but was still sliced through in a number of places as she was hefted into the air. Despite this, however, her surprisingly heavy form remained hidden. A length of steel chain emerged from her left sleeve, whirling about her to fend off any more tentacles; a pair of heavy shears emerged from her right and started chopping those that held her.
OOC: Don't expect to catch her that easily again; THC is very fast, though Shard caught her by surprise this time.

OOC: Dancing penguins/Maggedon, I just thought I would point out that either a)you would see his shadow, b)the grassy depression, because he is might be in shadows anyway, or c)the mind talking probably helped. So, unless phobia isn't very observant, you probably have me pinpointed by now. Just for reference. *Roll spot check!* :D

Keeping the rifle at his hip, he slowly straightened and turned, carefully scanning every detail of the ground, and trees around him.
As soon as Henry thought back, Phobia knew exactly were he was. The squirrel scampered behind Henry and quickly transformed into his true from. But he didn't stop there, transforming into a form he had gained from a couple years as a zookeeper.

Henry heard an angry sound and, the next thing he knew, he was struggling in the trunk of a full grown male African Elephant.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritwalker turned a corner and nearly crashed into Zell as he hurried out.

"What's the rush?" She asked as her eyes became blue fire and she rose from the floor, blue willow the whisp fireballs swirling around her. "I don't supose you'll just give up."

Faolan was lying on the ground in the fedal position. He was cringing and shaking with anger and disgust. He just repeated the same thing over and over. "EW!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC:Okay Pottsylvainia, be a scientifically correct. I don't care. I'm not editing it though. Let's just pretend I said third degree from now on. and it will heal. Tala's arm could be completely flayed, but the skin would EVENTUALLY heal. Don't deny her lycan healing abilities.

IC: Tala frowned at the third degree burn like scar on her arm. It would take about twelve hours for it to heal normally. Not only because silver had hit her, but because she hadn't cleaned it away, so her skin had soaked it all up. Of course, thanks to her formula, the would might be fine anytime from 20 minutes to two days. She really wasn't sure. She felt the black scab and knew how it would heal. Her body would recreate the muscle, nerve, blood vessels, skin, etc, from below the wound. Then the scab would peel off like dried gel from a Henna Tatoo.(OOC: A henna tatoo is a semi-perminent tatoo that is placed on your skin using a natural chemcial compound. The gel dries and then you peel it off. By this time your skin has been stained with the henna and it stays for about two weeks) Tala sighed.

"I feel so useless.", She growled through barred teeth. "I can't do shit all with my arm messed up like this! DAMN!" Tala laid on the floor of the Hoverbird with her head in her arms. Without raising her head she added. "It still doesn't hurt, but damn it feels weird."

Henry had just enough warning to keep his hands clear of the trunk. He threw his rifle clear, as it wouldn't be any good in such close quarters. Quicker then a striking snake, the massive blade of his combat knife was out in his right hand, while his left was loosening the holster of the revolver. Managing to get his knife into position without to much trouble, he plunged the ten inch blade down to the hilt into the trunk just above him.

OOC: You know, 5CN, i initially had doubts about letting you put Xuanyu, a god, into this, as it was fodder for godmodding, and i only did so because you were a RPer i respected. So let's work this out. The Ancient Charm is but a conduit of a limitless power from a parallel dimension, a power which is felt and not seen or heard, and which even the Heirs themselves do not have much knowledge of. And which they can only draw upon in times of great need. Let's make a deal. We fight this battle to a stalemate, with more words exchanged than blows, then we take the next step as it comes. Or do you have a better idea?

(ooc: seems nobody wants to be caught by shard even though SHE (not he) has lightning speed... and as for Simon with his luck it is unlikely he would get pinned or lose his shades, oh well.)
He stares in shock for a split second before his face turns into a snarl.
"Nobody fucks with my shades bitch!" He fires his bowel disruptor, now set to "prolapse" and hopes it works on this freak.

After chopping through the chopper he turns in mid air hearing and seeing the bike he is there in under a second enveloping Simon in a suit of solid mercury.
"Hello again Simon. Up to your old tricks?"

She laughs as the shards fall to the ground from the broken tentacles and simply regrows more and more. The electric charge around her tickling her as it sparks off her crystalline skin. "Wow. Handy"

OOC: Ok, Mageddon, Zell's strength is in his trickery and speed, just so you know. What's Spiritwalker's strengths?

IC: Zell stopped in his tracks, unprepared for this sudden and unexpected event. Then he smiled, and brought out a rose.

"Who said anything about giving up?", he replied with a grin. "You but delay me from assisting my ally. "Of course, this works as well........"

He dropped a few dice on the ground......which bleched out smoke, covering everything. Spiritwalker could see nothing through the smoke, and so she didn't see the flying cards coming.

The cards slashed at her, and when she turned to where the cards came from, all she saw were ambiguous shadows......