Heroes: Eve of Destiny

[Dark Silver]

Saibot was still on the ground, even as the battle continued on, and the Astronomer was being taken apart by the others.

The momentary shield he had erected to protect from the Astronomer's blast he drained him, not just his ring, but him physically as well.

Beneath the helmet, his lips twithed upward, as the pain from his kidney shot through his body again. Fuck that was going to be awhile to heal.

Slowly, he dragged himself up, as he watched the last moments of the Astronomer.

[B4UTRUST]

The Astronomer winced and grabbed the sides of his head as Argent's emotions raged through him. He erected a psychic shield to block the pain but had to release his tentative hold on Blackheart to do so.

Then Gravitas attacked. The gravitonic waves coursed through his body and threatened to both crush it and tear it apart in the same instance. The pain was unbearable. Blood fountained out from between his lips as he doubled over, dropping to his knees. He had to act before it was to late.

He unleashed his nullifacation power again, dampening the room. The pain in his chest decreased as the gravity field died. The emotions hammering at his mind went silent.

He looked up, blood caked across his lips and staining his teeth as he grinned through his pain.
"My turn..."

He picked Gravitas up with his mind and flung the nova bodily across the room into Argent. He rose to his feet once more and with a motion drew Niner towards him. In a move of absolute irony the Astronomer did unto him what he had commonly done to others. He grasped him firmly with teke and squeezed till bones began to snap under the pressure. He reached forth into the beast before him and began to drain Niner of his life force to feed his own.

Draining enough to give him a quick boost he likewise flung the creature away from him and into the girl Cammie. She had betrayed him and he would make her pay. He aided her fall, speeding it up till she slammed into the floor. Her head bounced hard off the stone floor, a splash of blood spilling into the air as her head landed again. A pool of crimson began to form slowly under her as she lay unconcious.

He then turned towards the cyborg. With a flick of his hand he sent another blast of destructive energy surging forth.

[Shark Bait]

The Astronomer winced and grabbed the sides of his head as Argent's emotions raged through him. He erected a psychic shield to block the pain but had to release his tentative hold on Blackheart to do so.

Then Gravitas attacked. The gravitonic waves coursed through his body and threatened to both crush it and tear it apart in the same instance. The pain was unbearable. Blood fountained out from between his lips as he doubled over, dropping to his knees. He had to act before it was to late.

He unleashed his nullifacation power again, dampening the room. The pain in his chest decreased as the gravity field died. The emotions hammering at his mind went silent.

He looked up, blood caked across his lips and staining his teeth as he grinned through his pain.
"My turn..."

He picked Gravitas up with his mind and flung the nova bodily across the room into Argent. He rose to his feet once more and with a motion drew Niner towards him. In a move of absolute irony the Astronomer did unto him what he had commonly done to others. He grasped him firmly with teke and squeezed till bones began to snap under the pressure. He reached forth into the beast before him and began to drain Niner of his life force to feed his own.

Draining enough to give him a quick boost he likewise flung the creature away from him and into the girl Cammie. She had betrayed him and he would make her pay. He aided her fall, speeding it up till she slammed into the floor. Her head bounced hard off the stone floor, a splash of blood spilling into the air as her head landed again. A pool of crimson began to form slowly under her as she lay unconcious.

He then turned towards the cyborg. With a flick of his hand he sent another blast of destructive energy surging forth.

The power dampening field had pretty much no effect on Seven a few energy levels spiked internally but built in systems canceled them out, he had been waiting for the Astronomer’s counter attack however. When the foe began to turn towards Seven, he opened fire once more in a pattern calculated to have the highest probability to hit something vital. Then when the figure fired his next round of energy Seven dove towards it ducking and rolling ending with right handed upward punch to The Astronomer’s abdomen.

[LadyTevar]

As the dampning field shut down her Empathy, Argent froze just that moment too long. She had no time to dodge, no way to assume her shadowform as Gravitas was thrown on top of her, knocking her down and winding her.

[Agent Fisher]

Niner howled in agony and then passed out from the pain.

[Rukia]

Cam didn't have a chance to react before Niner slammed into her and she hit the floor, it wasn't until she hit the concrete the second time before she plunged onto darkness.

[SirNitram]

"I'm okay." Gravitas grunted. "Something broke my-... Oh." The Nova rolled off of Argent, trying to right himself. The sudden loss of his sense of gravitational connections was.. Disorienting, but this had happened before. He thrust his hands to his boot and pulled a knife. It wasn't much, but it meant he was armed.

Focus, dammit. Gravitas fought to regain balance as he sought an opening to slice into the geezer.

[Charon]

Legacies deftly sidestepped as Gravitas went flying into Argent. The world seemed to slow down as he watched Niner get crushed in a TK field, he watched placantly as the errant meta was then thrown into the young girl they'd found. She fell faster than she should have. Interesting.

Legacies turned back to Astronomer. "No, it is our turn." A flurry of blunted tendrils lashed out from Legacies, smashing into the Astronomer with enough force to bring down reinforced walls. A tendril reached out to grab onto the Astronomer's leg, hoping to fling him around the small room, smashing him into the ceiling and the walls before throwing the old man into the larger room that Legacies had openned before.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart lunged at the Astronomer with murderous intent. He didn't need metahuman strength to break an old man's bones.

[B4UTRUST]

The Astronomer recovered after he had thrown the two metas away from him. His breath came in ragged gasps. Another couple of rounds passed through him followed by a lashing of tentacles from Legacies. He reached out to try to control the mind that resisted his power.

His eyes went wide as his mind touched an unphantomable alienness. Even more alien then the swarm that was of but one mind, this creature was composed of three selves. He reeled from the brief contact, letting himself phase back in to reality in his shock.

A blow from Blackheart sent him crashing and skidding across the ground into the wall. He looked up to see the meta that had struck him. Blood trickled faster from between his lips as he coughed up another ounce of blood. He was not in a good position, he realized instantly. He was rapidly weakening from having to use so much of his power. Damn them.

Before they could strike at him again he shoved Blackheart with his mind towards Legacies then threw another blast of energy towards the pair. A diversion trick.

As soon as the blast left his hand he was up, moving, trying to make it to the door to escape. He was on the last dredges of power and would be damned if he would die to these fools

[Dark Silver]

In the confusion as the Astronomer fought the trio, Saibot watched. When the Astronomer moved towards the door, Saibot was behind him, sword in hand.

Beneath the helmet, Saibot was nearly snarling, as he come up behind the Astronomer, one hand grabbed the old man's shoulder, and the other shoved the blade through the frail body, upward from below the ribcage, peircing the lung and heart, and exploding out his chest between two ribs.

Saibot held the Astronomer, bending the man back, and looked into his eyes. Coldly, the visor of the helmet slide back, revealing the cold face, as he watched the light fade from the Astronomer's eyes.

"I'll see you in Hell..." he whispered, just loud enough for it to be the last thing the Astronomer said, before he died. He yanked his sword back from the dead body, released his grip, and let it fall to the ground.

[LadyTevar]

Argent rose, feeling the dampning field shut off with the old man's death. Her ribcage hurt... hopefully just bruised from where Gravitas fell on her. She winced as she moved, crossing over to touch Saibot's shoulder.

"You're hurt..." she said simply, not looking at either the body or the blood on Saibot's sword, simply sharing the calm feeling she had stolen from both Gravitas and Legacies, hoping to calm Saibot down. "The team is safe, Garth..." she whispered softly, just for his ears alone

"Blackheart... I'm taking Saibot, Niner, and the girl first." she stated simply, turning to look at the leader as she faded into her dragon shape. Great wings reached out to gently lift Niner and Camie, before the dragonic head nuzzled Saibot and vanished with the three of them.

Once again, the shadow-world surrounded them, as the silver-limned dragon flew thru airless skies. The heartbeats thrummed out, once, twice...

... and then they were in the Ultimates Medbay, Saibot standing on his own, the dragon's inky wings gently settling Niner and Camie down upon beds. "These two are critical," Argent insisted to the nurses, "but good luck getting Saibot to let himself be checked over." Gentle teasing, as the dragon nudged him before vanishing into the shadows once again. "I will be back ...."

Two heartbeats later, the Shadowdragon erupted into the ritual room. The trip had taken less than thirty seconds total. Large silver eyes looked to Blackheart for instruction. "Ready whenever you are, sir."

[Shark Bait]

Seven got to his feet and holstered his weapon, happy he had made it through this scrape relatively unharmed. “We should sweep the rest of the baseâ€

[SirNitram]

Gravitas, not wounded at all, just briefly nulled, walked out of the room while Ultimas regrouped. No need to get involved. A few hours later, he was home, recharging and thinking on it all.(Annnnnd.. That's all for this weekend, folks!)

[Charon]

Legacies had been distracted by the old man trying to break into his mind. It had been an amazing experience. Many minds twirling and fighting where only one should be. It was, unique, truly unique. His revery had been shattered by the one with the odd organ crashing into him. As Legacies fell backwards he felt the energy coming at him through his whole body, a multitude of tendrils lashed out and formed a barrier that was destroyed with the energy as it released upon contact. It almost hurt, how peculiar. Legacies craddled the landing with Blackheart to reduce the injuries of both parties and was then quickly on his feet again in time to see Argent cradle the badly hurt Saibot. "How curious." was all he said as she dissappeared with the three. His senses filled the room and he listened. He heard the android's parts whirring beneath their coverings, he heard the joints move as it spoke.

"We agree with Seven. The building should be checked further. Though with this commotion I doubt it will not be known that something is amiss."

[LadyTevar]

"There were norms working for him," Argent told the team, using a slang term for non-meta. "Nurses and such... some guards. Demise may still be at large as well."

She wanted to leave: the psychic residue from the tortures and murders was still a heavy weight at the back of her mind. However, she felt that if she left without Blackheart's command, Tarot would make sure nasty things happened to her... or to Saibot. "Blackheart, we've done the rescue, the recon, and we've ..." here she paused, trying not to look at the Astronomer's corpse, "... dealt with the Astronomer. Mission accomplished. Could we let the other agents clean out the building?"

[Shark Bait]

"There were norms working for him," Argent told the team, using a slang term for non-meta. "Nurses and such... some guards. Demise may still be at large as well.""

Seven’s brain flared with activity at the sound of that name, demise, someone had said that name when speaking of who seven had fought just before his systems took him off line. “This demiseâ€

[LadyTevar]

[quote="Shark Bait"] “This demiseâ€

[Cynical Cat]

"We search this place thouroughly," said Blackheart. His injuries were not minor, but he was still operating at a superhuman level. "Secure it and sweep it and then let the techies claw through everything. Everyone not up to extended operations, catch a ride with Argent and the wounded."

[Shark Bait]

Argent slowly nodded to Seven. "Yes.. that's him. Since he escaped you at the park, there's a good chance he's made his way back to this base. However," she adds grimly. "I'd rather not try to find him. Like a Medusa, he kills you by meeting your eyes. I'm not sure how he does it, and I do not want to find out the hard way."

Seven tried to smile again but the lack of skin on the lower half of his face turned it to another series of motor clicks, “Actually what you are describing is a basiliskâ€

[LadyTevar]

"If he's here..." Argent repeated. "He may have been like Ember and I, brought in for one job only. I could not tell you for sure either way." Her black-on-black eyes turned to Blackheart. "Forgive me if I'm hoping he's long gone, or that the Astronomer's death will break whatever hold he had over those norms he had here."

[Charon]

Legacies nodded to Blackheart as he made his way out of the room. The silver figure stopped at the door and turned back. "We shall begin clean up. Is there a kill order is we face resistance? Only the equipment is important yes?"

[Cynical Cat]

"This is still America, last time I looked," replied Blackheart. "Take them alive if you can, but dead if you must. Argent, you know the place somewhat. Use your telepathy to help us navigate."

[LadyTevar]

"This is still America, last time I looked," replied Blackheart. "Take them alive if you can, but dead if you must. Argent, you know the place somewhat. Use your telepathy to help us navigate."

Argent winced a little at the word 'telepathy'... "I can sense emotions, not thoughts, Blackheart. I can try, but there's a lot of ..." she searched for a word to describe the weight of pain/death/torture/twisted enjoyment around her. "... let's just say that the Astronomer enjoyed torturing and killing... and the walls have soaked it in." she finally stated bluntly.

Still, she walked forward, avoiding the blood-stained floor around the corpse and joined Legacies by the door before trying to open up and sense for people. Once again, she was going to use Legacies' emotional stability to anchor her.

The aura of shadowy wings around her got darker, the tips seeming to sink into the shadows on the ground as she opened herself to find people...

"Medbay. several people... scared/worried/afraid." she stated flatly, her eyes rimmed with silver. "... below us... more people... scared/worried/afraid. Master is gone, what shall we do? Flee/Fight? run?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Can you calm them down, make them likely to surrender?"