Heroes: The Rise of Omnicorp

[Cynical Cat]

The concussion blasts knocked Blackheart back. The bull knocked him down and bruised him. The meta got back up. His voice was like an empty tomb. "Unfortunate for you. I have within me the deaths of gods and demons. Rarely does the will of one of those parasites equal that of a starving peasant."

Blinding bright beams of light shot from his eyes toward Saibot.

[Dark Silver]

"And the will of men can kill gods, and move mountains..."

Blackheart's eye bolts flashed out, Saibot met the beams with energy of his own. Unfortunatly, because he wasn't trying to hurt Blackheart beyond what was nessacry, to get him to fall back - the beams where overpowered by Blackhearts own, and slammed into him.

The only thing which saved him from being reduced to ash like so many others, was his Life Support field snapping into place. He flew backwards, the armor on his chest and left arm gone, flesh on his stomach charred, blood flowing freely from it. His left arm was was charred, bone visible on most of it, blood flowing from severed veins and arteries.

He staggered back, his entire body screaming with pain, but he didn't scream. Pure strength of will, his own Iron Will that made his resistant to nearly every form of psychic attack allowed him to block out the pain.

Instead, he fell to his knees, slouching until he sat on his calves. His arms hung limply at his sides. The black visor which looked only like a glossier part of his helmet, cracked, hairline cracks, and peices of the space-age material fell forward, onto the stone floor - revealing a single eye to Blackheart if he looked.

The sound of a drums pounded heavily in his ears, like the boot of a thousand marching men.

boom-boomp

boom-boomp

boom-boomp

Let Blackheart come for him now.

The eye closed, and he waited.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart poured it on. The air around him swam from the heat radiating off Saibot's force field. The wall by Saibot began to take on a cherry colour. Heat hammered Blackheart, enough to render an ordinary man unconscious from heat stroke. "Man, god, demon, mortal, and immortal. You differ only in your presumptions. When will Gravitas or Blast arrive? Not long I think."

[SirNitram]

Almost on prediction, Gravitas appeared, having hoisted Blast free. "Okay, clear the sand out of your ears, you're out." He firmly told the young Meta, before turning to the surrendering Saibot.

"I'd prefer to take him alive. If the Guardians are back, they've us on the hitlist. Think he's subdued enough?"

[LadyTevar]

In Millinium City, Argent dropped to her knees, clutching her her arm over her stomach, letting out the scream of pain that Garth denied himself.

There was not a mark on her, only the phantom pain from the link. However, the radio in Ghost's helmet was set on speaker, so the scream would have been heard....

[Cynical Cat]

The beams ended. "Be careful," said Blackheart. "He was very intent on not being taken. With those rings, he can do the most damage the instant before death if he's determined enough. That he's been dragged through the ringer won't change that."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost scrambled out of his seat, kneeling next to Argent, mentally reminding himself of the link. He put his hand on her, offering her some place to dump some of the pain.

[LadyTevar]

There was a moment as soon as Ghost touched her that she reacted without thinking, dumping the pain of a burnt stomach and burnt, broken arm into him. As the pain cleared, she realized what she was doing and tried to take it all back.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost opened his mouth in a shout of pain as he collapsed backwards, hand still gripping her. The spook grit his teeth through the pain, eyes wide. He felt the pain starting to receed, hissing in pain.

[LadyTevar]

"s...s...sorry...." Li Na hissed, taking small deep breaths as she seemed to feel at least one rib also cracked/broken, as well as an odd burning sensation, as if something was spreading inside her. "black...heart... winning...." she trailed off, trying to get some kind of focus, somewhere to send the pain away from herself. What she could say was enough to get the message across -- the pain was from Saibot.

[Dark Silver]

He only faintly heard their words over the pounding in his ears. He was listening to his own body by now. He was amazed at the level and detail he could perceive. His body no longer felt the pain, only the burning warmth traveling throughout his body. He felt and heard his own flesh reknitting and growing. It took only for his accelerated healing factor to kick in, before the Demon's Blood did what it had to his senses - enhancing them beyond anything he thought possible.

Within a second, the hole in his stomach had healed. A second later, the flesh was fresh and pink where a second before it was dead and charred. His arm's flesh was visible speedind from the stump, back over the charred bone, until it to was fresh and new.

It took no longer than for those few lines to be spoken by them, till he was fully healed again. Anger flooded his being, still the desire to keep them safe. His entire life was a lie, but the person he had developed into because of the false memories would not change, only become muddled and then clearly defined. As it was now.

"Phil...return the Ring and the Boxes, get those two out of here, leave me to them and they won't be after you."

Saibot's voice was a whisper at this point, he had heard the scream, but knew, even as he healed, that the pain would die for her. It dawned on him that the entire time, Ghost was listening - he had tuned out Ghost's words when he tried talking.

It would be the last time he tried to reason with them. His entire body cried out for violence. Yet he remained in the slouched/kneeling position he was in, his arms hadn't moved despite the healing.

"Please Phil....you did it for the Freak Legion in the sewers...do that for me now."

[SirNitram]

"The Freaks are suffering because of what I always said was so." Gravitas said with a darkening look. "You aren't them. You hunted and hated us while being one of us. You don't escape so easily, and you aren't getting your superweapons back."

"You lost the right to use my birth name the instant you turned on everyone."

[Dark Silver]

"I'm already dead you idiot..." was all he said, his voice chilling, "I'm trying to save your fucking lives. But no....none of you want to be saved..."

He wasn't giving them time to respond, Gravitas issuing his statement broke his resolve, his veneer or calmness. From his life support field, multiple beams of energy fired.

"YOU HUNTED ME!" he screamed, as the first bolts of energy struck Blackheart and Gravitas both. "I left you all alone! I stayed out of the light! I only acted in Vegas because I had to save lives! It lead THEM to ME!"


The beams were multiple, enough to leave little to no room for manuvering, except for at Blast - they avoided him like the plague. Instead they scooped into the ground beneath him, and with the slab of permacrete, carried him along for the ride. The beams plowed into Blackheart and Gravitas, stronger than any force field he had ever created, and pushed them down the hall, and back to the elevator shaft.

The fire within his body was burning, he felt the pit of pain and emptiness deep within him - till it was refilled by his body regenerating. It didn't dawn on him that the blood he consumed, while supercharging him, was also killing him. His super-enhanced body made up for it, healing the damage the burning blood was causing him, but eventually the burning would overtake his healing ability. He would burn from the inside out.

When the others were at the hall, he was already shouting "GET OUT OF HERE", back at them. He looked down at his Ring, glowing brillantly with the power held within, power he was building. Energy crackled from the Ring, over his arm and then body.

"Make them run..." he said, loud enough for the comm system in his helmet to pick up. He couldn't go back with them, even if he was killed, the Guardians would hunt Mirage Team down. They would get him, and their tools back. Maybe if they went back to Ultima, it would stop.

But not if he went with them.

"I'm sorry..." he said, before he released the energy of the Ring.

All at once.

The ground shook like a Earthquake as the energy was released, and fed back in on the Ring. His scream was the second thing to reach the others, followed by the growing light.

Saibot felt his body being consume, his very flesh melting away, only to be reformed, and melt away again a moment later. The ball of energy surrounding him began to expand outward, slowly, his still living mind was controlling the expansion. Giving them time to get the hell away, before it consumed the base. If he was lucky, he'd get the Guardians in the base along with himself. He doubted he'd get all of them though.

One made a living by keeping alive.

It took nearly two minutes for his body to fail, and the Ring's reaction was already to far gone to stop. His last concious thought was that he hoped Mirage Team made it out.

[OOC Explanation: Saibot released the entire store of energy of his Ring. He controlled it for as long as he could, which was about two minutes, before the energy will expand outward and consume the entire base and everything in it. If the team searches after the bubble vanished, all they'll find is a charred skeleton and the melted remains of his Ring.]

[LadyTevar]

she was dying, burning up from the inside and outside at once. part of her knew it wasn't her, it was from the link, but she couldn't stop it, couldn't block garth out. it boiled out of the link, torching the mindscape as she was forced to retreat, finally running out of places to run, her back against the link to the one person she hoped could help
ELIAS! HELP ME!

he had shielded her before, extending his shroud out to protect her from the demon trying to possess her. she knew if she could reach him, he could do it again. but he was so far away, and she was burning alive
ELIAS! ELIAS!!

she was going to die ... and would never see him again ...



While her mind was suffering, Li Na's body was on the floor in the midst what looked like a grand mal seizure. Shadows writhed, uncontrolled, flickering and surging like a bonfire around her in reaction to her mental truama, echoing her visions of being burned alive. It was a small favor that she wasn't broadcasting the pain throughout the building; instead that talent was focused on reaching Elias, whose name she kept mouthing silently as she convulsed on the ground.


((Touching her would be a BAD IDEA right now. In two minutes, it will be over, one way or another.))

[Cynical Cat]

"He's going to cook himself," said Blackheart. "And the base. Forensics will be. . . difficult. Trying to stop him isn't worth the risk. Pull back."

[frigidmagi]

From Blast's admittedly uncluttered and not exactly complex view of the situation, Saibot was committing suicide. It was in alot of ways the easy way out. But to futher complicate the issue, Blast was Catholic, which meant in his view suicide was sin that condemned you to hell. A Hell that Blast had had real and very dramatically objective proof existed. To be honest Blast never really liked Saibot and he doubted Saibot ever really thought enough him to feel one way or the other. Still that didn't mean he wanted Saibot to roast in hell for all eternity.

Throwing the pavement at him was actually a great idea. If Blast wasn't holding a small sun in his hands and burning with a desire to kill something. Blast saw the debris hurling toward him and simply turnned the little ball of burning plasma in his hand into a blast of burning plasma, cutting him a clear path. Blast then faced a problem. Both Grav and Blackheart were about to be hit by energy beams. Both men were mentors and role models to him and the thought of leaving one in harms way was... unpleasant. Blast decided almost subconsciously on a third option.

He leapt at Saibot and slapped his hand on the ring and pulled at the energy inside. It was sickly sweet like ice cream drenched in whip cream and to much chocolate syrup. Blast knew he was gonna be sicker then ever before tomorrow and likely for days. He would have to deal with that.

"This isn't Hollywood. There are no easy dramatic exits in flashes of light. Stop this. You've been giving us only half of the story since we got here. That's not helping." Blast said as he took away the easy option from Saibot.

[SirNitram]

"Blast..." Gravitas' voice was worried. That was intense power. He knew too much about it. "Toss that here. Every watt." The Nova was already shaping a section of bent space to contain it. It'd be a black hole, right up until he opened a hole to blast the energy out of it's gravitational pull.

[Dark Silver]

The burning sensation as the Ring's energy sought to consume his body ceased, as he felt something grab a hold of his hand. The energy funneled away from him, and into something else. Not the Ring. It cried out in his mind for energy.

His eyes focused on the form of Blast, raw energy flooding into the boy's body. The Ring's energy.

His energy.

In the crack of the helmet, one eye narrowed. The eye burned with un-repressed anger. The desire for violence.

"You idiot." His words dripped venom.

"I was getting you out of here, before they got a chance to kill you. You don't want Justice, you like Blackheart and Gravitas want my blood. You want to see me dead at your own hands. You could have been one of the greats kid."

Saibot was already getting to his feet, towering over the smaller Blast, sheathed still in his Life Support Field. It'd take time for Blast to draw all the energy from the Ring, more Time than he had right now.

Saibot's voice dripped violence, anger and rage. His voice echoed the one word that would put the fear of Gods into at least one of Mirage Team. A word he heard said in the sewers all those weeks back, before his body was drained.

"Feed" he said coldly, and the Ring responded to the command. Saibot's hand clamped down onto Blast's, holding the younger man tightly against the Ring as it began to feed from the Meta-boy.

[Cynical Cat]

"I love it when a murderous bigot accuses people who have been trying to capture him without killing him as being bloodthirsty," said Blackheart as he clamped down on Saibot's wrist. "It's something about the total distortion of reality and blatant hypocrisy. Since your busy in a power tug of war with an energy leech, a bad move by the way, your force field isn't strong enough to prevent me from doing this."

An inhumanely strong hand closed on the ring. "Which will come off first, finger or ring? Let's find out."

[SirNitram]

"I didn't want your blood.. Right up until that stunt." Gravitas said.

It was, strictly speaking, so small it could not last for more than a fraction of a second. While it drew matter in, the total grey matter torn into it was insubstantial.

The burst of gamma radiation released, however, by the decay of the singularity, was another story. Particles interacted with the grey matter. The heat inside Saibot's cranial cavity spiked so fast the man's eyes bubbled and melted. The rest of his face was a mess, hinting at the damage inside.

Most of all, however, it'd stop the feeding on Blast. "I really hate when someone thinks they're all clever and brash for that shit. You offer them all the ways out in the world.. Come on, we want to find the other Guardians or just destroy the base?"

Gravitas might have claimed to give up claims to godhood, but there was a certain, extremely primitive, type of divinity that killed a man by boiling the inside of his head.

[LadyTevar]

The seizures stopped as the burning receded, leaving Argent in the floor gasping for breath. She didn't know what was happening, but she could feel the rage. "Ghost... what are.... saying..."

Then she screamed, clutching her head as the link to Saibot snapped violently. On top of the pain from before, the finality of Saibot's true death overwhelmed her. She collapsed, the shadows failing and falling away, leaving a deadness in the minds of Mirage team where their links to her temporarily shut down.

[B4UTRUST]

Saibot's body fell lifeless to the ground, tiny rivers of blood pouring from his nose and ears. His eyes stared vacently upwards.

"Jeez," a voice hovering above stated. It sounded annoyed, but mostly tired. "This is what I get for trusting an amature to take care of a problem."

A quick look up showed three individuals far above, each one surrounded by a different colored field.
"I assume you all are finished with what you came to do. You're now cordially invited to get the fuck away from here."

"Fucking people leaving messes for us to clean up. Swear to Christ I'm too old for this shit," came the muttered words. Not even a glance was spared towards Saibot's corpse though a flicker of light appeared, neatly severing the finger. The ring was jerked from Blackheart's grasp and slid off the digit. It floated neatly upwards till it was snatched by White Guardian and slid on his other ring finger.

"Oh, and 'Phil,' was it? The equipment of ours that you have. Return it or destroy it, your choice. Just don't ever let us hear of you using it or still having it. It's not in anyone's best interest."

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart was still for the brief moment as the ring floated away from him. At least now he knew where Saibot got his stupid from. Did these morons thought they could harbor fugitives, assault federal agents, and steal evidence without going down? That they could back down metahuman federal agents, guys who went up against superhuman terrorists for a living? Apparently the answer was "yes". And he hadn't promised Argent to bring any of these assholes in alive if possible.

He closed the distance before they could react. They were busy talking, he was already jazzed up for total mayhem and was on them before they knew it. His fist hit the White Guardian before the ring got there. White flew and hit the wall hard enough to send cracks shooting from the impact point. His fist closed on Saibot's ring as he mid-air side kicked the asshole on his right, sending him flying. His left hand closed on the throat of the asshole on the left. The force field wasn't enough to stop him, although it was enough to prevent him from immediately wringing the bastard's neck like a chicken.

His eyes burned in their sockets like novas as he poured power into them. "Hand these ignorant motherfuckers their asses," he said.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost knelt by her, gingerly reaching out to touch her. When he didn't get zapped, he checked her pulse, then lightly shook her.

"Argent, come on, wake up." He said, noticing that the sound from his helmet had cut off.

[LadyTevar]

It took a little more shaking, but she slowly roused, blinking up at him owlishly. One hand went to her head and she winced from the headache. "He's .... gone..."