Up, Up, and Away

Nimona, Greenwich

"METAL!!! Alright, let's get to work." Nimona chuckled. "First thing's first...we gotta figure out how we're gonna do this. Hmmmm...what would draw out a criminal..." She began to pace around in a circle, finger back on her chin, a little devil-like tail forming on her rear and swishing from side to side as she did so. It was unclear if she'd created it subconsciously or of her own volition. Regardless, it didn't take long before a lightbulb turned on in her brain.

"AHA! I got it!" she cried, leaping up excitedly with no warning. "We're gonna bring in the BIG GUNS! Well, not the real big guns, but something close enough!"

In an instant, she transformed, and standing before Raph was no longer a strange, semi-medieval-looking punk girl, and instead the one and only Lord Recluse, clad in his signature armor, eight-mechanical spider arms outstretched behind her and towering menacingly over the ninja turtle. The only thing disrupting the terrifying appearance was the fact that this version of Lord Recluse was entirely pink.

"TA-DAAAAAAA!!! Behold, our ticket to the baddie that needs busting up!" Recluse(???) announced, not in the voice he was known for but in the voice of Nimona. "Just a few modifications, and we'll be good to go! All I gotta do is show up, announce to the world we're looking for the guy in question, and he'll be running to us lickety split! After all, what bad guy would argue with Lord Recluse? Anyone in their right mind would be WAY too terrified not to do what he said!"

Brooklyn

"And I'm Ja-ow!"

"We're just passing through, don't mind us."

While there were more subtle ways to get her apprentice to not blurt out their names to law enforcement, kicking Jack in the shin had accomplished Wuya's goal all the same. Still, she looked intrigued enough to purposefully slow her walking speed as she beckoned Jack to follow, making it obvious to anyone who was paying attention that she planned to listen in on what was going on.

NoHo

Seeing what she needed to see, Jorogumo deactivated her enhanced vision, and leapt over to the building to cling to the wall nearby Donnie, seeming to have no trouble sticking to its surface.

<"Ready when you are."> She told him, and though her mask didn't really show it, Donnie could get the sense that she was putting a game face on.

Lizzie - Still On A Bus

Awww geez... was all Lizzie could think - not oud loud, God no - as her handler chastised her. It's not like she didn't deserve it, but still. It was almost embarassing, to be 16 and still feel so incredibly small in the face of adult authority.

'Uh- n-now, I know it sounds bad when ya put it like that, but... well, I mean, there's a perfectly like, logical reason!' she started to plead, 'I-if those Arachnos dudes took it, then like- you know that'd be... really bad...'

This was absolutely hopeless. She really needed Norma to do the talking. Usually Lizzie was right at home getting in trouble but that was when they weren't on a freaking mission. She wasn't stupid. She knew that a serious screw-up now could mean they never get to go on a mission ever again. For fuck's sakes, they were lucky they weren't banned forever after the Lady Lucktopus incident.

'Maybe I should patch ya through to Mole, she really went all-in with the plan,' she said, about to open a telepathic link with her sister...

...Only to be greeted by the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life. Like burning hot magma being poured directly into her ear canal. It was so bad she audibly screamed out loud, covering her ears and almost fucking collapsing on the floor in the middle of a bus, its passengers now gawking at her. A few asked if she was alright.

"Don't- don't worry about me!" she told them, "New York City commute, am I right? Literal fucking headache!

Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Mar 28th 2024 at 11:30:29 AM

Ballister, Moxxxi's (Exterior)

Along the shady streets of New York's criminal underbelly walked a man whose appearance was concealed by a thick black cloak, heading towards a bar he'd come to be very familiar with recently. He was searching for an information broker he knew resided there in hopes of discovering something which could fuel a plan he was in the process of brewing, but as he was about to reach his destination, that idea came screeching to a halt. As soon as he saw the armed gunman outside the building, he ducked into a nearby alley to avoid being seen, managing to catch a bit of what the leader was demanding as he did so.

"What in blazes...?" he muttered as he squinted at the opposing force. It seemed like they thought Moxxxi's was the hiding place of a member of the Crimson Raiders, which...sadly, the more he thought about it, the more it added up. He'd always knew there was more going on with Moxxi than she claimed, and the thought that she was the same Moxxi as the one known to be associated with the Raiders had certainly crossed his mind more than once. He was definitely going to have some words with her when this was over, but nonetheless, he owed her quite a large debt, and if she was going to be held accountable for her actions, he wanted it to be by his hands and not whoever these bastards were. He didn't trust them as far he could throw them. And besides, he still needed to get that information.

He needed to figure out a way to get inside without the gunmen noticing. After a bit of thinking, and some looking around, he spotted a nearby fire escape, and used it to reach the rooftop of one of the buildings that made up the alley. Even the most observant of individuals rarely though to look up. Standing there, the roof of Moxxxi's was directly across from him. The only problem was that were was a solid 20 foot gap between him and where he wanted to get to. He had many options at his disposal for crossing it, but what he really needed was an option which was quiet, or at least fairly quiet. If he was too loud, the gunmen would notice him and shoot him full of holes. He paused for a moment, before slowly removing his shoes and producing a pair of metal boots, each with a small button on the side of them. He put them on, and pressed the button, and with a brief faint hum, their bottoms began to glow green as he was lifted up into the air slightly. Perfect.

It took him a few moments to get used to walking properly in anti-gravity boots, but once he'd gotten the hang of it, he promptly tip-toed very carefully on over to the roof of Moxxxi's, only de-activating and removing the boots once he was safely at his destination. Then, he began to look for a way in. Was a convenient roof trapdoor a bit too much to hope for?

Operation Lure Out GO (Greenwich)

"So, uh, what ya got in miiiiiiiiIIIYAAH—!"

Whether it was an ingrained reaction to Lord freaking Recluse or his own inherent arachnophobia, Raph let out an embarrassingly girlish scream at Nimona's transformation, falling backward on his tail and scooting back. It took him a few seconds to process what had actually happened, at which point his eyes widened, and he quickly clambered to his feet.

"Uh—shapeshifter, huh? Guessin' that's what you meant by 'big guns'..." Raph paused, before a grin split his face. "Do it."

Operation Get Information GO (Noho)

"<Alright. On three. One...>" Donnie drew his bo staff in preparation. "<Two...>" His legs tensed in anticipation of the jump. "<One!>"

And then he leapt.

Donnie dove through the open window and brought his staff down on the head of the closest person. "Which one of you is in charge here?!" he demanded, spinning his bo to block oncoming attacks and jab at any foe who got too close.

...Of fucking course things weren't gonna be easy. He was starting to miss Paragon City already. If these idiots out there met the Freakshow gang, they'd get along pretty well...or still get along but would go and beat each other up.

The shark man gritted his many sharp teeth, but kept hidden, waiting for his target to decide to come out...just so he can have the chance to strike.

Meanwhile outside, the Arachnos forces Mako had at the ready decided their Patron didn't needed this kind of distraction right now. Might Makes Right is the Arachnos way, and they will damn well show these psychos their bounty target belongs to them, not these fools!

"They belong to us, fools! No one dares interrupt an Arachnos operation and live!"

As the Arachnos forces came out of their hiding spots to fire at the Bloodshot Gang, a few Wolf Spiders firing a few inaccurate shots from their rifles, though then a horrifying spider-like mech◊ that stood at 10 feet tall would glare at the position of the bandits, and quickly fire a green colored barrage of acid spray towards the group's position, hot and dangerous enough to melt the flesh of the poor fools that were hit by it.

The war is now on...

Andi's face quickly became serious as Subaru came over, and hoping they'd talk (wait, was she also not minding the whole 'not an alien' thing? What the actual fuck-). Just before she could speak though, the symbiote's blank white eyes narrowed as she then spoke to Subaru.

"If its about what happened in there, the blame is on me, not my host. Between our bond and specific loud noises being my weakness, I unintentionally affected my host emotional state with my own. Please do not-"

Just before the symbiote could explain further, though, it then took notice of the leader not being down just yet, along with assaulting some...turtle thing? Interesting.

"Yeah, this intervention is gonna wait, Subaru. The guy is in trouble."

"Agreed."

The noodle-like symbiote would then retract back inside the suit...before then its face would then appear to consume Andi's head, covering it with its own toothy visage, the long tendril hair growing back once the symbiote and Andi were once again whole as Scream.

"We are ready. You two ready to knock him out once again?" Scream asked Rivet and Subaru with a toothy grin on her face.

Rivet: East Village

"Heh- whoa. Okay, easy with the compliments!" Rivet stammered as she pulled away from Andi and seemed to blush at the symbiote's remark. "It's not- my heart's totally not that big. It's sharp, like one of those spiky- wait you don't have those. I mean, I'm a mean, lean, killing machine. All bite 'n' all fuzz. A-Actually, lombaxes can harden their hairs into sharp spines. That's uh- yup. Ya can't disprove that."

She shook herself off as Subaru finally exited the store, and she feigned composure with a grin as she gave the girl a chipper wave as if nothing had happened. However, any further conversation was cut short by one of the left-over gang members attacking some shelled creature, which Rivet took quick notice of.

"Yeesh. These guys ever take a break?" she remarked, summoning her hammer again and rolling her eyes as she began to walk forward towards the muscle-bound gang leader. "Hey! Meathead! Pick on someone your own size! Like my hammer!"

She was about to lunge forward, but Scream asked if she and Subaru were ready, so her flow state was cut short so violently that she almost tripped up. Glancing back at her two friends in surprise, she awkwardly shuffled back to regroup with them before nodding.

"Uh- yeah. Totally ready. Okay, let's try this again. Ahem. 'Like my hammer!'"

This time she lunged, with a burst from her hoverboots assisting her as she attempted to clothesline the gang leader with her hammer. Even if she missed, at least it'd distract him from picking on the turtle for a moment.

Arcee: Brooklyn

"Yeah, well we weren't usually on the receiving end," Arcee replied to Optimus, though gave him a look out of the corner of her eye and a small smirk of reminiscence. "Usually. But I'll shelve war stories for later."

Fowler's straightforward but relaxed demeanour seemed to convince Arcee that he was an agreeable sort, though she would admit that this was only really because Optimus was beside her. If she'd been on her own, she would have been a lot more wary. But for now, she nodded along in agreement with the human.

"Doesn't sound too bad. I'm sure we have some questions too. We trust them, Optimus?"

She had no real doubts that he would, but deferring to her leader was automatic at this point. She also knew that despite her penchant for cynicism and suspicion, sometimes Optimus could pick up on something wrong that she hadn't even considered.

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 29th 2024 at 12:14:12 PM

NoHo

Once Donnie was through the window and drawing attention to himself, Jorogumo hopped up and through the open window herself, performing a threat assessment on the group as she settled into her all too familiar combat stance.

In contrast to Donnie's demand for information and more defensive style past the opening strike, Jorogumo remained silent as she moved from one opponent to another, firing off webbing at their limbs to slow them down before delivering palm strikes to try and knock the breath out of them or otherwise render them unable to fight.

Nimona, Greenwich

As soon as Raph gave the word, Nimona seemed to scrunch up for a moment, focusing, and the colors of the false Recluse shifted from Nimona's signature pink to the infamous supervillain's natural color scheme.

"Alright, let's get to it!" Nimona-Recluse chuckled, cracking her knuckles. Then, something occurred to her, and she tilted her head as she looked at Raph. "Say...do you actually know the name of the guy we're supposed to be drawing out?"

Brooklyn - Guests of Honour (Optimus Prime)

Optimus nods in response to Arcee's snarky observation of how they weren't usually cornered by law enforcement, but decides not to say anything else on the matter. For now, it seems the Autobots have made contact with some very valuable allies.

"We would be honoured to join you, Special Agent Fowler. As for our names, I am Optimus Prime, and this is Arcee. We have come a long way from our home planet, so I thank you for the accomodation," Optimus replies to Fowler, while also answering Arcee's question.

He still takes a moment to note Jack and Wuya's shenanigans. Unlike Agent Fowler, he cannot help but be suspicious of those two, given the latter of the two seems to be listening intently with her suspicious movements.

As for the Drones, he briefly wonders if they're some unknown Cybertronian lifeform of unknown descent. Regardless, the big bot puts the thought out of his mind, and looks at Arcee. "Let us follow Agent Fowler, Arcee, Asura. And perhaps, given Fowler's prior acquaintance with these three," he says while extending a hand to the Drones, "they can accompany us if they so wish."

Edited by G2BattleConvoy on Mar 30th 2024 at 6:44:02 PM

Subaru — East Village

Subaru opened her mouth to reply to Scream, but when she noted that the turtle was in trouble, shut it.

"Mach Caliber?" Subaru said while Rivet was charging forward.

"Yes, buddy."

With a flash of light, Subaru's civvies were replaced by her Barrier Jacket, and the Revolver Knuckle once again covered her right arm. She surveyed the scene for a moment, then said, "Those gangsters need help first."

Without further ado, she skated forward, aiming to interpose herself between the down-and-out gangsters and the evolving fight. "Mach Caliber, please?"

"Alright."

The Intelligent Device used her comms and opened a call with 911. Giving the address, she explained that there were multiple wounded in the scene, and that an ambulance and police were required.

Raph, Probably Should've Mentioned This First (Greenwich)

"Uh—some guy named Bald Bronson. Dunno what he looks like. I'm guessin' bald."

Moxxxi’s (Exterior)

The best this establishment can do for Ballister is the classic air vent, unfortunately. If there’s any saving grace, the air vent is at least unrealistically spacious like any self-respecting air vent should be.

Down on the street level, Captain Flynt sees the acid spray coming just in time to light and throw an incendiary bomb…down at his own feet. A plume of flames erupts around the bandit leader, blocking the spray of acid and engulfing his men. Flynt and the hatchet-wielding men in front are lit ablaze, not even seeming to notice as they stare down the opposing group of criminals.

"You heard ‘em, boys…"

Flynt motions for his men to attack, the burning troops in the front rushing forward to hack away at Arachnos troops.

"Let’s turn up the heat!"

Flynt himself bumrushes the mech, slamming into it shoulder-first with an inhuman level of strength before opening fire at it from point-blank range. Every shot from his pistol’s barrage is engulfed in flames, potentially setting the mech on fire in the process.

Flynt’s Psychos, in turn, swing wildly at every inch of Arachnos cannon fodder they can reach, screaming incomprehensible madness as they do.

“Strip the flesh! Salt the wound!”

“Time to carve…some meat puppets!”

“I call dibs on his shoes!”

“Time to play! Time to play!”

As all this goes on, the second line of men behind Flynt open fire with guns that appear to be held together with duct tape. Concerningly, the bandits don’t appear to be reloading even after firing more bullets than the magazine on any reasonable gun should ever be capable of carrying.

Moxxxi’s (Interior)

The door to the men’s restroom opens, a man matching Roland’s description walking out. He’s armed to the teeth, that’s for certain - multiple grenades on his person and a combat rifle strapped to his back. It’s fairly easy to assume he’s ex-military just looking at how he carries himself. Roland looks down at the ECHO device he’s holding, raising an eyebrow at something before looking around the room.

“…Moxxi? Did someone come in after me?”

“…Don’t think so, sugar, why?”

“…Just a gut feeling. Flynt’s making a racket out there.”

Edited by ZodanTheUnbounceable on Mar 31st 2024 at 9:22:13 AM

Scream couldn't help but giggle and give a toothy smile at Rivet's getting flustered and blushing. Wait- did she really just giggle? She normally doesn't do that kind of stuff.

Where are the feelings coming from, host?

I...uh, it's complicated. Now's not the time, though.

Focusing back on the current situation, Scream snarled as she focused back her attention on the big idiot, whenever Rivet's attack connected or not, Scream would take this distraction to make her move, as she would then fire white colored webbing from her hands, aiming them at his upper body in order to restrain him from attacking with how sticky they were. Whenever it would hit or not, she'd lunge close as she went in to a big punch in the gut, all while her tendril hair would move to attempt to grab his legs and make him trip to the floor.

All hell broke loose as conflict became inevitable. As Flynt fought against the Toxic Tarantula, a heavily distorted and mechanized scream came from the machines as it took the blows, showing that it wasnt a machine and there was someone grafted in that spidery abomination. It would then attempt to impale him with one of its long and spiky venomous legs, the ground it impacted on melting from the acid substance its legs was leaking.

The unfortunate Wolf Spiders that were put in the front were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Psychos coming from them...which to the Crab Spiders was good. If they didn't wanted to die horribly, they shouldn't had been taken down by such gibbering idiots. The large super soldiers would then take charge, a few of them mixed between brawling in hand to hand agains the Psychos with the blades in their gaunlets, and others using the mechanical spider limbs grafted to their backs to shoot a multitude of lasers, grenades and bullets to crowd control the ranged opponents.

"Oh, that's just child's play over there. The real racket is in here, guppy."

The shark mutant would then suddenly uncloak right in front of Roland, a sadistic and huge toothy grin on his face. He followed this by going straight to using his sharp claws to attempt to slash Roland's gut. Sure, Recluse asked to be brought alive. ...But nobody said anything about not roughing him up too much. Mako needs the stress relief from making a poor bastard bleed.

Nimona, Greenwich

"Well, that's all I need to know! Thanks for the tip!" Nimona-Recluse chuckled, before taking off running, reaching the edge of the rooftop and making a dramatic leap which propelled her several feet forwards and high into the air, before plummeting downwards and making a classic superhero landing right in the middle of the street so hard that it cracked the pavement. She spread her arms wide, and cackled maniacally.

"OH, CRIMINALS OF GREENWICH NEW YORK!" she bellowed in Lord Recluse's unmistakable voice. "BOW, FOR THE GREATEST SUPERVILLAIN THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN HAS COME FOR YOU!!! I HAVE A DEMAND TO MAKE, AND IF IT IS NOT FULFILLED IMMEDIATELY, REST ASSURED, ARACHNOS TROOPS WILL BE ON YOUR DOORSTEP WITHIN THE HOUR TO PURGE EVERY ROTTEN APPLE WHO DARED TO DISOBEY MY ORDER, AS IF SUCH A PETTY PRANK WOULD ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING BUT MAKE LOOK LIKE IDIOTS! I DEMAND YOU BRING TO ME THE CRIMINAL KNOWN AS BALD BRONSON, POST-HASTE!!! I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH HIM."

Ballister, Moxxxi's (Exterior) —> Moxxxi's (Interior)

Realizing that things were getting real messy real fast, Ballister swiftly removed the vent covering and clambered down into the tight and narrow passage. It was far from comfortable, but as far as he could tell, this was his only way in. After a bit of squeezing through the metal tunnels, he finally managed to find himself directly above the scuffle that was now breaking out between Mako and Roland, staring down at the fight through a metal grate. He knew that shark-man, and if he was here, then this situation had officially gotten even worse. He knew the Crimson Raiders were dangerous, but Arachnos was leagues worse. With one strength-enhanced kick (courtesy of the Blackheart armor), he managed to knock the grate loose, sending it falling down on a collision course straight for Mako's head. Ballister took this opportunity to drop straight down himself, landing gracefully in the midst of the brawl and swiftly drawing his steel sword as he pulled back his hood to reveal his face.

"Enough. I refuse to let this battle be on Arachnos' terms." One of his eyes drifted towards Roland. "He's mine."

Moxxxi's (Exterior)

The good captain notices the acid starting to burn holes in his armor, stowing the pistol away only to draw what appears to be a large boat anchor from his back. Rather than swing it at the spider mech itself, Flynt instead parries the leg with the anchor before slamming it into the ground, the impact creating a fiery explosion where it strikes the ground.

The bandits, for what it's worth, seem quite adept at the idea of cover as they duck behind cars, around alleyways and in one case inside a very foolish food cart to avoid getting torn apart by the barrage of lasers. As for the Psychos, if they even feel pain from the Crab Spiders, they either don't seem to care...or almost enjoy it as they continue wildly swinging away. Even being on fire isn't slowing them down, merely increasing the risk of getting ignited by fighting them at close range.

Moxxxi's (Interior)

Upon Mako decloaking, Roland draws a combat knife and immediately tries to stab the shark man, his blade clashing against the villain's claws.

"I don't have time for this."

Roland reaches for the rifle slung across his back, a high-end silver model with the word [ATLAS] engraved on the side, when Ballister drops the grate on Mako's head. Even as he draws the rifle, a single gunshot splits the air between Ballister, Mako and Roland.

From behind the bar, Moxxi holds a smoking revolver, aimed dead-center between the three men.

"Mess up my bar, whoever wins this fight is gonna wish the other two killed him. Goes double for you, dolphin. And Ballister, the hell? Duct work is expensive."

That ”dolphin” quip definitely felt aimed at Mako.

Opportunity - Concert Venue, Handsome Jack's Private Box (Handsome Jack)

As he waits for his call to connect, Jack checks on...a few other things.

"Ha! Aw man, you gotta be kiddin' me. They're already over there, and they're already workin' on...oh geez, you can't be serious. Note to self, have Jimmy get me a chessboard to like, dramatically move pieces around on when things're goin' according to plan. This day keeps gettin' better 'n better."

Edited by ZodanTheUnbounceable on Apr 4th 2024 at 8:04:57 AM

To those with a sharp ear, one could hear the sounds of a guitar playing outside the establishment, along with the light seemingly intensifying more than normal, one could almost mistake it for it being somewhat divine. After a few seconds, the blinding light would vanish...before then a peculiar sight was upon them. As the light vanished, the sound of a guitar could be heard loudly inside the establishment as someone was playing a riff. Now standing in the entrance of the establishment was a 8 feet being holding a golden guitar wearing regal robes, angelic looking wings, a divine glow emanating from him, a shining halo that was contrasted by his seemingly jarring strange looking face that seemed almost demonic with the sharp teeth and the horns, his posture seeming cocky and relaxed. By his side was someone completely different. While this woman very much seemed like an angel, compared to the male Angel's bright visage, she instead wore dark clothing, a darkened halo floating over her head, black and white wings, and a horned head with one of her eyes being crossed with a large X. While the male Angel carried himself far more cocky, this woman seemed more military and professional, with her hands behind her back.

The reason for why these strange divine beings were here would become clear, as their glare would shift to Belial. Adam would stop playing his guitar and let out an amused laugh as he sized up the Naphil. "So you are the demonic bitch my girls have scouted in this city causing havoc and killing some nerds, hmmm? Gotta say, I met Sinners who are far more tolerable to the eyesight than you. You look like an absolute fucking edgelord!"

Lute meanwhile, turned her steely gaze towards the clientele of the restaurant. Even if she seemed calm and focused, one could hear the boiling venom from her voice. "Depart from this establishment immediately, if you value your lives. Now. This 'thing' is only here to steal your souls for its nefarious purpose. Heaven has come to protect you from this soulless demon."

The Angels would take a few steps away from the entrance to allow any innocent to leave with their lives If they can. ...Of course, Adam couldnt help himself but get a few looks at the posteriors of the women that were leaving in a hurry. If Adam and Lute even took notice of Short Sharon and her thugs, either they didn't care, or they considered her beneath them.

The Toxic Tarantula was caught by the firey explosion, and while it was still standing, the scorch marks on its plating, along with the sparks showed the large iron spider was taking substantial damage. It would then shoot a strange grenade from where its mouth seemed to be, aiming it at Flynt’s feet. If he wasnt fast enough, it turned it was a webbing grenade, that would cover and restrain him with thick webbing if not fast enough. Whatever the results, the Toxic Tarantula would charge at Flynt, murder clear in this biomechanical creation.

As for the grunts, the very rare Wolf Spiders still alive were beyond terrified of the Psycho’s advance and stubborneds, as expected from the ‘green’ troops of the Arachnos military.

The Crab Spiders though? Between some of them yelling and laughing enthusiastically, it seemed they didnt had a good brawl like this in ages. A few Crab Spiders linked with their Crab Packs, as then Arachnos Spiderling bots would come out of their Crab Packs in numbers. While small, they tried to even their odds by taking advantage of slashing at the Psycho's legs, or using their mounted machines guns while the Psycho's were busy with the Crab Spiders.

Mako blocked the knife just in time with his razor sharp claws, though Ballister’s grate hit came out of nowhere and knocked him back slightly from his main target.

While annoyed, the shark mutant’s grin never faltered, even with the current situation brewing. ”Sorry girlie. Next time, don't harbor those Lord Recluse wants. The consequences are rather…drowning.”

Right on cue, Mako would channel the power of the Leviathan, summoning a small watery tornado in the middle of the bar that would attempt to pull and throw with force to the walls of the establishment those who were pulled by it.

The Master - Intent

A knock at the office door. A woman comes in, wearing full gear.

"Hey, Jean. Came here to let ya know the OMM kids're-What the!?"

Sadly for Jean's co-worker, her supervisor was unavailable on account of his facetime with the floor.

"...Shit."

After a bit of a run (and constant shoving of people out of the way), The Master at least reached his destination: the Rapid Gravity Filters. The outside breeze was refreshing compared to the stuffy sewage chic of the indoors. Not too far from him was the mighty Hudson River, flowing proudly into (and around) the Big Apple. In a few moments, it would going to become a cancer.

The first part? The contaminant. Digging into his coat, he takes out the vial from earlier. This little baby? Special little retrovirus - modified form of the good ol' Movellan Virus. Typically Dalek rabies but in this form, it'd wreak havoc on human nervous systems.

Then, destruction. This little plant would have its own use as a makeshift dam. Let those chemicals build up nice n' quick then...BOOM! New York becomes a kill-screen - the water would basically disintegrate anyone it came in contact with.

In retrospect, this was small-stakes compared to his usuals. Still, if it got him closer to those divine eggheads, then he'd deal with it for now.

That feeling in the back of his mind again. It was stronger now.

Edited by klom99 on Apr 5th 2024 at 3:55:12 AM

Ballister, Moxxxie's

Ballister looked sheepish for a moment.

"Sorry about that, Moxxie..." he muttered, before seeming to shake off his sheepishness and return to the realm of serious. "Look, when we get a moment, we need to talk, but right now-"

He was interrupted by Mako summoning a maelstrom, and he just barely managed to react in time to stab the blade of his sword into the floorboards, clinging to it with both hands and holding on as tight as he possibly could to avoid being sucked into the sudden storm.

That Escalated Quickly (Leo, West)

Now, Leo's original plan had been to just let Belial do his thing, wait for him to leave, and then—assuming he didn't get his info from listening in—jump down to squeeze the answers he wanted out of Short Sharon. Admittedly, he mostly just didn't want to get in the way of a guy who melted someone, but that was a perfectly valid reason to not intervene. So he stayed up in the rafters and watched.

...

...is that a guitar—

The doors opened.

Leo's mouth fell open.

Wait—angels? Actual angels?! And—wait, is he playing a guitar? The turtle leaned down closer, eyes wide as saucers, trying to take it all in. I...swear I've heard his voice before. But where?

By now, the patrons were hurrying out of the restaurant, sensing impending chaos. No one had noticed Leo's presence, befitting one of the best ninja in New York. Meaning...were he to do something...no one would expect it.

And it was probably best to do something now while everyone was distracted.

Leo grinned. Oh yeah. It's all coming together.

He braced himself, then leapt down from the rafters and brought the hilt of his swords down to strike the thugs down.

This Lunch at Sharon's Gotten More Interesting - West Village

Belial expected many things: that the little Chinese lady would throw him out on his ass with some crazy Shaolin move; that whatever was making a racket in the vents would finally show up; that the guy he asked about the food of the teenaged specimens of the human race would tell him something interesting.

Not this. Slowly, and against the laws of gravity and chair integrity, Belial leaned back to regard the newcomers from upside down.    "...and what are you supposed to be? Phantom Blot's inbred cousin?"    He drawled, twirling the cigarette in his mouth. If Adam and Lute's appearances drew any emotion out of him beyond annoyance, he wasn't showing it.    "Heaven, huh? What happened to the whole "love they neighbor" thing? I'm just here, having a nice chat with this nice lady about possible penance avenues."    He waved the angels off with an uncaring gesture of his demon hand.    "I'll be with you shortly. Give me a, uh, one Lord's Prayer."   

   "Can you believe this?"    Tilting forward in his chair, he pointed at Adam with his thumb as he addressed Short Sharon again.    "I've been here for five minutes, and those Purple Dragons already sent some weirdo to kill me and you people. Now, I know what you're thinking: you can dumpster me out, wash your hands off the whole thing."    Belial shook his head.    "Except those guys over there won't let it go once I'm gone. You know the old saying, "Kill them all and let God sort them out"? Those guys are fans."   

Cue a familiar turtle hitting the wrong guys.    "...case in point. One two three, you're it or you're dead."    In the meantime, Leo was shot an absolutely withering look among the lines of "what on God's green Earth are you doing?"

Edited by FergardStratoavis on Apr 10th 2024 at 1:39:19 PM

Moxxxi's (Exterior)

Captain Flynt answers this charge in kind, slamming into the mech shoulder-first with his entire body still ablaze. While the webbing does slow the good captain down, the flames engulfing him burn through rather quickly and

Now outnumbered by the Spiderlings, the Psychos pull out one last trick each - a simple grenade. Each Psycho pulls the pin on their grenade...but don't throw it. Rather, those that can run proceed to sprint at the remaining Arachnos troops, while those with their legs slashed out instead crawl towards their enemies. This continues for a few seconds, the grenades all ticking in unison until...

KA-BOOOOOOOM!

Moxxxi's (Interior)

"Goddammit!"

Moxxi ducks behind the bar for cover, just barely avoiding getting sucked in. Roland, meanwhile, reaches for something on his belt as the tornado forms, ducking behind it. As Mako's water attack subsides, the true nature of Roland's trick is revealed - a stationary turret projecting energy shields on either side, one of which Roland had ducked behind to avoid the vortex.

"Smile, asshole."

With that, Roland and the turret both open fire on Mako. On impact, the bullets from Roland's assault rifle detonate with the force of a small grenade, whereas the bullets from the turret's machine guns each burst into a splash of acid.

N and Co., Brooklyn: Tu Casa es Nosotros Casa

Uzi looked at the mysterious woman and the bumbling boy with a raised eyebrow (or a line of light that represented eyebrows). She had a feeling they have some sort of bad juju, but she shrugged. Not like they can act on it now. The most she got out of human history either came from their company or from all the anime she watched.

N heard the offer and looked at the girls excitedly, "Can we go? Can we go?"

The two looked at each other and then the other robots, "We were about to go do "hero stuff" but since that's been taken care of, I guess."

"Not like there's much better to do than just fly around and hope something pops out at us _{and not doming Uzi.}"

Concert Venue

After a moment or two of waiting, the voice of Lord Recluse came through Handsome Jack's communicator.

"What is the meaning of this? Who authorised a call on this line?!"

Greenwich

A minute or so passed. Then, with a loud screech of tyres, a black Cadillac came roaring down the street at terrific speed. It came within about a block of Nimona-Recluse before stopping so hard you'd think it broke the front tyres. The car sat there in the middle of the street for a moment or two more. If Nimona's eyesight were good enough, she might have seen a crew of flustered men inside arguing over who should get out first and how.

Finally, the door opened. Out from the front stepped a four-foot-nothing black man, sporting a yellow hoodie, a goatee, a couple of ear studs, and a head as big, hairless and shiny as a bowling ball. A small gathering of much taller and brawnier men slunk out after him, all of them looking uncharacteristically timid in the face of a criminal legend.

"Lord Recluse," said Bald Bronson, arms wide open, with a genial smile that barely hid his nervousness. "The legend himself...to what do I owe this honour, man?"

West Village

Short Sharon scowled at Belial. Clearly, he wasn't endearing himself through condescension, but the fact that she hadn't sicced her goons on him continued to be an encouraging sign.

She scoffed. "'No payment', right. You want something, they always do. You do this for exposure, for clout?"

Before she could go on, however, the Dickmeister himself made his presence felt. After a moment or two of enraptured staring, most of the clientele did as ordered and ran with their tails between their legs.

Short Sharon, however, got up and stood her ground before Lute. "HEY! Quit scaring my customers off! This is MY restaurant, not Open Mic Night at The Bar With No Name! You find your own place to fight."

She beckoned at the air, and her goons assembled before the table, in a human wall mirroring the angels..only to immediately get slammed down on by Leo. What was supposed to be an intimidating pose devolved into a scuffle with the two goons who weren't immediately caught by Leo trying to grapple his limbs.

Noho

Toupee Tom's mooks were enjoying a nice chill game of pool. The only disagreement hanging over their heads was how much Lil' Johnny owed Bill for the last bet. Then all of a sudden some reptile creep came busting through the window and knocked Johnny out cold, demanding to know who was in charge.

In the tense silence that followed, every man pointed at Tom himself. Looking around, he irritably cried "The hell you losers pointin' at me for?! GET THAT CREEP!". His boys needed no telling twice and roared in unison as they charged to dogpile on Donnie.

Suddenly, Jorogumo sprang into action, web-thwapping and applying ninja strikes to take down some at the back. "What the hell?!" cried Tom, before picking up his pool cue and trying to whack her in the head with it. The fight quickly devolved into a free for all, with gangsters swinging blows every which way.

East Village

Unfortunately for Rivet, as she charged for another attack, she was about to get waylaid a second time. Blossom noticed her first attempt, and lept into action, springing from the hood of the car and letting loose a chain weapon as she somersaulted over the lombax. Rivet suddenly felt her raised hammer yanked back as the chain snagged onto it, while Blossom landed behind her and dug in her heels as hard as she could.

"Ah-ah-ah," said Blossom chidingly, before grunting with the strain of holding back a turbo-charged mallet. "I like you, koala girl, but I can't have you whacking my brother right now."

Not missing a beat, even after slamming his fists on the hood of a car, the leader swung around, grabbed Mikey by the collar of his shell, and yanked him so close that you could smell the onions on his breath.

"We take care of our own," he snarled. "These are our streets, and we don't need the kind of help you'd give!" That last remark was barked at Subaru as much as at Mikey. "You don't want people dying? Then next time you see, you run the other way, freak."

Suddenly, the leader found his arm splattered with webbing. He barely had time to process this before Scream came in with a punch to the guts and a yank to his feet

"Hun!" cried Blossom. Quickly fishing through her pockets, she pulled out a paper ball and chucked it on the ground at Scream's feet. There was a burst of fiery sparks, and Scream suddenly found herself enveloped in a cloud of thick white smoke. This lasted just long enough for Hun, as he was called, to pick himself up and deliver a hefty swing to Scream's jaw.

"GET UP!" he bellowed to the other goons, some of whom were coming around at last. "Meeting's cancelled! Back to base, NOW!"

One of the goons sat up, and looked over to a prone body with Mikey's makeshift tourniquet on. "...Sh-Should we-"

"Leave 'em!" barked Hun. "Police are on the way! We'll worry 'bout the hospital bills later!" Groggily, hurrying as fast as they could despite the pain, those minions that could still move made themselves scarce. Hun lingered just long enough to snarl at Scream, "You got your one free shot in today. Next time, I'll have time to kill you." Then he headed for the hills, with Blossom following close behind. All that remained was the half of the crew that needed Mikey's nursing the most.

Brooklyn

Fowler looked Asura up and down for a moment, then tapped his earpiece on his right. "Control, gonna need a background check on a white-haired, east-asian male. Answers to the name 'Asura', work outfit being bronze armour plating patterned on his own muscles?"

"Glad to hear it. You," he pointed to Asura, then one of the black vans. "With us, in the back. The rest of you, with us or our tall friends here. That's assuming your 'vehicular forms' come with seating to match, Prime?"

Once that was all sorted, the two autobots and three drones were escorted by the black vans southbound down Gowanus Expy, towards...

2nd Avenue Warehouse

The convoy arrived, passing by derelict buildings and constructions sites, at an old dockside area. They came upon an old red-brick warehouse, sides covered in graffiti and a spray painted 'sign' saying NO PARKING, 24 HOURS, VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED. The black vans filled into proper parking spots across the road, and the agents disembarked. Fowler went in through a side-door in the building, and a moment later, red shutters opened up at the front.

The inside of the warehouse was spacious and echoey. Crates still lined the walls to the left and right, but there was plenty of space inside for the autobots to sit or stand. Toward the back were two rows of foldable chairs, sat facing an enormous screen.

"Everyone take a seat," Fowler said, "And kindly save all questions 'til after the lecture."

East Brooklyn

STAND DOWN, AGENT NATIVIDAD

In an instant, Norma's head was filled with a force-ten voice, drowning out the enticing call of the crystal. It was the voice of Agent Forsythe, and Norma knew better than to disobey it.

Hudson Dam

Bennet was a simple security guard, with simple dreams in life. All he wanted was to coast through life, doing as little in his line of work as he could, then someday be made supervisor by virtue of holding the job long enough. So he bunked off whenever he could. So he'd found a corner of the building out of line of camera sight where he could curl up, eat nachos and watch Band of Brothers on his phone. So what? Nothing ever happened at this time of day anyways, and big bad villains had better things to do with their time than bug this place.

Well, that's what he thought, anyway. So it came as quite a shock today when he rounded a corner, and found some weirdo he didn't recognise standing in front of the RGF, having apparently got to this area completely unimpeded. Hurriedly, Bennet took his earbuds out, switched off Spotify, and grabbed at the only weapon he'd bothered to take with him: his heavy-duty flashlight. "Hold it!" the pimpled, flabby redhead cried as he pointed his flashlight at the Master as threateningly as he could. "Stop right where you are, turn around nice and slow."

Rivet: East Village

"Hey! You jerk!" Rivet angrily snapped as Blossom snagged her hammer with her chain, struggling against it for a moment before realising that the girl truly had her pinned in place. Seeing the leader going for Mikey again, she snarled and turned with a mean stare at Blossom beneath her helmet, and with quite possibly the most sinister singular button press that the girl had ever seen in her life, the hammer disappeared in a blue holographic shimmer; as Rivet put it back into telestorage. Now freed from the chain, she summoned the hammer again and charged forward to assist Scream in her assault against the boss of the gang—only for her to be caught in that same flash bomb that similarly disoriented her.

"You gotta be KIDDING me! Is this what it's like to fight me...?!" she exclaimed, her ears pinned down against her head in response to the sharp explosion of the bomb, only recovering once the gang was in the midst of retreating. Shaking herself out of her daze, a fanged snarl crept onto her face as her helmet receded, and she searched through her quick-select for an appropriate weapon to use. "You guys are so toast! Cowards!"

Warmonger? Satisfying, but nahhh. Too messy. Might blow someone else up too... she thought to herself as she browsed her arsenal. Glove of Doom? Classic... ooh. Drillhound...

A large, drill-tipped weapon of some description manifested in Rivet's hands, as it spun up with a grating whirr and let out a few electronic... barks? Sure enough, a pair of mechanical eyes looked around atop the drillbit, searching for a target before spotting the retreating gang; the green lenses changing to a wicked red as the weapon beeped to confirm that it had locked on.

"Hope those guys can run fast!" Rivet proclaimed, as she pulled the trigger and almost got knocked backwards from the force of the robotic drillbit literally rocketing low to the ground, tearing up part of the road in the process before beginning a somewhat wild bounce towards the retreating gang at a frightening speed. Even when they rounded a corner in the distance, the feral Drillhound could be seen performing a tight turn after them, before its distorted barks disappeared into the distant ambience of the city. Rivet listened for an explosion for a moment, but when none came, she sighed and dismissed the Drillhound weapon with a flick of her wrist.

"Man. Those guys sucked. Is shell-guy okay? Scream? Subaru? You two good?" she asked, looking back at her allies with concern now that she wasn't focused on getting revenge.

Arcee: Brooklyn > 2nd Avenue Warehouse

Arcee pulled into the warehouse as obediently as she could muster herself to, though she couldn't help but pull off some particularly steep or late turns to panic the agent that had taken a seat on her for the duration of the escort. Optimus probably wouldn't have approved, but he didn't have to know. Her wing mirrors angled themselves up to look at the agent currently riding her, before tilting back to check on the rest of the convoy. She mused on how vulnerable to a Decepticon attack they were in that moment, if they had decided to rear their ugly heads. Hopefully, this meeting would help the humans to realise just what the Autobots were up against, and how dangerous the collateral could be if they weren't prepared.

Entering the warehouse, she waited until the agent got off of her (shaking a little; she was so proud of herself) before transforming, stretching slightly as she stood up and even cracking her neck from side to side. Humans weren't the only ones with a skeletal system, after all. Even if they weren't quite as reconfigurable as a Cybertronian's own internal structure.

"Not bad. Pretty spacious," she remarked as she walked forward and looked around the warehouse for a moment. "I'm guessing that those boxes contain governmental equipment? Or hasn't the warehouse been cleared out properly? I'm not judging."

She crossed her arms as she found a place leaning against a wall, looking towards the screen patiently. She was in somewhat of a dark spot, but her bright blue eyes acted as torches that picked her out easily enough. Her entire demeanour seemed on-edge, however. Like she was one bad mood from crawling out of the window above her while no one was looking.

Edited by Enirboreh on Apr 18th 2024 at 1:09:43 PM