Cyberworld Hero Future RP Thread

Machine Militia? Weird.

Bea mutters out the words 'rules are rules' under her breath as she eyes the approaching group of beetle-themed bots. This really did feel like punishment duty, though perhaps more for herself rather than anyone else on this team...

"That's close enough! Identify yourselves."

By this point, Bea had her sword and pistol out and ready. For a moment she closed her eyes to try and calm the roiling building within her.

One of the machines, in a more prominently black and spotty green ensemble paint job, stepped forward from among the others. It looked over the HERO units and seemed to scan them, leveling its launcher at them. The Machine was marked with a helmet design that emphasized the beetle influence. It then spoke in a rather shrill, androgynous tone;

"Hu-mans! I calculate we look at the rare humans!" The machine announced, "WE are the Eminent Army Division of the great 2nd designed Thinker of the Machine Army, Powerful Capable Indivisible Destructive Conquering Master of the Weapons Division, Moldbug! We ex-exercise the right to kill with our weapons! It is our greatest pleasure to kill humans again, and then commence Tribute Acquisition from the Anomalous!!"

The lead Machine then tried to line up a shot on Bea with his launcher, firing off a huge red blast out of it interspliced with crackling black energy.

"I...w-well...even i-if we did lie...wouldn't they still want to c-check and send someone e-else to confirm...that c-could..."

He meekly shook his head, deciding to drop it for the moment as the mention of Shadows approaching definitely made him uneasy but at least he'd be able to draw their attention and try to throw their formation into disarray and in the middle of 'leader' of the machines' introduction...

"L...Look out...!"

Croire raced forward to intercept the blast with a surprising amount of speed, arms raised in a defensive stance and took impact head on. Sure, it'd hurt...but unless it was ridiculously overcharged, he'd still be standing with little indication he'd been harmed and with his powers, a good portion of that attack was converted into energy so it could've been far worse as two lights on his armlets blinked on.

Of course, someone with quicker reflexes or powers probably would've moved Bea out of harm's way before him but still, best to make sure no-one else got hurt in the process.

Edited by TheRealWren on Nov 4th 2020 at 6:43:11 AM

Sue

Shit. Sue didn't care much for Bea, and she was starting to think these bots weren't so dumb after all, but she wasn't gonna let her get slaughtered. Stretching out her arm, she looped it around like a lasso and snagged her by the waist, reeling her in. Her arm snapped back like a rubber band, bringing Bea smackdab into Sue's lovely embrace.

"Ya know, we should do this sorta thing more often. Though maybe not the whole 'nearly got wasted by killer robots' bit. That's not so fun."

Edited by kkhohoho on Nov 3rd 2020 at 10:38:10 AM

Hux

For a few brief moment, Hux hoped that perhaps they could negotiate with the machines, rather than killing them. These machines were clearly intelligent, were clearly people, so it was possible they could be reasoned with. They'd even managed to somehow tame Shadows for their own use.

Then what appeared to be the leader of the 'Dark Thinkers' announced their intent to kill, before firing a shot at Bea.

Cursing in the tongue his grandmother had taught him, Hux raised his arm, leveling his claw at the lead machine. The others who were faster than him had already managed to protect Bea, so Hux went on the offensive.

His claw fired off like a bullet, infused with the power of uncreation, aimed directly at the lead machine's center of mass.

Old Man Elijah

As he surveyed the unsavory tableau spread out before him, Elijah muttered softly, under his breath, "Should have known..." before sighing and readying Lacrimosa to spear any Machine or Shadow that approached him first. However, he would wait for them to come to him—if they dared, in the first place.

The static in the view of the Machines should have grown more intense as Elijah stepped away from the main group of heroes so as to not affect them with his aura, but now, he was actively aiming to sow chaos among the ranks of the Machines and Shadows by teaching them terror. Elijah gave a sidelong glance at Hux as he swore in what Elijah guessed was Avestan or something along those lines. It had been a long time, and many languages had been corrupted.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Nov 3rd 2020 at 11:59:05 AM

Beetle Bot Battle!

Bea was safe at least, hauled to the side while one of her teammates took the blast. Staggering back to a battle-ready stance she sighed and cracked off a shot with her sidearm, the over-sized bullet assisted in it's flight by her powers.

"This is why we do not allow them to speak!"

She flinched at the momentary boiling-over of her emotions and tried to calm down. This was a battle now, any anger could be safely directed directly into the bodies of these hostiles through the medium of blade dancing. Time to start cutting up these supposed 'thinkers'

Alula Seles

Alula blanched at the arrival of these new Machines, faltering a moment at Bea's angered proclamation before she shook her head and composed herself somewhat. These ones had heavy weaponry. Grimly, she cast a bolt of magic towards one of them while they were occupied by the others.

If it successfully brought their attention towards her, she'd begin to skate around in a loose orbit so as to disorient them; firing more bolts on occasion so as to pester them. Her movements were akin to a strange dance, and she was light and ready to duck or jump out of the way of any sudden retaliation.

Even as Croire took the hit and slid backward a bit from the sheer force of impact from the laser blast, and Hux's attack ripped right through the center mass of the apparent lead machine. This precipitated the rest of them to go absolutely ballistic - charging and firing off further blasts of hot red energy at the HEROES as well as swinging their close range weapons.

Though notably it seemed these machines were a bit more polished than the ambush squad from earlier. Better equipped, more powerfully made, and that was not even mentioning their bound assistance.

One of the huge Shadow warbeasts lumbered forward and tried to smash Hux flat with a punch from its fist. The creature seemed to make several odd noises in an utterly alien language. "Isakadu Kanaiide Teerust Modook Oon Satawih Moldbug Ak Kodedosu...Modook Oon Satawih!!"

The forces of Moldbug started trying to encircle the HEROES and fire upon them, though it seemed calculated - they were trying not to open themselves up to friendly fire by firing at certain angles...but Alula's magic bolts were making their military strategies difficult to implement. She was more or less successfully disrupting their attempts at these tactics!

Old Man Elijah

Elijah was more or less relishing in the chance to shed blood (or oil, whichever fit more) again, until he saw a Shadow warbeast approaching Hux. In that moment, all his eagerness for battle evaporated into thin air as he rushed forward to catch the Shadow's fist and force it back and away from Hux and himself.

"Not my kin, you fuckin' travesty of a necrotizing fistula," he wheezed as his muscles bulged with the effort of holding the damned thing back. "Oi laddybuck, don't just stand there! Hurry up and erase this thing! Do you even call yourself an Ahriman—oh shit—"

Elijah could say no more as he had to devote the rest of his strength to keeping the nasty beastie back, wondering tensely to himself whether after all these years, he'd truly gone soft. He was somewhat protective of Hux, being named after a previous son of his and all, but he liked to think that he could see a bit of Marah in him as well. Of course, he had to keep up his "ornery old scavenger" guise or else he feared that he'd be branded as a Shadow (or the like) and hunted down, so volatile were the sentiments of the age.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Nov 5th 2020 at 9:50:46 AM

   Get rid of them. PAINFULLY.   

...Something...seemed to have gotten Ramialia somewhat agitated but otherwise she was silent as Croire focused their resolve.

"I'll...t-try to...draw their a-attacks...hopefully it'll b-be enough for you guys..."

He kept moving forward, intentionally throwing himself into harm's way to act as a living shield to try and take the brunt of most of the energy blasts and physical blows as his power likely got the attention of some of the small-fry shadows for the time being.

The first few hits caused him to nearly lose balance and give a weak cry of pain...yet after two more lights on his armlets blinked on, those same attacks barely got a wince as Croire tried to look at any potential weak points the nearby shadows had and did his best to cut down some of them that were in range with his sword.

Edited by TheRealWren on Nov 5th 2020 at 10:35:08 PM

Hux

The warbeast lunged at him, but Hux stood his ground, preparing to meet its fist head on and erase a hole through it.

Then the old man got in the way, and-

Not my kin.

Hux froze, for a split second, his mind whirling at the sudden outburst. Kin. Ahriman. Then the ancient one truly was-

He shook his head, leaping over Elijah to tackle the Shadow head on. He ignored the fact that it could apparently speak. There was no time to try communicating. Instead Hux crashed into it, his erasure in full effect over his entire body, intending to kill the beast in one shot.

"Kodedosu...Kodedosu...Kodedosu...Kodedosu...Satawih Oon Modook Aw Sukodode Ak...?" The creature visibly stumbled, still speaking in that odd, arcane language even as a massive hole was torn right through it by Hux. It stumbled around for a minute, clutching at the hole in its chest as black ooze and mist steamed out of it...and then it fell over, the whole thing dissolving in mere moments. The only things left behind being the metallic plates.

It seemed the smallfry Shadows indeed started moving in on Croire...and were promptly cut down. Each one seeming to babble inarticulately in contrast to the larger creatures. The other large Shadow started moving toward Croire and outright roared at him, "Naata Aw Modook-ihcat o zutkimakesusen Naata Aw Mihsaensmihsaensmihsaens—-" It then formed a massive red spell circle in front of its face...

The energy started crackling and an undulating sphere of black and red energy started gathering in front of its face.

Zhane by now was observing the fight and tried to get in touch with the others from his observatory position. The fight had been going well if rather unorthodox. There was a lot he was going to need to report to HQ, but this...? Machines using Shadows as war monsters? Then his equipment started going crazy, "G-Guys! That Shadow seems really angry about something Croire just did! It's gonna unleash a crazy amount of Old World Magic!"

Old Man Elijah

Elijah had gotten out of dodge real quick as soon as Hux had jumped and executed his crazy maneuver—he'd never seen Marah do that—only to see that Croire was now being menaced by another Shadow warbeast. He tried to run closer to help, but he was beset upon by the other, smaller Shadows, which he eventually straight-up absorbed using his biokinesis.

He wasn't close enough to help—

With no time to waste, Elijah flung his sword Severance at the head of the Shadow about to fire off its magical attack, and hurled his spear Lacrimosa with enhanced strength at one of its eyes. Perhaps this would ultimately be futile, but the metal he forged into his seemingly backwards weapons came from the rather special knife he used to possess. He was loath to reforge the bone blade, but he needed better weapons than just a short knife, and, well...

While the reforging process diluted the holiness of his relic knife, it was enough to give both Severance and Lacrimosa the edge that they needed to match the cutting capabilities of modern laser blades. Perhaps now, even the diluted holiness left over in his weapons would be able to disrupt the storm of dark magic gathering in front of the Shadow.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Nov 6th 2020 at 9:38:13 AM

Sue

"FUCK!" Sensing the oncoming onslaught, rushed in front of the others and turned herself into a solid adamantium wall. Which got bigger. And bigger. And ''bigger'...

...until she was big enough to protect herself and everyone else from whatever was coming.

He wasn't going to tremble or be afraid, even if things were starting to look bad.

The fact Ramialia wasn't saying anything meant he had to take a guess whether it was readying a spell or had one that'd trigger if it got injured. Inaction would be bad and at this range, if it was a counterattack...well, if it went off as a huge blast, it'd at least damage other Shadows, right? But if it wasn't...best to stop it while he could.

So he simply tried to move to the warbeast's side and stab it in the face...head to throw off it's attempt to concentrate on finishing the spell.

...Of course, with Sue creating a giant wall left the young man at a loss and trying his best not to feel negative, forcing himself to try and keep up even the slightest of smiles as Ramialia's earlier comment gnawed at him a little. She and Elijah were just trying to help...

Not...useless...they've j-just got...better powers, is all.

"M...My thanks...f-for the a-assistance..."

Edited by TheRealWren on Nov 5th 2020 at 11:15:37 PM

Thinker Fight

This was getting dangerous, between the laser shots and sword swipes going wildly through the environment and the fact that the barely-contained Shadows were starting to use the old magic to unknown effect. Bea was not as prepared as she should be and worse, the team was getting encircled. She wasn't sure why but she decided being next to the Shadow and inside this circle was a bad idea; a deduction buzzed in the back of her head that it might not be destruction building there.

It meant getting away from Sue's cover and into the fray proper sure, but Bea attempted to break the enemy's defensive line; jumping up with a boost from her powers to try and vault over the Thinkers to get behind them. She'd continue fighting, her blade clashing against metal, she just wanted to be nowhere near the rest of the team once that spell went off...

The thrown spear from Elijah soared through the air and outright eviscerated the "flesh" and internal oozing darkness of the Shadow, eventually protruding out from behind its head...but even as it was skewered in such a way its spell seemed to only go completely haywire even as it stumbled around. It stopped babbling at least. The Machines at least seemed to start to retreat even as it became obvious something truly earthshaking was going to happen here.

Some of the dark red and black energy arced off of the sphere of destruction due to Elijah's actions. Several distant bursts of lightning cut through some of the nearby buildings and sent them crashing down, cutting off a few paths leading elsewhere and stirring up dust and ruin.

Even as the Shadow stumbled and started to visibly dissipate, it's rage-fueled spell continued.

Zhane shouted, "Old World Magic incoming!!"

Shortly after he said that, the sphere seemed to transmute into a gigantic blast of red and black energy cascading down ceaselessly upon the wall that Sue had become. Eroding the wall layer by layer of molecules at a drastic rate. It seemed at first the attack would never stop...

...but by the time the Shadow sunk to its knees and fell over, dissolving into the air, the blast finally halted. The spell circle - by now hanging in the air - disappeared and the residual energy crackled in the air.

By not the Sue-Wall had a sizable wound present from the sheer impact of the attack, but it had held well enough against the "Old World Magic". In the process of the attack at least one bolt of black and red light had crested past Bea only just barely and struck an old monument, blasting it into ashes.

There was this silence following the resolution of the Old Magic and the dissipation of its energy, a grand breath out as the heroes were left standing. For Beatrice, that was also kind of a literal breath out as she stumbled backwards and looked around the arena.

"Anyone injured? Sue, are you injured and should we plan an evac to get you to a medic?"

Sue

...huh.

That hurt.

Like, really hurt.

If she couldn't do what she could do, she'd be more than a bit worried.

Though hurting was still hurting.

Breathing deep, she shrunk down, morphing back into her pasty-ass self.

Albeit with a big gash in her stomach.

HURTHURTHURTHURTHURT

Even so, she didn't bother to hold it. Because she knew what was gonna happen next. "Um, yeah, but... fuck, just watch."

In moments, the wound began to heal. The bleeding stopped, flesh mending and wounds healing. Curiously, small patches of brown fur popped up over the wound, before disappearing like a mirage. Before long, the wound was no more. Like it had never been there in the first place.

Sue rubbed her hand over where the wound had been, making sure there wasn't anything funny. "BOOYAH! Good as new! You okay, Bea? Look a bit frazzled."

Edited by kkhohoho on Nov 8th 2020 at 8:38:14 AM

Alula Seles

Alula gradually slowed her momentum and skated over to the others once she felt it was safe to do so, worryingly staring at Sue's wound before watching in fascination as it healed up by itself. A small smile on her face at this, and after giving Sue a nod, she turned towards the others—quirking an eyebrow upwards in a questioning fashion as she held up magick-infused hands in preparation.

Anyone else need healing? was what she silently seemed to be asking, and she outright looked eager to do so as if it were some kind of courtesy to her.

Old Man Elijah

"Fuckin'—" Elijah swore as the blast went wide, going over his head and making him dive for cover under a pile of rubble nearby. The blast also conveniently launched his weapons back to him, as his spear and sword were now embedded in the same pile of rubble that he was hiding behind. "Hell."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he nodded at Alula when he emerged, the scraped and slightly burned flesh on his face and arms writhing grotesquely as it knitted itself more or less back to a state of completion, no rougher or smoother than it had been before. "And somebody please tell me this damn mission will be over soon." As he said this, he roughly pulled his weapons out of the rubble it had been stuck in, both implements no worse for wear.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Nov 8th 2020 at 4:29:59 AM

Hux

As one of the creatures began to charge an attack, Hux considered trying to erase the energy, but he wasn't sure how his power would interact with such magics. The others beat him to the punch, anyway, and he dropped behind Sue as she became a wall to shield them.

The blast washed over her and subsided. Sue was injured, but healed quickly. Everyone else appeared unharmed as well. That was good.

"It is fortunate that the only people to have sustained injuries are those who could regenerate them." Hux noted, then exhaled letting tension drain from his body.

Then he turned to gaze at 'Elijah', his expression unreadable beneath his armor. "Do not worry, ancestor. With the machines routed, I doubt any more will come to accost us."

"G-Guess that's t-the end of that...e-even if there's somehow more...a-at least we've g-got a few minutes of a reprieve."

Still, he meekly shook his head at Alula and glanced away from Sue as she healed up from those wounds as if it was nothing, nor was he exactly going to correct Hux. It just hadn't gotten bad enough for the other half of his powers to kick in but at least the energy he'd stored would still be there if in the unlikely event more foes showed up. Or got punched by accident.

Old Man Elijah

Elijah was sheathing his weapons when Hux called him his ancestor. Now, before, they had been dancing around the topic, not sure whether they should bring it up or not (or so it had seemed to Elijah), but now he was fairly certain that they were both what they thought the other was. This was, frankly, a relief to the old man, though he didn't want to let on about it.

"...Ancestor, huh?" he said, at length. "You know, I was waiting for one of us to bring that up. I guess the cat's finally out of the bag today. I would ask what makes you so sure, but there's a fuckin' smorgasbord of evidence that just came crashing into our lives, so, Hux, I'll ask you this instead—what am I to you, exactly? I just wanna know in case the higher-ups get on our case for being related, of all things."

Edited by JumpingFruit on Nov 8th 2020 at 4:53:16 AM