A Bloodstained Mantle

Your wings shift away, the mass redirected to form a new organ in your gut as you dive down onto Roadtrip, letting the wind scream through your hair and steal away your battle cry until you're a mere half dozen feet above the supervillain when her five mile sign pulses once more, turning what promised to be a destructive fall into an easy landing as you prepare to strike.

She's the obvious target, Roadtrip's power is a tricky thing, she can call fourth effects associated with stop signs so long as she has an actual sign associated with the effect, and she had a lot of signs around her waist, each of them hanging loosely off her belt and clattering with every step. Waiting for her to grab one of them.

That kind of versatility is simply an unacceptable risk in a prolonged engagement, which means you need to take her out fast.

Speaking of which, Roadtrip reacts to your sudden arrival with hard won reflexes born of years of brutal fighting, calming releasing the sign she'd been grabbing to use on Water and brandishing another up at you as you land, giving you a good look at it before the lettering glows.

[STOP] it declares, slamming into your mind with inhuman force and halting you dead in your track for a moment.

For one, singular, moment. Then the attack shatters on the scarred but sturdy fortress you call a mind and you step forward as Roadtrip backpedals, taking a deep breath and unleashing a geyser of poisonous fog from every pore in your body. "Nice try Roadwork." You tell her sternly , purposefully messing up her name. "But I think it's time for you to take a nap."

Unfortunately it seems like Roadtrip disagrees, the five mile sign pulses once more, slowing the fog down as she continues her retreat, waving an arm around like a human fan to disperse what gas closes in around her, leaving her unscathed but stranded inside the noxious gray green gas.

"Could you be literally anywhere right now? We're kinda busy." She asks as she blindly sorts through the signs at her waist, refusing to take her eyes off you as Water and Cosplay continue their ferocious duel behind you.

"Sorry." You answer insincerely. "Unfortunately for you robbery is still illegal and I'm a hero, so…" unable to spare the focus required to grow another set of eyes in the back of your head you take a side long glance through the thin gray green fog at the battle as small arms fire from Water's goons fall to the ground before the glow of the five mile sign and simply bounce off your skin respectively.

How long has it been since someone tried this persistently to kill you with a gun? The last time was that bank robbery in… wow. Three whole months, people might actually be getting smarter.

Uncaring of your thoughts the clash between the water vampire and the pretend swordsman rages on, both of them moving at incredible speed. Cosplay has sheathed his sword and is fighting defensively, blocking and deftly parrying with his sheath as, to your eye anyway, he tries to maneuver Water into the middle of the street and bait her into something stupid.

That momentary distraction is when Roadtrip strikes, subtly touching a sign dangling from her waist and suddenly accelerating backwards as the light of the five mile sign fades as it falls back to her belt, replaced by a glowing eighty mile sign whose light, rather than pulsing outward to effect the area around her, instead poured directly into Roadtrip.

With incredible newfound speed she dashes out of your gas cloud and leaps to the top of the Memoir Incorporated truck before holding up up a second sign, its glowing lettering issuing a single, simple demand.

[NO PEDESTRIANS] it declares, sheer will slamming into you like a hammer blow across your entire body, sending you flying several strides backwards before you catch yourself, unharmed but with a lot of newfound distance between you and your target.

With her newfound speed, your fatigue, and the lackluster range of your gas there's no way you'll ever be able to close in with this power set. So, using fog between you to obscure the specifics your body shifts around once again.

The gas was a good idea and she's abandoned the five mile sign which made projectiles so difficult to use against her… and if you included a countermeasure…

Your new form is a lot like your standard ranged shape, agile and lean with an incredibly durable carapace almost painted to look like skin, improved reflexes, and chamber in your arm designed to shoot small sharp things toward your unlucky target at significant speed. There are however a few differences.

For one you lack the large feathered wings you typically sport, with each feather harder than steel and able to make you maneuver in the air with all the grace of a hummingbird. Instead the place they would typically connect to your body is inhabited by a pair of organs built to produce your gas before you funnel it into your bulging wrist and seal it into a tiny dart, ready to explode on impact and bring her into the realm of dreams in an instant.

And this moment. This moment right there. Is where things get… complicated.

Unbeknownst to you Water continues her furious assault, grazing Cosplay's cheek with a powerful haymaker which pulls a thimbleful of water from his cheek as he yelps in pain and jumps backwards a few steps, encouraging Water forward and into his trap.

First Cosplay's blade unsheathes in a flash as he drops into a crouch, a beam of steel gray light extending from its edge, trying to bite into her feet. Meanwhile a news truck from DNN comes around the corner, the crew having overestimated how close they were to the confrontation and driving right into Cosplay's path.

Which means that when Water leaps into the air to avoid the blow the sword beam hungrily tears through all four tires and flipping the vehicle on its side as it skids out control.

But despite all that Water is still in danger, because she cannot maneuver fifteen feet in the air. And as demonstrated not a moment ago, Cosplay is not limited by the reach of his blade.

You finally turn as threefold flashes extend from his blade and threefold cuts open across her body. The first explodes out from her raised arms, sparing her life as two bloody canyons open across her breast and gut in a spray of red as she falls and following after her, seeking to be reabsorbed.

She lands unsteadily behind Cosplay with a splash of blood, her body slowly healing as everyone pauses, staring at each other in silence until Roadtrip bursts into thunderous applause. "Hell yeah Cosplay!" She cries, "Show that moron exactly how much that fancy suit means when she's got a sword in her gut!" With those words the stillness finally shatters with the rat-tat-tat of gunfire just as the camera crew peaks out of the skyward side door and starts filming.

Because of course they do.


O-O-O-O-O

I really wasn't expecting Cosplay to hit quite that hard, wow. Anyways your objectives are…

1: Protect the idiot reporters who managed to drive their way into a small war zone, as well as any other civilians.

2: Keep the truck from getting burglarized or destroyed, whatever's in there seems like it's probably really damn expensive if two separate groups wanted it.

3: Arrest all three supervillains here.

[ ] Battle Plan

Have Fun! Remember, you don't necessarily need to include exact traits but if you do I'd really appreciate if you added prices to it.[/STOP]

Water recovers quickly erupting into frenzied motion as her minions' guns begin to screech, all aimed squarely at Cosplay, who ducks beneath the superhuman woman's vicious roundhouse kick and almost flash-stepping into the midst of her minions.

In a flash the blade sheaths and he bursts into motion, laying into a tall, burly man with the blade's blunted echo who falls backward, his stunned body not even hitting the ground before a wide slash sends the rest of them sprawling as the blade finally unsheathes to unleash a sharp gray beam which slices through Water's hair but fails to draw blood. Carving into the wall behind her instead.

Split between her desire to press their advantage on Water and their need to keep you in check Roadtrip decides to trust her friend, once more drawing forth the sign from her belt which declares [STOP] with all the weight and will of a mountain. A mountain which plows into the reporter who'd just clambered out of his van rather your agile form.

You crush a wince of sympathy and slight shame for dodging out of the way before shouting at the reporters without turning to face them, "Please leave and go back to somewhere safer please."

"I'm sorry, the car flipped. What exactly do you want us to do?" A woman shouts, making a half hearted and one handed attempt to pull the man's entire 180 pounds of dead weight up as she takes pictures of Cosplay's fight with her other hand.

"Leave. The. Car." As you shout as a dart the size of your pinky toe fires out of your wrist and shoots straight for Roadtrip, who easily catches the subsonic dart between her fingers. "Seriously? Did you think that just because I dropped the five mile that would-"

It is at that exact moment when the dart ruptures, spraying gray green gas into her face plate, through the air holes and down her nose and throat before entering her bloodstream an instant later and sending her sprawling across the roof of the van.

Cosplay's head snaps up in a flash, "Roadtrip!" He shouts, his terrible Japanese accent breaking for a moment as Water pounces on him, a bloody, furious grimace on her face, "I suggest you focus on me you little piece of-" Her fist hammers into his blade, turning it aside with a thunderous, ringing clang which interrupts Water's monologue and slamming into his chest with a meaty crunch which sends him flying into a storefront where he smashes through a window and falls to the ground, vanishing from your sight.

Water turns to glance over at you, "Might be time to get lost before you get hurt, kid," she smirks mockingly, "Nobody'll think less of you for running away," She lies, giving a little waving motion which bares a striking resemblance to one you've seen used to wave a small child out of the room. "But seriously. Leave now and we might actually have a place for you in our-

Cosplay leaps out of another window, paying no mind to, you or Water, he pays no mind even to the ugly bruise on his chest, his slightly swaying flashsteps, or even the way his breath comes fast and short and shallow like each inhalation sets his lungs alight, his eyes only focusing on his partner as he charges toward her.

O-O-O

What would you like to do?

[ ] Retreat Heroes don't run, not like this.

[ ] Focus on Water and let The Massacre Men run
-[ ] Details

[ ] Make sure The Massacre Men don't get away
-[ ] Details

[ ] Write In


I am so sorry this took so long, I was unusually busy this past week and royalty bungled the process.[/STOP]

You filter out Water's words, they don't matter, never have. Instead you focus on what does, first of all is the truck both sides came here for, the one filled with… something valuable, you can't quite remember if you asked or what the operator's answer was but nobody gets into a fight with people like Water over cheap stuff.

The reporters are just as much of a problem and just as important, forcing you take a moment to swallow a sigh. This has been something of an unpleasant habit for them, getting as close as they could to the action and hiding behind Adamant as they took photos, this hadn't been all that safe then and it's even less safe now, you're going to have to talk to them about this… again.

Lastly comes the job of actually catching anyone here, a potentially fantastic thing if you can actually hold them in your somewhat lackluster jail and deter any breakout attempts.

In an instant you make your choice, turning to fire a dart at the fleeing not-samurai, wincing as it detonates in a flash of steel gray light and Cosplay picks up his companion before diving off the truck's roof to take cover behind the vehicle.

Water smiles, walking past you but giving you a wide berth, "Well well well, looks like you can be sensible after all, now if you'll excuse me, I have some people to-"

"Absolutely not," You interrupt, taking a few steps to the side so that if she punches you and knocks you off your feet you'll just sail down the street rather than plow through anything more important than some street.

Fortunately for your duty and unfortunately for your health she proves your slight preparations worth the effort, rounding on you with a leaping kick which sends you back a step and cracks your armored shell, highlighting its unnatural nature even as blood rushes out of the wound to disappear into the nearest patch of bare skin on her body, studiously avoiding her tailored suit.

In response you raise your arm and fire two darts which slam into her face with strength and precision only available to the incredibly skilled and the very, very, near.

The two of them burst against her jaw with the crack of a broken casing and a heavy pop as two clouds of gray green fog merge together and obscure her face in an instant as she lands, suddenly unsteady on her feet. "What-" she coughs. "Go to sleep," you answer, lining up another shot as Cosplay leaps onto a building and begins to make his escape.

Paying no heed to her escaping foe the gangster rushes you with everything she's got, her outstretched hands missing the steadily repairing crack in your arm by a hair's breadth and producing an ear rending shriek as her nails scrape across your shell.

Seeing her gambit has failed Water shifts her grip to your shoulders, flipping over your head and kicking off your back, leaping away like a superhuman frog and slamming into the news van with a scream of tearing metal and three more from human throats as the bloodied and drugged killer is suddenly very, very close.

Ignoring both their shouts of alarm and the dart exploding against her back Water picks the van up and tosses it you, it's two passengers screaming in fear as the woman you talked to earlier watches from nearby, dragging the frozen man by his armpits.

Then the van slams into you, metal screeching as it hits and its metal frame crumples around a stubbornly unaffected shell, near impervious despite all the care placed into its human appearance.

Thanking your lucky stars the thing didn't land on top of you you step out of the indentation you've left in the door and rush to peer through the shattered window to check on the two who were both still inside and, judging by the situation, probably weren't wearing seatbelts.

A quick glance across the street confirms your second worst fear, one of them is out of the vehicle, laying prone in the middle of the street and bleeding fiercely from their head, staining his hair and messily staining his jacket with little dots of red, your sole consolation is that is as far as you can tell the young man's neck isn't broken, but you can't confirm he's breathing from this distance and you're not sure you can trust your sleep deprived and unenhanced eyes anyway.

The other passenger, an older man, is a lot better off judging by what you can see of him through the front window, with only a broken leg to show for his brief and violent flight.

With their safety confirmed for the moment you turn to Water and start to grow larger, your body ripping and twisting into a woman of monstrous size and stature, your form encased in an intricately colored carapace designed to look like your normal, human form, just larger and more muscular than it should be, with long claws disguised as mere fingernails.

Of course the killer doesn't simply let this happen, a moment after its beginning she's already moved and unleashing a furious onslaught of attacks, a pair of haymakers you catch on your arms, a sweep of the legs forcibly aborted by a warding kick of your own, and a leaping claw at the eyes scrapes against your forehead as you crouch for a devastating uppercut which she avoids by the barest margin, the rising claw striking nothing but hair.

Water recovers from her twist in less than a second to land what would have been a devastating kidney punch if your kidneys were actually there, allowing you to step inside her guard and deliver an absolutely bone shattering kick which sends her skidding across the road where she rolls to a stop, unconscious for the moment.

You pause to take a breath, before turning to the two reporters who weren't hurt and ordering them to call an ambulance for their friends as you rush to help the one who'd flown out of the van and realize with a start that he seems to still be alive, albeit touch and go, unfortunately all you can there is to staunch the bleeding with a spray of bio-foam from your wrist and to simply hope that was enough.

With that done you begin securing your latest prisoners, by which you mean checking if any of them were in serious condition, sighing in relief that none of them were in real danger beyond a few broken bones, stripping them of their weapons, hand cuffing a few of them together to make it harder to run away, realizing you didn't have enough to do it for all them, and just walking over to stand over Water as her regeneration ticks along and keep an eye on on the rest.

Which is when you hear a man calling out to you from the truck which started this whole mess, "Excuse me mam, is it safe to for me to drive off or leave the vehicle at all?" He asks in an awfully nervous voice which barely carries itself over the street to you, apparently still a bit shell shocked from everything that's happened in the last few… minutes? Wow, time can really fly sometimes.

Swallowing a surprised twitch at the sound of his voice you, turn to glance at him while keeping your captives in your line of sight. "Yes sir, you can get out of the car, but please refrain from driving off. I need your statement about…" you gesture to the wrecked street, the unconscious goons, and one of the scariest women in the city, unconscious but slowly regenerating on the ground.

You can see him sigh even from all the way over here as he gets out and walks over to you, hands in his pockets and looking everywhere but the reporter's van, the people on the ground, or at you. "I really am so sorry for all the… well you know, all the chaos, if I knew this was going to happen I would've stayed home today."

You nod agreeably as you begin shrinking shrinking back down into your standard shape and pull a fresh notebook from your pocket, "It's no problem sir, now how about you tell me what happened here."

What happened, as he tells you and the two reporters once the ambulance shows up, is something of a story, in essence, the man in front of you, Paul Franklin, is apparently an Inspired Scientist, not a fantastic one, and completely without skill in fighting but an inspired scientist nonetheless.

"I specialize in memory." He explains to both you and the two reporters, "Now, I decided that I definitely didn't want to get involved in anything all that dangerous, so I decided to make a nostalgia machine! For just-" he mumbles out something like, 'not sure how much just yet' before raising his voice again, "It can give you another glance at your best memory!" He spreads his arms wide as he explains it, especially to the two reporters.

A pane of glass falls from the reporter's wrecked van, derailing his sales pitch as everyone except for you flinches.

"…Um, anyway, I'm going to keep on going to the place I bought to set things up, so… yeah, I'm going to go, and Chimera, let me know if there's anything I can help you with, you really saved my bacon."

As he hurriedly leaves and you watch the police take away the goons you consider weather to pick up Water and await the inevitable counterattack from the rest of the Five Elements or escort the mooks and give her more of a chance to escape but make absolutely sure her foot soldiers aren't broken out on the drive to the prison.

"Miss Chimera, Jack Morison from the Dusk News Network, any comment on-" you interrupt the reporter with a sharp tone, most of your patience exhausted by the battle you'd just finished, not to mention the week you've had and the fact you're almost certain what he's about to ask.

Your tone is cold, with the anger and grief carefully sealed away where the camera trained on you can't see it. "Jack. I thought I'd be been clear that I did not want to talk about Adamant right now, for any reason."

To his credit he rallies without missing a beat, feigning ignorance and pulling another story out instead. "Understandable but I was actually interested in asking you about the situation near the woods, i understand there have been sightings of split trees and a floating silhouette, any comments?"

Unfortunately for him you're both unaware of any such rumors and disinclined to pretend otherwise. "No. I've been extremely busy these last few days, I'd like to look into it in more detail before I say anything about it, now if you'll excuse me I have places to be and I'm sure you'll want to see your friends in the hospital, good day."

Luckily the man knows how to take a no, at least when its user could slap him through a wall and he beats a quick retreat, waking off to call a ride from somewhere less dangerous.

With him finally gone you can dedicate finally begin the annoying process of dehydrating Water a little bit to make sure she can't simply regenerate everything you'd to her minutes, leaving you alone with your thoughts, wondering what else you you've missed or forgotten about recently.

OOO

Alright, you've captured Water and fifteen of her personal minion group, retaliation won't come immediately, the other four will be slow to organize unless they think you're trying to get her executed (which you can't do) or shipped out of town (see previous statement) but it will come soon enough, maybe not this week, or maybe not even the next, but it will absolutely come.

In the meantime what would you like to follow up on?

Pick two of the following.

[ ] Meet this strange super Jack mentioned, see if you can figure out their deal

[ ] Press your advantage against the Five Elements and keep that momentum going

[ ] Talk to Mary
-[ ] enter the subject of the conversation here

[ ] Talk to Paul
-[ ] put the reason for that here

[ ] Relax a little bit Not now.

[ ] Write in

No matter what you pick you'll still be doing patrols, also, guarding Water 24/7 isn't a realistic option, you have a lot of stuff to do.


Anyway, serious talk, very sorry this took so long, a lot of little stuff happened on my end which sorta wrecked my schedule for proper writing.