[] Attack the Fallen headed towards the suites
-[] Ask Cassiel to use Loom of Lachesis and tell us the best way to go for this fight
[] Evacuate the civilians to the activity center
Suntan 13.8
You look at the screen showing the group headed towards the suites, how the civilians are right behind them close enough to be hit by anything anyone throws at them. They are led by a woman with purple hair and a tight bodysuit with blue and copper-colored panels, and behind her two people in all-white with hoods and a man wearing tactical armor and carrying an assault rifle. They in turn are followed by two other capes you do not recognize but expect are not part of the Fallen's normal forces, the first with a motorcycle helmet and padded cloth armor and the second with an enviably large breastplate and gold armor plates running down the front and back of her shiny black costume all the way to her crotch. The last two figures between the rest of the capes and the hostages both wear red armor, one bearing spikes and the other skulls and blades. "What do we know about these capes?"
"Not as much as I'd like, but more than some of the other groups." Diana taps on her keyboard, and lines with text come off three of the capes. "These are the only ones I can give you much information on. The woman in the front is Empusa. As I mentioned earlier, she's part of the Leviathan family, and she generates a bubble around herself that lets her and anyone near her fly. It also lets her duplicate objects, and the copies last for roughly five minutes. The capes right behind her are part of the Simurgh family. One of them is presumably the Master who captured the civilians behind them, but I can't tell you which one it is or what the other one does. Next—"
Diana cuts herself off when Cassie hops out of her chair and walks closer so she can peer up at the screen. You can tell Dragon is still unhappy with her, but clearly the Tinker is just as curious what the former Endbringer is looking for. "The Master is the cape on the right, with the face mask draped down his chest. The other, wearing the chain across his chest? His power is defensive in nature." She scrunches her face up and shakes her head. "I cannot recall what it is in detail, but I do know it is a defense."
"How do you even know that?" you ask.
She looks away. "There are many things I know, if I have reason to remember them."
You turn back to Dragon, who shrugs helplessly. "Don't ask me. Moving on, I don't recognize the capes after the ones in white. Behind them, though, are Ifrit and Spree."
"Ifrit is the one you said was the pyrokinetic, right?"
"Correct. He's a very strong pyrokinetic at that, capable of releasing flames both in a large cone or a shockwave. You are immune to fire, but other people aren't," she reminds you as though you had somehow forgotten that normal people burn. "Spree you have heard of as well. One of the Teeth, he creates clones at an extremely rapid rate. The downside is that they degrade quickly, too, so they will only be intelligent enough to attack for ten to twenty seconds before they collapse."
Another screen appears next to the one you are looking at, and Samantha's face is tight with tension or anger or both. «Dragon – hey, Taylor – these people are getting antsy. Missy and I have barricaded it as well as we can, but nobody likes the idea of bunkering down while being surrounded by villains. Especially since we have a few people from Kansas City who recognized them as the Fallen, which has made everything worse. I think we need to relocate them before the Fallen try breaching the building anyway.»
"I agree with Sam," you tell Diana. "It might be for the best to bring them here. Yes, we're putting all our eggs in one basket, but at least there aren't any Fallen around here."
"Not that we know of, anyway, and that's the part that worries me." Diana sighs. "But the chance of danger is better than the certainty of it. Okay. Evacuate them over here."
"There are still people in the suites," you add, "and they won't have a chance if we can't stop the Fallen headed towards them. They're too spread out to evacuate. I just wish we had a better idea of what those other capes' powers are. I don't know what a Simurgh-themed defensive power would even look like."
"We could find out." You and Diana both look doubtfully at Cassie, though she weathers the disbelief with aplomb. "I can use my magic to simulate any number of potential futures. I have more than enough range to determine their abilities."
That would be useful, but before you can give her the go-ahead Diana cuts in, "You told me you have to recover from using that ability. Right now every second counts."
"What if I saw it, too?" The Unison Devices turn to you. You give them a shrug. "Cassiel, can you use that ability while in Unison?"
"I… should be capable of doing so, yes." She glows and shrinks back down to her normal size before phasing through your chest. Something pinches as she shifts it out of her way, and you take a deep breath. "You comfortable in there?"
«More than you might expect. I will guide you to see what I see. First,» she says, taking on a lecturing tone, «close your eyes and take easy breaths. It may help if you sit in the chair.»
You give Dragon a shrug and settle down in the chair. Closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing, you let your arms and shoulders relax. "What's next?" you ask the darkness.
«Now allow me to expand your mind.»
The darkness behind your eyelids explodes into light, and you throw yourself backwards as though to get away from it. The sudden white slowly gains definition, and you realize you are not surrounded by light at all. You are in the middle of a net of glowing thread, wrapped so tight you cannot see anything beyond it.
"Will you walk into my parlor?"
You turn around slowly to find Cassiel floating at the level of your head, a wide smile on her face. The scolding you are about to give her for using the opening line from 'The Spider and the Fly' fades away as you notice it. "You're becoming more expressive with your face." Her grin is wiped away, and you shake your head. "No, it's actually kind of cute. You don't have to hide yourself away like that."
Cassiel tilts her head away so it is covered by her fluffy hair. "We are on a time limit, yes?" she asks in a squeaky voice. "Let us focus on the Fallen."
"Okay, okay." You look around you again, searching for anything that might help explain what you are looking at. "This is the future? Or what it looks like to you, anyway?"
"Correct. These are all the possibilities of every action that can can be taken. You give your spells their own names; this I call the Loom of Lachesis. It is little surprise you cannot understand what you see." She flutters to the back of your head. "I will help."
She shoves your head forwards, and you plummet into the web. A blink, and you are in your body, though you are standing in front of Diana rather than sitting in the chair. Your left arm lifts without your assent and gives her a salute. "Storm, take me to those coordinates," your lips order. Light surrounds you, and you are teleported to an empty building.
"Security depot," Cassiel whispers into your ear as you reach for the doorknob.
The building explodes, and you are thrown backwards into a brick wall. A glance up shows Empusa floating in the air, Ifrit and the guy with the assault rifle both pointing at your. Your body jumps out of the way of the rain of bullets and the wash of flames, and you duck behind another building. A dozen Flare Shooters appear and fly their way—
Everything in your line of sight shatters like glass, and the pieces jostle against each other for a moment before coming back together. Something slams into your back, the blow throwing you into the air for a wild ride before your body starts flying again. You spin around to find a human figure no more than three inches tall flying towards you. Sliding out of its way, it hits the wall and sends cracks through the material. A loud 'pop' behind you, and you spin to block the blade of an axe from coming any nearer. The cape in the fabric armor and motorcycle helmet is not fast enough to deal with your retaliatory punch to the face—
The world shatters again, and this time it is the tiny cape who dodges your punch and smacks you on her own. Another pop sounds from above you, and immediately afterwards you are caught in a torrent of flame. You soar upwards with a snarl and flick your wrist to deploy Perfect Storm in its staff form, the glowing scythe blade already active. A swing through the air—
Shatter.
Ifrit no longer stands on the roof. Instead a dozen copies of the same cape with skulls and blades charge you, Empusa and her unpowered companion both pointing guns at you and firing.
"Stop!"
The world freezes in place. Everything around you shifts five feet to the left, leaving you floating in the air staring at your own body being dogpiled by Spree clones. Cassiel lands on your shoulder. "What the hell is going on?" you demand. "What's that whole shattering thing?"
"Interference. Another parahuman's precognition is affecting my own, and mine is doing the same to theirs. With every adjustment we make it alters the other's sense of what is to come." Her expression grows cold, and her eyes become steel. "Oriax."
"What?"
"That is the other parahuman from the Mathers family. Oriax. His ability is precognitive but reactive. A danger sense."
"How do you know all that?" you ask in shock. The hardness in her eyes fades, but you press on, "You don't just know his power. You know his name. How?!"
Cassiel hops off your shoulder and floats in the air. "I had extensive time between my attacks. Some of that time I used to plan, but for the rest, particularly after I began chafing at my chains, I needed some means of diversion. Something with which to entertain myself.
"Balam, Christine, whatever you wish to call her; she truly believes that I and my brothers are gods. She prayed to me with zealous devotion, and she taught the rest of her followers to do the same. It… amused me to reach out to them in dreams, just as I did with you, and encourage the belief that I was watching and proud of their accomplishments."
"No," you whisper.
Her wings droop, but she continues, "Nor did I restrain myself with praise. From time to time, I would answer their prayers. Secrets. Advice. On some occasions, even information that would aid them in the capture of other parahumans. It depended on my mood at the time."
"You're the reason they could Master so many heroes! Why?" you demand. "Why would you do that?"
She whirls around and drifts closer to your face. "Do you recall the power I claimed to possess? The ability to pull another's consciousness to me? I wished to produce a parahuman with an ability much like that. An ability that would manifest me in a new body, one without the restrictions inherent in my prior existence. I manipulated them for the exact reason I manipulated you: my freedom. I will not apologize for that."
"Maybe you won't apologize, but you will be punished. You're grounded."
"Dragon has already grounded me," she says slowly, blinking in confusion.
"I'm aware. This is worth an extra grounding." She does not seem to know what to say to that, and you force yourself to move on. If you think too hard about the fact that the capes you are fighting now are so dangerous because of one of your allies, you would be dearly tempted to break Cassiel over your knee. "Look at the future again. This time, a future where I teleport right above them and just blast them."
Your viewpoint shifts again so you are once more staring at Spree's clones, and time reverses itself. The enemies retreat from you, the building is un-exploded, and orange light is all you see. The light fades to show the street below your feet, but the Fallen are not in a nice, convenient cluster. Instead they have already spread out. The civilians scream in fright, distracting you, and something hits the back of your head and the top of your neck with bone-rattling force. The blow slams you to the ground, and you roll over to find the tiny cape coming down for another hit. A white-hot Flare Shooter appears in her path. Her screams of agony join the civilians'—
Shatter.
There is no one above you, but the motorcycle helmet guy appears with a puff of smoke and kicks you in the head.
"We should try something else."
Time rewinds again, and now you are flying at them at high speeds, Flare Blade already active. Empusa takes to the air as you come screaming down, and the glowing scythe tears through the Fallen cape with the chain around his chest—
Shatter.
Smoke wafts up from where Oriax stood, and now the other Simurgh cape stares at you with eyes glowing blue. You cannot feel his power failing to work, but you can imagine it as you run him through—
Shatter.
The Master is retreating, and fire and bullets pelt you in the back. The cape with the breastplate shrinks down, but not fast enough for you to drag her into the flames with your telekinesis—
Shatter.
"No, no, no."
Time rewinds.
This time you land out of sight behind a building a short distance away from the group. "Wide Area Search," you call out, a ball of red forming in your hands and spitting out red sparks. It takes thirty seconds for them to give you the complete picture, but in far less time than that people come running at you from around both sides of the building. At first you think they are running from the Fallen, but they all have the same bright blue eyes, and the ones closest to you jump up and grab you around the throat. Their strength cannot break through your Barrier Jacket, so you wait for the world to shatter again.
It does not, but fire does come raining down from above where Ifrit is no doubt being carried around by Empusa again, heedless of how the flames burn their own hostages to death.
"That's enough," you tell Cassiel, and time stops again. You sigh. "Trying to predict what this Oriax guy is going to do is impossible, isn't it?"
"It is regrettable, but I believe that is the best conclusion we can draw. Our abilities cause too much interference with the other's. What we can state with confidence is that he will know you are coming and where you will arrive before you are present."
Wonderful. You consider the fairy again. "Dragon mentioned that you need to recover from this. How long will that take?"
"Once Unison ends, it will be between sixty and ninety seconds. I cannot give you a more accurate answer. The interference has added additional strain to what is normally a simple working."
"Alright. Let's head back then."
The world around you fades to black, and you open your eyes to see Cassiel tumble out of your chest and into your hands. She is sprawled out in what is clearly an uncomfortable position, but she is too out of it to care if the little snores coming from her mouth are any indication.
"Did you learn anything useful?" Diana asks.
You shake your head. "Just that this is going to be complicated."
The following are overall tactics that were proposed in the last vote. Most of them, anyway. These – or another primary tactic if you wish to do a write-in – should be the main vote with additional details below them.
If you are the type of player who is paralyzed by fear that you're going to vote on a detailed plan that doesn't work or that makes things worse, just pick one of these by themselves. Trust me, not voting is FAR worse for the outcome of this game than a bad vote.
[ ] Fill the air with Flare Shooters like a bullet hell game
[ ] Sneak Shooters to their targets with Wide Area Search guidance
[ ] Solar Wrath to destroy everything in that general direction
[ ] Cut them down like a high-speed Grim Reaper
[ ] Surrender and convert to Endbringer worship because this is a no-win fight
