Futuristic Arcadia: Heroes World Brave

[DarKnight36]

"There's... no way to stop it... now," Jacques gasped, his remaining hand clutching at the stump of his arm, which was bleeding profusely. "That thing... it won't let it close now."

A bolt of pure energy the size of a semi truck tore through the hangar door, missing the Brave but burning a hole straight through the facility and the mountainside Fang's headquarters resided in. Through the sizzling hole in the doorway, the Beast could be seen, smoke rising from the mouth that had emitted the blast. More of its bulk had passed through the Sliver now, which was stretching wider and wider as the Beast shoved its way through from whatever reality it had resided in.

"We're going to have to force it back through the Sliver," Sasha said, baring his teeth in a nervous grin. "Or kill it. I wouldn't mind killing it."

 

[druidquest]

Lynne crossed the space between her and Jacques in half an instant, clawed feet hovering off the ground. "I don't believe you," she said, their eyes inches apart. One of her hands came to the stump of Jacques's arm, cauterizing it with a glow of moonlit energy. "Arkadiy was terrified of it, he knew it would come through. That tells me it's tried to breach before, and they forced it back. There must be a way to stop it."

 

[DarKnight36]

"Ha!" Jacques coughed, gritting his teeth from the pain. "Believe what you want... But you can't close a door when something's in the way."

 

[PiePillager]

"Sure you can," Henry replied, standing up now, cracking his neck slightly as he observed the hole burned into the mountainside. "Just a matter of how hard you have to force it. Brave, break time's over. Let's beat this thing. "First thing's first. It clearly wants out. We need to stop it. We might have to split into two groups. One to stop this thing from leaving and another to seal the gate before something else gets out with it."

Henry raises his comm unit to his ear. "Albert, can you read me? I figure you're bored back there, right? Head over to our coordinates, and we'll give you something to punch!" he concluded, activating the comms tracker.

 

[obscured_light]

"Holy shit," were the only words to have left Akiko's mouth since she watched an arm get literally disintegrated. Moral common sense told her to not find that cool so she tried to focus on the current situation.

"I volunteer for the gate one," she said as Henry tried to reach Albert.

 

[DarKnight36]

The comms hissed and crackled, but if there was a response, Henry couldn't hear it. Still, the tracker blinked steadily.

 

[Wing06]

Klaus stared in awe at the destruction before them. His suit displayed a readout of his inventory. He wasn't sure how time operated wherever that beast came from, but he had little choice but to try his tech. Conventional methods seemed to result in great bodily harm. Jacques's show of muscle proved that much. Sure, Klaus had nanobots coating his skin, but what were layers of material to an eldritch horror from some unknown plane of existence? Then he thought, "The creature seems to behave more like a collective swarm than one creature. Like my nanobots, it's able to change its shape and move the way it does while disintegrating the matter it touches—a hivemind."

 

[PiePillager]

"A hivemind, huh..." Henry mused as he briefly glanced at the floor in thought. "Best way to combat those are to overwhelm it's senses. Give it so much feedback from every possible angle and disrupt its mental processes so much that it's individual components aren't able to properly cooperate," He says eventually. "Koschei, Cobalt, you think you can handle that as the frontline defense? No word from Albert yet. Not sure if my message got through but....the tracking beacon seems to work. I can guard the gate along with Shinigami and..." Henry looks to Lynne, "I don't have a full understanding of the scope of your powers, so no suggestions from me. What do you think is best for you to do?"

 

[DarKnight36]

"I can try my best," Sasha nodded. "At the very least, I should be able to adapt to its attacks so I won't end up like Jacques."

 

[Wing06]

"Overloading its senses would be ideal; we'd be in a great spot if we had something that could produce a sonic burst or heavy bass," He glanced over to Shinigami, "Hell, even fire might work, intense heat, but we need attacks from multiple angles so it doesn't have a chance to adapt."

 

[druidquest]

"I'm not sure, I haven't fought a hivemind before, or anything like this," Lynne answered, stepping back from Jacques. "If it had eyes, I might be able to disrupt their neural network, though I'm not sure I have the strength right now to force my way in to their heads otherwise. The weight of it could overwhelm me. If you need to burn it, I could try that with what moonlight I have left, though I don't know if it would be quite the same as what you're thinking."

She didn't have a human face to make expressions, but some part of her body language still read as "sheepish." "I'm not really at my best right now, sorry. If I had an hour or two to properly digest and absorb energy, I could be of more use."

 

[DarKnight36]

Sasha glanced at Lynne at her mention of energy, but if he was going to say anything, he was interrupted by another one of the monster's screams. This time, however, the scream seemed different, almost as if it was tugging at the Brave's very souls. Like a wind speeding down a tunnel, pulling and tugging at whatever was loose.

"This thing..." Sasha growled, stumbling again from the vicious mental assault. "Klaus, that thing's got to have some weak points. It's a living thing, no matter how alien it is. I'll draw its attention, the rest of you find a way to take it apart."

Sasha's form shifted as he summoned his demon form - it was similar to the one he'd used against Jacques at the last. It was thin, its armor sleek, and with an easy grace, Sasha leaped through the hole the monster had created in the hangar doors.

I'm focusing entirely on agility, Sasha thought to himself as he landed easily in the hangar. Defense won't matter. Attack isn't going to matter. I just have to dodge whatever...

His eyes widened. The entire room was completely shrouded in the fog now. He couldn't see more than ten feet in front of him. The fog stunk like some dying animal, and a soft hissing sound, accompanied by a crackle (electricity perhaps?), filled the air.

I've thought this before Sasha, but you're too bothered by every little thing.

Sasha started in surprise, but his eyes narrowed. He moved to the hangar door, his form shifting into his more standard demonic appearance. With a grunt, he pried the doors open, just enough to allow the Brave inside.

"Try not to breathe too much," Sasha said as the fog began rolling out into the hallway. "I don't know what this stuff's made of."

He turned back to the hangar, trying to see through the opaque mist. "I don't hear the creature anymore. Be careful, it might be using the fog to hide."

 

[obscured_light]

The idea Cobalt had sounded reasonable but when the monster screamed, Akiko bit her lip from letting out a pained gasp. The group's singular souls were tugged but Akiko had multiple tendrils the monster could yank at. It wasn't like when she was tired and her chest ached. It felt like she was an octopus and her tentacles were about to be ripped off.

She was getting nowhere near that thing.

When Sasha opened the door, Akiko stepped in without much fuss. The suit offered her some protection but she did need to expend a few breaths to ask a question. She made her pace match Lynne's and turned towards their former captive.

"Is there any way to speed up that energy drink chug?"

 

[druidquest]

"Not unless you have something soaked in lunar radiation that i can swallow," Lynne replied, three red pupils staring at her from one inky black eye. "...Or a fast forward button."

 

[obscured_light]

Shinigami hesitated for a second, thinking about the best way to ask as she took out the lantern for her moon knight form. Thinking it was better to show, she popped it in as the jingle for the knight form played. The now armored Shinigami tilted her head, basked in a soft white glow.

"Could you swallow me?"

 

[druidquest]

Lynne stopped floating. If she were in her human disguise, Akiko was almost certain her mouth would be hanging open in shock. When she at last responded, her voice echoing in Akiko's mind, it was in a language she didn't recognize. "Ez'st hingra-kham!" Lynne looked away briefly before speaking in her mind again, this time in flustered English. "....Could you shrink?"

 

[obscured_light]

"I'm too big," Akiko said out loud, while thinking in her head, "Oh right, swallowing a whole person might be too difficult". She nodded in understanding before raising the sword high into the air and then plunging it into the ground. Carefully, she propped the shield up against it.

Closing her eyes, she cupped her hands together and focused on the empty space inside. There was a shift inside her as the soul that contained Moon Oath felt another tug but a gentler, more insistent one this time. At first the soul resisted but Akiko drew a breath in and with a short exhale, exerted more force over it as the soul began to feel a tug from all sides. In the same way, Akiko's chest felt the same. Invisible fingers grabbed at her ribs and chest and dug in, trying to pry her open just as she was trying to rip the power from the soul into a physical form. Power began to leak which Akiko envisioned gently grabbing and placing it into her hands.

The others couldn't see her pained expression underneath the help but they could hear a tiny crack and see small specks of light appearing in her hands. The specks of light began to coalesce and grow brighter but as they did, more cracking sounds could be heard. Cracks began to appear in the sword and shield that grew bigger as the light in Akiko's hands did. The soft glow around Akiko dimmed until her armor grew dull and began to rust.

Inside her, her chest felt like it was about to be ripped wide open and she could see the strength and power of the soul that lay in the gap she had carved out of it. As she tore it from it's core, so too, did she feel like her heart was being torn out of her chest for the souls that dwelled within her carved their homes in her flesh and mind and in the very core of her essence.

With a final loud, CRACK, the sword and shield shattered into moonlight that joined the growing orb. The Moon Oath form broke and Akiko stood there, beads of sweat rolling down her face, her jaw clenched with all her might to keep her from screaming, outstretched hands shaking as she held out the orb towards Lynne. She was pale, exhausted, and swaying slightly on her feet. She raised one hand to give her a thumbs up and a weak smile before promptly collapsing a few seconds later. The orb remained in the air but began to vibrate as though it were to explode any second.

 

[druidquest]

"Akiko!" Lynne lunged forward, catching her before she could hit the ground. A thin grey arm wrapped around Akiko's waist, keeping her propped against the bony outcropping on Lynne's shoulder. She eyed the detective's face with concern, a tiny crease forming in her alien brow, before turning her gaze to the gift Akiko had offered her.

A small sphere of lunar light, crackling and thrumming with barely contained energy, unstable and violent. A full moon, recast in miniature, suspended in the middle of the control room. Just being near it made Lynne's skin tingle. She reached out, bolts of energy jumping from the orb to her fingertips and traced up her arm, eager to reseal itself in a living body. Her whole body tensed, four pupils contracting, and with a rush of energy she grabbed hold of it, feeling it pulse against her palm like a beating heart.

"Yeah," Lynne mouthed. Her voice was scratchy and strange, a word formed with vestigial, atrophied chords in a throat not used to verbal speech. "I think this'll speed things up a lot, Detective."

Her lips split open, skin parting all the way toward the back of her jaw like a reptile, and her hand brought the sphere of lunar energy into her mouth in the same instant. Her jaw snapped shut, her eyes widening in strain as the orb went down her throat. Her tendrils whipped through the air, split tail cracking against the floor as her entire body came alive with energy, moonlight glowing in her eyes and across patterns on her skin. Bolts of white electricity jumped between her body and the room around her, dust billowing away as power pulsed off her like gusts of wind.

Her lips pulled back in a snarl, exposing rows of sharp teeth as she fought to maintain control of the moonlit soul trying to consume her before it could be consumed by her. Lynne couldn't understand. Usually absorbing lunar radiation was peaceful, soothing, but this was violent. She would have been satisfied with a single night's supply of lunar radiation, but this felt like ten thousand. Did all of the detective's lanterns contain power like this? Lynne wondered at how many of those "suits" Akiko had at her disposal, and if she had to fight through this kind of strain every time she used one.

Lynne's hand tensed around Akiko's waist, pointed claws digging at the human's skin, and Lynne forced herself to let the woman fall before her fingers could tear through her side. She screwed her eyes shut, a monstrous hiss escaping from her throat, clenching her hands tight enough for rivulets of black ichor to drip down the sides of her palms. Her entire body started to curl in on itself, hanging in the air as she warred with the power to submit and be consumed. There were greater enemies to face, allies who needed help, a world to defend. She would not be undone by this.

And in the next instant it was over, the pain and chaos vanishing like a ghost. How long had passed in that state? A few seconds at most, but it felt like hours. Lynne straightened herself, tendrils floating calmly behind her, tail curling loosely around her legs. She glanced down at her hands, the thick punctures from her claws already stitching themselves closed with a faint glow of gentle moonlight.

She felt awake. She felt strong.

 

[DarKnight36]

No response. There was no response from the mist to Lynne's and Akiko's transfer of power. Just the eerie hissing as the fog continued to curl and fill the space around the Brave. Sasha's eyes narrowed. Had the monster retreated? Why would it when it had attempted so desperately to enter this realm? He'd felt no semblance of intelligence from the monster on the beach. Was this thing different? Was it afraid?

Different, yes. This is no embryonic neophyte. It is Thretriiyma.

"Thretriiyma," Sasha muttered, his tongue stumbling over the unfamiliar word.

Lights appeared in the fog, like lanterns along a walkway, except they hung in the air like will of the wisps, flittering and fluttering as they led further into the hangar.

COME

The word thrummed with force, filling the minds of the Brave and the air around them. But it was different from the earlier screams. This was subdued, calm even, but it was no request. It was a command, pure and simple.

"Well," Sasha said after a moment. "Maybe it wants to talk?"