Futuristic Endgame

[king5ter]

Standing at the edge of the giant hole in the ground, Quentin Poretia peered down and couldn't help but wonder if the coffee was really worth it. What had been so good about The Blue Ivy Cafe that someone had to steal the entire building, including its inhabitants? Surely if there had been something valuable in there the sensible option would have been to...steal it? Yet they hadn't, they'd taken the whole building, which meant that it was important somehow. Or whoever had done it was just mad and didn't have a reason - that was equally possible, and probably far more dangerous. It seemed bigger than that though. Maybe it was just the lingering scent of smoke in the air, or the unnerving silence of an empty street in the middle of a city of noise, but something was off. Which made sense, considering an entire building had vanished and nobody saw it do so. That was the part that really got to him. This was a busy street. People were always around. And yet somehow nobody noticed a building stop being there? No, something had happened to their memory. It was wiped, or built over, or disrupted. Whoever or whatever did this had to be powerful, and they likely weren't working alone.

He sighed and turned to look at the other side of the street. A few shops in a row, all selling clothes, all with strange names.

Maximum Drive.
Run.
Sunny Outlook.
Echelon.
Run.
Umbrella.
Quentin, Run.
RUN.

Well, shit, that wasn't good.

About five seconds after Quentin realised that the shops were somehow sending him a message, something big and brown fell out of the sky, landing in the middle of the road with a thud and sending cracks across the asphalt. It uncurled from a ball, raising a head of sharp horns and extending at least eight arms. Facing Quentin was a monster with a shit ton of arms and the head of a stag, and then it opened its mouth and let out a bloodcurling scream. Quentin yelped in pain and covered his ears, but the damage was done, and they started to ring. The monster started to charge towards him and he moved instinctively, running to the side and narrowly avoiding the edge of its horns. His ears still ringing, he placed a finger to his earpiece.

"Taskforce Ruby, this is Statue. You, uh...you need to get here. Now."

The monster screeched again and reared its head.

 

[Lemercer]

Judah reached out and brought the large pot of chips to his side of the poker table, a smirk placed firmly on his face the whole time.

"Well gentlemen, i'd like to thank you call for making my trip here in Lestain financially profitable"

The men around the table glared at him, wishing death upon him. What Judah couldn't understand is why they were so angry, they made 3 times this amount a day. Then he realized one small detail, he was the youngest man at the table. After realizing the dangerous situation he had put himself in, Judah began to stand.

"Well my... pudgy friends. I'll be uh, bustin out of here if you don't mi-"

A loud screech split through Judah's speech. He winced, wondering just what in the fuck could have made that sound. The demeanor of the word had changed as guards rushed outside and they heard the footsteps of hundreds of people running down the street. Judah ran outside to investigate, throwing his last chip onto the table. As soon as his foot exited the room, a citizen ran into Judah. A stampede? What in the hell was going on!?

"Taskforce Ruby, this is Statue. You, uh...you need to get here. Now."

Statue's gravely voice called at him in through the speaker in his ear. Whatever was going on, his team needed to intervene. Judah chucked and pressed the small button on his earpiece as he began sprinting against the crowd's current, towards whatever was making that horrible noise.

"This is Vega, i'm en route."

 

[LindsMagee]

Just 30 minutes ago Tempest had arrived in Lestain and made her way to the bridge sector where she was hopping in and out of shops in search of something that would catch her eye. She almost gave up all hope until a small, almost hidden shop caught her attention. Tempest peered through the window and saw a gleaming set of black daggers that her fingers itched to hold. A bell sounded as Tempest walked through the shop door. Just as she began to ask how much the set was, Tempest heard screaming citizens and whipped quickly around to decipher what the chaos was about. Looking through the window, she found people fleeing from something in the distance, and just as she briskly walked back out of the shop doors and began walking in the direction opposite of the crowd, her earpiece screamed to life. She heard Statue's voice calling for the Ruby Taskforce to get to his location immediately. She sighed and checked his location...Of course he's in the center of this chaos she thought, and before replying herself, she heard Vega's voice reporting that he was on the way.

"This is Mirage, I'm about two minutes from the location"

Tempest responded quietly to the Taskforce. Instead of taking the time to weave through the distressed crowd, Tempest decided to scale one of the buildings and onto the rooftop, deciding it would be quicker to get to Statue's location seeing as the tops of the buildings were all close in proximity. As she glided from roof to roof, the monster became clearer and the street below was almost vacant, save from a few people attempting to record footage of the fight no doubt. She knew it would be easier and safer to get rid of a threat if the lingering pedestrians were away from the immediate danger. Tempest conjured a feeling of fear in the pedestrians, causing them to disperse and sprint away from the scene in seconds, leaving a ghost town of shops and restaurants in their wake. Tempest hopped down from the roof and landed a few yards behind the ghastly beast.

( king5ter Lemercer )

 

[king5ter]

The screaming that had very quickly erupted from the nearby streets said all that needed to be said, really, and as Quentin desperately scrambled to dodge the creatures arms he found himself panting, already struggling for breath. It had been months since he'd last had to fight like this, and even though he'd kept up his training, there was no substitute for being in the field, face to face with the real thing.

"This is Vega. I'm en route."

Finally, some good news. A little down the street, just past the blockade that cordoned off the area, Quentin could see tons of citizens piling up, trying to film what was happening or just get a good look at the creature, which was exactly what you didn't want in a situation like this. Momentarily distracted by the crowd, he realised at the last second that the creature was charging again and threw his body to the side of the street, narrowly missing the horns. He stumbled as he did and fell to the floor, and as he tried to push himself back up, he noticed the crowd all turn and run at the same time. Tempest was here. Sure enough, a few seconds later she dropped down behind the creature. Quentin pushed himself up from the ground, and as the creature lunged at him, he turned his fist to stone and pummelled the thing as hard as he could in the stomach. The creature barely moved with the impact, shrieking again and grabbing Quentin's fist with four arms. Quentin did the same with the other fist, this time aiming for the head, and this punch actually did some noticeable damage. The creature yelled in pain and let go of Quentin.

 

[Its_Just_E]

Rose was enjoying her day. She had found a nice coffee place to sit at, ordered some tea, and was eating a muffin. It was shaping up to be a great day indeed for her. She didn’t have any training that she knew of for the team and most of all the team were scattered out and enjoying themselves. All except for the captain. That man never takes a day off.

As she let the sun hit her face, she closed her eyes and threw her head back to just relax a bit. Next thing she knew though, the screams of people panicking and running filler her ears. Her head shot up to see that a few blocks down, people were running fast. As if there life were on the lines. Then, as if right on cue, the captain came over the communicator in her ear.

“Taskforce Ruby, this is Statue. You, uh…you need to get here. Now.”

Then it was followed by both Vega and Mirage, who were both in route to him. Rose pressed her fingers to her ear and said, “This is Vanish, I can be there soon. If you have a location or could name the street, I can be there sooner. Also, if any other member’s in route need a lift, let me know your location and I will teleport there. Out” She didn’t wait for any answers and began to run down the street. She zipped into an alley way quickly so that she could start teleporting without people seeing her. She looked up to the roofs and in a flash, was on top of them. Then it was just a matter of teleporting from roof to roof, making her way to her captain.

 

[LindsMagee]

Tempest watched as Quentin's blow to the monster's midsection did nothing and she cursed under her breath. She was flipping through ideas in her head, still unnoticed by the beast when she saw that a blow to the head momentarily stunned it. As Vanish replied that she would be there soon, but quicker with an adress, Tempest quickly looked around and saw that they were near the corner of...

"Main and Teal" she responded and hoped Vanish would recognize the street names.

After she looked for the names of the streets, Tempest's eyes fell on a shop window filled with mannequins in various eccentric outfits. "I may have an idea" She spoke into the earpiece and walked to the street, unnoticed by the beast until she got about five feet to the left of Quentin. She paused in her tracks to push a mental image into the monster's head, but let out a yelp of pain as her own mind was met with spikes. Tempest had met people with mental blockades, but those were easy to work around, this however, was an unusual case.

She closed her eyes to further concentrate, gritting her teeth against the initial pain until finally finding a soft spot in the creature's mind. She pushed an image of many Quentin's surrounding the beast, hoping this would buy the real Quentin and the Taskforce enough time to strike the beast's head.

 

[Lemercer]

Weaving through the crowd Judah heard Mirage and Vanish's replies, and with them the realization that this was going to be a nice little party. Judah finally broke through the last wave of the crowd and saw Mirage and Statue standing in front of the creature. There was one clear thing he realized, the creature was vulnerable via it's head. Judah ran as fast as he could until we just behind Statue. He put his hand on his captain's shoulder.

"I miss anything cap?"

At the moment he saw the creature looking around frantically, as if there was many men around him. Of course! Mirage's power, the creature probably saw tons of, well, someone around it. Judah's eyes darted from the creature to Statues still stone enclosed fists. He looked at the stag like head on the creature, an imprint of Statue's fist on the side of its head.

"Cap i got an idea... and its really stupid."

Judah looked at the antlers on the creatures head, that ought of hurt it right? At least, that's what he was hoping. He looked at Mirage, seeing that her wince he knew that she was in pain. Judah spun around his bo and fell into a fighting stance, ready to launch himself at the creature on Statue's command.

 

[Its_Just_E]

“Main and Teal” that was what Tempest had said on the comms. As she hopped from roof to roof leaving small puffs of smoke where she was previously, she stopped for a second to gather her thoughts. She started to search her mind for the streets that were given. Her eyes flew open as she remember where it was. Thinking hard, she focused on the spot and then “poof” she was gone from the roof.

She teleported to the street that was given to her seeing a lot of destruction and craziness happening. Reaching up to her comm, she said, “Vanish on site, where are you guys…” she was cut off by the sound of the monster behind her. She just barely managed to teleport away from a fist flying at her. As she got several feet from the beast, she noticed that it was gripping its head. It wasn’t swinging at her, but more or less, just swinging in general. Then she noticed Tempest off to the side also holding her head. Rose put the pieces together and figured that Tempest was messing with the monster.

Rose gathered herself and found Statue and Vega off to the side. She teleported over to them. She poofed in just in time to hear that Vega had an idea. “Hello boys, I see we are all having fun here. Anyone have a plan?”

 

[king5ter]

"You got an idea, Vega, go for it," Quentin yelled. "The plan here is basically just...hit the thing. Hard. Aim for the head if you can."

The creature started to thrash about wildly, confused by Mirage, and so he took the opportunity to slam his fists into the head again. It was hurting the thing, but it didn't seem to be leaving much of an impact. Quentin stumbled back, catching his breath, and looked at the others around them. None of them were powerful enough to stop it on their own, but...

"I have an idea," he said, almost proud. "Mirage, keep it in one place. Vanish, I want you to take me and teleport me directly above the thing, then drop me. If I hit it hard enough, it should do some serious damage. As soon as I land, everyone target the thing. And for the love of God don't miss." He smiled, proud of himself, and then the creature screeched again and scratched him across the chest. He yelled in pain and jumped back. "Anytime now would be great."

 

[Lemercer]

"Fuckin A"

Judah sprinted at the beast, hardening his skin as he ran. As The rest of the team prepared their assault, Judah began to swing with all of his might at the antlers on the creature. It wasn't doing much damage, but it seemed to be quite sensitive there and became continually disoriented for as long as Judah kept swinging. As he did so he noticed the antlers becoming bruised. However despite all this he realized one small detail, that he was not more than 2 feet from the damn thing.

"Ah shit I knew this was stupid" was all he managed to say before the beast grabbed him and held him out of reach of it's head. He looked to Vanish to teleport the captain.

"YOU KNOW, GOTTA AGREE WITH THE CAP, ANYTIME NOW" Judah yelled, the creature's grip tightening around his rib age. He knew they would free him, after all in the small time he had been on the team, it had become a strange sort of family to him. Everything would be fine, he thought, even if some weird 8 armed stag monkey monster was all of 10 seconds away from squashing him like a bug.

 

[Its_Just_E]

“Well, Judah went and got himself caught. Probably need to get moving.” Rose quickly got to work. She teleported to where Statue was, grabbed his collar, and disappeared again leaving only the “poof” behind.

They reappeared above the monsters head, about 50 ft up. “Here you go captain. Have a nice fall.” She said while letting him go and disappearing again. Rose ended up back on the street next to Tempest and watched the big stone man fall. Looking at her in concentration, Rose asked her, “I know you’re busy but you think he will break?” Chuckling under her breathe a bit when she asked.

 

[LindsMagee]

Tempest nodded slightly at Quentin and focused again on the beast, wincing as she made it freeze in place. When vanish appeared next to her and cracked a joke Tempest glanced briefly in her direction, laughed and said "Maybe, too bad it's too late to place bets" with a smirk.

As a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead she turned back to the beast, wondering why this was taking so much energy out of her. She turned her attention towards Quentin and watched him drop, wondering if he could in fact crack, and hoping that he wouldn't.

 

[king5ter]

Down, down, down he went, curling up into a ball and turning his whole body into a rock. Even though he'd had his powers for who knew how long, he still found himself amazed at how many uses he found for them. Of all the things he'd expected to be doing today, dropping out of the sky as giant rock was not one of them. He braced for impact and landed on the creature with a sickening thud, flattening him underneath and freeing Judah from his grip. He unfroze himself and pushed up away from the monster, which was whimpering in a heap on the floor, clearly hurt.

"You know," he said as he knelt down and started to punch the thing while it was incapacitated, "your comms are still on...and I don't crack." He smirked and took a step back to let the others have their turn. "Have at it. Just try not to kill the thing. It might be useful."

 

[Its_Just_E]

Rose started to laugh when she heard the captain come over the comms, “oh yeah we know, that was the point.” Watching him slam into the head of the monster, it looked like it really; really hurt.

Statue has got a lot of hits in and asked if anyone else wanted to. Seeing as Rose was in her street clothes and not her uniform, she didn’t have any of her bombs with her to drop on the thing. Looking around, she found a nice, big car that had been wrecked in the fight. Focusing one hand on it and the other pointing over the monsters head, she concentrated. Then, poof, the car was gone and reappeared above the monster’s head, heading straight down towards it’s back.

Rose stumbled a bit after this, she was wearing down. She done a lot of teleporting in a short time with not much food in her on the day. Looking up at Tempest, she said, “I’m going to take 5 for a min. You guys got this right?”

 

[LindsMagee]

Tempest watched curiously as Quentin slammed into the beast and flattened it. A wave surprise came over her as he got up off the ground and the thing was still alive. She laughed when she heard Vanish and Statue on the intercom until a car appeared above the monster and hit its back...hard. Tempest saw Vanish stumble in her peripheral and slightly turned to her before hearing what she asked.

"We got it, go do what you need to do and get some rest" she replied with a knowing look and went back to watching the others beat the thing.

Tempest stood still and observed warily. She would come in as backup if the beast happened to attack again, but she didn't want another headache and she didn't like to hurt or kill when unnecessary.

 

[Lemercer]

Judah fell, catching his breath as his feet hit asphalt. Not taking the moment he had for granted he sprinted back at the thing. He focused on strengthening his his body as he put his bo staff back in it's holster and brandished his pair of brass knuckles. He took in a breath, ready to pummel the damn thing... right before he saw a car fall from the sky onto the stag. Once it hit, Judah looked back at Vanish, laughing..

"Good job V!"

Noticing the others falling back, Judah figured it was time for him to make up for his mishap of getting well... caught. While the monster was down he ran up to it and placed one palm on the center of its head, willing the cells to fall apart. To his surprise, he noticed that while he could feel the skin becoming more flexible, this creature was more than he had bargained for. Regardless, in a final attempt to put the thing to sleep he brought his fist down in the weakened spot he had created. The beast screamed again, and Judah winced.

"Shut.. up!" He yelled at it, punching it again, watching it fall limp. Judah breathed a sigh of relief. He then looked at the huge antlers on its head and gripped on, decaying it slightly before snapping it off. A bit morose, but he was just happy to see the creature on the ground. He underhandedly tossed the antler towards Statue.

"Here ya go captain paperweight" He said teasingly, with a smile. "Now what?"

king5ter

 

[king5ter]

Quentin caught the antler deftly and held it out, turning it round to examine it in more detail. It seemed identical to the those of a deer other than the fact that it was pure black, and it seemed to confirm what he had already been thinking: it was as if someone had taken the parts of a bunch of animals and shoved them together into one creature. Sure, the thing was hideous, and it sounded like a damn banshee, but if you separated the whole and looked at the parts individually they seemed quite natural. Well, okay, eight arms was a bit of a stretch, but it's not like that was an idea completely foreign to Atraxi, he'd just never seen it like this. Quentin placed the antler down gently and knelt beside the beast, cocking his head in curiosity. Its skin was rough, covered with small cuts and bruises that had been inflicted long before this fight. Whatever this thing was, it had seen come action.

"Alright," Quentin said, getting up, "let's tie this creature up and get it to the nearby safehouse. Maybe it'll suddenly learn to speak English. And if not then...uh...we'll figure something out." His eyes widened. "Oh. Ohhhhhh. I know." He turned to look at Vega and Mirage. "I've got a little adventure for you two. There's a rumour - no, story - well, it's more of a myth - look, there's this thing, this device that's supposed to be hidden in the business sector. An old research facility. It can translate anything, but nobody's ever been able to find it, because the place is trapped to shit. You're gonna go get it."

He turned to look at Vanish, and then smiled slightly. "Oh, and by the way, it's supposedly haunted. You're welcome."

 

[LindsMagee]

Tempest sighed and looked at Quentin. "So you're not going because you're scared of a few ghosts huh?" She said with a smirk. Then she zoned out, thinking of ways to safely extract an object that may not exist from a place that may or may not be rigged to kill intruders. Sounded like a death wish. If anyone could do it, Endgame could, but it was still dangerous not knowing what was in store. She might be able to use her illusions to make the trap sensors or cameras not see or feel them, but she would need to know where they were positioned. She had done it to various electronics before, but humans were easier.

"So any ideas guys?" She turned and asked Vanish and Vega with a raised brow. And she was worried that Vanish would need to rest before another nob, but didn't say anything about that.

Lemercer Its_Just_E king5ter

 

[Lord Mitmar]

Training. That's all Myra's life had been since she'd joined Endgame. It was a monotonous slog through absolute hell, but it did keep her busy. Every day she'd get up just before six to head out of the cell-like room she'd been assigned when she opted to live in the Endgame HQ rather than bother with the outside world and make the short trek down to the pearly white training rooms where she could be found dancing alongside the flow of wind and heard breathing thunder into the otherwise silent air. She would never leave before the toll of midnight, never talk to anyone, and certainly never stray off Endgame property. There was no arguing that she wasn't working herself to the bone, but she didn't much care. She'd been obsessing over her powers ever since she was told they were 'too wild' for her to serve alongside the real heroes. It was all one sick, endless game, and Myra was just as sick of playing it. Four years of pointless exercises with no end in sight, hell, every time she asked to be assigned to a team her request was shrugged off without as much as a word on when they might reconsider. Every single time they just said she wasn't ready, or that her powers were too unpredictable. Well, she was damn ready. All that was left was to learn how to better direct her powers. It was time, and she wouldn't stop until she'd succeeded.

The first day; it was like any other, really. People stood around the training rooms, chatting about this and that. Myra tried to act as though she were going about her daily routine, but it was difficult to miss the determined scowl that had snuck its way into her stony features. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of the towering room she'd spent so very long inside, with its blank white walls, save for the massive digital clock that watched from across the space, and its painful fluorescent lighting. It was a strange place to call home, but it was the closest thing she really had to one. With an anticipating sigh, she set to work. First the roaring winds, which seemed to tear right through the thick grey fabric of her sweatshirt, then the rolling ink of the clouds which blocked out every last bit of light except for the glow of the clock, then the pouring rains, which rolled down the slanted floor towards the great metal drains below, and finally the rumbling of thunder and the flash of lightning. She would learn how to control this, no matter what. The hours wound on until the clock had clicked over from AM to PM and back again. Myra gave a slight huff of frustration. She hadn't made an inch of progress. Sleep could wait.

The second day. By now the drains had simply given up, worked beyond their limit by the endless torrent of unnatural rainfall. Thankfully, the rain itself had stopped as well once Myra had become too tired to keep encouraging its fall. The winds had stopped too, but the snaking lashes of electricity seemed to be coming at an even quicker pace. Most struck towards the half of the room that had been submerged in the earlier torrent, but some still arced towards the higher portion. Another buzz of the clock, another missed day. Still no progress. Sleep could wait. The third day. The drains started working again. That was nice. Still the dry storm raged on, and still Myra stood to watch and direct. Yet despite her every attempt, she still had no control. She was so tired but... Sleep could wait... The final day... It was pointless. With every try her hopes faded further and further away. She would never be able to control what she was. She would never be a hero. With a defeated wave, she dispelled what remained of the storm and collapsed into the nearest corner. She'd failed, and for the first time in a long time, she cried.

"Quentin," The matronly overseer's voice cut through the silence as the door sealed behind her. "I know you're busy, but... I've got a girl here. Volkov, I think. She's losing it. Checked in to one of the training rooms earlier this week. Hasn't been out since... She's logged more than eighty hours. Look... I know how you feel about bringing trainees into the field, but, Christ, I don't think she's even left the building in a few years. She's checked in every day. All day. No. No. I know you're in the middle of something, and I don't give a damn. You need to send somebody to get this girl back into her head, and you need to let her actually do something for once. Now." She hesitated, but couldn't quite hold her tongue. "You know I like to be frank, Poretia... And... She'll probably be a terrible hero, but I've seen what she can do, and you'd better listen when I say she would make a very, very good villain. Don't let her go down that path or you'll have a hell of a problem on your hands. This isn't up for debate. Send someone to pick her up, and make it quick. You've got yourself a new team member." With that, the woman flicked off her earpiece and held a hand out to Myra's sobbing form. A weak "Thank you" was all she managed to get out between gasps. She may never be a great hero, but at least she would get to work beside some. Maybe that was enough.

 

[seasonedcat]

Ase normally would have been one of the first few on the scenes when Quentin called for help, however it just so happened that she was on the other side of the city when he had paged. She had come across a old book store that had caught her interest. It had a few books about artifacts like the one she had found, and she had hope to find something that would explain things about her and her friends. She had been on her way to ask how the search was going with Quentin, but... that didn't happen and she ended up being to far away to respond quickly to the call.

So that's how she got into her current position, sprinting threw town seeing where people were running from, thank gosh for her many running errands the adventures had made her do years ago. Soon the people fleeing dwindled and she was left running down empty streets, her feet echoing loudly. She finally came to a stop, breath short. She looked up to see the others done fighting around a defeated enemy. "Sorry guys, I ended up on the other side of town somehow. Whoops." Ase said out of breath as she now slowly walked over to the group, "Is anyone hurt?" Worry was laced in her tone as she came to a stop near the group looking over each one.
Interactions: king5ter LindsMagee Lemercer Its_Just_E