by Trace Evans / Hiro Rai Sing (ID #: 10950)
by Starmaster
“I don’t know how I feel about mysterious metal men showing
up and giving power boosts to heroes who he calls ‘his kind’,” Wyldfyre said as
he looked at Starmaster, Catalyst, and Silver Paladin. Each of his friends used
technology to enhance their Morphon abilities and now displayed an increased
aptitude with their powers. “Now if it was a beautiful woman offering me a sword
from a lake, that would be a different story.”
“It is unexpected,” Starmaster said from within his body
armor, a technological enhancer for his mental abilities. Before the metal
figure appeared to Director Nova, Starmasters power signature was a blue nimbus
that enveloped him and his target. Now, it was more of a teal shade, a melding
of blue and green.
And according to the pressure sensor Catalyst had created to
gauge power output, Starmaster’s telekinetic power had moved off the charts.
Catalyst had a more invasive piece of technology grafted to
his brain. A micro-processer and sensory apparatus his mother designed to allow
him to hear. When Morphons gave him his Catalyst Effect powers, which allowed
him to manipulate probabilities to improve function of energy distribution and
reaction, his ability as a scientist improved as well. He could experiment with
a much higher success rate when creating his gadgets. Things that shouldn’t
work now simply did.
The scientist waved his hand over the pressure plate, a soft
green pulse shooting out of his hand, and the pressure plate physically altered.
The materials visibly hardened and became more… techy. New blinking lights, diodes,
and panels appeared as the pressure plate upgraded before their very eyes. It
began to process entirely new data from Starmaster’s telekinetic efforts. “This
quite amazing. I have new ideas forming faster than ever before.”
Moving to a different computer, Catalyst began rapidly
typing in formulas and designs.
“And you’re all ok with getting this power boost without
question, going up to the Space Arena to fight because this tech avatar says
so?” Wyldfyre wasn’t used to being the voice of reason. He preferred being the
hothead of the Star Force, not being concerned with the ramifications of his actions.
Now he was worried, unsure and a bit frightened of his companion’s surge in
abilities.
None more than those of Silver Paladin. Created less than a
year ago during the Quest in the Midwest for ruby shards, Silver Paladin was a
strange melding of all know Morphonic Elements. His armor showed the most
influence of technology, a glistening silver metal with engraved circuitry covering
his entire body. A few minutes ago, his armor looked like a sleek, polished
suit of modernized medieval armor with a fancy helmet.
The green energy wave washed over him, and he became
bulkier, his armor tripling in size. Wyldfyre couldn’t easily describe the new
look, other than to imagine what a person would look like after eating and
absorbing the qualities of the biggest tank the military could offer.
Even Silver Paladin’s mounted sword that popped out of
housings in his wrists had changed, doubling in size, and crackling with green
flames burning inside the metal blade material.
Silver Paladin pointed a blade at a punching bag hanging from
the ceiling in the Star Force Observatory gymnasium. It launched out like a
rocket from his wrist, impaling through the bag and into the wall on the
opposite side as a new blade appeared on his arm. “Wow.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” Wyldfyre said.
“We’d better head up to the arena. We don’t want to miss out
on this fight, do we?” Starmaster said. As the other two nodded, a teal
explosion of light surrounded each of them as Starmaster teleported them into
the Mindscape, all three ignoring Wyldfyre’s concern.
Here are some suggestions by Timebender ID: 10897:
I had a dream last night about an elementalist Superboy, who was involved in something similar to the fight club. Strength, toughness, and optional immovability from Earth, flight, deflection and wind blasts from air (could not use his ranged powers in the arena due to arena rules), heat blasts and the ability to "temper" his earth powered form from fire, and at least vision powers from water (not sure what else he got from that). He used the vision powers to spot a weak point in a stone giant he was facing and nearly broke him in half...
What does this have to do with Heroes Rising? Well, it is all about character visualization. When you are creating a character, especially for the role-play, you need to know who and what your character is...even if that does not match the abilities they get from the powers and gear you currently have on them.
Timebender has the morphon-granted power of bending space and time to produce many effects. When I am writing the character, I write the powers he uses in view of how his powers work. He can lift huge masses by bending space to create a localized gravity field. He can move and act at super speed by bending time. Anything he does is explained by either his powers or his gear.
That is what makes for role-play: staying in character in the posts. That requires understanding your character.
Dr. Osteen walked through his new laboratory. He wasn’t entirely sure where they had placed him this time, but he was certain he was secluded. He even had windows in this lab. From his workstations he could see mountains covered in snow and pine trees. It was a virtual paradise of glorious blue skies and serene views.
Dr. Osteen stared at that window as his equipment continued to process his last experiment. He watched a bald eagle fly by and snapped a picture of it with the computer tablet. He paused to look at the high def image he had captured. Suddenly, the image went black and a voice came through.
“Progress report, Osteen!”
He picked up the tablet from where he had dropped it. “Oh, I wasn’t expecting to report so soon.”
“After the fiasco in Las Vegas, we’re keeping closer tabs on your work. Have you found anything?”
“Yes. After taking samples from all the animals, I’ve been able to extract morphon energy from them. They too absorbed morphons during the Legion event. I can use this to help focus the evolution project faster.”
“Our scientist already know about the morphons being in animals. It has no effect on them, not like humans. What we need to know is how we can use this to our advantage.”
“I can’t give you an answer on that yet. But, I did find something interesting. Morphons radiate at different frequencies. Each frequency seems to have a different effect on the individual. This is why some people are better at flying and others are just strong.”
The voice on the other end answered, “Good, very good. How can we use this to our advantage?”
“I’m conducting an experiment now to determine how we might be able to use them. I have focused on a broad frequency and am using…” a warning siren blared in the room.
“What is that, Doctor?”
“I...uh...don’t know. Nothing to be concerned about, just...I...uh...will go and check on this. Osteen out.” He turned off the tablet and ran over to a machine.
A glass cylinder had a glowing, swirling energy inside with tiny streaks spinning around. The glass shook and the machine was blaring louder and louder.
“No, don’t screw up already. Come on.” Dr. Osteen attempted an emergency shut-down, then ultimately pulled the plug. Nothing worked, that swirling mass of energy continued. The doctor dove under a table just as the jar exploded.
The white energy flew around the room as a cloud. It passed through a wall and vanished. Dr. Osteen pulled himself back up and ran to a set of controls. The wall lifted to reveal his specimens. The energy raced around this room.
Dr. Osteen cautiously stepped closer to it. “How is this possible?”
Before he could get closer it, it exploded. He was thrown back into the main lab as the energy wave passed over him. Moments later he opened his eyes and found the lab quiet.
“What just happened?”
“What...am...I?” A new voice asked.
Dr. Osteen looked up and saw bits and pieces of lab equipment and computers gathered together and forming a human shaped thing. It looked down at him and cocked it’s head as if curious.
Osteen scooted back and pulled himself up by use of a wall, “what...what...what are you?”
“I do not know. I was energy a moment ago. Now, I think….therefore I am?” it wasn’t certain of it’s answers.
Dr. Osteen’s trembling hand reached over and picked up a small scanner. He checked it, “this isn’t possible. You are made of morphons and spare parts. Strange, you are radiating a single frequency of morphon.”
“Morphon.” it said this as though testing the word. Then it gained a smile on its cobbled together face. “Yes, that is what I am. I am morphons. I am the green energy.” This thing laughed as the parts flew apart and swirled among the glowing green ball of energy. It flew out of the lab like a swarm of insects moving in unison.
Osteen watched it leave through a broken hole in the back wall of his animal holding room. Only now did he notice the missing animals, their cages broken open. “Oh crap.”
Nova and Strange Quark stood in the operations center of the station as Chase gave a progress report over the main monitor. Beside her stood both Gar and Furious Squirrel.
“That’s about it. The Leagues have done a great job in cleaning up the city. Loss of life was extremely minimal.”
Furious added, “I have still been scanning for any sign of Dr. Osteen or any of his stuff. Did you follow up on that signature in Antarctica?”
“Yes. It was just a small piece. Looks like it was planted. Just a distraction. At this time we have nothing to go on.”
“Sorry to say, I agree.” Furious stated.
Nova said, “Gar, I want you...Gar?”
Gar had his back to the screen. Finally he said, “That is a person.”
“What?” Nova pinched the bridge of his nose, not ready for Gars distracted attitude.
Before anyone could answer, the metal man approached and looked directly at Furious Squirrel. “You are of my kind. You have the green energy in you as well.”
“Hello, who are you?” Furious asked.
The metalman looked around the others, “you all share the energy, but only this one draws his strength from the green.”
“Green?” Chase asked.
Furious said, “I think he’s talking about my morphon powers. I am a tech hero, my strength is in my connection to technology.”
Strange Quark stepped closer, “I know what you are… but this is not possible.”
Nova asked, “what are you talking about?”
The metalman looked up right at Quark, “you understand the energies of this universe better than the others.”
“Yes, I do. Nova, this isn’t a person, per se. He is the embodiment of morphons. In particular tech morphons.”
“What?”
The metalman nodded as if he just realized this as well. “Yes. That is it. I am the Master of Tech, Avatar of the Morphons.”
Quark said, “There are distinct frequencies of morphons. Until now, I didn’t really think it meant anything other than giving heroes unique dispositions toward a certain type of powers. I never imagined they would coalesce into a physical manifestation.”
Nova said, “What do you want, Master of Tech?”
The Master smiled and then closed his eyes. A wave of green energy spread out, but didn’t seem to do anything to anyone except Furious Squirrel. Furious had a tingling glow around him. The Master opened his eyes and said, “I must test my subjects, my children. I want to see how well they use the strength I give. I must be impressed or I might remove that which I give. If I am impressed, the best of them shall receive great rewards. Summon them to a challenge, let them prove themselves to me.” With that last word, he vanished.
Chase looked at the screen, “What was that about?”
Nova asked, “Furious, how do you feel?”
Furious looked at his hands. “Stronger...the strongest I have ever felt.”
Quark said, “you should. That avatar just enhanced all tech heroes to their best strength.”
“To what end?” Nova asked.
“As he said, to challenge them. They must compete to prove themselves. Otherwise, he might take away their powers.”
“Can he do that?” Chase asked.
Quark nodded, “it is difficult to explain in depth. But, he does have power like I haven’t seen much in this reality. He could shut off all tech heroes.”
Nova let out a hard sigh and then activated his emergency signal. “BADGE to all heroes, you may have noticed that your powers have been enhanced if you have tech powers. It is time to head to the arena for a king of the mountain event. Tech heroes, your powers will be stronger, so be careful. There is a promise of great rewards. Go and compete! Prove your strength.”
A line of expensive cars exploded as a ray of energy cut across them. Three heroes slammed into the middle of the car lot and quickly fled as another beam demolished the Mercedes Dealership, scattering pricey car parts all over the city.
“We have to get this under control!” Chase called out as she ran with a baby in her arms.
Zanazola raced up to her, snatched the baby, and then zipped away to a safe place.
The Closer landed in front of Chase and emitted a barrier that stopped a blast of energy. “That thing is tough! Our powers aren’t doing much good!” He dropped the barrier and then shot a blast of his own.
Furious Squirrel rolled across the ground and coughed as he caught his breath. “It’s… it’s weakening.”
Chase continued to scan for civilians in danger. “Are you sure?”
“Yes… cough … the power signature is at twenty percent and going down.”
Chase materialized her shuriken and smiled, “then, let’s bring it down to zero. HEROES! FULL POWER!”
***
Nova paced in the BADGE operations center on the station. The screen displayed the massive attack on Las Vegas. Hundreds of heroes were swarming the robot. Voices filled the air as the comm channels piped through.
“Sensors, what are you reading?”
A drone at the sensor station stated, “enemy target is at fifty percent damage capacity, estimated. Energy levels are also dropping below thirty percent.”
“Good. Tell… wait… they got this.” He smiled, watching the heroes go into full charge. He was about to order them to ramp up their attacks. Gar led a team of flying heroes and plowed into the side of the monster and shoved it down a street, pushing it away from the main strip. “The heroes are learning to work together. Good. Sensors! Any sign of Dr. Osteen or his laboratory?”
“Negative. There remains a sensor dampening field outside of the city that prevents long range sensor data. It is advisable to send observational operatives to the area to scout...”
“No. Not until that thing is a pile of rubble.”
Suddenly a siren blared and several red lights came on. Two robots went into action. “Alert, alert, destruction detected.”
Nova asked, “what sort of destruction?”
“Sensors indicate a type fifty explosive device has been armed within the shell of target robot. Detonation is imminent. Evacuation orders must be declared for area of...”
“No time.” Nova quickly shut off the barrage of comm channels with the activation of his single emergency signal. “Heroes, listen to me. That robot has a failsafe. It is arming a massive bomb within it’s body. It will level the city and most of the surrounding counties. Get it the hell out of there, NOW!”
***
Furious Squirrel ran up to Chase, “Hey! I detecting some kind of explosive device inside that thing.”
Chase shut off her comm, “yeah, that’s what Nova just said.”
“Oh, it damaged my comm unit. We need to get that thing away from here and away from us.”
Hotwings landed and spent a moment catching his breath. “Okay, the heroes are moving that thing away from the city.”
Chase looked up and saw that the vast majority of heroes were now on the left side of the robot, blasting, pushing, and otherwise finding creative ways to move it out of the city. The robot flailed around, but it was no longer shooting any weapons. She said, “good. Keep it up.”
“It won’t be enough.” Furious stated.
“What?”
Furious showed her his steampunk sensor readout. “That thing isn’t shooting weapons because it is building up the energy. If that thing goes, it’ll level this city and kill most of the civilians, not to mention a lot of heroes.”
“Damn.” She went for her comm unit.
Hotwings stopped her, “I have an idea. Tell the heroes who can create barriers to shield this city in a dome. I’m going to get that thing in the sky.”
“How?” Chase asked.
“No time. Just tell them.” Hotwings ran and took off in a quick flight.
He flew fast over the city. Smoke burnt his eyes and heat from the fires lifted him higher. He came down on the shoulder of the giant Midgardsomr. “Midgard!”
“STOP BOTHERING ME! I’M FIGHTING!” Midgard punched the robot with a massive fist and sent it reeling further away.
“No, wait, that thing’s gonna blow. We have to get it out of here!”
Midgard finally stopped his fighting. “How?”
“Do what you do best, use that strength and get it airborne. Tell the heroes to help if they can.”
Midgard actually smiled at that. He bellowed, “HEY! IF YOU CAN, HELP ME LIFT THIS THING!”
Heroes focused telekinetic and magnetic powers to slowly lift the robot up, which was a tough job with its massive weight. Midgard slithered up to it, grabbed it by the legs and then spun like a shot-put thrower. With a deep grunt, he flung the robot high over the city.
Chase came through the comms, “shield the city! Barriers in unison!”
Heroes cast magic and technical barriers, they made some of ice, some yellow energy. A few formed rock walls in the sky. Those that couldn’t ducked down. All at once, a tremendous explosion followed a flash. The shock wave of it shook the ground and toppled several people and objects. Metal parts rained down and bounced off the barrier, sliding to the ground just outside the city.
Chase looked up from where she had cradled a small child that was fleeing the madness. Bits and pieces of the robot still trickled down from the barrier, but it was mostly gone. The heroes protecting the city slowly lowered their powers so that the sun would once again shine through.
She stood up, holding the hand of the crying child, and used her other hand to speak into the comm, “Nova, this is Chase. The robot is destroyed. The city is safe. Get all the fire and rescue squads in the surrounding areas here, now.”
Nova stated, “good. I will assign heroes to assist in cleanup and rescue. You and your team keep looking for Osteen, he has to be close.”
***
Dr. Osteen rode in a helicopter with three black-clad security officers and Commander Delta. They watched the fiery explosion over Las Vegas; the shock wave rattling the helicopter even at this distance.
Osteen grinned nervously, “well, that’s done. All cleaned up and outta there. They won’t know...”
“This was a mess. And your foolishness caused it.”
Dr. Osteen asked, “what? I did nothing to attract them. I was underground working.”
Delta held up a shard of metal. “You created this. Albeit a brilliant armor that diminishes morphon powers, it is unique and traceable. Our sources from Onnotangu say this is how they found you.”
Osteen looked away in shame. “I didn’t realize it would be so easily tracked. But, don’t worry. That robot was the last of it I had made. It takes time to synthesize that stuff.”
Delta tossed it into Jason Osteens lap, “you won’t. That shard will be sent to Antarctica, where they will track it needlessly. We will move you to a more secure location and then you will give us results. Next time they find you, we won’t come to your rescue.”
***
Chase, Furious Squirrel, Gar, and Hotwings stood inside the run-down shack where Osteen had worked.
“Are you sure?” Chase asked.
Furious nodded, “the signature ends here. This is the place where it came from. This has to be where he was, and where that robot came from.”
Gar frowned. “This place isn’t big enough for all that.”
Furious showed him his scanner, “there are a whole series of structures under here. However, they’re currently filled with concrete.”
Hotwings said, “and I bet if we dig it out, it will give us nothing. These people seem to be one step ahead.”
“Ten steps,” Chase muttered. “But, we won’t stop looking. I will report to Nova. Hotwings, Furious, head back to your leagues and see if you can help in Las Vegas.”
by Chaz Hamilton
By TheSaintlyCloser⁵ᵗʰ #10910
The atmosphere on the ground has changed. You can tell that Heroes are stepping up to face this menace with renewed vigor and determination!
The top 15 for damage output with 14 hours to go are...
15, a nice round, relevant number to report, that doesn't happen to reflect that any heroes named starblaster or something, are carrying their weight in this conflict.
I think the Closer fellow is bolded as he's the handsomest hero on the ground. Nice of them to notice.
We've heard reports from the top echelon at BADGE, that structural integrity may be succumbing to our superior efforts. Well most of us anyway...
Do please try to step it up starguy.
ID: 14716
Once the giant robot reached Caesar’s Palace, things began
to get really, really messy.
Crossroads did her best to help evacuate the guest away from
the fight taking place in the fountains in front of the world renown casino.
Krystal Fae fought from the air. People who knew her weren’t surprised at her
outfit. She tended to wear unusual uniforms from time to time, but they did
find it odd she fought with an archaic bow. Instead of arrows, she fired eldritch
bolts of energy.
Starmaster teleported into the air nearby her position. His psionic
abilities struggled to have much effect on the giant robot. When he saw it prepare
to fire its massive energy weapon again, he focused instead on the air around
its massive arm and created a strong updraft to shift its weapon away from its
intended target, the Avenger.
“Krystal, do you have any of your enchanted crystals on you?”
Starmaster looked at Krystal Fae’s outfit. “Maybe in one of your belt pouches?
Are you coming from a renaissance faire or something?”
“I’m getting ready to go on vacation. Just trying on some
old outfits to see if I want to wear them.” Krystal maneuvered her mystical
wings to move herself out of an errant bolt of energy that the robot
discharged. “Here you go.” She tossed him a bag of gems. “They are mostly
healing crystals. What do you want them for?”
Starmaster caught the bag in his mental grip and poured out
a dozen or so stones. He took aim at the robot’s faceplate and hurled them at it.
“Bullets.” The glass panel cracked under his projectile’s assault, but the
crystals shattered on impact as well.
“You do realize that was about 4 million-dollars’ worth of stones,
right?” Krystal Fae said as she fired off another volley of blasts.
