Paradigm Shift [Open RPG]

@gladiatrix@saraph@pyrogram@_retrofire_@executive_liaison@rafael_romeiro@tranquil@arquitenens@brainchild@cassius_knightfall@strigidae_23

Something finally gave. Maybe it was because he’d seen too many people dragged from places they considered sanctuary. Maybe he just didn’t like authority. Maybe he was just crazy. Well, okay, none of these were really maybes, but whatever the reason, he was done sitting on the fence. He darted out from beneath the dumpster and charged towards the building, bat in hand, his omnipresent hockey mask making him look like something out of an extremely low-budget horror film.

He didn’t aim towards anyone in particular, he just ran at full speed toward the building itself. He wasn’t even entirely sure what was going to happen when he made it (assuming one of the brawling demigods didn’t stomp him into the parking lot before he even got there). Maybe he’d plow right into the rear of the attackers, maybe they’d already have their target in custody and he’d just wind up in the next cell over, maybe he’d change his mind and nick the TV while the two sides were duking it out.

Oh yeah, whatever else might happen, he was taking the TV.

@penalty: 'Who wants a Penalty kick?', nice :)

@rafael_romeiro: Metahuman hooligan. ;)

@penalty: LOL.

@penalty: I love the way you portray your individual characters. Your narrator voice is fun to read just as much as your characters themselves (and they're great).

@arquitenens: :D

Thank you!!!

Just need a little time now to get over the vomitty feeling...

@strigidae_23: twenty first century samurai - Now thats a badass handle. Cool post

@mugen_: Mugen would have made a premiere MVP member. Thats all I know.

@the_superior_sapien: Thankies :-)

@the_superior_sapien:

@mugen_:

You know escaping Saraph won't be that easy right? ;)

Awesome post btw

As an aside, anyone else here always pronounce it "para-diggum?"

@hexcraft: Thanks A Z. I'm anticipating your response.

@mugen_:

Should be fun, won't be for a few hrs though duty calls v.v

Oh my god I did that for years.

@strigidae_23: That's what it should be! Whoever decided otherwise was a linguistic sadist.

@penalty: I used to think "Para-die-gum." And sometimes my mind'll read it that way anyway, just for fun.

@penalty: Yeah really. It makes no sense.

@hexcraft: Do your thing.

@strigidae_23@the_xsoteric@rafael_romeiro@executive_liaison@cassius_knightfall@pyrogram@gladiatrix [And I think that's all.]:

So that's what they're calling it.

"Ivana told me about the squad, and what they were for."As well as an invitation, but that, she kept to herself. Instead, she simply shot him a knowing glance that said everything. She wanted to scold him then and there for even agreeing to the whole MVP deal, knowing what he knew about the inner workings. But then and there was no setting for that.

In truth Kurt's presence inspired mixed feelings. Abigail still had questions for Ivana, some of them best hashed out between the two of them - at some point she would have to get the woman alone, but of course Ivana would never go quietly. And of all people Abby had ever feared, Ivana was the worst, with only one other coming close.

Speak of the devil....

Him.

His words gave it away before anything else. No one else would understand the significance of such a taunt because no one else knew of her continuing search. Unmistakable. But...how? He was supposed to be dead...But that didn't matter. This was better. For all the months of searching only to turn up countless dead ends, for all the potential leads yet to be explored, this one was worth them all, and then some. Charlemagne's presence meant Emilie Aensland was once again within reach.

Her fingers twitched and her eyes flashed, her very being taken by pure excitability in the worst of ways. Overcome with emotion at the prospect of her reunion, when she recognized Charlemagne, all other goals, primary and secondary, vanished from Abigail's mind; apprehending Ivana could barely be considered an afterthought. She couldn't miss the chance. Neutralising Charlemagne was the only thing she could afford to focus on.

"Trust me, that's the least of your worries," she growled, and then she aimed for his shoulder. She needed less than a second to perfect her aim, little more for a perfect release and follow-through. The steel-tipped head was followed by a net. Then a taser. And another, and another, and another in as quick a succession as she could draw them. For all the pain he'd caused, simply neutralising him would never be enough. For the continual personal attacks on her family, he had to hurt.

@arquitenens: The ending was awesome, I liked the barrage of arrows (and basically emotions).

Hrm....It could have been better.

I need to find whatever it is I lost.

@arquitenens: Damn, that was badass!

@arquitenens: @strigidae_23@the_xsoteric@rafael_romeiro@executive_liaison@cassius_knightfall@gladiatrix

As the duo of Abigail and the Emerald Archer made their way through the MVP headquarters, a constant feeling of dread had somehow crept upon Kurt and hadn't disappeared. The mounting pressures of life slowly causing him to lose grip of the steering wheel, knowing he was barely avoiding collision after collision as it was.

The Guardian of Gothic, a Police Commissioner, leader of MVP’s and former team trainer for the Champions of Peace, a team where he had kidnapped one of their very own members, and sadistically tortured them, and... In his heart, he knew, Kurt knew he wasn't the heroic entity he once was, he wasn't the moral and altruistic Paragon of the past. He was a former shadow of his gallant, superhuman self. Maybe on the outside, to others, the lowly Pendragon looked far more bold, daring, and even mentally resolute than ever before.

But inside, he knew it was all a facade to hide his self-loathing.

During their travels through the headquarters, the feeling of dread grew and grew as they crept through, cautious yet in all honestly petrified of the thought of the Ivana popping out of the shadows, and taking either of their heads. He knew she could, but more importantly. He knew she would.

Then suddenly... His heart skipped a beat. And he wished Ivana had ambushed them. But instead...

"C...Charles?"

He croaked, the two green escrima sticks within his palms slowly faded away at the sight of the Ultra-Sapien, at the sight of the man who had not only stolen his powers, beaten his body... But broken his spirit.

Charles had best Kurt again and again, stolen his powers, tormented his dearest friend, made him mourn for the death of Andres Knightfall, and now threatened him once again, apparently, having even forgone death. The invisible scars of Charlemagne LeBeau and their last encounter had plagued Kurt for months and months, manipulative words seemingly tormenting the Gothic Knight from even beyond the grave.

But here he was, standing, threatening, and with his same menacing face. As his hand slithered to the katana, Kurt knew he wasn't the only one afflicted by Charles --- No, the Knightfalls, Abigail, and countless others had been tormented, aggravated, and sent to the edge of depression by the living demon. Kurt knew his story was part of a larger one, one which today, had somehow converged into a single, potent moment. For he wasn't alone this day, no.

Turning his head, reassuring eyes wordlessly thanked Rafael as a sparkle crept within them, slowly casting his gaze back to Abby with worry... Almost certain her agony from seeing Charles would be nigh-unbearable. Before finally, he angled his head up, and shot a gaze towards the Killer of the Knightfalls, towards, who he had first known him as, the Last Arashikage.

"I'm glad you're alive,"

The archer said, two emerald daggers appeared within his palms, made from pure trion. "Because I missed your funeral the first time," he glared, his green eyes shifting to red -- "I won't do that again!"

In a flash, the clearly pained Abigail powered arrow after arrows towards Charles as though her emotions seeped from her bow in the form of metallic pain, and as this commenced, the Paragon of Power, Kurt Pendragon, unleashed a colossal amount of energy straight from his eyes -- An infuriated optic blast, powering towards Charles' midsection, yet in his ire, and his pain, pent up emotion was released, his daggers vanished and his hands were set alight with flames, yet for Abigail's sake, even Kurt had enough mental control to not douse Charles in flames in fear of hurting his former heroic partner.

Serious question, how much do I get courtesy and how much do people really see things differently than I do?

But thanks.

@arquitenens: From the day I've known you you've always been hard on yourself, way too hard.

@pyrogram: I knew someone would say that, but that's not answering the question here!

@arquitenens: OKAY! I enjoyed your previous post more (to be honest) apart from the ending with the arrows. In my opinion you could have attached more emotion to Abby seeing Charles? It felt like she was seeing a bad guy in her life, but not that bad. If you get me? As I know how much he has targeted her, I thought her reaction would have been far worse. But the post was fun, it was just less reaction than I expected. Not really a writing flaw? Maybe I just overestimated Abby's dislike for Charles.

Also is Abby gonna be pissed Kurt went all Cyclops on Charles and tried to kill him? :P

@pyrogram: @arquitenens: Nice work, you two.

@penalty: Thanks! Charles gonna die >:(

@pyrogram: I think he tried that, once. It didn't take.

@penalty: Not even hell wanted him :P

I don't do courtesy. That's why I have no RL friends. You're really that awesome.

@the_superior_sapien: He redacted the thought, the boy was more like a modern day Nixon, all of his work credibility slipping through his finger sby the second with revelation of who he made his bed with. But this anger, this raw rage he let off was like an emotional radiation only seen from the inside of a mushroom cloud some seventy years back.

Retrofire steps back. Something else had snuck into him, wormed it's way from out of the deep memory of so long ago; Fear.

Garrison entire form has been pushed to the limits with new age regiments of intense training that athletes today were subjected to.

The golden age arthritic felt like a T-rex once upon a time, and he was; fossilized and long since retired to the halls of great beasts.

Chess would sit outside and watch storms roll in, using his enhanced perception to watch the dance of lightning in a slow motion that dragged out to what felt like hours. With that perception he still only just caught the image of the shadow of a boulder coming down on his skull, blasting clouds of dark dust out of the point of cranial fracture that reverberates down his spine and compounds it like a crashing semi.

The pain receptors didn't even register the jackhammer menagerie of multiple maximum overdriven piston punches that shattered his ribcage, rocked his heart around the inside like a BB in a bottle, and punctured his lungs. This was all wrong, how he could he be so foolish. An old optimistic fool that wanted to do what every old fool wanted to do, change the world one more time. To be that example to the common man, one more time.

Chester Chess Jones, Flight Liuetenant of composition 509th's legacy is cleaned away as the hero of the greatest era, the lasting image for now and ever a broken old man, beaten into a pile of meat on the streets of Gothic City. Hope turned to despair in a literal blink as Grail finally stops hammering away like John Henry with an axe to grind, to let the battered brickhouse crumble into the pavement. Short gasps of air through his one functional side of jaw the only thing heard in a sea of speechless faces surrounding the two.

I liked it. Feigning shock in writing is difficult, there's a thin line of 'over done' and 'undersold' that's hard to hit on the head. For what it's worth I think it was as realistic as it could have been without leaning down either sides too heavily.

That gif and my AV just do not click at all lol.

You don't say lol

If enjoying that reaction makes me a sadist I'll be one :P

@_retrofire_: You nailed it there, BTW. I especially liked this part-

Retrofire steps back. Something else had snuck into him, wormed it's way from out of the deep memory of so long ago; Fear.

Garrison entire form has been pushed to the limits with new age regiments of intense training that athletes today were subjected to.

The golden age arthritic felt like a T-rex once upon a time, and he was; fossilized and long since retired to the halls of great beasts.

From a writing standpoint that really stands out as something that tells you a lot about two characters by highlighting the contrast between them. From a RPGing standpoint its putting over a battles attack, the other characters concept, the other teams concept and the RPG concept all at the same time.

Its like killing five birds with one stone lol. That was slick.

Immediately focus was drawn from the many battles taking place to a nearly unnoticed magical intrusion. It seems one of the league members possessed some arcane acumen and had reversed the effects of the wood yoso's chi draining effect. "Ahk vas rem," Milo recited mentally, dispelling the harmful effects before they could enact sufficient damage. Little time had been wasted by his fellow companions as they dove head first into battle, Garrison Grail's headline speed breaking the sound barrier with a mind rattling roar that shook the arena and shattered the entire alignment of windows adorning the NIKE HQ.

And as he traded blows with a Justice league member others fled into the confines of the structurally damaged HQ. Milo deduced that they sought to apprehend the terrorist as chaos engulfed the Field, and with few left inside with the willingness to prevent such an occurrence, those within may prove successful in their endeavor. With this deduction came the time to make a decision. With his added strength his allies Garrison and Seraph could overcome their respective opponents and make their way inside to intercept the rest of the league. On the other side, those who had abandoned the MVPs fled inside as well. If they intended to aid the Justice League, the apprehension of the Strigidae would be all but assured, resulting in a wasted effort on behalf of those who remained loyal to the ideals of the team.

@the_superior_sapien@seraph@_retrofire_@mugen_@brainchild

Meticulously his mind raced, meddling in a myriad of machinations before settling on what he believed to be the optimal plan of success. Clasping his hands together his image split into two, one doppelganger vanishing amongst the tarnished field whilst the other turned his focus to the pyrokinetic manipulator and Grail's foe. "Sophia!" Milo called out, sensing a greater level of strength within the psionic princess and intent on making use of it immediately. "I am impressed with your strength. But now is not the time for idle chat. Bend the light around Garrison and veil him from our opponents, your telekinesis should be able to render some assistance as well as his opponent seems to possess an aerial advantage to some degree." Advice issued, Milo turned away from her and fled to Seraph as she faced the pyrokinetic. The cackling of fire followed an explosion with vibrant results, singing the area around him in a five meter radius, a radius that Seraph was rapidly approaching and despite her overactive biophysical energy, the intensity of the heat could have a virulent affect on her if she made contact. Through a combination of air and water yoso Milo surrounded his ally in an orb of frost inducing temperature, instantaneously cancelling out the effects of the heat wave their foe projected before damage could be inflicted.

As the pyromancer made a high arcing, break away dash towards the HQ Milo activated the lightning cloak and moved with supersonic speed to intercept the man. Hand cocked back Milo transitioned the energy generated from his forward momentum into a lightning enhanced, four finger stabbing strike that shot a bolt towards his opponent at an insane velocity posing a very real lethal threat to even those with upper echelon durability. Utilizing high octane speed and a hyper stylized offensive barrage Milo dashed from Mugen to Retrofire, executing a series of quick strikes intent on keeping both the men off balance while his allies mustered their own offensive. Yet upon reaching close proximity his assault was halted, as it seemed Garrison had finished the job before it even started, and to his utter surprise the foe seemed crippled beyond immediate repair...

@the_xsoteric@gladiatrix@rafael_romeiro@arquitenens@pyrogram@cassius_knightfall

Mere seconds it took for the doppelganger to navigate the building and arrive at the location of what seemed to be an old western standoff at the moment. Two of the defected MVPs stood alongside the Leaguer responsible for the magical intrusion that rendered his wood yoso ineffective. Across from them stood an armored titan, one he recognized from the encounters with Feinstein prior to this event. Both sides seemed more than ready for the impending engagement and while confidence often ensured survival, Milo had no intentions of suffering an utter defeat here. The Strigidae's arrest must be averted at all costs. And as such he disappeared from the scene momentarily, navigating the corridors in search of the Strigidae.

The original had begun channeling a heavy amount of power, forcing the doppelganger to acknowledge that his access to the vast repertoire of techniques Milo possessed would be severely limited. At the rate that the true Milo was expending chakra, the doppelganger could only make use of a single technique of heaven's eyes and his fighting prowess as an Air Yoso master. Anything beyond this would cause a disruption in the chi flow that would destroy the clone outright. Carefully it considered the next move from the shadows, only willing to make his appearance known after acting. Upon discovering another shadow squad member and the target, Milo enacted a long range plan to ensure that the Strigidae remained outside the grasp of the Justice League.

"Release," he bellowed, left eye closing shut as his right began to widen. Space and time began to inwardly warp into a vortex as Milo's gaze became fixated on the Strigidae in an attempt to transport her to a pocket dimension within the aforementioned eye and outside the clutches of the Justice League. If successful, he would join the side of the armored titan facing Pendragon and Romeiro. With the target potentially out of their grasp, the only means of accessing her would be through defeating the duo.

As the magically imbued archer let loose a violent array of arrows Milo launched a group of his three pronged geijutsu kunai. As each one collided with an arrow Milo would teleport to its location, reacquiring his kunai and using artfully precise parries to defend against the onslaught of projectiles, awaiting the moment his fellow fighters would create an opening for him in this weakened state.

Pendragon, capitalizing on the opening gambit of his newly acquired ally, launched a powerful blast of energy towards the masked man, one that Milo would have gladly absorbed if the Flash Cloak was not inaccessible to him. With his focus concentrated on the deflection of arrows he could only watch as the blast raced towards his ally.

@carnifex: Damn. First time someone else opinion of my post matched up with my intent lol. I appreciate that.

@tranquil: That post is drippin with dope.

@_retrofire_: Well deserved, because I felt that post.

@_retrofire_: Really? I felt like a missed a couple of details. Had to edit in an response to Abby and Kurt's attacks as well. Trying to decide if I should edit for your post or if they can work the way they are too. Oh and, you made that ass whupping you got handed look good. xD

@tranquil: You might've, I meant more the way you painted that scene though.

@pyrogram: @_retrofire_: Thank you. I will take these into consideration.

@carnifex: I know you btw?

@_retrofire_: This is LL ;-P