3990/We Didn't Start The Fire!

We Didn't Start The Fire!
Date of Scene:	07 April 2016
Location:	Paragon City <CoH>
Synopsis:	The Hellions are up to some kind of trouble again in an office building! And a mysterious second group has gone in after them! Heroes local and Multiversal respond!
Cast of Characters:	Maya, Staren, 414, Alexis, 769, 774, 967

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Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    A Kings Row contact for the heroes who have been to Paragon City before, as well as an invitation to bring allies of their own, was sent out. Things have been plenty busy in the city over the past several months, but little of it has been as major in scale as the Woodvale crisis. The last that was heard about major activity was something involving leyline disturbances and supernatural strangeness in the resort town of Salamanca. But that appears to have been resolved... For now, at least.

    So, while all the usual criminal activity and super villainy has been taking place, it has been on a seemingly much smaller scale than 'biological warfare monsters designed specifically to kill all human life on Earth'. Why is this mission different? Because there has actually been a deceptively large increase in the level of crime and chaos. A lot of it hasn't made it to the news, or has been building behind the scenes... Like some kind of pressure that's soon to explode.

    And the devil-worshipping Hellions, up to their usual troublemaking, have gone into a building here in Kings Row for an unknown reason. And unidentified individuals have gone in after them. Kings Row is a city zone whose main 'gang' is the increasingly influential and numerous Skulls. Death-cult-like gangers who wear real human skulls as masks and are involved in the manufacture and trafficking of a drug known as Superadyne which has caused all KINDS of problems.

    The Hellions and Skulls are violent rivals. If the Hellions are making a move on Skull territory here in Kings Row... It's the innocent bystanders in this smoggy, industrialized, inner-city area who are going to get caught up in the resulting gang war. So if it's the Skulls that went in after them, this needs to be broken up sooner rather than later.

    Street gangs with assault weapons and magic powers is never a good combination.

    The building in question is to the west of Kings Row's City Hall, where the hero named Blue Steel stands, ready to dispense training and wisdom to newer heroes. The tall office building right over there... With the front doors unlocked, and heroes needed to venture within.

Maya has posed:
Maya had not been by Paragon city in a while had had come for some of the local food. She had thankfully finish eating before the report came in, and it didn't take long to touch her hair clip and in a burst of light she's soon in her blue witch costume.. She was quick to use her pentant to take to the skies and make it ot the boundings in King Row. She's used to the outfit now as showy as it is, it's just local culture and so the cops can tell who needs saving from whose here to help.

She touches down outsiode and pulls out a fate card and starts trying to sense just /what/s in te building as blue fire leeches out of her body into the card as she casts her spell.

Alexis has posed:
It's been a while since they've been to Paragon City, but up until now, the city and it's heroes seemed to be handling its own problems after that whole Woodvale crisis. Needless to say suddenly getting a request back after such a long intermitten time could only mean trouble, and was more than enough to get Alexis' attention.

Wisely she's parked her motorcycle in a (relatively) safter location and walked the rest of the way to the actual site. And she packed accordingly for this being an 'indoor' mission by the sound of it. And by packed, I mean she brought pokemon that wouldn't tear the place apart in the process of trying to get to the bottom of things. Which would be why instead of her usual allotement of large creatures typically on fire, she is only being followed by stout semi-humanoid avian who's wings flow off his arms in a way that makes the feathers resemble a cape. Considering that and always wearing a mask, Hawlucha would fight right in around here.

Wait, this place is right next to the Police Station? Alexis blinks as she realizes that, then buries her face in one palm. "Oh god, it's like Celadon City all over again..."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    It's true, Dorian is not from Paragon City, thus these Hellions aren't exactly his responsibility. But given how magic is hated in Ferelden, and how distant mages are from 'everyone else'-- even in Tevinter-- Dorian always feels the need to come and deal with magical problems. And this? Is definitely a magical problem.

    Dorian's arrival at the building is fairly low-key. Do heroes take the bus? Well, Dorian does. Anyway, he's there, so he's ready. He's not really wearing a costume, either; he's just wearing his typical leather armor and white cloak. Though it could look like a costume, since it's fairly archaic-looking compared to the rest of the area.

    "Oh wonderful," he comments, as he looks up at the building. "Idiots with magic. My favorite thing." The comment drips with sarcasm. Apparently he's brought his snark, too.

Revan (414) has posed:
Lowri Revan-Shan's schedule was never so busy that she couldn't find the time to help out her friends in Paragon City, even if she hadn't been around as of late thanks to a number of issues in her own galaxy. She wasn't about to refuse a call for those Elites which had through a series of circumstances become local 'superheroes' for the city.

     But this was a little weird. Infighting between the various villain groups of Paragon City wasn't anything new, at least in the Jedi's experience, but there a few things odd with this scenario. The Hellions she recognised, but she wasn't able to get a good look at the second group before turning her attention to Blue Steel. The fact that there were yet to be signs of a fight was the first indicator something was off; whether the unknown group of villains or an unsanctioned vigilante group, there should have been a great deal of noise from all the firebombing or shooting going on.

     The other thing which seemed odd was that this location was practically right next door to the Kings Row PPD branch. Either the Hellions were overconfident or there was something more at work here; even the demon-worshippers weren't /that/ clueless. Usually.

     "Did they forget where they were when they decided to have their evilly-evil meet-up?" she quipped dryly. "Or am I missing something here?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren's taken a break from Multiversal affairs for the past couple of weeks. Getting involved in dangerous stuff all the time is stressful and sometimes you need a break. But vacations can't last forever... and it so happens that he's heard about trouble in Paragon City. Not one, but /two/ cults are running around? Staren doesn't know why anyone would be dumb enough to try it after the last time... but then, here they are, two gangs being allowed to blossom and threaten innocents. They need to be stopped, and here Staren is to stop them.

    He does have some nonlethal tools, and Paragon city has that crazy teleportation system, right? Still, saving innocents is his priority.

    Staren shrugs at Revan's question. "They can't be too smart if they're worshiping demons in the first place. And it's not like it's the police that go after them, it's elites like us."

X (967) has posed:
About a hundred feet away from building in question, in clear view of the other gathering heroes... a person-sized column of blue light flares into existence for a split-second. From the energy... a humanoid form rapidly materializes. X takes a step forward onto the streets, mouth clenched shut and teeth grinding.

    But after checking with the local map data he blinks. "... How did ANY gang take over an entire building right in the middle of the city?!" They must not be... normal.

    Demon worshippers, huh?

    X isn't yet sure how he's going to approach the situation. He'll have to play it loose and see what the threat level is. He's still uncomfortable about subduing these people... But...

    To sit by idly and DO NOTHING while innocent civilians are put in danger, isn't that a much bigger breach of robot ethics?

    X frowns.

    "Violence against ANYONE isn't right... but sometimes necessary..." He murmurs, reminding himself.

    Well, he can TRY reasoning with the gang first. Experience tells him that's unlikely to work...

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Coming down from the sky, a voice calls out to those assembled nearby. "I see I'm late as usual..." Cortex says self-deprecatingly, as the psychic super hero descends to the wide open parking lot in front of the office building. Blue Steel is keeping an eye out from Freedom Plaza, and might very well be involved in having sent out the notice in the first place. Why he isn't charging the building himself is probably as simple a matter as there's lots of heroes, he's just one hero, and he has other things to take care of. Even if he probably wishes he could just hit the streets and clean up crime like he used to before he got put in the mentor position.

    A lot of the older heroes who are now mostly trainers probably wish that. But if every crime has the highest-tier heroes coming out to stop it, the next generation won't get the experience they need to handle these things themselves. All kinds of reasons.

    And none of them matter, because right now, Maya, Alexis and her Hawlucha, Dorian, Lowri, Staren, X, and Cortex have assembled. And what other heroes are doing is not relevant to stopping the current threat.

    Cortex seems pleased to see some of his friends here, especially Revan, but holds off on an overly-enthusiastic greeting in favor of focusing on the matter at hand. "I was in the area and heard help was being sought. I'm not sure how much I can contribute with all this assembled firepower, but I guess the more heroes the better, right?"

    He also introduces himself to those he doesn't recognize. "I'm Cortex." He pauses and appends, "I'm local." just incase anyone here isn't and doesn't know if he belongs here or not. Unless someone else chooses to lead the way indoors, he waits only long to receive greetings in turn and then opens the door and heads inside...

    To a well-lit corridor, lined with potted plants, and paintings, and a large, open area ahead, with stair ways leading up into offices, and other stairs leading to balconies, and a bunch of guys in black and red, with scarves and masks covering their faces (in whole or in part). Some of them are listening to and raving to music on portable stereos, with what appear to be girl friends or something hanging out with them.

    One guy keeps throwing molotive cocktails onto a section of tiled floor, starting patches of fire that eventually burn out when the alcohol is consumed by the flames.

    Typical Hellion nonsense... So where's the second group?

Alexis has posed:
Alexis does turn at the familiar voice and give a brief wave to the descending hero. "Good to see you again, Cortex. Even if under 'business as usual'." But the cape has the right idea, they shouldn't really dwaddle around catching up on events until after the mission. "Let's go, Hurricarana." Though not about to go completely unarmed she does pull her weaponized hockey stick out of her bag. In we go!

She might not take the direct lead but she's certainly at the head of the group. Alexis never was one to let being 'just human' keep her back, for good or for ill. Looks like the place hasn't been too smashed up yet... And of course the arrogant punks are standing right out in the open. Alexis gives a snort, resting the hockey stick against one shoulder. "Hey, don't you guys know it's not safe to play with fire indoors? How 'bout you boys and girls just stand down, tell us what you're up to, and,"
Alexis pauses a moment, as her Hawlucha makes a gesture of crackling his knuckles in the opposite palm.
"Nobody's got to get too hurt before going off to prison."

Not like anyone ever listens, but hey, Asking Before Asskicking counts for something.

Staren has posed:
    Staren talks briefly with X before complimenting the look of his armor, and Maya's hat. And then in they go... Bored pyromaniacs. Great. Staren considers rushing in to deal with them, then decides that's stupid and pulls a stun grenade from his bag, ready to throw it as soon as they don't comply with Alexis's offer to talk.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    "Or they're just that stupid," Dorian replies, to Revan's question. "Possibly 'that brave'. Though I tend to think the former." There are other options, but he'd rather not entertain those ideas just yet. This world seemed to have a good percentage of people who were exactly as they seemed to be. Besides, thinking betrayal this soon would be a little premature. Might offend some people, too.

    Staren's response has merit. "He's got a point," Dorian observes. The police aren't going to run in to almost certain death. So really, do the police pose any threat? Dorian crosses his arms, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "Though I wonder if they'd reasoned this out that far..." X's arrival gets a startled reaction from Dorian, he hadn't quite been expecting a sudden teleport. But the question of the building gets a smirk. "Things like that happen here," he answers. "That's why there are people here to... un-happen such things."

    Cortex's appearance gets a smile. "Not to worry. I think they're quite well dug-in, and not likely to move anytime soon. We call could probably have nipped off for a coffee and no one in there would have noticed." Once Cortex is ready to lead the way into the building, he'll get a Barrier just as he moves through the group. This should have the added bonus of conferring the same Barrier on quite a few of the assembled Elites.

    Once they enter, and take in the amount and quality of nonsense going on, Dorian has the almost overwhelming urge to treat that one pyromaniac idiot to a show of what a real firestarter can do. But no, he's going to be good for the time being. In that, he's waiting until after Alexis speaks before throwing any magic. He is, however, charging a lightning bolt. Though he doesn't hurl it yet.

X (967) has posed:
"You're not too late until we enter the building." X remarks good-naturedly to the hero who... is... SOMEHOW FLYING. He's not sure how. X blinks a few times. "... How are you doing that?" He asks, but quickly turns towards the matter at hand.

    Looking towards said entrance. "I'm X. A robot explorer from Arcadia! Here to help stop this crisis before it spills into the streets. Of course the more the better!"

    And ONWARDS! X is among the first to enter, just in case the gang starts out shooting with an ambush. But it doesn't. Instead... the ensuing chaos everyone's exposed to leaves him a bit jaw-droppy.

    Just takes a bit of peering into a few rooms, but staying with the group. Particularly Alexis, since she's calling out the rowdy ruff boys here!

    He's yet to visibly arm himself, but that's probably not so meaningful when you're a robot who knows a bit of martial arts. A bit. And want to avoid collateral damage. And serious injury.

    "They're so confident about this that they're not even on GUARD?" He's flabbergasted by this behavior. Just another... WEIRD thing humans can be like, huh?

    Especially the dude who's making fire just to make fire.

Maya has posed:
Maya is glad to see Cortex here, the man knows the lay of the land better than them and he's been heck of an ally ot have things. She looks for a moment at Cortex wit a faint grin on her face but the grin fades as things gets serious and it's time to go in now. She casts a barrier spell on herself anf anyone near her focused on fire given how the Hellions /love/ fire. She'll let others take the lead and she's happy to support them.

Revan (414) has posed:
Cortex's arrival earns a friendly smile from the Guardian. "Hey, good to see you again! Glad you're here."

     While the psychic superhero might not wield the same level of powers as the gathered Elites, more power couldn't hurt. Besides which, he was a veteran hero now, and the newbies could learn a thing or two from him.

     As for Dorian, the mage got a slight tilt of her head. True, never could underestimate the capacity for a sentient's stupidity. "Still, they should have started setting things on fire by now. Not...that I'm about to look a gift iriaz mouth on that..." she remarked before following the local hero inside.

     When Alexis asked, the Jedi allowed her senses to extend slightly, reading what she could of surface emotions. "There's some tension, but they're mostly looking forward to setting things on fire. You know how the Hellions are. There's...also some others, but I don't think anyone's expecting a fight."

     Lowri couldn't fault Alexis's approach; they couldn't very well go in swinging. Not that they would listen, and there was about to be firebombs thrown and shots fired, but there was proper procedure to this superhero-ing thing. For all appearances, she seemed to be entirely relaxed and not ready for the expected fight, which no doubt was going to make the blonde seem an easy target. At least until the lightsabers came out.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    "Ah... Telekinesis," Cortex answers X. "It's a psychic ability that allows me to move matter with my mind. I learned to use it to lift myself into the air, and thus fly. Kind of." Once they've made their way inside, and the heroes call out to the bad guys, Cortex just peers ahead, trying to search out any signs of the other group. He doesn't have quite the same sensory abilities as Revan, but they have been expanded after his exposure to the Hamidon. Sometimes it feels like there's a huge empty space surrounding his brain. Sometimes, it also feels like maybe he could grow out into that space if he tried hard enough.

    Of course, the sudden shift in attitude and the emergence of hostility when intruders are detected isn't hard to sense at all. Some Hellions stop dancing and waving their hands and turn to face the good guys. "How about we don't tell you anything and you get out before we stab you in the face?" a Fallen Gunner calls out from behind his demon mask. Then he pulls out an assault rifle. "...With bullets!"

    As Staren preps a grenade, Dorian prepares lightning bolts, the Hawlucha prepares Rooster Style Kung-Fu, Maya surrounds all the good guys with a barrier that will save on healing later when the inevitable fire fight ensues, Revan no doubt able to call forth her lightsabers in an instant, and X's built-in weaponry no great chore to activate as well, it's clear that the next thing to happen is probably going to be fighting.

    What's possibly surprising is who initiates it.

    The Fallen Gunner is suddenly slammed up against the retainer wall of a stair well, clutching at his throat as though an invisible hand was squeezing him there. As other nearby Hellions turn to look at their ally instead of looking for the source of the attack, a Blood Brother slammer suddenly starts spraying blood from his forehead in a straight line, a line of glowing dark-purple energy trailing through the air for a couple seconds to indicate some kind of unseen blade just slashed into him. He collapses to the floor seconds later.

    And Cortex is holding out one hand, apparently keeping the Gunner pinned, while his other hand has two fingers extended, apparently having just completed a sweeping movement. He doesn't seem very perturbed by what he's just done, but he does say to the others, "Now, while they're distracted. I think the rest are too busy partying to realize we're even here yet."

    A bit of a change from Cortex the pacifist, that people knew from the last time they met...

    And his psychic energy seems a bit of a darker shade too.

Alexis has posed:
Well -that- was a bit of a surprise. If it's surprise because Cortex stepped up, or because he actually drew blood off the bat, that's up for debate.... then again, considering what he went through during the ordeal with Woodvale and such, you can't really blame the guy for being a bit more willing to get right down to it. Something something best defense is a good offense.

The Hawlucha doesn't need Trainer to tell him to capitalize on the oppritunity. Taloned feet push off the office flore, sending the birdman rushing towards the group before Alexis can even tell him to do so. Then springs into the air, spreading his wings wide to catch some hang time presumably to leave a clear opening for the possible ranged attacks from the others. Hurricarana is use to fighting around fire slingers and other elemental pokemon to know to keep clear of crossfire.

That and the feathers flapping like a cape to control his jump looks almost like a certain other superhero. Up until his descent catchs his feet against a Hellion's chest, and he twists with the impact to whip around and sweep his wings through the group. Can they dodge his range -and- not back into the other heroes' attacks doing so?

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    And suddenly there's fighting. As for who starts it? That's something Dorian will consider later. For the time being what he does is try to limit the group of Hellions to a smaller area. As soon as the fight starts, Dorian is flinging an orb of lightning up into the air over as many Hellions as he can. He then makes a pulling gesture, and the lightning orb sparks, creating a clear line of challenge. If any of the Hellsions cross the line, the orb of lightning will start shocking them.

Maya has posed:
Maya is making sure to keeop people protected now she notices the fallen Gunner but she's not needed as the hellions are dropped in short older by the others. She keeps tialing along with several cards at the ready but why are they doing this? She's going to make with the curses she thinks to diable and disarm, the others cna more than handle things in terms of combat. She also doesn't catch the strange change in Cortex's power as she looks to see what else might be lurking.

X (967) has posed:
So much for trying to negotiate or reason. X has almost no time to even TRY. He's just opening his mouth to speak when... BAM.

    Oh well.

    What's probably surprising? X doesn't go for his typical long range approach focusing on the X-Buster. Instead he leaps into the fray over some of the opening shots. Sparks fly from his body as bullets spang against it but only a few of them are lucky enough to seriously penetrate and cause damage.

    Not enough damage to stop him though. Or even make him flinch.

    He lands in front of some of the gunners and reaches out to grasp the barrels of their weapons and just YANK. One of two things will probably happen there. Either the weapon'll end up crushed under his robotic strength or just yanked clean from the criminal's grips.

    Not that he leaves it at that. Although he flinches just once when he sees blood spraying from a forehead, his own assaults are a brigade of punches, elbows-into-guts, and a few kicks. He leaps against a wall, kicks off it and brings his fist down on another thug only to then execute a stunning side flip out of the way of more gunfire. It's only once that he raises his right hand... forms it into the X-buster in a display of whirling plates and glowing light - then takes fire with a series of rapid shots.

    And it's aimed at the assault rifle of another guy across the room before he can fire on the group!

Staren has posed:
    Staren throws the stun grenade into the crowed as soon as the cultist draws his assault rifle. He sees the telekinetic attack strike the gunner, eyes widening in surprise at the blood, but right now he has to hit the deck! After the grenade goes off and Staren stands off, his sensors confirm the Fallen gunner's lifesigns. Ahh, it was a shallow cut, a warning.

    If cultists didn't go down, or are getting up too quickly, Staren draws his federation phaser and dispenses stunbolts liberally!

Revan (414) has posed:
Alexis wasn't the only one who was surprised by Cortex's actions. And were they not in their current situation, it would be time for a Jedi Lecture....but such as it is, they have to take care of business first. But oh yes, it was in the offing. Something was clearly up with the young hero, and it was something she needed to look into.

     The moment the fighting started, however, the lightsabers seemed to suddenly appear from nowhere -- or rather, her belt, she simply moved too fast for most people to be able to track. Though her stance was a defensive one, it changed easily enough once she moves to divest the Hellions of their weaponry with some good shoves through the Force for good measure. If it didn't knock some sense into them, at least it might knock them out.

     "Now now, boys...play nice," she quipped.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    A mix of stun grenades and curses from Staren and Maya disable the ability to attack for most of the bad guys. Hawlucha knocks several Blood Brothers backwards, and one of them is knocked directly into the electrical boundary set by Dorian, resulting in being shocked into unconsciousness.

    With Revan and X disarming the bad guys, through a mix of lightsaber slashes and robotic super strength, and the sole Lieutenant presently being pinned to the stair well with telekinesis, it's only a matter of moments before this initial group is taken down and the heroes can accept Cortex's offer to be telekinetically flown right over the heads of the enemies and go further inside, to achieve their objective, instead of wasting time clearing out this whole huge room of enemies!

    The Force blasts, and one guy who was pulling out a gun getting nailed by X's buster so hard that though it was meant as a disarming attack, he gets knocked back into the same electric orb as his buddy and shocked into unconsciousness, all combined with them being unable to attack (thanks to curses) or too dazed (from stunning) to even attempt to reciprocate. Only one Hellion got off a shot or two at X, and those don't seem to have done much damage to him beyond some sparks.

    Cortex is still holding the Fallen Gunner up against the wall, and seems like maybe he's going to do something more than that, but since he's already been flash-banged and phasered and has basically stopped struggling entirely, the psychic almost reluctantly releases his hold and lets the man slump to the floor from where he was being held suspended off the ground. He takes a quick look around, notes how oblivious the other Hellions are that, between their music and the sound of explosions and glass breaking, they haven't even noticed the light show by the entrance corridor.

    He shakes his head and reaches out with his telekinesis, lifting himself, and the others nearby, into the air (if they allow it, at least. Their wills have an impact on whether the power affects them). "Good work, everyone. The less time we have to waste fighting, the better. Our job here is to stop evil before it can hurt anyone, after all. Come on, let's skip all of this and find out what's going on here!"

    Once everyone is to the elevator room, up above this initial office area, and have taken the ride up, they come out into another corridor, a more dark one, with flaming barrels, and pentragrams in something red and wet scattered around. This is looking more Hellion-ish than the sparsely-furnished office space downstairs. But the guys standing in the middle of the room, talking to the Hellions, look very not-Hellion.

    They look kind of survivalist or martial artist or something. They're wearing vests and bandannas and most are pretty buff. They also seem to be negotiating or something.

    "We have the artifacts you were promised. Pay up." one man in a green sleeveless vest and camouflage-pattern pants says.

    A Damned, the sockets of his mask glowing with dots of hellfire, says, "I want a little more..."

    It seems some kind of deal is going down here. People have known for awhile now that the Hellions have had access to magic relics and artifacts they shouldn't have. This might be the answer to that mystery. But who are these people who they're dealing with?

    This time, at least, Cortex doesn't make the first move. But levitating a half-dozen people also seems to be fairly draining, energy-wise, so he's kind of catching his breath.

Alexis has posed:
Well that takes care of that. Alexis isn't entirely sure what to think of this more proactive edge to Cortex, but she's not going to complain about the quick approach to getting matters done with.

Which turns out to be a good thing when they come up to the floor only to walk into the middle of some sort of exchange. Okay. On one side we've got Hellions. On the other side, we've got... we don't know, but if they're dealing with Hellions it can't be good.

That's good enough for Alexis, we'll sort it the specifics after we prevent whatever psychotic deal this is. "Guess we got here just in time to break things up."
"Haw. <Si.>" True to form, Hawlucha strikes a few poses in rapid succession, then leaps up. This time doing a fancy twirl in midair and spreading out his wings like a cape as the feathers composing them start to glow. Several glowing feather-like shapes appear, and as he beats his wing-arms down are sent spiraling at Hellions and their trade partners alike. "HaaaaawluCHA! <Blue Cyclone!>" Getting hit with the feathers do not damage, but have some kind of weakening effect on the victim's strength and vitality. A set-up to farther enable the assaults to follow.

Maya has posed:
Maya sees the otehrs are disarming the gangers and good. She looks at the hellions with a good deal of distaian she doesn't like them at all, She also make sure any weapons she finds have the clips pulled which vanishe into her pouches what good are the guns without bullet.s She does get concerned with Cortex she thinks baout the psi blades and she's wondering about that. She's seen it before but now isn't the time as they push in to see these other guys who are selling them iutems and soon she's airborn thanks to Cortex and she's alreayd casigng spells with a fresh round of barriers for the party and /haste/ I mean speed spells for everyone too.

Staren has posed:
    One room down! How many more to go...?

    Staren gets levitated! "Woah!" he flails a bit before adapting to the unusual sensation. They make short work of some more Hellions and land on the next floor. Staren considers how to attack. Seriously, there is some bad demon juju going on here, he should blast these folks to kingdom come, but apparently that's not how they do things here. His first thought is to try and wash away those pentagrams, but then he remembers his magic staff broke long ago. Should he shout a warning before or after he throws the grenade? He doesn't want to lose the element of surprise... Well, in goes the pokemon and Maya!

    X wants the phaser, obviously to copy it. Staren hands it off, then with Maya's speed spell charges in, throwing his momentum into a side kick at the Damned! In addition to his own weight, there's that of the armor and the strongman-like strength it provides, and of course, for extra measure, the armor electrifies to deliver a shock like a taser's at the same time!

    On the downside, he can't use his forcefield effectively while close-range fighting. But these guys wouldn't know that, right?

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Once they're at the place and hear the plans, Dorian waits until he knows what the rest of the group is going to do. And then... he gives into the urge to be a bit of a showoff to a fellow pyromaniac. "I've seen far too little, er, 'fire' in your fire," he states, to the Damned. And then he crosses his arms before him, and then throws them out to the sides. Fire erupts from the ground and then spreads to cover the first convenient area that looks like other Hellions might be hiding in.

    It's still mostly ground-based. Right up until Dorian's arms go up, palms pointed up, as if directing the fire upwards. And in response the fire rises from the ground until it forms a six foot wall. It will hopefully create a burning barrier to keep any possible reinforcements from coming through that way. And it just looks damn cool, too. Er, figuratively speaking. It's fire, it can't be cool.

X (967) has posed:
A LOT of weird things going on here, that's for sure. X frowns a little at Cortex's excessive aggression, but there's no arguing with it when he has a means to just PSYCHICALLY LIFT EVERYONE STRAIGHT UP to where the real action is!

    But while the group's rising, X floats over to Staren - somehow intuiting how to manuever enough - and makes good on the request to hold the Phaser for a few moments. Staren might have a guess as to why, and there's a very faint pulse of energy as X examines the device, but he quickly nods before landing and hands it back.

    "This should work."

    What should?

    He sets down on ground with a clunk, X puts a foot forward and deepens his stance. A wave of light courses across his armor in the blink of an eye, replacing the blue color scheme with red and black. This is about when Maya's magic flows through him and... he blinks. Yet again there's that strange sensation that isn't coming from any sensor he can pin down! Kind of unnerves him... but... "I've got to get used to this support trick magic people do. Thanks, miss!"

    All in all he's looking a little less APPREHENSIVE about things as they approach the strange meeting.

    He WOULD like to talk to these people, but maybe... maybe getting the drop in on them is for the best. They're OBVIOUSLY up to no good, and the police will be far better at getting relevant information!

    So, with everyone else jumping in on the attack... X raises his X-Buster and takes aim.

    "This deal stops here! Can't you see the chaos you're causing in town?!"

    PHASERS SET TO STUN! Because that's what comes from his X-buster. Not a bolt of plasma, but a stream of ZAP ENERGY.

Revan (414) has posed:
Once she's finished dealing with the Hellions she had been focusing on, Lowri's mismatched eyes flick back to Cortex. His actions might have prevented the group from getting shot at, but aggression uncontrolled was a quick trip down Dark Side Road, as personal experience informed her. Yes, she was certainly going to have to give him a good talking-to once they were done here, regardless of how beneficial the actions might be in the short-term.

     And though Force sensitivity wasn't a thing outside her galaxy or duplicates, that didn't mean the Dark Side itself wasn't. She'd seen enough of that first-hand, as well.

     Levitation isn't outside the purview of a Jedi's powers, but it tends to be limited to short bursts of gravity-defying feats or hovering rather than outright flight. Therefore, being lifted telekinetically was something of a new experience for her. But if it was anything like strenuous use of the Force for raw power, Cortex was going to exhaust himself very soon, and she was sorely tempted to resist the effort. Still, she decided to trust him for now, though Revan filed that away for something else to potentially lecture him on. For the moment, however, he and Maya get a smile of gratitude. "Thanks guys."

     Well, they now had their answers about a number of questions. The reason there wasn't any violence aside from what the heroes themselves started: a previously unencountered group making a deal with the Hellions. The reason the Hellions had artefacts they shouldn't have otherwise been able to obtain: deals with said group. Were they stupid enough to set up this deal across the street from the PPD and playing with forces beyond their understanding: that was readily apparent.

     "You really shouldn't play with things you don't understand," the Guardian quipped, lightsabers still in hand even as she employed a levitation of her own with an empty crate and sent it into the group. "I'm afraid you need a time-out."

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The Smasher Elite and his crew, and some Blood Brothers, turn when they catch the sight of a giant... Bird thing whirling and sending out blue feathers, out of their peripheral vision. Some are more successful in taking cover than others. The Damned, with his mask on (as menacing as it may be), isn't sure why everyone else is ducking and running, or seeming to slow down as they get in contact with glowing blue feathers.

    "Who led the heroes here!?" the Smasher yells out.

    Maya spells accelerate everyone and grant them renewed defense against the hail of bullets coming their way (and some crossbow bolts apparently), and the Damned turns just in time to get a foot to the belly from a power-armored Staren at high speed... With electricity! He's knocked off his feet and hits the ground hard, but though he's probably feeling quite a bit of pain and probably can't breathe very well right now, he is rolling onto his stomach and getting up onto his knees, so he's not QUITE out of it yet. But he's getting up reallllly slowly and probably with the wind knocked out of him. Unfortunately for Staren, close-range is preferred range for these... Warrior-like individuals, and the guy who was performing the negotiating pulls out a hefty spiked mace and takes a swing at the back of Staren's head with it, exhibiting considerable strength. If it's human strength, then it's probably at or close to the peak of mundane human ability!

    Dorian's flame wall causes hesitance at first on the part of the Hellions... Some of them are even stuck choking on the smoke, unable to breathe as the oxygen is burnt away from them. But a few of them actually charge right through, despite the damage they suffer. Are they mad!? No... Just resistant to flames. It can't be PLEASANT to willingly subject themselves to such a barrier of intense heat that has likely left their clothing burning and their skin smoking even after they exit through the other side, but maybe those flames would have been more effectively used on the ones who DON'T get hell demon protection.

    Thankfully, one of the on-fire Hellions who couldn't actually SEE from within the barrier runs out of the flame wall and directly into a Warrior who was taking a bead on Dorian with a crossbow, causing the shot to go wide. "Watch where you're going, idiot!" the Hewer yells as he elbows the Fallen Buckshot in the face forcefully, knocking his own ally out. Then he charges Dorian with a battle axe in hand!

    The Hellions are mostly relying on firearms and street weapons, instead of magic. The Minions are not advanced enough in their demonic pacts to have REAL power. But one smarter ganger has the idea to try to crack open a crate that the dealers apparently brought with them, when X takes down multiple allies in a barrage of phaser buster fire. As more Hellions and Warriors leap down from a level above, reachable by staircase, adding reinforcements to an already chaotic situation, the genius starts smashing the crate with a baseball bat. If that's full of magic artifacts...!

    Either breaking it open might cause unpredictable magical disasters if the artifacts inside are broken, or the tides of battle might turn as who-knows-what powers wind up in the hands of the bad guys! Revan's empty crate throw takes out a number of the reinforcements between her and the Slugger, but with so many bodies in the way...!

    The Slugger brings his baseball bat up over his head and tries to bring it down on the splintering crate. Only for the crate to suddenly slide aside, causing the bat to hit a metal railing jarringly. The Slugger looks confused, and then turns to try to hit the crate again, only for it to slide away from him when he tries. What follows is a near-comical chase as the Hellion keeps trying to break open the crate, and Cortex keeps moving it. Keeping the bad guy occupied until others can take care of this seems like a goof idea right now. He was likely inspired by Revan's crate-moving tactics.

Maya has posed:
Maya is more than happy to help protect hjer allis also to ehnace they they work. Still she seems to be acting to support the band rather than directly fight, she could though X might be getting some pretty wonky power signatures of an unknown type if he were to scan or or would anyone else. Those who know what magic is would get the idea Maya may be a living Nexus Point. She sees the speed spell is woking quite well as they press onwards.

"Not a problem call Me Maya or if you feel local Blue Witch."

She seems very amused at the name and she's quite happy to help support everyone else she fdound she's got a better talent for such than she thought she might have had otherwise.

She starts casing again with two cards, one in each hand one glows a sickly green the other? Blood ed and soon there's a sicking filling in the air for a moment to her allies, but it would not let up as she attemps to lay a curse upon the Warriors and Hellions alike weakening them and to make them easier to take down. She's also starting ot move a fair bit as she can and she hears Cortex's warning, the Hellion going to the cate will soon Find blur haired ball of magic and fury coming for them in the form of a magically boosted punch.

Staren has posed:
    Thank goodness for haste! With supernatural speed, Staren sidesteps the incoming mace as it /just/ misses him, whirls on his attacker, slaps the mace down (not that he has super-enough strength to do so /casually/, but still, that's more force to prevent the warrior from quickly regaining control of his weapon), steps in close, and tries to place one hand on the warrior's shoulder and then shock-punch him in the gut. "We found our own way here! Why are you stupid enough to worship /demons/?! Just surrender before more of you get hurt!"

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    "Thank you~," Dorian offers wryly to the Hellion... just before the Warrior knocks said Hellion out. "You just can't find good help in this city these days, can you?" This is directed at the Warrior. Just before said Warrior comes charging at him with a battleaxe!

    Surprisingly, the 'squishy mage' doesn't go running away to hide behind the melee fighters when that happens. No, he knows he's not getting away in time. And besides, presenting his back to someone with an axe is a really stupid thing to do. So instead, he raises his staff up and forward, hooking under the blade and clashing against the haft of the axe. He then tilts the staff, moving his hand away so the axe will slide off the staff.

    And then? Dorian slams the end of his staff on the ground, and a lightning bolt leaps from one of the open, roaring dragons' mouths, to the Warrior. Not to worry, the bolts are only big enough to hurt, not enough to kill.

    He also takes a moment to snicker at Cortex running the Slugger through a chase worthy of a musical backdrop.

Alexis has posed:
Hawlucha bobs and weaves around the chaos as some of the thugs get trigger happy, little sparks and plumes kicking up from the tiles and walls where the bullets hit behind him. A few clip his shoulders and wings, but Pokemon are made of sterner stuff.

Then more thugs start dropping in from above. The response to this is the only one that is logical to something bird-like. Hawlucha bolts to the side, jumps, and kicks off a wall to launch himself upward towards them. Midair he does a twist to put his legs forward and intercept one of the dropping thugs. Not with a kick, but snaring his legs around the punk's neck. The momentum combined with a practiced twist of the body and the fighting bird-man heaves around in a maneuver that if successful will make sure the thug is the one that slams into the ground first.

That, for the record, is where the name Hurricarana comes from.

Alexis, thankful for the magic barriers and speed, turns her attention when Cortex mentions someone trying to cause more Bad Shit(tm) to happen by smashing up artifacts. That's comical the way he's leading him around, but still dangerous. "On it!" She slips the hockey stick back into her bag, reachs for something else, and snaps her boots to deploy the rollerblades. Then makes good use of Maya's speed buff to dart around the brawlers and leap onto the railing. Sparks fly as the rollerblade wheels grind along the length, closing in on the guy Cortex is leading around witht he moving crate. "That's not how you use a bat..."

A snap of the wrist pops her own out to full size (looking much like the expandable metal bat from a certain movie sequal) and as she grinds next to the thug along the railing swings to knock him away from the crate he's busy chasing. "THIS is how you use a bat!"

Revan (414) has posed:
Fortunately, Revan and her allies weren't dealing with the brightest bunch. Reasonably strong, definitely violent, but...not too bright. "Worshipping demons was apparently only one in the list of 'Stupid Things Villains Do'," she commented offhandedly to Staren as her lightsabers swept forward to disabuse one Warrior of his axe.

     Glancing over to the psychic hero, she managed to suppress a chuckle. The crate-moving game was actually a pretty good idea, giving the heroes a window of opportunity. Not to mention Cortex was right; personally, she didn't want to know what might happen if one of those things broke. MAGI's vault was a disaster waiting to happen as it was.

     "I think we have you covered," the pale-haired Jedi reassured him. Dorian wasn't the only one who could play with electricity.

     The Hellion on the madcap chase, among other things he has to worry about soon had another from Lowri as she lifted her right hand and let loose a short jolt of Force Lightning. They might be fire-resistant, but electrical bolts via the Force were another matter entirely.

X (967) has posed:
X isn't sure WHAT is in that crate, but if someone's smashing it right as the 'cops' arrive, it's probably... NOT good to let that state of affairs continue.

    "Not a chance!" X is smart though. Instead of taking aim at the dude, he aims at the bat, momentarily engaging the X-Buster again. Power glows throughout his whole body - mostly at the X buster though - for just a second... then FWOOSH! A bigger shot's let off, the size of a guy's arm. He's zeroed in on the batter's timing, and the shot will arrive right when the bat is exposed. But his positioning is such that if he misses, the crate isn't directly in the path...

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    "I don't worship--!" the Smasher Elite starts to respond when Staren punches him and electrocutes him. He can take hits. Anyone who fights as a mace-wielder on the streets of Paragon City has to be able to do that much. But the electricity, combined with Maya's curses and those blue feathers from earlier, leave him weakened enough to be taken down.

    The Warrior charging Dorian is electrocuted heavily and joins his leader on the floor, the other Warriors having been subdued by phaser fire earlier, Hellions succumbing to asphyxiation, the reinforcements getting mid-air kicked and generally beat up despite the addition of weapon-swinging and gun-firing they bring.

    The crate basher gets his bat knocked out of his hand right as Cortex has to stop moving the box of magic relics to focus on the remaining reinforcements, blasting them with a telepathic scream that echoes in their heads, holding them immobile, and then unconscious. Maya's curses made all of these foes much easier to disable, even for mighty Elites like these heroes.

    Disarmed, with basically no allies left, the Slugger then gets electrocuted by Lowri, jerking and spasming in place, unable to take action, and then Alexis comes sliding down the railing and smashes him in the face with a bat so hard he actualy flips backwards and lands on his head on the ground before continuing his flip, landing on his face, and skidding several feet!

    It's fortunate the medi-porter system is already evacuating many of these injures and unconscious criminals to secure medical facilities, because that's one guy with a broken face. It seems that the crate has been spared, and most of the bad guys are out of action.

    And that's when that Damned violently raises the temperature around him, attempting to spontaneously combust all nearby foes, setting them ablaze with magic flames... Hard to extinguish. It has significant range, though the damage is not as severe as it could be.

    It's clearly a last ditch effort, out of desperation more than anything. With this many heroes available, he'll be down in moments. And when this guy is down, the mission will be complete.

    ...Good thing that crate is out of range thanks to the chase that just occurred. If it got set on fire and set something ELSE off after all of THAT, it'd be the opposite of a happy ending.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    While Dorian is a fire mage, he is not, sadly, immune to fire. Or really even resistant to it. So he's forced to back up, out of range, channeling ice around him to try to put the fire out. He has a scent not unlike burning hair. Uh-oh. Hair damage! What EVER will Dorian do?!

    As it turns out? Get pissed.

    He decides to use the ice he's channeling to put himself out, to put out as much of the fire in the area as he can, first of all. But he's also going to use that to do some damage. He raises his staff above his head and spins it, and as he does, ice begins to form on his hands. The temperature around him drops sharply, and then he slams the end of the staff on the ground.

    Aimed in roughly the area beneath the Damned, ice rises up in response to the mage's will. It's trying to freeze the Damned in a sheet of ice. It won't hold him long, though, if it does manage to freeze him. Dorian's skill with ice isn't nearly as good as his skill with fire and lightning.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis drops off the rail and skates over to the crate. She's just going to guard this so no one else tries anything stupid. Not that there's much stupid left standing. But if they were dealing in artifacts it might be important, and MAGI probably wants to keep it out of their hands.... Gawd, she can feel that heat over here, it's uncomfortable, and she grew up on a volcano!

The Hawlucha gets up from his acrobatics just in time for shearing hellish heat to blast all over the place. The best he can do is hold up his wing-arms to shield his face as the flames churn through the air. Virtue of those barriers someone so thankfully provide is what keeps him on his feet at all. Even then, there's obvious shoot and scorch marks on the back of his wings.

A few flames crackle around his talons as he makes a sweeping gesture with one arm as if to discard them, despite the unholy fire not wanting to actually go out, oh well. "Hawlucha. <Tonight, your dispicable dealings end.>" He does a backwards flip, landing on that railing Alexis used moments before in place of a turnbuckle. He strikes a pose with one arm-wing thrust at an angle, then turns to do the same to the other side. "<Now, you shall feel the wrath... of...>"

Both arm-wings sweep back and flare out dramatically, and vaults off the rail. The arc of his leap launchs him towards the Damned, to slam into him with a top rope body splash. "<HURRRICAAAANE KAAAALOS!>" In other words, Hawlucha's trademark attack: Flying Press!

Revan (414) has posed:
Desperation move or not, even Jedi had the general vulnerabilities of their respective races. For all her strength in the Force, Revan was still human and with some extra protections, could still be fried to death with magical flames if she didn't act fast. Drawing on the Force, she darted lithely backwards and away from the flames, and hopefully she wasn't on fire. Fortunately that did not seem to be the case, which meant focusing on taking down the source of the problem.

     Contrary to some odd beliefs of some, Lowri was not magical and did not wield magic, so putting out the flames with some opposing substance or magic was not within the realm of possibilities. She can, however, brute-force the caster. (No pun intended)

     There seemed to be no shortage of useful objects, such as a hollow steel barrel. With enough speed, an application of it to the Damned's face might well do the trick.

     Extending her right arm again, she reached out, mentally lifting the barrel and hurling it at the fire-wielder.

Staren has posed:
    Magical fire

    bad

    Staren's armor is on fire and who knows how much damage this will do

    Staren considers blasting the Damned in hopes it will stop the spell, but Alexis's pokemon is on it

    So instead, he blows a hole in the wall and flies out, looking for water to dive into!

Maya has posed:
Maya magic has done a lot to leave both gangs weaker and far easier pray then before. She sees the crate hs been handled and stops her charge. She stands still for a moment as she looks about for any other still left standing and ther's a Damned left she looks at him for a moment her eyes narrow and that's when the water comes. She just intending to drown his flames with magtical water.

X (967) has posed:
This is a prime example of why some better communications and organization would help! X's shot goes flying into a wall, burning a small hole in it! Oh well, could be worse. For the moment he frustratedly clenches his teeth and whirls around to face the Damned!

    Well, X is FAR more resistance to FLAME than most people, being made of an insane alloy. He's not combustible! But the sudden flash of heat sends his systems into shock and brings him momentarily to his knees. "Grrrgh...!" Although his servos are screaming in protest at operating at such temperatures without any time to acclimate he pushes up to his feet, and raises the Phaser Buster! ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP!

    "Fine, we'll do this the hard way after all!"

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Ice spikes from below! A flying press from above! Flaming barrel to the face!

    Staren blasts through a wall and finds an ordinary office water cooler, with a supply of paper cuts, which he can fill and empty onto himself, one at a time! Of course, the flames will be gone in a handful of seconds as they die out, but he will still be in a convenient position to get a drink!

    And then back to the Damned as he is juggled between attacks, gets half-drowned in magical water that may also douse everything else in the area that got set on fire, and then, probably just barely on this side of consciousness, gets taken out by X in a brutal barrage of... Non-lethal blasts! ...There are worse fates!

    The Damned staggers, and then just falls to the floor, utterly overwhelmed.

    Cortex looks around, giving a somewhat disapproving look towards Staren's property destruction, but then shrugging it off. Being set on fire is not something most people respond to rationally. It's an inherently panic-inducing experience. He hasn't exactly enjoyed it himself when it's happened.

    And no one can deny that Staren put in some work, going toe-to-toe with TWO Bosses... Infact, everyone here today made a major contribution that left the good guys barely scratched, if that, and a whole lot of bad guys on the ground or being ported out to a hospital somewhere.

    And they have a whole crate of evidence for MAGI to go over.

    Truly, this was one of the best possible outcomes. Cortex smiles around at everyone and says, "That was some great team work. You're all just as capable as I expected!" He gives his signature thumbsup and grin.

    MISSION COMPLETE