2824/Sewer Run

Sewer Run
Date of Scene:	16 August 2015
Location:	Paragon City <CoH>
Synopsis:	Dorian Pavus, Corona Arclite, and Cortex delve into the sewers of Paragon City looking for answers... And a fight!
Cast of Characters:	Corona Arclite, 769, 774

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Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The Sewer Network is, as one might expect, pretty bad-smelling and awful. The grate inside from Atlas Park has been secured by police drones, but inside the sewer itself? No one knows what's going on down there. Though heroes have recently discovered a huge number of various street gangs down there, including Hellions and the Lost, the extent of their activities and actual population remain an unknown. They've been using these tunnels to get aroudn the city, bypassing security gates meant to keep each zone separate and safe from exactly this type of thing.

    The Sewer Network is a Trial Zone now, a place where heroes are tested by the dangers and enemies found throughout this location. While it may not be a pleasant place to explore nor is it generally on most people's list of places they want to go, being a hero isn't about doing the safe, clean work that anyone can do. Dirty work and danger are part of the job.

    A local hero is here to help, by the name of Cortex. He's wearing a black bodysuit with purple swirls, a mask that leaves eyes, nose, and mouth exposed, and has an opening at the top for his blonde hair to come out, and gloves and boots... Sealed and secured against any sewage getting into them. The psychic super hero isn't the strongest in Paragon City, but he's able to provide some guidance to those unfamiliar with the area or how things work. He is wishing he had brought an air filter or something though as he waits for other heroes to arrive.

Corona Arclite has posed:
It ain't about safe, clean work. It's about getting done the work that needs to be done. Story of Corona's life. Story of life on Brimsteel in general really.

That all said and done, the machinist certainly came prepared. Her usual skirted overalls have been exchanged for a pair that have actual legs, which have had the cuffs stuffed into her already reinforced boots. Likewise her work vest has been replaced by a heavier jacket that has sleeves, likewised tucked into the cuffs of her work gloves.

"Whoo whee! And Ah thought the manure carts smelled after an all nighter in the bronzehorn barn!"

She already had her goggles up, but after that little outburst at the stank the vixen pulls her bandana up over her muzzle as well. At least lighting isn't a problem, because she's conveniently got a miner's headlamp strapped to the front of her bronze-plated stetson.

"So where's the vermins we s'ppose to be vacatin'?" She pauses, a long foxen ear twitching at some squeaking in the back ground. "And I don't mean the rats, either."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    This is the last time Dorian takes a job without reading the fine print! The job said to clear out a bunch of bad guys. Dorian neglected to notice that it took place in a SEWER. At least he's brought a good, sturdy pair of galoshes, so there's that. Though they look out of place on the mage, dressed as he is in light leather armor, with a white cloak thrown over the lot. It's probably not going to be white by the end of this, though.

    Nonetheless, in short order, Cortex and Corona will be approached by an olive-skinned man with well-groomed hair and a well-trimmed moustache, in light leather armor, with a white cloak. The man holds a staff in one hand, with the top of the staff worked into the shape of coiling, serpentine dragons. If his presence isn't notice at first, his remark in response to the smell probably will get him noticed. Wryly, he comments, "Of course! Human filth alongside human waste. It all makes perfect sense." The dry humor is probably only enhanced by the haughty tone in his voice.

    However, as he approaches, he bows politely to Cortex and Corona. He addresses Corona first, since he knows her. "A pleasure seeing you again. It's good to know we'll have SOME pleasant scenery on this job." Did he just flirt with Corona? Cortex draws his attention next, a rather more professional attitude. "Greetings. I'm here about the job." He playces a hand on his chest and bows to Cortex as well. "Dorian, of House Pavus. How do you do?"

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex turns as the grate behind him opens up and Corona arrives. He smiles lopsidedly, two fingers pinching his nose, and causing his voice to emerge nasally when he greets her. "I should have planned for this, really. I guess I didn't imagine just how bad it would be. A learning experience, I guess. Anyway, there's criminals belonging to a couple of street gangs down here, apparently. Further inside the tunnels. From what I hear, we shouldn't have a hard time finding them. The masks who chased some other criminals down here nearly got wiped out. A number of them had to port to the hospital in Atlas Park. There were just too many." Which doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Cortex.

    He pauses further explanation as Dorian arrives. Cortex somewhat unpracticedly bows back and says, "Cortex. Nice to get to team up with you. Both of you! Known enemies down here are the Hellions, and the Lost. The Hellions are demon-worshippers. Mostly armed with street weapons, like guns, knifes, and so on. But I hear their bosses actually have magic of some kind and can shoot fire. Watch out for them. The Lost are... Another matter. We don't know much about them yet. We thought they were some sort of deranged homeless due to their cult-like behavior, but they're not just aggressive, but some seem to be displaying physical mutations and deformities. Dr. Vasilikos wants more data on them to see if he can help cure them."

    Cortex holds up a hand held medical device of some kind. "I'm supposed to take blood samples if I can, from any Lost we defeat. But both the Hellions and the Lost will get sent to a containment facility after we beat them, so don't worry about anything other than keeping yourself and the team safe, and beating up the bad guys."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite turns a moment to give Dorian a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Good to see ya again and still in one piece! Though Ah don't know if my sunny disposition can brighten up a surly dump like this." Pause. Then a snicker. "Hehe. Dump. Cuz its a sewer, and they... y'know. Nevermind."

As for the new guy in the swirly bodysuit she gives a brief tip of her hat as per proper western tradition. "Corona Arclite. May not look like it but Ah know a thing or three 'bout dealin' with bandits and outlaws."

That they're dealing with potential gangs of them doesn't seem to deter her much either. She actually laughs a bit at the comment about taking blood samples. "Well a'right then." She pulls her anachronistic looking shotgun from its sling, flips it once in her hand to grab the mechanism and cock it, then flip it again into a proper grip. "Ah'll try to leave some blood in 'em for ya." And with that she starts off down the passage, commenting over her shoulder towards Cortex. "So just what sorta thing do y'all do? Eye lasers? Explodin' fists?"

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian raises an eyebrow at the words 'demon-worshippers'. "Wonderful. Always the easiest way to make a situation worse-- just add demons." He's a rather snarky sort, isn't he? As for the bosses using fire? "So can I," he says with a smirk. "You have with you one of Tevinter's most powerful Altus mages. These 'Hellions' will need to do better than a few fancy fire tricks." oasting yes, but it doesn't sound like it's empty boasting.

    The friendly slap on the shoulder gets a surprised look from Dorian, but he recovers quickly nonetheless. "My dear, if your sunny disposition /couldn't/ brighten up a 'dump' like this, I would be concerned." Light teasing there. Though rather than simply start off, Dorian waits for Cortex. he seems to be trying to keep Cortex between himself and Corona. For Cortex's own protection, mind. Besides that, Cortex knows the way through the sewers, Dorian doesn't.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex follows after Corona, tries to laugh a bit at her question regarding his powers, but winds up coughing from the foul smells. So he's grimacing somewhat when he answers, "No, no. I'm psychic. I mostly disable enemies by making them go to sleep, trapping them in their own minds temporarily, throwing them around with telekinesis, that kind of thing. I do better in a group than on my own." He looks back towards Dorian and smiles.

    "That's a relief then. With powerful heroes around like you, I can fulfill my role more easily without worrying about having to focus all my energy on defending myself when I could be supporting you two."

    The tunnel winds a bit, turning off into dead-ends that they manage to avoid going down. Then they come around a corner and find a tunnel full of various men in black and red clothing. Many with red bandannas covering their mouths, black stocking caps, vests, etc. A couple are wearing demonic-looking masks with horns coming out of them. There's about a dozen all in this one tunnel. They don't seem to have noticed the heroes yet.

    Cortex crouches down on the walkway alongside the flow of sewage down the middle, and turns to the others to see what they think. "Just charge in and attack? Try to draw a couple off first? I don't know what you two are capable of."

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Nah pardner. Better if we make 'em come to us. Buuut..." Corona pulls a pair of devices off her belt. "That don't mean we shouldn't be prepared." She tosses one towards one side of the entrance into the tunnel with the costumed men, and the other to the opposite side. Then regrips her shotgun with both hands. "Just be ready to let 'em have it."

With that she steps into the middle of the entrance, levels the Forge Sweeper towards the closest cluster of outlaws and fires. As one would expect of a shotgun it fires like a burst of buckshot spreading in a vagely conical shape through the air. The difference being instead of metal shot the Sweeper belts out a scatterblast of little globs of energized plasma.

The devices in the meantime click-clack as they unfold into small gun turrets, turning in the direction Corona fired and start shooting off their own fire, though they do just fire normal bullets.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian looks at Cortex oddly at the mention of hat he can do. "Please do me the kindness of keeping your mindtouch to yourself. Thank you," he says, rather flatly. He isn't prejudiced against psychics, is he? Truthfully, no; the nervousness in the request is impossible to miss. Because in Tevinter, if one /can/ make one's enemies kneel before one, why not? For that matter, why not one's /allies/ kneel, if one has the capability? Someone with that sort of power genuinely scares him.

    And then there are Hellions! Dorian assumes anyway. Though his first action is not to immediately attack. It's to cast a magical barrier around the three of them. It isn't very powerful, and it won't last too long, but it should be able to dampen the first wave of attacks that will doubtless be incoming in response to Corona's firing at the group.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    "Hey, I'm a hero, not a villain!" Cortext protests quietly to Dorian. He's not SUPER offended, but he is used to people assuming in favor of heroes' good will, not against!

    "Well, I may have a metho--" Cortex begins when Corona mentions it being a good idea to make the enemy come to them, but then she employs her own method of doing that. The Hellions let out various cries of alarm as they have plasma shots scattered over them. They seem to be slightly resistant to the damage, but it's still no treat for them to be subjected to. The artifacts they use to increase their power seems to provide them small protection, but not enough to save them from harm. So they angrily charge forwards, weapons drawn!

    And right into the turret fire that seems to have full effectiveness against them, locking down a few of the Blood Brothers as they jerk and spasm, caught in the barrage of gunfire! A couple others get past them, though, and fire upon the turrets with revolves, or attempt to get close enough to smash them with bats and fire axes!

    A couple masked men, a pair of Fallen Gunners, push through into the tunnel with the rest of them, and open fire with assault rifles! It's a good thing Dorian shielded them, making the damage the trio suffers, if any, not as serious! Cortex responds with what HE'S good at!

    The psychic lifts off into the air, puts his hands on the sides of his head to help him concentrate, and unleashes a blast of pink energy that traps one of the Gunners inside his own mind, held helpless temporarily! There's a hold-up in the tunnel thanks to the guys in the way of the others combined with an immobilized Gunner, but not all of the group has been taken down yet! Most are still able to fight!

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona looks down at her weapon a moment when it proves to not be as effective as she's use to. "Okay, that could of gone better..." Fortunately she put out the turrets first to strive off part of response. Though nothing really stops them from attacking the turrets to stop them, they weren't made to stand up to heavy punishment.

Thank goodness for the barrier! Between that and her own gear getting shot at is minimally harmful at best, at least for the first few times. And Cortex disables one of the Gunners. "Oh, -that's- what ya do." Huh. "As fer the rest of ya.."

The foxgirl stashes her shotgun away, instead pulling her hammer out instead. "Time t'drop the hammer!" She swings the tool in a wide arc to bludgeon off more of the gang trying to pile into the tunnel on them. Seeing as the plasma shots didn't work, she doesn't fire up the generator and just uses its good old fashion bluntness.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian does take note of Cortex's protest of the use of his abilities on people undeserving of it. However, at the moment they're battling, or Dorian would offer an apology, and explain himself. "I will apologize when we're not being fired upon!" he promises More of those Qunari gaatlok weapons, it seems. Or at least, they're very similar. Thankfully that barrier was there, hence Dorian's arm and leg are merely scraped by stray rounds, rather than him taking them to more vital areas!

    Between Corona's turrets and Cortex's mind-trap, there's a bottleneck. Good. That means there will be more people caught in his next little contribution. That contribution comes as he slams the end of the serpent staff on the ground, creating a hollow thump. The staff itself glows blue briefly, and just past Corona-- far enough not to hurt her, but close enough for her to feel the chill-- a blast of ice magic explodes up out of the ground. Dorian figures, if they use fire, they won't like ice.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Corona's hammer knocks a Hellion off his feet with a resounding impact! He turns in the air before landing flat on his back, presenting an obstacle to the others behind him. He doesn't get back up. Some of the Hellions defeated so far seem to be absent from the tunnel. It must be that mediporter technology! They're being teleported right to jail! ...Or a hospital at the jail, anyway!

    Dorian's ice magic blasts up and into the cluster of Hellions, freezing some in place, defeating others, and sending one last Blood Brother running down the tunnel trying to escape when he realizes how badly he's outmatched! Cortex hits the held Fallen Gunner with another Dominate to finish him off, and then blasts the last remaining Gunner, already frozen by Dorian's ice, with a telekinetic wave from his hand, smashing him back into a wall, and down for the count!

    If he'd been alone, Cortex likely couldn't have done any of that. Not without serious injury. But with Corona pinning them in and pummeling them, Dorian dealing the area damage and shielding them from harm, and Cortex trying to pin down the troublesome ones that take a bit extra effort to defeat, the trio have successfully eliminated this first batch of criminals! And there's... Only miles of maze-like tunnels full of bad guys left to go!

    Still, good to bask in their accomplishment and team work for now! Cortex turns in mid-air to give the other two a thumbsup, and then says, "Let's go afte the guy running away! I could chase him down easily in the air like this, but I've learned that rushing ahead can have dire consequences... When we proceed, it's together!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Yeah, no need to get split up and lost down here," Corona agrees. Same logic they use when down in the mines dealing with critter infestations. She keeps her collapsed hammer in one hand, and since her plasma shotgun didn't work very well before, pulls what looks like a steampunk revolver out of a holster instead. "Let's not dwaddle too much though." With both ranges of attack covered now, she's ready to move on as soon as the other two are.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    And that's the first clump of baddies broken up. Though now that the people they're looking to fight know what to expect, Dorian figures the next bit will be more difficult. Cortex mentions not running on ahead, and Corona seems to agree with him. Dorian also nods to this. "Good idea," he encourages. "I've never seen running on ahead work out any other way but spectacularly badly for the runner."

    And he did promise to apologize, so he looks to Cortex as they start off. "I should apologize for the assumption. I am apparently an incredible ass when dealing with unfamiliar powers. It's no excuse, no... but in the world I come from, such powers would immediately be used selfishly, for as much gain as possible, at the expense of whatever people necessary. I should remember that not everyone in the Multiverse is like the people in my world."

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex grins at Dorian and says, "No problem. I can definitely understand caution. There's plenty of villains here who DO use their abilities for things like that, so it's not like the entire world runs on the same morality. Not even the whole city does that as evidenced by THESE guys!" He jerks a thumb at the last few Hellions who are starting to be teleported away, as he hovers after Corona. "I'll keep in mind the circumstances of others in the future myself. Just because I'm classed as a hero here, doesn't mean other people have to trust me. It's just... You know..."

    He shrugs uncomfortably as he picks up the space, switching from hovering to full flight. Never going too far ahead, just zooming a bit, and coasting to a stop to wait for the others. "I'm not usually treated with suspicion by others, so it was a new experience. That's all."

    As the trio gradually move forward, they come around a corner, not too far from their initial enemy encounter, and find a tunnel full of men in a mixture of worn outfits, pieced together from scavenged garbage and old rags. The Hellion they were chasing seems to have decided not to tangle with them, or the bulky Headmen wearing football helmets and carrying bizarrely high-tech energy rifles of some kind, as they stand around listening to some giant mutant of some kind preaching to them from atop a wooden crate.

    So the Blood Brother is running right back at them while trying to find an escape route. Already damaged from a mixture of Corona's turrets and Dorian's ice magic, Cortex takes him out nice and quiet with a psychically-induced sleep attack. The Hellion passes out.

    The psychic super hero drifts closer to the wall, to peek around the corner as the group of Lost. "Those are the ones the doctor wanted a sample from. Just homeless folks, as far as we know. But after the Rikti invaded, they started... Changing. Becoming aggressive. Getting deformed, or growing huge, or turning into one of THOSE." He indicates the Anathema on the box.

Corona Arclite has posed:
All things considered he's probably better off asleep in jail than running around the sewers like a headless chicken.

Corona presses her back to the wall on the other side of the tunnel, then leans just enough to peak out. "Sounds like someone's been tinkerin' with 'em like broken appliances," the foxgirl replies in a hushed voice. "Manip'latin' the body instead of machinery... Kinda puts it in perspective why the doc wants a look at what's makin' em... that..."

She tucks her hammer under an arm for a moment, freeing her hand to change the ammo cylinder in the revolver, and gives it a spin back into place afterwards. "Just say the word t'go."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian nods. "I should as well," he agrees, to the mention of considering the circumstances of other worlds. "It's hard when you have a paradigm you've known all your life." Suddenly there's someone running back at them, someone Cortex takes down before Dorian can evne tense properly for battle. The mage nods.

    Here then, those Lost. He notes how Corona gets ready to shoot things, and asks quietly, "...I suppose the hope that we could just walk up and asking for a sample is too much to hope for?" He figures it is, just... well, there's no harm in asking, right?

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex nods grimly in acknowledgement of Corona's thoughts on the subject. "It could be. It could be a side-effect of some radiation. These tunnels were taken over by the Rikti survivors during the war. They could have some weird device or leaking bomb or something down here, poisoning everyone. It could be intentional change, it could be some drug being pedalled like the Trolls use... We just don't know." When he looks to Dorian, Cortex seems reluctant. He knows the reports, certainly. He has seen conflicts with these 'Lost' as well.

    Every indication is they are hostile. But how do they know THIS bunch is hostile? 99% chance that they are, but still... "If you want to try talking to them, you can. We can hang out here and be ready to support you if anything goes wrong. But I'll warn you now, it's very, very unlikely that they will respond favorably. People have already been attacked down here by them. They're armed with weird weapons too. You don't have to risk it."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona finishes readying her revolver and pulls her hammer back out in the other hand. "You wanna try, go 'head. Won't stop ya, just be ready to start shootin' if it don't work."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian listens to the concerns on both sides. It's very probable that shooting is going to happen. But hey. Might as well give it a shot, right? He nods, and casts a barrier around the three of them. "No sense taking completely idiotic chances." Corona's words very a nod. "I expect it won't, but might as well try." To Cortex, "This is likely going to end rather badly, so I'll probably need that backup." Then he sighs, muttering something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like 'I'm going to regret this'.

    And then he steps carefully out of his hiding place. he takes a few steps forward, though not enough to be out of cover range should this go as bad as he expects it to. "Excuse me," he begins, raising his free hand to draw attention to himself. His tone as conversational and friendly as he can make it, he asks, "I wonder if I might have a word with you fine... er, people?" He is, however, tensed to run back behind cover if this even looks like it's going to go pearshaped.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    As Dorian steps forth and starts speaking, the big, hulking Anathema leaps down from his box, sending a tremor through the tunnel, and drawing a huge blade off of his back. A big, sweeping, green thing with even brighter green along its edge as some kind of energy current is passed along it. "Do you want to join us, Hero?" the monster asks half-tauntingly, half-seriously, wholly menacingly, and starts forcing his way through the Scroungers and Mutates who also leap to their feet or draw weapons.

    Revolvers, shotguns, axes, submachineguns, knives, baseball bats, sledgehammers... And big energy weapons in the form of pistols or rifles that hum with sizzling green energy. A man with a television on his head like a helmet, and a pair of car tires on his broad shoulders as pauldrons raises his Rikti pistol with his misshapen arm and yells, "You don't belong here, hero!" right before firing a blast of green and white energy. If it hits, it will do damage (though lessened by the barrier). But it also unleashes a wave of disorienting light and a strange charge as well, which might leave Dorian a bit bewildered for a moment.

    That negotiation ended before it began. Not his fault. These guys just... Aren't open to discussion. But as the Headman Blaster opens fire on Dorian, Cortex flies out into the tunnel and makes a strange gesture in the air, accompanied by the sound of birds chirping as ripples of energy emanate from him. In just a moment, the big Anathema with his big blade stops his advance, looks around in confusion, and then selects one of his own group at random... To deliver a powerful underhand-swing with that giant blade, taking them out more or less instantly.

    Whatever Cortex did, it seems he has gained them an ally. Though likely only temporarily. The rest of the Lost are focused on Dorian and Cortex, though some try unsuccessfully to back away from the largest among them, bump into the others, and throw their aim off as they try to shoot at the heroes!

    Chaos in the ranks!

    "Sorry, Dorian. You tried. They aren't themselves." Cortex tries to console his ally as he watches for another opportunity to help.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Can't say Dorian didn't try. It just wasn't likely to work.

After Cortex flies out of the tunnel Corona takes a step out of the passage as well, her firing arm already held out as the steampunk revolver click-clicks to ready and starts to fire in a steady staccato of shots. A lot faster than anyone should be able to pull a trigger... Because Corona isn't, the revolver has some sort of clockwork autofiring mechanism built into it.

But instead of shooting the Lost themselves Corona is firing at their weapons, particularly the ones with shotguns or fancy alien looking weapons, to disarm them.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Thankfully Dorian was prepared for that. Talking things out never works. He did think it was worth trying, if only to save everyone the effort of beating these guys up. But, because he was ready for it, he's a little better prepared. He's already half-turned back to cover when that blade is drawn. And the 'you don't belong here' is enough to send him running back into cover. Thanks to his quick actions, he's mostly missed by the energy blast. Though he does stumble thanks to that momentary disorientation.

    "Not to worry," Dorian replies to Cortex's consolation. And as Corona begins to fire at their weapons, Dorain slips back out of cover temporarily, love enough to aim his hands forward. Lightning erupts from them, and if it should hit anything, it will attempt to chain between several of the Lost.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Some of the simpler weapons are disarmed successfully, as the Anathema distracts his allies by tearing up any attempt at team work. He seems to be too confused to use the psychic powers he possesses, or even to attack regularly, but occasionally the giant Rikti blade sends one of his allies into the air and out of the fight, reminding them he's still there. But then the purple bubbles floating about his head disappear, and he immediately attacks Cortex with a Psychic Scream that blasts all of the heroes in front of him with painful psionic energy, a HOWL of thought-disturbance inflicting psyche damage on anyone afflicted.

    Cortex is hit for sure, though he responds with his OWN psychic powers, blasting the Anathema with a Dominate in an attempt to leave him held. But it seems the Anathema is resistant to such things because though he succumbs, he snaps out of it much more quickly than others would, and starts attacking again!

    The alien weapons, on the other hand, are not so easily disarmed. Because their limbs are so weird and mutated, knocking their weapons off of them is actually harder than it would be with gripping hands, because they're already modified to secure the weapons without fingers. They still take some damage from the impact, but the two Headmen don't seem to be as disarmed as those around them. A tall Mutate Brawler, his revolver taken from him, just rushes Corona to try to punch her!

    But Dorian's lightning magic hits him, sending the warped man into convulsions temporarily, and the lightning chaining back into everyone behind him. Many of them have to stop their attempts to reclaim their weapons from the sewer filth or from beneath the feet of their allies as they are likewise momentarily interrupted. But that Anathema, man! That Anathema!

    As everyone else is getting zapped, and so is he, he's blasting Cortex with a psychic attack so powerful that it damages him, sending him falling to the ground, and also knocks him unconscious! Maybe it's temporary, but for the time being, the hero group is down to two! But with the combination of the confused Anathema's 'help' earlier, and the damage inflicted so far, the Lost are down to about half their number. Maybe Corona and Dorian can handle the rest!

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Gaaaah!" Corona snarls as her ears lay back almost flat against the sides of her head. Entirely reflexively, since it technically wasn't actual sound in the first place. Arguably the migrane like throb it causes is worse than a earbleeding scream, but that's nitpicking between apples and oranges. Fortunately she wasn't in the direct line of proverbal fire and manages to resist outright passing out like poor Cortex.

She still has enough wits about her to take advantage of the lightning discharge sending her would-be attacker into a spasm. "Guess we're gonna have to collect the blood the old fashioned way..." She actually makes use of her smaller size to step inside the mutant's reach, and makes a mighty upward swing with her hammer at the malformed brawler's jaw. The Breaker is designed to put its momentum into knockback to compensate for her lack of pure physical strength, so the blow will hopefully still be enough to knock him off his feet and back into the crowd. Maybe even into the other freak before he can do anything to Cortex.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    The psychic howl actually knocks Dorian to a knee, and he hurriedly plants the end of the staff on the ground to support himself so he doesn't fall completely over. He wobbles a bit, stunned momentarily. He shakes his head, as if trying to clear it. Maybe that's why he was so suspicious of Cortex to begin with-- because he seems to not handle that psychic stuff very well!

    Unfortunately he's not able to do anything until he realizes Cortex has fallen! He pushes himself to his feet again, and then uses that Barrier again. He's going to try to get in there close to Cortex so he can attempt to protect the fallen psychic, but mages are generally not great at tanking. Watching Corona take a swing, he tries to synchronize an ice spell with her attack, hoping to freeze the big one long enoguh for her to take a swing at it too.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex manages to wake himself up after awhile, by Breaking Free of the effect, but only thanks to Dorian covering him to prevent further harm or being status-effect-locked. Corona's attack smashes the brawler up into the air and back into his allies, further hampering their attempts to rearm themselves. But some have managed to do so, and take a couple shots at Corona with their revolvers. The Headman Blaster with the pistol and the tv on his head is preparing to take aim again, damaged by electricity but still in the fight!

    But as he aims at Dorian, right as the latter freezes the Anathema in a block of ice, leaving him vulnerable to attack, that's when a TK blast comes out of nowhere and slams the Blaster, finishing him off! Cortex isn't a heavy damage dealer, but he's awake now, and with the combination of painful disarmament and electrocution, the Lost are at a disadvantage. Further, Corona is slamming their more intimidating members around with her hammer!

    A few of them take to fleeing at this point, much like the Blood Brother before. But Cortex was only passed out for a little bit, not defeated, and he keeps them from getting away with more sleep and hold effects, leaving the one or two remaining Lost for his allies to defeat. "I'll deal with the stragglers! The guy with the rifle and the big psychic one are the priority!"

    The Headman Rifleman snarls in response and aims his bigger, much more powerful Rikti weapon at Cortex. Which was pretty dumb with both Corona and Dorian available to hammer, electrocute, freeze, or shoot him, but maybe he'd rather make sure the one who can do stuff to them like the Anathema can do to the enemy is out of the picture.

    The Anathema, meanwhile, is starting to force his way out of his icy confinment. Both the Headman AND the psychic Anathema are nearly out of fighting strength, damaged and tired. This is the last push to defeat them!

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona crouchs down low, but she can't reduce her profile enough to completely avoid taking some hits. Thankfully her jacket does have some of her world's equivilent to kevlar lining in it.

Fortunately most of the weirdos have been routed out and then swept up be Cortex, only leaving a couple of big bruisers left to deal with. She twirls her revolver briefly as part of reholstering it, then slings her hammer back onto her belt as well. "Deal with that weirdo!" She's got the guy with the gun.

Springing into action, Corona clenches her gloved fists, and from one a plume much like a plasma torch spouts from a concealed emitter. As she darts in she takes a swipe at the rifle with it, and while it might not cut the alien tech apart like it does rifles back home the Arclite Cutter should at least mangle it.

The lead-in goes to her second attack once she's scooted past his weapon, swinging the other fist at his... center of mass, shall we say, for the sake of young viewing audience. At the impact the other emitter ignites, resulting in a rather impressive fiery explosion blasting away from Corona's fist.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    "Thank you!" Dorian calls to Cortex. He'd seen the thing aiming at him, but he hadn't quite been able to defend himself properly. Magic is tricky like that, it requires concentration.

    Corona calls out, and Dorian nods. "Right!" he calls out to confirm. There's not enough time to prepare a proper spell. So instead he gets close to the Anathema, slowly breaking out of its ice prison. He swings his staff, HARD, at the thing, several times.

    Now... while 'squishy mage' might be a thing one might expect of him, Dorian is surprisingly powerful physically. Not just in the sense of 'strong for a mage', either. He does more than respectable damage with that staff. Also the spiked serpentine dragons at the end of it will likely not feel real great impacting with the thing's face!

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The Headman Rifleman has his weapon sliced apart sufficiently to not be usable anymore, melted and cut by Corona's fancy techno glove... And then he is smashed to the ground by her powerful punch that is accompanied by an even more powerful explosion, taking him out of the fight! His football helmet goes tumbling across the tunnel floor, leaving his half-melted-looking face, with its bulging eyes visible. He stares blankly at the ceiling, but is still breathing. Just unable to close his eyes. Creepy!

    Dorian takes out the weakened Anathema through the simple expedient of beating the mutated man unconscious, leaving the last one or two runners to fall down when Cortex finishes slamming their sleep centers with his powers. The Anathema is bulky, physically powerful, and a bad guy, so serious long-term injury probably doesn't need to be worried about.

    This batch of Lost have been defeated! And as Cortex hovers over, his head throbbing, to collect a blood sample or two, he turns to the others and says, "Thanks you guys! I wouldn't have been able to do this without you! ...Seriously! And maybe with these samples we can cure these people and get them back to being who they once were. Seriously..." With sampler in one hand, he raises his other to give a thumbsup. "Thank you!"

    Dah DAH daaaahhh... DAH!

    MISSION COMPLETE