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Dr. Vahzilok     A chase on a moonlight night eventually leads the team of nine heroes and one Eevee to an alleyway. In the time between when the heroes found the sewer entrance and descended down into it, hearing voices up ahead, echoing through the tunnels, their numbers dropped from nine to six. The worst part was that they probably wouldn't have noticed right away. Even with illumination by flaming sword and lightsaber, even with android optics and power armor sensors, for several seconds, the absence of three of their number would have gone unnoticed.

    Not until they looked back and saw the hole in the sewer tunnel wall. The darkness that seemed to be almost solid in its impenetrability. Did Horus, War Witch, and Apex get seperated from the others somehow? Take a wrong turn into a side tunnel? That wasn't good, but this was their city, right? They knew their way around. They'd join back up soon. They were a strong, capable trio. And the fugitive they were seeking was just up ahead, from the sound of it.

    Infact, from the sound of it, there were a LOT of people up ahead. And one of them speaking to the others in the manner of a skilled and passionate orator.

    "...And all others who side with DEATH in our battle against it must be cut out, like the CANCEROUS growths they are." the voice drifts down the tunnel. Sounding... Possibly familiar to some present. Those who have been here long.

    As they reach a set of stairs leading up to a well-lit conference room on the other side of a broken tunnel wall, the voice continues speaking. "Now, I must continue my lecture. You may, if you wish, join me and my fellow doctors. I've made some interesting new discoveries..."
Athela Valemore The sewer had been a bother. No fault on Sprite's skills as a tracker. But the plethora of putrid and unfamiliar odors in the stank depths had made it difficult for the Eevee to keep a solid fix on Stone's trail. And probably why she didn't notice the disappearance of War Witch, Apex and Horus' familiar scents when they got seperated from the group either.

It also got more than one grousing from Athela once she caught up about the filth filled dungeon smelling worse than the marshland back home. And the Slug Moor is a -POISON- swamp.

Fortunately we have people with supernatural senses or technological assets to pick up where the nartual senses of the Eevee can't quite do it alone. She stops at the hole with the stairs, only for her fur to bristle and ears lay back as she hisses softly. Athela picks her up lightly, stroking the small fox's head softly as she whispers. "Easy girl. Relax, you've done more than well enough."

Then narrows her eyes up towards the lit room at the top of the stairs. The voices don't mean much to her, but the words that drift down to them only make her scowl tighten farther. "I may not be the most familiar with this world, but I know well from experience the words of mad cult when I hear them," she snarls under her breath.
Reinhardt Wilhelm     The Crusader armor does have the fortune of possessing night vision imaging, as Reinhardt continues down the tunnel. SOMEHOW he manages to fit in the sewer, though it's a tight fit as he trudges through garbage and waste.

    He's glad he doesn't need to worry about the smell, however. "It always winds up in these sewage tunnels..." He grouses quietly before he nods to Athela. "Aye, at the least we can follow the rambling while we can." he points out, quickening his pace as he leaves little splashes of sewage water in his wake.
Maya Hunting down Stone was going to be harder than expected She was not in her normal costume she used for the city given she heard the words Sewer. No just not not with her experiences with Sewers back home. So she's clad in the same post nuclear style outfit as she was before and often is mostly known to multivariate in wearing.

Maya also seemed ready to go as she also had something that would be new to some of the locals she had a rifle slung across her back a rather nasty looking one too.

She was not alone a hulking vague dog like robot painted dark brown was moving along side Maya as she moved, if it was on it's hind legs? It would be as tall as Reinhardt in armour. It barked a bit growling faintly as it moved along with the blue haired junker.

"We need to be quick the longer they have to make ready or go to ground more? The harder it will be."
X "I'm starting to feel like we should just have some mechaniloids string up the sewers with a sensor network. Have them on patrol too." X quietly remarks as he trudges through the unsavory tunnels.

    He's pretty amazed that a city with -teleporters- doesn't have more consideration for these sewers. Surely one of the superheroes is a robotic genius who can whip something up?

    The moment the blue robot detects VOICES he slows to a crawl to silence his approach. Being made entirely of metal means he needs extra care to soften the impact of his footsteps, so this is NOT easy.

    For now, he presses himself up against a wall with some cover... listening.

    Listening, and RECORDING.

    Being a robot is pretty handy sometimes. With effort, he might be able to use these voice records to identify conspirators in the future!
Dorian Pavus     "...Ugh. Sewers. Bloody SEWERS again," he mutters. Louder, he states, "I suppose it's fitting, though. This IS where the city keeps all of its shit, isn't it?" Dorian's biggest worry right now? His WHITE suit. It runs an extremely likely chance of getting utterly ruined. But hey, a suit can be replaced. Or maybe there's a superhero dry cleaning place that specializes in getting out heroic-level junk out of clothes. Well, either way, he's going to be trying to pick his way carefully through the sewers as they head through.

    He's lit the end of his staff with fire, the small flame floating between the three serpent heads. And still he manages to miss War Witch, Horus, and Apex somehow disappearing. Which is disconcerting. Dorian's not the type to just pass off a concern like that. Particularly not for his allies that he's worked with and cares about! But there's not much they can do now. Maybe once they apprehend Stone they can go look for them.

    That voice though... it's familiar. Dorian doesn't instantly recognize it, but there's enough of a familiarity that the hair on the back of his neck stands on end. This is Not Good, and Dorian knows it. Who IS that, and why is that voice so familiar? And why does he have an even worse feeling than normal about this?

    Dorian nods to Athela's observation on it being a cult. "Most definitely," he agrees quietly. "My world has one of those, and it's almost eerie how much they're similar, despite the differences." The mention of going after the cult gets a frown. "Yes, by all means, let's just charge in, kick down the door, and begin to dispense beatings," he says dryly. "Might I suggest we at least try to pinpoint locations so some of us can go around? Perhaps not get boxed in or have our escape cut off? Also we don't know where War Witch, Horus, or Apex are. What if those cultists have them? If we rush in, they'll kill the three of them."
Revan Investigation of the office had been something which could wait, unlike Stone's mad dash. It was not so much the idea that he would potentially get away and evade justice; no, the businessman would not be able to run forever, superhero body part augmentation or not. What concerned Lowri was what he might do before his capture. Perhaps those body parts would decay...and how many more victims would there be until he was apprehended? Any more were unacceptable to her. She -- and likely the others -- were not about to leave it to chance that he would be simply hiding quietly in the meantime.

     But even as she ran, the Jedi couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched as she chased their quarry. Her Force-augmented senses had been finely-tuned enough to know that wasn't just her imagination...but who could it possibly be, and for what reason? Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to investigate.

     "Oh. The sewers. That's not terribly surprising," she quipped flatly as she made her way inside the rather large waste disposal. It wasn't so bad, she had to admit. She's seen worse. "Just like the Taris Undercity. Charming."

     There was no sign of Stone, but once the group reaches a point to listen in on an unlikely speech -- in the middle of the sewers, no less -- the Jedi halts immediately. This was definitely the way he had come, yet this was going on at the same time. It was likely they would be alerted to their presence soon enough, but they needed to find out more. Perhaps even where Stone had gone...but also the mysterious group's plans. And there had been something familiar about that voice, something which had her dreading for some reason...

     The pale-haired Guardian was drawn out of her second of musing, nodding to Dorian with a slight wry smile. "Especially so, given that some of our teammates appear to have inexplicably disappeared on us. We should probably have our full team here if we're planning on fighting an entire cult of mad doctors."
Dr. Vahzilok     Walter Stone is standing atop a small wooden stage in an underground room, whether the heroes see him, sense ahead for presences, scout with companions, or similar. Concrete walls, a green curtain at the back of the stage with overhead spot lights shining down upon it. A congregation of men and women in casual-but-nice attire assembled before the stage. Wooden chairs for them to be seated in. A blackboard with some kind of diagram on it in chalk.

    And a man in green surgical scrubs, white face mask, and a white surgical apron with stains standing at the center, with those around him gazing in adoration and admiration. He appears to be bald, with a a cloth head cap on and a head mirror. Bright, intelligent, clear green eyes lies beneath it.

    Walter Stone says somewhat panickedly, "Doctor Vahzilok... I'd love to listen to your lecture. It would be an HONOR, but..."

    "Then please, join us. I've made some interesting improvements on the implants I put in you. Soon it might be time for you to go under the knife once more. I could easily add another decade to your lifespan." the mysterious 'Doctor Vahzilok' says.

    "That would be WONDERFUL, but..." Stone starts again urgently.

    "What is it, Mr. Stone?" Vahzilok asks in a mix of concern and frustration. "I cured your cancer - beat death itself. And what I did for you, I can do for others. What is so important that you interrupt my work?"

    Stone blabs out, "Vigilantes are pursuing me! They've tracked me down, defeated the Eidolon body guards, and are chasing after me! They say they have evidence linking me to your operations!"

    Vahzilok seems honestly surprised. "What? Why would heroes be opposing you? Chasing after you?"

    Meanwhile, creeping up behind them, there's a presence. A psychic force, slender and subtle. Like a tendril of hunger. A tongue of thought. Dripping with ideas and nightmares.

    The long, black, prehensile length reaches out, immaterial, un-solid, and touches the back of Dorian's neck despite not really being there except in his head. But it feels so real that once it makes that brief contact, he'd likely be aware that they are very much not alone, and something is aware of them in turn.

    If he turns to look back into the darkness, there is nothing there. Nothing except a sound like something inhaling continuously. Like... Wind 'moving in reverse'. Echoing up out of that empty space in the side of the tunnel where they lost track of their allies.

    Then a voice emanates up from the darkness. It sounds like his father, letting out that long-drawn in breath as a whisper that goes on and on.

    "Doooorrrriiiiaaaaaannnn..."

    The voice eventually ends the way a nightmare does, right before one wakes up, only to return to the nightmare when they fall back asleep.

    Anyone who looks into that darkness, Dorian included, will be able to see something moving. A malformed head, bobbing and weaving as though on a string. Too many eyes. Too large mouth. The wrong shape to be human. But close enough to be Wrong.

    There are other lengths moving in there.

    Other horrors aside from the ones lurking ahead in the light.

    Thoughts tremble and shake as something exerts itself underground. Notions are carelessly brushed aside under the weight of something green and alien and out to get them. But the thing, or things, whatever they are, don't seem to be emering from their hole.

    And the sound of alarm ahead as people begin to murmur about heroes being after them indicates they may not have long to decide whether to go ahead or go back.
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore is not by any means psychic, but the divine source of her powers can feel... something creeping behind them as a cold shiver of goose flesh ripples down the back of her neck. Something cold and very very much -wrong-. Apparently the pokemon senses it too, as Eevee emits a small squeak and jumps out of Athela's arms, over her shoulder and huddles in the hood of her cloak in a tiny brown fluffball.

She closes her eyes for a moment, gathering all her willpower to fight back the urge to turn and look, to see the unseeable. No. Someone was trying to scare them, disrupt them, and she was not going to give in to it. With courage reaffirmed, she grabs the hilt of Resolute Blade and unsheathes it.

"Looks like we have no choice but forward."

There's no time to waste farther considering the matter, they were only going to get out of this by action. So its into action Athela leaps, taking the rest of the stairs upward two at a time with her stride. "Onward and upward, for Justice and Glory! Tally Ho!"

The charge up the stairs is headstrong, but not without some consideration. There's already ripples of water condensing around Athela as she barrels up the stairs, that she releases as she reaches the top to send a sudden wave of water crashing into the room before them! Hopefully that will still catch whatever fiends are lurking in the room offguard to some degree.

"We warned ye would not be able to run forever, Stone!"
Reinhardt Wilhelm     "The arms of justice are indomitable, Stone! You've already lost!" Reinhardt roars. He's not psychic, but the tinge of interference causes his hairs to stand on end for a moment, and form goosebumps as well before he shakes it off. His iron will carries him through, even as the three local heroes have been sidetracked somehow.

    That can be resolved later, Stone is the highest priority here.

    He follows Athela up the stairway, his heavy footfalls leaving small craters in his wake with every thunderous step. "ONWARD! JUSTICE SHALL BE DONE THIS DAY!"

    Hammer in hand, Reinhardt doesn't hesitate to form his energy shield as well, when he begins to take point for the others' defense.
Dorian Pavus     Dorian is listening to the conversation between Stone and the doctor (presuming he is close enough to hear it), when that presence intrudes. He tenses, and looks back into the darkness... and then his eyes go wide at the voice. "No." It's stated as fact. There's no logical reason why his father would be here. Magister Pavus wouldn't even know where he is, much less come down into a sewer to find him.

    ...Would he? He's already done a stupid thing trying to get Dorian back once. Has he started to get bolder? Would he really go THIS far? Surely not. But the seed of doubt is there...

    Dorian brings his mind back to the present forcibly. Looking to the group at large, he notes, "Looks like a pincer attack. We could all go around one side, or we could split up and try to whittle down their sides and catch them in whatever crossfire we can manage," he suggests. But then Athela is going forward for the head-on approach. Well, it could work. Particularly when he sees what Athela's doing. Water?

    He hurries forward after Athela. But rather than a battle cry, he's concentrating on the wave she's using. He waits until that wave of water engulfs as many of the enemies as it seems like it's going to. Once it does, lightning sparks to life around the serpent heads of the staff he carries, and he claps his hands together around the haft of the staff, fingers pointed at the water. As he does, a bolt of lightning leaps from his hands, into the water. Hopefully that'll hit many of the enemies.
Maya There is a radio from War Witch whom in the hospital but she is alive, which is good. Maya has one less thing to worry about but theres an odd feeling on the air. Something isn't right and Runner is growling. It's mouth opens up and a weapon folds out from the depths of it's head and seems to be a beam weapon of some sort. Maya meanwhile unslings her rifle and it powers up with a whine. She seems ready as she moves in ahead.

"What the Jinac is this?!"

That's when Maya's rifle road firing bullets with no signs of Maya needing to reload and Runner then fires a beam, blast before charging in at the strange fiends.

I will send you back to whatever spawned you!
X It might be odd to think that X is vulnerable to psionic manipulations... and perhaps, to some aspects of them, he isn't. But the distracting terror, the strange sensations, the weird feelings from nowhere that get him jittery and whirling around pointing a buster at the darkness?!

    That seems to get him pretty well. He lowers it only after ensuring there's nothing there... but...

    "... no way that was just a bad feeling. No taking chances in this city where everyone has magic and stranger things!" He warns his fellows in a nervous voice...

    But then... this is no time to give the assembled cultists ANY time to organize. Athela's got the right idea. He largely IGNORES the stairs, ascending into the chamber by grabbing onto rails and just FLINGING himself upwards, bouncing off of walls... all kind of odd, speedy acrobatics.

    The android FLIPS through the air and comes down with a *WHAM* onto both feet, approaching the meeting!

    "/And just who died so Stone could live?!/" X howls angrily at EVERYONE present, the full force of his will and conscience awakening for this moment.

    "All this time you've been kidnapping and murdering whoever you please! What gives you ANY right to take those lives?! You're not CURING DEATH, you're just taking from healthy people and calling it a solution! HOW all of you can even stand here and LIVE with yourselves tells me NONE OF YOU CARE AT ALL for the COST!!"

    X's furious words are all but screaming, though he's not raised a WEAPON on anyone here... only denounced them. Though if Stone is any indication....

    Whoever's at this meeting can probably take a beating.
Revan The news that the missing three of their team were accounted for was a relief, though not for long.

     When one is a former Dark Lord of the Sith, one becomes accustomed to the subtle -- and sometimes not-so subtle, when it came to mental attacks -- touches of other minds. Some were more pleasant than others, and some not pleasant at all. And she had been responsible for her share of those ranging from ripping information from a victim's mind to outright shredding of entire psyches. It was horrible enough to refrain from such things...at least when she had not temporarily lost control and lashed out in rage.

     But even so, the icy mental touch of /something/ was enough to unsettle even the seemingly unflappable Jedi. When she turned to look, the sight did nothing to reassure her. "So now we've got some more company. What in blazes is it..."

     She was cut off when Athela unleashes her charge. Well, yes. They did have that to take care of, so their mysterious stalker would have to wait.

     bending deep into her knees, Lowri drew on the Force to lend power to her legs for an otherwise impossible leap up after the others. Once up, like Reinhardt adopts a defensive stance, lightsabers at the ready. "Sorry, but we'll have to put a stop to your little operation here, I'm afraid."
Dr. Vahzilok     Except for Runner, people do their best to ignore the presence trying to lure them into range to be ambushed behind them, and charge forth, sending out electrified tidal waves and rifles firing from behind a force field, as well as more than a few stern condemnations and heroic pronouncements that it's all over.

    As the beam weapon fires into the cluster of tendrils, burning their foul flesh, a spiked tentacle tries to plunge into Runner's back as the tentacle-with-an-inhuman head just tries to ram itself into him from the side, too-wide mouth working wordlessly and toothlessly, and a third opens some lamprey-like orifice and sprays a toxic, corrosive substance.

    For the other heroes, a much less hostile response is received, as they flood the conference room with electro-water, and manage to snag... A bunch of civilians, it seems! They jolt and spasm on the ground if they are caught in the wave, or scream and try to flee in fear when shot, and otherwise demonstrate not a shred of villainous powers whatsoever.

    Stone gestures for Dr. Vahzilok to flee and says, not seeming to be bothered by the harsh words towards him, and calling out, "RUN, doctor! I'll hold them off!"

    Dr. Vahzilok seems quite upset and angry that heroes of all people should be intruding and trying stop him as he heads towards the green curtains in back, spreading them apart in preparation to slip through. It's like he expects them to be on the same side or something. Maybe in his head, he's a hero too. "Who are these people? Do they realize what kind of mistake--"

    "JUST RUN!" Stone yells, prepared to put his elderly body on the line to protect the mad doctor from these 'vigilantes'.

    Vahzilok slips past the curtain in the meanwhile. But he can't have gotten far, right?
Athela Valemore ... Well, at least they're knocked out? Small oopsie there, but it could of been worse. Being shocked unconcious and soaking wet is probably better than whatever they were going to be signing up for. That's how cults start, after all.

For the briefest of moments Athela does flinch a little at the realization, but steels herself with that same thought. Better unconcious from a misunderstanding than harvested and turned into one of those... -things- they fought in the warehouse. "The mastermind is trying to escape!"

Unfortunately it looks like Stone intends to stand in their way. Like a wall. A stone wall. Oh it sucks sometimes to be the one that won't make such wisecracks, they go to waste.

"You won't be so lucky this time, fiend!" Athela reachs behind herself as if to grab something from her pack, then turns and throws towards Stone... what turns out to not be a weapon, but a pink and purple slug. "Gooomyyyyyy!" It almost sounds like it's enjoying the throw like some sort of thrill ride. Before trying to latch onto Stone's face with it's sticky, slimy body.
Reinhardt Wilhelm     Reinhardt was half expecting a crapton of enemies here, but as he advances up the stairs, he just lowers his hammer and shield with a heavy sigh. "Ridiculous, just surrender peacefully and we will bring you to the authorities. I'm sick of having this sort of discussion!" he calls up at Stone.

    Permitted, he'll make for the arrest personally, producing some sort of military issue cuffs that dangle in his massive hand as he goes to apprehend the businessman.
X WEEEEEEEEELL, seems X miscalculated on the level of EPIC he'd encounter in this conference. Just this... "Dr. Vahzilok?!" Is HE the mastermind behind everything?! The android's optics frantically sweep around the room. All he can do when Vahzilok turns to flee is grimace though. He's LOATHE to barrel on into the unknown and leave his allies to the mercy of whatever strange thing's chasing them...

    ... Plus, Stone's standing up to fight?!

    ALARMED, X extends a hand, fingers spread wardingly. "Wait! You can't seriously expect to take us ALL on... are all of you just crazy?!" He... actually is asking that question rather earnestly.

    He still hasn't brought his buster to bear, not even on the superhuman Stone. Could he be planning to settle this with martial arts and holds?
Dorian Pavus     Dorian frowns when he sees what their attacks have just knocked out. Normal civilians? Not villains? Something's not right about all this. Why would normal civilians just agree to go along with this? Unfortunately Dorian's not a healer, so he can't really do much for the knocked-out people. Thankfully Dorian's accustomed to handling normal human-strength people, so at least they should be all right.

    But, with others handling Stone, Dorian's going to try and get past, to the escaping doctor. He calls upon the Fade again, as he'd done to pursue Stone, and blue tendrils of energy wrap about him. The currents of magic carry him further, faster than he could have gone alone. His aim is Vahzilok, as he tries to sort of... shove the man over. Gently, mind-- velocity and all.
Revan "That was...rather unexpected," Lowri commented regarding the knocked-out and fleeing civilians. "I felt some sense of danger, but apparently it wasn't from them. Still..."

     She shook her head. "No, it isn't. I don't think it's mental control...maybe some kind of drug."

     The danger sense had been Stone, in all likelihood. And perhaps also that mysterious, insane Doctor Vahzilok he had been frantically warning. It appeared that they had finally tracked down their shadowy culprit. Now they needed to catch him, which was going to be difficult with Stone standing in their way. There were enough distracting him to allow Dorian to attempt capturing the fleeing doctor, but the augmented businessman might turn his attention to the occupied mage. Best to make sure there was something -- or rather someone -- standing between them.

     "I don't suppose you'll surrender peacefully?" Not that she expected anything of the sort as she positioned herself with her back to the direction Vahzilok had fled. And if the doctor put up a fight, she was within range to throw a lightsaber far enough to stop him.
Maya Runner is off to do it's thing which hopefully would keep some heat off the party's back right? It doesn't seem to like the tendrils at all. Given Maya' own feeling about such things? It's clear that it rubbed off. The machine dog has issues with the acid and it's going to be quite fight as it howls and lets off /napalm/ in response to the acid.

Maya meanwhile has joined the other heroes as they make it into the conference rooms.

"I do not know who you are but this attempt as tech necromancy WILL BE ENDED."

Maya now is moving after Stone.

"I'll deal with Stone!"

Well shes' going to try to make a go for him and rather than shoot? Up comes a burst of water magic going right for him as she charges him.
Dr. Vahzilok     "I'll break you! You won't take the docto--MMMMPPH!" Stone yells out as the pink whatsit latches onto his face. Well, seems that settles that. The only person even opposing them (emphasis on PERSON since there's still that... Whatever that was back there taking on Runner), seems to basically just be some old guy with really good physical abilities but no combat skills to speak of. Maya then knocks him down with water.

    When they aren't able to flee back into the sewer tunnels, the doctors left just try to stay out of any more lightning water. He isn't in any position to defy Revan or Reinhardrt or X or anyone.

    All's well that ends well? Except... The curtains are still moving after Vahzilok has already gone through. What's going on back there...?

    As Dorian barrels through the curtains in an attempt to knock over the fleeing doctor, he encounters a wall of much firmer and much more resistant bodies than he may have been expecting. The curtains part and there's a bunch of dead people standing there, one of whom does not look pleased to have been bumped into. Then again, most dead people probably aren't happy about much of anything.

    That is part of their following reaction, as a horde of stitched-together Cadavers come leaping out from behind the curtains, trying to tackle Dorian to the ground, and swarm out into the conference room, going after Revan, whose back is to the curtain as well, and then towards the heroes. They run, they scramble on all fours, they leap through the air... Like the previous flesh-golems, these are not simple zombies, but things with the mobility and functionality of human bodies, and the strength of cyborgs.

    Dorian and Revan may have been the first to face them, but the others are soon to have to deal with the same foes!

    Runner sets the tentacles on napalm and they eventually burn away to charred stumps that retreat back down the hole and into the dark depths. Dog power??? Just in time to come help out against zombots.
Athela Valemore And that is that!... Except only it isn't. Stone going down easy only moves them onto the next wave that more quickly it seems. Athela walks over to pick the man up, only to get a front row view of the horde of cyberzombies emerging from the curtains, and utterly a curse under her breath. Instead of picking Stone up as intended so they could haul him out, she kind of turns and awkwardly shoves him off to the side of the room. "Make sure he doesn't get away this time!"

Goomy can handle that. The slug is already sitting on Stone, it just starts spitting adhesive slime at his limbs to make sure he stays put.

That's when Athela gets tackled by several of the medically reanimated corpses before she can turn around fully. They all go crashing to the floor in a heap, armor scraping against the floor as Eevee tumbles out of her hiding spot in the young knight's cloak. Athela manages to roll onto her back and hold up her sword to intercept augmented clawed hands trying to rip into her. "I have had it UP to HERE with these foul things!", she snaps, and twists her sword to point the hooked backedge towards her attacker and rip it across the zombot's arms like a saw. Followed by shoving her armored boot into it's gut to kick it off. "Sprite, are you okay?"

"Vree," whines the little fox as she gets up and shakes herself out.
Reinhardt Wilhelm     Goomy thankfully handles Stone for Reinhardt, and the knight nods to the slug-'mon gratefully. "Good work, friend." He isn't sure if Pokemon can understand speech, or speak themselves, but that won't matter at the moment.

    Dorian goes down, and that's enough for Reinhardt to begin another charge. "UNHAND HIM, BEAST!" He bellows, his hammer swinging wide to knock a couple of the Cadavers away with a mighty blow of his hammer.

    While pulling Cadavers off of the mage, Reinhardt will offer a hand to Dorian if he needs help getting up. "This might not have been as smooth as I hoped, remain behind me!"
Dorian Pavus     WHAM!

    That is not the escaping doctor. No, in fact, Dorian discovers far too late what it actually is. He realizes it a few seconds before the mass leaps on him-- just enough to call out part of a warning over the radio-- and he ends up on the ground. Now that suit is DEFINITELY done for, with the clawing and ripping going on! He raises his arms and crosses them over his face, still clutching the staff.

    Reinhardt may need to be careful. Not just because of the Cadavers, but because of Dorian. Mages from Thedas tend to use their magic instinctively in situations where their lives are in danger, or they're otherwise highly-emotional. And being clawed at by robot zombies definitely qualifies as emotional. "OFF!" Dorian shouts, and an explosion of fire emanates from his crossed hands. It's uncontrolled, unshaped... just fire in its purest, more primal form. Hopefully dead tissue burns well.

    Suddenly the Cadavers are being pulled off him, and Dorian chances a look up. Reinhardt's hand up is accepted, and Dorian gets to his feet. "Thank you. That was a... less than optimal situation," he replies, rather unnecessarily dusting himself off. He is most certainly mussed, and his hair is all out of place. Now, though, there's zombies to re-kill, and he's back on his feet. He sweeps his hand to the side, and the blue aura of his Barrier spell surrounds him. It should also hit Reinhardt if he's remained close enough. Double-tank the tank!

    Not just that, though. Dorian's rather angry at this point, so... he will start setting zombies on fire. He is, after all, a mage of fire and lightning!
Revan Facing Stone had been anticlimatic, though that was perhaps not unexpected. Possessing strength was one thing, but fighting off a team of equally-strong heroes with actual combat abilities was quite another. Still, the Guardian had been expecting a little more.

     But while that warning of danger had quite clearly not been in regards to Stone, Revan found out soon enough what was more likely to have been the source. And it was a good thing indeed that she had the Force to warn her, what with her back to the incoming swarm of Cadavers lumbering at fairly high speed through the curtain.

     "Aaaand here comes the evil corpse-droid army," she drawled, giving them a good shove through the Force with the intent of knocking them down while she drew on it again to cover her allies in temporary shields. "Right on time."

     Now with the Force providing some added defense for the party, Revan resumed her en garde stance, this time facing the direction of the enemy which were putting up a much more intense fight.
Maya Maya didn't use her heavy firepower for a reason Stone needs to be taken alive. This isn't Septerra it's not a very lawless place after all she understand how it works here and she's going to try to get Stone and capture him. She's certain the police would love to have a talk to him to be sure and maybe they can get some more information out of him., She'll restrain herself enough as she move to restrain him if she's able to. She'll need some cover though if she can do this.

Under Maya's anger is fear, she's afraid of what this group is getting such a twisting of the natural order such as extending life span? It's the twisting of life the rampant death and suffering they are causing as the price of their 'victory over death' may be at the cost of another's life.
X Ohhhhhhhhhhhh boy. The curtains part and... X recoils away in clear SHOCK. "Should have known there'd be- GAH!" ZOMBOT! One of the Cadavers comes out with a freakish leap and starts clawing at him. X is undeniably stronger and faster than such mass-produced things, but his foes have the element of surprise... and they manage to drive him back with a vicious combo of wild blows. He's kept busy for a good ten seconds before he manages to regain his balance, grab an offending arm... and swing the creature around and slam it into the ground!

    Only for his other hand, shifted into the X-buster, to sear a hole through its... well, no there's nothing LEFT of the head but a foul-smelling vapor after the point-blank shot...

    "Just HOW many people have gone missing to fill out these forces?! How are they ALL happening under everyone's noses?!"

    X... does not really comprehend just WHERE this Vahzilok is acquiring SOOO many relatively-intact bodies. It's ludicrous! The sheer logistics...

    "We need a different approach if we're going to get anywhere with these people!"

    But for right now... his approach is leaping back into the fray and swinging a right fist into a Cadaver to knock it back ito its fellows, and unleashing a brigade of shots from his buster at the group!
Dr. Vahzilok     Limbs are sliced off, revealing sparking mechanical joints implanted in the Cadavers, the flesh practically woven around and through the devices. Cybernetic spinal cords separate before Athela's blade as well, causing torsos to detach from lower bodies. Similarly, Reinhardt's hammer has a gruesome and dramatic effect as he hurls them out of the way, crushing preserved and stitched-together flesh, and making implanted computers go haywire in skulls. They seem plenty vulnerable to Dorian's flames, though one nearby attempts to shoot an acidic barf jet at him that may splash onto Reinhardt if he's still nearby, though the barrier may defend against it. Even so, there are now walking torches in here, which will burn until enough of their machinery or flesh breaks down to make them shut down. Unlike proper undead, they seem to have definite limitations to the damage they can take before they stop being animate.

    The wave of telekinetic force that Revan unleashes sends bodies flying. While Goomy is doing its best to keep Stone glued to the floor, given the strength and durability he had demonstrated, one can never be too careful. He actually looks like he might be about to pull up the wooden stage he's being glued to by tearing the boards his limbs are adhered to out with his struggles! So when Maya shows up and helps to restrain him, adding a secondary layer of prevention, he loses what slim chance he had of making a get-away.

    X's mix of martial arts and X-Buster fire disable or destroy Cadavers, taking the ones that Revan send flying and those scrambling to return to attacking her out of the fight. They already smelled bad, and their toxic vomit smells worse, but burning machinery and chemically-treated flesh is a whole different kind of stink.

    It seems as though most of the Cadavers have been taken down. No more are coming out from behind the curtain... No, wait! One single figure is emerging! Is it Vahzilok!?

    No it's another Cadaver... An unusual one. It has large, metal gloves, wires protruding from its flesh, running right through its body and connected to some kind of backpack.

    As the Cadaver lunges at Maya to try to knock her away from Stone, successful in its attack or not, anyone in position to see its back as it struggles with her may notice two cylinders almost like propane cannisters, and a timer that is ticking down.

    0:05

    0:04...

    Flesh-golems with bombs. Imaginative. But bad news if someone doesn't get it off of Maya and hurl it somewhere in the room it won't hurt anyone as fast as possible.
Athela Valemore And while they're busy finishing off the attackers, one more Cadavier roughshods through the room towards Stone. "What the--" Athela turns a bit and sees the blinking device on it's back... But Bombs are a bit out of the time she's familiar with. She just makes the most logical assumption on the moment. "He's trying to get rid of Stone so there's no connection to what's been going on!"

The explosive zombot attacked Maya. Who was trying to help with restraining Stone. And Goomy is still clinging to Stone, so its right there when the Maya gets attacked. While not the bravest of pokemon, it doesn't really like friends being attacked like that.

"Goooom!" Not having actual bones does have its advantages, as Goomy is able to open its mouth a lot farther than one would expect a small lump of pink to be able to. And spew out said maw a vibrant blast of indigo colored flames, trying to knock the bomb-laiden zombot away from Maya with Dragon Breath. This is your daily reminder that the thing that looks like a pink blob is somehow a Dragon type.

Or at least give Athela enough time to jump in and try to shove the monster away from ally, pokemon and prisoner alike. Like, I don't know, down those stairs. Anywhere that's away from here!
Dorian Pavus     With the zombies falling left and right, it looks like things are going to go all right. Though Vahzilok has likely gotten away, at least they've got Stone. That's a pretty big blow to the plan. Plus, X has this recorded, so everything from Stone's attempt at a frame-up to the cultist-like conversation down here can be given to the media. Perhaps they'll be able to blow the lid off this whole thing.

    That is, if they survive.

    The appearance of the zombie with the countdown timer prompts a feeling of panic to rise on Dorian's throat. There are civilians here, even if they're complicit in all this. it's not just Stone he's trying to get rid of, it seems. It's as many of his knocked-out fellows as possible. Which could also be leveraged against the doctor to his crew here. But first they have to be gotten out of this place.

    Hopefully Goomy's blast does knock the about-to-explode zombie back. Dorian's not that great with ice, but he knows he needs to try. Not only that but, in addition to bashing zombified heads in with his staff, he's been using a lot of magic. But he gathers as much mana as he can, aiming at the zombie with the exploding canister. He sweeps his hands out to the side, and then with a growl of effort, his arms raise up, palms pointing upwards.

    With this he raises a wall of ice between the zombie and the rest of the room. The proximity should freeze the thing in place as well, keeping it from damaging the wall any more than the explosion is going to. He's got about enough mana left to deal with this...
Maya Maya is now having a good day as others deal with the fighting. Maya's going to be seeing that Stone doesn't escape.

"You will not be getting away Mr. Stone."

There's a cold steel in Maya's voice one that few people who have only known her a few years would have heard before. She however wasn't expecting a zombie that explodes as one comes in she swears but there's not much she can to get it off her, she's not a melee fighter and she's only about as strong as you'd expect someone like her to be thankfully she's not alone and going to be getting some pretty solid help from Goomy.

"Get off me... wait is that a ti...!"

If she gets lose she'll try to drag Stone away from the blast of the thing if its needed.
Revan As durable as the cybernetic reanimated corpses were, Lowri was satisfied that an application of telekinesis was enough to knock them down. It could be frustrating when some of Paragon City's villainous monsters were resistant to certain attacks. Her own creativity in battle had meant she had little trouble figuring out alternative offensive methods, but doing so could become a hassle, especially when she wanted to end a fight quickly. But fortunately, that wasn't a problem this time.

     No, what /was/ a problem this time was the Cadaver that emerged from the curtain and was currently lunging at the Blue Witch. The one with the ticking bomb strapped to it, as the Jedi noticed soon enough. Certainly one of the more twisted things she had seen so far, and not something she could simply take out with a few well-placed lightsaber strokes.

     Acting quickly, she gave the Embalmed Cadaver a hard shove through the Force, hopefully forcing it back far enough for Maya to be out of range when it finally blew. But for good measure, Revan drew on the Force again to create an energy barrier around them to absorb the blast. One couldn't be too careful. "So this means they're probably controlled remotely," she observed. "For some of their functions, at least. Incapacitating the one controlling them should put a stop to them, if that's accurate."