1252/Metal Encounter!

Metal Encounter!
Date of Scene:	03 January 2015
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	Dex faces a new and formidable foe, who severely underestimate his allies.
Cast of Characters:	27, 304, 332, Alexis, Blurr, 578, 673

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Dex Alruin (332) has posed:
    Dex sighs, gathering his weapons and gear and making his way back to his homeworld. He knew immediately what was going on, and also knew it wasn't one of the Realms he had previously fought. He leaps out of a warpgate, with his bow already in hand as his battle armor snaps into existence. The surroundings aren't extravagant, just the rippling silver alloy that, for Dex's part, he can't identify. Metallics experts might notice that it's a sort of rare material that can be found in meteorites, but not in enough quantity to form the floor at their feet.

    And who are they?

    One is a feminine figure, and the other is masculine. Aside from that, however, not much is clear. They seem to be comprised of the same sort of alloy around them, only a darker silver. They're humanoid in structure, but their faces are blank. Literally blank. No eyes or other facial features. The shoulders flare out a bit as though they are wearing armor, but their bodies are one solid color. They seem to be of lean build, not particular imposing. However, the fact that they seem to be living metal is enough to take Dex by surprise. He stops short, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow. "Alright," he says, "So what's your guys' deal?"

    They remain silent. The male, though he has no mouth, speaks after a moment. "We will wait for your allies." His voice has an odd echo, a dreamlike quality.

Freya (578) has posed:
Freya hums a tune lightly to herself as she steps out the warpgate, human sized right now she there enough panic going on without her causing more! She smiles and waves to Dex. "hello!", she not carrying any weapons on her.. She looks over the two figures in armor. "I guess these are the two that put out the challenge?", she wait to see who else shows up.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
Apart from getting directions to Dex's homeworld, Black Arachnia is relatively silent about the whole process of getting there ... and even when she emerges through the warpgate, the Maximal spider doesn't make radio contact with her fellow Unionites in much of a hurry. In fact, she's inclined to maintain radio silence for a while if the situation allows; she'd rather climb up the far side of a building from the two interlopers and size up the 'invaders' without openly revealing her presence to them.

The fact that they don't seem to have *eyes* is a pretty good hint that they don't depend on the visual spectrum to detect objects, obstacles, or other people ... but if that's the case, even her electro-disruptor might not let Black Arachnia stay hidden from them. Which would be annoying - stealth and surprise are pretty good advantages for her.

Alexis has posed:
So instead of demons this time it's some sort of metallic terraforming? Still not a good thing, considering these realm invaders tend to have no concern for whoever they're messing up the world of. Dex usually appreciates the help dealing with these sort of things so might as well lend a hand in the matter.

A dragonic shilouette passes over the city before banking a turn and coming at an angle towards where Dex and the others are gathering. As it draws near it becomes easier to make out as the familiar form of a Charizard. The winged firelizard pulls up to skim close to the ground just long enough to let Alexis drop off his back, hitting the ground with enough momentum to skid a bit before stopping. Redline pulls up into a loop, only to fade into a red glow as he doubles back towards her and disappears into one of the pokeballs clipped to her belt.

"So." The pink pigtailed tomboy strolls almost casually up to Dex. "What unwanted company are we dealing with this time?"

Blurr has posed:
    Black Arachnia isn't the only one preferring to stay low. A small stealth vessel appears in lower geosynchronous orbit not long after the signal is broadcasted, and Blurr hits his orbital jump switch to beam down to the surface. A bright blue column of light flashes through the sky momentarily as he materializes near the Maximal and starts scoping out the situation, focusing on scanning the strange metallic substance on the ground near Dex's opponents.

    He opens a comm channel to Black Arachnia. << Any idea what it is? >> Are they made out of the stuff, or is it just covering their bodies and there's something else inside? Did they actually alter the physical properties of the ground they're standing on, or is the alloy just coating the surface?

Jonothon Starsmore (27) has posed:
('Ruddy Nora.')

Hearing a death threat vs. someone else in the Multiverse is enough of a thing for Jono to get moving. It takes him a bit to find the place though. But he's moderately familiar with where it's happening at. So he heads there on his motorcycle. Typical earth guy on a typical earth motorcycle. Since he's got his face wrapped up anyway....

Rory White (673) has posed:
    It may go without notice very easily. A tiny disk the size of a frisbee wobbles in the air like a flying saucer... though, 'wobbling' is too strong. It's vibrating and shaking but almost imperceptibly. It glints in the light, but only from the right angles.

    As it's no more than the size of a frisbee, perhaps it may go entirely unnoticed.

    But it's slowly circling the reported site, having come from the warp gate with all due haste. And it's rather active, radio-wise - whatever it is.

Dex Alruin (332) has posed:
    As Freya and Alexis join him, Dex glances back and notices Black Arachnia as well. He shrugs, keeping his bow aimed on the male figure. They don't seem to move actively, but instead pulse a bit in rhythm with the ground. "I don't know," Dex replies, keeping his eyes forward, "They're not from a world I'm familiar with yet." The female's voice echoes across the area. "We are known as Cybermetals, Champions of the Alloy Realm." She offers no more explanation than that, still seeming to wait on more of them. She does, however, cock her head toward Black Arachnia, sightless face riveting on the Maximal.

    More Elites begin to show up, but the figures still don't speak. Each of the arrivals is noted, however. A small hand gesture, an almost unseen movement of the head. It seems as though they are studying the numbers. Plotting. Attempting to determine threats and possible attack vectors. Or maybe they really are as blind as they appear. Either way, as the Saucer spins overhead, Blurr drops down near Black Arachnia, and Jono approaches via motorcycle, they return their attention to Dex.

    The male speaks up. "We will vaporize you, absorb you into the Metal Stream, and then add this world to our growing collection. Allies of Dexter Alruin, your energy reserves will be a welcome boost to our combat capabilities against the non-practice Realms. From the Metal Collective, we thank you." Dex rocks back on his heels, then unleashes an arrow. "I'm not practice, you fucks! I'm going to win this stupid War and make sure it doesn't happen again!"

    The arrow flies true... and then is absorbed by the metal body of the male figure. There's a loud rumble, as though the entire mass they stand on is laughing. Dex recoils, hard, then gasps in pain. It seems impossible, but...

    The arrow he just fired is currently lodged in the young man's right shoulder. "Do not bother resisting," the female chimes, "We have heard that Dexter has surrounded himself with powerful allies. However, this will not change the fact that you cannot eliminate us. Your defeat is assured."

Freya (578) has posed:
"Your kind really irriate me. Would be conquers who spout on and on about there own superity.", Freya says as she walks towards the two metal figures. The battle hasn't even started..", and quite suddenly she is huge, tall as a building huge!", she reaches down and tires to grab the female armored one. "..and don't get so cocky!"

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr listens to the conversation. Metal collective? Some kind of integration? Sounded like some crazy gestalt thing they were trying to assimilate more energy into. After tossing ideas back and forth over the Union frequency, it seems Team Good has come up with some kind of a plan. A plan that involves -ramming-. And Primus, Blurr can ram, given how fast he can move.

    Abruptly, he dashes forward, transforming as he goes, his body folding downward over and over again into itself until he resembles a sleek, mostly-blue hover speeder that is heading -straight- for the male-looking slagface at an incredible speed. "Reflect -this-, scrapheaps!" he taunts. This'll be the car 'crash' of the vorn if he hits!

Alexis has posed:
Alexis pffs softly, though it's enough to make her bangs flutter briefly. "Don't count your energy before it's collected." Though when Dex gets somehow shot with his own arrow she does take pause a moment, halfway in reaching over her shoulder for her bag. Okay, if they're gonna do that, whipping out her own weapon probably isn't going to be a good prospect just yet.

So instead she opts for the typical Trainer methods, snagging a dark colored pokeball off her belt and lobbing it out. "You think you can just waltz into other worlds and 'collect' them? Not gonna be as easy as you think it is. Go, Won Ton!"

From the flash of energy released by the ball a large, rotund form materalizes in front of her, resembling that of a giant panda. That clenches his massive hand-like paws into fists, twitching the twig of bamboo from one corner of his mouth to the other, and hmphs. "Pangoro." <What's this, some sort of metal bullies>"

"Something like that." Alexis replies. "Why don't you rock their world a little?"

<Hmph.> Won Ton winds back one of his huge arms. <EARTH SHATTER!> And slams the fist into the ground with the force of a piledriver, sending upheaving shockwaves through it with the Bulldoze attack. Sure, the shockwave can cause damage to the targets if it hits them.

But Alexis is aiming more for the fact that it breaks up the ground, and hopefully will break up some of that metal formation they're trying to spread. Never let the enemy have a terrain advantage if you can manage it.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    A message is relayed through rapid tight-beaming, in hopes of keeping the Cybermetals from receiving it. Who it's from isn't so clear, but the voice is female.

    "If they reflect energy and seek energy, deny them energy. Energy is mass and mass is energy. If you at all can, use cold. Ice!"

    The Saucer apparently is also a radio relay, who knew?

Jonothon Starsmore (27) has posed:
And then suddenly all hell is breaking loose. If they absorb energy, Jono's not likely to be of much help in fighting them. But he can stick by Dex and try to defend him if the metal things get too close to him. So that's what he does. For the time being, he just keeps himself between Dex and the metal people, hoping Dex has a way to get himself together.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
Black Arachnia is combat-capable in a pinch, sure ... but she's really not fond of engaging the enemy directly when other possibilities present themselves, and when the opposition has the physical advantages - which could well be the case with these 'Cybermetals' for all she knows - Black Arachnia is perfectly willing to fall back on other assets, other strengths.

That includes using her brain, something which a lot of fighters - and even a lot of Elites - sometimes neglect to do. And in this case, it means letting her more physically-inclined allies do the heavy lifting ... literally, in Freya's case.

The Maximal spider stays perched where she is, watching to see what happens when Blurr and Freya attempt to separate the Cybermetals from the metalformed ground they were standing on. Surely there's a reason why they needed to replace the local terra firma with whatever that metal is - and as Alexis puts Pangoro to work, Black Arachnia tries to get a better look at it - particularly if it WORKS and some chunks are broken apart and dislodged. She's not terribly confident that it can be handled harmlessly (although the metallization of the ground wasn't spreading ... was it?), but she'd certainly like a better look and a chance to analyze some of the stuff.

For now, though, she stays more-or-less hidden on her perch and observes what the others' efforts are accomplishing.

Dex Alruin (332) has posed:
    "We are not conquerors," the male says, "We merely desire to preserve our world from all threats, and that means eliminating all worlds. And so, we will do so. We just happen to be more efficient than any other world." As Freya grows and grows, the figures seem nonplussed. As the giantess reaches for the female, she doesn't move. Until right before the hand closes. Then she seems to melt down into the alloy on the ground. In response, a massive metal spike rockets upward, aiming to slam into Freya from below. The female reemerges behind Dex, who staggers right into her. He bounces away quickly as she attempts to grab him, eyes wide.

    Blurr hurtles in, aiming straight for the male figure. Who is hit, and actually splatters in a great display! However, that victory is short lived. The metal seems to ripple, and two more male figures rise from the ground, both in the same neutral state the original had been in. The remains of the original twist, forming into what seems to be a brick. This hurtles itself right toward Blurr, and if it connects, it would hit with a force that indicates the density of the flowing metal can be changed, as this small part would easily crumple a normal vehicle.

    Alexis brings out a Pangoro, who slams the metal earth. Unfortunately, the flowing metal ripples like water, but doesn't seem to break. Well, not QUITE like water. It soon seems to gain kinetic energy, shaking violently around Alexis and Won Ton before a /fist/ of the metal rockets upward, aiming to clock the Pokemon in the jaw on its way up before descending back down onto Alexis' skull.

    As Jonothon arrives and tries to block the metal beings from getting to Dex, the female steps forward and raises an arm. "You are not our primary target," she says to him, "Stand aside and await collection." To punctuate her point, she lashes out, looking like she's going to backhand Jono. Until her arm ripples, hand reshaping into the head of a sledgehammer. That... might certainly ring his bell.

    The tightbeam transmission can't be intercepted, it seems, and the theory seems sound, but given the unstable and unpredictable nature, there is only one way to know for certain if the Saucer's message holds water.

    Dex backpedals, and the ground seems to wrap around his ankle. He's dragged to the ground, slamming against the alloy ground and knocking the wind out of his lungs. Before he can even regain his breath... theres a sharp crack.

    And that would be Dex's ankle. He roars out in pain, clawing out at the metal blindly, tears streaming from his face.

    If there's anyone capable of scanning for such, they would find there's sentience in the entire pool of metal. It is also denser than it seems, and has rapidly changing properties. It may be possible to stop it with heat or cold, but impact is likely not going to affect it, as some of the attacks may have indicated.

Jonothon Starsmore (27) has posed:
With no other method of attack open to him, all Jono can do is reach up and pull the wrapping around his face down. The fire inside his chest whips up around his head. And he fires a blast at the female who tried to hit him. It's not fire, though... it's psychokinetic energy. Which means it hits like a punch instead of with fire.

Though the 'beam' twists, and pretty fast. So rather than feeling like getting hit by a truck, it feels like... getting hit by a truck that has a rotary sander attached to it. A rotary sander on the highest speed setting, with the lowest grid sandpaper possible. So it's likely to cause friction. Literally.

Freya (578) has posed:
Freya huhs in surpise as the female figures metls away from her hand ?to the ground she erks in surpise as the spike just barely managing to dodge it it scraping her side and tearing her dress just a bit. She keeps her eyes out for what they are doing to next unsure how to handle an oppenet like this.

Blurr has posed:
    Oh, but Blurr is far from a typical car! The heavy brick hurtles at him, but he transforms again, flipping back up into biped form and twisting out of the way easily. Well, it seemed these things were some kind of nanomachine gestalt, like the ancient Ammonites, but smaller. The speedster makes his thoughts known on the Union band. << If this is some kind of gestalt, maybe we can disrupt their communications. >> Extreme heat or cold was also mentioned. Well, lasers are hot. He falls back slightly, and fires at the brick that had originally intended to strike him.

Alexis has posed:
As soon as the metallized ground ripples instead of breaking as it should Won Ton can tell something is off and quickly pulls back. It's not enough to evade the fist of metal that comes erupting out the ground, but it gives him just enough pause to make sure he takes the blow with his bulk as he staggers backwards.

Which puts him in prime position to knock aside the fist as it tries to come down on his smaller Trainer instead of her skull.

"Thanks, big guy, but I don't think brute force is gonna solve this one. Return." She recalls the panda-mon after considering the other bits of information coming in. Times like this, you don't worry about where it's coming from. Well other than if it's Lute, but that's besides the point.

Now if we're talking about playing with temperatures, that's entirely something she can do. Swapping for a different pair of balls. "Permafrost, go. Give 'em a cold reception. Frost Breath." Fortunately she game prepared for versatility when dealing with unknown foes; now they can go for some area coverage since we're dealing with a spread out sentient mass here. The Glaceon lands in front of her, crystalline crest already glimmering. Followed shortly by a yowling cry as the ice-fox exhales her freezing breath at the metal surface,

Right afterwards Alexis toss the other ball upward, releasing the Charizard she had arrived on. "Redline, turn it up with Heat Wave!" Redline spreads his wings, which are already starting to glow with ambient tempature, quickly superheating the air around them, so with a huge flap of said wings sends the scorching heat washing down towards the ground.

The same area her Glaceon was just icing. There's a method to Alexis' first seemingly madness though. That metal tends to not react well with sudden intense temperature changes. Especially when it's a sharp jolt from one extreme to the other. That, and this stuff has been adapting quickly. But there's a chance that it can't adapt as quickly to such abrupt extremes so fast.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
Truth be told, Black Arachnia didn't expect THAT to happen. The whole 'Metal Collective' thing is ... honestly, it's making her worry more at the moment. There are only so many ways you can fight a nanomachine-based shapeshifter, and given that the Cybermetals outright *said* that they plan to 'collect' the energy from those who are opposing them, energy-based attacks don't seem like a terribly good idea.

And she's just seen what the Cybermetals - or rather, the Metal Collective - will do to counter straight-up physical attacks. And on top of everything else, Dex is kind of stuck in the middle of the 'field' of metal.

So while the other Unionites are unleashing various attacks - and Alexis is using ice to start with, which is the best alternative Black Arachnia can come up with - the Maximal spider starts synthesizing a dose of cybervenom, tailoring it for her best analysis of what we're up against ...

Rory White (673) has posed:
    The freakishness of this scenario has Rory stumbling, psychologically. To push forward and risk... who KNOWS what sort of strange fate awaits anyone who gets too near this thing/ Maybe she should detonate the drone, cut even the heavily filtered connection she has going to it lest it pick up some strange virus?

    Hard to say.

    But several other drones have joined it. Some of the same make, others flying on tiny rotors and whizzing about through the air.

    One tiny drone, carefully programmed to self-detonate if it faces absorption and wipe its memory, lands at the fringe of the metal field and attempts to collect a sample with a miniature arm!

    That may or may not go HORRIBLY wrong.

    Rory's quite far from the mess and looking VERY nervous. Several robots stand behind her and she's carrying some kind of pressure-tank cylinder on her back with a nozzle-sprayer in her hand attached to it via hose. Who knows what exactly is in the stuff or what she intends to do but she's slowly approaching...

    The young woman has blue hair done up in a ponytail, is dressed in a stylized labcoat, and does not at ALL look ready for battle... OR used to it...

Dex Alruin (332) has posed:
    The female figure seems caught off guard by the counter by Jonothon. Her form seems to rock back hard, the friction of the impact causing her head to melt down. It runs into the rest of its body, before pooling at its feet and running off toward the normal earth. On contact with the earth, it bursts into flame and is rendered to smoke. The body, however, seems functional, as it seems to shift into a sword. Yeah, a full body sword. It slashes through the air, attempting to carve into Jonothon.

    Dex is disabled, so they seem to be in no hurry to finish him.

    As Freya seems to contemplate a counter, the metal seems more focused on the next threat, Blurr. The laser lances outward, and reduces the brick to a molten pool. Just like the other portion, this bursts into smoke on impact with the earth. Perhaps some information can be gleaned from this?

    Alexis brings out the double threat of fire and ice. As the area is assaulted, the metal begins to crack under the rapid change in temperatures. Yep, crack. The rest of the mass begins to 'boil', roiling heavily as it throws a wave toward Alexis, which forms into a wall of spikes. However, some of them seem to crumble before impact.

    As Black Arachnia prepares her venom, Rory appears. Her drone, which attempts to collect a piece of metal on the edge, instead finds itself crushed almost immediately. Maybe if she sends a drone to the weakened part of the mass, she might have better luck. A female figure, complete with head, roils out of the mass, then steps off of it and onto the earth. It seems unsure at first, then rushes toward Rory, before leaping and shifting its form into a cannonball. It seems the alloy can't survive contact with the earth after it's been destabilized, but has no trouble with it until then.

    Dex is released, and attempts to crawl off the mass, his leg dragging behind him. As he reaches the edge, however, the metal reacts, grabbing his broken ankle again. He screams out, before he is lifted like a rag doll and vaulted off the mass, flying a good twenty yards before slamming into the dirt with all the grace of a sack of rocks. He tumbles across the ground, gasping and wheezing in pain. However, he knows he's safe now. The metal clearly didn't anticipate his friends well enough. As he draws his bow, his hands shake. He caught snippets of the radio conversation through his pain, and one thing stuck. Heat. Fire. As he nocks an arrow, the holy flames of Bel'thede ignite the arrow entirely. However, his vision wavers from the pain. He can't line up the shot.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
Black Arachnia hates being rushed. But there's never any real help for it - when time is a factor, you can't afford to dawdle or be a painstaking perfectionist; you have to trust your skills and get it right the first time, or with minimal double-checking.

Fortunately, she's been working with cybervenom ever since she first came online ... so the unknown variables are really just the nature of the enemy. The Maximal spider finishes 'encoding' the cybervenom, saves the formulation in her internal datatracks, and takes the time to engage her electro-disruptor - so she should be next to completely undetectable as she skitters down the wall of the building she was on and approaches the metallic ground.

She doesn't take the time to try and get closer to the already-weakened area, instead just striking at the closest edge, her palps digging in long enough to inject the cybervenom. The effect is designed to be 'corrosive' - not physically and not instantly, but electronically, spreading through the Collective's 'network' and flooding it with junk data behind the venom's spread.

It hasn't escaped her attention that this is a *HUGE* risk - if the Metal notices her despite her stealth, she's a sitting digi-duck even for the split second it takes to 'bite' and inject the cybervenom - but it's a risk she's willing to take, especially with everyone else being so conveniently *obvious* in their attacking.

Blurr has posed:
    "Huh." Blurr watches with satisfaction as the laser seems to be effective against -part- of the mass. "Well then." he says with a smirk. "I guess that'll work for now." Since the 'collective' didn't seem to come back at him with a counterattack, he darts sideways, aiming his weapon first for the wall of spikes headed for Alexis, as well as for the cannonball headed for Rory.

    Meanwhile, he works on a more permanent solution. << Black, I'm no comms expert, but I think I can hit it with a bunch of white noise. It might disrupt ours for a bit, but it'll be more detrimental to them than to us. Hopefully that'll get you the opening you need to get the virus in good. >> Too bad Blaster isn't here, -his- jamming field would be specific to the enemy.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    With no reason to waste energy and attention showing emotion, Rory's synthetically-masqueraded face gives no reaction to the strange mass flying her way. Oh there is panic behind those eyes of a sort but none of the physiological responses humans might exhibit. And without any roiling in the gut or terror to suppress, she can react utterly logically.

    In Rory's sight, everything slows to a crawl. Colored auras surround all the combatants and points of interest. The female cannonball's velocity is calculated and a counter-trajectory quickly used - MEANING!

    She springs back and to the side with a somewhat clumsy leap while spraying heavily at the thing. Simultaneously the four-armed robot on treads to her left and the hovering sphere to her right break in both directions. Their movements are as mechanical and optimized as a water jet following a blueprint - besides glints of light from emitter points on their bodies though, they don't seem to be shooting anything!

    ... unless someone's looking carefully, anyways, and some of the lasers reflect off dust kicked up by all the confusion. REAL LASERS ARE INVISIBLE to the naked eye after all!

    But their targets will sure feel otherwise.

    It's a Thermal Shock assault!

Freya (578) has posed:
Now that the a weakness of the two amrmored figures had been figured out. Freya can't really do much to hurt them! She frowns a bit at her lack of fire or cold spells. She will at least try and keep them busy. She tires to go after the female figure again. "Don't ingore me!", she says bringing her fist down on the metallic female being.

Jonothon Starsmore (27) has posed:
Jonothon really thought that the loss of a head would render the body unusable. Not so it seems and Jono's caught off-guard by the swing. However the headless figure will find that his torso gives way too easily as the blade cuts deeply. It will also find more of that not-quite fire as the shirt and chest-wrappings underneath are shredded. Luckily for the metal figure the fire inside his chest doesn't burn.

But the figure will also find that Jono bleeds just fine even if if did pretty much cut into a hollow chest cavity. Jono gives a mental yelp of pain and stumbles back falling onto his rear. Luckily there's no major arteries where he was cut. Still hurt like hell though.

Jono does have an idea though. The kinetic force of his fire isn't going to cut it. But the friction from it will. And now that his shirt's been destroyed he has a much larger area to aim from. So while still on the ground he targets a wide, sustained blast at the headless figure's torso. He hopes the friction will melt the thing.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis says, "How's that for a taste of the power ya ain't gonna get to assimilate or whatever the fuck it is you think you're doing?" It wouldn't be a fight if Alexis didn't get in a vocal barb or two during the process. The thermal shock method clearly worked. And clearly pissed the metal mass off as it rolls up some of it's mass and sends a wall of spikes tumbling towards them. Good thing they're not Megaman, but that's still not gonna be pleasant.

"Glaceon!" Permafrost's crown-like ice crest glows again, this time ice forming up in front of her in a makeshift block. The spike wave slams into it, dispersing some of it's mass to the sides, though chunks of metal break off to pelt her and her trainer as Alexis shields her face with one arm.

Being able to think quick on your feet is a key component of monster battling, pokemon or otherwise. They know the thermal shock tactic worked... And now that her pokemon has been attacked... That gets her to smirk a little to herself, even as she shakes off the remains of the spike barrier.

She doesn't even have to give the command, the tactic is a well practiced one. "Gla-ce-ooon!" The icefox practically howls, almost sounding like the northern winds in itself. As she does there's a rapid cooling around her, flash freezing moisture from the air into ice, and then sending it crashing down upon the metal material in an Avalanche. Not only is it another ice based attack, but one that does greater damage if the user was already struck with an attack.

This is followed up from overhead as Redline starts cranking up the heat again, swooping in lower to play panzer dragon and spew Flamethrowers at the metallic mass in the wake of the Avalanche.

Then to top it off Alexis pulls one more trick out of her sleeve, or out of a pokeball as the case may be, as a large goat handlebar shaped horns and a mossy green pelt appears. "Brushguard, spray 'em with Leech Seed!" "Goo-oo-oo-." A shake of its afformentioned belt sends seeds scattering about, which quickly sprout into small tangles of roots that try to grab into the metal and suck away some of its energy. If energy is what they want to collect, it makes sense to try and take it away, right?"

Dex Alruin (332) has posed:
    The Metal Collective... grossly underestimated everything, which is rare for them. They had calculated a swift and decisive victory. Instead, they were losing energy and mass at a rapid rate. As Arachnia injects her venom, the Collective's mind becomes scrambled. Slowly at first, but it soon increases in speed. Combined with the damage being inflicted from all sides, another laser blast, a hyperfreeze and shatter combo from Rory that decimates the chunk of alloy she had been faced with, and a giantess punch, the odds of success are suddenly less than zero. Survival is beginning to become paramount, but...

    The portal flashes, and the mass of metal seems to be unable to cross back into its homeworld. The Metal Collective seems to have severed this section from the whole in order to guarantee survival. There's a metallic scream as everything begins to take effect, and the mass roils weakly, distorted male and female forms rising briefly from it. Static can be clearly heard, alongside screaming, groaning, and some sort of alien cursing as well. The metal slows in pitch, and begins to smoke as it destabilizes. "We... we can't hear... our peo-eo-eo-ple... no-o--ooo!"

    Jonothon's friction energy rends the body he's fighting, melting it to nothingness almost instantly. Another agonized scream is heard, though the female voice seems to die out of the scream now, as though only the male remained.

    As Dex hears all the chaos, he releases his grip on his powers. The others had it under control. He punches the ground weakly, tears falling from his eyes for more than just his shattered ankle. He rolls up the leg of his pants and nearly vomits, bone jutting at wild angles and poking through the skin. He falls backward, staring up at the sky. 'I have to get stronger. They... they would've won so easily if had just been me...' he thinks.

    Alexis unleashes all sorts of hell upon the metal monstrosity, freezing, melting, and even beginning to drain the mass of energy. There's one last, gutteral roar, that slowly begins to die off. It seems to curl upon itself, shuddering one last time... before the metal shatters and puffs into smoke. No more voices. Just... nothing. The portal shimmers, but nothing comes out. Not quite nothing. There's a small amount, about a thimble's worth, of the metal still writhing on the ground. A sample perhaps? Either way, the battle seems to be over. It might be prudent to mark this spot in case a follow up investigation is necessary.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    One of Rory's drones does zip down to try and snatch and secure a sealed sample of the metal, or at least the SMOKE if it can't manage anything else...

    And as the Argonaut actually regains her balance, only then does she show emotion. Frowning heavily. This was like something right out of an action vid and she'd crazily strolled right at it. Being forced to resleeve from backup and losing her primary Morph would be an awful misfortune, but the others here risked real death - that is infinitely worse.

    Even so, she's forced to realize her presence here has meant very little, these people are amazing in their own rights and very competent and coordinated!

    So she remains on the fringes, a hand coming up over her heart - or what would be a heart were she human - and gazes about worriedly. Then... she'll beeline for the injured.

    "This decision to be more adventurous was almost very costly. Fortunately nobody seems dead or SEVERELY wounded..."

    Although her definition of severe might be very different from most...

Alexis has posed:
Alexis makes a clearly disgusted expression at the forms that briefly wirth in the metal mass as it more or less falls apart at the seams. She can only imagine -why- something like that was briefly taking form along with the screams of 'our people' and it's a little disconcerting even to an experienced action girl. She quickly shoves it out of her mind for now though, focusing back on the matter at hand. She's about to let out Wildfire to put this to an end, but it looks like it wasn't going to be necessary. "Stand down guys... but don't let your guard down... If that thing tries to get away from Blurr big guy, flame it." Redline just gives a growling smoke-snort in agreement as he lands next to her, keeping his internal fire warmed up. Just in case.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
"For organics, a broken ankle is pretty bad," Black Arachnia comments mildly as she approaches the suited-up stranger. "You're not with the Union, though, are you?"

Blurr has posed:
    "Well, that wasn't so bad." Blurr remarks as the metal mass finally dissolves into nothingness. Well not -complete- nothingness. It seems there are a few thrashing globules of it left behind to exploit. As per Arachnia's orders, he moves to scoop some of it up into a clear sample vial. "We'll see what Perceptor can make of this."

Jonothon Starsmore (27) has posed:
Jono scoots back from the melting metal alien figure. He doesn't want to get infected with whatever this thing is. Last thing he needs is to bring something like THAT home to the Institute. That'd be a mess of EPIC proportions!

He does finally stand up though and as he does he winces. He got cut pretty bad but there are more important casualties to deal with. Like the one who was here when it started. Given the stuff Jono heard from the metal people Dex's survival is probably the most important.

Still everybody seems reasonably in good health. And there's someone tending to wounded so Dex will get proper care. Not a bad outcome. With everyone picking up the pieces now is a good time for Jono to scoot. He'll need to call the Institute for pickup since his disguise got completely shredded. Can't go into his world like this after all. He's not the bloody Ghost Rider....

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "Syndicate Network member, Rory White of the Argonauts! One of my sensors picked up the challenge so I came to investigate and lend aid. Deploying personally wasn't originally planned though..." So what made her do it? either way, Rory doesn't seem at all perturbed by Black Arachnia's odd appearance. It's not at all by her standards. The hand over her heart lowers. "It's seriously painful but not life-threatening. Treatment should only take a few hours!" She states, simultaneously trying to sound caring and simultaneously pointing out how she just really...

    ... Doesn't understand too well what pain is besides 'people hate it so I try to get rid of it.'

    "Against a completely unknown threat, winning while suffering mostly cuts and broken bones is admirable, isn't it? A single nanobandage should dull the pain for now." She holds up a plum-sized sphere with a red medical cross insignia. How that's a bandage is anyone's guess.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
"Normally I'd say we've had enough nanomachines for one night," Black Arachnia replies to Rory, "but given the amount of abuse Dex took I'm surprised he's not screaming his lungs out ... Union medical transport's on the way, but if Dex wants the help before they get here, it's between you and him."

She pauses briefly. "Oh, and I'm Black Arachnia, with the Union. Glad to have your help on this, Rory."

Dex Alruin (332) has posed:
    Dex raises a hand, waving things off. "I'm good. Doesn't hurt that bad now." Shock, perhaps? He seems pretty glassed out.

Blurr has posed:
    Subspacing the vial. Blurr turns to Black Arachnia. "Heh, nice work with that virus. You definitely know sabotage." he compliments, then watches Dex with some concern, though he doesn't really know enough about human anatomy to be aware of the extent of the man's injuries. But then Dex assures them that he will be fine. "Just let me know if you want a ride. Probably faster than Union medevac, anyway." he smirks.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "Oh... that entity wasn't made of any nanites by standards I know. The metal itself was animate somehow." And there her voice betrayes some worry. Nanites she understands. This strange living metal? No, that she doesn't. "... and whatever's left of it should be collected and sealed. Possibly in a magnetic containment field--" Then Dex speaks and Rory blinks a few times... only to pocket the Nanoandage again. "... If... you're sure. Just don't move the ankle!"

    Now once again facing Black Arachnia, Rory tries a smile. It's not quiiiiite natural, seems a little forced. Perhaps she's just nervous. "....Does this happen often? This young man seemed to be their target..."

Alexis has posed:
"It may not hurt much now, but you still wanna get it looked at. Trust me, I've twisted or broken an ankle enough times to know." With that said Alexis turns back to her pokemon. "Good job guys. Redline, Permafrost, return." With those two back in their pokeballs she hops up onto the Gogoat's back, grabbing his horns much like the handlebars they resemble. "Com'n Brushgaurd. Let's go make sure nothing else is lurking around after that. Not the sort of enemy to take chances with." "Goo-oo-oo," bleats the mossy goat in agreement as they trot off.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
"Magnetic suspension field," Black Arachnia echoes - making sure Blurr hears. "Like we'd store antimatter in, got it. The trick is that we don't want to re-energize the 'scrap' metal while we're at it, though ..."

Did you know spiders can smirk? Well, the large cybernetic-looking spider that Black Arachnia is in her beast mode *does* smirk at Blurr. "Espionage and sabotage are my specialties," she responds with something strongly resembling pride. "Although that's the first time I've ever had to formulate cybervenom for that particular effect - I'm glad it worked as well as it did."

Her attention shifts back to Rory. "That's a question you're better off asking Dex himself, when he's up for conversation. Which probably means 'not with a shattered ankle'." She pauses to check how far out the medevac is ... shouldn't be much longer.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "If the Magnetic solution doesn't work the next thing I would try would be extreme cold. Though it might damage the samples, very little can happen at extremely low temperatures!" Hence why she suggested using cold to -suppress- this thing... probably...

Blurr has posed:
    "Right, I'll tell Perceptor." Blurr says with a nod in regards to the suspension field. "Well, if Dex would rather ride the medevac than -me- I guess I'd better get back to base so we can store this stuff more securely." he says, tossing the sample vial up and down in one hand despite his words. "Good work team." With that, he hits the orbital jump recall and with a flash of a blue beam he's gone.