Cowman

The alien knight introduced himself simply yet politely when his turn came, giving them his title of Omega Knight, but saying they could also call him Binro if they preferred.

Despite his monster-like head, Binro spoke with a warm, friendly air that seemed to be instinctive for him. After he was done he listened to the other's introductions, nodding in acknowledgement of each.

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"We will depart as soon as this division is fully assembled, then. I take it all of you are prepared...?"

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Binro looked up from having his head bowed, looking as if he'd been praying.

"I am prepared," he nodded to the Watcher, while checking the securing straps of the mace on his belt and the axe on his back.

I like three just cause the Rikti are always fun to deal with, but I also have to say I like the second one as well. I did a little something like it once using a Fifth Column base and a swarm of Vahzilok; the horror movie atmosphere can be really fun as well.

Plus it would give some of my Natural heroes a chance to shine. Often I'm forced to use my more powerful characters just because of all the demi-god like beings flying around. Many of my favorite heroes, however, are the 'street-level' type. My main toon is a katana/super reflexes, and while trained to the point of perfection, he's still only human and is often rendered ineffective in the larger battles. Having a horror movie-type adventure would give those types of heroes a chance take on a real nasty threat without being overshadowed by the super-mega-demon-gods that can destroy cities just by sneezing.

((Oops. Edited. ))

Binro stood silently for a moment, pondering. One of his contacts had told him the details of a mission into the world of the Rikti. He had run across the Rikti a couple times before, on Earth and earlier during his travels across the universe.

"Vanguard is accepting volunteers for the mission so I just thought I'd mention it. Probably be pretty tough and you're used to that kinda thing."

There was truth to that. Binro's place seemed to be in the midst of great battles, but he was loathe to leave Earth, as his search still continued. Suddenly the large mace hanging on his belt began to vibrate slightly, like a tuning fork that had just been struck.

The human in front of him watched, puzzled, as the large armored figure seemed to listen to something before finally nodding.

"Very well," he said in his deep voice, seeming to talk to the weapon before directing his attention back to his contact. "I will go on this mission."

The human nodded, giving him the information on departure time and objectives. Binro thanked him and left, the man sending a message to the Vanguard that the Omega Knight had volunteered for the mission.

Binro landed at the meeting place at the appropriate time. Even in Paragon he was a bit of an odd sight. Over seven feet tall and clad in armor that seemed to be a mix of the medieval and the futuristic. His most striking feature, however, was his head. It had dull brown, leathery skin, no ears, and was shaped like a cross between a dragon and an emaciated horse.

He nodded respectfully to the Longbow agents, staying silent, but standing dutifully nearby. A sash of white feathers with gold ends hung from his right shoulder and he absent-mindedly fingered the handle of his mace as he waited.

When Tommy flew into the building, he was surprised and a little relieved that the fighting seemed to have stopped for the moment. Too bad outside the building, reality itself seemed to be circling the drain.

"Gah! Started it has, boss," Scratch rasped irritably, jumping up and down on his shoulder as the little creature watched the chaos outside. "Fire and endings. No more wicked, no more shinys. All gone boss."

Tommy quickly hovered after Penny and the others, the zombie-like boy moving over to float beside them.

"Excuse me Miss," he piped up nervously, but politely. "I'm, um... kinda s'posed to help you, so..." he trailed off, unsure of what to add. Finally giving up he simply ignited his hands to show he was ready to help out.

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Penny Arcade went flying in a long streamer of smoke, through the wall of one of the skyscrapers below. It was impossible to tell what sort of damage she might have suffered.

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"Oh no," Glimmer whispered from Tommy's shoulder.

"Gummin' up our mission they is. Gettin' in our way," Scratch rasped angrily. "Hurts 'em boss. HURTS 'EM BAD!"

Tommy had no alternative but to comply. Wrapping himself in mystical flames, the boy looked down toward the large gun and stopped hovering, letting himself fall straight down on it. The small burning figure, aided by momentum, tore straight through the machine causing an explosion that sent bits of masonary falling toward the street below.

However, the flames of the blast did not dissipate. Instead they continued to swirl about, eventually coalescing into streams of fire, the boy barely visible through the haze, arms outstretched as he held the flames around him. Clenching his hands tightly, he brought his arms around in a throwing motion, sending volleys of deadly fire streaking for the Arachnos and Longbow forces.

The street below erupted in several explosions. Arachnos drones erupted into flaming wreckage, Crabspiders and Blood Widows where sent flying right along with Longbow agents. A flyer took one of the missiles straight through the cockpit, the hovering machine blossoming into a fireball of it's own.

Tommy took to the air again, the ropey gray muscle that made up his body slowly winding itself back together where it had been damaged in the explosion. With Scratch's delighted cackling in his ear, the boy swooped down toward the building that Penny had disappeared into.

A nasty cackle came from the hooded figure as the bombs went off. Actually it came from the small, green gremlin-like creature that was currently peaking out from under the tattered clothing.

"Fire and smoke! Lights and burning! O, she's a sly one boss. Cunning and wicked. Proper nasty, she is." The little creature chortled again, looking maniaclly down at the destruction.

"Quiet Scratch," the small figure said, his voice agitated. "Shouldn't we stop and help the Longbow people. Some of them could get hurt." He looked worriedly at the red and white garbed agents as their jetpacks and weapons sparked and fizzled.

"No boss. Not our job, is it. Orders is 'girl gets away', and gets away she will. Coppers be on their own boss, we can't helps 'em now."

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right Tommy," a small fairy-like creature on Tommy's other shoulder said, sadly shaking her head. "If the Balance is to be maintained, the girl must succeed. And we can't risk losing her now."

Tommy sighed unhappily, but nodded his head anyway. Gathering his tattered clothing about him, he swooped down toward the action. Fire formed around him, shooting out toward the ground. Many of the remaining Arachnos forces were thrown to the ground, engulfed in flame. Though if someone looked closer they'd see that the people were not actually burning, even though they WERE writhing about in apparant agony.

Tommy tried his best to ignore Scratch's happy cackling as he looked toward the guy currently attacking Penny. Opening his mouth, the boy sent a jet of fire streaking at the hero.

A figure crouched on the ledge of a nearby building, watching the fight as it blazed across the sky. As the girl dropped from the fight, making her escape, the figure cocked his head to the side as though listening to something. Then he clutched his tattered red cloak closer to him as he flew from his perch in a lazy trajectory to follow her.

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Then Harry came face to face with probing tendrils of radiation. Five spiraling tentacles of green wisp rushed at him from differant angles to do what only radiation can do.

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"Wait for it," Harry grinned to himself as the tendrils rushed at him. "Annnnnnd... now." He suddenly sprung forward, twisting his body between the grasping energy. Landed, rolled, and lept straight up, dodging another sweep at his legs.

There were quite a few close shaves as Harry flipped and rolled, keeping just one step ahead of the deadly tentacles. His path may have seemed random at first, but eventually he was flipping straight into the midst of the Arachnos forces.

The Spiders were taken by surprise, having been focused on the initial threat of the goddess and her minions, as Harry jumped into the middle of them with the pursuing energy creations close behind. The tendrils dove after him, only to begin hitting the Arachnos soldiers instead as the hero dodged and flipped out of the way at the last second.

Two Bane Spiders went down, one Lieutenant, and one tentacle even crashed against the mastermind's force field. The last tendril managed to weave through the chaos, zeroing in on it's prey.

Sprinting across the room, Harry pulled another Zero bomb from his belt. As he drew near one of the ornate pillars, he threw the device straight up in the air. Jumping forward he swung 360 degrees around the pillar, catching the bomb with his foot on its way down, kicking it straight into the tendril.

The energy creation exploded into non-existance. Harry glanced over to were the infected Arachnos soldiers were disappearing, teleported away to medical tubes.

"Not too shabby," Harry grinned.

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(( And technically just using sound filters wouldn't save Harry. Those are VIBRATIONS IN THE AIR, not just sound waves. But I don't mind much, just me being nit-picky. ))

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((Probably not, but the poor, puny human's gotta have SOME way of avoiding being liquified by the army of demi-gods runnin' around here. ))

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Then Harry felt an immense pressure building up around him again, and another distortion of air vibrations began to cut into him.

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Body armor that had protected him just minutes before began to fail. It's very structure now weakened from the deadly wail, it sliced as easily as normal cloth. A slash on the arm, a slice across the forehead, a rather nasty gash across his back.

In a desperate attempt at escape, Harry dropped to the ground, firing a quick burst from his jump jets. His body was propelled across the floor, breaking away from the invisible assault and sending him crashing through a table and into a bookcase.

Harry could feel blood running down around his goggles and mask as he watched the villains continue their battle. Why? It was a question that had always bothered him. There was so much to DO in the world, why would people waste their time with this kind of thing?

"Unreasonable people make life so difficult," he muttered quietly to himself, finally laboring back to his feet. Deactivating the Nemesis staff, Harry once again drew his katana. With his armor reduced to simply a stylish outfit he'd have to work even harder at dodging the numerous villains.

'But then again,' Harry thought to himself with a smirk. 'That's what makes it so fun.'

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impossibly enough, had enough force being it to evaporate water,

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((Sound can evaporate water? ))

The white noise filters in Harry's ears saved him from ruptured ear drums. Bracing himself against the force of the attack, he looked toward it's source. Strange, you'd think he would have noticed someone in THAT outfit before. Shrugging that thought off, he re-drew the gold staff from his back.

"Impressive set of pipes," he said, mostly to himself since it was doubtful anyone could hear him over the wail of the woman. "But you sure ain't the fat lady, so..."

He banged the staff on the ground, causing a wave of electricity to travel over its length. The ornate ball on the end suddenly cracked open, unfolding and rearranging until it resolved itself into the tell-tale spinning gears of a Nemesis Staff.

Twirling the weapon once, Harry sent a blast of the deadly energy shooting straight toward the villain.


((Man, if things get any crazier I might have to use the Scroll of Ruin or the Ring of Pain I got sittin' in my inventory. ))

"What is this; Night of the Living Dead?" Harry said, twisting around and sliding between the man's legs. "Okay, I was trying to be nice here, but you just gotta go and involve the civvies."

Throwing a grapple line toward the ceiling, the hero pulled himself away from the floor. A bird's eye view of the room gave him a chance to catch sight of the other tendrils creeping among the people. He didn't have time to single out the source properly, but armed another Zero bomb and sent it crashing into the floor as near to the tendrils point of origin as he could.

While the bomb wouldn't do any physical damage, it should distrupt the radiation and hopefully leave the person winded for a moment or two. He'd like to zero in on them right now, but there were more important matters to attend to.

Harry dropped back to the floor, dodging expertly between the inflicted, flailing guests. Arming one arrest marker after another, he threw them at the infected. Some might be too late to save, but the Zig would have the heavy duty equipment needed to cure most. Rikti tanks, mystics, etc.

With things quickly deteriorating, what with Arachnos forces showing up and all, Harry decided subtle was now officially out the window. Once again reaching into his belt, he flung two cannisters onto the floor. Tear gas began flooding a large area of the bottom floor. Sure, it would be no picnic for the remaining civvies and it certainly wouldn't bring down any of the demi-god types, but it might give him some breathing room.

((I'll probably hold off any more posts till some of the others get a chance.))

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The air around Harry was being manipulated to vibrate at high speeds, to create the equalivelent of being shredded by a wall of razors. At the same time, an immense pain started to build up in his ears...

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"Doesn't anyone fight normal anymore," Harry growled to himself, his teeth clenched in pain. His body armor held for the most part, giving him the time he needed to grab a Zero-Energy bomb from his belt.

Activating the device, Harry threw it to the ground at his feet, the resulting flash of dead space dispelling whatever energy signature was assaulting him. He fell to one knee for a second to catch his breath before turning back to the crowd.

"Okay folks," he said, still a little short of breath. "Looks like we've got a snake among the sheep, if you don't mind me mixing my metaphors. Personally I can't afford this since it ups the chance of grevious bodily harm to myself, so I'd like you all to take a look at these."

Harry pulled a handful of familiar looking devices from his belt.

"Now, as I'm sure some of you know, these are official Paragon City arrest markers. When activated they transport one person directly to the Zig. I'm sure you civilians have no objection to this as it will get you out of danger, where as a meta-human... well, they might have a harder time talking their way outta there."

Harry started handing out the markers, keeping all his reflexes on high alert. He didn't have many Zero bombs left, so he'd have to be extra careful to avoid a second attack.

"Hey," Harry exclaimed as the pixie disappeared and was soon after injured rather seriously. "Dang it, this is a 'No-Killing' area here people."

Being without any super powers, Harry had long ago learned to keep extra aware of his surroundings. And while he didn't know exactly where the super-lethal attack had come from, he WAS able to determine the general vacinity.

With his dance partner down for the count, Harry turned his attention to the civilians. Stowing the staff on his back, he switched to his katana, hacking away the thorny vines that where surrounding them and keeping a keen eye on everyone. The next time the mystery person attacked, he'd find them.

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*the staff makes contact and the girl trips and is currently attempting to catch herself all ninja like but she is a bit open*

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Hoping to press the advantage, Harry reached a free hand to his belt, grabbing a grapple line from one of the pouches. A flick of the wrist sent the line arching toward the girl, in hopes of snaring her.

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“you cut my face…please allow me to cut yours off!” *the pixie throws another volley of needles at harry and vanishes in a puff of black smoke. She appears above harry’s head attempting to split his skull open*


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Harry twirled the staff in front of him, deflecting most of the needles. A few managed to get through, but luckily his body armor kept the damage to only a couple minor scratches.

"Geez, howabout a little professional civility," the hero asked, whipping his weapon through the cloud of black smoke to clear it away, only to find the small assassin gone.

"Crap!" Harry exclaimed, catching the faint rustle of cloth overhead. He bent over so his back was now in the path of her claws, letting the axe blade on his back catch the attack.

"Why's everybody gotta have frickin' super powers in this town," Harry complained, rolling forward and spinning around in a crouch, aiming his next swipe of his staff at the girl's ankles.

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“An illusionist and his lovely assistant, well then my darling little shadow charmer should be able to take care of both of you. Charmer, your guests await.”

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"Flattery will get you nowhere," Harry grinned, clicking his tongue.


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while aiming a claw thrust directly for Harry’s head* the pixie says with an eerie smile "now watch as i saw two magicians in half!"

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"Man; kids today. I blame the schools," the goggled hero joked while parrying the weapon with his staff. He spun back a short distance, letting his weapon whip around after him, hopefully connecting with the attacking Charmer.

"And you were only half right," Harry smirked as he faced her again. "I'm not a magician," he rotated his hand behind his head, seemingly pulling a throwing knife out of thin air, "but I AM magic." With that he sent the knife flying at the pint-sized pychopath.



((All Harry's attacks are, of course, aimed to be non-lethal. The guy's a hero after all.))

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"The front door's just a tad bit easier to get through..."

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"It's also a tad bit more boring," Harry stated matter-of-factly. "Part of being a hero is to make a dramatic entrance whenever possible. Besides.... wait a minute, did you say Arachnos?"

Harry didn't have time to worry about it however, as he suddenly found a few more additions to the room. So, an Arachnos, a Longbow, and... the other guy.

"Y'know, I don't get to fight super-hot babes too often," the red and black clad hero deadpanned. "I'm wondering if I should be peeved at you for hogging my action." He gave the staff another defensive twirl, keeping his eyes on the initial threat, but also paying attention to the new players. Heck, sometimes you even had to be careful of Longbow. No sense taking chances.

((Woo! I'm always up for another story.))

Harry's eyes scanned the room under his thick goggles, a smirk making its way to his mouth, hidden under his ventilation mask. He ran an armored glove through his messy, brown dreadlocks as he surveyed the room.

"Oh, MUCH better," he said, looking over the three women. "Y'know, just yesterday I was up to my knees in acidic Vahzilok puke, and now a room fulla femme fatales. Don't ya just love karma."

The grinning hero adopts a cocky stance as he stands between the people and the three villains. Reaching behind him to the weapons strapped to his back, he pulls out a long, golden staff with an ornate head on one end.

"Now I've never been a big fan of these kind o' snooty gatherings, but I think yer takin' things a little far. So..." Harry twirls the staff around once, easing back into a ready position. "Let's dance."

How about she's a female Statesman from another dimension, and her attraction to States is just an extreme case of narcissism.

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"A world where there's even no need for guns and violence. "

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"If you have people, yer gonna have violence, kid," Kirke muttered absently, eyeing the machine outside their cell. "What's with the tin-man," he asked the guard.

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"Do you know what that means? He serves the council. A fascist at best, and likely a nazi."

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"So he has a different reason for killing people," Kirke interjected in monotone, sitting down on one of the bunks and leaning back against the wall. "We all got one of those. His is genetics, mine's money.... what's your's Doc?" His one good eye flicked back and forth between the two men, occasionally dancing across the other members of the cell.

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Maniacal, evil laughter sloughed from his body, and into the air like a toxin, and stayed there until long after the guards had beaten its progenitor into unconsciousness.

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Kirke cocked an eyebrow at the little scene.

Great, he thought to himself. One of THOSE types.

"Marcus Kirke," Kirke answered along with his number when it was his turn. He made no show of bravado, no defiant stands. For him it was just business. The robberies, the assasinations, the fights with the city's heroes.... none of it was personal; just business. 'Personal' made things sloppy, and Marcus Kirke didn't LIKE sloppy.