Pious

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Of course, personal plots are what makes the story. This is not exactly one plot or an encompassing plot. The idea is for a bunch of meetings for cross-SG roleplaying and Intelligence exchange as a part of the In-game Event. A basket if you will, for showcasing some SG RP, character RP, mission/patrol RP, fiction, and cross-SG roleplaying caused by the invasion event. Sorry, don't know if I've done a good job of explaining that. :/

Ahh, I see. That makes good sense to me.

Out of the night came two men and a woman, suited in black and wearing dark sunglasses as though it were the middle of summer. They were clearly government-types. One of the men remained near the top of the fire escapes conversing with the leading officer on scene. "Thank you for your cooperation Captain" he could be heard saying, "It's a fine mess but we'll take it from here." The lady headed over to the dragon and she too could be heard addressing the group of heroes; notably the Outsider. "We've acquired the Intel you're getting at Miss. Jacub and his brother were an only threat. Detective Dean Doyle died in the line of duty, protecting those that matter. He'll be buried as a hero of the people. Come on, paramedics are here for him now. Let's leave him be."

The second guy had a confident smirk on his face and a cocky spring in his walk as he approached the gathered heroes. "Agent Rogers, Federal Bureau of Superpowered Affairs. That over there is Special Agent Mulder and Scully." He laughs. "No, I'm just kidding. Anyway! We've had our people and their people (gesturing to the cops) watching you people since you dropped outta the sky earlier tonight. We know who you are, names you been calling each other and what you can do. Now we aint exactly diplomats but we're the closest thing to it that you'll be getting tonight. Something like a couple dozen of you dropped outta the skies and we've been busy chasing you all up, cleaning up your mess. Now I'm aware some of you like the open air so we've prep'd a nice spacious three-floor penthouse suite in Founders Falls for you all as living quarters and a base of operations, which if you'll let us, we'd like to take you to.

"I mean this place is sweet, I'm actually pretty damn jealous of you guys right now; you got city teleporters in your meeting room, a power-up room, control bay, and medical bay on the top floor. On the middle floor, you got your library and archives, a gymnasium, training room, and a dojo. Your lower floors are five-star accommodations with a serviceable bar and round-the-clock room service. Plus, you got open rooftops with a hanger area big enough for that robot transformer, huge gardens and a small man-made lake for swimming and sun-bathing. I got a layout projection on my PDA if you don't believe me. Furthermore, we've taken the courtesy of printing you all some brand new Paragon City Hero Identification cards, complete with group communications chips and location-mapping technology. Admittedly, some of you we don't yet know so not all of them have names and biographies but that can be imprinted on later."

He was momentarily interrupted by the other male agent who whispered something. "The halfling called Ineloo has been spotted headed for Galaxy City."

"That's good. We'll intercept her there and recruit her too" replied Rogers before turning back to the refugee heroes. "As I was saying, we've got you covered guys. But it's up to you now. Sign up, or we kill you." He laughs almost forcibly. "I'm just kidding. We, we wouldn't do that, it was a joke. Speaking of jokes, 'Mechano's Refugees'? Seriously, who gave you that name, the cops? You gotta come up with something better. But we'll get to that. For now, you've got this swanky new place for you to lay down and rest up for the night. Forget about Pocket D; your penthouse suites serve much better drinks, with no tools around to bother you. I can fire up a teleportation beam straight there, right now, if you want. Hmm? What's it gonna be?" He finished, with a somewhat over-friendly smile.

.

Price nodded quietly to Centurion, he was somewhat comprehensive of the fact that the only adult member of the Timehunters had once again witnessed him take a life and had been relatively understanding of his decision. His sister however gave him a disapproving scowl. She could never understand. But at least he could trust her not to say anything to anyone. This was after all, not the first time she'd seen him abandon mercy and go all dark vigilante on a major villain. He watched on as Glittergirl headed over to see to the priests and churchgoers.

Meanwhile downstairs, Priest was arming up. "It's a long story Adam, I'll explain when this is over and my church is safe. Also, I'll need to know what happened to Lord Memphis and the Bloodhunters. Is the Court of the Blood Countess still a problem? And my sister-in-law Pistol, she was putting together a team of vigilantes - Roguehunters or something. I must've been gone a few months; been sent back down to help with the Praetorian Invasion. You aware of that yet?"

Doused, dripping wet and freezing cold, Jacub stared intently at the dragon, as though wishing looks could kill. Then he received a highly humiliating flopping-fish-to-the-face attack. A moment passed where he paused to consider his shame. Then he thought about his now utterly vulnerable position; counter-powered and surrounded by the enemy. Cautiously, he reached for his shield and then stopped to recalculate the risks of continuing his mission, suicidal as it may now be. No. That wouldn't be very smart. His brother's death would have to be avenged in another way and another time. Which left him with only one remaining option; retreat to replan.

With a smoking sigh of frustrated defeat Jacub allowed his teleportation spell to swallow him whole, immediately re-entering the theatres of Atlas Park. Unfortunately, he was welcomed by a very painful brightly-coloured, white-gloved fist. Darkness followed and soon he would regain consciousness and wake to the dingy de-powering steel prisons of Brickstown's Ziggursky Penitentiary.

Meanwhile back in King's Row. SWAT officer James Mulligan approached the superpowered crowd. A stern look on his face. "Cross-departmental radio chatter confirms your man's been taken down. You defeated him and he ran straight into a Freedom Phalanx officer stationed in Atlas Park." Mulligan paused and turned his gaze towards the medics team now seeing to his father's partner, Detective Dean Doyle. It was as he'd feared; the old man had fought hard to survive but didn't make it. He'd been completely incinerated inside and out beyond recognition.

"My name's James Mulligan. Word is you guys are Mechano's refugees, correct? By your doing or not, you've brought enough trouble to our world this night alone, don't you think? Body count's closing in on four-oh." James looked tearful, his sobbing words betraying the strength of character otherwise suggested by his heavily armed SWAT attire. "How's about y'all just round yourselves up, go back to Mechano and head on home to where y'all came from. Hmm?" Too upset to even listen, the young man quietly turned and walked away.

"Adam" whispered Pious. "We both know who they think I am, right? They seem confused. You thinking what I'm thinking?" With a knowing nod to his friend, the Priest moved forward and adopted an uncharacteristically tyrannical poise to address his supposed army. "Yes! Erm, I am he. But that will be all for today, go back home and await my other orders. All right?" Convinced of his great acting, Priest sent Adam a clever wink. "Go on then, get out of here. All of you!"

The kneeling soldiers looked to each other, confused by the clearly contradicting mission commands. After a while they seemed to decide to return upstairs to consult with their secondary leader. "Your Majesty" they reported, dodging the ongoing fight with the kid archer, the telekinetic and the armoured swordsman. "We made contact with Our Lord but he looked strangely different and ordered us to leave."

"You stupid, brainless imbeciles!" yelled the Priestess, looking angrily at the squad now exiting the crypt up onto the church. "I said to capture him, not obey him! He is NOT who yo-" But she could not complete her sentence. Something had gotten a hold of her spine and the entire battle came to a stand still.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry did I do something wrong?" said Price, the time-travelling archer without his amulet. With shocking strength, he yanked out the woman's vertebrae. "Now then... I will take command from here on. As I heard my father has said, drop your weapons and get the f**k outta here. Unless you want to be next to loose a spine. Hmm?" Panicked and leaderless, the Soldiers of the Most High looked to themselves for a quick decision. Hastily, they began to flee.

The police helicopter spiralled away, struggling to cope with it's burning tail that had caught fire from the explosion. "Hendricks, what the hell are you doing? Hold still and lemme waste this guy!" yelled the gunman, clutching on to his mounted machine gun. "Mulligan" replied Hendricks, "I know the freak just killed your old man but I gotta save this chopper. That gun of yours ain't authorised to be on here and if we go down, we'll definitely have to answer for it." The pilot continued, flying off into the night. But the young Mulligan wasn't ready to quit. He strapped his gun to his arm and leapt out of the chopper, landing onto a nearby rooftop with a controlled roll. Without pause, he opened fire at the burning terrorist, adding to a stream of other attacks by those nearby.

At the epicentre, the fight momentarily appeared to be turning. Jacub's rage left him blind to all other attacks but the charred form of the enemy before him, the woman who had ultimately killed his brother. The knife attack from an armoured man landed, piercing through Jacub's his fiery armour and impaling him at the point of impact. Almost simultaneously, a mysterious projectile followed through, entering Jacub's sphere and causing great damage. The prayer-sprouting attacker would likely also have landed his bladed strike. Young special weapons officer James Mulligan continued to fire on the target, but his common bullets failed to breach the still sustaining fiery aura. In fact, it only served to feed it more heat.

"RAAAAAAAH!" screamed Jacub, absorbing nearby energy to heal himself and further increase his fury and power. Following the fiery embrace, Jacub built up more power and without warning, exploded once again in a burning circle with his fiery sword. The inferno blazed on, a burn patch latching to the building tops and spreading downwards, causing the glass windows to shatter outwards. The fire continued uncontrolled, consuming the building brick by brick like a Steel Canyon fire. The waking detective writhed in excruciating pain as the living fire crawled over his skin, burning him from the outside in. Jacub was now visibly fuming, smoke billowed angrily from his nostrils. "Your common blades shall not stop me, your guns will not harm me" he growled, again bearing down on the woman. "The living flames of my anger shall consume you all, for GREAT is my RIGHTEOUS FURY!" With that, he struck the woman again with his fire.

Jacub's eyes did fall upon the woman and instantly, he thanked his God. "Great is the Lord, for He hath delivered onto me the killer of Esua." Blinded by rage, he discarded all caution and moved slowly towards the de-cloaked killer. All the while being pierced by rounds from both the police chopper and those positioned on the fire escapes and surrounding rooftops. Unfortunately, it seemed to do him no damage, instead fuelling his ever-growing aura of magical flames.

"How sweet the taste of vengeance upon mine tongue" he continued, closing in on the woman and the now waking police detective. "The blood boils to cut you open murderer! And at mine hands shall thee feel the true wrath of a Soldier of the Most High." With that, his pace quickened into a full-speed charge.

Suddenly, he formed within his hands a great big flaming sword with which he proceeded to thrust at the woman's belly. "Y-AAAAAAAAAH!" he bellowed, his fiery aura suddenly expanding into a full blown explosion that caught the distant helicopter by surprise. Panicked, the pilot tried his best to retreat.

High above the man with the sword-bayonets, the roar of SWAT helicopters filled the air, dicing through the night sky and leaving behind a gust of violent winds. With the life of one of their own in serious jeopardy, all the stops had been pulled. The full force of the boys in blue came bearing down upon the fleeing arsonist, giving chase and leaving a clear trail of sirens to follow. Police cars darted through the late night traffic, tracking the fiery man as he leapt on, hostage in hand.

"Come on tell me!" screamed Jacub, punching his hostage in the face with boiling fists of fire while flying in mid-jump. "You and I need to have a little chat about where my brother's weapons are being kept. And if you're going to be difficult then we'll need somewhere away from all these cops and 'heroes', somewhere private. Problem is... with my magic, I can only teleport to a place with the residual energy from an active portal near it. The portal that started all of this and that van are both too close and your Town Hall is swarming with do-gooders. So once again... where else can I look to find a SAFE PORTAL TO USE?!" he yelled.

His rage resurfacing, he smashes his hostage angrily into a brick wall mid-jump. The man instantly passes out. "Great!" he spat, stopping on a rooftop to throw the detective into the walls of a chimney. That was all the luck the helicopter needed to get a clear shot. It descended from the clouds and weaved in among the abandoned high rises. Without warning, it ascended into Jacub's view, unloading a hail of bullets from the chopper-mounted Gatling gun. Swiftly, Jacub moved to evade. The unrelenting SWAT and other motoring cops pulled up and quickly scaled the fire escapes leading up to the roofs. The chase had just begun.

The lightning bolt struck a few and knocked them down but the remaining twenty or so of them charged down the stairs, outnumbering and overpowering the lone Storm. As they poured into the crypt, Priest prepared to teleport out his wife and child, but strangely, the very sight of him seemed to bring a pacifying awe upon the invading soldiers. One by one they lowered their heads and fell to a respectful kneel. The unshaven, bearded Priest looked to Storm with puzzled expression.

"My Lord" said one of them. "Your Majesty the Priestess has brought us here as you requested. We are ready for war and await your orders."

Then one of them suddenly stood up. "My Lord, there by you! An imposter!"

"Mikael speaks truth, that woman resembles the Priestess!" another agreed, "But even you, you look different. Where is your scar? Where are your war horns?"

Having witnessed the absorbing woman electrocute herself into a living ball of energy and then survive his fire blasts, Jacub decided on changing up his play. He had now in his arms, a part of what he wanted anyway. Just then the back doors to the Pocket D van flung open but nobody was visible by it. He turned around and saw a man spouting prayer before flying at him, weapons at the ready. With police, fire crews and four maybe five people now joining the fray, Jacub felt the fight was fast becoming overcrowded. He leapt out of the preacher's collision path and leapt again onto the nearest building. With incredible agility and speed, he bounded away, flickering from rooftop to rooftop like living flames. He went on, escaping with the police detective singed and boiling under his burning arms.

The painfully sharp slice of wind cut its way through the blistering flames, breaching the integrity of Jacub's fiery aura and striking him across the chest. His body armour however, took the full brunt of the attack and now he was even more enraged, his attention fixed squarely upon the sword-wielder. He tried to steer his towering inferno in all it's destructive force but failed. In stark realization, his anger was replaced by confusion. With depleting endurance, he was becoming too weak to use his power. The bonfire patch of burning rage was fast reducing in size and temperature. Then it occurred to him. The gremlin lady had been absorbing his heat and magical energy so hard and for so long that she had actually started to succeed. His attempts to overload her with his magical energy and skin-melting heat had backfired. Soon, he was left standing there, naked of power and robbed of his angry flames.

The fire trucks had arrived and quickly positioned their super-sized pumper canons behind the lady with the small extinguisher. Quickly, they hosed down the burning buildings, working hard to chase the now dying magical flames. Oddly enough, they left minimal structural damage as they disappeared - only a few burnt wood, charred bricks and dark patches here and there. The ageing Detective Doyle, dressed similarly to Mulligan, chose his moment wisely and drew his sidearm. Eager to be the arresting officer, he approached the defeated firestarter. "Hands on your head freak, you're under fu**ing arrest!" he began, moving in dangerously closer as he spouted the Miranda Rights with very colourful language. Quietly, he begged for the suspect to threaten him. Pleaded with his God for some justifiable excuse to avenge his dead partner and waste this prisoner before seeing trial.

And oh did he get his wish. Out of nowhere and everywhere, Jacub drew on energy. Consuming the very ambience of nature itself, drinking in its heat until his rage was properly reignited. "Your prayers have been answered old man," he grumbled, before lashing out to try and incinerate the arresting officer. His blazing aura was back in full force as quickly as it had been dissipated, his fiery shields and an ionized wall of plasma once again protected him from attack. With newborn fury, he clutched the detective and pulled him close into his blazing aura, his jacket catching fire almost instantly. Jacub knew he had just about survived those precious seconds of being de-powered, so this time, he decided, the gremlin woman had to be the first to go. His innately magical mastery over the fire element manifested in one great fireball at his hands. This, he blasted forth with all his hate and all his anger, ball after ball, to strike down the woman and burn her to the ground. Maybe then he could claim his brother's weapons and wrought his final vengeance upon those who killed him.

"The work of the Lord" said the angel, "I am Evea, rank of Archangel among the Host of Heavens. My duty in this world and others is to give guidance to all Ledamalach, the Angelspawn, chosen to redeem the race of Nephilim as well as of Man. On this Earth, you call him The Priest." With little time fore more introductions, the angel allowed herself past the armoured guardian and into the room where her charge laid deep in sleep. She then rather unceremoniously proceeded to smack him on the head. Almost anticlimactically, the priest sat up, a puzzled look on his face. "Wake up, it's time!" she ordered.

"Evea?" asked the Priest, still dazed. "Where am I?"

"Under the church. Your friends and family are also here" she informed, looking at the people present. "There'll be no reunions unfortunately, there's trouble upstairs. If I raise a hand to them, I may accidentally kill them, so you'll need you to send them away. After that, you know what to do." Evea made to turn away but paused to greet the one called Adam, before vanishing in a blinding flash of light.

"Pious..." said Damsel, standing to embrace her waken husband. "What's going on?"

"Rachel, thank goodness you're okay," he replied. "Don't... don't worry about it, you wouldn't understand. Are there people fighting up in the church?"

As though right on cue, a train of two dozen invaders, who had been de-spelling the magical barriers around the crypt, now flooded down the stairs. With magic rounds they shot their way through countless traps set within the walls, breaching the small lair's technological defences. Back in the church, Price and Glittergirl were barely holding under a psionic shield. It seemed the only thing standing between the soldiers and the Priest was now Storm and the Centurion.

Jacub's rage was made worse by the electric cage formed to contain him. It did nothing except fuel is anger more. The intensity of the flames had made him resistant to immobilisation and other such attacks. It burnt ever more ferocious, growing into an inferno so large the burning walls of the alley began to crumble, threatening to collapse. The religious soldier's infamous rage was now beyond his control. Mournful for his brother, vengeful at those who had killed him, annoyed by the sword-wielding meddler and frustrated by the woman who still refused to hand over his dead brother's arsenal, Jacub was now quite literally a live wire. His powers, fuelled by emotion were a danger to everyone around him. Now having surpassed his usual limits of capability, Jacub's fiery rage was fast becoming unstoppable. His hellish inferno now burning all of the buildings connected to the alleyway.

Interestingly, the magical fire hadn't caused Zero's van any damage, but smoke and fire had trickled through the Pocket D portal. Of course, it burnt nothing, but those inside with keen senses would notice something was wrong at the King's Row exit doors. Back outside, the sounds of sirens wailed from the distance. Clearly, someone somewhere inside the burning buildings, had rightfully called the police and fire department. First on the scene was a police squad car, and who should step out but Detective Dean Doyle, loyal and faithful police partner to the now dead Detective Mulligan. Dean was shocked and astounded by the magnitude of the fire before him but his expression soon turned to bitter grief at the sight of his partner's fedora and badge, laying half-burnt by a pile of bones.

In a grand repetition of Biblical history, as written in the Book of Saint Luke chapter two, verse nine. Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy."

But in actual fact, what had happened was far more violent. A giant ball of blinding light, white-hot and pulsating with unimaginable energy had descended into the centre of the church and repelled all that it touched. Flinging aside all the warring soldiers against the walls and pillars, rendering some unconscious. "אל תירא, כי הנה, אני מביא לכם בשורות טובות של שמחה גדולה" was all that was heard. A deafening noise that threatened to shatter the ear drums of those nearby.

Sister Mary had rushed into the church at the sight of this emanating light and witnessed with her own eyes as the ball of energy changed its form into that of a woman with pale skin and glowing blonde hair. She was clothed in a dark armour and armed for battle. "All of you. Get out!" she commanded, and without question, Sister Mary rushed back out onto the fields. The soldiers still standing had other ideas however and began firing unholy blasts of energy at the angel.

"Your Majesty, this anomaly in the time stream has brought us here with too little time. This is the angel that awakens the Priest" reported Shimon.

"Then we are sadly, too late!" replied the woman, who bore resemblance to the pregnant Damsel. "Still, our mission remains. Keep firing!"

But the angel made no efforts to defend herself from the blasts. They just seemed to bounce off her and ricochetted back at the shooters with fatal accuracy. "You are the one called Adam," she said, addressing Storm. "Do not concern yourself with these men. They are selfish zealots from another place in time who now seek to possess and control your leader. But he is elsewhere in mind and spirit and will need our help to return to this realm. Will you take me to him?"

Though the woman had escaped certain death, there was no hope for the Detective who had been burnt down to nothing but bone. The enraged Jacub flung aside his first victim's charred skeleton and focused all his anger towards the gremlin lady. As she siphoned his magical energy, he gladly offered her more. The flames of his magical fire flickered uncontrollably across the alleyway, catching onto the nearby buildings and the Pocket D van and growing even more into a full blown inferno. Still his power grew, feeding the gremlin woman with fatally unlimited energy and threatening to consume her whole with deadly flames.

"Hmm" was all the sound he could muster under his uncontrollably rising rage. He was now visibly shaking, the veins under his skin bulging as his muscles tensed up. His grip on his two captives tightened into a choke-hold. All of this was happening and the man was completely unaware of his actions. When his face finally stopped jerking around like a small berserker seizure, it became clear to see the man was deeply upset by the woman's choice of words.

So much so that he had begun to cry. Then without warning, his hands burst into flames. The fire, clearly magical in nature, was so wild it flickered all around the alley, engulfing the police detective whole and leaving him a charred string of bones within seconds. He expected the same would have happened to the female hero but just then, he sensed a magical presence directly above him. Even as he looked up, his raging hot aura of fire only grew wilder, hotter and more uncontrolled the greater his rage. "I am Jacub" he sobbed, "and by His power, I shall bring vengeance upon you all!"