A Bad Day at the Beach (Open RP)

((Do you mean English, Fanservice? American's not a language... >.>))

"My sense of dramatic timing is tingling!"

Some particularly observant bystander might have been able to hear a faint battle cry from the apex of the sky, its source vasly unseeable to the naked eye save for a small black dot. This continued for several minutes, during which time other heroes had already stolen this supposed 'dramatic timing'. Nonetheless, the Knight of Zero did not hold back, even when reality refused to conform to his standards. Eventually, he fell, jamming a glowing, blue, beam broadsword between the eyes of the psychic abomination.

"You will rue this day, Malevolent Mammalian! The good people of this beach have every right to enjoy the taciturn and quaint enjoyment of their time off, just as you've every right to roam the muky depths from which you've no doubt emerged! Persecuted or not, I can not condone the senseless murder of these innocent people, nor can I permit you to continue with your operation! Malevolent Mammalian, you shall be vanquished this day!"

Whether or not the whale laughed at him was his business. True, this man impersonating Zero solely for 'dramatic' effect was certainly a humorous sight. However, things tended to become less funny when one's head was pierced.

"Convert to the side of justice or fall beneath the heels of those who serve it!"

(( American English is though, which shortens nicely to just American. Besides, she thinks its called that. It's easier for her to think people in America to speak American and people in England speak English! ))

Gasping in shock as people start cutting the poor whale up, Claire's jet black eyes narrow as she pounds a jet of water up with a mental thump, spraying the whale with a column of water. "Do not hurt the Whale with such vigour!" she cries out indignantly "Just because it does not look human, does not mean you can just kill it!"

Claire Buoyant had a good grasp of what was going on, with so many eyes about she was able to see that she wasn't alone in responding, she even saw Susan who had been so helpful in getting her established in Paragon. Clearing her head, she tried to send an apology to the whale while sweeping anyone civilians who were slow moving out of the way with a roll of the earth beneath them.

In the well-ventilated (if a little dusty) library in Steel Canyon's University, Manny Azeerah sat at her desk reading an old copy of Moby Dic k. Her reading would occasionally be interrupted by a student wishing to take out a book or ask for directions to the toilets. Being a librarian was a genteel job but it wasn't her only vocation.

Recently she had taken to leaving her Police Radio, cunningly hidden under a pile of papers on abstraction in art, switched on. The volume was very low but, every now and then, she would concentrate to the point of meditation and tune in to the broadcasts.

"We have a 10-80! All units to report to Talos Island. Spanky's Boardwalk is under siege from unidentified invader. Advise caution. Weather patterns changed. Psychic units req..."

Oh dear, Manny thought to herself, No one to cover for this one.

Then a somewhat roguish thought came to her...

Moments later the students in the library were forced to evacuate as the fire alarms blared.

Manny, despite her age, managed to skip impishly away from the building and hopped onto her trusty motorbike (with sidecar) and sped down the streets towards Talos.

"THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO REASON." Krill Killer's telepathic voice boomed in Claire Bouyant's mind. "THEIR LUST FOR VIOLENCE HAS KILLED MANY OF MY POD, AND EVEN NOW THEY LASH OUT RATHER THAN SAVE THEIR IMPERILED BRETHREN."

Righting himself underwater, the Whale shook himself. The eye beams had been weakened by the water as it hit him, but the strain of exerting his powers had begun to take their toll. "NOW THEY SHALL LEARN THE WRATH OF THE TIDES. THEY WERE NOT PREPARED!"

... Not that he was prepared for the beam sword to the head. Even under the water, it sunk into him like a hot knife through butter. A psychic wave of utter anguish blasted forth across the sea and beach.

"Ok, KHELDIAN." The centipede said very aggressively. How he knew the man was Kheldian was up to question. "I'm going to say the following slowly, and in YOUR language so that we don't misunderstand each other. K'? <I have had a VERY VERY bad day already. My ride is wrecked, my filters haven't arrived, a giant psychic WHALE is trying to kill EVERYTHING, already got stepped on once, and now you assault me. So I'm going to wave that, just this once. But one more time and I will use you as FUEL, just the Coming Storm.> The centipede suddenly switched back to English, now sounding a good deal more pleasant. "I feel better now. So scram, sea-shape shifter."

He was about to turn and leave when a Psychic Wail blasted across the beach from Krill Killer. In reaction, several of the centipede's legs started to spasm uncontrollably.

"And now my day is complete. Perfect. Just what I needed." The centipede snarled to itself, wobbling rather precariously as it tried to exit the beach proper.

((Kyo, Kauruk's a purple dragon, not a lizard man. Yes, purple. ))

Sue was grateful for the help of the familiar looking aquatic psychic, with help from the blue skinned woman they could have all the civilians in most danger out of the water in next to no time, which was much quicker then she could have done it alone plucking them up one or two at a time with her Telekinesis.

<Hey Claire> Sue spoke psychically to her helper <Glad to see it’s not just me dealing with these people! Once we’re done we might be able to try and talk so->.

She didn’t get a chance to finish, the huge blast of anguish from Krill Killer blasting across her mind, in hindsight spreading herself so thin to pluck people out of the water and speak to Claire had lowered her defences too much to resist. She fell to her knees in the frothing surf, hands clutching to her bandanna covered head as she cried out in the agony of the large marine mammal, rather unceremoniously dropping the last person she’d lifted out of the water a few feet towards the sandy beach.

"Oh for- OOFT!" Richie grunted upon landing face first in the sand. Just before the whale submerged proper, he had teleported away just in the nick of time, but not without the minor farce of trying to pull his swords out from the monster. Pulling Silver out was a cakewalk, but Gold on the other hand refused to budge without having to give it a good kick in the hilt. Still, at least he escaped with only soaked trainers and sand in his face.

Richie lifted his head up immediately and spat out some sand that had crept into his mouth before looking for the whale, seeing no sign of it at all other than the heroes circling what he assumed to be its position... and some maniac charging down at it with a lightsaber.

Well, Moby's proper shaft- he thought to himself, before being rudely interrupted...

"Ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ai-AI-AI-AI-AI-OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" Richie clutched his head when the psychic wave hit, almost shoving his face back into the sand again. When the wave passed Richie simply groaned.

"Ugh... That's gonna take a truckload of painkillers to shift..."

The psychic wail was powerful, but M221's superior robotic construction kept it from being too horribly damaged, thanks to lacking a mind. The surge of psychic power was not completely ineffective though

The immense power shorted several pieces of advanced circuitry, so when M221 tried to respond to Claire, all that everyone heard was a rapid series of snaps, clicks, and something suspiciously like a recording of Frank Sinatra's "We did it my way"

Quickly rerouting the subroutines, M221 tried again, "Fellow warrior of justice, twice now have I offered Killer Krill to surrender, but this Warmongering Whale will have--"

A series of sparks sprang from M221's head as its deep and booming voice altered to sound like Harrison Ford, "No time to discuss this in committee!"

The psychic wail had done more damage that previously estimated. M221's advanced machine brain was forced to shut down, reverting to the archaeic programming it had been orginally designed with. Nothing could ever change M221's dedication to justice, for that was instilled into every nut, bolt, and soldering wire, but M221's methods were reduced to the programs written by a 13 year old child genius who loved giant robots.

Flying straight at Killer Krill, M221's hands surged with bright red power, and the robot screamed, "This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar tells me to defeat you!"

Manny arrived at the scene on her 'bike, her goggles on to prevent bugs flying into her eyes. The old thing puttered and belched a cloud of smoke as she idled by the boardwalk.

She got off the contraption, waving away smoke and trying to disentangle the goggles which had caught up in her long, pepperpot hair.

Then the wave of psychic energy washed over her and she fell back, pinned to the floor in an awkward position for several minutes. She heard the glass from the goggles break and, when she was able to move finally, she noticed the cuts on her hand.

The World was swimming, she was hurt and she hadn't even reached the source of the disturbance. I'm getting far too old for this.

Manny made her way unsteadily to the beach, her vision still blurry and she groped for a handrail as she descended the steps to the sand.

Hmmm...something's definitely out of kilter here. Although her outward senses were distorted she could still feel something in the fabric of nature deep within her bones. It was an ancient kind of magic and one which she had come to cherish, despite the problems it had brought her over the years.

Manny reached the beach proper and looked at the assembled costumed individuals who were doing their best to protect the civilians caught up in the event. She didn't recognise any of them but this was becoming a much more frequent occurrence nowadays.

Well now... I may as well make myself known to everyone. And if there's a psychic involved it won't matter much in the manner that I do it.

Manny concentrated, finally pulling her shocked nerves into focus and the wind speed increased around her, spiralling outwards. It wasn't a particularly strong wind and it didn't need to be. She spoke into the wind and her voice carried out across the beach:

"Hello. Whirling Dervish here. Who needs assistance?"

High above the carnage at Spankey's Boardwalk, a glittering sphere of energy drifted down from the clouds, finally coming to a halt a dozen meters above the churning water.

A woman's disembodied voice sounded from within the sphere, as if talking to itself. "Bloody hell, what a complete fiasco... What the hell are these idiots doing?"

The voice paused, as if listening to something, before replying again. "I suppose I should, but REALLY... Even rookie's don't put civilians in this kind of danger... God I hate this city..."

Energy crackled around the sphere as the voice stopped, and a second later there was a roaring crack of thunder and the sphere vanished, replaced with a slender, white haired woman with cat ears and a long tail. Surplus energy crackled around her white and black armoured body, making her instantly recognizable as a member of the Unity Vigil.

Eye's glowing with an intense light, she swooped down from the sky, grabbed the wrists of several civilians still floundering in the water and carried them to the relative safety of the beach.

Finally, with the last of the civilians beached, she turned her attention to the "heroes" that had caused this carnage.

"Just what the BLOODY hell are you MORONS doing!? You could have gotten all these people KILLED!" Energy crackled around her body as she raged at them. "Honestly, I've never seen such a complete and utter bunch of losers in my LIFE!"

Looking up at M221, she yelled. "Hey you! Robocop! Get your tin butt down here and do your bloody job of PROTECTING people!"

((He's not that large, actually. Think horse.))

"Hmh." the Summoner grumbled back, not entirely sure what to make of this. Deception was a very valid tactic for a villain in the Kheldian's position to use right now. Still, the man had insulted the 'bug' right after apologzing to him...which really did suggest he simply wasn't that bright; at least to Kauruk.

He would've made a remark in that regard as well, but a certain whale of a wail on the mental plane crashed against the General's mind (as well as the demons he'd called) then and there. The Cerosian dragon winced in pain and stumbled to the side, but managed to maintain his balance. His henchmen weren't so fortunate, falling toward the waters with horrid wails of their own, clutching their heads as if to keep them from bursting. It didn't help. Kauruk cleared his own head with a vigorous shake just in time to see them crash into the waves.

"So much for that." he remarked with a sharp, dissatisfied exhale through his nostrils as he looked about. He played briefly with the idea of opening another Oblivion Gate, but tossed it away again once he'd reassessed the situation. It seemed the threat had passed from the immediate area, and - at least judging by the shouts that newly arrived monochromatic female barked about - that the recovery efforts weren't going too well.

"Contact the appropriate authorities." Kauruk thus told the Kheldian in a neutral tone before walking away, fairly sure the man would know the names of the organizations that needed to be called to render assistance - or at least know them better than he. Asking him to put out a call to 'Paragon Citizen Maintenance and Repair' would've just ended in confusion, after all. Heck, from what the Summoner had seen to far, they didn't even have a Watcher here, which likely meant any terminology related to Cerosian law enforcement and population maintenance would've been gibberish.

Unfortunately, while Kauruk had taken that much into account, he'd forgotten that people here tended not to have telecommunication implants.

And that they didn't pick up others with their mouths.

The first person he attempted to lift thus certainly didn't react in a way he'd have considered normal...

((Tag to anyone who feels like being it. Fair warning: he ate garlic pasta for lunch. ))

((Best. Robot. Ever.))

"Villain! Vile, ghastly, heathenistic, irreproachable, malcontented, incomprehensible, dastardly, evil, destructable, damning, ambivalent, malevolent, despicable, defying..."

He continued on like that for the majority of the wail, using sheer willpower, (Or perhaps his skull was simply that thick?), to avoid losing grip on his sword.

Gasping, perhaps melodramatically, panting as if having just been dealt a fatal blow by the Big Bad, he spoke. "You will turn to Justice! You will fight alongside Truth and all that is Righteous!"

With a click and a whirr, the panel over his left eye opened up, dramatically revealing an eye with a Geass contact inserted into it.

"I, Lelouch Vi Britannia, command you! Becom- GAH!"

He seemed to forget that they were currently underwater.

The salty liquid rushed into his helmet through the newly found hole, forcing the youth up and out of the water, taking care not to forget his sword in the process. Stumbling, Zero came up, tripping, on top of the whale, ripping off his helmet and gasping for air, only to hear...

"AGH!" Kip shouted as the psychic wave crashed into him.

Clutching his head, he went back to the beach. The fight had already damaged the whale to a point that was defeating it, anything else he could do would simply be redundant.

By now, Krill Killer was thrashing helplessly in the water as it writhed in pain, only to get struck by the robot and suited man that had stabbed it. Letting out a another burst of Telekinetic energy, The Psy Whale tried to speed away to safer waters. In its thrashing though, it had aligned itself with the southern part of the beach, near a rocky area and with a mighty crash and spray of sand beached itself.

The leviathan laid on the beach, its tail and flippers jerking around as it tried to gather the energy to escape its current predicament.

Shaking her head clear, Claire Buoyant had dropped out of the sky when the psychic wave hit and thanks to her life support suit was currently stuck below the waves. Loosing herself free with a telekinetic push, she took a short breather under the water before streaming for the shore coming out of the water with a stagger to her step as the extra weight hit her.

Things were noisy and with so many people around her head filled up with sensory feedback giving her a headache without it being managed properly . Linking back up with all the senses flying about was not fun, especially in the midst of a panic and some minds still reeling from the blast, but eventually she gets an eye that's looking at Psyzan and tries to return the message. "If you can hear I hope you are okay Susan. I apologize for not being able to stop it, I was poor with my choice of words. Apparently many of its kind have died and its heart now only knows revenge, it finds the aggression typical of those on the surface."

Which was admittedly getting a little hard to argue against, the more enthusiastic would have to be stopped before they hurt someone. She waves a hand as a spray of sand from the whales beaching is thrown up into the air, catching it on a wall of force and letting it run down to form a small bank between whale and some of the beach goers. A second mental nudge has a white picket fence uprooted and snaking through the air before it crashes down in the beach to the Whale's side between M221 and the man in dress up if he's managed to surface, Claire flying down to land on the top of it like some overgrown blue cat.

Her pitch black eyes aren't very expressive but she plainly isn't very happy, her voice stressed as she tries to defuse the situation. "You have beaten it, well done. Now unless you were planning to become murderers, you will stop or you will also be fighting me." Two of the stakes crack and break off the fence, the wooden points arcing up to be ready to lash out. She reaches back to try pat the lashing creatures side, the animals mind too big and powerful for her to even try soothing. She might be able to lift it, but the forces depression could kill it. "How long he can breathe out of water I do not know. But he will need to be put back there soon."

<Elsewhere>

Samantha Huntington's head whipped up as the message began.
"Mistress Samantha? There is a disturbance on the beaches of Talos Island. Insufficient data to process threat at this time. Current information indicates threat may be psychic in nature."

Grimacing to herself, Sam hastily finished her current... task, straightening her clothes with a muttered imprecation about the chosen timing of inconsiderate villains, and stepped quickly into her bedroom.

"Helena?" Her voice was testy as she addressed the Artificial Intelligence she had built. "Activate teleport network, drop me off on Talos as quickly as you can."

A familiar lurching wrench turned her stomach and an instant later she found herself standing on a long ridgeline, looking down at Spanky's Boardwalk and the chaos below.

* * * * *

Back in the apartment, one of Helena's avatars - sophisticated android constructs designed to fulfill a number of roles - walked through Sam's bedroom and peered around the door, sighed, and strolled in to actually flush the toilet.

* * * * *

Wincing to herself as psychic messages flashed around nearby, Sam took a deep, steadying breath, and relaxed her will. A brilliant glow formed around her, the air shimmering in the sudden outburst of radiation. Applying a tiny fraction of her attention, she telekinetically diverted the flow of energy and lifted herself into the air, pirhouetted with delight, then dove toward the beach.

She stretched out with her mind, trying to touch everyone she could find who was frightened, and sent soothing messages to them, instructing them to remain calm and proceed in a swift yet orderly fashion away from the disturbance. It would have been easier to mind-blank the lot of them, strip away their memory of the strange whale and the battle, and force them to move, but that just wasn't how she operated.

At the same time, she sent out a questing message with her thoughts. Luminescence, here. Who's on the spot?

Down on the beach, the black & white clad Peacebringer, unable to hear Luminescence's telephathic broadcast due to her psi-blindness, nevertheless spotted her approach and waved to her before turning back to the guy trying to pick her up.

"Look, either make yourself useful, or get out of people's way, alright?"

Spotting a familiar face, Sam swooped down to hover beside the Peacebringer.

"Hey, sugar! I'll get on with the people side of things - you get on with handling the big nasty. He's putting out a lot of psychic energy, and I really don't want to tangle with that right now."

Her eyes were slightly distracted as she gazed around at the unfolding scene, and she turned a dazzling smile on the man nearby. "Want to help me get these people safe, sugar? Or are you going to spend all your time chasing that tail of hers around the beach?" With a saucy wink and a grin, she patted her own rump. "Of course, you could see where chasing this tail gets you, I guess."

With a throaty chuckle, Sam rose another thirty feet or so into the air, before glancing below her once more, looking down at the man past her fluttering skirt - it might have been a smart idea to put on her coolant suit before coming out here today, but there hadn't been time to change - and she blew him a kiss. "Oh, and sugar? No peeking, okay?"