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@rhbuzzkill-blog
Boo
Lights flashed on, blindingly bright. Bright enough to bring the Mercenary out out of unconsciousness. The room she was in was empty save for a blacked out window, a door, a table and two chairs. Including the one she was being restrained in. In from the door walked Dreamer, this time dressed only in his RH Fatigues with a pistol and holster. The Trooper took to the chair across from Misty. “You alright? I imagine Buzzkill wasn’t too gentle with you...”
Misty slowly returned to life, her body sore and her mind reeling. She looked at her surroundings with disdain and dismay, knowing for absolute certainty that she had failed her mission.
The boy in front of her looked new, but when she heard his voice she recognized him as one of the armored back-up Jenny had, no doubt in charge of the others who wore it there. But he was so much younger than she expected, closer to her own age: way too young for a normal person to be commanding troops. What is this place?
“Why do you care?” She sneered, looking back up at him. “Are you interrogating ‘muh feelings’ now?”
Firfek. This won’t end well…
Dreamer quickly got up and re-secured Misty’s arm, putting a finger to his lips as he did. He wasn’t exactly afraid, but his mind was racing to figure out why Principal Grim had decided to interrupt the interrogation…and why he sounded absolutely furious. Walking to the door and opening it quickly, Dreamer stood at attention as he quite literally looked death in the face.
“Principal, Sir!” He said with a salute.
…Fingers crossed this doesn’t make things go up in smoke.
“The noise and voice certainly seemed intimidating, for sure, but given the variety of people at this school, Misty half-expected it to be some tiny guy with a megaphone and a sledgehammer. If her “interrogator” was this concerned, however, she figured she ought to be as well; she cooperated as he locked her arm back into place.
A flood of light filled the room as the door opened at last, but given the darkness of the room all Misty could see was a menacing, somewhat-human silhouette against the lit outside. It entered the room and was followed by a buxom woman with fluffy orange hair, her hands behind her back as she tersely got a first glimpse at the school’s intruder. She stayed in the background, however, as the imposing figure began to speak.
Keep reading
“Yes, Ma’am.” Dreamer quickly saluted.
The Anti-Trooper quickly turned and took a few steps towards the now vacant chair, glancing at Misty with a wink that he hoped she caught. Whatever happened, she needed to know that he had her back. Turning back to Ms. Bellum and Grim, he stood up straight and began to recount the “Interrogation.”
Keep reading
Misty arched a curious eyebrow at Dreamer’s response. The two apparent leaders of the school had a point; she was an intruder sent to destroy not one, but two of their students. If what they were saying was true, then this plot was even wider reaching than she would have anticipated. If she’d known that there was so much at stake…
Neither Miss Bellum nor Grim looked impressed, however, by the explanation they were given.
Keep reading
Hands behind his back, one clenched in a tight fist, Dreamer remained at attention.
“Affirmative. As the detainee no longer has any information I need, I’ll see to having her removed from school grounds.”
For the first time since he was very young, Dreamer was caught flatfooted. And he was furious at himself for it. He assumed that Grim’s incompetence would give him and his brothers some time to figure out a plan of action and how to prove Will’s innocence when he would inevitably be falsely accused. Now there was no time…and blamed himself. He said nothing else to Grim and Ms Bellum, having no way to immediately remedy the situation…
The suspense was high. There was a brief silence.
Buzzkill’s dramatic bastard senses were tingling.
He kicked open the door, his hands to busy carrying a giant bucket of popcorn to bother opening it in a decent way, he barged his way in. For the first few moments, the massive pile of popcorn blocked his view of the other two figures there. “Sorry for being late, was showing Mantis around. How’s the tor…ture…” he stated, pausing upon seeing the Principal and Vice Principal standing there. He stood in silence.
His grin grew massive.
“Don’t tell me, she talked him Out of sending her to hell? C’mon, Miss Bellum, it’s only a Little demonic sacrifice. We’ll even leave most of her internal organs intact!” he joked sadistically, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. He knew there was no way Misty would be sacrificed, Miss Bellum was too good and competent for that, but maybe Misty didn’t know that.
Mantis, upon hearing ‘torture’, ‘hell’ and ‘demonic sacrifice’, thought it best Not to check in on Beekeeper yet and walked back over. Seeing Death and Miss Bellum, he waved from the doorway. “We weren’t going to torture you, don’t worry,” he said to Misty, clarifying Buzzkill’s wording.
“Hey, I never agreed to that,” Buzzkill countered, smiling widely.
The sight of these two walking into the room was the last thing Misty needewd right now. Not only was it a reminder of the violently one-sided beatdown she had received, but also of the image that sent her into panic-induced unconsciousness.
Ugh, as if this whole situation couldn’t get any worse.
Miss Bellum was rather surprised to see Buzzkill walk in, but Grim’s countenance remained unchanged, a scowl of disapproval crossing his jaw. All Buzzkill had done was save him the trouble of going to his room to speak to him.
“Ah, Mistah Buzzkill,” he spoke, his words dripping with his own brand of venom, “Good tah see you. I was just about tah meet wit’ you in regards tah your wit’holdin’ of dis dire situation. If ya had simply told us about dis little insurrection, I would not have tah suspend you and ya little group of friends for a week.”
“Now we have less time to prepare for whatever it is that Kurtis is planning,” Bellum elaborated, indicating this to Mantis Shrimp as well. “You may have stopped this attack, but we’re talking about a man with extensive funds and - practically - a license to kill. Up until now, he’s done more subversive attacks, but who’s to say he’s not assembling forces for a full-on assault as we speak?”
“Dat,” Grim added, “is not a chance we are willing tah take. So aftah we block ‘dis Misty and her accomplice from returning tah ‘de’ multiverse, we are going tah prepare fo’ de’ worst.”
Bellum said nothing. She and Grim had already debated the issue of Will’s alleged involvement quite heatedly this morning, but Grim stood firm against each argument. She was even starting to grow unsure of Will’s integrity herself.
“…speaking tactically, Baytheon has no use for a mentally ill teenager. His self loathing and compassion make him a liability for this kind of operation. Kurtis is using Will as a scape goat. These are tactics used by Sepratist Spies, who usually exploit economical resources…namely weapons manufacturing.”
A switch had gone off in Dreamer’s head once Grim had said the word “Suspending”. When dire situations arose, he could turn from care free to laser focused in a matter of seconds. This was a defensive mechanism that Dreamer developed early on as an Arc Anti Trooper, when live fire exercises were employed.
Adapt or Die.
“Will’s is innocent. Trusting him with infiltration and espionage would defy all logical and tactical reasoning. If Will was a spy, and Reaper High was enough of a threat to warrant hiring a Mercenary of power equal to one of that universe’s strongest combatants, Will would’ve shown his true colors already.”
Dreamer figured that if he’d been wrong in assuming that he’d have time before Will was framed, he figured that he could possibly be wrong about at Ms. Bellum seeing reason. If she didn’t…he would have to make some…risky decisions.
Mantis gave Buzzkill a stunned look at learning Buzzkill didn’t alert the school of the threat - Buzzkill didn’t care. You’ll really trust the villain to inform everyone? Dexter’s info would spread out anyway. If the school was alerted, easier fight. If it wasn’t he got to make it that much more personal. Win-win in his eyes.
The ‘accomplice’ line was a bit confusing, until Dreamer spoke up. Then it was Buzzkill’s turn to be stunned.
Then all he could do was laugh at how ridiculous that was.
Keep reading
Grim arched the top of his orbital socket at this display. He had to admire the guts of this villain to stand up like this to his own principal, let alone the very embodiment of Death.
Bellum did not flinch when the behatted boy addressed her, either; she regretted going along with Grim’s plan, and was thankful someone was calling them both out for it. She knew, however, that nothing would sway Grim from this course, especially not someone he was already mad at.
Keep reading
Dreamer let out a quick sigh of relief before swiftly moving to undo Misty’s restraints.
I knew there was a reason I had faith in her…
“Guess that settles that.” He rolled his neck after letting Misty free. “Alright, we’ve got work to do. We need to mobilize and find a way to prove Will’s innocence and neutralize Baytheon as a threat to the school.”
The ARC Trooper pulled out a small ear piece from his belt and raised his brothers. This was now a full-fledged op. No more discretion.
“Wire. It’s Dreamer. We’ve got an update.” Dreamer let Hotwire respond before speaking again. “Meet me with the boys in the hangar. 10 minutes. Get Shard, Melody and Revar if you can, and see if you can get the guardians on the horn too. Dream out.”
Putting away the earpiece, he turned to his companions and gestured to the door. There wasn’t much time to waste anymore, since enough time had passed to allow Baytheon to assume Misty had failed, and that further action would be required.
“Unless we’ve got further matters to discuss, Let’s roll. We can come up with a plan once the gang’s all together.” He turned to Misty, thinking about what she said. “Welcome to the club, by the way.”
Mantis gave a big smile, posing dramatically as heroic music blared from the speakers on his belt. “Excellent! Let’s go and defeat the evil Baytheon!” he cheered, walking off with Dreamer.
Buzzkill, feeling extra confident after getting off free from yelling at the Principal and Vice Principal, walked after them. “I vote we head right to his office where he’s all stockpiled and wreck the place. With what I gave Mantis it’ll be a piece of cake,”
“And potentially dangerous! It took time for me to get used to my strength in the first place, boosting it to excessive levels would pose a risk to the honest workers inside. Besides, it probably has further risks, even if temporary,”
Buzzkill rolled his eyes, muttering about not being the only Buzzkill, as he pulled out his cellphone to give Soap a call. With the assassin gone, the two guarding Beekeeper didn’t need to be so on guard. Fuck being on the defensive.
He started a fight on their turf? It’s time to return the favor.
Lights flashed on, blindingly bright. Bright enough to bring the Mercenary out out of unconsciousness. The room she was in was empty save for a blacked out window, a door, a table and two chairs. Including the one she was being restrained in. In from the door walked Dreamer, this time dressed only in his RH Fatigues with a pistol and holster. The Trooper took to the chair across from Misty. “You alright? I imagine Buzzkill wasn’t too gentle with you...”
Misty slowly returned to life, her body sore and her mind reeling. She looked at her surroundings with disdain and dismay, knowing for absolute certainty that she had failed her mission.
The boy in front of her looked new, but when she heard his voice she recognized him as one of the armored back-up Jenny had, no doubt in charge of the others who wore it there. But he was so much younger than she expected, closer to her own age: way too young for a normal person to be commanding troops. What is this place?
“Why do you care?” She sneered, looking back up at him. “Are you interrogating ‘muh feelings’ now?”
Firfek. This won’t end well…
Dreamer quickly got up and re-secured Misty’s arm, putting a finger to his lips as he did. He wasn’t exactly afraid, but his mind was racing to figure out why Principal Grim had decided to interrupt the interrogation…and why he sounded absolutely furious. Walking to the door and opening it quickly, Dreamer stood at attention as he quite literally looked death in the face.
“Principal, Sir!” He said with a salute.
…Fingers crossed this doesn’t make things go up in smoke.
“The noise and voice certainly seemed intimidating, for sure, but given the variety of people at this school, Misty half-expected it to be some tiny guy with a megaphone and a sledgehammer. If her “interrogator” was this concerned, however, she figured she ought to be as well; she cooperated as he locked her arm back into place.
A flood of light filled the room as the door opened at last, but given the darkness of the room all Misty could see was a menacing, somewhat-human silhouette against the lit outside. It entered the room and was followed by a buxom woman with fluffy orange hair, her hands behind her back as she tersely got a first glimpse at the school’s intruder. She stayed in the background, however, as the imposing figure began to speak.
Keep reading
“Yes, Ma’am.” Dreamer quickly saluted.
The Anti-Trooper quickly turned and took a few steps towards the now vacant chair, glancing at Misty with a wink that he hoped she caught. Whatever happened, she needed to know that he had her back. Turning back to Ms. Bellum and Grim, he stood up straight and began to recount the “Interrogation.”
Keep reading
Misty arched a curious eyebrow at Dreamer’s response. The two apparent leaders of the school had a point; she was an intruder sent to destroy not one, but two of their students. If what they were saying was true, then this plot was even wider reaching than she would have anticipated. If she’d known that there was so much at stake…
Neither Miss Bellum nor Grim looked impressed, however, by the explanation they were given.
Keep reading
Hands behind his back, one clenched in a tight fist, Dreamer remained at attention.
“Affirmative. As the detainee no longer has any information I need, I’ll see to having her removed from school grounds.”
For the first time since he was very young, Dreamer was caught flatfooted. And he was furious at himself for it. He assumed that Grim’s incompetence would give him and his brothers some time to figure out a plan of action and how to prove Will’s innocence when he would inevitably be falsely accused. Now there was no time…and blamed himself. He said nothing else to Grim and Ms Bellum, having no way to immediately remedy the situation…
The suspense was high. There was a brief silence.
Buzzkill’s dramatic bastard senses were tingling.
He kicked open the door, his hands to busy carrying a giant bucket of popcorn to bother opening it in a decent way, he barged his way in. For the first few moments, the massive pile of popcorn blocked his view of the other two figures there. “Sorry for being late, was showing Mantis around. How’s the tor…ture…” he stated, pausing upon seeing the Principal and Vice Principal standing there. He stood in silence.
His grin grew massive.
“Don’t tell me, she talked him Out of sending her to hell? C’mon, Miss Bellum, it’s only a Little demonic sacrifice. We’ll even leave most of her internal organs intact!” he joked sadistically, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. He knew there was no way Misty would be sacrificed, Miss Bellum was too good and competent for that, but maybe Misty didn’t know that.
Mantis, upon hearing ‘torture’, ‘hell’ and ‘demonic sacrifice’, thought it best Not to check in on Beekeeper yet and walked back over. Seeing Death and Miss Bellum, he waved from the doorway. “We weren’t going to torture you, don’t worry,” he said to Misty, clarifying Buzzkill’s wording.
“Hey, I never agreed to that,” Buzzkill countered, smiling widely.
The sight of these two walking into the room was the last thing Misty needewd right now. Not only was it a reminder of the violently one-sided beatdown she had received, but also of the image that sent her into panic-induced unconsciousness.
Ugh, as if this whole situation couldn’t get any worse.
Miss Bellum was rather surprised to see Buzzkill walk in, but Grim’s countenance remained unchanged, a scowl of disapproval crossing his jaw. All Buzzkill had done was save him the trouble of going to his room to speak to him.
“Ah, Mistah Buzzkill,” he spoke, his words dripping with his own brand of venom, “Good tah see you. I was just about tah meet wit’ you in regards tah your wit’holdin’ of dis dire situation. If ya had simply told us about dis little insurrection, I would not have tah suspend you and ya little group of friends for a week.”
“Now we have less time to prepare for whatever it is that Kurtis is planning,” Bellum elaborated, indicating this to Mantis Shrimp as well. “You may have stopped this attack, but we’re talking about a man with extensive funds and - practically - a license to kill. Up until now, he’s done more subversive attacks, but who’s to say he’s not assembling forces for a full-on assault as we speak?”
“Dat,” Grim added, “is not a chance we are willing tah take. So aftah we block ‘dis Misty and her accomplice from returning tah ‘de’ multiverse, we are going tah prepare fo’ de’ worst.”
Bellum said nothing. She and Grim had already debated the issue of Will’s alleged involvement quite heatedly this morning, but Grim stood firm against each argument. She was even starting to grow unsure of Will’s integrity herself.
“…speaking tactically, Baytheon has no use for a mentally ill teenager. His self loathing and compassion make him a liability for this kind of operation. Kurtis is using Will as a scape goat. These are tactics used by Sepratist Spies, who usually exploit economical resources…namely weapons manufacturing.”
A switch had gone off in Dreamer’s head once Grim had said the word “Suspending”. When dire situations arose, he could turn from care free to laser focused in a matter of seconds. This was a defensive mechanism that Dreamer developed early on as an Arc Anti Trooper, when live fire exercises were employed.
Adapt or Die.
“Will’s is innocent. Trusting him with infiltration and espionage would defy all logical and tactical reasoning. If Will was a spy, and Reaper High was enough of a threat to warrant hiring a Mercenary of power equal to one of that universe’s strongest combatants, Will would’ve shown his true colors already.”
Dreamer figured that if he’d been wrong in assuming that he’d have time before Will was framed, he figured that he could possibly be wrong about at Ms. Bellum seeing reason. If she didn’t…he would have to make some…risky decisions.
Mantis gave Buzzkill a stunned look at learning Buzzkill didn’t alert the school of the threat - Buzzkill didn’t care. You’ll really trust the villain to inform everyone? Dexter’s info would spread out anyway. If the school was alerted, easier fight. If it wasn’t he got to make it that much more personal. Win-win in his eyes.
The ‘accomplice’ line was a bit confusing, until Dreamer spoke up. Then it was Buzzkill’s turn to be stunned.
Then all he could do was laugh at how ridiculous that was.
Lights flashed on, blindingly bright. Bright enough to bring the Mercenary out out of unconsciousness. The room she was in was empty save for a blacked out window, a door, a table and two chairs. Including the one she was being restrained in. In from the door walked Dreamer, this time dressed only in his RH Fatigues with a pistol and holster. The Trooper took to the chair across from Misty. “You alright? I imagine Buzzkill wasn’t too gentle with you...”
Misty slowly returned to life, her body sore and her mind reeling. She looked at her surroundings with disdain and dismay, knowing for absolute certainty that she had failed her mission.
The boy in front of her looked new, but when she heard his voice she recognized him as one of the armored back-up Jenny had, no doubt in charge of the others who wore it there. But he was so much younger than she expected, closer to her own age: way too young for a normal person to be commanding troops. What is this place?
“Why do you care?” She sneered, looking back up at him. “Are you interrogating ‘muh feelings’ now?”
Firfek. This won’t end well…
Dreamer quickly got up and re-secured Misty’s arm, putting a finger to his lips as he did. He wasn’t exactly afraid, but his mind was racing to figure out why Principal Grim had decided to interrupt the interrogation…and why he sounded absolutely furious. Walking to the door and opening it quickly, Dreamer stood at attention as he quite literally looked death in the face.
“Principal, Sir!” He said with a salute.
…Fingers crossed this doesn’t make things go up in smoke.
“The noise and voice certainly seemed intimidating, for sure, but given the variety of people at this school, Misty half-expected it to be some tiny guy with a megaphone and a sledgehammer. If her “interrogator” was this concerned, however, she figured she ought to be as well; she cooperated as he locked her arm back into place.
A flood of light filled the room as the door opened at last, but given the darkness of the room all Misty could see was a menacing, somewhat-human silhouette against the lit outside. It entered the room and was followed by a buxom woman with fluffy orange hair, her hands behind her back as she tersely got a first glimpse at the school’s intruder. She stayed in the background, however, as the imposing figure began to speak.
Keep reading
“Yes, Ma’am.” Dreamer quickly saluted.
The Anti-Trooper quickly turned and took a few steps towards the now vacant chair, glancing at Misty with a wink that he hoped she caught. Whatever happened, she needed to know that he had her back. Turning back to Ms. Bellum and Grim, he stood up straight and began to recount the “Interrogation.”
Keep reading
Misty arched a curious eyebrow at Dreamer’s response. The two apparent leaders of the school had a point; she was an intruder sent to destroy not one, but two of their students. If what they were saying was true, then this plot was even wider reaching than she would have anticipated. If she’d known that there was so much at stake…
Neither Miss Bellum nor Grim looked impressed, however, by the explanation they were given.
Keep reading
Hands behind his back, one clenched in a tight fist, Dreamer remained at attention.
“Affirmative. As the detainee no longer has any information I need, I’ll see to having her removed from school grounds.”
For the first time since he was very young, Dreamer was caught flatfooted. And he was furious at himself for it. He assumed that Grim’s incompetence would give him and his brothers some time to figure out a plan of action and how to prove Will’s innocence when he would inevitably be falsely accused. Now there was no time…and blamed himself. He said nothing else to Grim and Ms Bellum, having no way to immediately remedy the situation…
The suspense was high. There was a brief silence.
Buzzkill’s dramatic bastard senses were tingling.
He kicked open the door, his hands to busy carrying a giant bucket of popcorn to bother opening it in a decent way, he barged his way in. For the first few moments, the massive pile of popcorn blocked his view of the other two figures there. “Sorry for being late, was showing Mantis around. How’s the tor...ture...” he stated, pausing upon seeing the Principal and Vice Principal standing there. He stood in silence.
His grin grew massive.
“Don’t tell me, she talked him Out of sending her to hell? C’mon, Miss Bellum, it’s only a Little demonic sacrifice. We’ll even leave most of her internal organs intact!” he joked sadistically, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. He knew there was no way Misty would be sacrificed, Miss Bellum was too good and competent for that, but maybe Misty didn’t know that.
Mantis, upon hearing ‘torture’, ‘hell’ and ‘demonic sacrifice’, thought it best Not to check in on Beekeeper yet and walked back over. Seeing Death and Miss Bellum, he waved from the doorway. “We weren’t going to torture you, don’t worry,” he said to Misty, clarifying Buzzkill’s wording.
“Hey, I never agreed to that,” Buzzkill countered, smiling widely.
Because Halloween is tomorrow, I thought I should put this out there for blogs who have trick-or-treating muses.
Yes! You are allowed to have your muse trick-or-treat at this blog!
My muse(s) will be giving out treats for other muses and you are more than welcome to take advantage of that.
Or tricks~
Is Venom in Reaper High this Halloween?
The villain kids and teachers are afraid of being eaten so they act super nice when he walks by
I consider it moreso highfiving my fellow weird goop person.
If only the voice inside my head was nicer.
...
No, I’m not Venom in our situation!
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
“Cute.” Misty spoke aloud. “Not one, but two stand-up comedians.”
Will was locked into place; even though Misty had no actual control over his mind, he knew there was little he could do in this situation. If he moved toward the group, he would be exposing them to danger. If he ran away, all Misty had to do was leave his mind to get back in the action.
Misty herself was impressed with the sort of manpower they had assembled to defend Jenny; even the two odd ones out seemed rather strong, as overly hammy as they were. Taking over Will allowed her to get a good glimpse at them without being a target.
Removing her presence from Will’s mind, she suddenly latched onto Dreamer.
BZZZRT
On her way in, she came in contact with Dreamer’s magna-staff, which sent a ripple of electricity through her cloudy form. It didn’t cause any actual damage (which was easily undone in this phase anyway), but it dealt her a great deal of pain: enough to prevent her from immediately shifting back into her physical form. However, that couldn’t stop her from invading his mind…
Though caught flat footed by her sudden change in target, Dreamer braced for the intrustion. Misty’s initial probing didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, allowing him to still think clearly and freely.
This is a bizarre way to make a first impression…
The Anti-Trooper’s mind was devoid of virtually anything, focused on one thing and one thing only: Her. Her moves, her weaknesses, motives, and…prowess.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this…you can ready minds, turn into smoke and…you decide to be a bounty hunter?
The tone of voice he had in his head wasn’t malicious, but rather inquisitive. In his training in Brawl Hall, he learned that knowing his enemy - Are you really my enemy? - was one of the most important parts of combat.
If you’re looking for a weakness in here, I’m afraid you won’t find any. I’ve been trained against Jedi Mind Tricks…
Wait…do you even know what a Jedi is??
At that point, more and more question began to float about, yet his focus never wavered…this was all apart of the plan, as Dreamer had quickly come up with a strategy: Overwhelm the Telepath by thinking. A LOT. Soon his mind was a whirlwind of Questions about her, thoughts about her…
…Nice shade of purple you’ve got going. It suits you.
Buzzkill, upon seeing Misty’s target change, did what any sensible person like himself would do: Yell at them. “She’s a psychic alien who can possess people, has enhanced strength, speed and vision, and can turn into Mist. Her name is Misty. It’s literally spelled out for you!” he berated, amazed by Dreamer’s seeming stupidity.
“I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buzzkill,” Mantis pointed out, confident in the skill of his allies.
“Yeah, they know what they’re doing. Whether they can stop it with Misty controlling them is the difference,” he commented sourly.
Neither of the two moved any closer despite their comments, sticking close to Jenny. She was the target, and the two of them had a good idea of preventing the would-be assassin from getting close.
Jenny facepalmed herself on seeing Dreamer’s mind get invaded. This is it. We’re all going to die, aren’t we?
She was rather quick to correct Buzzkill, however. “She can’t really ‘control’ anyone like that. She’s looking for weaknesses, like she always does.”
She watched the squad leader closely. He didn’t seem like he was suffering through this very much. What was it that happened as she was going in? Did she get a jolt off of his magna-staff? Or was something else at work?
Will blinked a couple of times in confusion after Misty evacuated her presence from his head. His hand shook as he ran it through his hair, and then he looked up to see Dreamer’s helmet covered by a pair of giant, looming eyes.
“Dammit, I told you to go!” He sighed. He waved a hand in front of Dreamer’s face, wondering what was happening beneath, before retreating toward a wall. He pulled out a thin, card-like metal device from his pocket, grabbing the two handles on it and pulling to reveal the “Big Brother” medical kit in its splendor. He had a feeling that they would need it.
Misty was more than a little disturbed by the amount of thoughts heading her way. She was basically bouncing around inside Dreamer’s head trying to find at least one scrap of information that could be used against him. No such luck. Al she could hear were his various thoughts on the situation at hand, about her…wait, what was that? He’d dreamt about her?!
“SHUT UP, ALREADY!” She yelled, shooting out of Dreamer’s head as a furious ball of energy. She was exceptionally frustrated by the lackluster start this “battle” had taken. It was time to kick things up a notch.
She flew right at Jenny, cackling with delight as she found herself inside her artificial intelligence. “Hey there, old friend. Let’s see if we can find out what makes your gears grind?”
Of course, this was only part of her strategy. She never was able to do this to her before, but there was a flaw in Jenny’s response that she was hoping to take advantage of this time. Still, in the scant amount of time she had inside the robot’s head, she tried to find any of her fears that could be used against her. The last thing she could sense was an image of herself from their last encounter…
BEEP. Whirrrrrr…
When someone is trying to search through your memories, the best way to fight against them is to deny them access in the first place. At least, that was what Jenny thought before shutting down her brain. Her eyes glazed over, and a dull smile crossed her face as Misty vanished, unable to discern anything more.
“Uh, huh-huh-huh-huh,” she laughed, “purple go away.”
A tremendous thud echoed off the walls as Jenny suddenly hurtled toward Dreamer. Misty lowered her foot from the powerful kick, showing her full physical form for the first time in this battle.
“Once I take care of the rest of you, this is gonna be a cakewalk.” She grinned.
Perfect! Didn’t imagine it’d work that well!
Dreamer caught himself as he recovered from the intrusion. Almost immediately he was battle ready. Seeing her approach Jenny, Dreamer was about to order Sweep to suppress Misty with his Rotary Cannon. That was, until Misty sent Jenny flying at him.
Firfek.
In almost a fraction of a second, Dreamer grabbed Will, and tossed a small pellet at the Blue Projectile. Throwing himself and Will out of the way, Dreamer activated the emergency impact ballast that he’d thrown at Jen. With a WHOOPM, Jenny’s impact as cushioned by a large gray pad courtesy of Nightwing.
Good thing Mr. Grayson likes to share…
Dreamer stood up, and took a few steps forward, whirling his Staff at his side.
“Don’t count on it…” The Arc Trooper scoffed. “Wing, Sweep, Cover Jen! Blizz, get Will to safety!”
Their weapons trained on Misty, the other troopers quickly took their positions. Sweep’s rotary cannon whirred menacingly to life as he lifted to the violet assailant.
“Don’t engage until she gets close…let Dream, Buzz and Mantis hold her back for now…” Sweep snarled to his brother.
Blizzard scrambled quickly to Will’s side and helped him up. “C’mon. We’re getting out of here!”
It was in that moment that the villain and hero duo gave identical grins. It was a mistake to get this close to them.
Buzzkill’s large growths burst into form as comedically huge bug wings grew from his back. As he flapped them down, attempting to create a strong breeze to disrupt any mist form shenanigans, a small gust of wind blew. Unfortunately the first wave of wind wasn’t very strong, but the follow up should be stronger. (2)
However, it was Mantis that was the true threat to Misty. Immediately lunging towards the foe in a boxer-like stance, to the ordinary eye only the briefest of motions could be barely seen. However, the superpowered punch directly towards Misty’s abdomen definitely wasn’t anything slight. Though he was still holding back from lethal force, the terrifying strength of his initial punch showed he wasn’t joking. (17)
In the gap between the would-be assassin got sent flying into the wall, there was a loud CRACK. The very air surged from the speed and fury of his singular blow, gusting Misty. Though she avoided most of the second blow, the air pressure from it was stronger than Buzzkill’s breeze. (6)
Buzzkill normally would taunt his opponent about how hilariously bad the match up was. Mantis’s punches, befitting his namesake, were so strong and fast that a second blow of pure air pressure followed them, giving him extra range and a free second punch. Supersonic blows creating air pressure against a person whose main shtick was turning into mist. She was going to be literally blown away by Mantis’s might.
“That was your warning blow. Stand down or I won’t stop at one punch,” Mantis stated, still in a boxer stance. Buzzkill cackled in the background, laughing at Misty’s misfortune.
Misty was sent sailing into a group of lockers, crumpling the steel into a silhouette of her image upon impact. She shook the dizziness from her head quickly,the pain from the impact still lingering in her back and gut. It hurt, yes, but nothing that needed healing desperately.
“Not bad.” She mused aloud. “Better than your sidekick’s attempts at humor and combat. I’ve got a lot of money riding on this fight, so I don’t think stopping is in the cards for me.”
Lunging forward, she thrust her hands out at Mantis in a series of sharp, rapid-fire jabs; if she could manage to find any of Mantis’ pressure points, she could at the very least paralyze those super-powerful arms out of commission. Unfortunately for her, the reflexes of the multichromatic young man were more than able to keep up - and keep his body out of her reach. (3)
Jenny had already landed safely on the cushion supplied by Dreamer, but in her state of temporary mental shutdown she didn’t seem to care what was happening.
“Wheee!” She cheered in her dull voice. “Again!”
Will was left slack-jawed by the strength displayed from Mantis, and his agility that followed. By the time Blizzard came to escort him out, the boy was starting to wonder exactly who would be needing healing by the time the fight was over. However, he recognized just how tricky Misty could be, and wondered if there was some way she could manage to pull through.
“Thanks,” he said to Blizzard, “but I can’t just abandon everyone like this. My dad got us into this; I’m going to be there when we get out.”
Blizzard looked to the battle, and back to Will. This guy was really willing to get in the way a fight between a Telepathic Smoke Ninja and A Immortal Bee…Demon…Thing, A guy would could punch his foes so hard they get hit twice, and his brother who was essentially The Terminator?!
I’m a Clone and Will’s the one telling me I’ve got to stay?! I really am a coward…
With a brief moment’s hesitation, Blizzard huffed in disappointment at himself.
Worse ways to die I guess…
“Alright, but I sure hope you have some kind of plan…”
Wingnut looked to Jenny in her…Less than functional state and was puzzled. Did Misty really hit her that hard?
“I think the Ninja knocked the sense out of her…”
Not looking away from the fight, Sweep nodded towards the door. “Then move her somewhere else! She’s no good to us slapped silly!”
The Jet-Trooper looked to the giddy mess of a robot, and moved to her side. This was gonna be difficult…
“Alright, up we go, eh?”
The Jet Trooper attempted to hoist Jenny up arm-over-shoulder and move her out of the combat zone, only for Wingnut to realize that she was FAR too heavy for him to carry alone. (5)
“Ugh…Just great. How am I gonna-”
It was at that moment Wingnut remembered that he had a Jetpack.
Wisely staying out of the fray, Dreamer circled the battle, calculating his next move. At the moment, the most he was simply the last line of defense for Jenny. As bitter as the thought was, he knew that his brothers would be no match for Misty no matter how they went at her. She was simply too powerful…
Powerful…Her powers…
Dreamer took note of how the gusts from Buzzkill’s wings were keeping Misty suppressed. Without her powers to push back, she wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Unsure of how long Buzzkill and Mantis would be able to keep her occupied, Dreamer pulled out a compact data pad and began to hack into the school’s security. He had a surprise in store for Misty if she gained the upper hand…All he needed were a few precious seconds to get it ready. (17)
Under his goggles, Buzzkill’s eye twitched. “Sidekick? SIDEKICK!?” he exclaimed, bringing the giant wings back. “I’M A SUPERVILLAIN, YOU CLOUDY-” he yelled in indignation, swinging his wings down with great speed. The roar of the wind obscured his expletive, a gale of tremendous force rocketing out as he cackled in villainous glee. (17)
However, the powerful wind blowing Misty back into the lockers was only the beginning. Mantis, working in tandem with Buzzkill, let himself fly forward with the wind to get right in Misty’s face. With no room to block, and seeing her shrug off the blow from before, Mantis felt no need to hold back this time. A series of sonic booms echoed barely through the wind as several momentum-fuelled superpunches crashed hard into Misty. (19)
If either weren’t so used to each other’s antics, there was a probable chance that their moves would have greatly affected the other. Instead, the two seemed to flow as if odd teammates instead of foes. In each other’s mind, they were definitely both, grinning as they tagteamed the bounty hunter.
Misty lost count of the punches after the first one. Concussions will do that to you.
Mantis’s pummeling sent her back a good 50 feet down the hall. Laying back on the floor, she looked up at the duo before her in shock. Mayyyybe an all-out assault on them isn’t the best idea.
She took assessment of her injuries; she could feel that at least three of her ribs were broken, her elbow was dislocated, and to top it all off she had a terrible pulsing headache that could be the start of something worse.
Time to recoup.
Despite her exhaustion from the attack, the alien was able to transform herself back into mist. Already feeling her body start to set right once more, she zipped up into the air vents above, desperate for separation from the group. (15) It would take a bit longer than usual to heal from such an assault, but it would be more than worth it. She knew who to go after now…
Will ran over to where Wingnut was attempting to carry Jenny away. With Misty taking refuge, he sought to look after Jenny and see if she was rebooting to her intelligent self yet.
“Jenny, are you with us?” Will asked, anxious.
“Uhhhhh…” Jenny failed to think. “…where are you?” (5, failed auto-reboot)
Will sighed. “I’m here.”
“Oh…” Jenny nodded vacantly. “…well, where am I?”
Will turned to Wingnut. “I’ll take that as a big no.” He looked her over for any damage, and - finding none - he shifted his attention to the others. If they have any sort of plan for dealing with Misty, we better act fast.
As Dreamer watched Misty make her escape, he couldn’t help but feel…disappointed. Couldn’t quite pin down why. Making his way to the rest of the team, he stowed his Electro-Staff and crossed his arms. He lowered his voice in case Misty was listening.
“Alright, she’s doing either one of two things: Cutting her losses and running or hiding in the vents and waiting for the chance to get the jump on us.”
The ARC Trooper looked to Buzzkill. He sure was angry at her, and as much as he was made uncomfortable by the concept one killing the other, that made The Villain a tracker. The matter was convincing him…
“Buzzkill, I’m sure you’re itching to finish that fight. Would you be willing to try and track her down? The rest of us can handle protecting Jenny.”
Sweep nodded to Buzzkill. “And hey! If you do go, make it hurt. A LOT.”
Sweep had no love for Mercs. This one could burn for all he cared. Tactical advantage be damned. Dreamer on the other hand, thought from a logical stand point…
“But DON’T kill her…please. If we want our shot at Baytheon, she’s our best shot. She’s likely got information we’ll need to take them down.”
With that, The ARC Trooper took his data pad back out. They needed to find a place for Jenny to lay low until Misty was dealt with.
“Ok, the rest of us will be moving Jenny to a secure location. Here.” Dreamer huddled everyone close and pointed at Brawl Hall
Can’t have her watching…
“She’ll crash there until one of us captures Misty. The defense systems in place there should be more than enough to handle her…”
Buzzkill cackled at Dreamer’s instructions. “Was going to hunt her down anyway!” he exclaimed. The giant wings on his back shuddered and fell apart into swarms of bees, rushing into the vents after Misty. Judging by their speed and swift response, they might have a good chance of tracking Misty down. (17)
Upon hearing the two soldiers bark orders at him, however, he rolled his eyes. Guess with each other as company they didn’t have competent allies very often, but it still didn’t excuse them treating him like a dumbass. “You act like I’m a fucking idiot. I’m a vindictive smartass. I don’t kill, I just brutally maim. Maybe if the three of you combined whatever braincells you have instead of gawking at me and Mantis doing all the work, maybe you could be half as successful as me,” he mocked as he walked over to Mantis.
Mantis merely sighed. Buzzkill usually wasn’t a team player, and definitely didn’t like being suggested what to do when he felt he had things covered. Mantis had known that Buzzkill had no intention of working with anyone without mutual respect. What he didn’t expect is something being shoved into his hands.
“Have that in case shit goes down. Make sure Tweedledee, Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber don’t make this whole thing fall apart,” he said simply, growing more adequate sized wings to fly up to the vents. Mantis glanced at the object before tucking it into his utility belt. That was certainly one hell of a panic button.
Buzzkill flipped everyone off as he majestically flew up. Then promptly hit his head, swore, and tried to pry the vents open with his hand-stingers. Though he dented it a few times it refused to allow passage, with Buzzkill becoming more and more enraged as it refused him entry. Misty might get a minute after the bees arrived to plan as Buzzkill fought the inanimate object. (7)
Eventually, Mantis just facepalmed and shot an air pressure fist, knocking the vent cover clean off. (16) Buzzkill paused. “I weakened it,” he stated before shifting his body’s joints around to more easily navigate the tight space. The form wasn’t perfect, or even especially fast, but it was still better than trying normally (11).
Back with the others, Mantis smiled confidently. “Don’t worry, we’ll all make it through this! With our combined might, no evil shall triumph today!” he cheered, bringing a positive spark back into things after Buzzkill’s departure.
“Rainbow man say big words!” Jenny grinned…before her expression grew far more alert. (17, auto-reboot initiated.)
Shaking her head, she sat up and looked around at everyone, just the way they were when she shut down her neural circuits.
“Everyone’s…okay?” She wondered aloud, sounding normal again. “Where is Misty? Was it all just some sort of hallucination? And where’s Buzzkill?”
Will put a hand to his heart and breathed a deep sigh of relief. “We’re all fine,” He replied. “Mantis and Buzz beat her back; she’s gone up into the air vents and Buzzkill went after her.”
Jenny deployed her arm cannon. “She won’t be gone for long.” She muttered, before turning back to the clones to see what their plans were.
Will cast a worried eye to the vents above, wondering which one Misty would come from.
By the time Buzzkill had made it into the vents, Misty’s apparition was already hidden around a corner. Relative to the group of heroes still gathered beneath her, she was on the opposite side of them from the beat down she’d previously received.
Well, they’re certainly persistent.
She watched to see which one they’d sent after her; she only had to see a yellow-and-black hand latch in before moving back around the corner.
Okay, yeah, definitely don’t want to stay in here!
She heard the villain advance toward her position; he wasn’t fast, but he wasn’t all that slow either. Her plan was to float softly out of the nearest grate she could find, one that led back down to the hall but barely out of sight of the others. Unfortunately for her, she spent too much time planning; Buzzkill reached the corner himself quicker than she anticipated. (5)
It was a rather grotesque sight, watching someone who looked (vaguely) human filling the space, awkwardly moving with joints flexing and moving in a way that nature didn’t intend, only lit by the light flowing in from the grate next to her. She honestly had no idea what he was going to do when he got this far, but she wasn’t willing to wait and find out.
…or was she? She was still in her mist form, and Buzzkill wasn’t exactly the most mobile sort in this case. That sounded like as good of an opportunity to take advantage of his fears as any. Before he could have a chance to react, she swarmed his head and invited herself into his mind.
As well as the whole situation had been going, Dreamer could stop the sinking feeling in his stomach. Buzzkill was effective with Mantis Shrimp’s help, and no slouch on his own by any measure…But Misty was able to take down one of RH’s most powerful students, and easily so. If Buzzkill slipped up…
“Team. Go. Get Jenny to Brawl Hall and stay there until we can make certain Misty’s been subdued.” He swallowed before continuing. “I’m staying behind to make sure that Buzzkill can get the job done, or at the very least that Misty doesn’t escape.”
Sweep let his minigun drop to the floor with a startling thud, and marched towards his brother aggressively. As skilled as Dreamer was, The Heavy Trooper wasn’t about to let his brother go on some half baked suicide mission.
“Like hell you are! Buzz can handle himself! Now let’s get-”
Sweep stopped short as Dreamer gently put a hand on his shoulder. The ARC Trooper took off his helmet, his long hair unfurling, and looked his brother dead through the visor.
“Look…Whatever Buzzkill gave to Mantis should be our absolute last resort. And I’ve got a plan of my own…If that fails…” He sighed. “…Then you, Wing and Mantis need to get Jenny and Will as far away as possible.”
“Dream, you-”
“THAT’S AN ORDER, TROOPER…Now go…please…”
After a brief moment of stunned silence from the other 2 clones, Sweep begrudgingly hoisted his rotary cannon off the floor and began his march without a word. Wingnut looked to the rest of the group, and shrugged.
“Well, uh…Any objections?”
Mantis frowned slightly at the sudden fracturing of the ranks. Morale was a bit low. As a hero, he couldn’t leave it like this. He beamed and posed. “Please, I think you’re overstating Misty. Admittedly I don’t know her very well, and yes she defeated Jenny quite badly before. But from what I’ve seen that was a Jenny out of practice! That was her before learning from the multiverse’s greatest heroes and with a few more years experience! I bet with her experience now, she could even take on Misty with just herself and a vacuum!” he stated, no doubt in his voice as he smiled widely at XJ-9.
Keep reading
Misty rifled through the contents of her victim’s mind as quickly as she could, trying to find anything of use, and there was plenty. She was normally used to vaguer concepts of fear, more universal, but this guy had a few very specific events, so it was harder to place exactly what he feared. She saw his best friend dying, some sort of cycle of death…
Then something else appeared. Something that was no mere memory of the past, but a horror of the now. It crushed her hold on his memories and tossed it aside like it was garbage. Now she was being examined instead, and she followed the connection to its root, whether she wanted to or not.
What she saw was beyond anything she was used to. She could not make sense of it, no matter how she tried. She had seen her share of aliens and monsters, just like everyone in her universe. But this…this was unnatural. This was evil. And now she was soaking into her mind as much as she was trying to infect Buzzkill’s. In desperation, she looked for some way to fend off the coming madness, to escape the looming terror that flooded her.
She could not. (1)
The words of inspiration resounded in Jenny’s mind. (17, Persuasion) She felt almost as if she was physically stronger because of them, and he made several good points about each and every one of them. She took a deep breath and let it out with probably the first real smile she’d had that day.
“Thanks, Mantis.” She replied, looking over the rest of the group. “Nice to know we can all count on…”
Her words trailed off as she looked at Will, who was leaning against the wall and clutching himself tight. (1, Persuasion)
“Will?” She said, quietly. “Are you-”
“'An expert at XJ-9′s world’s enemies and allies?’” Will quietly seethed, shaking his head. “What kind of bullshit are you trying to serve me?! This is the first time either of us have met Misty, yet you are the one doing the heavy work.” He violently gesticulated toward Mantis.
“Will-” Jenny tried to intervene.
“I’m just a kid!” Will continued. “I bring absolutely nothing to this group except for this fucking thing…” He threw the medical kit on the ground, scattering its contents everywhere. “…and the fact that my own dad is the one sending hitmen on my friends isn’t helping, either!”
“Please-”
“And at least Buzzkill is honest about me! At least he doesn’t try to make me anything more than what I am! I was going to chew him out for nearly sticking me in the goddamn throat, but that’s on me for hanging out with someone I know is a villain. Fuck, he only let me go because I was too much of a coward to completely stick myself.”
“WILL.”
Stopping completely, Will took a shuddering breath, trying to find stability but gaining none. “And now I’ve gone and ruined everything again. You were only trying to make us feel better.” He was quieter now, anger replaced by sadness. He looked to Mantis and said, “Sorry. It’s not really you I’m pissed at; you don’t deserve me yelling at you…” Unable to find the words to express his regret, all he could do was start to walk away when…
Whumph
Jenny pointed her laser guns at the vents, expecting the worst, but it never came. No one but Buzzkill could see the source: Misty’s unconscious body forming in an instant inside the vents. Her exposure to Gyne was such a shock that she had blacked out.
The clones went on high alert the second the noise was made. Every blaster was trained on the vent where Buzzkill had disappeared…
Cautiously, Dreamer approached the opening, DC-15 leveled at it with laser focus.
By the force, let it be Buzzkill…
Sweep, Wingnut and Blizzard remained by Jenny’s side. All of them far less composed than their brother. Blizzard’s Face was pale beneath the helm, and his aim was shakey. Wingnut had an adrenaline fueled, toothy grin on his face, as the thrill of the fright hit him full force. Sweep, gripping the Rotary Cannon as hard as he could, was a slight twitch away from turning the ventilation system of the hall into Swiss cheese…
Dreamer spoke up, breaking the tense silence. “Buzzkill? That you??”
The vent was eerily silent as everyone was on high alert. There was no sound, just eerie silence. The offputting quiet made everyone on edge. From Dreamer’s perspective, there was a slight movement. Before they could react, something lurched out at the vents at them.
“BOO!” Buzzkill screamed, right into Dreamer’s face. He cackled loudly as a hail of bullets and blasts launched at him, dodging out of the way of a panicked onslaught with mocking grace. (20)
Keep reading
Will listened to every word that Buzzkill had to say. Now that Misty was taken care of, his mind found itself safe enough to bask in the negativity not just of himself but of Buzzkill. The adrenaline was still wearing off, too, so he was starting to get jittery. He just looked at Buzzkill for a couple seconds after he was done, then he nodded and went up against the wall, looking up at the unconscious Misty. Something had clicked.
Jenny was frustrated with both of them: Buzzkill for aggravating a problem that was already bad to begin with; and Will for falling into this self-destructive haze without regard for reality. Rubbing where the bridge of a nose normally would be, she decided to refocus everyone.
“Guys. Enough.” She said. “We’re all tired and coming down from an encounter that none of us wanted to have. Let’s get Misty down and penned up someplace where she’ll be secure. Then…I think everyone deserves some rest.” She looked to Dreamer and Mantis, the de facto leaders of the group. “Sound good?”
“I’ve got other plans…” Dreamer sighed. “I’m going to get a detention room ready for Misty. Then I’m going to ask her a few questions.”
Dreamer had cracked into the School’s Power and Security systems during the conflict, and gained access to the power blocker systems. Normally they were used for rowdy, or unhinged super powered students, but could also incapacitate intruders. Now that Dreamer didn’t have to fight her with it, he could use it to question her.
Blizzard let out a sigh. “I’m with Jen…I’m going to report to some of the coaches…then I’m finished.” With that Blizzard began to walk off, and without a word, Sweep followed.
Wingnut looked to Will and jestured. “Wanna go grab a bite? You look exhausted…”
While Wingnut attended to Will, Dreamer waited by the vent for Buzzkill, expecting him to violently hurl Misty at him or something of the like.
At least he didn’t kill her…you can’t interrogate a corpse…
Buzzkill didn’t immediately go to hurling Misty, instead he was stared down by Mantis, who was standing there with crossed arms and motioning his head over to Will. As if the villain didn’t realise his intention wasn’t obvious. Eugh, he was a Supervillain, his job was cause destructive not fix it. Still, he actually got along with Will, he didn’t feel like burning that bridge quite yet.
As Buzzkill turned to Will, Mantis grinned at the plan. “If she’s secure, I’m not against asking her some questions. But if you feel like rest I’ll be happy to escort you back to your dorm, XJ-9. I’m sure there’ll be no more attacks on you now Reaper High knows the who and how of your attackers. I imagine an attack of this scale takes quite a while to set up with all this security!” he pointed out cheerfully. “And thank you for your help, you two!” he called to Blizzard and Sweep.
Meanwhile, Buzzkill was actually making an attempt of making a non-sarcastic expression for his speech’s meaning. Usually he stuck around positive people, or at least people who knew him well enough to know when he’s being dramatic or sarcastic. He didn’t beat around the bush, he didn’t bother with social delicacy unless to manipulate people. But he also didn’t bother to tone down his nature as a cocky, mocking jerk. His friends just knew what he meant, so he didn’t have to bother. Will, evidently caught up in his own dark thoughts, didn’t caught his meaning.
He groaned and leaned against a wall, or rather locker, near Misty, very much ignoring Wingnut on purpose. “You’re not hearing me right, are you? I get Jenny not getting it, used to big positive heroic speeches, but I’m not about that. Most epic speeches I give come in either ‘You Suck’ or ‘I’m Great’ variants, mostly a mix of both,” he joked.
Sighing dramatically, realising that still didn’t meet the bill of serious discussion, he lifted his goggles, revealing his eyes so Will could actually meet them. He hated talking like this beyond to a select few, especially in public. But he felt he owed Will this after all that went down. “Listen, bastard, what I’m saying is you’re a loser because most people are. Very few people are born winners and stay that way. I’m a loser, I piss people off for kicks. You’re born a loser because you were born to an insane weapon fanatic who believes he is the greatest good, no way to escape that. Even Beekeeper was a loser when I first met him. The thing separating you from most like you is you’re trying. You’re not some amazing winner, might not ever be. Doesn’t mean you can’t be great. You’re not gonna win the girl of your dreams as you are now, doesn’t mean you won’t. I’m not the type to give false confidence - you don’t deserve a dream girl if you’re still in the state where you’re gonna drag her down. But you’re actually improving and getting there. The teachers actually respect you enough to encourage you and give you honest attention. You’re making friends on your own merits. So, as a person with a literal one, tell your inner demons to shut up for a moment and realise you came here to defend a friend. I’m not saying it’s smart, but it’s at least noble. Even I respect that. Just next time bring a big fuck off gun or something,” he stated, hoping that made his intentions clear.
“‘Course, if Boltnut or whatever is paying for victory lunch I’ll happily join,” he stated, quickly getting back to his much more comfortable territory of smartassery. He hated repeating himself, doing it with less jerk because someone didn’t get what he was trying to say fucking sucked.
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
“Cute.” Misty spoke aloud. “Not one, but two stand-up comedians.”
Will was locked into place; even though Misty had no actual control over his mind, he knew there was little he could do in this situation. If he moved toward the group, he would be exposing them to danger. If he ran away, all Misty had to do was leave his mind to get back in the action.
Misty herself was impressed with the sort of manpower they had assembled to defend Jenny; even the two odd ones out seemed rather strong, as overly hammy as they were. Taking over Will allowed her to get a good glimpse at them without being a target.
Removing her presence from Will’s mind, she suddenly latched onto Dreamer.
BZZZRT
On her way in, she came in contact with Dreamer’s magna-staff, which sent a ripple of electricity through her cloudy form. It didn’t cause any actual damage (which was easily undone in this phase anyway), but it dealt her a great deal of pain: enough to prevent her from immediately shifting back into her physical form. However, that couldn’t stop her from invading his mind…
Though caught flat footed by her sudden change in target, Dreamer braced for the intrustion. Misty’s initial probing didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, allowing him to still think clearly and freely.
This is a bizarre way to make a first impression…
The Anti-Trooper’s mind was devoid of virtually anything, focused on one thing and one thing only: Her. Her moves, her weaknesses, motives, and…prowess.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this…you can ready minds, turn into smoke and…you decide to be a bounty hunter?
The tone of voice he had in his head wasn’t malicious, but rather inquisitive. In his training in Brawl Hall, he learned that knowing his enemy - Are you really my enemy? - was one of the most important parts of combat.
If you’re looking for a weakness in here, I’m afraid you won’t find any. I’ve been trained against Jedi Mind Tricks…
Wait…do you even know what a Jedi is??
At that point, more and more question began to float about, yet his focus never wavered…this was all apart of the plan, as Dreamer had quickly come up with a strategy: Overwhelm the Telepath by thinking. A LOT. Soon his mind was a whirlwind of Questions about her, thoughts about her…
…Nice shade of purple you’ve got going. It suits you.
Buzzkill, upon seeing Misty’s target change, did what any sensible person like himself would do: Yell at them. “She’s a psychic alien who can possess people, has enhanced strength, speed and vision, and can turn into Mist. Her name is Misty. It’s literally spelled out for you!” he berated, amazed by Dreamer’s seeming stupidity.
“I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buzzkill,” Mantis pointed out, confident in the skill of his allies.
“Yeah, they know what they’re doing. Whether they can stop it with Misty controlling them is the difference,” he commented sourly.
Neither of the two moved any closer despite their comments, sticking close to Jenny. She was the target, and the two of them had a good idea of preventing the would-be assassin from getting close.
Jenny facepalmed herself on seeing Dreamer’s mind get invaded. This is it. We’re all going to die, aren’t we?
She was rather quick to correct Buzzkill, however. “She can’t really ‘control’ anyone like that. She’s looking for weaknesses, like she always does.”
She watched the squad leader closely. He didn’t seem like he was suffering through this very much. What was it that happened as she was going in? Did she get a jolt off of his magna-staff? Or was something else at work?
Will blinked a couple of times in confusion after Misty evacuated her presence from his head. His hand shook as he ran it through his hair, and then he looked up to see Dreamer’s helmet covered by a pair of giant, looming eyes.
“Dammit, I told you to go!” He sighed. He waved a hand in front of Dreamer’s face, wondering what was happening beneath, before retreating toward a wall. He pulled out a thin, card-like metal device from his pocket, grabbing the two handles on it and pulling to reveal the “Big Brother” medical kit in its splendor. He had a feeling that they would need it.
Misty was more than a little disturbed by the amount of thoughts heading her way. She was basically bouncing around inside Dreamer’s head trying to find at least one scrap of information that could be used against him. No such luck. Al she could hear were his various thoughts on the situation at hand, about her…wait, what was that? He’d dreamt about her?!
“SHUT UP, ALREADY!” She yelled, shooting out of Dreamer’s head as a furious ball of energy. She was exceptionally frustrated by the lackluster start this “battle” had taken. It was time to kick things up a notch.
She flew right at Jenny, cackling with delight as she found herself inside her artificial intelligence. “Hey there, old friend. Let’s see if we can find out what makes your gears grind?”
Of course, this was only part of her strategy. She never was able to do this to her before, but there was a flaw in Jenny’s response that she was hoping to take advantage of this time. Still, in the scant amount of time she had inside the robot’s head, she tried to find any of her fears that could be used against her. The last thing she could sense was an image of herself from their last encounter…
BEEP. Whirrrrrr…
When someone is trying to search through your memories, the best way to fight against them is to deny them access in the first place. At least, that was what Jenny thought before shutting down her brain. Her eyes glazed over, and a dull smile crossed her face as Misty vanished, unable to discern anything more.
“Uh, huh-huh-huh-huh,” she laughed, “purple go away.”
A tremendous thud echoed off the walls as Jenny suddenly hurtled toward Dreamer. Misty lowered her foot from the powerful kick, showing her full physical form for the first time in this battle.
“Once I take care of the rest of you, this is gonna be a cakewalk.” She grinned.
Perfect! Didn’t imagine it’d work that well!
Dreamer caught himself as he recovered from the intrusion. Almost immediately he was battle ready. Seeing her approach Jenny, Dreamer was about to order Sweep to suppress Misty with his Rotary Cannon. That was, until Misty sent Jenny flying at him.
Firfek.
In almost a fraction of a second, Dreamer grabbed Will, and tossed a small pellet at the Blue Projectile. Throwing himself and Will out of the way, Dreamer activated the emergency impact ballast that he’d thrown at Jen. With a WHOOPM, Jenny’s impact as cushioned by a large gray pad courtesy of Nightwing.
Good thing Mr. Grayson likes to share…
Dreamer stood up, and took a few steps forward, whirling his Staff at his side.
“Don’t count on it…” The Arc Trooper scoffed. “Wing, Sweep, Cover Jen! Blizz, get Will to safety!”
Their weapons trained on Misty, the other troopers quickly took their positions. Sweep’s rotary cannon whirred menacingly to life as he lifted to the violet assailant.
“Don’t engage until she gets close…let Dream, Buzz and Mantis hold her back for now…” Sweep snarled to his brother.
Blizzard scrambled quickly to Will’s side and helped him up. “C’mon. We’re getting out of here!”
It was in that moment that the villain and hero duo gave identical grins. It was a mistake to get this close to them.
Buzzkill’s large growths burst into form as comedically huge bug wings grew from his back. As he flapped them down, attempting to create a strong breeze to disrupt any mist form shenanigans, a small gust of wind blew. Unfortunately the first wave of wind wasn’t very strong, but the follow up should be stronger. (2)
However, it was Mantis that was the true threat to Misty. Immediately lunging towards the foe in a boxer-like stance, to the ordinary eye only the briefest of motions could be barely seen. However, the superpowered punch directly towards Misty’s abdomen definitely wasn’t anything slight. Though he was still holding back from lethal force, the terrifying strength of his initial punch showed he wasn’t joking. (17)
In the gap between the would-be assassin got sent flying into the wall, there was a loud CRACK. The very air surged from the speed and fury of his singular blow, gusting Misty. Though she avoided most of the second blow, the air pressure from it was stronger than Buzzkill’s breeze. (6)
Buzzkill normally would taunt his opponent about how hilariously bad the match up was. Mantis’s punches, befitting his namesake, were so strong and fast that a second blow of pure air pressure followed them, giving him extra range and a free second punch. Supersonic blows creating air pressure against a person whose main shtick was turning into mist. She was going to be literally blown away by Mantis’s might.
“That was your warning blow. Stand down or I won’t stop at one punch,” Mantis stated, still in a boxer stance. Buzzkill cackled in the background, laughing at Misty’s misfortune.
Misty was sent sailing into a group of lockers, crumpling the steel into a silhouette of her image upon impact. She shook the dizziness from her head quickly,the pain from the impact still lingering in her back and gut. It hurt, yes, but nothing that needed healing desperately.
“Not bad.” She mused aloud. “Better than your sidekick’s attempts at humor and combat. I’ve got a lot of money riding on this fight, so I don’t think stopping is in the cards for me.”
Lunging forward, she thrust her hands out at Mantis in a series of sharp, rapid-fire jabs; if she could manage to find any of Mantis’ pressure points, she could at the very least paralyze those super-powerful arms out of commission. Unfortunately for her, the reflexes of the multichromatic young man were more than able to keep up - and keep his body out of her reach. (3)
Jenny had already landed safely on the cushion supplied by Dreamer, but in her state of temporary mental shutdown she didn’t seem to care what was happening.
“Wheee!” She cheered in her dull voice. “Again!”
Will was left slack-jawed by the strength displayed from Mantis, and his agility that followed. By the time Blizzard came to escort him out, the boy was starting to wonder exactly who would be needing healing by the time the fight was over. However, he recognized just how tricky Misty could be, and wondered if there was some way she could manage to pull through.
“Thanks,” he said to Blizzard, “but I can’t just abandon everyone like this. My dad got us into this; I’m going to be there when we get out.”
Blizzard looked to the battle, and back to Will. This guy was really willing to get in the way a fight between a Telepathic Smoke Ninja and A Immortal Bee…Demon…Thing, A guy would could punch his foes so hard they get hit twice, and his brother who was essentially The Terminator?!
I’m a Clone and Will’s the one telling me I’ve got to stay?! I really am a coward…
With a brief moment’s hesitation, Blizzard huffed in disappointment at himself.
Worse ways to die I guess…
“Alright, but I sure hope you have some kind of plan…”
Wingnut looked to Jenny in her…Less than functional state and was puzzled. Did Misty really hit her that hard?
“I think the Ninja knocked the sense out of her…”
Not looking away from the fight, Sweep nodded towards the door. “Then move her somewhere else! She’s no good to us slapped silly!”
The Jet-Trooper looked to the giddy mess of a robot, and moved to her side. This was gonna be difficult…
“Alright, up we go, eh?”
The Jet Trooper attempted to hoist Jenny up arm-over-shoulder and move her out of the combat zone, only for Wingnut to realize that she was FAR too heavy for him to carry alone. (5)
“Ugh…Just great. How am I gonna-”
It was at that moment Wingnut remembered that he had a Jetpack.
Wisely staying out of the fray, Dreamer circled the battle, calculating his next move. At the moment, the most he was simply the last line of defense for Jenny. As bitter as the thought was, he knew that his brothers would be no match for Misty no matter how they went at her. She was simply too powerful…
Powerful…Her powers…
Dreamer took note of how the gusts from Buzzkill’s wings were keeping Misty suppressed. Without her powers to push back, she wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Unsure of how long Buzzkill and Mantis would be able to keep her occupied, Dreamer pulled out a compact data pad and began to hack into the school’s security. He had a surprise in store for Misty if she gained the upper hand…All he needed were a few precious seconds to get it ready. (17)
Under his goggles, Buzzkill’s eye twitched. “Sidekick? SIDEKICK!?” he exclaimed, bringing the giant wings back. “I’M A SUPERVILLAIN, YOU CLOUDY-” he yelled in indignation, swinging his wings down with great speed. The roar of the wind obscured his expletive, a gale of tremendous force rocketing out as he cackled in villainous glee. (17)
However, the powerful wind blowing Misty back into the lockers was only the beginning. Mantis, working in tandem with Buzzkill, let himself fly forward with the wind to get right in Misty’s face. With no room to block, and seeing her shrug off the blow from before, Mantis felt no need to hold back this time. A series of sonic booms echoed barely through the wind as several momentum-fuelled superpunches crashed hard into Misty. (19)
If either weren’t so used to each other’s antics, there was a probable chance that their moves would have greatly affected the other. Instead, the two seemed to flow as if odd teammates instead of foes. In each other’s mind, they were definitely both, grinning as they tagteamed the bounty hunter.
Misty lost count of the punches after the first one. Concussions will do that to you.
Mantis’s pummeling sent her back a good 50 feet down the hall. Laying back on the floor, she looked up at the duo before her in shock. Mayyyybe an all-out assault on them isn’t the best idea.
She took assessment of her injuries; she could feel that at least three of her ribs were broken, her elbow was dislocated, and to top it all off she had a terrible pulsing headache that could be the start of something worse.
Time to recoup.
Despite her exhaustion from the attack, the alien was able to transform herself back into mist. Already feeling her body start to set right once more, she zipped up into the air vents above, desperate for separation from the group. (15) It would take a bit longer than usual to heal from such an assault, but it would be more than worth it. She knew who to go after now…
Will ran over to where Wingnut was attempting to carry Jenny away. With Misty taking refuge, he sought to look after Jenny and see if she was rebooting to her intelligent self yet.
“Jenny, are you with us?” Will asked, anxious.
“Uhhhhh…” Jenny failed to think. “…where are you?” (5, failed auto-reboot)
Will sighed. “I’m here.”
“Oh…” Jenny nodded vacantly. “…well, where am I?”
Will turned to Wingnut. “I’ll take that as a big no.” He looked her over for any damage, and - finding none - he shifted his attention to the others. If they have any sort of plan for dealing with Misty, we better act fast.
As Dreamer watched Misty make her escape, he couldn’t help but feel…disappointed. Couldn’t quite pin down why. Making his way to the rest of the team, he stowed his Electro-Staff and crossed his arms. He lowered his voice in case Misty was listening.
“Alright, she’s doing either one of two things: Cutting her losses and running or hiding in the vents and waiting for the chance to get the jump on us.”
The ARC Trooper looked to Buzzkill. He sure was angry at her, and as much as he was made uncomfortable by the concept one killing the other, that made The Villain a tracker. The matter was convincing him…
“Buzzkill, I’m sure you’re itching to finish that fight. Would you be willing to try and track her down? The rest of us can handle protecting Jenny.”
Sweep nodded to Buzzkill. “And hey! If you do go, make it hurt. A LOT.”
Sweep had no love for Mercs. This one could burn for all he cared. Tactical advantage be damned. Dreamer on the other hand, thought from a logical stand point…
“But DON’T kill her…please. If we want our shot at Baytheon, she’s our best shot. She’s likely got information we’ll need to take them down.”
With that, The ARC Trooper took his data pad back out. They needed to find a place for Jenny to lay low until Misty was dealt with.
“Ok, the rest of us will be moving Jenny to a secure location. Here.” Dreamer huddled everyone close and pointed at Brawl Hall
Can’t have her watching…
“She’ll crash there until one of us captures Misty. The defense systems in place there should be more than enough to handle her…”
Buzzkill cackled at Dreamer’s instructions. “Was going to hunt her down anyway!” he exclaimed. The giant wings on his back shuddered and fell apart into swarms of bees, rushing into the vents after Misty. Judging by their speed and swift response, they might have a good chance of tracking Misty down. (17)
Upon hearing the two soldiers bark orders at him, however, he rolled his eyes. Guess with each other as company they didn’t have competent allies very often, but it still didn’t excuse them treating him like a dumbass. “You act like I’m a fucking idiot. I’m a vindictive smartass. I don’t kill, I just brutally maim. Maybe if the three of you combined whatever braincells you have instead of gawking at me and Mantis doing all the work, maybe you could be half as successful as me,” he mocked as he walked over to Mantis.
Mantis merely sighed. Buzzkill usually wasn’t a team player, and definitely didn’t like being suggested what to do when he felt he had things covered. Mantis had known that Buzzkill had no intention of working with anyone without mutual respect. What he didn’t expect is something being shoved into his hands.
“Have that in case shit goes down. Make sure Tweedledee, Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber don’t make this whole thing fall apart,” he said simply, growing more adequate sized wings to fly up to the vents. Mantis glanced at the object before tucking it into his utility belt. That was certainly one hell of a panic button.
Buzzkill flipped everyone off as he majestically flew up. Then promptly hit his head, swore, and tried to pry the vents open with his hand-stingers. Though he dented it a few times it refused to allow passage, with Buzzkill becoming more and more enraged as it refused him entry. Misty might get a minute after the bees arrived to plan as Buzzkill fought the inanimate object. (7)
Eventually, Mantis just facepalmed and shot an air pressure fist, knocking the vent cover clean off. (16) Buzzkill paused. “I weakened it,” he stated before shifting his body’s joints around to more easily navigate the tight space. The form wasn’t perfect, or even especially fast, but it was still better than trying normally (11).
Back with the others, Mantis smiled confidently. “Don’t worry, we’ll all make it through this! With our combined might, no evil shall triumph today!” he cheered, bringing a positive spark back into things after Buzzkill’s departure.
“Rainbow man say big words!” Jenny grinned…before her expression grew far more alert. (17, auto-reboot initiated.)
Shaking her head, she sat up and looked around at everyone, just the way they were when she shut down her neural circuits.
“Everyone’s…okay?” She wondered aloud, sounding normal again. “Where is Misty? Was it all just some sort of hallucination? And where’s Buzzkill?”
Will put a hand to his heart and breathed a deep sigh of relief. “We’re all fine,” He replied. “Mantis and Buzz beat her back; she’s gone up into the air vents and Buzzkill went after her.”
Jenny deployed her arm cannon. “She won’t be gone for long.” She muttered, before turning back to the clones to see what their plans were.
Will cast a worried eye to the vents above, wondering which one Misty would come from.
By the time Buzzkill had made it into the vents, Misty’s apparition was already hidden around a corner. Relative to the group of heroes still gathered beneath her, she was on the opposite side of them from the beat down she’d previously received.
Well, they’re certainly persistent.
She watched to see which one they’d sent after her; she only had to see a yellow-and-black hand latch in before moving back around the corner.
Okay, yeah, definitely don’t want to stay in here!
She heard the villain advance toward her position; he wasn’t fast, but he wasn’t all that slow either. Her plan was to float softly out of the nearest grate she could find, one that led back down to the hall but barely out of sight of the others. Unfortunately for her, she spent too much time planning; Buzzkill reached the corner himself quicker than she anticipated. (5)
It was a rather grotesque sight, watching someone who looked (vaguely) human filling the space, awkwardly moving with joints flexing and moving in a way that nature didn’t intend, only lit by the light flowing in from the grate next to her. She honestly had no idea what he was going to do when he got this far, but she wasn’t willing to wait and find out.
…or was she? She was still in her mist form, and Buzzkill wasn’t exactly the most mobile sort in this case. That sounded like as good of an opportunity to take advantage of his fears as any. Before he could have a chance to react, she swarmed his head and invited herself into his mind.
As well as the whole situation had been going, Dreamer could stop the sinking feeling in his stomach. Buzzkill was effective with Mantis Shrimp’s help, and no slouch on his own by any measure…But Misty was able to take down one of RH’s most powerful students, and easily so. If Buzzkill slipped up…
“Team. Go. Get Jenny to Brawl Hall and stay there until we can make certain Misty’s been subdued.” He swallowed before continuing. “I’m staying behind to make sure that Buzzkill can get the job done, or at the very least that Misty doesn’t escape.”
Sweep let his minigun drop to the floor with a startling thud, and marched towards his brother aggressively. As skilled as Dreamer was, The Heavy Trooper wasn’t about to let his brother go on some half baked suicide mission.
“Like hell you are! Buzz can handle himself! Now let’s get-”
Sweep stopped short as Dreamer gently put a hand on his shoulder. The ARC Trooper took off his helmet, his long hair unfurling, and looked his brother dead through the visor.
“Look…Whatever Buzzkill gave to Mantis should be our absolute last resort. And I’ve got a plan of my own…If that fails…” He sighed. “…Then you, Wing and Mantis need to get Jenny and Will as far away as possible.”
“Dream, you-”
“THAT’S AN ORDER, TROOPER…Now go…please…”
After a brief moment of stunned silence from the other 2 clones, Sweep begrudgingly hoisted his rotary cannon off the floor and began his march without a word. Wingnut looked to the rest of the group, and shrugged.
“Well, uh…Any objections?”
Mantis frowned slightly at the sudden fracturing of the ranks. Morale was a bit low. As a hero, he couldn’t leave it like this. He beamed and posed. “Please, I think you’re overstating Misty. Admittedly I don’t know her very well, and yes she defeated Jenny quite badly before. But from what I’ve seen that was a Jenny out of practice! That was her before learning from the multiverse’s greatest heroes and with a few more years experience! I bet with her experience now, she could even take on Misty with just herself and a vacuum!” he stated, no doubt in his voice as he smiled widely at XJ-9.
Keep reading
Misty rifled through the contents of her victim’s mind as quickly as she could, trying to find anything of use, and there was plenty. She was normally used to vaguer concepts of fear, more universal, but this guy had a few very specific events, so it was harder to place exactly what he feared. She saw his best friend dying, some sort of cycle of death…
Then something else appeared. Something that was no mere memory of the past, but a horror of the now. It crushed her hold on his memories and tossed it aside like it was garbage. Now she was being examined instead, and she followed the connection to its root, whether she wanted to or not.
What she saw was beyond anything she was used to. She could not make sense of it, no matter how she tried. She had seen her share of aliens and monsters, just like everyone in her universe. But this…this was unnatural. This was evil. And now she was soaking into her mind as much as she was trying to infect Buzzkill’s. In desperation, she looked for some way to fend off the coming madness, to escape the looming terror that flooded her.
She could not. (1)
The words of inspiration resounded in Jenny’s mind. (17, Persuasion) She felt almost as if she was physically stronger because of them, and he made several good points about each and every one of them. She took a deep breath and let it out with probably the first real smile she’d had that day.
“Thanks, Mantis.” She replied, looking over the rest of the group. “Nice to know we can all count on…”
Her words trailed off as she looked at Will, who was leaning against the wall and clutching himself tight. (1, Persuasion)
“Will?” She said, quietly. “Are you-”
“'An expert at XJ-9′s world’s enemies and allies?’” Will quietly seethed, shaking his head. “What kind of bullshit are you trying to serve me?! This is the first time either of us have met Misty, yet you are the one doing the heavy work.” He violently gesticulated toward Mantis.
“Will-” Jenny tried to intervene.
“I’m just a kid!” Will continued. “I bring absolutely nothing to this group except for this fucking thing…” He threw the medical kit on the ground, scattering its contents everywhere. “…and the fact that my own dad is the one sending hitmen on my friends isn’t helping, either!”
“Please-”
“And at least Buzzkill is honest about me! At least he doesn’t try to make me anything more than what I am! I was going to chew him out for nearly sticking me in the goddamn throat, but that’s on me for hanging out with someone I know is a villain. Fuck, he only let me go because I was too much of a coward to completely stick myself.”
“WILL.”
Stopping completely, Will took a shuddering breath, trying to find stability but gaining none. “And now I’ve gone and ruined everything again. You were only trying to make us feel better.” He was quieter now, anger replaced by sadness. He looked to Mantis and said, “Sorry. It’s not really you I’m pissed at; you don’t deserve me yelling at you…” Unable to find the words to express his regret, all he could do was start to walk away when…
Whumph
Jenny pointed her laser guns at the vents, expecting the worst, but it never came. No one but Buzzkill could see the source: Misty’s unconscious body forming in an instant inside the vents. Her exposure to Gyne was such a shock that she had blacked out.
The clones went on high alert the second the noise was made. Every blaster was trained on the vent where Buzzkill had disappeared…
Cautiously, Dreamer approached the opening, DC-15 leveled at it with laser focus.
By the force, let it be Buzzkill…
Sweep, Wingnut and Blizzard remained by Jenny’s side. All of them far less composed than their brother. Blizzard’s Face was pale beneath the helm, and his aim was shakey. Wingnut had an adrenaline fueled, toothy grin on his face, as the thrill of the fright hit him full force. Sweep, gripping the Rotary Cannon as hard as he could, was a slight twitch away from turning the ventilation system of the hall into Swiss cheese…
Dreamer spoke up, breaking the tense silence. “Buzzkill? That you??”
The vent was eerily silent as everyone was on high alert. There was no sound, just eerie silence. The offputting quiet made everyone on edge. From Dreamer’s perspective, there was a slight movement. Before they could react, something lurched out at the vents at them.
“BOO!” Buzzkill screamed, right into Dreamer’s face. He cackled loudly as a hail of bullets and blasts launched at him, dodging out of the way of a panicked onslaught with mocking grace. (20)
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
“Cute.” Misty spoke aloud. “Not one, but two stand-up comedians.”
Will was locked into place; even though Misty had no actual control over his mind, he knew there was little he could do in this situation. If he moved toward the group, he would be exposing them to danger. If he ran away, all Misty had to do was leave his mind to get back in the action.
Misty herself was impressed with the sort of manpower they had assembled to defend Jenny; even the two odd ones out seemed rather strong, as overly hammy as they were. Taking over Will allowed her to get a good glimpse at them without being a target.
Removing her presence from Will’s mind, she suddenly latched onto Dreamer.
BZZZRT
On her way in, she came in contact with Dreamer’s magna-staff, which sent a ripple of electricity through her cloudy form. It didn’t cause any actual damage (which was easily undone in this phase anyway), but it dealt her a great deal of pain: enough to prevent her from immediately shifting back into her physical form. However, that couldn’t stop her from invading his mind…
Though caught flat footed by her sudden change in target, Dreamer braced for the intrustion. Misty’s initial probing didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, allowing him to still think clearly and freely.
This is a bizarre way to make a first impression…
The Anti-Trooper’s mind was devoid of virtually anything, focused on one thing and one thing only: Her. Her moves, her weaknesses, motives, and…prowess.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this…you can ready minds, turn into smoke and…you decide to be a bounty hunter?
The tone of voice he had in his head wasn’t malicious, but rather inquisitive. In his training in Brawl Hall, he learned that knowing his enemy - Are you really my enemy? - was one of the most important parts of combat.
If you’re looking for a weakness in here, I’m afraid you won’t find any. I’ve been trained against Jedi Mind Tricks…
Wait…do you even know what a Jedi is??
At that point, more and more question began to float about, yet his focus never wavered…this was all apart of the plan, as Dreamer had quickly come up with a strategy: Overwhelm the Telepath by thinking. A LOT. Soon his mind was a whirlwind of Questions about her, thoughts about her…
…Nice shade of purple you’ve got going. It suits you.
Buzzkill, upon seeing Misty’s target change, did what any sensible person like himself would do: Yell at them. “She’s a psychic alien who can possess people, has enhanced strength, speed and vision, and can turn into Mist. Her name is Misty. It’s literally spelled out for you!” he berated, amazed by Dreamer’s seeming stupidity.
“I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buzzkill,” Mantis pointed out, confident in the skill of his allies.
“Yeah, they know what they’re doing. Whether they can stop it with Misty controlling them is the difference,” he commented sourly.
Neither of the two moved any closer despite their comments, sticking close to Jenny. She was the target, and the two of them had a good idea of preventing the would-be assassin from getting close.
Jenny facepalmed herself on seeing Dreamer’s mind get invaded. This is it. We’re all going to die, aren’t we?
She was rather quick to correct Buzzkill, however. “She can’t really ‘control’ anyone like that. She’s looking for weaknesses, like she always does.”
She watched the squad leader closely. He didn’t seem like he was suffering through this very much. What was it that happened as she was going in? Did she get a jolt off of his magna-staff? Or was something else at work?
Will blinked a couple of times in confusion after Misty evacuated her presence from his head. His hand shook as he ran it through his hair, and then he looked up to see Dreamer’s helmet covered by a pair of giant, looming eyes.
“Dammit, I told you to go!” He sighed. He waved a hand in front of Dreamer’s face, wondering what was happening beneath, before retreating toward a wall. He pulled out a thin, card-like metal device from his pocket, grabbing the two handles on it and pulling to reveal the “Big Brother” medical kit in its splendor. He had a feeling that they would need it.
Misty was more than a little disturbed by the amount of thoughts heading her way. She was basically bouncing around inside Dreamer’s head trying to find at least one scrap of information that could be used against him. No such luck. Al she could hear were his various thoughts on the situation at hand, about her…wait, what was that? He’d dreamt about her?!
“SHUT UP, ALREADY!” She yelled, shooting out of Dreamer’s head as a furious ball of energy. She was exceptionally frustrated by the lackluster start this “battle” had taken. It was time to kick things up a notch.
She flew right at Jenny, cackling with delight as she found herself inside her artificial intelligence. “Hey there, old friend. Let’s see if we can find out what makes your gears grind?”
Of course, this was only part of her strategy. She never was able to do this to her before, but there was a flaw in Jenny’s response that she was hoping to take advantage of this time. Still, in the scant amount of time she had inside the robot’s head, she tried to find any of her fears that could be used against her. The last thing she could sense was an image of herself from their last encounter…
BEEP. Whirrrrrr…
When someone is trying to search through your memories, the best way to fight against them is to deny them access in the first place. At least, that was what Jenny thought before shutting down her brain. Her eyes glazed over, and a dull smile crossed her face as Misty vanished, unable to discern anything more.
“Uh, huh-huh-huh-huh,” she laughed, “purple go away.”
A tremendous thud echoed off the walls as Jenny suddenly hurtled toward Dreamer. Misty lowered her foot from the powerful kick, showing her full physical form for the first time in this battle.
“Once I take care of the rest of you, this is gonna be a cakewalk.” She grinned.
Perfect! Didn’t imagine it’d work that well!
Dreamer caught himself as he recovered from the intrusion. Almost immediately he was battle ready. Seeing her approach Jenny, Dreamer was about to order Sweep to suppress Misty with his Rotary Cannon. That was, until Misty sent Jenny flying at him.
Firfek.
In almost a fraction of a second, Dreamer grabbed Will, and tossed a small pellet at the Blue Projectile. Throwing himself and Will out of the way, Dreamer activated the emergency impact ballast that he’d thrown at Jen. With a WHOOPM, Jenny’s impact as cushioned by a large gray pad courtesy of Nightwing.
Good thing Mr. Grayson likes to share…
Dreamer stood up, and took a few steps forward, whirling his Staff at his side.
“Don’t count on it…” The Arc Trooper scoffed. “Wing, Sweep, Cover Jen! Blizz, get Will to safety!”
Their weapons trained on Misty, the other troopers quickly took their positions. Sweep’s rotary cannon whirred menacingly to life as he lifted to the violet assailant.
“Don’t engage until she gets close…let Dream, Buzz and Mantis hold her back for now…” Sweep snarled to his brother.
Blizzard scrambled quickly to Will’s side and helped him up. “C’mon. We’re getting out of here!”
It was in that moment that the villain and hero duo gave identical grins. It was a mistake to get this close to them.
Buzzkill’s large growths burst into form as comedically huge bug wings grew from his back. As he flapped them down, attempting to create a strong breeze to disrupt any mist form shenanigans, a small gust of wind blew. Unfortunately the first wave of wind wasn’t very strong, but the follow up should be stronger. (2)
However, it was Mantis that was the true threat to Misty. Immediately lunging towards the foe in a boxer-like stance, to the ordinary eye only the briefest of motions could be barely seen. However, the superpowered punch directly towards Misty’s abdomen definitely wasn’t anything slight. Though he was still holding back from lethal force, the terrifying strength of his initial punch showed he wasn’t joking. (17)
In the gap between the would-be assassin got sent flying into the wall, there was a loud CRACK. The very air surged from the speed and fury of his singular blow, gusting Misty. Though she avoided most of the second blow, the air pressure from it was stronger than Buzzkill’s breeze. (6)
Buzzkill normally would taunt his opponent about how hilariously bad the match up was. Mantis’s punches, befitting his namesake, were so strong and fast that a second blow of pure air pressure followed them, giving him extra range and a free second punch. Supersonic blows creating air pressure against a person whose main shtick was turning into mist. She was going to be literally blown away by Mantis’s might.
“That was your warning blow. Stand down or I won’t stop at one punch,” Mantis stated, still in a boxer stance. Buzzkill cackled in the background, laughing at Misty’s misfortune.
Misty was sent sailing into a group of lockers, crumpling the steel into a silhouette of her image upon impact. She shook the dizziness from her head quickly,the pain from the impact still lingering in her back and gut. It hurt, yes, but nothing that needed healing desperately.
“Not bad.” She mused aloud. “Better than your sidekick’s attempts at humor and combat. I’ve got a lot of money riding on this fight, so I don’t think stopping is in the cards for me.”
Lunging forward, she thrust her hands out at Mantis in a series of sharp, rapid-fire jabs; if she could manage to find any of Mantis’ pressure points, she could at the very least paralyze those super-powerful arms out of commission. Unfortunately for her, the reflexes of the multichromatic young man were more than able to keep up - and keep his body out of her reach. (3)
Jenny had already landed safely on the cushion supplied by Dreamer, but in her state of temporary mental shutdown she didn’t seem to care what was happening.
“Wheee!” She cheered in her dull voice. “Again!”
Will was left slack-jawed by the strength displayed from Mantis, and his agility that followed. By the time Blizzard came to escort him out, the boy was starting to wonder exactly who would be needing healing by the time the fight was over. However, he recognized just how tricky Misty could be, and wondered if there was some way she could manage to pull through.
“Thanks,” he said to Blizzard, “but I can’t just abandon everyone like this. My dad got us into this; I’m going to be there when we get out.”
Blizzard looked to the battle, and back to Will. This guy was really willing to get in the way a fight between a Telepathic Smoke Ninja and A Immortal Bee…Demon…Thing, A guy would could punch his foes so hard they get hit twice, and his brother who was essentially The Terminator?!
I’m a Clone and Will’s the one telling me I’ve got to stay?! I really am a coward…
With a brief moment’s hesitation, Blizzard huffed in disappointment at himself.
Worse ways to die I guess…
“Alright, but I sure hope you have some kind of plan…”
Wingnut looked to Jenny in her…Less than functional state and was puzzled. Did Misty really hit her that hard?
“I think the Ninja knocked the sense out of her…”
Not looking away from the fight, Sweep nodded towards the door. “Then move her somewhere else! She’s no good to us slapped silly!”
The Jet-Trooper looked to the giddy mess of a robot, and moved to her side. This was gonna be difficult…
“Alright, up we go, eh?”
The Jet Trooper attempted to hoist Jenny up arm-over-shoulder and move her out of the combat zone, only for Wingnut to realize that she was FAR too heavy for him to carry alone. (5)
“Ugh…Just great. How am I gonna-”
It was at that moment Wingnut remembered that he had a Jetpack.
Wisely staying out of the fray, Dreamer circled the battle, calculating his next move. At the moment, the most he was simply the last line of defense for Jenny. As bitter as the thought was, he knew that his brothers would be no match for Misty no matter how they went at her. She was simply too powerful…
Powerful…Her powers…
Dreamer took note of how the gusts from Buzzkill’s wings were keeping Misty suppressed. Without her powers to push back, she wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Unsure of how long Buzzkill and Mantis would be able to keep her occupied, Dreamer pulled out a compact data pad and began to hack into the school’s security. He had a surprise in store for Misty if she gained the upper hand…All he needed were a few precious seconds to get it ready. (17)
Under his goggles, Buzzkill’s eye twitched. “Sidekick? SIDEKICK!?” he exclaimed, bringing the giant wings back. “I’M A SUPERVILLAIN, YOU CLOUDY-” he yelled in indignation, swinging his wings down with great speed. The roar of the wind obscured his expletive, a gale of tremendous force rocketing out as he cackled in villainous glee. (17)
However, the powerful wind blowing Misty back into the lockers was only the beginning. Mantis, working in tandem with Buzzkill, let himself fly forward with the wind to get right in Misty’s face. With no room to block, and seeing her shrug off the blow from before, Mantis felt no need to hold back this time. A series of sonic booms echoed barely through the wind as several momentum-fuelled superpunches crashed hard into Misty. (19)
If either weren’t so used to each other’s antics, there was a probable chance that their moves would have greatly affected the other. Instead, the two seemed to flow as if odd teammates instead of foes. In each other’s mind, they were definitely both, grinning as they tagteamed the bounty hunter.
Misty lost count of the punches after the first one. Concussions will do that to you.
Mantis’s pummeling sent her back a good 50 feet down the hall. Laying back on the floor, she looked up at the duo before her in shock. Mayyyybe an all-out assault on them isn’t the best idea.
She took assessment of her injuries; she could feel that at least three of her ribs were broken, her elbow was dislocated, and to top it all off she had a terrible pulsing headache that could be the start of something worse.
Time to recoup.
Despite her exhaustion from the attack, the alien was able to transform herself back into mist. Already feeling her body start to set right once more, she zipped up into the air vents above, desperate for separation from the group. (15) It would take a bit longer than usual to heal from such an assault, but it would be more than worth it. She knew who to go after now…
Will ran over to where Wingnut was attempting to carry Jenny away. With Misty taking refuge, he sought to look after Jenny and see if she was rebooting to her intelligent self yet.
“Jenny, are you with us?” Will asked, anxious.
“Uhhhhh…” Jenny failed to think. “…where are you?” (5, failed auto-reboot)
Will sighed. “I’m here.”
“Oh…” Jenny nodded vacantly. “…well, where am I?”
Will turned to Wingnut. “I’ll take that as a big no.” He looked her over for any damage, and - finding none - he shifted his attention to the others. If they have any sort of plan for dealing with Misty, we better act fast.
As Dreamer watched Misty make her escape, he couldn’t help but feel…disappointed. Couldn’t quite pin down why. Making his way to the rest of the team, he stowed his Electro-Staff and crossed his arms. He lowered his voice in case Misty was listening.
“Alright, she’s doing either one of two things: Cutting her losses and running or hiding in the vents and waiting for the chance to get the jump on us.”
The ARC Trooper looked to Buzzkill. He sure was angry at her, and as much as he was made uncomfortable by the concept one killing the other, that made The Villain a tracker. The matter was convincing him…
“Buzzkill, I’m sure you’re itching to finish that fight. Would you be willing to try and track her down? The rest of us can handle protecting Jenny.”
Sweep nodded to Buzzkill. “And hey! If you do go, make it hurt. A LOT.”
Sweep had no love for Mercs. This one could burn for all he cared. Tactical advantage be damned. Dreamer on the other hand, thought from a logical stand point…
“But DON’T kill her…please. If we want our shot at Baytheon, she’s our best shot. She’s likely got information we’ll need to take them down.”
With that, The ARC Trooper took his data pad back out. They needed to find a place for Jenny to lay low until Misty was dealt with.
“Ok, the rest of us will be moving Jenny to a secure location. Here.” Dreamer huddled everyone close and pointed at Brawl Hall
Can’t have her watching…
“She’ll crash there until one of us captures Misty. The defense systems in place there should be more than enough to handle her…”
Buzzkill cackled at Dreamer’s instructions. “Was going to hunt her down anyway!” he exclaimed. The giant wings on his back shuddered and fell apart into swarms of bees, rushing into the vents after Misty. Judging by their speed and swift response, they might have a good chance of tracking Misty down. (17)
Upon hearing the two soldiers bark orders at him, however, he rolled his eyes. Guess with each other as company they didn’t have competent allies very often, but it still didn’t excuse them treating him like a dumbass. “You act like I’m a fucking idiot. I’m a vindictive smartass. I don’t kill, I just brutally maim. Maybe if the three of you combined whatever braincells you have instead of gawking at me and Mantis doing all the work, maybe you could be half as successful as me,” he mocked as he walked over to Mantis.
Mantis merely sighed. Buzzkill usually wasn’t a team player, and definitely didn’t like being suggested what to do when he felt he had things covered. Mantis had known that Buzzkill had no intention of working with anyone without mutual respect. What he didn’t expect is something being shoved into his hands.
“Have that in case shit goes down. Make sure Tweedledee, Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber don’t make this whole thing fall apart,” he said simply, growing more adequate sized wings to fly up to the vents. Mantis glanced at the object before tucking it into his utility belt. That was certainly one hell of a panic button.
Buzzkill flipped everyone off as he majestically flew up. Then promptly hit his head, swore, and tried to pry the vents open with his hand-stingers. Though he dented it a few times it refused to allow passage, with Buzzkill becoming more and more enraged as it refused him entry. Misty might get a minute after the bees arrived to plan as Buzzkill fought the inanimate object. (7)
Eventually, Mantis just facepalmed and shot an air pressure fist, knocking the vent cover clean off. (16) Buzzkill paused. “I weakened it,” he stated before shifting his body’s joints around to more easily navigate the tight space. The form wasn’t perfect, or even especially fast, but it was still better than trying normally (11).
Back with the others, Mantis smiled confidently. “Don’t worry, we’ll all make it through this! With our combined might, no evil shall triumph today!” he cheered, bringing a positive spark back into things after Buzzkill’s departure.
“Rainbow man say big words!” Jenny grinned…before her expression grew far more alert. (17, auto-reboot initiated.)
Shaking her head, she sat up and looked around at everyone, just the way they were when she shut down her neural circuits.
“Everyone’s…okay?” She wondered aloud, sounding normal again. “Where is Misty? Was it all just some sort of hallucination? And where’s Buzzkill?”
Will put a hand to his heart and breathed a deep sigh of relief. “We’re all fine,” He replied. “Mantis and Buzz beat her back; she’s gone up into the air vents and Buzzkill went after her.”
Jenny deployed her arm cannon. “She won’t be gone for long.” She muttered, before turning back to the clones to see what their plans were.
Will cast a worried eye to the vents above, wondering which one Misty would come from.
By the time Buzzkill had made it into the vents, Misty’s apparition was already hidden around a corner. Relative to the group of heroes still gathered beneath her, she was on the opposite side of them from the beat down she’d previously received.
Well, they’re certainly persistent.
She watched to see which one they’d sent after her; she only had to see a yellow-and-black hand latch in before moving back around the corner.
Okay, yeah, definitely don’t want to stay in here!
She heard the villain advance toward her position; he wasn’t fast, but he wasn’t all that slow either. Her plan was to float softly out of the nearest grate she could find, one that led back down to the hall but barely out of sight of the others. Unfortunately for her, she spent too much time planning; Buzzkill reached the corner himself quicker than she anticipated. (5)
It was a rather grotesque sight, watching someone who looked (vaguely) human filling the space, awkwardly moving with joints flexing and moving in a way that nature didn’t intend, only lit by the light flowing in from the grate next to her. She honestly had no idea what he was going to do when he got this far, but she wasn’t willing to wait and find out.
…or was she? She was still in her mist form, and Buzzkill wasn’t exactly the most mobile sort in this case. That sounded like as good of an opportunity to take advantage of his fears as any. Before he could have a chance to react, she swarmed his head and invited herself into his mind.
As well as the whole situation had been going, Dreamer could stop the sinking feeling in his stomach. Buzzkill was effective with Mantis Shrimp’s help, and no slouch on his own by any measure…But Misty was able to take down one of RH’s most powerful students, and easily so. If Buzzkill slipped up…
“Team. Go. Get Jenny to Brawl Hall and stay there until we can make certain Misty’s been subdued.” He swallowed before continuing. “I’m staying behind to make sure that Buzzkill can get the job done, or at the very least that Misty doesn’t escape.”
Sweep let his minigun drop to the floor with a startling thud, and marched towards his brother aggressively. As skilled as Dreamer was, The Heavy Trooper wasn’t about to let his brother go on some half baked suicide mission.
“Like hell you are! Buzz can handle himself! Now let’s get-”
Sweep stopped short as Dreamer gently put a hand on his shoulder. The ARC Trooper took off his helmet, his long hair unfurling, and looked his brother dead through the visor.
“Look…Whatever Buzzkill gave to Mantis should be our absolute last resort. And I’ve got a plan of my own…If that fails…” He sighed. “…Then you, Wing and Mantis need to get Jenny and Will as far away as possible.”
“Dream, you-”
“THAT’S AN ORDER, TROOPER…Now go…please…”
After a brief moment of stunned silence from the other 2 clones, Sweep begrudgingly hoisted his rotary cannon off the floor and began his march without a word. Wingnut looked to the rest of the group, and shrugged.
“Well, uh…Any objections?”
Mantis frowned slightly at the sudden fracturing of the ranks. Morale was a bit low. As a hero, he couldn’t leave it like this. He beamed and posed. “Please, I think you’re overstating Misty. Admittedly I don’t know her very well, and yes she defeated Jenny quite badly before. But from what I’ve seen that was a Jenny out of practice! That was her before learning from the multiverse’s greatest heroes and with a few more years experience! I bet with her experience now, she could even take on Misty with just herself and a vacuum!” he stated, no doubt in his voice as he smiled widely at XJ-9.
“And yes, you could argue Misty’s had just as much time to grow on her skills. She’s tough, strong, who knows what tricks are up her sleeves. But all of us have overcome challenges before. No matter mental, physical, a giant monster, or just a bully, everyone faces foes that are bigger than them in one way or another. The difference is we’re a group of highly skilled individuals working as a team on this!”
“We have four highly trained warriors!” he motioned to the Troopers.
“One super robot with barely more amazing gadgets than deservedly won-over fans!” he pointed to Jenny.
“One expert at XJ-9′s world’s enemies and allies so I hear, and enough mental fortitude to deal with Buzzkill on a regular basis. No easy feat I can tell you,” he motioned to Will.
“And myself! I’m the least experienced here, no multiverse class training, but even I can see we’ve got this. There is no necessary sacrifices, no last resorts, only us as a team showing Misty who’s boss!” he exclaimed, cheering them on and attempting to lift their spirits in quite a hammy way.
“But I will note he’s right, or at least Buzzkill will be fine. We should stick together with Jenny and trust in Buzzkill, if only because she can’t really hurt him. The worst she can do to him is kill him, and that doesn’t stop him. I should know, I’ve knocked him down quite a few times. And if she tries to possess him, well, that’s a really bad move on her part,”
Buzzkill had barely time to blink before being engulfed in void, a black mindscape he was often used to. At first he thought Misty had killed him with a sudden pounce. Them he realised it was something far different. He could feel his body still there, but he was unable to move either here or in reality. A purple mist restrained his movements. He felt Misty’s presence here, ‘standing’ right behind him.
Scenes, memories, flashed in front of him for both himself and Misty to see. Beekeeper’s dying body and his feeling of panic and horror. His attempts of ‘awakening’ in his new body, a neverending cycle of confusion and drowning as he constantly struggled to emerge from the hive. The times his actions came so close to Beekeeper getting injured for his actions, the email from Kurtis.
And then there was a mental image of an inky void like this, with a giant figure crushing the embodiment of his psyche with a insectoid hand. A memory of a figure’s might over him. It would dawn on Misty that here she wasn’t safe, but far the opposite.
An offputting pulsing cord revealed itself, tied around and connected to Buzzkill’s body as it pulsated a sickly yellow. The pulsations and cord lead to a source unseen. A soft, sickly glow in the distance began pulsating in rhythm, as if the source of whatever was being funnelled into Buzzkill was slowly revealing itself.
And then, everything was clear in a flash of yellow light. A gigantic demonic wasp-like being stared down at Misty, her head just taller than Misty herself. Her giant thorax seemed to be merged with an enormous, fleshy hive, a constant flow of flying wasps emerging from the bulbous, pulsating growth before merging back into her. A large crowd’s worth of people were also connected to her, though completely unresponsive beyond standing there. Unlike Buzzkill, the pulsating was drawing energy from them instead of into them, as if feeding off them slowly. A smaller number were directly attached to her flesh, being dissolved into her in a much more direct method of consumption like the wasps flying around. They, unlike the connected crowd, were transformed into fleshy paste at various individual levels.
A deep chuckle in a feminine voice rang throughout the area. “A being that reads their host’s mental state and fears while in a mist-like form. I wonder if that’s a trait of all your race, or just you?” Gyne asked in curiosity. She made no moves to attack the intruder yet, instead seemingly curious of the attacker’s abilities. “You made a terrible mistake in invading a mind so deeply linked with another’s, Misty. But you show much promise. The soldier, ‘Dreamer’, was right to be curious of you,” she stated, an amused tone in her demonic voice. She had nothing to fear from Misty. She was much more powerful than the bounty hunter here, in the mental landscape of her host.
She knew Buzzkill had hoped she would simply crush Misty as soon as she entered his mind. But she was not a rampaging beast, at least not any more. She had better things in mind.
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
“Cute.” Misty spoke aloud. “Not one, but two stand-up comedians.”
Will was locked into place; even though Misty had no actual control over his mind, he knew there was little he could do in this situation. If he moved toward the group, he would be exposing them to danger. If he ran away, all Misty had to do was leave his mind to get back in the action.
Misty herself was impressed with the sort of manpower they had assembled to defend Jenny; even the two odd ones out seemed rather strong, as overly hammy as they were. Taking over Will allowed her to get a good glimpse at them without being a target.
Removing her presence from Will’s mind, she suddenly latched onto Dreamer.
BZZZRT
On her way in, she came in contact with Dreamer’s magna-staff, which sent a ripple of electricity through her cloudy form. It didn’t cause any actual damage (which was easily undone in this phase anyway), but it dealt her a great deal of pain: enough to prevent her from immediately shifting back into her physical form. However, that couldn’t stop her from invading his mind…
Though caught flat footed by her sudden change in target, Dreamer braced for the intrustion. Misty’s initial probing didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, allowing him to still think clearly and freely.
This is a bizarre way to make a first impression…
The Anti-Trooper’s mind was devoid of virtually anything, focused on one thing and one thing only: Her. Her moves, her weaknesses, motives, and…prowess.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this…you can ready minds, turn into smoke and…you decide to be a bounty hunter?
The tone of voice he had in his head wasn’t malicious, but rather inquisitive. In his training in Brawl Hall, he learned that knowing his enemy - Are you really my enemy? - was one of the most important parts of combat.
If you’re looking for a weakness in here, I’m afraid you won’t find any. I’ve been trained against Jedi Mind Tricks…
Wait…do you even know what a Jedi is??
At that point, more and more question began to float about, yet his focus never wavered…this was all apart of the plan, as Dreamer had quickly come up with a strategy: Overwhelm the Telepath by thinking. A LOT. Soon his mind was a whirlwind of Questions about her, thoughts about her…
…Nice shade of purple you’ve got going. It suits you.
Buzzkill, upon seeing Misty’s target change, did what any sensible person like himself would do: Yell at them. “She’s a psychic alien who can possess people, has enhanced strength, speed and vision, and can turn into Mist. Her name is Misty. It’s literally spelled out for you!” he berated, amazed by Dreamer’s seeming stupidity.
“I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buzzkill,” Mantis pointed out, confident in the skill of his allies.
“Yeah, they know what they’re doing. Whether they can stop it with Misty controlling them is the difference,” he commented sourly.
Neither of the two moved any closer despite their comments, sticking close to Jenny. She was the target, and the two of them had a good idea of preventing the would-be assassin from getting close.
Jenny facepalmed herself on seeing Dreamer’s mind get invaded. This is it. We’re all going to die, aren’t we?
She was rather quick to correct Buzzkill, however. “She can’t really ‘control’ anyone like that. She’s looking for weaknesses, like she always does.”
She watched the squad leader closely. He didn’t seem like he was suffering through this very much. What was it that happened as she was going in? Did she get a jolt off of his magna-staff? Or was something else at work?
Will blinked a couple of times in confusion after Misty evacuated her presence from his head. His hand shook as he ran it through his hair, and then he looked up to see Dreamer’s helmet covered by a pair of giant, looming eyes.
“Dammit, I told you to go!” He sighed. He waved a hand in front of Dreamer’s face, wondering what was happening beneath, before retreating toward a wall. He pulled out a thin, card-like metal device from his pocket, grabbing the two handles on it and pulling to reveal the “Big Brother” medical kit in its splendor. He had a feeling that they would need it.
Misty was more than a little disturbed by the amount of thoughts heading her way. She was basically bouncing around inside Dreamer’s head trying to find at least one scrap of information that could be used against him. No such luck. Al she could hear were his various thoughts on the situation at hand, about her…wait, what was that? He’d dreamt about her?!
“SHUT UP, ALREADY!” She yelled, shooting out of Dreamer’s head as a furious ball of energy. She was exceptionally frustrated by the lackluster start this “battle” had taken. It was time to kick things up a notch.
She flew right at Jenny, cackling with delight as she found herself inside her artificial intelligence. “Hey there, old friend. Let’s see if we can find out what makes your gears grind?”
Of course, this was only part of her strategy. She never was able to do this to her before, but there was a flaw in Jenny’s response that she was hoping to take advantage of this time. Still, in the scant amount of time she had inside the robot’s head, she tried to find any of her fears that could be used against her. The last thing she could sense was an image of herself from their last encounter…
BEEP. Whirrrrrr…
When someone is trying to search through your memories, the best way to fight against them is to deny them access in the first place. At least, that was what Jenny thought before shutting down her brain. Her eyes glazed over, and a dull smile crossed her face as Misty vanished, unable to discern anything more.
“Uh, huh-huh-huh-huh,” she laughed, “purple go away.”
A tremendous thud echoed off the walls as Jenny suddenly hurtled toward Dreamer. Misty lowered her foot from the powerful kick, showing her full physical form for the first time in this battle.
“Once I take care of the rest of you, this is gonna be a cakewalk.” She grinned.
Perfect! Didn’t imagine it’d work that well!
Dreamer caught himself as he recovered from the intrusion. Almost immediately he was battle ready. Seeing her approach Jenny, Dreamer was about to order Sweep to suppress Misty with his Rotary Cannon. That was, until Misty sent Jenny flying at him.
Firfek.
In almost a fraction of a second, Dreamer grabbed Will, and tossed a small pellet at the Blue Projectile. Throwing himself and Will out of the way, Dreamer activated the emergency impact ballast that he’d thrown at Jen. With a WHOOPM, Jenny’s impact as cushioned by a large gray pad courtesy of Nightwing.
Good thing Mr. Grayson likes to share…
Dreamer stood up, and took a few steps forward, whirling his Staff at his side.
“Don’t count on it…” The Arc Trooper scoffed. “Wing, Sweep, Cover Jen! Blizz, get Will to safety!”
Their weapons trained on Misty, the other troopers quickly took their positions. Sweep’s rotary cannon whirred menacingly to life as he lifted to the violet assailant.
“Don’t engage until she gets close…let Dream, Buzz and Mantis hold her back for now…” Sweep snarled to his brother.
Blizzard scrambled quickly to Will’s side and helped him up. “C’mon. We’re getting out of here!”
It was in that moment that the villain and hero duo gave identical grins. It was a mistake to get this close to them.
Buzzkill’s large growths burst into form as comedically huge bug wings grew from his back. As he flapped them down, attempting to create a strong breeze to disrupt any mist form shenanigans, a small gust of wind blew. Unfortunately the first wave of wind wasn’t very strong, but the follow up should be stronger. (2)
However, it was Mantis that was the true threat to Misty. Immediately lunging towards the foe in a boxer-like stance, to the ordinary eye only the briefest of motions could be barely seen. However, the superpowered punch directly towards Misty’s abdomen definitely wasn’t anything slight. Though he was still holding back from lethal force, the terrifying strength of his initial punch showed he wasn’t joking. (17)
In the gap between the would-be assassin got sent flying into the wall, there was a loud CRACK. The very air surged from the speed and fury of his singular blow, gusting Misty. Though she avoided most of the second blow, the air pressure from it was stronger than Buzzkill’s breeze. (6)
Buzzkill normally would taunt his opponent about how hilariously bad the match up was. Mantis’s punches, befitting his namesake, were so strong and fast that a second blow of pure air pressure followed them, giving him extra range and a free second punch. Supersonic blows creating air pressure against a person whose main shtick was turning into mist. She was going to be literally blown away by Mantis’s might.
“That was your warning blow. Stand down or I won’t stop at one punch,” Mantis stated, still in a boxer stance. Buzzkill cackled in the background, laughing at Misty’s misfortune.
Misty was sent sailing into a group of lockers, crumpling the steel into a silhouette of her image upon impact. She shook the dizziness from her head quickly,the pain from the impact still lingering in her back and gut. It hurt, yes, but nothing that needed healing desperately.
“Not bad.” She mused aloud. “Better than your sidekick’s attempts at humor and combat. I’ve got a lot of money riding on this fight, so I don’t think stopping is in the cards for me.”
Lunging forward, she thrust her hands out at Mantis in a series of sharp, rapid-fire jabs; if she could manage to find any of Mantis’ pressure points, she could at the very least paralyze those super-powerful arms out of commission. Unfortunately for her, the reflexes of the multichromatic young man were more than able to keep up - and keep his body out of her reach. (3)
Jenny had already landed safely on the cushion supplied by Dreamer, but in her state of temporary mental shutdown she didn’t seem to care what was happening.
“Wheee!” She cheered in her dull voice. “Again!”
Will was left slack-jawed by the strength displayed from Mantis, and his agility that followed. By the time Blizzard came to escort him out, the boy was starting to wonder exactly who would be needing healing by the time the fight was over. However, he recognized just how tricky Misty could be, and wondered if there was some way she could manage to pull through.
“Thanks,” he said to Blizzard, “but I can’t just abandon everyone like this. My dad got us into this; I’m going to be there when we get out.”
Blizzard looked to the battle, and back to Will. This guy was really willing to get in the way a fight between a Telepathic Smoke Ninja and A Immortal Bee…Demon…Thing, A guy would could punch his foes so hard they get hit twice, and his brother who was essentially The Terminator?!
I’m a Clone and Will’s the one telling me I’ve got to stay?! I really am a coward…
With a brief moment’s hesitation, Blizzard huffed in disappointment at himself.
Worse ways to die I guess…
“Alright, but I sure hope you have some kind of plan…”
Wingnut looked to Jenny in her…Less than functional state and was puzzled. Did Misty really hit her that hard?
“I think the Ninja knocked the sense out of her…”
Not looking away from the fight, Sweep nodded towards the door. “Then move her somewhere else! She’s no good to us slapped silly!”
The Jet-Trooper looked to the giddy mess of a robot, and moved to her side. This was gonna be difficult…
“Alright, up we go, eh?”
The Jet Trooper attempted to hoist Jenny up arm-over-shoulder and move her out of the combat zone, only for Wingnut to realize that she was FAR too heavy for him to carry alone. (5)
“Ugh…Just great. How am I gonna-”
It was at that moment Wingnut remembered that he had a Jetpack.
Wisely staying out of the fray, Dreamer circled the battle, calculating his next move. At the moment, the most he was simply the last line of defense for Jenny. As bitter as the thought was, he knew that his brothers would be no match for Misty no matter how they went at her. She was simply too powerful…
Powerful…Her powers…
Dreamer took note of how the gusts from Buzzkill’s wings were keeping Misty suppressed. Without her powers to push back, she wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Unsure of how long Buzzkill and Mantis would be able to keep her occupied, Dreamer pulled out a compact data pad and began to hack into the school’s security. He had a surprise in store for Misty if she gained the upper hand…All he needed were a few precious seconds to get it ready. (17)
Under his goggles, Buzzkill’s eye twitched. “Sidekick? SIDEKICK!?” he exclaimed, bringing the giant wings back. “I’M A SUPERVILLAIN, YOU CLOUDY-” he yelled in indignation, swinging his wings down with great speed. The roar of the wind obscured his expletive, a gale of tremendous force rocketing out as he cackled in villainous glee. (17)
However, the powerful wind blowing Misty back into the lockers was only the beginning. Mantis, working in tandem with Buzzkill, let himself fly forward with the wind to get right in Misty’s face. With no room to block, and seeing her shrug off the blow from before, Mantis felt no need to hold back this time. A series of sonic booms echoed barely through the wind as several momentum-fuelled superpunches crashed hard into Misty. (19)
If either weren’t so used to each other’s antics, there was a probable chance that their moves would have greatly affected the other. Instead, the two seemed to flow as if odd teammates instead of foes. In each other’s mind, they were definitely both, grinning as they tagteamed the bounty hunter.
Misty lost count of the punches after the first one. Concussions will do that to you.
Mantis’s pummeling sent her back a good 50 feet down the hall. Laying back on the floor, she looked up at the duo before her in shock. Mayyyybe an all-out assault on them isn’t the best idea.
She took assessment of her injuries; she could feel that at least three of her ribs were broken, her elbow was dislocated, and to top it all off she had a terrible pulsing headache that could be the start of something worse.
Time to recoup.
Despite her exhaustion from the attack, the alien was able to transform herself back into mist. Already feeling her body start to set right once more, she zipped up into the air vents above, desperate for separation from the group. (15) It would take a bit longer than usual to heal from such an assault, but it would be more than worth it. She knew who to go after now…
Will ran over to where Wingnut was attempting to carry Jenny away. With Misty taking refuge, he sought to look after Jenny and see if she was rebooting to her intelligent self yet.
“Jenny, are you with us?” Will asked, anxious.
“Uhhhhh…” Jenny failed to think. “…where are you?” (5, failed auto-reboot)
Will sighed. “I’m here.”
“Oh…” Jenny nodded vacantly. “…well, where am I?”
Will turned to Wingnut. “I’ll take that as a big no.” He looked her over for any damage, and - finding none - he shifted his attention to the others. If they have any sort of plan for dealing with Misty, we better act fast.
As Dreamer watched Misty make her escape, he couldn’t help but feel…disappointed. Couldn’t quite pin down why. Making his way to the rest of the team, he stowed his Electro-Staff and crossed his arms. He lowered his voice in case Misty was listening.
“Alright, she’s doing either one of two things: Cutting her losses and running or hiding in the vents and waiting for the chance to get the jump on us.”
The ARC Trooper looked to Buzzkill. He sure was angry at her, and as much as he was made uncomfortable by the concept one killing the other, that made The Villain a tracker. The matter was convincing him…
“Buzzkill, I’m sure you’re itching to finish that fight. Would you be willing to try and track her down? The rest of us can handle protecting Jenny.”
Sweep nodded to Buzzkill. “And hey! If you do go, make it hurt. A LOT.”
Sweep had no love for Mercs. This one could burn for all he cared. Tactical advantage be damned. Dreamer on the other hand, thought from a logical stand point…
“But DON’T kill her…please. If we want our shot at Baytheon, she’s our best shot. She’s likely got information we’ll need to take them down.”
With that, The ARC Trooper took his data pad back out. They needed to find a place for Jenny to lay low until Misty was dealt with.
“Ok, the rest of us will be moving Jenny to a secure location. Here.” Dreamer huddled everyone close and pointed at Brawl Hall
Can’t have her watching…
“She’ll crash there until one of us captures Misty. The defense systems in place there should be more than enough to handle her…”
Buzzkill cackled at Dreamer’s instructions. “Was going to hunt her down anyway!” he exclaimed. The giant wings on his back shuddered and fell apart into swarms of bees, rushing into the vents after Misty. Judging by their speed and swift response, they might have a good chance of tracking Misty down. (17)
Upon hearing the two soldiers bark orders at him, however, he rolled his eyes. Guess with each other as company they didn’t have competent allies very often, but it still didn’t excuse them treating him like a dumbass. “You act like I’m a fucking idiot. I’m a vindictive smartass. I don’t kill, I just brutally maim. Maybe if the three of you combined whatever braincells you have instead of gawking at me and Mantis doing all the work, maybe you could be half as successful as me,” he mocked as he walked over to Mantis.
Mantis merely sighed. Buzzkill usually wasn’t a team player, and definitely didn’t like being suggested what to do when he felt he had things covered. Mantis had known that Buzzkill had no intention of working with anyone without mutual respect. What he didn’t expect is something being shoved into his hands.
“Have that in case shit goes down. Make sure Tweedledee, Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber don’t make this whole thing fall apart,” he said simply, growing more adequate sized wings to fly up to the vents. Mantis glanced at the object before tucking it into his utility belt. That was certainly one hell of a panic button.
Buzzkill flipped everyone off as he majestically flew up. Then promptly hit his head, swore, and tried to pry the vents open with his hand-stingers. Though he dented it a few times it refused to allow passage, with Buzzkill becoming more and more enraged as it refused him entry. Misty might get a minute after the bees arrived to plan as Buzzkill fought the inanimate object. (7)
Eventually, Mantis just facepalmed and shot an air pressure fist, knocking the vent cover clean off. (16) Buzzkill paused. “I weakened it,” he stated before shifting his body’s joints around to more easily navigate the tight space. The form wasn’t perfect, or even especially fast, but it was still better than trying normally (11).
Back with the others, Mantis smiled confidently. “Don’t worry, we’ll all make it through this! With our combined might, no evil shall triumph today!” he cheered, bringing a positive spark back into things after Buzzkill’s departure.
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
“Cute.” Misty spoke aloud. “Not one, but two stand-up comedians.”
Will was locked into place; even though Misty had no actual control over his mind, he knew there was little he could do in this situation. If he moved toward the group, he would be exposing them to danger. If he ran away, all Misty had to do was leave his mind to get back in the action.
Misty herself was impressed with the sort of manpower they had assembled to defend Jenny; even the two odd ones out seemed rather strong, as overly hammy as they were. Taking over Will allowed her to get a good glimpse at them without being a target.
Removing her presence from Will’s mind, she suddenly latched onto Dreamer.
BZZZRT
On her way in, she came in contact with Dreamer’s magna-staff, which sent a ripple of electricity through her cloudy form. It didn’t cause any actual damage (which was easily undone in this phase anyway), but it dealt her a great deal of pain: enough to prevent her from immediately shifting back into her physical form. However, that couldn’t stop her from invading his mind…
Though caught flat footed by her sudden change in target, Dreamer braced for the intrustion. Misty’s initial probing didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, allowing him to still think clearly and freely.
This is a bizarre way to make a first impression…
The Anti-Trooper’s mind was devoid of virtually anything, focused on one thing and one thing only: Her. Her moves, her weaknesses, motives, and…prowess.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this…you can ready minds, turn into smoke and…you decide to be a bounty hunter?
The tone of voice he had in his head wasn’t malicious, but rather inquisitive. In his training in Brawl Hall, he learned that knowing his enemy - Are you really my enemy? - was one of the most important parts of combat.
If you’re looking for a weakness in here, I’m afraid you won’t find any. I’ve been trained against Jedi Mind Tricks…
Wait…do you even know what a Jedi is??
At that point, more and more question began to float about, yet his focus never wavered…this was all apart of the plan, as Dreamer had quickly come up with a strategy: Overwhelm the Telepath by thinking. A LOT. Soon his mind was a whirlwind of Questions about her, thoughts about her…
…Nice shade of purple you’ve got going. It suits you.
Buzzkill, upon seeing Misty’s target change, did what any sensible person like himself would do: Yell at them. “She’s a psychic alien who can possess people, has enhanced strength, speed and vision, and can turn into Mist. Her name is Misty. It’s literally spelled out for you!” he berated, amazed by Dreamer’s seeming stupidity.
“I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buzzkill,” Mantis pointed out, confident in the skill of his allies.
“Yeah, they know what they’re doing. Whether they can stop it with Misty controlling them is the difference,” he commented sourly.
Neither of the two moved any closer despite their comments, sticking close to Jenny. She was the target, and the two of them had a good idea of preventing the would-be assassin from getting close.
Jenny facepalmed herself on seeing Dreamer’s mind get invaded. This is it. We’re all going to die, aren’t we?
She was rather quick to correct Buzzkill, however. “She can’t really ‘control’ anyone like that. She’s looking for weaknesses, like she always does.”
She watched the squad leader closely. He didn’t seem like he was suffering through this very much. What was it that happened as she was going in? Did she get a jolt off of his magna-staff? Or was something else at work?
Will blinked a couple of times in confusion after Misty evacuated her presence from his head. His hand shook as he ran it through his hair, and then he looked up to see Dreamer’s helmet covered by a pair of giant, looming eyes.
“Dammit, I told you to go!” He sighed. He waved a hand in front of Dreamer’s face, wondering what was happening beneath, before retreating toward a wall. He pulled out a thin, card-like metal device from his pocket, grabbing the two handles on it and pulling to reveal the “Big Brother” medical kit in its splendor. He had a feeling that they would need it.
Misty was more than a little disturbed by the amount of thoughts heading her way. She was basically bouncing around inside Dreamer’s head trying to find at least one scrap of information that could be used against him. No such luck. Al she could hear were his various thoughts on the situation at hand, about her…wait, what was that? He’d dreamt about her?!
“SHUT UP, ALREADY!” She yelled, shooting out of Dreamer’s head as a furious ball of energy. She was exceptionally frustrated by the lackluster start this “battle” had taken. It was time to kick things up a notch.
She flew right at Jenny, cackling with delight as she found herself inside her artificial intelligence. “Hey there, old friend. Let’s see if we can find out what makes your gears grind?”
Of course, this was only part of her strategy. She never was able to do this to her before, but there was a flaw in Jenny’s response that she was hoping to take advantage of this time. Still, in the scant amount of time she had inside the robot’s head, she tried to find any of her fears that could be used against her. The last thing she could sense was an image of herself from their last encounter…
BEEP. Whirrrrrr…
When someone is trying to search through your memories, the best way to fight against them is to deny them access in the first place. At least, that was what Jenny thought before shutting down her brain. Her eyes glazed over, and a dull smile crossed her face as Misty vanished, unable to discern anything more.
“Uh, huh-huh-huh-huh,” she laughed, “purple go away.”
A tremendous thud echoed off the walls as Jenny suddenly hurtled toward Dreamer. Misty lowered her foot from the powerful kick, showing her full physical form for the first time in this battle.
“Once I take care of the rest of you, this is gonna be a cakewalk.” She grinned.
Perfect! Didn’t imagine it’d work that well!
Dreamer caught himself as he recovered from the intrusion. Almost immediately he was battle ready. Seeing her approach Jenny, Dreamer was about to order Sweep to suppress Misty with his Rotary Cannon. That was, until Misty sent Jenny flying at him.
Firfek.
In almost a fraction of a second, Dreamer grabbed Will, and tossed a small pellet at the Blue Projectile. Throwing himself and Will out of the way, Dreamer activated the emergency impact ballast that he’d thrown at Jen. With a WHOOPM, Jenny’s impact as cushioned by a large gray pad courtesy of Nightwing.
Good thing Mr. Grayson likes to share…
Dreamer stood up, and took a few steps forward, whirling his Staff at his side.
“Don’t count on it…” The Arc Trooper scoffed. “Wing, Sweep, Cover Jen! Blizz, get Will to safety!”
Their weapons trained on Misty, the other troopers quickly took their positions. Sweep’s rotary cannon whirred menacingly to life as he lifted to the violet assailant.
“Don’t engage until she gets close…let Dream, Buzz and Mantis hold her back for now…” Sweep snarled to his brother.
Blizzard scrambled quickly to Will’s side and helped him up. “C’mon. We’re getting out of here!”
It was in that moment that the villain and hero duo gave identical grins. It was a mistake to get this close to them.
Buzzkill’s large growths burst into form as comedically huge bug wings grew from his back. As he flapped them down, attempting to create a strong breeze to disrupt any mist form shenanigans, a small gust of wind blew. Unfortunately the first wave of wind wasn’t very strong, but the follow up should be stronger. (2)
However, it was Mantis that was the true threat to Misty. Immediately lunging towards the foe in a boxer-like stance, to the ordinary eye only the briefest of motions could be barely seen. However, the superpowered punch directly towards Misty’s abdomen definitely wasn’t anything slight. Though he was still holding back from lethal force, the terrifying strength of his initial punch showed he wasn’t joking. (17)
In the gap between the would-be assassin got sent flying into the wall, there was a loud CRACK. The very air surged from the speed and fury of his singular blow, gusting Misty. Though she avoided most of the second blow, the air pressure from it was stronger than Buzzkill’s breeze. (6)
Buzzkill normally would taunt his opponent about how hilariously bad the match up was. Mantis’s punches, befitting his namesake, were so strong and fast that a second blow of pure air pressure followed them, giving him extra range and a free second punch. Supersonic blows creating air pressure against a person whose main shtick was turning into mist. She was going to be literally blown away by Mantis’s might.
“That was your warning blow. Stand down or I won’t stop at one punch,” Mantis stated, still in a boxer stance. Buzzkill cackled in the background, laughing at Misty’s misfortune.
Misty was sent sailing into a group of lockers, crumpling the steel into a silhouette of her image upon impact. She shook the dizziness from her head quickly,the pain from the impact still lingering in her back and gut. It hurt, yes, but nothing that needed healing desperately.
“Not bad.” She mused aloud. “Better than your sidekick’s attempts at humor and combat. I’ve got a lot of money riding on this fight, so I don’t think stopping is in the cards for me.”
Lunging forward, she thrust her hands out at Mantis in a series of sharp, rapid-fire jabs; if she could manage to find any of Mantis’ pressure points, she could at the very least paralyze those super-powerful arms out of commission. Unfortunately for her, the reflexes of the multichromatic young man were more than able to keep up - and keep his body out of her reach. (3)
Jenny had already landed safely on the cushion supplied by Dreamer, but in her state of temporary mental shutdown she didn’t seem to care what was happening.
“Wheee!” She cheered in her dull voice. “Again!”
Will was left slack-jawed by the strength displayed from Mantis, and his agility that followed. By the time Blizzard came to escort him out, the boy was starting to wonder exactly who would be needing healing by the time the fight was over. However, he recognized just how tricky Misty could be, and wondered if there was some way she could manage to pull through.
“Thanks,” he said to Blizzard, “but I can’t just abandon everyone like this. My dad got us into this; I’m going to be there when we get out.”
Blizzard looked to the battle, and back to Will. This guy was really willing to get in the way a fight between a Telepathic Smoke Ninja and A Immortal Bee…Demon…Thing, A guy would could punch his foes so hard they get hit twice, and his brother who was essentially The Terminator?!
I’m a Clone and Will’s the one telling me I’ve got to stay?! I really am a coward…
With a brief moment’s hesitation, Blizzard huffed in disappointment at himself.
Worse ways to die I guess…
“Alright, but I sure hope you have some kind of plan…”
Wingnut looked to Jenny in her…Less than functional state and was puzzled. Did Misty really hit her that hard?
“I think the Ninja knocked the sense out of her…”
Not looking away from the fight, Sweep nodded towards the door. “Then move her somewhere else! She’s no good to us slapped silly!”
The Jet-Trooper looked to the giddy mess of a robot, and moved to her side. This was gonna be difficult…
“Alright, up we go, eh?”
The Jet Trooper attempted to hoist Jenny up arm-over-shoulder and move her out of the combat zone, only for Wingnut to realize that she was FAR too heavy for him to carry alone. (5)
“Ugh…Just great. How am I gonna-”
It was at that moment Wingnut remembered that he had a Jetpack.
Wisely staying out of the fray, Dreamer circled the battle, calculating his next move. At the moment, the most he was simply the last line of defense for Jenny. As bitter as the thought was, he knew that his brothers would be no match for Misty no matter how they went at her. She was simply too powerful…
Powerful…Her powers…
Dreamer took note of how the gusts from Buzzkill’s wings were keeping Misty suppressed. Without her powers to push back, she wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Unsure of how long Buzzkill and Mantis would be able to keep her occupied, Dreamer pulled out a compact data pad and began to hack into the school’s security. He had a surprise in store for Misty if she gained the upper hand…All he needed were a few precious seconds to get it ready. (17)
Under his goggles, Buzzkill’s eye twitched. “Sidekick? SIDEKICK!?” he exclaimed, bringing the giant wings back. “I’M A SUPERVILLAIN, YOU CLOUDY-” he yelled in indignation, swinging his wings down with great speed. The roar of the wind obscured his expletive, a gale of tremendous force rocketing out as he cackled in villainous glee. (17)
However, the powerful wind blowing Misty back into the lockers was only the beginning. Mantis, working in tandem with Buzzkill, let himself fly forward with the wind to get right in Misty’s face. With no room to block, and seeing her shrug off the blow from before, Mantis felt no need to hold back this time. A series of sonic booms echoed barely through the wind as several momentum-fuelled superpunches crashed hard into Misty. (19)
If either weren’t so used to each other’s antics, there was a probable chance that their moves would have greatly affected the other. Instead, the two seemed to flow as if odd teammates instead of foes. In each other’s mind, they were definitely both, grinning as they tagteamed the bounty hunter.
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
“Cute.” Misty spoke aloud. “Not one, but two stand-up comedians.”
Will was locked into place; even though Misty had no actual control over his mind, he knew there was little he could do in this situation. If he moved toward the group, he would be exposing them to danger. If he ran away, all Misty had to do was leave his mind to get back in the action.
Misty herself was impressed with the sort of manpower they had assembled to defend Jenny; even the two odd ones out seemed rather strong, as overly hammy as they were. Taking over Will allowed her to get a good glimpse at them without being a target.
Removing her presence from Will’s mind, she suddenly latched onto Dreamer.
BZZZRT
On her way in, she came in contact with Dreamer’s magna-staff, which sent a ripple of electricity through her cloudy form. It didn’t cause any actual damage (which was easily undone in this phase anyway), but it dealt her a great deal of pain: enough to prevent her from immediately shifting back into her physical form. However, that couldn’t stop her from invading his mind…
Though caught flat footed by her sudden change in target, Dreamer braced for the intrustion. Misty’s initial probing didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, allowing him to still think clearly and freely.
This is a bizarre way to make a first impression…
The Anti-Trooper’s mind was devoid of virtually anything, focused on one thing and one thing only: Her. Her moves, her weaknesses, motives, and…prowess.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this…you can ready minds, turn into smoke and…you decide to be a bounty hunter?
The tone of voice he had in his head wasn’t malicious, but rather inquisitive. In his training in Brawl Hall, he learned that knowing his enemy - Are you really my enemy? - was one of the most important parts of combat.
If you’re looking for a weakness in here, I’m afraid you won’t find any. I’ve been trained against Jedi Mind Tricks…
Wait…do you even know what a Jedi is??
At that point, more and more question began to float about, yet his focus never wavered…this was all apart of the plan, as Dreamer had quickly come up with a strategy: Overwhelm the Telepath by thinking. A LOT. Soon his mind was a whirlwind of Questions about her, thoughts about her…
…Nice shade of purple you’ve got going. It suits you.
Buzzkill, upon seeing Misty’s target change, did what any sensible person like himself would do: Yell at them. “She’s a psychic alien who can possess people, has enhanced strength, speed and vision, and can turn into Mist. Her name is Misty. It’s literally spelled out for you!” he berated, amazed by Dreamer’s seeming stupidity.
“I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buzzkill,” Mantis pointed out, confident in the skill of his allies.
“Yeah, they know what they’re doing. Whether they can stop it with Misty controlling them is the difference,” he commented sourly.
Neither of the two moved any closer despite their comments, sticking close to Jenny. She was the target, and the two of them had a good idea of preventing the would-be assassin from getting close.
Jenny facepalmed herself on seeing Dreamer’s mind get invaded. This is it. We’re all going to die, aren’t we?
She was rather quick to correct Buzzkill, however. “She can’t really ‘control’ anyone like that. She’s looking for weaknesses, like she always does.”
She watched the squad leader closely. He didn’t seem like he was suffering through this very much. What was it that happened as she was going in? Did she get a jolt off of his magna-staff? Or was something else at work?
Will blinked a couple of times in confusion after Misty evacuated her presence from his head. His hand shook as he ran it through his hair, and then he looked up to see Dreamer’s helmet covered by a pair of giant, looming eyes.
“Dammit, I told you to go!” He sighed. He waved a hand in front of Dreamer’s face, wondering what was happening beneath, before retreating toward a wall. He pulled out a thin, card-like metal device from his pocket, grabbing the two handles on it and pulling to reveal the “Big Brother” medical kit in its splendor. He had a feeling that they would need it.
Misty was more than a little disturbed by the amount of thoughts heading her way. She was basically bouncing around inside Dreamer’s head trying to find at least one scrap of information that could be used against him. No such luck. Al she could hear were his various thoughts on the situation at hand, about her…wait, what was that? He’d dreamt about her?!
“SHUT UP, ALREADY!” She yelled, shooting out of Dreamer’s head as a furious ball of energy. She was exceptionally frustrated by the lackluster start this “battle” had taken. It was time to kick things up a notch.
She flew right at Jenny, cackling with delight as she found herself inside her artificial intelligence. “Hey there, old friend. Let’s see if we can find out what makes your gears grind?”
Of course, this was only part of her strategy. She never was able to do this to her before, but there was a flaw in Jenny’s response that she was hoping to take advantage of this time. Still, in the scant amount of time she had inside the robot’s head, she tried to find any of her fears that could be used against her. The last thing she could sense was an image of herself from their last encounter…
BEEP. Whirrrrrr…
When someone is trying to search through your memories, the best way to fight against them is to deny them access in the first place. At least, that was what Jenny thought before shutting down her brain. Her eyes glazed over, and a dull smile crossed her face as Misty vanished, unable to discern anything more.
“Uh, huh-huh-huh-huh,” she laughed, “purple go away.”
A tremendous thud echoed off the walls as Jenny suddenly hurtled toward Dreamer. Misty lowered her foot from the powerful kick, showing her full physical form for the first time in this battle.
“Once I take care of the rest of you, this is gonna be a cakewalk.” She grinned.
Perfect! Didn’t imagine it’d work that well!
Dreamer caught himself as he recovered from the intrusion. Almost immediately he was battle ready. Seeing her approach Jenny, Dreamer was about to order Sweep to suppress Misty with his Rotary Cannon. That was, until Misty sent Jenny flying at him.
Firfek.
In almost a fraction of a second, Dreamer grabbed Will, and tossed a small pellet at the Blue Projectile. Throwing himself and Will out of the way, Dreamer activated the emergency impact ballast that he’d thrown at Jen. With a WHOOPM, Jenny’s impact as cushioned by a large gray pad courtesy of Nightwing.
Good thing Mr. Grayson likes to share…
Dreamer stood up, and took a few steps forward, whirling his Staff at his side.
“Don’t count on it…” The Arc Trooper scoffed. “Wing, Sweep, Cover Jen! Blizz, get Will to safety!”
Their weapons trained on Misty, the other troopers quickly took their positions. Sweep’s rotary cannon whirred menacingly to life as he lifted to the violet assailant.
“Don’t engage until she gets close…let Dream, Buzz and Mantis hold her back for now…” Sweep snarled to his brother.
Blizzard scrambled quickly to Will’s side and helped him up. “C’mon. We’re getting out of here!”
It was in that moment that the villain and hero duo gave identical grins. It was a mistake to get this close to them.
Buzzkill’s large growths burst into form as comedically huge bug wings grew from his back. As he flapped them down, attempting to create a strong breeze to disrupt any mist form shenanigans, a small gust of wind blew. Unfortunately the first wave of wind wasn’t very strong, but the follow up should be stronger. (2)
However, it was Mantis that was the true threat to Misty. Immediately lunging towards the foe in a boxer-like stance, to the ordinary eye only the briefest of motions could be barely seen. However, the superpowered punch directly towards Misty’s abdomen definitely wasn’t anything slight. Though he was still holding back from lethal force, the terrifying strength of his initial punch showed he wasn’t joking. (17)
In the gap between the would-be assassin got sent flying into the wall, there was a loud CRACK. The very air surged from the speed and fury of his singular blow, gusting Misty. Though she avoided most of the second blow, the air pressure from it was stronger than Buzzkill’s breeze. (6)
Buzzkill normally would taunt his opponent about how hilariously bad the match up was. Mantis’s punches, befitting his namesake, were so strong and fast that a second blow of pure air pressure followed them, giving him extra range and a free second punch. Supersonic blows creating air pressure against a person whose main shtick was turning into mist. She was going to be literally blown away by Mantis’s might.
“That was your warning blow. Stand down or I won’t stop at one punch,” Mantis stated, still in a boxer stance. Buzzkill cackled in the background, laughing at Misty’s misfortune.
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
“Cute.” Misty spoke aloud. “Not one, but two stand-up comedians.”
Will was locked into place; even though Misty had no actual control over his mind, he knew there was little he could do in this situation. If he moved toward the group, he would be exposing them to danger. If he ran away, all Misty had to do was leave his mind to get back in the action.
Misty herself was impressed with the sort of manpower they had assembled to defend Jenny; even the two odd ones out seemed rather strong, as overly hammy as they were. Taking over Will allowed her to get a good glimpse at them without being a target.
Removing her presence from Will’s mind, she suddenly latched onto Dreamer.
BZZZRT
On her way in, she came in contact with Dreamer’s magna-staff, which sent a ripple of electricity through her cloudy form. It didn’t cause any actual damage (which was easily undone in this phase anyway), but it dealt her a great deal of pain: enough to prevent her from immediately shifting back into her physical form. However, that couldn’t stop her from invading his mind…
Though caught flat footed by her sudden change in target, Dreamer braced for the intrustion. Misty’s initial probing didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, allowing him to still think clearly and freely.
This is a bizarre way to make a first impression…
The Anti-Trooper’s mind was devoid of virtually anything, focused on one thing and one thing only: Her. Her moves, her weaknesses, motives, and…prowess.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this…you can ready minds, turn into smoke and…you decide to be a bounty hunter?
The tone of voice he had in his head wasn’t malicious, but rather inquisitive. In his training in Brawl Hall, he learned that knowing his enemy - Are you really my enemy? - was one of the most important parts of combat.
If you’re looking for a weakness in here, I’m afraid you won’t find any. I’ve been trained against Jedi Mind Tricks…
Wait…do you even know what a Jedi is??
At that point, more and more question began to float about, yet his focus never wavered…this was all apart of the plan, as Dreamer had quickly come up with a strategy: Overwhelm the Telepath by thinking. A LOT. Soon his mind was a whirlwind of Questions about her, thoughts about her…
…Nice shade of purple you’ve got going. It suits you.
Buzzkill, upon seeing Misty’s target change, did what any sensible person like himself would do: Yell at them. “She’s a psychic alien who can possess people, has enhanced strength, speed and vision, and can turn into Mist. Her name is Misty. It’s literally spelled out for you!” he berated, amazed by Dreamer’s seeming stupidity.
“I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buzzkill,” Mantis pointed out, confident in the skill of his allies.
“Yeah, they know what they’re doing. Whether they can stop it with Misty controlling them is the difference,” he commented sourly.
Neither of the two moved any closer despite their comments, sticking close to Jenny. She was the target, and the two of them had a good idea of preventing the would-be assassin from getting close.
Mist-takes Aplenty (RP Starter)
Make it quick. Doesn’t mean you have to make it neat, but make it quick. After you take care of the robot, I want you to kill the bee, then find his hive and burn it. Make sure nothing is left.
I anticipate they’re hiding her somewhere, or that she is under guard. Might be a tad unconventional, but given how nicely you handled her the last time, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.
My son might be there. Don’t. Hurt. Him. Anyone else in that school is fair game.
I’ll be watching.
K
Despite her assignment, Misty was finding it really interesting to venture through the halls of Reaper High. Sure, she was doing so from the restricted view of various air vents, but it seemed like a cool place. Maybe, if she got away with it, she could manage to actually stay here as a student.
But now her mind was focused on the task at hand. She’d spent the past ten hours flitting through various rooms and corridors, trying to find a trace of her target with no luck. There was just about everything else, though! She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to date or duel some of them.
Her focus seemed to hone when she came across the entrance to Brawl Hall. Sounds like my kind of place. In fact, I’m sure it’s her kind of place, too…
She maintained a position at the entrance, waiting for some sign of her mark to appear, and her patience was paid off. Out came a nervous looking boy, his brown hair tousled by what was doubtless a sleepless night, and a black-haired guy she recognized as one of Jenny’s friends. She didn’t bother listening to their conversation, apart from hearing that they were expecting to meet Jenny. That was all she needed to hear; it wouldn’t long of a wait now before she showed up.
The nerdy one left into Brawl Hall itself, while the other, bleary-eyed but anxious, stayed to watch out for Jenny. Misty grinned as she watched the unsuspecting young man keep watch.
Will didn’t have to wait for much longer, but even another two minutes felt like an eternity with how anxious and tired he was. He’d only gotten about an hour of sleep altogether, and it had wrought havoc on his already-sensitive mind. He hoped that everyone would be in one piece by the time they got there.
The group soon emerged from around a distant corner, and Will was relieved at last. He smiled for the first time in the past day and leaned back against the wall, sinking to the floor. he was so comforted by the sight of seeing her alive that he almost felt secure enough to go to sleep…
…but when he opened his eyes again, everything had become an odd shade of purple.
“Your greatest fear,” said a haunting female voice, “is watching your best friend suffer?” It laughed cruelly. “If I were you, I would get out now and avoid such a fate.”
The group had almost made it to the entrance when Jenny heard a loud curse from Will. If she’d had any color in her face, she would have gone white at the sound of it. Looking ahead, she saw his face obscured by what appeared to be a pair of phantasmic eyes looking out from him. He looked back at them all through the obscuring cloud and begged, screaming with as much energy as he could muster.
“GO!”
The clones could all simultaneously feel the panic in Will’s voice. Blizzard too was almost overwhelmed by panic, while Wingnut and Sweep drew their weapons, two small DC-15 blaster pistols and a massive Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon respectively. Dreamer stuck close to Jenny, and tightened his grip on his staff.
Determine the enemy’s location…
Dreamer had been studying Misty in the very brief time between gearing up and deploying, and what he read was concerning…yet intriguing…
Why would someone so powerful choose to be a simple bounty hunter?
“I want eyes on, ASAP! Wing! With me! We’re securing Will! Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled!” Brushing past Mantis Shrimp and Sweep, he knelt and observed Will.
Why target Will? There’s no real strategic advantage to that…unless…
As the others stood their ground, Dreamer looked around for a breif moment…
You’re underestimating us…
Buzzkill and Mantis had been keeping seemingly pretty casual conversation on the walk, far more than archnemesises on a serious mission should be. But both were used to occasionally acting casual. In fact, Buzzkill gave Mantis pointers on how to pretend, to not draw attention while secretly listening. Why should another supervillain destroy his own chosen nemesis?
However, as soon as Will screamed they immediately snapped to attention. Mantis got into a defensive fighting stance while Buzzkill focused his body into two large, strange lumps on his back.
Unlike the rest of the squad, Buzzkill looked confident and cocky.
“If you wanted to possess someone we’re afraid of, it seemed you Mist,” the supervillain called, mocking her. “Or are you so jealous of people with families that you want even Will’s shitty one?” he further called, the mocking instantly turning to a vicious taunt. That’ll be one way to get her to stop possessing Will and fight them like a ninja. He loved the sting of a personal insult best.
Mantis, meanwhile, posed as heroically as his fight stance allowed (a surprising amount), heroic music blazing and his cape blew in a fan-powered breeze. “Stand down, Misty, or I’m afraid no amount of questionably-sourced money will pay a bail for where you’re going,” he announced, pointing a dramatic finger at the obviously affected Will.
Buzzkill and Mantis had spent the night preparing strategies as soon as Baytheon so lovingly spoiled the assailant’s identity. Why wouldn’t the pair look up a figure like Misty? As OCs, they had the major advantage of not having multiverse-spanning cartoons about them. The Mysterious Misty wasn’t exactly Mysterious when you can catch up to her powers with an 11 minute episode.
The two weren’t going to miss any chance to get an unfair advantage.
The first thing you hear from your phone when you answer it is a bright and cheery feminine voice. "Master Buzzkill? This is a call from the office of Kurtis Perringer, CEO of Baytheon Weapons and Industries. Mr. Perringer has a business proposal to introduce to you; as a result, this call is being kept in the utmost confidence. Shall I put you through?"
Buzzkill generally didn’t get phone calls very often. If he did, they were normally from very annoyed people he had pranked recently or family. He didn’t bother to keep his phone number exactly secret - if anything he enjoyed waking up at the brink of dawn to the infuriated yelling of someone else. Sometimes Genius Sanctum students messed with his phone or sent his number somewhere to receive really weird phone calls. A few people even tried to prank him back.
So when he received a phone call from some cheerful voice, he immediately assumed it was a prank. A weapon company wanted to do a business proposal with him? A supervillain? Maybe if he was the test subject. Still, he might as well see how far this prank went. “Sure, why not,” he answered, honestly amused.
Buzzkill cracked his knuckles as he started walking off. “I am. Then I’m calling in My contacts, and we’re sending your father a message. Like hell am I missing out on revenge here,” he stated. Mantis could guard Beekeeper effectively, especially with the school’s heightened security. The rest was calling in some favors. No one was going near Jenny except a bloody, bruised body and Kurtis’s teeth.
He was going to make this Hurt.
He paused for a moment, looking to Will for a second over his shoulder. “You ready to show you’re not just some fuckhead’s son?”
Will simply looked at Buzzkill for a moment, the back of his mind still swirling with physical and mental pain. After spending so much of his life being this…low, was he even capable of being something other than this?
Even if not, I’ll do my damnedest.
Taking a deep breath, he twisted his head slowly, feeling the stiffness in his neck pop and soften. As he walked up to the door, he firmly grabbed Buzzkill’s discarded hat, crumpling the rim in his hard, quivering grip.
“Not if you just keep standing here.” He said, tossing the hat at Buzzkill. “ We both have work to do.”
Then he slammed the door behind his former detainer.
Buzzkill caught the hat in his hand, a lifetime of people angrily throwing things at him making him a surprisingly good catch. He had enough time to give Will a wicked grin before the door slammed. As soon as the door slammed, his face slowly went to a frown.
“What are you planning?” he voiced aloud. The unusual silence unnerved him. During this whole event Gyne had been remarkably quiet. She had been increasingly quiet for a while now. He was already slightly jumpy, his parasite/captor’s silence was not helping that. But he could still feel her presence. He could feel his vindication throbbing and flowing into her presence.
Dismissing whatever she was scheming for now, he brought his phone to his ear as he started walking again. “Tarantula Hawk,” was his only words.
“I’ll be right there,” came the immediate reply.
Hanging up, Buzzkill rang Dexter to see the vertically challenged genius’s progress. Hearing the report, he grinned wickedly.
“This bastard’s gonna pay big time,”
You have a bit of association with the Genius Sanctum. Do you have any level of expertise yourself, or are you completely relying on them to do work for you?
1) I only “rely” on them when it’s something major. Like hacking super school security. 2) I’m a supervillain, not a supergenius. Why the hell should I bother trying to invent a deathlaser when I can convince someone to accidentally build one for me? I focus on magic and guile. Technology is an occasionally needed bonus, but definitely not my shtick.
That aside, Beekeeper’s better at fancy technology than me so minor stuff I go to him over some random genius who hates me. Sure, I can use stuff, but he got several camera drones I bought flying around. No prizes for guessing which of us is better at tech.