Log:Assault at the Arcade

2020/05/25 Blockbuster Blink Kid Tengu Phantom 1

The members of Code Dark were set to meet atop the roof of an abandoned warehouse in Lowtown, on the edge near the Upper East Side. It's a futile search for clues on if the place was used as a potential drop off point for Next Generation. Phantom is already there, sitting crosslegged and focusing. They SHOULD all be partying at the beach. But Felix set up this time and place, only to not show up.

In fact, Felix doesn't even seem to be on the brainwave with the rest.

Blockbuster is floating directly above Phantom, mirroring his pose on the rooftop. She is, however, slowly rotating in place upon the column of light that is harmlessly holding her aloft while she scans their surroundings. It's totally not going to reveal their position. What are you talking about?

That probably means that Fenix is the one out partying on the beach, doesn't it? At least Blink can BLAMPF her way over there easily enough if things allow. Speaking of that, she BLAMFs her way to the others, an overstuffed bag on her shoulder. "What's up? Lure any ships in yet, 'Buster?" Because that's what tall, slowly rotating beams of light are for, right? Like bug-zappers, but for ships.

Kid Tengu has spent the morning sniffing about town, trying to weave the sparse bits of information they have into a narrative they can follow to find their quarry.

Turning up mostly empty-handed, KT moves towards the rooftop- slinking into a nearby alley-way and shedding the human shape he'd shifted into for the last leg of his journey.

He leaps up to the rooftop- stretching his limbs and yanking himself forward and towards his friends, his outworld family- or at least most of them.

He counts and realizes they're down one just before landing- rolling off his excess momentum and coming to a halt within easy speaking distance."Glad most of us made it. Hopefully you guys turned up more than I have." He says to the rest of Code Dark.

Phantom is spaced out for a bit. He's trying to divine the future. Results are hazy. His half-lidded eyes blink once and open fully. "Nothing yet. Nothing but butting heads. That Golden Girl heroine said we should go to some nups who could cast a spell to find the missing people."

"Like, duh," replies Blockbuster from directly over Phantom's head, "Of course she would."Blockbuster abruptly steps out of the air and onto the rooftop behind Phantom. She lazily stretches out, twisting and bending while she lets her sentiments linger in the air."She's, like, "The Golden Girl". Of course she'd say we should just let the nups handle it."

"Booo-ring. Not an option." KT replies quickly, sounding very disinterested in handing the case over to a pack of untrustworthy 'nups.

He nods at Blockbuster's comment, clearly agreeing that that sounds like her.

"They'll never take us seriously if we're compared to them. So I say we push on ourselves." KT says after a moment's thought.

"Do shick ourselves?!" Blink mock-gasps. "What a terrible thought! Sounds like we shouldn't do that if we want to blend in..." She almost makes it through before snickering. "Yeah, eff them. We can do this."

Phantom abstains on the vote. "Sounds like the nays have it. Someone else may go ask. Riptide seemed eager to get all the answers from his teacher. So I'm sure it'll happen. It just won't be us asking for it." He tilts his head slightly. "So...Felix ditched. Said he needed some private time to think. Then he shut me out. Us out." It's not unheard of, but it is a bit unusual.

Blockbuster loops around the rooftop, giving each of her friends a hug in turn. She ends up lazing against an air conditioning unit, arms folded while she looks at the others inquisitively."Hard to learn how to do stuff if, like, we never learn to do it. Seems kinda counter-productive."

"I hope he's ok. I like Felix. I wonder what his sitch-u-ation is." KT asks, emulating the strange speech pattern of a particular cartoon squirrel.

KT wobbles cheerfully after the friendly hug from Blockbuster. "BB is right." He says, letting is arms stretch down and touch the ground. His hands expand to be 4-5x their normal size and he drums the rooftop gently.

Phantom shrugs. "I think sometimes he just needs time completely to himself," he says, having no idea what Felix is up to. He cracks a smile and chuckles. "Besides, it's not like I don't need a break from all the voices in my he--"

"--EEeeeeeeeeelp!" Someone runs out of the Timewarp Arcade screaming, some 25 meters away. Other screaming kids and parents follow. As does a totally 2D arcade game box, which crashes out the dark tinted window.

Blink, well, blinks a little at the unsolicited and unexpected(?) Block-busting hug. She's about to say something when screaming interrupts. Following by ...flying arcade games? She looks over and down. "Is that normal? For here?"

"When is screaming and broken glass ever normal?" Phantom grumbles as he stands up. "The question is whether it goes unanswered like in our home dimension. Which it won't," he determines as he turns towards the screams.

Kid Tengu arms streak out ahead of him towards the 2D Arcade box.

KT's white eyes widen at the sound of someone screaming for help.

His flesh snaps abck into place as he turns around to try to source the location of teh sound.

"I don't think that's normal - at least not anything I've seen in a holo." He replies to blink as his cel-shaded bodysuit stretches into a pair of wings before reconsidering. "I'll distract- you guys break!"

KT leaps into the air, stretching his arms out in front of him to yank himself forward to charges for the Arcade being as loud as possible to be distracting.

"Hey you! Videodrome! I've seen better games on the back of a box of cereal!" He shouts as he gets as close as possible without putting himself in easy reach- of course that doesn't apply to him.

Kid Tengu arms streak out ahead of him towards the 2D Arcade box.

A slick black figure with a few stripes along its arms that are a sickly green. Other striping along its torso is purple. While humanoid, its legs are double jointed, with a tail for balance, and long, thick arms built like an ape's. There are some boney-like outcropping structures along its arms and shoulders. It's eyes are large and milky, taking up most of the head, and it has a sharp-toothed grin with a long, bright green tongue. It advances on a group of teenagers. "You think you can cheat us!"

Blink looks after KT and the 2D machine to then see the... lizard? ape? thing? emerge from the arcade. "What the eff is that?" Well, there is an easy way to answer that! With a BLAMPF! she appears in front of the thing, between it and the group of (other) teens. "What the eff are you?"

The Lizard-Ape thing made of some slick slimy material isn't the only thing in there. There's lots of people running around. It's dark inside, and all those flashing lights make it hard to make out much.

"We hate cheaters," says a wet gurgling voice as Noir slips through between two arcade machines. This black figure is more humanoid in proportions, and shapely enough to be a young female. It even has long hair. The tips of the hair, the claws, and the feet are white. In some ways, it's a bit similar to Phantom in appearance, but much scarier looking. Its hand reaches out to one of the teens Plague is advancing on, and the limb stretches unnaturally to get there.

Noir's clawed fingers grip the front of a brown-haired teen's shirt as he screams. "Let go!"

Blockbuster kicks off of the rooftop, a pillar of light streaming from her lower body. She sails outward over the edge of the roof to float in place about 15m away from Plague and Noir. Lifting a gloved hand, Blockbuster launches a sphere of whitish, rippling light toward the menacing duo. It detonates in a spray of shimmering light that hopefully encompasses both villains.

Noir and Plague looks disoriented by the flash. Blink also gets a few spots in her eyes, but not the worst of it.

Phantom is left on the roof. He looks for a fire escape to get down.

A girl about 16 years old is also blinded. She's got dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, olive colored pants, and a white tank top.

Blink is now blinking more as she has spots before her eyes. "Hey, who turned on the brights?"

Kid Tengu 's arms stretch out towards Noir as he attempts to use their blindness to Code Dark's advantage.

His cel-shaded form bulks up a bit just in case he needs a little added umph.

Muscles ripple and thicken as his arms continue towards their target, looking more like tendrils with hands attached than arms at present.

Blink gets her vision back. She didn't get an answer from Mr. Lizard-Ooze-Ape-Thing, but... nope, he still looks as fugly as before. With KT grabbing the other clawed one, Blink warps the space around Mr. FLOAT in a torus. Mmm. Doughnut. Or hamster wheel, if he prefers.

KT's tendril like arms find their targets and then slither around his shoulders, squeezing Noir tightly enough to cause them to loose their grip on their prey.

"This is going to be a great op for our tag!" KT exclaims as a third arm grows out of his chest with a PDA in it.

"Say- #CodeDark!" He shouts before taking a picture of Noir for uploading to the Tweeterverse later.

Thus, Mr. FLOAT is encased in his own personal torus of terror! For him, a straight line is still straight. For everyone else, it loops back on itself.

Plague tries to run at Kid Tengu, but he keeps getting teleported back into a loop. Finally realizing this after a few times, he tries to use his stretching tongue to lash at the warp bubble.

A bubbling oozing sizzling trail sticks to the warp, and then POP! He's freed

Plague charges at Kid Tengu. "Leet theeeemm gooo!" he threatens as his tongue lashes towards KT.

"You started it!" KT fires back at Plague

A slimy green trail that glows is painted across Kid Tengu and begins to seep in, making him feel terribly sick.

KT is struck by plague- his body wiggles and wobbles though not nearly so cheerful as before. "Oh--that doesn't sseem like..."He continues on but his tongue swells up in his mouth making it hard to speak. He lurches forward, using his extra arm to hold his stomach.

His arms take on the texture of a limp noodle but he maintains his grip on Noir.

Noir is smaller than Kid Tengu, and tries to squirm out of his grip.

 Kid Tengu says, ""Uh... guys... I think... this guy poisoned me...""

Blockbuster stares down at the battlefield. This is not working as intended. She rips some light from the air, forming a sphere of dull red light that she hurls at Plague. HOW DARE THAT KLYNTAR WANNABE POISON HER KLYNTAR FRIEND?!

Plague's body is only lightly singed. "That's...it? AHAHahahah. You should run now and leave the cheaters to us!"

Phantom finally makes it down the fire escape, hopping down the last few feet.

Animus rubs at her eyes. "Shick, we should go. This isn't worth all this attention," she says to Plague and Noir. But then sliding out from behind this slip of a girl is a form of a being. It's much too big to be obscured by her form, and yet it was.

Only the upper half of it can be seen currently as it places its long, bony hands on the girl's shoulders and curls them around to grip her. The creature is white and looks somewhat related to Plague and Noir, but with brown tinged hands and tendril-like hair. Like some twisted advisor, it leans down and utters in a graveled voice. "But their attention we have. They'll chase us. Capture us. Take us away from our parents. Let us eat them. Then no more trouble."

Animus' expression goes from fearful to slack, mesmerized. "Right. We don't want any more trouble."

The creature smiles a twisted smile, the corners almost going past its eyes. "It's been too long since I've had a snack." It shoots out from behind Animus and flies out towards Blockbuster. The lower half is...non-existent. More like a serpentine trail that attaches to somewhere behind the girl. It lunges to try and grab Blockbuster.

Animus the Greater misses Blockbuster.

Blink has a keen eye on and grasp of the situation, as KT is sickened, FLOAT breaks out of her Tessie-Trap, and BB busts... not blocks. "What the frak?!" She BLAMPFs one of the many nearby shards of shattered glass into FLOAT (Plague). Let's see how he (it?) likes dealing with The Law (of physics).

"AAAAUUGGHH!" Plague howls as something is teleported inside of him. He claws at his stomach, trying to get it out while he doubles over.

Kid Tengu 's Plague stricken form looks like he's having a hard time keeping himself together but he pushes through with grit and determination.

He squeezes Noir to deal with the pain and then chucks her at the nearest object- like car since they want to play nasty.

He grows a tail to stabilize himself and leans forward on one long arm before cocking his arm back and attempting to send her flying (into something.)

Noir is hoisted and thrown at a car. They embed into the side briefly and slide down on their rump, dizzied.

Plague catches his breath from his wailing, still cradling his stomach. "That HUUURRRT!"

Blockbuster dodges nimbly around Animus' attempt(s) to restrain her in the air. A rainbow trail describes the corkscrew pattern that Blockbuster uses, Blockbuster drawing in light from around her as she comes to rest in the air. With a twisting motion, Blockbuster propels a big ball of shifting light toward Plague. It shifts between green, red, blue, and an inexplicable blackness as it bounces wildly through the air.

That blasts Plague back into a vintage Mortal Kombat arcade machine, his head smashing back into the screen as he and it get knocked over, with Plague on his back from the impact with the prismatic ball.

Phantom dashes across the street and finally reaches the fight. Good thing traffic stopped so he could get across!

Animus looks between Plague and Noir. "Maybeeee...these are not good snacks." He retracts back towards its host. "Fleeeee." The girl seems to snap out of it. "Oh boy. They're on their own!" She begins running for the rear exit.

Blink is thrilled that things shifted abruptly the other way. "Yeah! Better run! Or better yet, stay down!" She BLAMPFs to the prone Plague and kicks him. Because he/she/it is down. Isn't that the perfect time?

Crunch. That's the glass. But Plague itself doesn't seem too harmed by the kick. He's got a tough, fleshy hide.

Blink eyes Plague/FLOAT. So the kick didn't do that much, but it makes her feel better. Oh, look, more glass. She BLAMFs some more into him. Fortunately for him, it doesn't -really- appear there. The whole 'two things can't occupy the same space and time' rule prevents that. It's the ripple caused by things shifting that's the uncomfortable part.

It's extremely uncomfortable. Plague curls up into a ball with a pained grunt, and then goes completely limp. His form begins to melt, until a teen with black hair and an oversized gaming shirt and khaki shorts is revealed, unconscious, and with a bit of green glowing drool still on his chin.

Kid Tengu continues concentrating on holding himself together after Plague's strike has ravaged his body so.

He tries to ignore the boiling feeling he has all over and conceptrate instead on breaking the case... or these crooks.

His chases after the runners- notably Noir since he has no interest in touching Plague, there are other members of Code Dark better suited for dealing with them.

His noodley arms stretch out for Noir so he can impeded her progress.

KT sounds pained even over their mental link but he's still encouraging.

 Kid Tengu says, "Great job guys!"

Animus the Greater tries to get in KT's way to prevent him from grabbing Animus the Lesser (the girl), but fails to stop him. Kid Tengu wraps the girl up. She starts screaming and squirming and kicking to no avail. "Let me go!!"

"Don't run yet! The party just got started and I haven't even gotten your name!" KT exclaims to Animus, shifting to reveal a mouth full of dangerous scary tetth.

The girl screams briefly as the air is squeezed out of her lungs with a cracking sound, then goes limp. Animus bellows. "No! Don't hurt herRRrrr!!" as he begins to shrink back into the unconscious girl's body.

KT grins but stumbles and falls to a knee and falls forward, catching himself with another pair of hands. "Not the best fighter but something about that was satisfying. Maybe you guys shouldn't... play so rough if you're all ... so ... soft." He says to those still left standing against Code Dark.

Blockbuster - ever a vision in Technicolor - feels personally slighted by Noir's monochromatic existence. She turns her attention in Noir's direction now, eyes narrowing as she builds up another Pepper Bomb. Rearing back, Blockbuster hurls the ball of shifting colors at Noir's back.

Noir doesn't get a chance to get back up as she's lit up in technicolor. When the brilliant light fades, in Noir's place is a blonde short-haired girl in a boy's blue t-shirt and jeans, dressed very gender neutral.

Phantom managed to get there just in time...to not be helpful. He really missed Felix being around to carry him and leap around the battlefield. "Is everyone okay?" he asks.

KT pulls himself together enough to slink towards a wall so he can climb it and tuck himself out of the way long enough to heal up. He just needs to catch his breath a minute.

He notices the edges of his vision are far deeper and darker than he remembers.

He stumbles past Phantom, nodding and putting an extrodinarily soft hand on Phantom's shoulder. "Nothing that a cup of coffee and some gummis can't fix."

Blockbuster drops downward at a casual pace to land nearby. Light continues to ripple around her hands as she looks around the area."I'm good. Are you guys okay?"

Phantom pats KT's hand as he feels it on his shoulder, surprised at how soft it is. Almost spongy. "We'll get you a whole pot of coffee and a big bag of gummies," he offers to console Kid Tengu. His head turns to each of the unconscious people, looking confused. << If I didn't know better, I'd think I hit my head on the way down the fire escape and was sensing double. There's six minds here.>>

"Yeah, I think we're good," Blink assures him. "Well, good with some coffee and sugar." Because Blink can always use some of that. <>

<< I don't like the sound of that.>> KT thinks over the link as he presses himself into the wall and tries to cope withthe cramping feeling spreading out from his coreand radiating throughout his shape no mater how he move or reshapes it.

He assumes the form of a homeless man just to keep anyone from getitng pictures of him downed. They've got an image to manage. Or so KT has decided.

Blockbuster skips quickly around the area, hugging her friends in turn. For the moment, she remains near the poisoned(?) Kid Tengu while looking at the others. << So... Who wants to call the cops this time around? >>

KT suddenly feels a wave of warmth roll over him as whatever the disgusting thing Plague did to him wanes. He lets out a relieved sigh as his breathing becomes easier.

<> He says as he looks at his hand. He shifts it into something harder and wiggles his fingers, perhaps testing his consistency before he stands up.

Blink is hugged again? She looks at Blockbuster, following her ring around the 'ro-sies with her eyes. <> She pulls out her D-vice to send out the appropriate Twit.

<< I'm fine! I just want to make sure you guys are all okay, >> replies Blockbuster. She peers over at Blink while poking experimentally at Kid Tengu's newly solidified form.

<< I think we need to call Starguard. There's something really weird with these extra minds>> Phantom suggests.

KT still isn't 100% but hey he's not fully spongy any more. He's definitely feeling gross.

<< I'm going to make myself scarce if we're calling in Starguard. I don't need to deal with an illegal extraterrestrial wrap too.>> KT says, reaching up on the wall and pulling himself to his feet. He legs wobble but he holds it together.

<< I won't be far.>> KT says as begins to shuffle down the road like a half drunk man to keep his cover.

<> Phantom offers as Kid Tengu goes to recover and lick his wounds, so to speak.

Phantom looks to the fallen teens, making sure they won't wake up before Starguard arrives. << So you calling it in, Blink? Let them know there's alien minds attached to each of these kids.>>

<> Blink thinks. @SGGHQ is only one letter longer than @CBPD, anyhow, and it's not that hard to just copy the previous Twit. <>

The authorties come and Code Dark explains what they know of the situation. Animus has healed up during the wait and has no injuries. The three infected teens are taking to Starguard for observation.