Log:DEMON Resurgence Part 1

The Location
Bridgend is an upmarket coastal stretch, between the port to the north and the yacht club to the south, where several main roads meet: Golden Sands Road from the southwest, Ming Street from Chinatown, Bridge Road from Sandy Bottoms Island, and Wharf Street, running roughly parallel to the shore. Some more prominent businesses have warehouses here, but expensive houses and nice cafes, restaurants and shops are more common. The spectacular arch of the bridge to the island guarantees these businesses always have a good tourist trade.

The Action
As the untiring guardian of truth and justice, Sable patrols the streets of the city... others are out too. With less honorable intentions.

X was heading to the coffee shop right now, he wanted something to do...Not much more to be said.

Ellbeth steps out of the coffee shop. She can have coffee as good on her yacht thanks to Harry's skills, but the company in the coffee shop is usually better. Not today though. It seems the hero comuunity have better things to do than sip coffee.

Swinging through the night sky, Silver Spider races furiously through the city streets, tumbling in a hurry as she flips up over a lamppost. o O (Oh, crap, oh, crap, oh, crap, I hope it's not date night. She'll kill me. She'll just kill me. Late night at the office, the dust up over on Hamilton, two muggings, and that idiot from Tennessee with the hovercar full of sheep. She's gonna be so mad...)

A crimson bolt of magical energy streaks down from a rooftop at the mage. Alerted by some sense Ellbeth manages to cast a protective spell just in the nick of time. But she's being buffeted by the energy. And another bolt fires down from a second rooftop. To add to her woes, several people are filtering out from alleyways, with energy weapons in hand.

The sources of the magical bolts are cncealed in inky pools of unnatural darkness up on their respective rooftops. The seven people emerging from alleys are visible in the streetlights. They are all wearing battle dress, body armor, carrying energy weapons, and have a symbol on their armor of a ram's skull with curling horns.

Sable's head lifts at the sharp cracks that split the evening quiet and she turns, abruptly changing direction to respond to the ambush, arcing through the night air.

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Oh, my god! These guys! Again! In the darkness! On the roof! With magic bolts! I wish this was "Clue!" I'd make a killing!)

Ellbeth is at bay, channeling all her efforts into maintaining the magical shield around her as it comes under fire from means both magical and mundane.

X makes his way upward to try to see who was doing this.

Silver Spider leaps forward, swinging up towards the nearest rooftop, peering forward and closing her eyes as she arcs upward, gracefully tumbling over the lip of the roof and landing there with a light thump. She inhales sharply and exhales, her fingers tapping the lip of the roof. "Yoo hoo! Mister Sorcerer!" She shouts. "Are you sure you wanna do this? Really, really sure?" She lifts her hand and fires a bolt of energy at him, the corkscrew of blue and green rattling towards him with a dull night-time shriek. o O (Hey? Is that my girlfriend swinging by? Oh, god, it's not date night! I'm not screwed!)

The bolt catches the blob of darkness in the torso and sends him hurtling off the roof, sending him sailing out into the night air. "Okay!" She says cheerily. "I'm sure."

The bioenergy from Silver Spider's blast flares around a hastily activated shield as one warlock is hurled off the edge of his roof. The pool of inky darkness fades with the change in protective spells to reveal a robed and hooded figure with the same symbol as the agents on his robes and a face with a pulsating gem embedded in the forehead.

Seeing that Silver Spider has the sorceror situation under control Sable springs smoothly down into the street, knees flexing under her to absorb the impact of her landing as she closes on the energy-weapon wielders.

X takes notice of the other warlock on the roof, about 15" away right now...X puts up a his sonic shield half power, and moves closer, making the distance only 7". At that point, he creates a sphere infront of himself, then sends it flying at the warlock, if it hits it expands into a bubble that unleashes an unerving wave of sounds that would make even the toughest man flinch and cover his ears.

The second warlock flinches as his ears are assualted by the dreadful screech from Soundwave.

Sable's fist cocks into a tight ball and lashes in a vicious scything punch at the thug's ribcage, using the momentum of her run to add to the force of the impact.

Sable's punch swings well wide of the mark as her opponent glides smoothly out of its path, her lips compress in more thanslight annoyance.

Rising to his feet the warlock knocked off the roof looks up but cannot see Silver Spider from his location at street level. So he maintains his attantion on Ellbeth unleashing a powerful bolt that forces her to maintain her defensive spells to the exclusion of all other actions.

The other warlock turns to Soundwave and casts a crimson bolt of magical energy at him.

X watches the bolt go WAY off...Dang is that guy blind or something?

The bolt of energy flies past Soundwave and blows a hole in the facing of a building across the next street but one.

The agents, except the one who is avoiding Sable's fist, fire at whoever they can see. Two at Sable, two at Soundwave, and two at Silver Spider.

Pulses of energy criss cross the street, shoot up into the air and at the rooftop where Silver Spider is. Bricks cascade down from missed shots blasting out craters in the facing buildings.

Silver Spider says, ""Oh, you have got to be KIDDING me!" Silver Spider says as the blasts fly around and chip the building apart. "You're shooting up people's houses now? Do you know what property values are like these days?" She extends a webline and swings down towards the warlock, cocking a fist and winding up to strike him. "Naughty Mr. Wizard. No Frog Princes for you!""

The bioelectric fist charges up as she swings in, and the blue green energy cascades across the sheep's helmet with a loud clang! "You know...you guys should meet this hoverdriver from Tennessee. Who made you guys dress like sheep, anyway?"

Impacted by Silver Spider's fist the warlock is hurled off his feet and set flying into a parked car. The sound of the car alarm adds to the crackle of blaster fire.

Sable's arm swings wide on the first attempt, and she shifts her weight slightly to to swing a back-fist at her target's jaw. "It's good to know these guys aim as badly as I do."

Silver Spider's eyeslit widens. "Oh, hi, Sable. I was in the neighborhood, and..." She winces as she hears the man's jaw break. "..and I...thought...you might need...a paramedic...yah...uhm..."

Sent flying by the powerful strike to his head the agent slams into a wall and slides down to lay in a crumbled heap.

Sable's blow lands sharply and hurls the armoured thug in a sharp trajectory to crumple against a nearby wall. Seeing the impact of her blow Sable's jaw drops.

X's right handed sonic orb glows, then a Powerful blast of sonic energy comes out of it, aiming strait for the Warlock.

Sable says, "Holy..." She looks over at Spider for a moment with the colour draining from her face. "Crap!"

X's attack whirls past the Warlock, just by about a milimeter.

Rising to his feet once again the warlock getting pummelled by Silver Spider glares furiously at her. The gem embedded in his forehead glows with a vile greenish tinge as he attempts to crush her mind.

The other warlock looks up a Soundwave and lifts a hand. A ball of blue flame forms in his palm, which is thrown at Soundwave. As it moves through the air the ball travels in a curving path seemingly homing in on the flying man-bat.

Despite all efforts to avoid it the curving ball of flames angles in and strikes Soundwave.

Silver Spider howls in pain. "AGGGGH!" She shrieks as her mind is torn apart by strange howling visions and demonic torment. "You...are...so...not getting invited...to my wedding..." She winces as she clenches her fist.

Seeing what happened next to him the agent now closest to Sable drops his weapon and turns to run. He barely gets a couple of steps before the warlock engaging Soundwave sees the agent deserting the ambush. The warlock taps in a code on the device worn around his right wrist and the agent's armor explodes in intense fire from the inside... A smoking husk drops to the street.

X is hit by the attack, but is only blown back by it. He struggles to regain his balance in the air. He manages to regain balance in the air...Dang, he's now far away from his target...oh well, at least he's harder to hit now...

With the gentle encouragement of the example provided by their decreased companion the other agents remain in the fight and open fire on Sable, Silver Spider, and Soundwave.

A lucky shot, and with the skill of Sable only a lucky shot will connect, catches Sable and hammers her across the sidewalk into a wall.

Silver Spider thinks. o O (I have to put this jewel guy down. Right now. Oh...geez. It's the Squad Squad. The Squad that is there for no other purpose than saying "Hi. I'm a squad.")

The rest of the agents are not so lucky and again strobing pulses of energy fire cross the street and arc up into the sky.

X watches the attack go past him. Wow, are these guys wearing eye-patches?

Silver Spider turns to the two goons firing away at her. "Just a second. I think you'll run away if I grab the collar on his wrist after beating him to a pulp." She pauses. "Hey, Mr. Wizard! You're under arrest for murder! Timmy's going to be real mad. Unfortunately for you, I'm tougher, meaner, and stronger than Timmy, and I'm mad, too!"

Silver Spider leaps at the Warlock, extending a webline as his glowing jewel resides in his forehead, drawing back her fist and trying to smash the ram-headed wizard into the ground. "That's the last time I ever let one of you !@#$!@#$s do that! EVER!" She cocks back her fist and drives it forward, the blue green crackling light hurtling towards the Warlock as she lands right in front of him.

The warlock is staring with arrogant distain at Silver Spider, too fixated on his own superiority to do the smart dodging thing. He pays for it with unconsciousness as Silver Spider's blow, although glancing, sends him down for the count.

The Warlock teeters for a second, and then falls over. "Oooh, la la..." Silver Spider says. "Here's a hint. Cult robes are not a fashion statement."

Sable grunts as she is picked up by the blast and smashed side-on into a nearby wall, the jarring impact doesn's seem to phase her at all and even as she crumples to the pavement she rolls smoothly to one side to recover her footing

On rising to her feet Sable sprints forward to where a pair of agents now stand, in the last few paces her feet stutter and she twists slightly to launch a scything side-kick at the one on the right.

The agent takes the hit, his head snapping back before he drops on the spot.

X doesn't like being pushed away...So he decides to do a curved decent, aiming to get close to the second warlock...Which would now be about thirty yards away

The remaining warlock, on seeing Silver Spider lay low his fellow, switches attention from Soundwave to Silver and sends a crimsom bolt of energy flying towards her after apporting closer.

Silver Spider's eyeslits flick open. "Oh." She says. "You must be Mr. Wizard's replacement. Sorry, Mr. Potter. But you need to have a seven movie deal to actually hit me." The blast whizzes by.

The front of a shop explodes as the bolt misses Silver Spider and blasts through the window into the display.

Sable's boots skitter across the concrete as she recovers from her kick and turns toward the remaining agent near her to unleash a spinning backfist aimed at the thug's helmeted temple.

Silver Spider turns to the other warlock. "Thank you for giving me a little faith that you won't just kill your own side." She says, leaping forward as she extends a webline to swing down the street. "You are not going to kill anyone else. Ever again. Even if I have to cut off your darned hands to do it! Take this!" She swings her fist in a savage, brutal arc, tumbling forward as she swoops in.

Sable's blow catches her opponent and smashes him to the ground and she straightens momentarily to review the tactical situation. "Ellbeth, are you ok?"

Eyes widening at the reality of his situation forces its way past his ego, the remaining warlock on his feet stabs a finger down at the device on his wrist. With a shimmering implosion he, and the unconscious warlock, vanish. Leaving three agents standing in the street.

The agents hurriedly throw down their weapons and raise hands.

Silver Spider sighs as her fist swings at empty air. "Right." She says. "Next time, blast the device first." Her eyes flick up towards Ellbeth, and then over to the agents. "What exactly is going on with these guys? Theres' more every time! Can someone please tell me why these people chose to run around with the glorious emblem of a sheep on their heads?"

X flies over to Ellbeth and lands. He wanted to do more in that...Not much more to be said.

Ellbeth drops her protective shield, "Personally I think it's stupidity, Silver spider. I'm sure they think it's a goat's skull. Old Nick, the Great Goat, Lucifer, you know."

Sable's lips compress as she regards the smoking debris that litters the battlefield. She gestures to the surrendering agents, herding them toward a wall. "You can start taking off the armour too, I don't think you want to be wearing those helmets.

Ellbeth says, "Thank you all for your intervention. I would have been unable to resist such a concentration of force for very long on my own."

Silver Spider facepalms. "It's a sheep." She says. "Once a sheep, always a sheep." She turns to Sable. "We might want to check them. Don't take the helmets off. There might be a deadman switch!" She looks at Sable. "You're a demolitions expert...right?"

The agents comply, removing the body armor and dropping it in a heap.

Sable shakes her head to Spider. "Not me, that's Jenn and Jess you're thinking of, Wolfguard training." She grimaces. "If they haven't been set of by a proximity trigger I doubt they'll have a deaman button but we can do a crude check."

Silver Spider turns to Sable. "Well, let's get the helmets off, then. Sorry, I let my anger get the better of me. I should have thought of shooting the devices."

An agent asks, "So what now?"

The agents remove their hemlets when instructed.

Silver Spider shrugs. "Now, you go to jail. And if you don't tell us where your bosses are, maybe the rumors are true. Maybe I do drink blood, and leave husks on rooftops."

Sable looks to the agents. "Now we're going to hand you over to the police, but you will have the opportunity to show your gratitude for us saving you from being blown up by supplying the details of your group and your operation."

An agent shrugs, "Okay. Jail's no problem. But even if we know where the base was no way could we tell you. You might kill us, sure. They'd do a lot worse than that."

Ellbeth says, "They are DEMON."

Silver Spider raises an eyeslit. "Like what?" She says. "Listen, no offense, but in the hole you're going to, is that really worth romance with Bubba, Zeke, and the rest of the gang? DEMON, huh? These jokers are still around?"

X stays silent.

"Not us." the agent leader protests, "We're security consultants. Yeah, mercs. Only this time when we hired on it turned out it wasn't a job you could walk away from after you found out who the real bosses were.

Silver Spider facepalms. "Look. That sounds almost professional. Line up and prepare to be served." She sighs and begins webbing the goons up, tying them to whatever is available.

Sable says, "Well, leaving aside the location of your facility, what was your mission objective?"

Ellbeth says, "DEMON have been keeping quiet for a while. But I've heard from several sources that they are expanding once again."

Sable nods to Ellbeth. "That's worrying, I'm not so familiar with them or their MO."

The agent leader nods towards Ellbeth, "Help pick her up. Keep any bystanders away while the Warlocks blasted a way through her defenses."

Silver Spider turns towards the Leader. "That sounds pretty simple." She says as she keeps webbing them up, one at a time. "Don't say anything snarky and I won't web your mouth shut."

Ellbeth says, "According to at least one prophecy there is a great change on its way. A change that will affect everything. The very fabric of the universe. Some, DEMON High Morbanes among them, believe they can affect that change and mould it to their will."