Log:The Real Allied Champions of Earth

2015/04/04 Forge Indira Pendragon Quiet 1

The Alien District

"A small amount of fear is healthy. It keeps you safe from danger. It's when fear is allowed to control you when it becomes a danger in itself." Even across the star system, some things hold true. Indira is sitting serenely in lotus position on the grass of the park near the Stardancer First Contact statue, speaking with Pendragon and Snowmane. Out front of an embassy not too far from Starguard, protestors are carrying signs that say "E.T. Go Home" and other anti-alien sentiments. Lien is lingering in the park...

"Indeed. I believe that is what President Roosevelt meant when he voiced that quote over a century ago." says Pendragon, the history buff. She reaches into a pouch and pulls out her last carrot, "Last one Snow, it's all yours." she adds as she holds out the orange veggie stick, and Snowmane's eyes almost literally light up as he sidles over and uses his nearly prehensile lips to take it gently from her fingers.

Where there are protestors in the Alien District, so too is there Starguard presence. Today's crowd of angry citizens is overseen by Malcolm Gibbs, Agent of Starguard. Dressed up in proper urban combat BDUs, Malcolm and his fellow Starguardians look their very best for putting down potential (un)civil disturbances directed toward aliens and/or alien properties. For the moment, Malcolm seems largely unaware of the faux-tea party happening in the park.

The light blue skinned lady with white hair the consistency of petals that's sitting in the park is wearing a dark violet dress with illuminated white and cyan panels. Parts of her skin pulse with a biolumenscene at times when she speaks. Tonight, she smells of orchids and mint. Some of the angry protests are just protesting the embassy. Others are giving the evil eye over at the park towards the strange woman.

A Green glowing gate of energy opens up along the entrance to the park, and out steps three capes. The first is wearing a simple black bodysuit and a mask. The second is wearing a black and blue suit wired with electronics and amplifiers. It looks more decorative than practical. The last is a man with prematurely white hair and a haunted look to his eyes, wearing a deep green costume and a long black cloak, both with ornate gold tracery. Unmistakeably a magician of some variety.

The lead man, Conviction, stands there boldly. "You're still here. Didn't you get the message last time to get off our planet?" he says with thinly controlled disgust at Indira.

Teleportal Gateways and shouting angrily at people has a nasty tendency to draw attention, even in these interesting times in which we live. Malcolm's head swivels toward the trio standing in front of the greenish gateway by the park, one eyebrow quirking as he animatedly coordinates with his fellow Starguard personnel by radio. Shifting his weight, the tall man starts moving toward the park and the incident in the making, eyes darting this way and that as he surveys the landscape.

Sighing, Pendragon shakes her head, "I do not recall -anyone- giving you a position of authority over visitors from faroff lands." she says as she stops her hand scritching Snowmane, and takes hold of his reins casually. But... Snow knows that grip, and he's ready for her to jump aboard should the need arise. "I suggest that you not try to reach beyond your grasp, and that you accept that there are things you are unable to change. Such as... the fact that there are worlds other than our own which have people just as entitled to hospitality as you might be, were you to seek it rather than demand it." Yeah, she's trying to trade on her whole air of authority. Hey, it's useful at times! No point in -drawing- her sword. If she needs it, it will find its way into her hand. But, she is standing tall and proud (though next to Snowmane, she looks positively petite.)

Lien was silent and certainly less conspicuous than suddenly appearing teleportal gateways and metas in capes. She steps backward in what remains of the crowd and for her compact car.

Indira turns her head slowly towards Conviction and his men, then slowly stands up. "I am in agreement with Pendragon. I am here to help your people, not limit you. If we could just sit and talk, I'm sure I could--"

"No more words from you," Conviction barks at Indira. "You had your chance to leave with your life. You're not needed here. None of your kind are," he speaks with a quality that he got his namesake from. He looks to his right to Decibel and nods, then looks to Pendragon. "And the same goes to traitors like you."

A high pitch, vibrational noise starts to grow in volume from Decibel as he powers up.

Snorting, Pendragon shakes her head, "The only traitors, are those who betray the people, for their own narrowminded selfishness." Her hand lifts and between the time that it starts moving, and when it ends pointing at Conviction... there's somehow... without a pop, a flash or anything... a sword held in it. A sword shining like the sun is blazing down upon the steel. A sword that looks different to each viewer, even Indira might see some weaponlike, swordlike relic of her own people in that weapon. "In the name of Excalibur, in the name of the Pendragon line. Stand down. This is your first, and last chance, else... you bring not only defeat, but war upon yourself... and war.. is something ugly, that I am well acquainted with." Of course, her voice is shifting a touch, a little deeper, with a hint of an English accent... which may throw Indira off as her translator kind of shrugs.

Lien ducks into her compact. Despite its size and eco-friendly nature, it also has a large trunk... and fold down rear seats. While onlookers gawk or more sensible people flee, she opens a large hard case and slips into the light powersuit within. Last is the long weapon, a glance out the window, and she slips back out, now onto the street side.

Decibel watches Pendragon and her announcement. "We're patriots! History will remember our sacrifice!" His gloves begin to vibrate and he holds his hand out towards Indira. There's a piercing shriek as the air distorts in a line towards her."

Indira gets blasted by concussive sound waves and sent flying. She crashes into the Stardancer statue and slumps to the ground. She winces and looks pained, but still conscious and lucid. "There is no need to endanger innocents," she pleads. People were already starting to flee. That's happening a lot faster now.

Wading past the throngs trying to escape the conflict about to erupt in this fair parkland, Malcolm Gibbs frowns as he eyeballs Conviction & Crew from across the street. Liquid metal starts to "bleed" from Malcolm's pores as he stares down the vigilante squad from behind. Even as the shining metal figure of Forge starts to emerge, a metal shield forges itself upon Malcolm's forearm.

Breaking free of the crowd, Malcolm heaves his shield across the street. It *KLONG*s off of a lightpost before zipping diagonally through the space that Decibel's sonic shockwave passed through an instant before, skipping awkwardly across grass and soil. Ricocheting off of a water fountain, the shield starts hurtling back toward Forge's waiting hand across the street.

"... Missed it by *that* much..." mutters Forge.

Shaking her head, Pendragon simply strides over towards Conviction. "You will cease this now." she remarks. But she adds, "Snow! Help Indira!" And Snow bobs his head in understanding before moving towards the fallen blueskin and standing protectively over her. Pendragon simply stands between Conviction and Indira, swordtip pointed right at Conviction from maybe a few inches away. She's not attacking... yet, but that blade does look quite sharp. In essence, she is trying to draw any attacks down upon herself.

Conviction lifts off of the ground with the power of pure will. "You would still stand with this Offworlder? So be it." He charges at Pendragon with his fist drawn back.

Conviction's fist smashes like a runaway train as he crashes into Pendragon's armor, sending her flying out into the green lawn of the park.

Quiet lifts the rifle-like weapon to her shoulder and takes aim for the demonstrated user of force: Decibel. A squeeze of the trigger and a short burst of solid projectiles are gravitically-launched.

Conviction's fist smashes like a runaway train as he crashes into Pendragon's armor.

"I would stand with any who stand up for themselves against idiots like you." says Pendragon as the fist is lifted and swung her way. Somehow, that sword moves up and interposes itself. The attack is absorbed more by it than anything else. The awesome impact is staggering, and Pendragon drops to one knee. But.. she doesn't go anywhere. "You will need to redouble your efforts, should you wish to vanquish -me-." she mutters through clenched teeth.

Decibel's hate-filled gaze is so focused on Indira, he doesn't see the gunner to his rear until it's too late. All three shots find their mark and send him tumbling along the lawn. He stays where he's fallen, unmoving.

Indira watches in surprise as Decibel is blown away. She rises to her feet slowly. "This need not get violent further than this," she tries to reason with Conviction, who is not listening.

Wrenching his shield out of the air, Forge watches as someone snipes Decibel like a pro. He congratulates his team on the radio as he sizes up targets. Knocking Pendragon to her knees is no mean feat, Forge is certain, but...

Forge's eyes fall upon the Gatekeeper. Launching across the street with a *SPROING*, Forge attempts to entangle Gatekeeper in metal cables and arms whilst he cheerily intones, "I am Vinz Clortho, the Key Master. Are you the Gatekeeper?"

Gatekeeper is pretty spry, for an old guy. "Well, and here I thought only people of my generation or older knew that movie," he muses in friendly tones.

Quiet is not keen on unwarranted force, though she does remain on her target a moment to verify it's down. She then pans to the other who struck the woman, but not the horse she rode in on, and looses another burst.

The bullets bounce off of Convinctions hardened flesh and seems a mild irritation for him. "You cannot stop me with so little resolve."

Decibel begins to stir. He gets up instantly, if very wobbly, but still fueled by his hatred. He starts running back to Gatekeepers Gate, but not before he starts generating a sound of deep base. "I suppose I should make this quick instead." He levels his hand at Indira and crescent shaped waves of distortion fly at her, causing the grass to flutter in their wake.

Surging to her feet, Pendragon launches her sword. Somehow, the deadly blast is absorbed by the raw power surging off of the blade. It absorbs it, and vanishes. Only to be in Pendragon's hand once more. Then she glances to Conviction and elevates a single brow. "Your conviction, seems lacking." she observes.

Conviction moves around Pendragon as she's forced to intercept Decibel's side attack. "Enough! This won't take long. Gatekeeper, get ready." Gatekeeper nods quietly, the gate still open and waiting. Conviction draws back his hand, pointing his fingers like a spearhead. "I lack nothing!" he retorts angrily at Pendragon as he drives his hand at Indira. Indira still watches Conviction with the same pleading compassion she had when she asked for him to cease his violence.

Conviction spears his hand and it pierces right through Indira's body, slamming her against the First Contact statue. Her expression betrays her pain, but she is still standing, even with a hand through her. Lightly glowing blue liquid runs from the injury. "Your deed...is it done now?" she asks Conviction softly.

Quiet has much more than conviction available. She has an arsenal. If standard anti-personnel ammunition does not suffice, there are alternatives. She is no stranger to dealing with meta threats. She taps a command sequence into her weapon and it begins to reconfigure, stock reconstructing and bore altering. As it does so, she begins to move forward, keep close to the parked vehicles.

"Ernie Hudson's a hero," explains Forge, as if that were the only explanation his knowledge of Ghostbusters requires. He narrows his eyes, noting first Decibel on the retreat and then Conviction putting his hand through Indira. Pursing metal lips for a moment, Forge shifts his gaze back to Gatekeeper.

"Asprin, right?"

Whipping a hand back, Forge swings once at Gatekeeper even as an all metal sledgehammer emerges from his biometallic flesh. The metal man attempts to drop Gatekeeper in a single powerful blow.

The elder Gatekeeper is knocked down hard to the ground, clearly dazed by the hammerblow and feeling the hurt, even as magical energies try to absorb the blow.

Decibel smiles cruelly as Conviction does his work for him. He starts running for the gate. The smile starts to vanish as he sees Gatekeeper go down.

Okay, Snow was to protect Indira, but he didn't really expect Conviction to get past Pendragon. But.. he did. So... he has a choice. Do something agressive? Or.. no Protect means... get to safety. So, he whinnies to Indira. Thankfully the Universal translator will tell her what he said, "I am taking you out of here. Hold tight!" he says as he bends to try to somehow scoop her up onto his back or neck or whatever he can do without hands and thumbs. But.. he's a fast one he is, and one that is done, he bolts at top speed, away from the fight.

Meanwhile, Pendragon sighs and remarks, "You call yourself conviction. Your name should be coward." she remarks... as light flares and pulses... from the blade. She swings it and a plane of energy flashes his way...

Indira, injured as she is, is swept onto Snowmane's back and slumps forward limply as he gallops off.

Conviction flicks off the alien blood off his hand, then leans out of hte way of the flash of energy. "You're helping the enemy. You are just too blind to see. They've infiltrated everything, and they won't stop until they've turned us all into cattle. One less of them is a victory for a United Earth." Thinking his job complete, he lifts off the ground and flies down next to Gatekeeper, Decibel, and Malcolm. He eyes Malcolm's BDUs. "Starguard," he says with disdain. "You're all just part of the problem. When the aliens are driven from our planet, yours will be the next to pay for your crimes against humanity." For now, a swat will have to suffice as he attempts to strike Malcolm.

Convinction doesn't hit quite as hard as Paragon. But it's pretty up there. Forge being the resident expert on who hits hardest in this city.


 * KRAAAAAAAAANG*

Forge's metal lips split into a crooked smile when Conviction addresses him.

"Klansman," spits Forge an instant before he is backhanded across the park. The metal man lands in a tangled heap some 12 meters hence, apparently unwilling or unable to move.

Quiet resets her position, takes a knee, and takes aim on Conviction once more. Maybe he thinks he's invulnerable. Maybe he's right. She intends to test that.

You must enter an integer for your Stun.

Conviction frowns deeply at Quiet as he feels something from her attack. "Time to leave," he tells the others.

Still ringing from the impact of Konviction's hand with his head, Malcolm grunts. Down, but not out, the tall man works on recombobulating himself.

Gatekeeper stands up and steps through the gate. "Unpleasant business, all this. How will this get my son back?" he mutters as he rubs his head. "...aspirin, indeed..."

Decibel doesn't seem at all offended by the slurs Forge makes of them, even if it bothers Conviction. Decibel's got a bit of a southern drawl, but it's not too heavy. He runs after Gatekeeper. "We're humanitarians! Just you wait!"

"No, you're bigots." remarks Pendragon as she turns to watch folks head through the gate. She takes a chance though, and decides to see what will happen if the gate is bisected. She strides towards it and swings her sword through the edge...

The gate distorts a little in appearance as the sword slashes through impressively, but it maintains its connection. "If you only knew how far their influence and control extends," Conviction shakes his head. He begins to float up a few inches off the ground and floats back through the gate.

Quiet takes aim at the gate, or any possibly visible beyond it. Their violence is not going to go unanswered. She fires again. Whether it helps, or not, it makes her feel more productive.

The shot shoots through the gate and hits Conviction. He looks surprised, and actually pained as he clutches where the ammo struck. "You..." he breathes out threateningly at Quiet.

Quiet snaps off a quick two-fingered salute in response. Quick, so that she can fire again now that she knows he didn't like that.

Conviction stumbles back on the other side of the gate and falls down, much to Decibel's shock and surprise. "Ya'll be lined up just like the aliens or any extra-dimensional invaders! And once we're done, everyone will know who the REAL Allied Champions of Earth are!" he spits out venomously.

Malcolm's feet hit the ground with a dull, meaty *whump* as he finally clears his head enough to realize that retreats are afoot. The tall man lifts his legs and hips again, spreading his arms out to his side as he seemingly effortlessly kips up to his feet again. Liquid aluminum erupts from the flesh of his hand.

Silent for once, Malcolm doesn't seem entirely recovered enough for a witty one liner. Instead, he heaves an Alumarang toward the portal in an attempt to bludgeon Decibel dead in the face.

Decibel is forced to shut up as Malcolm's alumarang clocks him right in his fat mouth and bounces back to the Colonial Bay side of the gate. He's left flailing, dazed, on his back with a fat, split lip and maybe a bruised nose. Gatekeeper just shakes his head at the angry lad and makes an arcane gesture. The magical gate shrinks down to a pinpoint and vanishes.

Snowmane slows his running now that the danger is gone, and starts to trot back to the park with Indira still slumped forward on his saddle.

"Gorram. My face hurts," mutters Malcolm once the gateway is closed. He reaches up with both hands to gingerly rub either side of his jawline as he totters unevenly toward where his Alumarang rests on the grass. "And how did I throw two Alumarangs at once?"

Quiet rises now that the threats are gone. Her weapon is held at a high ready, but not pointed in a threatening manner as she approaches the others. More specifically, she moves towards the horse and the injured ambassador.

Indira is unfamiliar with the skills required to ride a horse. Or dismount. Especially considering how huge Snowmane is. Even a tall man like Malcolm only comes up to Snowmane's shoulder. The faintly glowing blue blood stains Snowmane's saddle. "I...thank you for the assistance. And protecting innocent lives in the process," she says with strain. She tries to brace herself on Snowmane's neck to try and sit upright in the saddle.

Stooping over his Alumarang(s), Malcolm reaches out to grope the grass until he manages to get his hands on the lone Alumarang. It promptly dissolves back into his flesh. The tall man straightens up slowly and turns to squint at Snowmane and Indira. Wriggling both his nose and his eyebrows, Malcolm takes a few seconds to make sense of what he's seeing.

"Just doing my job, ma'am," intones Malcolm as he lumbers unevenly toward Snowmane and Indira, "Now, I think we should get you to proper medical attention."

Malcolm finds he cannot use his radio to call Starguard. He lost it sometime around the time he was slapped off his feet. This is going to be a tricky day at the office.

Quiet is not familiar with Indira's biology, but the unwanted loss of body fluids is assume to be a bad thing. She stows her weapon on the back of her armor and holds her open hands up to Indira to display her palms. She then points the index finger of one hand to her wound.

Snowmane snorts and clomps a hoof on the ground at Indira's movements. "Very well," she replies to the horse. "Will you help me down?" she asks of Malcolm and Quiet. She's starting to stand a bit straighter now. "I will recover soon enough. But they do not know that," she answers Quiet and assures Malcolm. She holds her hand over the wound as the 'flesh' around it begins to grow back into place gradually.

Still a bit wobbly on his feet, Malcolm takes a few seconds to close his eyes and focus on his breathing. When his eyes open again, Malcolm seems rather more in command of his faculties as he steps closer to Snowmane. Glancing the giant horse up and down, Malcolm notes to Indira, "Of course, ma'am," as a number of metal cables extend from somewhere under his BDU shirt to form hand- and foot-holds for her to climb down easily from Snowmane's back. He may be unaware of the danger of her TRAP CARD! I mean, um, Mental Damage Shield?

Quiet lifts her hands up to assist Indira in the dismount, nodding at her assurances that she will heal.

Indira accepts help from both. She takes Quiet's hands to steady herself, then Malcolm's footholds to help unsteadily dismount Snowmane and step onto the ground with bare feet. "Thank you both for your heroics. I am in your debt." Her voice is regaining some of its strength as her wound continues to gradually heal. At this rate, she'll be healed in about a minute.

Sometime after Indira's actually hit the ground, Malcolm's face screws itself up into an expression of confusion. This expression remains for a few seconds before he blinks and peers at Indira again. Cocking his head to one side, the tall man gives her a markedly more quizzical expression before rolling his shoulders. "Like I said. Just doing my job," intones Malcolm.

Quiet offers a rather nonchalant shrug, as if she, too, were simply doing her job. A nod follows to Malcolm.

Indira's eyes settle on Malcolm's uniform, recognizing the Starguard insignia. "Oh, you are with Starguard. I suppose I should take their advice on acquiring a security retinue. This is not the first time an attempt has been made on my life." She smiles a little to herself. "At least it's not as bad as it was on Zardon V. They wanted to burn everyone on bonfires when we first arrived to give aid."