Log:Wrath and Despair, Scene 3

Wrath and Despair 2017/08/25 	 Solomon Wolf Rocky Amelia Wrath

3

A large complex that covers a fair expanse of well-tended lawns and security fences, the Industrial Park is home to several corporate office buildings, power facilities, and factories. A maze of paved roads leads past several security checkpoints around the parking lots and plazas facing these large buildings. Streetlights line these roads, as do placards, kiosks, and signs pointing directions to the assorted edifices. The general atmosphere of the place is quiet, controlled, and rather upscale: heavy industry isn't welcome here.

Sirens fill the air, as police hovercars race toward the fuel cell plant. The APB mentions something about a metahuman attacking the plant itself while guards are trying to hold him off. The rumor is that it's a former worker at the plant. The dispatcher was given a hazy description of someone who had been downsized only three hours earlier.

Fuel Cell Plant(#1512E)

The security fence and cameras and the human guards give this modern, largely automated factory a forbidding air.

The plant itself is mostly automated at this point, of course. There are no more than a dozen people on site. The fence to the plant has been seared through and the blue flames surrounding the meta in question are quite obvious on this overcast day.

Rocky chugs and lurches along the main exit road in his ancient (so old it has tires!) work truck, on his way back out of the Industrial Park and on his way back home after delivering a load of slate flooring to be used in the construction of a new atrium for the fuel cell plant. Confronted by a mass of screaming sirens and swarming hover-cars, he stops the truck, shifting it grindingly and begrudgingly into neutral. He slowly climbs down out of the cab of the truck with his hands held high and kept visible overtop his head. "Wos I do -now-?" he wonders to himself, surveying the vast numbers of police on hand. Oh well. Surely someone will be around to explain it to him. Probably from far away and via megaphone, as per usual.

Amelia was already at the Industrial Park, inside another of the Units there. The clash of steel against steel in the echoing fabrication area prevented her from hearing the sirens. It's not until one of staff in the quieter office section rushes in to tell everyone about the distrubance that she reacts. Handing back the sword to the company CEO she tells him, "I'll take a hundred each of the swords, shields, and crossbows. Ten thousand bolts for the crossbows. Can you have them ready by the day after tomorrow?" Then she's rushing out to see what is happening elsewhere in the Park.

Solomon isn't far away, he's on the clock afterall- delivering a package to a dead-drop for his employeer a district over. He's digging for the key-fob to his car when he gets an urgent message from Mechanica requesting he divert from his next stop and on to the Fuel Cell Plant. The originally issued APB is attached.

Solomon grumbles as he reads over it. He pockets his keys and decides if he's going to a possible disaster in progress, he'll be leaving his sweet baby (his car) behind. He doesn't need to wind up with murder charges over someone smashing his car. He'll be doing the smashing today.

He turns after checking his GPS and then begins jogging towards his destination. HE builds speed up pretty rapidly as he goes- dodging through traffic and pedestrians alike as he moves.

About halfway there he activates the JakD Injector harness and a few seconds later a familiar burning sensation tears through his veins as the extremely toxic super soldier serum takes hold. Then, he clicks it into the second stage.

What veins are visible darken as the sludge is pumped through it- prompting his body to go through a spontaneous metamorphisis- his musculature and biomettallic bones rapidly growing thanks to his regeneration.

In a few strides he's twice as wide and almost as tall- coming in over 10 feet tall. With the stride he has- he's still building in speed.

Wrath(#2855TOnp)

Where this mundane person has stood moments prior, now stands someone who is most decidedly not 'mundane'. His body is alight with blue flames coursing over his body. His features have morphed to become more sunken, like his skin is now stretched over his bones.

The police and security forces, such as they are, have opened fire at the new version of Wrath. Those heroes who saw the first incarnation at City Hall a few weeks ago realize that this one isn't dressed the same way. There are similarities of course, but the human host is different. Instead of wearing a suit originally, this one was in a t-shirt and jeans, for example.

There are a couple of security guards with plasma pistols. The police number about...six currently, and have standard firearms. There are more sirens on the way. Presumably SWAT.

Wrath continues striding forward, mostly ignoring the gunfire. He's about ten yards from the building now.

"Ohhhhh!" thinks Rocky. "Not me . . . Hiiiim!" Rocky realizes, belated, the true nature of the situation as he finally notices Wrath. OK -- Right, then. Rocky fires off a chagrinned-Shrek -type grin in the general direction of the swarm of arriving officers and toodles-waves the fingers of his left hand semi-apologetically. He then turns about-face and prepares to confront Disgruntled Employee Number 287873.

There is a noise. A noise. . . as if 7 pounds of popcorn had just exploded a microwave oven. Rocky finishes cracking his knuckles, and the large, round, dusty man with a couple of craggy, rocklike features suddenly and crunchily becomes a large, round, dirty rock with a couple of man-like features. Oh my! It's a Rock Troll !!

Rocky heads off, with all possible speed, to confront the inbound Wrath.

Amelia sighs as she sees the new Wrath. popping over to the nearest police presence in a short teleport she asks one, "What's the situation in the building? Anyone inside?"

One of the officers blinks when Amelia disappears. Though he once recognition sets in, he nods to Amelia, "Not entirely clear at this point. We believe there are at least four workers inside, including the guy who fired our suspect."

Rocky *schlooorrrps* into the fastidiously manicured lawn, melding his body with and into Mother Earth for a moment. Instants later, he *sprrrooooolch*-s up back -out- of the concrete flagstones right in front of the security door to the plant, holding his arms out wide, palms back, in the universal gesture of "Uh-uh, no way, do NOT pass!" as he basically plays Offensive Lineman in an attempt to keep Wrath away from. . . whatever he's wrathful towards. "Hey! Youse no go 'n here . . ." Rocky explains, with all of his usual tact and charm.

Amelia nods to the police officer. "I'll start by getting them out. Likely one of the people in there will be the target of this chaos possessed man. In which case he'll change course. Be ready for that." she says, and then 'pop', she's teleporting into the fuel cell plant.

Wrath takes a second to look at Rocky. The man's eyes are dead inside. He actually speaks, unlike the first time this happened, "Justice has a price. It will not be denied." His voice is raspy and dreadful, reminding those listening of nails on a chalkboard. It causes the same kind of shiver.

Wrath attempts to strike Rocky to...well...force his way forward.

Rocky nods, agreeably. "Hmmmkay. Know Just. 'dis: youse ain' goin' in dere, thw'ou goin' -troo- me!"

Wrath's strike doesn't do much...and it's clear that he gets angrier. The flames burn hotter...

Meanwhile, Amelia teleports inside the building. She's near an assembly line, where there are a couple of line workers. There are two men dressed in a more corporate manner by an office. One shouts and points at Amelia, "A meta's inside!"

The police and security guards don't fire, with Rocky standing there. Instead, they try to get a bead on Wrath, but hold their fire.

Amelia nods, "There's a meta outside too. He's coming in after someone. If you don't want to be here when he arrives..." Then because she's still young at heart she cannot resist the quote. "Come with me if you want to live!" and opens a portal to the center of the Industrial Park's main car park.

Wrath screams, with the same effect as his normal voice. Only this time, windows shake. The people inside the building flinch when the windows rattle. Wrath tries to strike at Rocky again, with more force...and more vengeance. (If that's a thing that can be measured.)

Chunks of gravel trickle from Rocky's face as his nose is broken sideway. It's an improve-ment.

Wrath gets angrier again...and hotter still. There's no way of telling if he has an upper limit to his strength. At least...not yet.

Rocky wishes he had his oven mitts. This is going to be like taking a bread pan out of the over with his bare hands. But, he's done that, in emergencies, to save a meal. Ah well, here goes!

Rocky grabs the nape of Wrath and slides him into a Full Nelson -type hold. Then gets him as far from the building as he can!

Wrath screams as he's grabbed. There's no longer any focus. Just blind rage.

When Solomon arrives, his clothes are shredded from his rapid growth & his shoes were lost block back as he first activated the injector.

Rocky and the burning man make for an easy target, especially since they seem to be surrounded on one side by a line of police cars. He heads straight for them, and his rock-faced pal. His intention is to back up Rocky- and start laying down the hurt while Rocky has Wrath held.

Solomon charges the pair, bringing his right fist to bear- aimmed for the gut of Wrath.

Parts of Rocky's face and arms glow a dark red, charcoal-grill embers style. Never great when you ARE the one being grilled. Rocky closes his eyes, wincing from the pain, and imagines grilling steaks instead of his own arms.

"hang on Rock! I got yer back, boy!" Sol roars!

Wrath gets hit again...though he's not overly hurt. Or rather, it's really hard to tell. He's just...always angry.

Amelia keeps the portal open, "Okay, quick version, one of you angered the guy outside who then got possessed by a vengeance seeking chaos spirit. Trust me on this. I'm an expert. You can stay here and die when this place explodes or you can go through the portal. Your choice. I wouldn't wait too long though." she says.

With the encouragement of the sounds of a meta conflict just outside the building, they decide to hurry through the portal.

The workers hurry through the portal and outside. One of the guys in a tie says, "Maybe I shouldn't have fired him. But...I didn't have a choice."

Rocky's arms flatten and thicken as he stretches and morphs and clings to Wrath, enveloping the angry meta like a toaster holding Pop-Tarts. . . while still doing his best to leave Sol enough exposed target area to punch at. The only problem with this analogy is, of course, that Rocky is the one being toasted. Can he hold on long enough? He looks almost half-way to unconscious himself.

Amelia tells the guy with the tie, "I don't know if the firing was reasonable or not. But it's not how you perceive the firing, or even the objective facts of the firing, that matter in this case. It's how the man you fired reacted, and that his anger opened the path for his being possessed."

Wrath struggles to free himself, only to continue to be held. "You...cannot...stop the Wrath..."

Wrath is somewhat like a force of nature. Hard to contain...and harder still to hold onto. But Rocky is managing it thus far.

Rocky is now MORE than half-way to passing out, but he goes to his "happy place". . . thinking of grilling steaks and veggies and mixing up some potato salad for himself and Sol while drinking cool beers. He grits his teeth and holds on, ignoring the mental and physical pain the Chaos Spirit is causing. . . so far!

Solomon is jarred by the mystical flames of Wrath's aura as he's hit by the unworldly heat but it won't last long. A wild smile grin creeps across his face as he prepares to lay down another blow to the possessed man.

Solomon's never battled a force of nature before, but he seems like the type to enjoy that kind of thing- that is until he sees Rocky's struggle. This makes him double down his efforts!

The Unbreakable Sol intertwines his fingers and raises his hands above his head to hit Wrath with his full force in what most would consider a savage (and cheap) blow.

Amelia climbs up on t truck to get a clear line of sight all around her. If she's right, the Wrath possession will be heading her way, or rather toward the person who fired him. She wants several chances to dispell the controlling spirit when he does.

Wrath doesn't seem to have noticed Amelia and the workers just yet. But he might eventually.

Amelia is initially perplexed when Wrath doesn't turn toward her position. She figured he was homing in on his target. But instead it seems Wrath was just going to where he last saw his target. Gesturing, she casts a dispel at Wrath, spreading her magic so it's likely to affect him even at that range. Not likely to do anything but should draw Wrath's attention.

Wrath looks over in Amelia's direction, and while she was trying to get his attention, instead his attention is drawn to the man with a tie on who is nearby. Wrath screams as he's squeezed again...and is held in place, unable to get to his target.

Rocky blinks as his brain is fried. Urghhhhhh. "Fried brains" should NOT be on the menu, he thinks. This is NOT enjoyable. He closes his eyes and hangs on as long as he can.

Wrath is struck again, and he doubles over a little bit.

Wrath takes a different tack this time...instead of just trying to break out, he lashes out, trying to strike at Rocky with the back of his head.

Wrath's head cracks back into Rocky. The resounding crunch makes the cops watching wince, and most seem to expect that Wrath should be bleeding after that.

Rocky shouts encouragement to Sol: "Ah th'nk youse hur't 'im wi' that last one . . . lookit he's squirming now!"

Solomon growls back to Rocky as he prepares another sledgehammer like blow- this time aimed for the side of his head, "I think you softened 'im up fo' me, Rock."

His veins have turned from a dark and deep blue to a nearly necrotic black as the toxic substance continues coursing through his veins. Its no wonder this stuff killed everyone else who touched it.

Amelia moves closer to Wrath and starts trying to dispel the controlling spirit.

The spirit that is part of Wrath tries to hold on to its host, but it's slowly being pulled away.

Rocky teeters on the edge of consciousness, blinking the blood and dust out of his eyes as he holds Wrath in check to give Sol his shot. He closes his eyes, remembering the soups and hearty flatbreads his 'Nanna used to make back home. Comfort Food. And a source of magnificent inner strength, infused with all of the love his rock-fisted grandmother could hammer into the clay-dough for the health of her grandchildren. ..

Wrath's flames continue to lash out at both of his attackers while he's held. "Justice will not be....denied."

Wrath is hit again...and he rocks back. He's not out yet...but he's clearly starting to feel the effects of hte pounding he's taking.

Wrath tries to headbutt Rocky again...sensing that he might be free shortly.

Rocky shouts "tag out!" to Solomon, hoping he recalls the afternoon they spent watching Pro Wrestling while slowly getting hammered and eating their faces off...

Rocky slumps down into Mother Earth, popping back up to "Tag In" Mr. Sol...

Wrath looks in the direction of his target, now that he's free.

Amelia makes sure that in her judgement she has time to gate out the target of Wrath's anger if she needs to before he can get to him, and otherwise continues trying to dispel the chaos spirit.

Wrath's controlling spirit continues to be pulled away from its host. It's still hanging on for the moment, but it's only a matter of time.

Solomon laughs as he's 'tagged in'.

Solomon jumps straight at Wrath, completely disregarding reason considering he's not made of stone like Rocky is. He roars as he gets close but he doesn't turn away. .o0(I can take anything that Rock can!) He thinks confidently, hoping to catch their very tough opponent off guard.

He grumbles as he puts his all into the switchout.

Wrath is grabbed...and his soulfire continues to burn, this time engulfing Solomon. "You...cannot..stop..."

Solomon and Rocky continue to delay Wrath just enough. The spirit of vengeance might have been beaten down eventually anyway, through the work of both heroes. But Amelia's spell seals the spirit's fate before Wrath can really make any serious headway toward his/its target. The spirit leaves the man's body, and he collapses, changing back to his original self. He looks exhausted and completely distraught, muttering to himself things like, "I have nothing else...what will I do...?"

Rocky remembers the CB youth American-style football team coach shouting to an injured player: "Rub some dirt on it, and walk it off!" Sage advice. Lacking a ring and ropes to lean on, like they'd seen on television, Rocky leans on his own knees, breathing heavily. Resting. Also, talking to the employee. "Ah feel ya, bro. Wuz there jus' three four monthz ago. . . You'll make it!" ((Persuasion))

Amelia goes to the man, "Come with me to discuss your future." she says. "You're suffered enough."

The man looks up at both Rocky and Amelia in turn, "But..." He lets out a long sigh. "I suppose I don't have much else to lose at this point. Sure."

Solomon is an everyman, and he's had it pretty rough- having grown up an orphan. He'd been living of fthe streets since the first day he could get out of that crummy orphanage and he hasn't looked back since. That may not be a good thing.

Perhaps Wolf's whammy is still at work?