What Happened in Corvallis

[Blackhoof]

 

 

Iconoclast growled in annoyance as his beautiful Ghoul was lifted into the air, plucked from the crowd like an unwanted eyebrow hair. A gust of wind blew him back along with the rest of the crowd, and when he looked again he couldn't see what had become of the creature. Had she dropped it? Where?

 

Then he heard a roar.

 

Off to the side, a decent way from the crowd, the uber-Ghoul clambered to its feet. Its body had been smashed apart internally by the fall, but it had soon regenerated. It knew where Buttercup was, it had her scent. It let out an inhuman roar, and started charging towards the crowd, intent on destroying its target. People screamed and ran for their lives as the Ghoul loped towards them on all fours, its knuckles on the ground like a gorilla.

Edited April 25, 2015 by Blackhoof

[mail-mi he/him]

(Warning! The following post has Mistborn: The Final Empire spoilers, and is therefore in spoiler tags. If you want to read the post and haven’t read TFE, then just PM me for a modified version.)

As always, “Queen” Rainmaker gave a speech.

Naomi tuned it out, intent on glaring at her and keeping the crowd riled. The crowd went completely silent as she started, though Naomi knew they were still chanting, and Rainmaker grew louder. “Queen” Tonedeaf--Naomi snickered silently--must have started acting on the crowd. So, instead of trying to shout with the silent crowd, she kept up the chant in her head, using it to drown out Rainmaker’s speech.

Suddenly, she was lifted up into the air, halfway up to Rainmaker--which, she discovered when she tried talking quietly, also took her out of the effects of Tonedeaf. Ignoring Rainmaker, she shouted at the top of her lungs. “You have taken our happiness away! You have shown us what miserable lives we really lead! You cannot stop the rebellion!!”

Rainmaker ignored her, though she knew that, out of the corner of her eye, at least some of the crowd was cheering her on. “Since you have spurned my kindness,” Rainmaker continued, “now I will show you all what freedom means."

“Freedom or joy!” Naomi shouted one last time. “The revolution will grow! Freedom or joy!”

With a blinding flash of light, electricity coursed through her body, and Naomi was no more.

Freedom or joy...
 

Gregory hated Calamity.

Gregory didn’t hate Epics. He’d lived in Corvallis his entire life, and had lived a relatively good life, for a normal human after Calamity. Even when Rainmaker took over, he hadn’t been forced into service. He spent his days at home, occasionally getting doses of happiness from Euphoria. No, he didn’t hate Calamity for its children.

He hated Calamity, because Calamity had killed fantasy.

He spent his days rereading Lord of the Rings, Discworld, the Wheel of Time, and, his absolute favorites, anything by Brandon Sanderson, because no more books had come out since Calamity’s rise. Luckily, the Wheel of Time had been finished before, but Gregory would never know the end of the Rithmatist. He’d never know the end of the Mistborn series, the Stormlight Archive, or the Alcatraz series.

He’d never know the end of the Cosmere.

These thoughts constantly went through Gregory’s head: pretty much every time he went outside and saw Calamity’s red light. And today, as he prepared to ignore another one of Rainmaker’s speeches about Euphoria taking their happiness away (like that affects me at all, Gregory thought), he fumed at the red star once more, content on letting Rainmaker ramble on, then return to his home.

That was, until he heard the chant.

It spread through the crowd like wildfire. “Freedom or joy!” the people around him cried, some surging towards the Queens’ platform. “Freedom or joy!” Gregory didn’t join in, instead arguing with the cheering crowd in his head. Idiots. We’re all going to die because of this, and for what? Because they took some happiness drug away from you?

The crowd instantly quieted--probably Tonedeath--as Rainmaker started giving her speech. Gregory ignored it, of course--none of Rainmaker’s speeches had ever applied to him--until one of the vanillas in the crowd rose up into the air. She had a defiant look in her eye as she tired to shout over Rainmaker with some "inspiring" "rebellion" speech now that she was out of Tonedeath’s general silence.

Idiot.

Rainmaker gestured to her as she looked out over the crowd with an indescribable gleam in her eye. “Tonight, this woman encouraged you to ask me for freedom or joy. Unfortunately, I must tell you that joy is not mine to give, it is yours to earn, and today you have all done a poor job of it. Since you have spurned my kindness, now I will show you all what freedom means.”

Rainmaker raised her hands dramatically for effect, but before anything happened the woman shouted out: “Freedom or joy! The revolution will grow! Freedom or joy!” And, with a sharp flash of light and a deafening roar of thunder, the woman crumbled to ash and floated to the ground.

Idiot, Greg thought again. You think us normal people can stand up to them? You think us peasants can defeat the Calamity-chosen, high and mighty rul--

--wait.

And suddenly, it hit. The people weren't peasants. They were the skaa! And the Epics the Lord Ruler and his Inquisitors! And that woman?

That woman was Kelsier, sacrificing her life to ignite the spark in the crowd.

And, Greg realized, if I take the mantle, if I take charge, I...

I’m Vin!

Gregory looked up at Calamity’s red light, shining through the dreary rain, and smiled. Calamity hadn’t killed fantasy.

Calamity had created the world for him to live it.

With that thought in his head, ignoring everything that happened around him, Gregory began to plan the ways that he could take down the Lord Ruler.

Edited April 23, 2015 by mail-mi

[Comatose he/him]

 

"He's not an epic!" Rainmaker turned towards the sound of Chase's voice.  What did she mean he wasn't an epic?  He obviously had powers.  Rainmaker watched as the beast fell to the ground with a splat, and how quickly it regenerated.  He has healing abilities.  This could be interesting.  Ignoring Chase's advice for the moment, Rainmaker focused on the immediate threat, pinning him down with more wind, and sending down three bolts of lightening followed by a hailstone twice his size to finish him off.  If that wasn't enough to stop his healing abilities, then she was going to have to get creative.  

 

Once she watched her hailstone land, Rainmaker turned back, only to find Chase gone.  Where had she run off to?  And what was that warning about?  If the man wasn't an epic, Chase would certainly know, as she had leashed all of the non-epics in the city.  Rainmaker reconsidered the odd behaviour and random attacks from before.  Could those have all been humans?  But what had made them attack?  It could be the work of a gifter...  Working with Euphoria had familiarized Rainmaker with the usefulness and limitations of the ability to gift one's powers.  The more she thought about the ability, the more it made sense with the seeming randomness of the attacks.  It was likely the gifter could endow humans with some sort of healing ability, while controlling them with some secondary power.  

 

Rainmaker looked back anxiously at where her hailstone lay, watching for any sign of movement from her adversary beneath.  If she was dealing with a gifter, the city could be in much graver danger than a few independent epics could cause.  Still watching the stone carefully, while scanning the crowds for any indication of who might be the source of the attack, Rainmaker spoke into her mobile, instructing security to escort the people back to their homes, and to ensure a curfew was enforced.  Next, she radioed the other queens, requesting those who were still present to meet her at the stage.  The last thing she did before floating back over to the stage was to finally text Hypno back.  Meet me at the Harrison Street Bridge later tonight.  I'll get back to you with the time. - RM

 

Still keeping a wary eye on the squashed and electrocuted attacker, and on the crowd as it began to disperse, Rainmaker hovered near the stage, praying to Calamity that there would not be another disturbance, and that the crowd would make its way home without incident.  

[Blackhoof]

 

 

Iconoclast frowned as his uber-Ghoul was struck by three lightning bolts in quick succession. The first burned it, turning its skin into a black, charred mess. The second two utterly destroyed it, and the hailstorm was simply overkill. No way it had enough healing to save itself from that.

"Looks like Rainmaker is stronger than i thought." Iconoclast muttered to himself. Changing his face and body to that of a middle-aged woman, he turned and trudged away, heading for his house.
Time to turn things up a notch..."

Edited April 25, 2015 by Blackhoof

[Blaze1616 he/him]

 

Blossom stood on the stage, arms crossed, staring at the giant hailstone. The past few moments had been...odd. She was pleased with Rainmaker's speech, though. She had emphasized all the right points, and the execution was perfectly done. The only thing Blossom would have changed was the brightness level of Rainmaker's body. When giving a speech such as that, let the crowd see you. Convey more meaning with facial features and body gestures, let the stupid vanillas know you mean business, don't just tell them. The past was the past, however, and the follow up attack had interrupted everything.

 

Blossom spared a glance to look at Tonedeath. The Epic had his uses, though Blossom was a tad remiss that he was not female. He'd make a good Queen if he were. Not for being powerful like Buttercup or Cornicopia, but for being useful, like herself. The two made a good team as well, Blossom's speeches for Rainmaker being much more impactful with a sound manipulator booming them across the city. It truly was a shame he was not a she.

 

Looking back to the hailstone, and seeing that it had not moved after all this time, Blossom stepped next to where Rainmaker floated, speaking softly into the Queen's ear. "We should go, and behind us you should begin the rain. This second breach of Epics is a serious issue, but we should not reveal such information to the public. Continue the plan as normal."

 

 

Buttercup stood among the crowd as Rainmaker delivered her speech. It was moving, and Buttercup hoped the vanillas would take it to heart. Though she did enjoy bashing skulls in, an all out rebellion would make Buttercup's job much more difficult.

 

The execution was a nice touch, and the crowd seemed completely subdued by that point. That meant the police wouldn't see more action, which was a good thing. No sense in losing any more-

 

"He's an Epic!" The shout penetrated the silence that had been present just moments before. Buttercup turned to see an average looking human grow to grotesque proportions, and its roar was almost deafening. As it lept into the air, Buttercup prepared for a rumble. It had been a while since she clobbered an Epic, and she smiled at the thought of it happening now, in front of everyone.

 

The Epic stopped short at the sound of a bullet amplified. Tonedeath, Buttercup thought, always meddling! Buttercup didn't mind the sound manipulator, but he wasn't a Queen. The whole point of this event, gathering the rioters together, was to show the united strength of the rulers of this city. Now her chance to show her strength was interrupted by one of their subordinates!

 

It didn't matter though, as Rainmaker took advantage of Tonedeath's distraction. At least one of us gets to show off. Buttercup took a few steps back, then began issuing orders to groups of the police, organizing them to take the vanillas back to their homes. No sense in losing more workers because of this attack.

 

As she was issuing orders, Chase's voice rang out, "He's not an Epic!" Buttercup wheeled at that, seeing the thing rise after having fallen Calamity knows how far.

 

He seems to have powers. He can heal, and morph his body. If he's not an Epic... The realization hit her like a freight train. Then he's been gifted! She readied herself as the creature charged her. Once again, though, Rainmaker interrupted. Oh for crying out loud! Buttercup silently fumed as she began looking through the crowd of vanillas now being escorted out of the area. Any one of them could be the gifter.

 

Hearing Rainmaker's order to return the vanillas home, Buttercup chuckled to herself. Already done. She then heard the order for the Queens to return to the stage. Letting out a sigh of mild frustration, she turned toward the stage to find a policeman staring at her. He seemed dazed. Then he spoke as he snapped out of it. It was Chase, controlling him via her powers. Buttercup shrugged off the apology. Chase wasn't made for combat, that didn't bother Buttercup. "Come on, Rainmaker wants you back on stage here."

Edited February 10, 2016 by Blaze1616

[TheSilverDragon he/him]

The flying epic finished her speech, killing one of the rebel rousers. That’s the only way to deal with people like them Converter thought to herself Kill them before their ideas spread. She hated even the thought of Normals thinking that they were better than epics. Even one touching her was too horrible to even think about. Just then she felt someone push her to the ground screaming “Get out of my way!” She grabbed the man’s arm, absorbing all of his kinetic energy as he tried to run away.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked him, rising to her feet. “You don’t just push me to the ground and the run off. Where are your manners? It is really difficult to chase after someone to kill them. Much nicer of them to stay where they are.” The man just stood there, not saying a thing, probably because he could move a muscle, including his vocal cords. Even if he could move, he would still have been paralyzed with fear. Converter studied the man’s face, frozen in mask of pure horror. This is why we have been given power, to put people like this guy in their place: at our feet, or dead. This one needs to die. She absorbed all of the man’s heat, killing him. She then converted some of that energy to kinetic and threw him into a crowd of normals, knocking them down.

 

Three peals of thunder followed by a loud crash made Converter turn to see what was happening. A large crowd had begun form around something. Interest piqued, Converter started to walk towards the gathering, not even looking back at the tangled mess of limbs. She saw another normal running away from the gathering. Converter walked up to the human, and punched her in the face with a kentitly enhanced punch. Sparkin’ scared normal, She doesn't deserve to live anymore. She could hear the bones of the normal's face crunch and break as her fist made contact. Convert stepped over the body as it fell to the ground, dead, the mangled head laying on a pillow made of its own blood. Walking towards the edge of the new crowd, Converter absorbed the heat of anyone she touched, leaving a line of frozen bodies in her wake. The air around her began to grow warm as heat started to leak faster as she got angry, and as she gained more energy.

 

She pushed her way to the front of the crowd, sending normals flying, only to break into frozen pieces when they landed. At the front of the crowd, she was greeted by large ball of ice with chard arms sticking out from under it. Ah, a weather manipulator, she thought to herself. This is going to be fun. She reached out and threw the nearest normal into the air as high as she could. That should get her attention.

Edited May 7, 2015 by TheSilverDragon

[Comatose he/him]

 

"We should go, and behind us you should begin the rain. This second breach of Epics is a serious issue, but we should not reveal such information to the public. Continue the plan as normal."

 

Rainmaker nodded, accepting Blossom's advice.  " I was thinking the same thing.  We've shown our power, but it would not to for people to see us struggling against whoever this new epic is who is causing trouble.  We need time to regroup and gather information, so that if we do chose to face this threat publicly, we can be seen as in control."  Rainmaker hated feeling vulnerable, or out of control.  It reminded her too much of her time imprisoned by the government, sometimes spending days in cloud form as they tried and failed to pierce her invincibility.  Thankfully her husband, not realizing the old Government would soon be a thing of the past, had feared to associate himself with Saudi-Arabian oil because of the effects it might have on his future political career.  Otherwise, he might have drawn attention to Rainmaker's father's business, giving the government scientists what they needed to figure out her weakness.  After she had escaped that prison, her husband had paid for betraying her.  Years later, it would seem her secret was safe, and as long as Rainmaker could remain in control, she would have no need to fear someone figuring it out.  

 

Rainmaker's contemplation was interrupted when someone was sent flying into the air.  Not another one.  Rainmaker easily picked out the epic who had performed the feat as she pushed her way to the front of the fleeing crowd, leaving a trail of what seemed like frozen corpses in her wake.  So, ice powers and some sort of telekinesis perhaps?  Rainmaker only hoped this was a separate epic, and not the same one from before, or another gifted Vanilla.  The thought of one epic with such a broad power portfolio was almost too much to contemplate.  

 

"Chase," Rainmaker said into her mobile, "Stay where are for now, but I need to know if the woman in front is a Vanilla or not.  Buttercup, get the rest of the crowd clear.  Blossom is right, we can't afford any more bad publicity tonight.  Blossom and Cornucopia, stay with me.  Hold back for now, and stay out of her line of fire.  Try to help me figure out her power profile, if you can.  Tonedeath, muffle the sound between us and the crowd, so they can't over hear our conversation."  As she gave orders, Rainmaker floated forward to face her newest opponent.  If there was going to be another battle, she needed to delay so that she could gather more information, and so that Buttercup would have time to get the rest of the town away from the scene.  

 

"Hello there," Rainmaker said, glancing down at the new epic.  "I am Rainmaker, the ruler of this city.  As you have seen, we do not take kindly to unauthorized disturbances here in Corvallis.  Please, state your name and your business here.  If you are willing to cooperate, and mean no harm, we may be willing to welcome you to the city with open arms.  Be warned though, this city is under my personal protection, and any threats to it will be snuffed out."  

[Blaze1616 he/him]

 

Buttercup stepped up onto the stage, glancing to Blossom who was standing near Rainmaker. Her sister nodded, the best thank you from Blossom Buttercup was ever likely to get for having handled those crazy humans. She was about to nod back, but a scream from behind her caused her to turn. The scream was coming from the vanilla thrown into the air by what seemed to be yet another Epic.  Seriously?! How many are we going to have to deal with today. Euphoria's gone for two hours and all of Hell breaks loose! Buttercup moved to step off the stage, but Rainmaker interrupted her.

 

"Buttercup, get the rest of the crowd clear," was all she needed to hear. If Rainmaker wanted to take on the newcomer, so be it. Buttercup slipped off the stage, walking towards the crowd that was now mostly out of the area. Her police force worked quickly. They knew better than to be sluggish around her.

 

Glancing back at the new Epic, Buttercup noticed the vanillas Chase was messing with. If Chase is using them, I'll leave them be. Hopefully she won't need more of them. Reaching an officer, the Queen of Security began issuing orders.

 

 

Blossom watched the new Epic very carefully. "Blossom and Cornucopia, stay with me. Hold back for now, and stay out of her line of fire. Try to help me figure out her power profile, if you can," is what Rainmaker had said, so it was time for Blossom to be of some use.

 

The air around the new Epic was shimmering. Not like with glitter, but like on a hot day. That meant heat was concentrated around her. So heat manipulation powers? Blossom looked at the now obvious trail of bodies this new Epic had left in her wake. There were no gaping holes, no scorch marks. Blossom, in a burst of speed and pink light, flew over to one of the bodies a good distance away. Kneeling over it, she cringed at the sight. The man's skin had turned a puffy blue. Putting a hand to his cheek, it felt icy cold.

 

Blossom looked back to the shimmering Epic. There were some vanillas speaking to it, which was likely Chase's doing. Anything to gain them more time would be beneficial. She seems to be leaking heat, otherwise the shimmer wouldn't occur. In addition, these people seem to have suffered severe hypothermia. The logical conclusion is she can manipulate heat in some fashion.

 

Blossom stood, speaking into her mobile now. "Rainmaker, this new Epic seems to be able to manipulate heat. That shimmer around her body? That's a lot of heat leaking from her. It's clearly leaking because the shimmer is due to the heat migrating. To top that off, these bodies exhibit blue skin, and their skin is freezing cold. Blue skin is a symptom of rapid heat loss, also known as severe hypothermia. So heat manipulation is the simplest explanation. That does not, however, explain how she could throw that human so high."

 

Blossom ran a few fingers through her hair. "Such a feat of strength could mean she has super strength like Buttercup." Nothing had happened yet to make her think otherwise. Blossom flew back toward the stage, being sure to keep her distance.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Voidus]

 "Blossom and Cornucopia, stay with me. Hold back for now, and stay out of her line of fire. Try to help me figure out her power profile, if you can."

Cornucopia nodded at Rainmakers instructions, all too happy to stay back from the potential danger. With Rainmaker here she could heal from all but the most serious wounds in an instant but the speed that this Epic was dropping people with was incredible.

When in doubt, stay back from Epics who are alternately freezing people and throwing them into the sky. She noted mentally. 

She could feel both the heat from the Epic and the cold from her victims alternately burning and freezing the nearby grass on the fields, heat manipulation of some kind was obviously at work, that plus the human canonballs pointed to some kind of generic energy manipulation, either that or an illusionist and Cornucopia had yet to meet an illusionist who could concentrate enough light to physically scorch the earth. Then again by their very nature the most powerful illusionists would be the least well known, able to disguise themselves as anyone and anything, able to fake any powers that they wanted.

So, heat manipulation at the least with possible further energy manipulation, either kinetic or photonic. Fighting directly with plants is a no-go then, she seemed to practically eat one of the grenades when she appeared so that's out. Gunfire then? I doubt she'd be acting so calm in the middle of an army if she couldn't defend against it but worth a shot I suppose.

"Agreed." She said, hearing Blossoms communication "I haven't met an energy Epic who could manipulate both heat and kinetic energy but it's either that, a strength Epic or an illusionist. None of them particularly good options. If it's an illusionist or strength Epic simple gunfire should reveal it."

Cornucopia readied another barrage of incendiary and gas grenades in case the firearms were ineffective.

"Ready when you are."

[TheSilverDragon he/him]

"Hello there," The weather epic said. "I am Rainmaker, the ruler of this city. As you have seen, we do not take kindly to unauthorized disturbances here in Corvallis." So her name is Rainmaker. Converter thought. Has a nice ring to it. Rainmaker continued on “Please, state your name and your business here.  If you are willing to cooperate, and mean no harm, we may be willing to welcome you to the city with open arms.  Be warned though, this city is under my personal protection, and any threats to it will be snuffed out." I don’t really like cooperating with others, but I could make an exception. She sounds like she is strong, but I wonder if she could follow through on her threat.

 

Converter opened her mouth to respond, when all of a sudden a normal walked up to her and said “Hello.” What is this normal doing? Does Rainmaker have no control over her humans?

 

Another normal shouted a salutation to her, then another, then another. This Rainmaker is weaker than I thought if she allows her normals to speak to epics like this.  The whole group of normals around her said “Welcome to Corvallis. Who are you?”

"Who am I? Who am I?" She asked the crowd. She grab the two normals closest to her and drained them of their heat, leaving two gray corpses on the ground. "I am an Epic!" She shouted at the crowd, steam coming of of her clothes as her energy vaporized the water clinging to her. "You have no right to even look at me without permission, let alone talk to me."

She converted all of her energy into electrical energy and unleashed it into the normals standing closest to her.

 

The effect was almost instantaneous. The smell of burnt flesh arouse as the electricity burned the normals she was touching, causing them to drop, writhing  the ground, dead. The normals touching them were shocked, causing ventricular fibrillation in some, killing them, while stopping he breathin of others. Others were lucky, and got off with only a slight tingling.  

She turned to Rainmaker. "You are weaker than I thought. You're a sorry excuse for an Epic, if that's how you let your sparking normals treat us. All that talk about reprimanding them was a lie. You're too soft to be an Epic. Calamity made a mistake with you." With that she turned her back on the Epic, and walked away.

Edited April 28, 2015 by TheSilverDragon

[Comatose he/him]

 

Rainmaker watched Chase's little trick with interest.  On one hand, the show of power was good, as it might convince this new epic that fighting was not in her best interests.  On the other hand, it could be viewed as an interruption, and Rainmaker hated being interrupted.  
 
"I am an Epic!" The newcomer was shouting now.  "You have no right to even look at me without permission, let alone talk to me." She will have to learn it is my permission that matters.  It would appear she had not caught on to Chase's trick, and was prepared to act out.  Rainmaker began subtly working the winds high above them, creating large hail stones.  She also readied her lightning, ready to attack if need be.  
 
Rainmaker was startled when the epic unleashed a wave of electrical energy on the crowd.  She can manipulate electricity too?  "Bossom," she whispered into her mobile, "Are you seeing this?"  It would appear the epic could manipulate energy in many different forms.  That would make her incredibly powerful.  Rainmaker resisted the urge to run and regroup.  She was in the height of her power, surrounded by allies in a location she knew well.  She could not accept such insubordination without losing the city.  "It looks like she can manipulate many different kinds of energy.  I think it best if we attack with cold.  Get your ice breath ready."
 
 "You are weaker than I thought. You're a sorry excuse for an Epic, if that's how you let your sparking normals treat us. All that talk about reprimanding them was a lie. You're too soft to be an Epic. Calamity made a mistake with you."  The epic turned to leave, and Rainmaker felt light erupt from her skin as the epic's words infuriated her.  No one turns their back on me and gets away with it.  Not wasting any time, Rainmaker hurled one of her now bus-sized hail stones down at the epic, speeding it's progress and guiding it's path with gusts of icy wind.  Next, she lowered the temperature of the air around the epic as low as she could manage, and summoned gale force winds from every direction, thick with ice and snow, to bombard her with and hold her in place.  Let's see if your heat powers can save you from frostbite, little epic.  

 

Adding to her onslaught, Rainmaker created a narrow tunnel of wind, leading from Blossom to the energy epic.  "I have a wind stream ready, Blossom.  Cornucopia, hold off on firing until we see how she deals with my attack.  If she comes out from that hail stone alive, hold nothing back."  Above her, Rainmaker readied more giant hailstones, just in case the first proved unsuccessful, and pressed down on her first hail stone from above, with more icy winds.  

[Blaze1616 he/him]

 

"Blossom, are you seeing this?" Rainmaker's words spoke softly through her mobile as Blossom watched the display of electrical power. She acted calm, but her instincts told her to run. Of course I see it! She clearly has some form of energy manipulation, as Cornucopia just said! Blossom crossed her arms, hugging her own form slightly. She wasn't a very strong Epic. She had no form of invincibility like her sisters or Rainmaker, and her powers were not widely useable like Buttercup's either. She had positioned herself as a Queen thanks to her brains, not her powers! Besides, going up against an energy manipulator was crazy! All three of her offensive powers were useless!

 

Blossom maintained her outward composure. "Rainmaker, Cornucopia was right, this Epic must be an energy manipulator. She seems to be able to convert between various energy forms too. Heat, kinetic, electrical...I'm curious if she can store potential energy too." Blossom felt like her words were meaningless as fear trickled into her. It was gone, however, the moment Rainmaker attacked.

 

"I have a wind tunnel ready, Blossom," Rainmaker spoke again, the orders to attack left unstated. Blossom wanted to tell Rainmaker how it was all likely pointless if the Epic can absorb kinetic energy, but she could feel the wind tunnel pulling on her clothing, her hair.

 

Taking a deep breath, she felt her chest begin to chill. the feeling rushed up to her collar bone, then her neck, and finally her mouth. She exhaled, and as she did so her breath shot out from her, ice crystals forming immediately and shooting along with the breath. Getting caught up in Rainmaker's tunnel, the ice picked up speed rather than slowing down, shooting down the tunnel at speeds faster than Blossom could ever make them go.

 

At least Rainmaker used ice attacks too. If the Epic tries to absorb heat first, something might get through. If she goes for kinetic energy though, I can't be sure any of this will matter.

 

 

 

Bubbles enjoyed car rides. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually ridden in one, as she relied on her flying powers most of the time now. The vehicle was mostly quiet, only the engine and the soft battering of the rain making any noise. SparkPlug and GasMask were up in the front, but this vehicle had a window installed between the front seats and the back, allowing Bubbles some privacy.

 

She was trying to sketch on her small pad, but the bumps in the road were ruining her work. She didn't mind, but it was frustrating. She was drawing Denver from a distance, and the city looked nice. Too nice, to her. She placed her eraser on the pad, ridding it of some of the lines before fixing it to her liking.

 

The vehicle began to slow, stopping on the side of a road. The window separating her from the other two Epics began to roll down. "Ma'am, news from Buttercup." It was GasMask. SparkPlug didn't much like talking.

 

Bubbles stopped drawing to look up. "What did she have to say?"

 

"The initial riot by the humans has been quelled, but they've been interrupted by a gifted vanilla, and then an Epic. She's unsure if the two are connected in any way, but she wants us to switch to bunker Beta instead of Alpha. Do you have any objections?"

 

Bubbles kept quiet for a moment. GasMask and SparkPlug were so nice for Epics put in their predicament, in charge of yet another Epic's life. She trusted them, but they had needed to prove themselves first. She lamented the fact that they were male. Males could rise up to some of the upper positions within Rainmaker's government, but they could never be Queens. Well, they could be queens, but not in the sense that Bubbles and her sisters were, and sex changes were so difficult to get after the rise of the Epics.

 

She allowed a sigh to escape her lips. She'd help these two if she could, they had been good to her, but she couldn't. Cutting off a man's schwing-schwong did not make him a girl. It only made him scream like one.

 

"No objections from me. She's the Queen of Security, do as she says." Bubbles returned to her drawing, but the window did not roll up.

 

"The change in location will increase our time on the road. Can we get you anything, perhaps put on some music?"

 

Bubbles didn't look up from her pad, but she offered the man a smile. "Thank you for the offer, but no. Let's just get there as soon as we can, yeah?" She could see him nod out of the corner of her eye, and the window rolled its way back up. The vehicle rocked a bit as it accelerated, but she had anticipated that so her drawing was unscathed. As the SUV settled, she put the finishing touches on.

 

It looked much better. Denver was burning.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Blaze1616

[TheSilverDragon he/him]

Why did I have to from in this Calamity cursed city, Converter thought to herself. Epics with no manners. Letting normals talk to Epics like that. Pathetic. As Converter walked away, she felt something crashed into her. She instinctively absorbed all energy, and the world went dark as light, heat, and kinetic energy were absorbed. The air around her, except for a little hole for her mouth, became an impenetrable wall, as all of its kinetic energy was absorbed.

Converter stopped absorbing light energy, and saw almost nothing. Ice and snow whirled around her in a blizzard, while a large ball of ice sat on top of her. Sparks, she thought as she surveyed the situation. I hate when people use cold against me, it’s so inconvenient. Converter sat there, crouched down because of the hailstone, and waited the attack out.

[Comatose he/him]

 

From Rainmaker's view, the hail stone seemed to have halted a few feet off the ground, indicating the epic below it was likely not squashed as she should be.  It would seem Blossom's guess about kinetic energy manipulation was also correct, or the epic possessed super strength of some kind.  Given the epics apparent ability to use the energy she absorbed, Rainmaker quickly decided it might be best to alter her strategy, lest her galeforce winds give the epic the kinetic energy necessary to do more than simply stave off the attack.  

 

Rainmaker altered her winds so the stopped abruptly just before reaching the epic.  The winds would still work to keep her corralled in one place, but unless the epic could absorb energy from a distance, in which case they were all in very real danger, then the winds would only be absorbed if she tried to move, which was unlikely when she focusing on preventing the hailstone from crushing her.  

 

Next, Rainmaker focused on the small bubble of still air around the epic, lowering the temperature without the use of wind, while raising the humidity drastically.  The epic had to breathe, meaning at least some of the freezing cold, humid air should effect her.  Unless, of course, she had some ability to survive without oxygen.  That would prove difficult.  Rainmaker did keep the wind tunnel carrying Blossom's ice breath hitting the area around the ice epic, trusting it to lower the temperatures below what she herself could manage using normal earth temperatures.  

 

"Buttercup," Rainmaker spoke into her mobile, keeping a wary eye on the trapped epic.  "We seem to have the situation with the rebel epic under control for the moment, but she's resisting my powers.  I want you to go to the grove where Cornucopia has her industrial strength restraints, and arrange for some of the chains, anchors, and other supplies brought over.  We may need to trap the epic here permanently until we can figure out her weakness or a way to move her safely.  We can use some of the same restraints that we used on the Iron Ogress, but make sure that whatever is used has a good resistance to both hot and cold temperatures.  Once you've made the arrangements, I want you here yourself, and try to find an Epic who is immune or at least resistant to heat, cold, and electricity.  I don't want to risk you getting to close to this one."  While Buttercup did have healing abilities, seeing the frozen corpses on the ground, Rainmaker worried about risking her chief of security.  With Euphoria gone, Rainmaker was already feeling out of her depth handling the logistics of coordinating her staff; at this point she could not afford to lose more Queens.  

 

Cautiously, Rainmaker landed on the ground, to better study her opponent.  She opened a small window in the icy storm, and through it she could see the epic crouched beneath the hailstone, withstanding her attacks.  How did she make it into the city?  At first Rainmaker had suspected she might be a teleporter, given her sudden appearance, but surely a teleporter would have fled by now, or used her powers to take out the other Queens one by one.  What do you want here?

 

"Well, little epic, have you had enough of my power?"  Rainmaker spoke loudly while keeping her distance, still wary of the epic's tricks.  "You seem immune to my attacks, and you may be able to stave off hypothermia for a time, but eventually I will find a way to destroy you.  I will give you one last chance to surrender to me, and allow yourself to be escorted out of Corvallis in peace."  

[Blaze1616 he/him]

 

Buttercup's hair flowed in the gentle wind, the light rain pattering against her. She had already gotten soaked to the bone, and though it wasn't comfortable, she took solace in the fact that she would never get sick. The humans had successfully been confined to their homes, the police force now patrolling the streets to enforce the impromptu curfew in the area.

 

Changing the channel on her mobile, she slowly flew back to where the Queens were. "GasMask, I need you to reroute to Bunker Beta. The rioting by the vanillas has been dealt with, but we were also attacked by a Gifted and an Epic. They don't seem to be connected, but we can't be sure. If this is a coordinated attack then Bunker Alpha is likely not safe anymore."

 

"Copy that." GasMask, ever dilligent, mind always on task.

 

"Buttercup out." She changed the channel back, and just in time.

 

"Buttercup, we seem to have the situation with the rebel epic under control for the moment, but she's resisting my powers. I want you to go to the grove where Cornucopia has her industrial strength restraints, and arrange for some of the chains, anchors, and other supplies brought over. We may need to trap the epic here permanently until we can figure out her weakness or a way to move her safely. We can use some of the same restraints that we used on the Iron Ogress, but make sure that whatever is used has a good resistance to both hot and cold temperatures. Once you've made the arrangements, I want you here yourself, and try to find an Epic who is immune or at least resistant to heat, cold, and electricity. I don't want to risk you getting to close to this one."

 

Rainmaker's orders echoed around her head for a short moment before an explosion of green light announced that Buttercup had blasted off. The rain whipped her face, but she didn't feel the pain. It had been a long time since she flew at such high speeds, and it felt good. Switching her mobile's channel once more, she spoke quickly. "Broadcast. Come in, Broadcast. This is Queen Buttercup."

 

After a moment of silence she was about to repeat herself, with much annoyance, but the Epic responded as her mouth opened. "Ah! My liege, one of my favorite people. How can I be of service to the Queens today?"

 

Buttercup did not much like Broadcast. "I don't have time for your antics right now. I need IcyHot and Resistor to get to the site of the speech today. A-S-A-P."

 

"Ooh, touchy today. You got it, Your Majesty."

 

"Thank you," Buttercup growled. She changed her channel back yet again in case something happened. It took another minute to reach the fields, Buttercup landing rather violently in her effort to hurry. As she did, multiple humans raced to her side, ready to help. It would seem the rain is already doing the trick out here. She had them help her locate the things Rainmaker asked for, loaded them in a dump truck kept on site, and then lifted the truck and took to the skies once more.

 

 

Blossom continued to breath her Ice Breath into the wind tunnel. The Epic's ability to withstand the onslaught so far worried her, but as long as Rainmaker continued on, Blossom would too. How do you defeat an Epic that can absorb all types of energy? The question baffled her. Would the restraints Rainmaker was asking for help? They'd melt if the Epic had enough energy to supply, regardless of material. Melt, or combust. Sound waves were useless, light waves were useless, heat was useless. Their only hope was lack of heat. That hailstone is likely blocking any UV-rays seeping through the clouds, so she doesn't really have an energy source so long as Rainmaker stops pelting her with wind and ice.

 

Blossom felt relief when Rainmaker opened the hole in the barrage to speak to the Epic. Rainmaker had done just what Blossom was thinking, thank Calamity. Now we only need to worry about-

 

A thump to her left cut her train of thought.

 

 

Buttercup's landing was rather loud. Louder than she wanted, but when she hurried she never bothered slowing down to normal landing speeds. Why bother when any damage your legs might sustain heals almost instantly? She placed the truck down next to her, and looked at the current mess of a situation. It was an odd sight, but Buttercup was rather impressed in the Epic's ability to hold that hailstone in place.

 

"Here's your restraints, Rainmaker. IcyHot and Resistor are on their way as well, they should be here soon."

Edited August 19, 2015 by Blaze1616

[18th Shard he/him]

                                                                  

The Phoenix watched the screaming humans run away from the town square, the worthless creatures fleeing like animals. The Epics who fought nearby were fools, too. Everything has energy, Rainmaker. Even hail. Drop something on her and she can absorb its energy. If she waves her arms fast enough, she has energy. Besides, the first Epic, the bestial one, had fled. Phoenix sat watching the Queens struggle for a while, then headed back toward the lair he had chosen in the city. A human bumped into him, muttering an apology in his hurry to escape. He dares! ... Remain inconspicuous. Calm. Oh, what the heck. One dead human doesn't matter. Phoenix called out to the pest, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" The man turned, his face showing pure fear, his mistake realized. Phoenix walked closer, smoke floating towards the sky from his clothes. He grabbed the man by the throat and dragged him into a nearby building. The man struggled, his puny arms waving as he tried to free himself. "You don't touch a High Epic, understand?" The man nodded, eyes darting toward the door. Phoenix sighed. "You aren't leaving. I just wanted you to understand before you died." He reached forward, grabbing the man's head, fingers glowing red-hot. The man's head melted away before the heat, drooping toward the ground. Phoenix held himself in check; he wasn't going to detonate the building, he was only going to immolate the body. He strode out of the abandoned building, humming to himself. Any day I both used my powers and wasn't caught is a good day in my book, he thought, smiling like a child escaping his wrongdoings. He walked back into the "rented" house - Joseph Johnson wouldn't be returning from vacation anytime soon, and Phoenix needed a low profile place to stay. 

Edited May 6, 2015 by 18th Shard

[TheSilverDragon he/him]

"Well, little epic, have you had enough of my power?" The epic who called herself Rainmaker, still fighting her from a distance. Coward "You seem immune to my attacks, and you may be able to stave off hypothermia for a time, but eventually I will find a way to destroy you. I will give you one last chance to surrender to me, and allow yourself to be escorted out of Corvallis in peace." In peace? Why would she let me leave in peace? She is weak if she would do that. Let a potential threat walk away, alive. Only a weak Epic would do that.

Converter stood up, only to be foiled by the large hailstone resting on her back. Enough of this, she thought, and sent a small pulse of kinetic energy into the ball of ice, sending it sideways into the churning mess of air.
“I didn’t mean to end up here,” Converter shouted above the wind. “But now I’m going to stay and make your life,” the last word was lost in the wind. Edited May 11, 2015 by TheSilverDragon

[18th Shard he/him]

Phoenix's door burst open just as he was filling a glass with water. "You know you can't just kill anyone you want" a woman with long, black hair. "And I'm not in a good mood right now. There's rules in Corvallis. Don't think you can get away with murdering anyone before I'll catch you. And don't try that heat thing on me. I'll be back in a different body and I don't think you want to be seen as trying to murder a Queen in front of Rainmaker." How dare she! If she knows who I am, she should know a High Epic deserves respect. Telling me what to do, the audacity, the nerve - keep calm, keep back the fire, don't - His self-control broke, his hands igniting. Phoenix looked over the woman, thinking back to the information he'd memorized. Unimportant body.... 'Different body' and 'Queen' ... Chase, the Queen who could use vanillas as hosts. Weakling, using vanillas. He turned toward her, holding the metal glass he'd been drinking from. "I can't kill anyone I want, can I? Why not? They aren't worth anything. These vanillas, they exist to be killed. As for your rules, I am above them. I have deigned to obey them insofar as they serve my purposes, but they do not bind me. I will kill whom I will. But don't worry; I won't kill you yet." He held the glass in his hand and it turned red-hot in his grip, matching the fury he felt at the intruder. He held the glass for a few seconds until it began to deform under his fingers, then threw the molten metal at the vanilla Chase was inhabiting, the vanilla's skin burning. He smirked. "I have something much worse in mind for you." He held out a hand and a sphere of fire engulfed the vanilla, slowly closing in. "I will leave you to watch your city burn, then kill you." He closed the sphere, destroying the vanilla. He stepped out the hole where his door had been, striding toward the sports field. I will burn this city. He thought of the Epic fighting Rainmaker in the field. She will assist me. We can make this city burn to the ground. Phoenix strode forward, hands held out. Flames flared around him in the shape of a Phoenix, wings spreading into firey waves. He strode at a building, the heat melting the glass and steel in a circle around him. He strode through the building, flames rippling throughout, vanillas screaming and dying. He held out a hand as he walked out, grabbing a support beam, melting through it like a hot knife through butter. The building groaned as it crumbled down behind him. He walked into the field, flames devouring the grass, smoke floating toward the sky. He yelled at the struggling Epics. "Your city will fall, Rainmaker! May it burn as a beacon of terror for Epics everywhere!" He lobbed a ball of fire at Rainmaker, though the winds surrounding Converter battered it away. He extinguished his flames, then held out his hands toward Converter, a beam of white-hot fire shooting toward the Epic.

Edited May 11, 2015 by 18th Shard

[Voidus]

Watching the battle of the elements ensuing between Rainmaker and the attacking Epic, Cornucopia wished strongly that she at least had a chair to lounge in. All this standing and fighting was incredibly boring, perhaps she could excuse herself under the grounds that she could restock her gardens? Find some more combative plants?

No, Rainmaker had asked her to stay. Plus with this level of combat she'd need Rainmaker to provide sunlight if she were injured.

A burst of flames nearby caught her attention, coming as it did from a different direction to the Epic Rainmaker was fighting.

Another one? How many surprise Epics is this day going to throw at us? Are they part of the group who kidnapped Euphy? Too big a coincidence otherwise.

Cornucopia hated fire Epics, hated them more than any other, all they did was destroy. To be expected of an Epic of course but fire Epics were indiscriminate, almost always causing more damage than they meant to, they were chaos incarnate.

Time to introduce a little order then.

Reaching out to her gardens Cornucopia found what she was looking for. Water. Liters and liters of water, stored in bottles that grew from her plants.

Most fire Epics burned too hot to be doused with water, it evaporated before it could hit them. Fortunately however, steam would would help her conceal her next attack.

Launching a thousand bottles of water was a difficult task. Launching a thousand bottles of water held by the limbs of plants over a hundred meters away at a target the same distance away in a different direction was exceptionally difficult.

Sighing, Cornucopia took a firm hold of her plants, stretching her powers to the limit to control so many at once, she launched the water bottles, watching them soar through the air only to explode before they hit the Epic, spreading a cloud of scalding steam over him.

In the cover she took one of the guns from her guards, throwing it as far as she could with her own hands, which proved to not be very far. Still it was close enough.

The grass opened a hole in the ground beneath the gun, quickly burying it beneath dirt and root. Cornucopia focussed all her powers on it, forcing its months of growth to collapse into scarcely a minute. Cracks spread throughout the ground as the roots spread, people began to get pushed away as a single stalk reached for the sky, sprouting limbs as it reached the height of the people around it.

On each limb an identical weapon, they all turned towards the Fire Epic in unison.

[18th Shard he/him]

 

Phoenix flared his flames as thousands of water bottles flew at him, steam scalding the vanillas standing nearby. Phoenix smirked. He burned much to hot to be put out by water, even that much water. He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the mechanism that released the water, but the steam was in the way - was that a pole, or a crane? He heard a deafening crack, and spun to look at Rainmaker, looking for the lightning she had just created. Lightning didn't bother Phoenix - he'd already killed that weak electric Epic on his way to Corvallis, and --- pain clawed his side as bullets tore through him. Sudden warmth soaked his shirt, and he held his side, blood pouring over his hands. He screamed in agony, falling to the ground, and a second volley tore apart his torso. Phoenix gasped, his mind going dark. No, Not again, I need to... I.... His body sparked, then caught fire, ashes forming in seconds where his body had been. A wave of flame rolled out, singeing the ground in a perfect circle around him.  Then the flames died, the ashes cooling on the charred ground.

Edited May 12, 2015 by 18th Shard

[Comatose he/him]

 

As par for the course compared to the rest of the day, everything seemed to happen at once.  One minute Chase was talking in Rainmaker's ear about yet another heat epic, the next the energy epic was shrugging off Rainmaker's hailstone and throwing her generosity back in her face.  Before Rainmaker could respond to the threat, another epic, seemingly the one Chase had just mentioned, arrived, assaulting her with some sort of fire attack.  

 

Rainmaker spun to face the new attacker, prepared to burst into cloud and reform once the fire attack connected, but the ball of flame missed her, dispersing as it connected with the wind field surrounding the energy epic.  The fire epic fired another beam of energy at the energy epic, likely hoping to provide her with an energy source.  Rainmaker lowered the temperature between the fire epic and the energy epic even more, while raising the humidity, hoping to snuff enough of the fire out before it reached its target.  She prepared to ready a barrage of rain and ice on the fire epic, but found Cornucopia had already begun an assault.  Thankful for the assistance, Rainmaker turned back to face her primary adversary just as Buttercup arrived with her restraints.  

 

Worried that the energy epic might find a way through her wind field, or use it to regenerate her energy, Rainmaker hurled several more large hail stones at her adversary, hoping to pin her down from all sides as well as above.  The epic might be able to stop the momentum and weight of the stones from crushing her, but hopefully they would serve to keep her pinned in one place until the other epics arrived to help restrain her.  

 

Rainmaker rose higher into the air, getting out of earshot of the energy epic before speaking into her mobile.  "Keep your distance Buttercup, we still don't know everything she can do."  The fire epic disappeared in a flash of fire after being shot by one of Cornucopia's plants.  "Cornucopia, do you think one of your plants could clamp on the restraints?  I'll try my best to work the temperature and humidity to keep her from burning them.  If you touch her as little as possible, maybe we can ensnare her.  Buttercup, keep an eye out for that fire epic.  He might be a teleporter or be able to reincarnate, and I do not want to be surprised by him again."  

[mail-mi he/him]

(Warning! The following post has Mistborn: The Final Empire spoilers, and is therefore in spoiler tags. If you want to read the post and haven’t read TFE, then just PM me for a modified version.)

 

 

Before much of the fighting could happen, Gregory had happily and speedily returned home. He lived in a small house on a relatively peaceful street that had barely seen any Epic destruction, except that one time. Even as he stepped up to his front door he was deciding which book to study--Mistborn, or Alcatraz. Mistborn was much more like his situation, but Alcatraz still talked about an evil ruling class that a relatively normal person had to face and defeat. Which one... Gregory thought, stepping studiously up to his bookshelf and scanning for the well-used Sanderson books. Well, why not both?

 

For the next few hours, Gregory scanned through Mistborn and its series, Alcatraz, and even The Way of Kings a couple of times, looking for what he could use. On a third scan-through of Mistborn, he realized exactly what he needed to do: 

 

Infighting.

 

That was what Kelsier’s plan had been, and it had worked. That was what had distracted the Lord Ruler from the skaa long enough to allow Kelsier to bring in an army. 

 

Speaking of which, I’m going to need an army... Briefly, Gregory thought of Chase, but pushed that idea aside, telling himself that he couldn’t involve the Queens in his plan, and he hated them, just like Kelsier hated the nobles. I’ll take care of the army later. Now, I need to get the nobles on each other’s backs, but how?

 

Kelsier had used Vin as Valette to get into the balls, and it had worked. Gregory knew exactly what he needed to do. 

 

I need to recruit someone on the inside...

Edited May 14, 2015 by mail-mi

[Voidus]

Try to restrain her with plants? The Epic who'd just burned through a dozen citizens?

Sighing, Cornucopia replied to Rainmaker, there was only one answer that Corvallis' ruler would accept.

"Well I can try it at least." She said into her mobile

She found an acorn near to the Epic, probably tossed there by Rainmaker's winds, and sending her power rolling into it, guiding it's roots deep into the earth to anchor it Cornucopia then focused on its growth. Even for her powers a full sized oak tree could not be coaxed into existence in a mere moment but she guided its growth into a small sprout, rushing it still further until a small sapling stood by near the Epic.

"Standing by, I'll need someone to get the restraints close enough that I can take over"

If the Epic burned through the tree she might be able to surprise them by planting the restraints to create another, but there were no living plants close enough to move the dirt.

Focusing on the oaks root system again, Cornucopia sped their growth disproportionately to the main trunk, creating thicker roots that spread through the ground underneath the Epic. Hopefully she'd be too distracted by Rainmaker to notice the slight trembling as the roots shoved dirt aside to make room for their growth.

"If all else fails I can grow an orchard around her" She suggested to Rainmaker "If she burns them down the smoke will start causing breathing problems, especially if you can keep it there."

[The Honey Badger he/him]

What happened next almost couldn’t be explained. Nigh simultaneously the rogue power convertor began their assault. Rainmaker’s counter- attack turned the world into a haze of wind and hail around the rogue epic. Police and crowd scattered in all directions as the Epics raged. Tonedeath heard orders for Cornucopia and some intelligence from Chase regarding some other Epic threat. Some kind of fire- epic supposedly. Tonedeath dampened the sound of the wind in a bubble around them

 “We need to head for the tunnels, and then to point A. We can’t fight these guys on the ground. Maybe we can give support from above, but not now.”

“Got it, let’s go”

Tonedeath, upon entering the city, established routes through the sewers and water ways to get to established bases. One such route was through some old water tunnels and then into the sewer system. A hole cut into the basement of a building provided access form the sewers into Base A.

Tonedeath and Larry sprinted for the water tunnel that used to empty into the river. There used to be a grate, but it had been removed when the base had been constructed. A massive explosion of steam followed by multiple volleys of gunfire, erupted from the area where the spectators had just recently stood. Larry made it to the tunnel first quickly followed by Tonedeath.

“Are you sure this is the best idea,” Larry asked, “I mean, Rainmaker might be angry.”

“We’ll be fine, you have weapons in the base right?”

“Yeah”

“Perfect, we’ll be lots of help.”

Tonedeath and Larry ran through the sewers, gross but necessary, until they reached the entrance to Base A. Tonedeath boosted himself up and then helped Larry in. They climbed out of the basement and began to climb the flights of stairs until they reached the top floor. They were a good distance away from the site of the demonstration. Larry let themselves in to the room that they had secured and stockpiled in.

“Get two sniper rifles and meet me on the roof.” Tonedeath ordered as he pushed through the door they had made onto the roof of the old apartment building. Larry followed soon after. They looked out on the scene unfolding on the field to the east.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.

Scott watched the explosions and chaos of the rebel beat-down from afar. There is no way that they’d drag him into that death trap. He had watched the rebel Epics begin their assaults, ‘that’s not the way to go about killing Rainmaker and the queens, you needed a plan’ he thought to himself. He was watching through some binoculars and saw two forms slipping away, he zoomed in enough to see Tonedeath’s reflective stripes, and knew he had found his target.

“Now, where could you be going,” Scott mused to himself aloud.

Tonedeath had been one of his targets for a while now, he had a useful purpose, but was weak offensively and defensively. He knew that the Queens of Corvallis were built on a high stack of regular humans, infrastructure, and weak Epics. He knew that in order to bring the top down, you had to remove the supports.

Scott saw where the air was heading, towards the old water tunnel that they had redone. But a massive explosion of steam abruptly arose from the field obscuring his view. Scott had went down into the sewers after he learned that Tonedeath was doing something down there. Scott pulled out a hand-drawn map of Corvallis, he had traced the sewer lines in green and had marked the access point in black, to the building that they were heading for. In order to be able to get a good shot off at Tonedeath, and maybe the sidekick, Lawrence, he had to get closer preferably another similar sized building. Most windows were boarded up nowadays, so they would obviously make their way to the roof, perfect for one well placed shot.

 He was sitting on an old roof of a suburban house that had fallen into ruin. He boosted himself off, and began running towards a dumpster that the whole neighborhood had once used. The trash had stopped being collected, so it was the perfect place to store things. He climbed into the dumpster and dug around until he found his duffel bag. He had a few weapons inside and pulled out his sniper rifle. He began moving towards a nearby apartment building, though not the one that Tonedeath and Lawrence would enter.

He entered the old building with little effort, the doors were old, and hadn’t been maintained and the windows had been quickly boarded up, easy access in almost anybodies eyes.  He found the stairwell and began to climb. Tonedeath was probably already in his building, the thought made Scott climb faster. When he reached the top floor and entered one of the rooms, he realized that there was no easy way to the top, he didn’t have time to break down the door that maintenance would have used. But there was a balcony. He pushed the old screen door aside and saw a good seven foot climb to the top. He saw a better area to climb three feet over, off the porch. He slung his gun over his back and jumped, grabbing onto the old rain gutter, and began to pull himself up. But the gutter bent and began to sag beneath his weight. Adrenaline surged and he, in one motion, pulled himself up onto the roof, behind him the bolts holding the gutter together busted and that section of gutter fell away, down into the streets. Then he saw them, the pair on the roof top, they were facing away from him and were looking at the scene on the field.

Perfect.

Edited May 23, 2015 by The Honey Badger

[the Gleeman he/him]

                                                    

 

     The Mannequin escorted IcyHot and Resistor to Buttercup so that they could safely restrain the mysterious converting epic. He had placed a small gang of  a dozen storefront mannequins around the epics as a precaution. The city was seeming more dangerous by the day. He stopped in front of Buttercup and stood at attention with his mannequins standing in orderly rows behind him.

"Officer Mannequin with the epics you requested my liege."

Mannequin took stock of the situation in his sight. How had this beautiful city deteriorated in so few days? No matter how it had occurred, he knew the worst was yet to come. It always was.