Villain's league (IC)

[Angel]

Liz had generated a steel pole in his hand when all the gems started flying past. "Wait... what?" he muttered as crystals, diamonds, and almost every kind of precious stone he knew of shot past him. He gave Red a look saying It's not me!

Then Anastasia pulled up. Liz's shock about her appearance from nowhere and a seemingly alive creature in the back showed, but he had no tie to acknowledge it as Red started walking up. He jumped in the van. But before they could leave, a blinding light surrounded them and everything else. Liz shielded his eyes from the glare, and felt very odd things going on in his body. He didn't see any of what went on, only heard a loud roar and the sound of something shattering. When he uncovered his eyes, he felt... lighter. Younger. Healthier.

And for some reason, he was starving.

"Let's get out of here and get something to eat," he told Anastasia.

[lucas marcone]

As Red ran tward Liz two things happened during the spell. Firstly, she was blinded. This pissed her off. Secondly, the metal that was replaceing the bone in her shin was gone. Her shin just crumpled as she fell to the ground with a scream of pain audible for miles. If any one were able to see it they would feel ill and have deep sympathy pains for her. She lay on the ground nurseing her limp shin.

[Boog]

"Sounds like a plan," the rabbit sighed, ignoring the screaming hero before her. "After all, all that work I put into that mutagen's been wrecked. It would take months to even use it again, and we can't afford any recognizable patterns." Besides, she was starving. The Van was too, but if Mommy wanted to go rather than let it eat the loud thing first then it would do as it was told. "I know a place relatively close to here that doesn't ask stupid questions about odd looking patrons. Or their pets."
Now that Liz was in the car rather than looking in from outside, a few more things were readily apparent. Small veins were visible on the inside walls of the Van, pulsing gently. Something large, like some gargantuan snake or slug, kept moving under the rug laid out on the floor in the back beneath the mans feet, as well as something under the cushions on the bench he sat upon. However, probably the most abnormal aspect was the area in front of each front seat. There were no pedals for brakes or gas, nor the usual blank expanse before the passenger seat. Instead, beneath where two people would sit, were what could only be called mouths. Large, red, toothy mouths whose tongues flicked out to taste the air every so often.
"I'd stay seated back there if I were you," Anastasia said, looking back at him in the mirror, "It doesn't really like strangers and it doesn't know you yet."
The Van drove off, heading for that diner.

[lucas marcone]

Red being as persistant as she is grabbed another chunk of blacktop and chucked it at the van. It hit the back doors with a thunk and left a scratch, but the van was otherwise undamaged.

[Angel]

Liz sat on the bench and was all too grateful to follow Anastasia's advice. In fact, he pulled his knees up to his chest and curled his tail around his legs to add to his secure feeling. Something the bunny had said had grabbed his attention though.

"Wait... YOU did this?" he asked. "Was that water virus your fault? Because you put my girlfriend in danger." He kept his tone mild - it was water under the bridge. "Please avoid that in the future."

[Boog]

"Really? Didn't know where she was," the Van shuddered under Red's attack, but didn't stop, "Figured all you rich people imported your water from springs in Romania or something like that. Sorry about that. In fact..." Anastasia did some quick thinking, "She may be at risk of a few MINOR things anyway. She was outside that blast that undid all my hard work, so there may still be some in her bloodstream. If she's abnormally susceptable to the stuff, she may be in trouble anyway. Should we pick her up on the way?"

[lucas marcone]

Red got up and hopped on her good leg a short distance to a residential building stoop. "What on earth?" She put one hand on her knee and poked her shin. It was a loose bag of ichor and muscle. Red was not pleased.

[Angel]

"Oh no, she didn't drink anything," Liz assured the rabbit. "Crystal's pretty good at telling when something's wrong with food." He paused, then remembered something she'd said. "But come to think of it... she said she dumped it in the plants. Any idea whether that would cause any harm?"

[Boog]

"Erm..." Anastasia thought hard. It was a toughie, "Not sure. It's not SUPPOSED to, if that's any help. You may want me to take a look later." Now that they were out of harms way, the Van's driving was a bit less hectic. The things under the seat even seemed to writhe less. "So, pick her up? This may not be a good place to be a reptile right now, and seeing as this stuff was in the water supply for a little less than a month she may have downed some anyway. Started off at pretty low concentrations."

[Angel]

This was something Liz hadn't known, or considered. The authorities had only found the virus this morning. "Yeah, in that case, we should. Our house is in Monroe. It's a little town a couple miles from here." He pulled out his cell. "Should I call her now, or should we get food first?"

[Fex]

Gentan was only less then a minute in the city and he already got attacked by some kind of green monster. He jumped over the monster to dodge his claw that tried to remove his head of his body. When he landed on his feet he turned fast and kicked the monster against its head. The monster rolled 10 feet over the ground before it stopped against a car and the thing stayed down on the ground being unconsious.

Gentan saw a big bright light almost like it exploded and the monster turned in a human infront off his eyes. "Man, this is one of the weirdest things I have seen," he said against him self and started to run fast towards the light to see what it caust. His shadow turned beneath his feet in a spring box and launchs him up in the air on a roof. After a few blocks he jumped down and landed straight on a Van's hood and a rabbit was driving it. He quickly rubbed his eyes and saw it was reall he stared at in disbelief for a minute before he launchs him self again up in the air.

After a little while Gentan reached where the light explosion should have come from and he noticed a guy in a red robed thats lays on the floor. "Yo bud, are you okay?" he asked the guy and he looked around he saw nothing dangerous but you could not be carefull enough.  He lifted the guy up and carried him towards a building that seemed destroyed.

Inside the building Gentan put the guy down on a coutch and he started to block the door and windows on the first floor. Once he was done he came back with some bottled water and put one on the table for the guy. "Man, whats up with this town he asked not sure if he would get an answer.

[Boog]

"Call her. We don't know how much those guys in the city knew about us; she may be a target," Anastasia told Liz, heading toward Monroe. "Tell her to get whatever she absolutely needs together; we can't leave her where just anyone could pick her up."

[techmaster-glitch]

   Quaddle was summoning what little willpower he had left to stay concious. It is impossible for his spells to directly drain the energy needed from him, he must draw the energy from the staff after he has poured his own energy into it. Having the soul of a Guardian, his self-reservoirs of power are virtually unlimited. However, the concentration needed to cast and maintain spells does come directly from him. Usually it is negligible, but the concentration required to fire the cleansing spell, keep the crystal in one piece for as long as he did, and containing it so that half the state doesn't turn into a wasteland, that was so draining that it actually exacted a physical toll on him.
   And it was enormous.
   But eventually, Quaddle felt himself lifted into the air by someone's arms. He could not see who, he was faced away and his hood obscured his vision, but he dearly hoped it wasn't one of the Pawns. He felt himself carried a short distance, and from what he could see, into a destroyed building. All along the way, he maintained a death-grip on his staff, and just barely managed charge it a little.
   Once inside, he felt himself placed upright on a couch. He still could not see much, but he heard the sounds of several heavy somethings being moved around. After a little of this, the footsteps of his unknown friend came near, and he saw a hand place a bottle of water on a side table next to Quaddle. He tried to lift a hand to grab for it, but it was useless. Then he tried concentrating instead. The orb of his staff flashed weakly, and the bottle wobbled into the air, and started floating slowly and shakily toward Quaddle. About halfway, it wavered, and Quaddle concentrated more. The orb on his staff flashed again, and the bottle suddenly flew with great velocity, thwacking Quaddle square on the nose.
   The bottle flew to the ground and spilled everywhere, and if Quaddle couldn't move before, he could now. Both his hands, one still clutching the staff, flew up to cover his throbbing nose as he whimpered a little, rocking back and forth.
   Through his fingers, he looked up slightly, and saw whom he assumed was the one who had broght him here. He was a man clad in traditional, yet distictive, elite shadow-class ninjitsu garb.
   Quaddle didn't know who he was, but he was still holding out for 'friend'. "Who...who are you?" Quaddle managed to choke out weakly.

[Fex]

Gentan noticed the staff of the guy flashing a bit and the bottle started to move a bit before it flew straight in the guys face. "Ow, that got to hurt," he stated and standed up to help the guy a bit more. He walked over and gave his own bottle. "Just call me Gentan and from who do I have the honor to be in the presence with?" he replied as he pult the guy a bit up so that he could sit.

"One moment got to check if we aren't being approached," Gentan walked to the window and pushed a closed out off the way a bit. A snake like tentacle came out off his side and went through the small crack before it came back. "No one to see," he said as he pushed the closed back on his place and went to his seat.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Quaddle thankfully took the offered water and drank some of it. Just enough to restore better speech, Quaddle wasn't greedy. Then he handed it back.
   "I'm... I'm Quaddle, archmage." Quaddle was able to sit up by himself now. He noticed Gentan walk over to one of the windows and...shift his very arm into living shadow. He looked at his staff, and red energy crackled from Quaddle to it as he began charging it.
   After a good ten seconds of this, Quaddle stopped charging, and held the staff in front of him. he concentrated on it, and the orb glowed a soft golden-white. Quaddle gasped as the energy, in the refined form of magic, flowed back into his body, rejuvenating him.
   Quaddle then suddenly stood up, he physical energy (somewhat) restored. He couldn't do any overtly stenuous activity, but he wouldn't need to at the moment, he hoped. Gentan should get a good look at Quaddle's face now, and he should realize that Quaddle (looks) like nothing more than a teenager.
   Quaddle then turned to Gentan, and pointed his staff at him. "Look into the orb. Do not be alarmed, do not resist." Quaddle commanded, holding the staff up to head hight. The orb glowed, and Gentan would find his eyes locked onto the orb, unable to look anywhere else.
   "Are you a friend or foe to me?" Quaddle asked simply. Thanks to the spell that Quaddle had a vicegrip on Gentan with, he wouldn't be able to answere anything but the direct truth. It would wear off the moment Gentan does answer, though.

[Fex]

When Gentan turned around he stared in the globe that was now shining and Quaddle asked him "Are you friend or foe?" He give a loud sign and answered "I am neutral, I help those in need and who are not capible to defend them self."

Gentan felt that he could move again and did not waist any time of wondering what would happen next. He pushed the staff out off his way so that he would not get hit by any other suprise. He gave a fast kick against Quaddle temple to disoriantate the guy. He grabbed the staff and punched Quaddle very hard against the chest sending him flying against the wall. Gentan's right arm turned in a scissor and punched the blades into the wall with Quaddles head between the two blades so that he could not do something without losing his headl.

Gentan looked at the guy and shaked his head a bit "Now I have a question for you! Are you friend or foe," putting the emphasis on both you's.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Quaddle knew he was telling the truth when he answered, the spell wouldn't allow him to do otherwise. He also didn't resist as Gentan thwacked him around. Had Quaddle been at full power, he could have done something about it, but at the moment, he didn't want to. This must be handled tactfully.
   Quaddle looked up with the shadow-blades around his throat. "My answer is rather similar to your answer. However, I do not see how throwing me around like a ragdoll and threatning my life are neccesary. You'll notice, I did not harm you in any way. I merely performed a simple truth-spell on you. At this point in time, I have many enemies, most of whom I haven't even met yet. I cannot afford to take any chances. I had to be sure you were not in league with the Pawns.
   "Though I'm apparantly mistaken in thinking that you wish me no harm." Quaddle said, looking grimly at Gentan.

[Fex]

Gentan turned his hand back to normal and pulled Quaddle up to his feet by his arm. "Sorry about that its sorta a reflex. I thought you made a error with your spell so I reacted to it before you could restore it," he apologized and gave the staff back to Quaddle.

Gentan walked to the door and pulled the closed that was infront off it out of the way so that he could go outside. "Maybe you can now answer why this city is in such a bad shape?" he asked while he was looking to the wrecked city. Hearing people come out of they're hiding places from many diffenent directions.

[Angel]

Liz nodded and clicked speed-dial.

"Hey Cryssie. ... Oh. So you saw the news. ... Yeah, I'm alive. A little scratched up, but honestly I'm feeling better than I ever have. I'm on my way home right now. ... Another of my coworkers showed up and gave me a lift. So are you OK? ... He didn't show up? Thank goodness. Well, listen. I've got some bad news. ... I'd rather not tell it to you over the phone. I'll explain later, but grab any essential items you can and pack up.  You might want to close the shop too. We're leaving for a while. ... I'm not sure. Yeah, sorry. ... OK, see you in a few. Bye."

He hung up and grabbed a pencil and an old receipt out of his pants pocket. He scribbled his address down quickly and handed it to Anastasia. "This is where we live. Just go straight until you hit Oak Street, then turn right. We're the second house from the cul-de-sac - the white one with navy shutters."

[techmaster-glitch]

   Quaddle took his staff back, and followed Gentan outside.
  "Indeed I can," Said Quaddle in response to Gentan's query. "Two of the Pawns were looking to stir up trouble in this city. A third one, a derranged bio-scientist, intoduced a muatgen to the city. It mutated part of the populace into horrible monstrosities. You would have to be beyond blind to have missed the giant explosion-like light earlier, that was me flooding the entire city with my magic to cleans the mutagen and reverse the mutations.
  "But now that it is over, they would have to be fools to continue to look for trouble. The city's civil sevice forces are all on full alert, and the national guard may have even been called upon. If you wish to help me on my current mission, we must collect another person and flee-" Quaddle's eyes suddenly widened. "I forgot about her!"
  Quickly, Quaddle slammed his staff into the ground and concentrated, activating a scry-spell. The strange firey woman in red who had been fighting Liz earlier swam into view, and she was hobbling around, clutching her shin. Quaddle zoomed in on it, and began using his magic in an attempt to identify the problem. He quickly found out.
  "Oops. My spell did more than I thought." Quaddle deactivated the spell and turned to Gentan. "Well? Do you wish to aid me?"

[Fex]

Gentan had no idea what the Quaddle talked about with the muatgen, he knew about lots of high tech stuff, but bio-engineering was way over his head. "Yea sure lead the way," he answered as he waited for quaddle to go a direction. "But what does that group want any way? There has to be a simple reason why someone want to destroy a whole city?" he had seen destruction and murder in his life but not on this big scale.

[techmaster-glitch]

   While Gentan was speaking, Quaddle was charging his staff as much as he could afford. "There is a simple reason for all of this," Quaddle said, "But I'd rather wait to explain. There! That should do it." Quaddle said as he finished charging his staff. He turned back to Gentan. " We must be swift. I can take us out of here, and to my hideout very quickly, but the...ride...for you will most certainly be disconcerting the first time around. Prepare yourself."
   With out waiting for Gentan's responce, Quaddle jumped into the air, and would have fallen back to the ground--if two disks of golden energy hadn't materialized out of nowhere under his feet with a flash of his staff. He turned to face away from gentan, and held his staff so that it was backwards, the orb pointing at Gentan. The orb flashed white, and Gentan would feel a firm, but gental force envelope his body. He could move, but it was somewhat limited. The disks at Quaddle's feet began to glow very strongly. A low humming sound filled the air as the air around them seemed to ripple. The humming intensified as the the disks gathered more energy. After about ten seconds of this, Gentan's world wuld seem to explode. In reality, Quaddle suddenly shot forward with speeds in excess of several times the speed of sound. Thanks to the spell he cast on Hentan, he was dragged along as if physically bonded. Thanks to magic, niether of them were torn apart by the sheer forces as normal physics would dictate. There were also no sonic booms. They were nothing more than a red, gold, and blask streak in the air.
   Aftere mere seconds, they stopped abruptly. Right in front of the woman knows as Red Anvil.
   Quaddle held out his hand to her. "I'm terribly sorry about your leg. I'll patch it up soon. If you are an ally, come with me, quickly, no time for questions now. Save them for later. We must get out of here!"

[Fex]

Gentan got already doubts when he heard that the trip would be a bit uncomfortable for him but before he could protest they shot away really fast. When they stopped after the little trip Gentan wobbelt back and forth as a drunk he could feel the inside off his stomach still moving fast. "I think I like the old fashion way off traveling more," he stated as he leaned against the edge off the building breathing loud trying to keep his food inside.

Then Gentan noticed a purson that was not wearing red, no he was red of its self. Off the shock Gentan slipped over some lose peddels and fell on his butt. "What the hell," he said as his hands changed in swords not knowing if he would be attacked or not. Though Quaddle was not afraid off the creature.

[Boog]

Anastasia looked at the instructions and nodded, then simply pressed them against the (thing that looked like a) speedometer on the dashboard, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes while she thought about what they were up against.

About fifteen minutes later the Van pulled up outside Liz's house. "Do me a favor?" the scientist said, not opening her eyes, "Warn her about the front seat when you go pick her up."

[lucas marcone]

Red stood up on her good leg. "I saw how you travel, and I will be fine with my own mode. Where ever you're going there better be a hospital there." Red could feel he ankle of her bad shin swelling with her putrid black ichor it wouldn't be plesant for either of the would be heros either. Her ankle would appear a deeper shade of red and drasticly distended. "Well?" She blurted "What are we waiting for?"

[nikename2]

~"So....do you remember now?"~
"I remember being betrayed."
~"We did what we had to do. We can't never go back, our cries are beyond his ears, and they have been ever since the day we were shut out."~
"I will make him hear us."
~"You tried that before and still you've payed no heed to the cost."~
"I have to try. You and that whore may have resided yourselves to despair, but I'm not giving up on him. I'll make him hear me, and if either of you try to interfere again I'll see it personally that both of you burn for an eternity."
~"So this is good-bye then, old friend? You're right, but whatever hope you see, I can not see it. I will not stop you, but I can't say the same about her.....good-bye."~

His vision blurred, the shell cracked, and in an instant he found himself on the roof of a familiar face's residence. He was draped in a black trench coat with a sport jacket and red tie residing under it, his eye's shielded by crimson sunglasses. A suitcase in his left hand, he quietly thought to himself as he looked upon a van approaching down the road, "....That must be him......plus....another?"

He then sat down as he watched it pull up on the side of the road, he could see Liz beginning to step out of the vehicle. He decided to wait, to see what would happen, he looked like he was in a hurry.

[techmaster-glitch]

   "Alright, if you say so." Quaddle said to her. He turned to Gentan. "Lucky for you, I only had that small burst of speed in me. From now on I'll have to travel normally. I don't know what...um...haven't caught her name yet...she can do, but she must be confident if she's seen me flying around on my disks. Do you have some form of self-propelled aerial transportation?"
   Quaddle summoned his disks again and stood on them, hovering about a foot off the ground. He waited for Gentan and the woman who's name he knows not to react. He didn't want to be dragging Gentan halfway around the world.

(OOC: Fex, your guy's ability to become a smoke cloud might come in handy here )

[lucas marcone]

With a few broad sweeps of her wings Red was hovering with him. "I'm Red Anvil. Where are we going?" Her shin dangled and wobbled in the wind.

[Fex]

"I can't fly but I am faster then you think I am on my feet," Answered Gentan as he looked to the two as one got its disks and the other spread its wings. He looked to the lady's shin and it already hurts just looking at it so he tried not too look at it.


(ooc: uhm not really as cloud he can travel at the speed off 10km/u and I have to say thats almost as fast as someone who walks. Though he can keep up with you guys just as he is now)

[Angel]

Liz nodded to Anastasia, stepping carefully out ofthe van. About halfway up the walk to his house, he stopped. It felt like someone was watching him. He disregarded it, but kept his eyes moving around him as he headed to the door.

Crystal was in the mudroom, watching as Liz walked up. Before going in, the male gecko made the "one minute" sign to whoever was driving the van. He stepped in, then shut the door for a moment.

"Can she see us?" he asked his girlfriend.
"I don't think so."

With that, the two rushed into each other's arms, speaking simultaneously, their sentences garbled, but their intentions the same.

"OhmyGodI'msogladyou'reallrightIthoughtIwasgonnadieIthoughtyouwerehurtIthoughtI'dneverseeyouagainthankGodI'msogladwe'realive!!!"

After about a minute and a half of this, they broke the embrace. Liz was the first to speak. "So are you packed?" Crystal shrugged and answered, "I got a few materials, bathroom stuff, a week's worth of clothes, and a tenth of your secret stash. If we need more, I can help pay."
"Why a whole tenth?" Liz wondered. Crystal gave him a "duh" face. "If you get hurt, you won't be able to generate money for the hospital bill. So I'd rather be safe." She started for the door. "That's a creepy-lookin' van."
Liz shuddered, then remembered what Anastasia had told him. "It's even creepier on the inside. I think it might be alive... Anastasia said to watch out for the front seat."
"Anastasia?" Crystal repeated. "The one you said looked at you like she wanted your blood just to see if it was platinum?"
"Yeah," Liz nodded embarrassedly. "But never mind that. She's got wheels, and Dennis was mutilated by our Larper friend. Let's go."

They walked out the door and back towards the car, Liz stealing a glance over his shoulder at the place where he'd felt eyes on him.