Dark on the Waters [Dark Data]

[Freeza]

As Jaco closed his eyes to blink, his mind filled in the blanks.

His head was still spinning from the portal. The void behind his eyelids filled with a stream of thought as he recounted what had happened up until now, as though he were in a sort of daze.

Yes, he was a Super Elite Galactic Patrolman, but was he that elite? Pshh, there was no doubt. Jaco had somehow stashed his little red ship out of sight and out of enemy clutches. Everyone had boarded and there was a slight tinge to everything the yellow-eyed alien looked at. As though there was a film over this place, something, a cue to tell him the tone was somehow… Obscurely different.

The tech lacked finesse. They were on a big hunk of ship that was laden in heavy, likely somewhat durable, cement and steel. Pipes ran along the walls instead of complex electric circuitry. The scent was dank with pungent musk and tasted nothing like a crisp ocean breeze below deck.

This was the enemy’s ship. Sink it and well, perhaps their struggle would be over. But then again, life was never just that easy, was it?

Jaco was so small, when the team went off, they had gone without him. Nary a notice at all. Perhaps they assumed he was right behind them but with his mind still reeling in the highlights, this realization slapped him in the cheek. He finally came back to himself and his legs were standing still, whether by cowardly instinct or true out-of-body consciousness was of no relevance to him. Instead, he was infuriated.

“They LEFT me? Tsk, don’t they know I’m not only their best strategist but I’m also their ONLY HOPE-uh, save Protoman,” he corrected himself as though the teen robot were omnipresent and expressed his displeasure in a quipped monologue. It was funny how fate so often tasted the same on one’s tongue. So often he fell short of their regard but he was one of the galaxy’s greatest. The proof was in his Sherlock-esque skills, ability to perform under pressure, and it all started with a little observation.

Jaco twisted his head around, scoping the anatomy of the room, placing the schematics in his spatially sound mind. The red skinned one had mentioned something about the Golden Era, which surely must have been a human era. He’d recognize this dingy, faulty craftsmanship anywhere.

“Control room… Control room…” his mind sought to build a rough schematic of the ship based off of this very room alone, and his knowledge of human technology. There was no map or guideline in sight, Jaco paced closer to a wall, hesitant to leave the room after seeing some of the aftermath that had lay in the rest of his team’s wake. The carcass of… Well, whatever it was. The obsidian shell lay scorched, molten, yet cold and lacking sizzle.

Time was quantified by perception yet the lack of heat billowing from this killshot told him plenty had passed in the blink of his eye. They, the whole group, had ventured down the left side of the tunneled walls. Jaco took one long look at the angles of the pipes and frowned as they lead underneath his feet and underneath the empty carcass. His eyes steadied on the charred corpse. “Hmm. Infiltration?” There was no one around to answer, but the short alien opted to go incognito and follow the pipes to the main command center of the ship. Jaco did this as he wore the disguising armor of the dead creature, after first, inspecting it for elements of evil, and Dark Data.

The dragging clunk of his weighing boots scuffed the ground along with the shifting, odd textures of the armor on his pale and purple skin. Most people thought Jaco was wearing some sort of spandex material which made him appear very smooth to touch rather than those colors being the natural pigments in the extraterrestrials skin. To Jaco, humans were the odd looking ones, of course, he’d seen all sorts of species on his many missions.

Clunk. Clunk. Gurgle. Sploosh-ploosh.

Jaco’s face cringed as it was shaded behind the blackness. Someone -some dark thing- was approaching he could hear by the sloshing of its feet in the pooling water that was growing below his own. His heart fluttered with suspense and Jaco slowed his pace to round the corner. Another gurgle came from whatever black hearted beast this darkling had originally come. The alien had a sense that Darklings could tell the difference from someone who was corrupted and someone who was not, and wasn’t willing to take the chance in getting too close to the thing. His pistol lay in his hand and Jaco observed the mass, indistinct curiosity that moved across the creature’s dented face.

Jaco tilted his blaster toward the creature’s eye and within a moment, there was a hole there instead. The carmite eyeball had burst in a splatter of ooze before the whole creature fell to the ground in a sonorous, impactful thud. Whoever had been the owner of that body before they were corrupted would never wake back up. Jaco’s conscience didn’t nag him as he stepped over the dead thing’s limbs. His goal was more important than those who had to fall in order for peace to once again be achieved, and universal justice maintained.

The expert tracker sniffed out the pipes like a bloodhound. They twisted and curved like gnarled vines on a silver wallyroot, he only hoped at the end of this, they would lead him to his hypothesized destination. Or some sort of architectural map where he could either single-handedly -sigh, it wasn’t as fun when no one was around to witness his ultimate heroics- infiltrate the control room, or take out the ship’s fuel barrels or something. Human tech was so simple that usually if you shot a so-called contained flammable substance that the whole place would go up in flames.

Maybe if just one of these pipes lead to… Jaco had no way to sever the pipes to investigate further and quickly scratched the idea. His ears perked up as he rounded his next corner and the shadowy hallway was clear. All the action, it seemed, was being battled out by his allies on what was now the starboard side of the ship. Jaco was glad, he felt more like a vulnerable pile of mush when he was on the field, but this time he had no one to stand behind or use as a distraction.

His gut pinched him.

Danger!

Speed however, did not save him from the two groups flanking him on both sides, incoming down his tunnel. Fear’s spell cursed his frozen veins and they became rigid. Footsteps and gurgling among other haunting noises pattered on as both hordes were likely to pass him, or tackle him to the ground and feast on his remains. He flexed his finger on the trigger and repressed the thought that reflexes alone may not be enough to save him this time.

Yards became feet. Feet became inches. Time slowed as the two groups descended. Would his disguise hold up? How close was he to the control room? Was there any avenue for escape? The hot pipes below Jaco’s feet likely pumped steam. An idea sparked and he tilted his blaster. Pew! a subtle beam of light cascaded before their eyes before the pipe was ruptured, creating a foggy distraction. “Yikes! This place needs some repairs guys, I’ll get the plumber!” Jaco quipped comedically as he narrowly dodged their knees in the shambling shell of skin that had implied he was one of them. Hot pain seared underneath his toes, sticking to the molten rubber that was becoming his boot’s sole. Once again his shortness has allowed him to nimbly move through the cramped tunnel while the coughing and grunting from the hot, searing steam burned his victims’ eyes.

Screeches of pain continued hooting along the cascades of tunnel and the stick of the heat began to leave his skin.

The aftermath continued. The corrupted creatures did feel pain. Yet, he never looked back.

approxish 1343, Blink's post /quote said we were all in the room on the ship so that's where I started off(I think). Please don't ignore Jaco </3 he wants to meet his fellow alien/strange group members and be an integrated part of the team even if he's a flaunty sort of charadude. #yesiamstarwars #undercover #enemystormtrooper #notenemybutfriend I imagine that Jaco's next course of action will be to raise hell and screw with the ship's mechanical processing to sink the ship, causing it to sway, getting people dizzy, etc. Could be fun. In my post he had not made it yet to the command center/steering station.

[Koehler]

The booming of the cannons, the confused shouting of men and monster, coupled with the fast-paced maneuvering and whirling Cole was maintaining as he shot his way through, it all only served to make him feel strangely more at home than when he first arrived. It was a tad disheartening, in a way, that a warzone would give him more comfort than something more peaceful, but he suppressed those thoughts immediately as he harrowingly dodged a saber strike and haphazard gunfire of pirates and corrupted crewmen alike.

The clashing contrast added to the confusion Cole was rapidly becoming accustomed to, as he quickly pelted one of the pirates with a flurry of fiery sparks that dug into it and set it ablaze in many small places. He continued his acrobatic antics, sliding underneath another of the crewmen, and taking a potshot at his gun-wielding arm as he passed to incapacitate him.

“Stop holding back. They don’t deserve your mercy or pity.”

Fumetsu’s voice chided him for not eliminating his targets completely. And though taking human life wasn’t something Cole was unfamiliar with, after all, many Arrancar could have passed for human easily, and he had fought fellow Quincy before as well, something inside him seemed to force him to hesitate at the sight of crewmen, barely touched by whatever darkness claimed the rest. The idea that these were once just people, simply corrupted and bent to another being’s will, resonated more strongly then and the will to purify corrupted beasts turned into a desire to save the condemned. It all simply reminded him of his struggles against Fumetsu, who did much the same, though perhaps was even more cruel about it.

He wasn’t going to make that same mistake twice if he could help it, even if he knew he was wrong to do so.

He barreled down past roaring, fire-spewing cannons, shooting and incapacitating enemies as he went with relative ease. There were many of them, but in such tight corners and corridors, only so many could face him and the environment lent to his agile movements He found vantage points with ease, leaping off turrets and towers, bounding across crates strapped to the deck, and around pipes and bars that barred assailants’ paths. It was little more than a steel playground to someone like him.

The ship wasn’t in the perfect of conditions either, which helped. Busted pipes, holes in the splintered wooden deck, melted and sheered steel of the hull, all were signs that this ship had met battle before and obviously won. He wondered how makeshift the ship was; barely held together by the constant efforts of its crew that was now being systematically killed or thrown around in confusion. He could hear the chaos around and under him, see the damage caused by Blink’s rampage, and felt it more urgent that he find the portal that the Liberator aid was so diligently guiding him to.

He landed adroitly on another of the towers, atop a large, multi-barreled flak gun, whose gunner looked shocked at the acrobatic blonde’s appearance. The crewman went for his sidearm, only to be rewarded with a quick shot to the shoulder as Cole went to bound off again but lost his balance as the ship suddenly banked hard to its left, then right, and then even harder left again, as the whole ship seemed rocked against the waves.

Regaining his balance, barely, and launching off before the injured crewman could pose a threat or call for help, Cole went to investigate what happened. He could see the ship turning, shifting towards one of the many islands in the archipelago, and looking to the control tower, he quickly found out why as well.

A short-statured alien in a colorful jumpsuit seemed to be wrecking his own particular kind of havoc against the crewmen in the tower, the kind he seemed to be quite adept at inflicting with or without his ship. Gunfire and plasma seemed to ricochet within the tower, shattering glass and scorching steel. Men were yelling and Jaco was barely seen as a blur, nimbly dodging – a rather easy feat considering his size – and hopping around trying to avoid capture or injury.

“Are you kidding me right now…?”

Cole found himself immediately dashing towards some reckless rescue, leaping up the tower on railings and ladders, climbing a sizable height in a short matter, guns at the ready. Cresting over the last railing, just as Jaco seemed to finally be backed against a wall with two crewmen advancing with guns drawn, Cole unleashed a volley of fire on Jaco’s would-be assailants, and landed with a roll against the cold, rusted metal walkway nearby to the surprised Jaco, who strangely seemed to be wearing some of the corrupted crewmen’s uniform.

“Guess I’m helping a super elite hijack a ship today.” Cole stated with a roguish grin.

Before Cole could even say much, more enemies seemed to be poised against them, and some were already turning the ship back around.

Words: 837
It's a little late, sorry, needed a second opinion on some things.

Jaco managed to reach the control tower, in the time between us having left the room we arrived in and Cloud and Cole having been gallivanting across the deck, to cause some mayhem. Cole saw and joined in to help secure the controls, and save our precious little alien. Didn't get much further than that yet.

[Proto Man]

He was somewhere in the bowels of the steel ship.

Where exactly that placed him in the grand scheme of things, he was unable to decipher. With only his ‘intuition’ and ‘instinct’ to rely upon, Proto Man pressed forward through a network of steel corridors. He had dealt with the ambush in a previous chamber, and since then, he had found himself relatively left to his own devices.

As he pressed ahead, the ship seemed to lurch in the waters. Flickering sensors told the machine that they were picking up what seemed to be seismic activity in the ocean around the ship.

Earthquakes?

The red robot shook his head. The interference was throwing off his systems.

Heavy explosives. Maybe that guy in the aerial was attempting to drop some bombs onto the darkling vessel. If not him, then perhaps the Imperial Navy had finally decided to step up to dispatch the growing threat of the blighted sailors.

Stumbling forward, Proto Man charged a blast and fired. The energy bolt tore through the steel wall nearest to him and fizzled out against the second surface it struck. With a scowl, the preteen machine pushed through scorched tear in the wall and dropped into the next chamber. From the noise level and the vibrations of the steel plating beneath his boots, he had to be somewhere near the machinery that kept this vessel functional. Did these ships run off of coal? Oil?

With a grunt, Proto Man stooped down and slammed a fist into the floor. The metal plating buckled, and the rivets whined as they fought to remain in place. A second sturdy punch sent a handful of metal bolts erupting out from the floor, and on the third, the whole plate lost enough of a grip on its neighbors to fall down into the engineering level.

Landing in a crouch, the preteen machine stood up and eyed the rows of machines that fueled the ship. He knew this wasn’t all of them, but with any luck, it’d be more than enough to serve as a fistful of metaphorical wrenches. With the Proto Buster supported by his other hand, he charged a shot and let it rip into the engineering works. A few moments later, he leashed another powered burst of energy into the machinery.

After a pivot, he fired off into another direction.

And that was how the robot continued until it became dark enough that he couldn’t see the hands in front of his visor. Somewhere in the distance, Proto Man heard what may have been the sound of rushing water, but he couldn’t be sure. It was also a possibility that he was just hearing the splash of oil or grease or whatever chemicals were combusted to push this blighted vessel through the oceans.

Activating his jetpack, Proto Man propelled himself up through the missing gap in the deck above. A charged blast sheered through the metal ceiling and into the next level. The machine moved up and repeated until he could see the sun peaking down through a sky sparsely adorned with gray clouds. While the levels below had been almost quiet since his erratic separation from the other primes, the scene on the main deck was chaos.

Cannons belched black smoke as they fired at the tree-coated archipelago. Down below deck and nearby, the machine heard the wail of klaxons—were those alarms? The darkling soldiers and marines scampered to and fro to keep the vessel in operation order despite some clear counter-fire from ships in the distance.

It really did look like there were Imperial ships on the horizon, returning heavy ordinance against the blighted cruiser, but it quickly became clear that they were doing what they had always done. Their bombardment was just another show of effort by an indifferent organization seeking little more than some positive PR.

Before he could get really worked up over the dalliance of the Imperial forces, Proto Man had small arms fire screaming through the air around him. Summoning his shield to deal with the pellets and bullets, the preteen machine stormed forward, pumping his short legs as hard as he could. Above here in the open air, he had increased functionality from most of his sensor sub-systems. He could already pinpoint where the others were, particularly the Vision and Blink, who had must have found the location of the portal.

A shell that was anything but small arms fire struck the front of Proto Man’s shield and nearly split the entire thing in half. Fissures spread across the ceramic titanium, and some of the heat from the blast washed across the exposed part of the robot’s face. While the shield and his skin were intact, the explosion was enough to grind Proto Man’s momentum to a halt, and before he could adjust, there was half a dozen shadows falling over him.

Blink and the Vision were still thirty or so yards down the ship and a deck or so underneath him. He couldn’t get a reading on the room, but it was large—perhaps some sort of space for munitions or machine storage.

Discarding the shield before it could be broken entirely, Proto Man activated his sword in one fist and kept the other one as a prime Proto Buster.

“Last chance to stand down,” he spoke out loud before the marines drew swords and charged.

900 words

Proto Man sabotaged some machinery down below in the engineering levels before rising up to the top deck. He is on his way to the Vision/Blink but has to deal with some newfound friends en route.

[Nebula]

For a variety of reasons, this update is an OOC PROMPTING UPDATE!

Firstly, for everyone: Protoman has caused damage, a leak, and a fire in the engineering section. This sort of ship runs off of tremendous pressurized steam-boilers. That means that very soon there is going to be at least one very large explosion - possibly as many as four, any one of which will start this vessel sinking.  

Vision and Blink: 
The hangar-bay you've found yourselves is home to a variety of of armored vehicles in varying states of repair - and disrepair - presumably used for sorties through the portal. In fact, in addition to whatever Marines emerge from the woodwork, you'll need to contend with one if you want to get through this gate! Have fun with it - Nebula's hardware is not always a product of the most subtle mechanical engineering - and feel free to use outside-the-box solutions. 

Jaco and Cole: 
You guys are facing a semi-constant influx of pirates and corrupted marines. Are you going to try and hold the bridge - perhaps run the ship aground? - or maybe make for fire-control and try to see if you can't cause something unfortunate to happen with the ships guns? You've got options, but you're also under some pressure - the consoles should be letting you guys know that there's a fire in engineering, and that boilers 1 and 2 are becoming dangerously overheated.

Cloud: Your path is more or less clear, and if you continue on your way you should find an access hatch leading to where you want to go. Expect token resistance - and possible explosions, depending on how the fight in the portal-room goes. Should your path cross Proto-Man's...

Proto-Man:  
Your new friends have brought a variety of heavy weapons to the party, and they use them with skill. For reasons beyond our ken, one of them has a claymore (the sword, not the mine). That being said, its likely that this fight is going to be interrupted by an explosion - or possibly by Cloud, depending on how you guys want to take this. 

You all have nine days and as many words as you like to do your thing. 

[The Vision]

The Vision picked up the Chip and placed it in his synthesized pocket, reaching out with his other arm to help Ms. Ferguson to her feet. She coughed for a brief moment, then stood up by herself.

"Sorry," she managed to hack out.

"Apologies are not necessary, Ms. Ferguson," the Vision nodded, "Query: are you able to continue the mission?"

"I'm not stopping now," the purple mutant grunted, rubbing her arm where the cannon used to be.

The Vision looked up at the portal.

> scan("portal")
Scanning...
Error: cross-dimensional entity (1104)

"Alert, Liberators," the Vision spoke into the device, "Ms. Ferguson and I have discovered a transdimensional aperture of some kind."

Ms. Ferguson prepared to approach the portal. The Vision snatched her arm with superhuman speed.

"Ms. Ferguson, I cannot recommend entering that portal alone."

"Well, you'll be there."

"Negative. If you enter that portal without the support of the other Liberators, you will be alone," the Vision said. His eyes did not shift in any way, but Blink could have sworn they grew a shade colder. "As it stands, I am unable to calculate our chances of survival through that portal. We will need all of the assistance we can muster."

"So, what?" Ms. Ferguson snapped in a hushed voice, "We just wait for someone to find us and shoot us down?"

"Error: logic. We are both capable in combat and can easily hold our own against any potential hostile forces."

ALERT
(16) hostiles detected
#?Converging on current location

"There are many hostiles converging on our current location," the Vision reported, "Please, Ms. Ferguson, do not act brashly."

The mutant's face morphed into four different emotions simultaneously as she considered the android's words. Now the footsteps of the corrupted pirates could be heard from down the stairs. The Vision calculated the best action. There were clearly powerful vehicles here, which would certainly assist their combat. The room quite large and held a dozen small hovercrafts. The walls were lined with large, dirty windows that displayed smaller rooms with multiple dashboards, presumably to control activity in the hangar. The only entrance to the hangar was the lift on their left and the small hatch that led downstairs. This was all, of course, in addition to the stairs that the Vision and Ms. Ferguson used to arrive here. The Vision noted this information then turned to Ms. Ferguson.

"Quickly, if possible."

Ms. Ferguson groaned loudly, then muttered, "Fine. What's your plan?"

The Vision wasted no time in extending wires from his wrist. They latched onto a nearby vehicle, and the Vision closed his eyes. It was about the size of a snowmobile, and formed like one, but more roughly constructed and with fins and round turbines in the back. There was some sort of artillery installed in the back, and a small gun in the front. Spikes lined the thin bumper at the front.

"Cover me," he said, before entering his own mind.

> boot OV_Port1
Foreign OV_Port1 Object Power Levels: 76%
Energy Transfer Not Required
> run "copy_remote_control.exe"
Error: file not found (404)

The Vision scowled, and hundreds of lines of code ran through his mind to find a work-around. The pirates were now at the head of the metal stairs. The first one through fired a pistol, which Ms. Ferguson absorbed with a portal directed back at them. The portal dissipated as she engaged in combat.

"Hurry, Vision!" she shouted, throwing a kick at a pirate, knocking him and his compatriots over down the stairs.

> transfer("Vision.user", OV_Port1)
Error: discrepancy detected:: "OMn1p_hYz1cs.txt"
> override "OMn1p_hYz1cs.txt"
Error: unable to override admin files

The Vision sighed loudly, then mounted the vehicle itself. His mind entered the vehicle itself, and the rusted hovercraft started whirring. The two propellers in the back spun at high speeds, causing various chemical reactions that pushed down. As the Vision tested jets on what felt like a new part of his body, he noted the various wires that were connected to the controls and dials on the dashboard. In a brief moment, the Vision learned how to pilot this "Stingray" vehicle.

"Ms. Ferguson," the Vision said, his voice modulators increasing volume, "Please clear."

Ms. Ferguson turned her head, then noticed the flying hovercraft. She leapt out of harm's way as the Vision pressed all of the red buttons he could see.

A barrage of red bolts of energy blasted out from the front of the Stingray, shredding through the pirates and, when there were none left, starting burning into the walls behind where the pirates had been standing. After a sizable hole was left sizzling in the staircase wall, the Vision released the button and pushed another. The cannon behind him launched a small teal projectile, which soared through the hole. It burst in the other room, prompting a series of screams as the room filled with what the Vision detected as cryogenic fluid.

Ms. Ferguson peeked her head to the side to observe the damage, then turned to the android and nodded approvingly.

"Nice hacking," she said.

"If we are being quite honest, Ms. Ferguson," the Vision replied, "All I really managed to accomplish was turn it on, which I now know is simply accomplished by pulling this lever. Nevertheless, thank you."

Ms. Ferguson started staring at another of the Stingrays.

"Which lever?" she said, a slightly evil smile spreading on her face.

So the vehicle I'm riding is the Stingray from the Borderlands Pre-Sequel: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bord...1022064159

It shoots lasers and a cryo-missile. It's super fragile, though, and can be destroyed fairly quickly. My plan is hold the hangar until the other Liberators come in, and we all go charging in on these things. Sounds good?

Also, 897 words.

[Blink]

The first thing that Clarice 'Claire' Ferguson realized when she pulled the lever of the vehicle called the Stingray, was that she did not know how to pilot this thing. She didn't learn to ride a bike or drive a car. After all, who would need to operate motor vehicles when you could just teleport from place to place in a second. But as she gripped the handle bars of this offensive-minded Snowmobile, she learned very quick that she had pulled the lever in the wrong direction, and thus was traveling in that same wrong direction. Backwards.

"Oh shit!" She cursed in surprise as the Stingray moved back and she spun the handlebars left, sending her and the vehicle spinning to the right. As if it was some kind of breakthrough strategy move, she barrelled over two approaching soldiers and sent them flying sideways. She recovered control just in time to be faced with three others, all with curved pirate swords in one hand. She smirked and brought her violet hand down upon the shiniest red button in front of her, sending crimson lasers out at the trio of unfortunate sailors.

She adjusted the lever to shift the hovercraft in the right direction, and looked over at The Vision. The caped android was busy with his own confrontation, now flying his newly-acquired hardware around the exit from the hangar onto the missle deck outside.

She thought briefly about her encounters with the robot. First in his tower, where he had tried to recruit her for a team and she botched the initial mission. Then on the island they just came from, where she had been scolded for running ahead. And even now, with a corrupted dark-cannon wrapped around her arm, he still stood by her and led her to the right path. She knew that the reality of the situation was that his programming likely led him to helping her, because her powers came with some positives. The numbers most likely told him that the probability of success was higher if he kept her around, because of her transportation abilities. But she wanted to think that deep down, he just cared about her. It made her feel good to think that. It made her feel good that someone was looking out for her when she wasn't thinking.

Blink spun her vehicle around to face away from where The Vision was, towards the exit of the hangar that led deeper into the ship. She was hoping to see some of their companions coming through it, but no such luck. She had to hold this position until they arrived, so they could all get into the portal together. That was what Vision said. She knew that was correct.

Instead of finding a friend, she instead was greeted with the sudden arrival of an enemy landing right in front of her. As if he had come from the roof itself, a tall yellow mech slammed into the metal floor in front of her, causing her to reel backwards with the Stingray. Inside this mech was a particularly dangerous-looking female pirate. She growled as she pointed at Blink with the long, robotic arm of her mech. "You!"

"Tilda Jolly?" Blink asked, squinting a bit as she remembered that ridiculous name and an equally silly leather pirate ensemble. It looked like she had gone to a costume store and bought the most stereotypically pirate outfit she could find. The last she had seen this scurvy woman, they had been fighting on the beaches of the island.

"We didn't get to finish what we started!" Tilda hissed out as she activated two cannon-launchers on either arm of her mech. "This seems as good a place as any!"

Blink's emerald eyes went big as she revved up the engine on the Stingray. "Wait, you can't be throwing missles around on this ship!" Blink squeaked out, but it was too late. Tilda had fired and Blink forced the vehicle to the side and dodged the double-shot of short-range projectiles. The missles instead flew right into the portal behind her and disappeared. As annoyed as Tilda looked, Blink was relieved and piloted her hovercraft sideways, trying to get around Tilda.

Tilda turned her mech to keep facing Blink, which was exactly what the mutant wanted. The pirate activated another weapon switch, causing a small gatling gun to come out from underneath the elbow-joint of her mech's left arm. Claire began to focus as much of her powers as she could with both hands, leaving her paws off of the hovercraft in the process. The vehicle kept moving forward, and she had about ten or fifteen seconds before she's land right into a wall.

"You're dead!" Tilda began to scream as she unleashed a volley of bullets. "You're dead, girlie!" She began to laugh. That evil laugh that villains get when they think they're going to win. Blink tuned it all out. She began to swirl her fingers in front of her chest as the swirly emerald energy that lived inside her began to manifest in front of her. She put both arms out, stretching them out and sending an eruption of her glowing green rays in front of the flying car. Where there once a wall that she would have smashed into, was now a doorway that stared Tilda Jolly right in her mech's ass.

Blink flew through the portal behind Tilda and unleashed her own weapons of destruction. The red lasers blasted into the back of Tilda's robotic suit. First it took out the back of its knees, and then one of its arms as it was falling to the ground. It collapsed to the front once it could no longer support its weight, just falling apart in several pieces upon the connection of suit to floor. Claire was grinning so big that she could have blinded someone. This felt great.

Tilda, somehow, was still conscience. She forces herself the cockpit of that yellow bot and stood up. When she turned around, her arm was already extended and a dark, wooden Blunderbuss was resting her palm. Despite her tacky-looking costume, she handled that dangerous pistol like a true pirate. Before Blink could even consider putting up a portal, she already had it aimed perfectly and ready to blast Blink from her seat.

Without warning, a giant metallic hammer came flying into Blink's field of vision and slammed into Tilda's head. The speed in which she hit the ground face-first, in a bloody heap, was incredible. There was no way she had even seen it coming.

In less then a second, that hammer flew back to where it came. Claire's eyes trailed it all the way to The Vision's hand, where she was sitting on his own Stingray.  Their eyes met and she nodded at him, the smallest hint of a smile on her lips. He nodded back. She wasn't a hundred percent, but she was sure that he winked at her.

Blink got her own Stingray and took out a big Mech Suit piloted by her old pirate buddy from earlier. Vision finished her off. We're still in the hangar bay, protecting the portal.

1163 words.

[Proto Man]

He discarded the sword the moment the additional marines poured into the area. The blade fizzled as Proto Man shifted back to the normal functionality of his Proto Buster.

The preteen machine braced his arm cannon and kept firing until he saw the air around the barrel start to throb with heat.

Rather than coil up and return to whatever darkness had spawned them, the darkling marines fought back with their variety of heavy ordinance. Even as chunks of them were blown apart by the concentrated bursts of energy, they found their triggers and retaliated against their four-foot adversary. Proto Man grit his teeth and leaned heavy against the shield as it attempted to save him from the concentrated assault.

For its part, the Proto Shield could absorb one heck of a walloping before throwing in the towel.

Unfortunately, the towel throwing moment waited until a pineapple grenade rolled to a rest a few feet in front of its intended target.

There was a whoosh as the projectile sucked in a mouthful of air before erupting outward with enough force to blow apart the nearby walls of the room. The shield soaked up the initial bombardment of flames and shrapnel before failing when the wave of concussive force crashed against it. Proto Man’s oversized metal feet left the floor as he was thrown backwards through what had once been the room’s back wall. He landed hard on his back and skidded with enough force to smash through an actual wall before his momentum subsided.

He had been here before.

Planting his hands against the floor, Proto Man shoved himself up off the floor. Before he could make sense of the situation in the aftermath of the grenade blast, he caught a shadow scythe through the haze to his left. A moment later, he heard panicked gunfire interspersed by the thunderous crash of steel against steel.

With his gun primed and his immediate threats preoccupied, Proto Man shifted to a thermal view and jogged into the haze. Up ahead, he caught a glimpse as an orange, marine-shaped blob was cut in half across the waist by a cold, blue rectangle. Fresh gunshots rang out as the soldiers tried to fight back against their silent slaughterer.

By the time the dust and fallout had settled enough for Proto Man to see without the use of visual overlays, Cloud Strife had dispatched the remainder of their would-be attackers. The soldier, his weapon coated in the bile-like blood of the darklings, glanced over his shoulder at the red robot and gestured with his head toward the front of the ship.

“The others are in a hanger. They have found the portal.”

Proto Man nodded his head. “Let’s roll.”

A few minutes and a handful of quick skirmishes later, Proto Man and Cloud Strife came barreling through on the entrances into the hanger. Compared to the cramped halls and smaller chambers he had burned and shot his way through, the preteen machine found himself a bit mesmerized by the scale of the hanger. Darkling marines skittered and scrambled to and fro as they fought back against a pair of primes equipped with armored vehicles.

“Let’s join the party,” Proto Man whispered as he set his eyes on the portal. That was his destination, and there was nothing that would stop him. If they tried, he was more than willing to tear apart the entire battleship. Rust or no rust, he still had more than enough juice in his systems to charge up the big guns.

Cloud and Proto join Blink and Vision in the hanger

590 words

[Freeza]

Jaco and Cole:
You guys are facing a semi-constant influx of pirates and corrupted marines. Are you going to try and hold the bridge - perhaps run the ship aground? - or maybe make for fire-control and try to see if you can't cause something unfortunate to happen with the ships guns? You've got options, but you're also under some pressure - the consoles should be letting you guys know that there's a fire in engineering, and that boilers 1 and 2 are becoming dangerously overheated.

Blaring alarms. Cackling electricity. The heat of the moment rose around him, simmering the air and boiling with ever-changing conduction. The super elite alien swished his head from left to right, summarizing the messages popping on the screen. His vast knowledge of languages translated the words into fluid concepts. Ideas swirled in his head, spiraling with cascading dominoes of consequence as he weighed which options would be best based on the charts and mappings of the ship.

Cole. Jaco had looked over his shoulder, the quincy had come to save the day. Heaps of flesh lay at the purple alien's feet and the threat was mostly eliminated. Still, he could feel the darkness crawling out of their flesh like a reeking stench, drawing more in. There wasn't much of a break and through the fresh onslaught of pirates. Jaco dodged through them, launching upward in a spinning jump as he hurtled above and through a blade and a nasty looking club with nails in an attempt to take a more supremely asserted command of the controls.

WEEEEEEW WEEEW.

The pitch of the horns shrieked a debilitating cry in his ears. Paralysis threatened to take hold as Jaco translated the information on the screen. Fires. This ship was overrun with trouble. Who was ... Even steering at this point? The alien's hands attempted to steal the steers as the pirate with the spiked club swung a heavy toss just above him. The reflection of this insidious figure loomed in the glint of the window the alien was facing. Jaco grasped the handles and swung himself upside down as his feet went upwards, one landed squarely on the pirate's jaw sending the wretched creature back disoriented, the other kick slammed into the assailant's wrist, disarming the sick beast of his weapon.

"Can't you see I'm busy??!" Jaco sassed, "Yikes, a super-elite can't even get a break around here." Jaco swiftly swung himself back to facing the controls and noticed that Cole had taken a strategic position to block the door. Swift motions swatted into the air, combat, something Jaco had to keep an ear out for. He nearly winced in the reflection and warned to his ally, "To your left!"

Jaco however, did not see if the blow hit or missed. He had to hack, right now. Not just for his life, but for every creature aboard this ship. Lives were on the line. Death was imminent. But with a few clicks of his fingers, he could prevent some innocent from falling. Tapping keys was easy, sure, even when you had stray bullets flying around you, praying they wouldn't hit. One skimmed Jaco's shoulder pad, sizzling with heat as he released an aghast whistle. "Hang on, I'm trying to save the ship you happen to be standing on!" he declared to the pirate as he finally located the fire-sprinklers, which, by the way, happened to be right next to a volatile bomb.

"Tch. Next, disable this ship's arms. Before it is too late- OW! Do you mi-ndd..." Jaco shouted as he felt a prick in his back and a trickle of blood blood began to drip and ooze down his spine. The world was suddenly foggy and the fangs of the beast did not falter with the alien's jerk. The vampiric creature began to drain Jaco's energy as pigments of violet began to fade away from Jaco's skin.

[Koehler]

The room was a whirl of bullets whirling by and screaming, shouting marines, pirates, and crewmembers alike. A field of chaos that, while constricting due to the close-quarters, Cole was still capable of weaving and whirling through the belligerent assailants, being as slippery as possible but trying to keep the reinforcing Darklings’ attention fixed upon him.

One of the pirates swung wildly with his saber at Cole, to which the nimble Quincy ducked under and reprised with a double-tap from his pistol in the assailant’s side before spinning away from another attacker and a couple of too-wide rounds from the marines towards the back of the room. All was going well, minus the part where they were stuck in a small room, with half the ship hellbent on riddling them with as much metal as they could scrounge to fire at them.  Jaco was hard at work, focused intently on whatever it was he was doing and dealing with the odd pirate or marine at times.

Then the creature came upon them.

It moved like a shadow, even to the Quincy’s trained eye, and seemed to creep along the walls like a four-legged bestial arachnid. In a blur of motion, it struck out past Cole’s vigil against the darkling force and caught the small alien pilot in its unhinged jaws, its sharp teeth like daggers in the fading purple alien’s spine. In a panic, Cole took aim and fired, his shots glancing across the disfigured creature’s back but doing little to no apparent damage as it bounded up to the ceiling.

”What… is that?”

Cole ran forward, firing incessantly, taking some measure of caution to not hit Jaco in the process and instead aiming for center mass of… whatever the hell it was that just abducted the abductor. With a growl, the creature began scuttling across the ceiling, leaving Cole to try and dodge incoming fire while also trying to reclaim his pilot. Cole leapt and rolled over the console as marines poured into the room and opened fire, sparks and metal flying about.

”This is bad! This is reeeaaally bad!” Cole thought, channeling energy into his magnums in a familiar process. If his normal bullets couldn’t even dent the thing, then he had to try and lance it.

With a deep breath, Cole bolted out of cover and immediately came under fire. He ran along the wall, lighting up the row of marines before kicking off the wall and coming straight underneath the vampiric creature, which, while initially a sickly grey wretch, was becoming more defined and muscular, with a gradually more purple hue. It seemed to almost gape, its all-black eyes wide with a sudden panic and realization as it tried to scuttle away.

Cole rapidly took aim and fired, one beam lancing through the creature’s bulbous torso, and another into its jaw. The creature screeched and howled, reeling back from the sudden strikes, jumping from the ceiling as its jaw slumped to one side, enough to allow Jaco to slip out of its mouth.

Cole caught the falling, semi-conscious alien and then, still in mid-flight from the jump, went sailing through one of the already shattered windows down to the rest of the ship below.

[Nebula]

Deep in the bowels of Nebula's flagship, crimson flames roared; Tortured metal groaned, punctuated by the cheerful zip and zing of popping rivets as the pressure inside the pot-bellied iron crucible of the  number-four boiler reached and exceeded a critical threshold. Protoman's earlier rampage through the engineering section had shattered water-lines and pressure-valves, destroyed fire-prevention systems, set hydraulic fluid ablaze and filled the entire deck with oily black smoke. Darkling engineers worked frantically amidst the carnage of burning oil and ravaged machines, attempting to contain the damage, but the Liberator's assault, for all its haste, had been thorough: it was only a matter of a time.  

The explosion was enormous. The boiler left the ship vertically, tearing through the upper decks and shooting into the sky on top of a column of fire and super-heated steam, before bursting in mid-air. It took most of the conning tower with it, sparing Cole and Jaco by bare moments. As the pressure-wave from the initial breach scoured the engineering deck, the number two and three boilers tore themselves apart in a horrific maelstrom of iron shrapnel, perforating the ships hull. 

With an almighty groan, the stricken vessel lurched violently to starboard, heeling dangerously. 

Good news/bad news time.

The good news - you've crippled Nebula's flagship, and it is probably sinking.
Bad news - you're still on Nebula's flagship.
Good news - the magazine didn't explode.
Bad news - the magazine still might explode. 
Good news - you have a portal out of here.
Bad news - not all of you are near the portal, and with the deck heeling (that is, tilting) at about thirty degrees, getting there may prove more difficult than it might otherwise, especially with a poisoned galactic patrolman in tow. 

As for that portal - should those of you in closer proximity choose to use it to get out of here, you will find yourselves on Blue Flame Island - but also... not.

The portal on the ship will deposit you at the end of a heavily built-up and fortified pier in the former buccaneer-town of Bilgewater, the wooden shanties and dockside taverns of which have been partially destroyed and subsequently re-built as the seaside headquarters of Nebula's pirates. It's stacked high with supplies, weaponry and booty (loot, swag, filthy luchre, etc), and there are all manner of scurvy swabs, for the very least whimsical and most rum-sodden value of those words, roaming about. Which is not to say that there are not still disreputable (increasingly so) establishments that may be willing to serve you a drink...

The Nebula Gate on the pirate haven has been open for a long time now, and so Nebula Space and normal reality have begun to overlap on the island.  What this means in practical terms is that the further inland you go,  the more noticeable Nebula's corruption is going to get, until you find yourselves in Nebula-space proper without having passed any well-defined border.

In the meantime, caution may be wise. 

Nine days, no word limit. Go nuts!

[Nebula]

Further information on the Blue-Flame situation (because rushing things is bad D: ):

-the pier the portal opens onto is largely ungaurded, what with the portal being connected to a fairly heavy piece of hardware which could (presumably) defend itself.

-There may be some fun stuff in the various piles of chests and crates and such. 

-Many of the Darkspawn and darklings in this town are The Worse For Drink, the island being a famous for rum and all. They are belligerent drunks (naturally), but not necessarily doing their jobs, and may have quite a lot to say if you get them talking. 

-the remaining taverns are, in fact, open, and advertising, for more-or-less-tasteful values of advertising, though many of them are now built into a sort of expanding ramshackle fortress. 

-The town is built on a beach at the base of a cliff with a great big natural rock-formation in the shape of a skull (the eyes of which are currently glowing purple, of course). A series of piers and platforms and waterways transition to cobblestone streets and sturdier construction as one moves inland.

-Your liberator aides will show an error when searching for the Stronghold, suggesting that you are already inside it, but indicating higher concentrations of dark energy in the direction of the cliff-face.   

[Koehler]

Cole glided over fire and screeching metal, over distressed crewmen and a ship in chaos. He held Jaco close as he fell towards the wooden deck, nearby now silent cannons and under a shower of glass and hot metal from the explosion that so rapidly claimed the control tower, the same one he had escaped from mere moments prior, and which even know illuminated the sky with a towering, vibrant column of oranges and reds. Cole gasped as a sudden flare of pain shot up from his leg, and another in his arm, and he saw shards of glass had embedded into them as he fell.

Landing maladroitly, Cole grunted in pain, alongside exhaustion taking its toll, as he barely managed to duck into a nearby cubbyhole. Taking cover beside metal grates and crates, he was shielded against the falling debris from the exploded control tower as it rained down around him. Large chunks of metal thudded and tore through parts of the deck, and he could hear the ship starting to strain from the assault it had suffered from. The fires weren’t controllable at this point, and Cole knew the whole ship would go up in flames or just detonate right underneath his feet. At that thought even, the ship shuddered again, violently lurching towards its starboard side.

Cole grabbed onto one of the chains and endeavored to regain his balance, pain flaring up as the shard of glass remained embedded into his arm. He grit his teeth, trying to ignore it as he pulled himself up onto the crate and leapt off it once more, bounding above the fire and deeply scarred hull and cracked, wooden deck.

Twice more he jumped, heading towards the only hope of escape he knew of left. His liberator aid beeped louder as he neared it, the portal where his teammates had undoubtedly gathered.  Cole landed, pain flaring again from his injured leg as he stumbled to regain his balance on the tilted vessel. He was just above his target now. Soon after he landed, the ship shuddered again, weaker though; another detonation most likely, but a smaller one back away from where Cole came from. But it was still part of the ship’s final death throes, and its distance did not set Cole’s mind at ease.

Regaining his bearings, Cole dashed for the nearest entrance into the bowels of the ship, dashing through partially collapsed doorways and past burning, corrupted corpses of crewmen and other, less human creatures. What few survivors there were in this section were too focused on their task to repair the once-mighty vessel, likely in vain as the fires continued to grow and the ship groaned ever louder.

Jaco’s breathing was erratic, but still strong, as Cole carried him over his shoulder, sprinting through the hallways and taking the turns and bends sharply, skidding across the metal floor. He didn’t know the layout of the ship, but instead relied on his beeping liberator aid, hoping it would keep him in the right direction. The metal corridors were a labyrinth, and in such a hurried panic, they seemed impossible to traverse, but Cole kept at it. Dashing through flames in a blur and sliding underneath busted steam pipes, he pressed onward.

It took time, but Cole eventually came out into a spacious storage bay, with a veritable array of deactivated machines and vehicles strewn about in various states of disrepair or completion. Perhaps it was a hanger? Cole didn’t linger on that thought, continuing his panicked dash towards the portal and the comrades that were just ahead of him. Two of them, Blink and that weird-talking robot, seemed to flying around in a pair of the strange darkling hovercrafts. The other two, the spikey-haired soldier, Cloud, and Jaco’s hero, Protoman were busy fending off a group of marines. Or, at least, the few that still were alive.

He called out to them, still hurrying towards the portal as the ship groaned and lurched again, sending him stumbling once more, barely managing not to trip over one of the many marine corpses that littered the room.

“Jaco is hurt and the ship is done for! We need to go, right now!” Cole shouted across the chamber, his voice echoing in the vast empty space. He didn’t wait for confirmation, as he doubled down and almost flew towards the portal in a blur of motion, lurching forth into the unknown.

739 Words
Pretty simple and straightforward, Cole literally made a mad dash with the injured and poisoned Jaco on his shoulder, weaved his way through the labyrinthine corridors, and blitzed through the portal before the ship decided to explode again.

[Proto Man]

The ship lurched as something deep in its bowels seized before tearing itself apart in a dazzling mixture of fire, steel, and salt water. Proto Man had barely been at the scene of the portal for a few moments when the vessel entered its death throes. In an instant, it went from gently lolling with the waves of the ocean to a nearly forty-five-degree slant. It didn’t take a highly advanced computer processor to understand that the engineering levels had blown apart, taking the underbelly of the ship with them. Even at this distance from the boiler rooms, the roar of sea water could be heard.

Without wasting any time, the preteen machine broke into a sprint toward the churn maelstrom that lay near the far end of the storage bay. Marines who had served aboard the vessel for who knows how long fired their weapons—more out of panic than in any determination to slay the invaders. The deck was slanted, and most parties had already started to stumble and slid with the rest of the ship. For his part, Proto Man simply avoided the need for run with the tilting steel floor—his boots left the ground and he propelled himself forward with the flight boosters in the backs of his shoulder pads, elbows, and ankles.

Proto Man narrowed his eyes and clenched his tiny hands into fists as he zoomed toward the churning portal. He heard the steady thud of boots on the lopsided steel floor as his companions likewise made their desperation charges toward the exit.

Something exploded in the background.

From the corner of his eye, the red robot saw that the rivets were starting to pop from the walls of the hanger bay. Seawater began to stream into the ship as its list neared sixty degrees. Crates started to leave the ground and drop as darkling marines roared out in fury at the death of their capital ship.

A few seconds later, Proto Man was through the portal. When he emerged on the other side, he killed his thrusters and dropped down onto the wooden surface. Cursory scans revealed that they were alone, save for a variety of cargo shipments. Whether these boxes were new arrivals or waiting to be shipped out to see was unclear.

A glimpse down showed that he was standing on a pier. Perhaps, in a different world, this had been a quaint wooden pier servicing a mass assortment of sailing vessels. In his mind, Proto Man imagined fleets of galleys and mercantile vessels. His GPS and the liberator device around his wrist verified that he was in the vicinity of Blue Flame Island, yet…

The preteen machine crouched down and pressed a palm against the pier. It was certainly wood, but there was something else there. Much like with the marines, there was a visible corruption in the material. Beyond the pier, the same corruption seemed to hang in the air like a veil—if this had been Blue Flame Island at some point, Proto Man wondered how much still remained. Moving silently, the robot scaled a large shipping container to get a better view of the seaside location.

As he ascended to the top of the wooden box, he heard dull thuds on the ground behind him. He stole a glance back down to see that the others were arriving from the portal. They could take whatever time they needed to regain their bearings. Proto Man pulled himself onto the top of the crate and silently stared at the darkling-infested town. Wooden shacks and shanty houses were prevalent closest to where the docks started, but beyond that, it there were actual structures of brick and stone.

A passing glance may have overlooked a dingy little coastal town, but there were harrowing details when one lingered over the image. In the backdrop, the cliff face was a great skull with eyes that bled purple corruption into the air. Built out from the cliff was some sort of fortress of steel and cobblestone. Perhaps it had originally just been a fortification at some point, but infestation had expanded the defensive structure over the town proper. Mesh, wires, and beams of steel snaked down through the settlement and up the sides of the cliff. Proto Man could spot various defensive fortifications alongside what appeared to be half-concealed gun turrets.

Signs on many of the structures revealed them to be public houses. The stone streets were dotted with stumbling darklings and darkspawn, and while he initially thought them injured, it took the machine a few additional moments of analysis to see that they were drunk. Seemingly, the life before infestation lingered after the transition, because they were content to go about guzzling down rum and breathing in the seaside air.

A look down at the liberator devise showed that Proto Man was already within the stronghold. If what the doctor had said was correct, that meant the portal into Nebula’s domain should be somewhere close.

“They are non-hostile.”

Proto Man turned to see the Vision floating in the sky just behind him. The android was likewise scanning the seaside town.

“Correct,” the Vision repeated as he swept the visible streets a few more times. “Our presence is unlikely to be a surprise, and they have not moved in to neutralize us. It’s probable that a direct confrontation can be avoided. Possible we may even engage them in conversation without violence. We may be able to learn much about the situation by pursuing that route.”

The preteen machine activated the Proto Buster and scowled at the Vision. “You want to talk to the monsters who infested this place and tried to kill everyone, you go ahead. I’m not parlaying with the villains.”

With that, Proto Man leapt from the shipping crate and hit the ground running toward the end of the docks. The Vision could only watch as a Finish Buster tore through the seaside town’s square before exploding through one of its many taverns.

1003 words
Used Tier 1 Super Attack (-1 SP)

[The Vision]

The Vision scowled as he watched the other android sprint forward, raining unnecessary destruction on the shanty town. Every resident of the town simultaneously turned their heads to look at the Liberators. They glared for a long time, purple ichor starting to drip from their eyes and noses.

The Vision turned to the blonde human beside him.

"Query: what is your name?"

"My name's Cole," the gunslinger replied. He fingered the trigger on his pistols warily as the villagers began to close in on the trigger-happy Proto Man.

"You will need this more than me," the Vision said, phasing through the Stingray, "It is a complex hovercraft. If you wish to ascend, press this button here. It will rise upwards for a short time before falling back down. The main guns are fired with this button, and this lever fires cryogenic missiles. This 'Jaco' could be secured in the back compartment, if necessary."

He turned to the others.

"At present, Proto Man has a 9% chance of survival. I will make efforts to improve this probability."

With that, the Vision shot into the air. His tactical processes were working overtime to search for key structures that he could manipulate and exploit. His searches bore little fruit. The shanties were, for the most part, empty now that Proto Man was raging through the road. A burst of energy threw clumps of charred sand into the air, missing Proto Man by a few feet.

The Vision scanned the landscape for artillery. Finding several heavy-duty turrets several feet away, the android sighed and shot forward. He dodged an incoming shell, feeling it burst behind him. Realizing the guns were all pointed at the sky to stop him, the Vision promptly sunk until he was four feet from the ground. A group of infected pirates rose up with muskets to stop him.

> set.selfvalue density 0.1053%
Shifting... 

The bullets cascade harmlessly through the Avenger's body. The Vision tilted his body slightly upwards so he could pass over the pirates.

> run "iceman.exe"
Running...

Frost crystallized over the Vision's palms. The android had by now flown behind the group of pirates. He promptly thrust his hands forward, coating them in a layer of ice. Satisfied with slowing them down, the Vision launched himself forward again.

He had now barely caught up to Proto Man, who was tacking cover behind some barrels. The Vision appeared behind them, glaring at Proto Man. 

"Alert: not enough data to support that these entities would have been hostile if we hadn't attacked."

"Well, they're hostile now!" Proto Man grunted as he briefly stuck his blaster out from behind the barrels, firing at the hostiles.

"The mission is to liberate, not destroy," the Vision chastised.

The red android sighed as he ducked again, musket balls crashing through the barrel just above his head.

Alert!
Structure unsafe

The Vision silently pointed at a nearby pile of crates by what was once a tavern. Clearly, Proto Man's systems were giving him a similar message. The android simply nodded. The Vision shot into the air, attempting to draw the enemy fire to the sky. Proto Man swiftly rolled across the street and ducked behind the crates. The Vision felt two bullets skim past his leg and abdomen. He dived back to Proto Man's side.

> damagereport
Minimal damage to zone[110351]

The Vision turned to Proto Man.

"Query: why would you attack without at least forming a plan?"

"It was time for action, Vision!"

With that, the other android vaulted over the crates, his blaster firing another barrage of bolts at the hostiles. Two went down, screaming and vomiting purple fluid. The Vision scowled as he realized that Proto Man was forcing his hand. He launched skyward, placing his body in the air above the hostiles.

> run "unibeam.exe"
Location.01 (SELF) locked.
Running...

His chest opened, and a glowing blue light emanated from the aperture. Three more bullets whizzed past the android. One landed squarely in the Vision's left shoulder. The whirring sound coming from the light increased in pitch, and a blast of energy washed over the rest of the combatants, knocking them off their feet. Only one of them started to rise again.

> run "webshooters.exe"
Running...

The Vision pressed his middle and ring fingers to the base of his palm, and a net of adhesive launched at the pirate, tying him down and tangling him into the sandy path.

The Vision landed once more next to the other android, who was nodding approvingly. Above them, a purple ring of fog appeared. The rest of the Liberators fell through.

"This is not the way," the Vision chided, "They were non-hostile."

"I dunno," Ms. Ferguson shrugged, "I like his style."

Proto Man checked his blaster arm, seemingly ignoring the comment. The two hovercrafts dropped through the portal shortly after. 

The mutant flared her nostrils. "Alright, rude."

His communicator beeped. Mr. Jarvis was messaging him. The butler was speaking, but his mind was processing it as text. 

"What's wrong?" Ms. Ferguson asked.

"Avengers Tower was destroyed," the Vision replied, "Do not worry. Focus on the mission."

The Vision shot up once more, looking for the artillery. He found one such World War I-era cannon tucked between two wooden huts. The huts burned with a deep purple flame. As the gunman noticed the Vision, he fired another shell at the android. The android dipped down, barely avoiding the shot. He dived down, shooting directly for the cannon. He tackled it, but barely budged some of the screws that held it down.  

As the other pirates gathered on him with cutlasses and rapiers, the Vision realized he needed to hit harder.

> open "nitro.zip"
Opening...
> run "nitro.exe"
Sectioning power...
Running...

The Vision grit his teeth as he felt solar power trembling beneath the molecules of his skin. The robot's skin seemed to rattle, barely holding back the force. The scoundrels hesitated, gripping their swords uneasily. 

"Kill him!" a rogue with an eyepatch and devastated teeth roared.

"Query: do you truly believe you can kill me?" the Vision chuckled.

Parts of Mr. Hunter's personality began to mix with the Vision's. He grinned insanely.

"You're playing with the big boys now."

An explosion rocked the ground, nearly disintegrating the cannon and its operators.

1045 words
Used nitro.exe (Tier 1 Super Attack)
We've used 2 SP collectively, I think.
Nitro is this guy: https://static1.comicvine.com/uploads/or...6346-2.jpg

[Freeza]

Pale... Blue... Sorbet. It was the best in all the galaxy. Sourced from the Romulan sector. Feisty bunch to say the least, but Jaco had bumped into them a few times, now, he was drooling as the cascade of flavor numbed and excited his tongue. Ahhh, yum. A tasteful blend of ice and sweet, that was Romulan Sorbet.

Why? Why am I eating this here? Last I remember I was... Ahh it is such a haze, and this... I can't remember if this is a memory or a fantasy. Hey, hey, hey! What's the big idea?!

Jaco's eyes opened at the sound of his name, yet there was a dusty haze around the corners of his vision, and his neck was lolling at a terribly crooked angle that would surely make it hurt in the morning. The "taste" of sorbet was still on his tongue when he heard of the slim nine percent chance The Protoman had of surviving. Well, on one hand, he was a prime. On the other- Jaco still had no idea what was going on. His eyeballs were able to dance while his neck still dangled, paralysis had set in. Whatever had stuck him in his back was numbed with pain yet Jaco could remember the wincing sting of memory. The feeling of his body collapsing on the floor drenched in the weight of fatigue. They'd obviously gotten off that terribly primitive ship, Jaco could see that with his own eyes. What he couldn't tell, was how.

THUD.

Jaco's body fell on the ground, "Sheesh, careful with the goods!" the alien managed though he hadn't seen who had carried him (and dropped him) he could only determine from the height and scope of what his vision gave him and the information in his brain. "Ha! I can't move at all but I can still talk!" he said triumphantly.

"Why doesn't that surprise me? But hey, it's great you're awake." Cole said with a grin. He had smeared... Ash? Or something on his cheek, Jaco could see better now that he was on the ground.

"How much blood have I lost? Am I going to lose a kidney?" Jaco said, he would have like to have run a full body analysis on his vitals so he could come up with the best antidote. Now, though, he'd have to walk Cole through it.

"A kidney?"

"Or uh, liver, or both!" Jaco said as he grew nervous. "Hang on-Did I just hear Protoman was going to DIE?!"

"Uh, that was Vision's... Approximation, I suppose." Cole was careful not to make the same assumptions about Jaco's injury. Proto was a preteen robot, Jaco was... Somehow awake and talking despite getting stung-slash-stabbed. This was a crazy bunch.

"Well, I'll have to run my own approximations, I'm a super-elite, I doubt any other could compare to my own about the situation. So where are we and uh, I need you to pull out some capsules from my tool-belt. I'm going to see if I can walk you through what to do." Jaco was also a super-elite at being bossy, "Hey! Don't just stand there!"

Jaco began coaching Cole through some small steps with technology the Quincy had never seen before. At the touch of a button beautiful technology and medical equipment emerged in the size of a toolbox. This happened while Cole updated Jaco on what had occurred on the ship, and that they had successfully escaped through the portal.

"So is the stinger still in there?" Jaco asked Cole who gingerly turned the puny, and rather frail-looking alien over to check.

"No." Cole observed and spoke aloud.

"Good, alright luckily the med-kit is voice activated so it'll mix the ingredients together for me. By what you said about the creature and what I gather of my symptoms, a good case of Three-Six-Nine-Five-Two-Celium should do the trick!" various diffusing noises were activated at Jaco's command. Meanwhile, Cole looked from the fusion of chemicals, to the direction of the battle. Jaco was a bit too self-absorbed to wonder if he'd kept his comrade from the noble front-line. There were no guarantees this would "cure" his paralysis, but two men returning as reinforcements would be better than one.

"Right, now that syringe will go right into my chest and we should be good to go!" Jaco seemed enthusiastic as he braced for the pain that was sure to be delivered from the lack of numbness that the relief from the paralysis would cause.

"Got it." he said, and drove the needle into the puny alien's arm. A pressurized sound released and the glowing green liquid dribbled into Jaco's arm.

"Thanks! Not bad for someone who isn't trained to be a super elite galactic patrolman!" Jaco said, before his face warped into a twisted cringe of pain.

Cole looked concerned but not quite surprised as Jaco squinted through one eye and bit his bottom lip. "Wow that thing really did a number on me!" the alien said with a bit of an annoyed growl. Movement came next. It was hesitant and came with painful pinches and prods he could feel underneath his skin. "Really wish I had that sorbet now..."

"What?" Cole reflected, perhaps Jaco had experienced hallucinations under the creature's poison as well.

"Nothing, nothing. Well, don't just stand there! Help me up! I'll get out my handy ship and we'll take them by storm." Jaco said as he pulled out another little metal pod the size of a bean and pressed it, causing it to grow with size.

[Blink]

Even though Blink had never actually seen The Vision use this particular technique, she could tell what was going to happen. For some reasons, things that randomly explode seemed to be attracted to her, and she had grown to have a pretty good idea of when one was close by. In this case, seeing Vision dive down towards the cannons and begin to shake uncontrollably, she could tell she was about to do something very loud and very violent. Though she was probably far enough way to avoid damage, she would just as soon rather be safe then sorry. She conjured up some of her whirly green energy and sent it to her left, forming a portal away from the scene. On the other side of it she could see a small back alley, behind a building nearby. "This way," she insisted to whoever was near her, and jumped through it.

As it turned out, the only person who was still near enough to her to notice was the blonde swordsman she had met earlier on the beaches. She remembered his name to be Cloud, which seemed stupid but then again, her name was Blink so she didn't comment.

"This isn't where the fighting is," Cloud noted as they appeared on the other side of the portal. She couldn't tell if he was disappointed or just stating a fact.

"No, it is not," she agreed. "That was kind of the point."

Blink had a pretty good handle on the situation when she was on her hovercraft guarding the portal in the ship's hangar bay. But when the group finally reunited and got through the portal, what should have been a relaxing break in the action turned into all-out chaos. Proto Man had blown up the first building he saw and The Vision scrambling into combat after him. Cole had his own issues dealing with the 'Super Elite' he was lugging around. That left Blink and Cloud on the outs. She was happy with her decision to portal out of the situation. She wasn't sure if Cloud appreciated it, but she didn't really care, either.

They were currently in a back-alley behind one of the taverns near the structure that Proto Man had destroyed. Blink looked around the corner to see pirates flooding out of the front door and heading out to the battlefield where Proto Man and The Vision waited to greet them. She looked back at Cloud, who had propped up at the backdoor, as if waiting for a signal. She gave it to him in the former of the nod, and he kicked his way inside. Blink took a couple seconds to concentrate her emerald energy into her skin, and phased through the wall nearest her to meet him inside.

"Jackpot," she said aloud. It was a modest little building, but seemed to operate as some kind of storage facility. It reminded her of a more organized version of the armory on the ship. It didn't have weapons like that room had, but it still had boxes and crates lined up along the wooden walls. Her eyes fell on a small little data-chip on the table nearest her. She could hear The Vision's voice in her head, telling her not to touch it. She took it anyway.

Cloud had clearly acquired something too and was putting it away. Blink was about to ask what he took, but stopped herself. She decided that she didn't want to explain her own inclination to take a clearly corrupted data-chip, and shouldn't expect him to explain his own vices. "

"Should we join the fight?" She asked. She was looking out of a window over a box of field snacks. She took one and munched on the little granola bar inside as she spoke. She wasn't exactly in a rush to join the festivities outside. Plus, it seemed like the Vision and Proto Man had it covered, not to mention wherever Cole and Jaco were.

She looked back at the spikey-haired man. He was looking at the liberator-aide device they had been given. "We're supposed to find a stronghold," she told her. Oh, right. She had honestly forgotten what they were even doing. "This thing is saying we're already in it."

Blink looked around. "Doesn't look like a stronghold to me. We're in a shack." Just to clarify he was reading it right, she pulled out her own liberation gadget and got the same result. But she could tell, at least, they was was a large collection of dark energy inland.

"The real fight is wherever all of this darkness is coming from," Cloud told her. He looked up and tried to figure out the direction, and then faced it. He had come to the same conclusion. He stepped forward towards the window opposite where Blink was standing and looked out. "Towards that cliff," he said. "With the skull."

"With that what-now?" she asked, bewildered. Did he just say cliff with the skull?

She joined him at the window and looked outwards. Sure enough, as true as he had said it, there was a large rock formation on the far side of the town. It was in the shape of a skull and crossbows, as if it had been taken directly from a pirate novel. The eyes on the cliff-face glowed violet. "Why does it always have to be a skull?" She asked, sarcastically.

Cloud shrugged and made his way to the door. "That's where we're going," he declared. "Let's go."

Even though she absolutely knew he was right, she couldn't help but inwardly sigh.

Blink and Cloud go looting, and then 'decide' to head inland towards the scary skull-cliff.

[Cloud Strife]

Out of one frying pan and into the fire it seemed. Well, at least it seemed that way after Proto Man had begun his rampage. If they were incognito before, they weren’t now. The mercenary let out a sigh as he and Blink moved through the town. Smoke and flames rose high into the sky, breadcrumbs for the pair to follow. 

Their two comrades seemed to keep the pathway mostly clear, having charged on ahead of them. Though Blink and Cloud were now sprinting towards their comrades, they had stopped to loot first. The blond, hoping to find some money, had only found a rusty crowbar. He wasn’t even sure why he felt compelled to take it. Maybe he could knock some heads with it, or pry a door open. But it was the only thing that he felt was worthwhile.

‘So, what did you pick up?’ Blink questioned as they game to a halt in, what seemed to be, the shanty town, town centre. She looked at the crowbar with a puzzled look.

‘Oh, you mean the Captain?’ Cloud spoke, somewhat bewildered at his use of a strange name for the crowbar.

‘Yeah, Kevin.’ Blink responded.

The two looked at each other as Cloud lifted the crowbar for them both to stare at, confused. It had quite a bit of eight to it, but it wasn’t too heavy for the mercenary. They stared at it, a name tag fixed to it. It read ‘Kevin’.

‘Why did you…?’ They both questioned each other, in unison, as they read the name tag. Both slightly off guard, and confused at the strangeness of the entire crowbar situation, the two liberators did not notice the pair of corrupted beings that had walked out of a broken building.

Their concentration on the strange tool was broken by the startling sound of a gunshot. It whizzed past their faces, between them. Cloud spun as another two gunshots sounded. The dull thud and metallic twang of the bullets against his massive blade sent a feeling of smug relief through him. Finishing his spin, he noticed that the two pirates were fumbling with their pistols, attempting to reload as they shouted drunken, garbled, obscenities at him.

He gave a smirk and charged at the two, lifting Kevin up into the air to strike them. As the rusty tool made it past his head, the two creatures stopped, looked up at the crowbar and saluted it. The man, stunned by their behaviour, also paused. In the distance, a foghorn sounded followed by a disembodied voice.

‘CAPTAIN ON DECK!’

Cloud looked around, but whoever it was had yelled from out of view. It had been a strange day. In any case, he took is opportunity and followed through with his swing. It wasn’t as fast as he’d hoped, but he did manage to knock them both out. Their moment of saluting the Captain made it a lot easier.

It was odd, but he felt pity for the pair and their town. Normally he wouldn’t care about people unless they had money to offer him, what with being a mercenary for hire.

‘It’s been a weird day.’ Cloud sighed, looking down at the Captain, before realizing that blink had disappeared. He spun around three hundred and sixty degrees, she wasn’t standing next to him anymore. Turning back towards the massive skull, he noticed the woman continuing to make her way through the town.

‘Well that makes sense.’ The mercenary sighed.

He looked at his clothing, holding the crowbar in his hand while he looked for a spot. He lifted his belt and slipped the crowbar underneath it, fastening it to his hip. It felt uncomfortable, but he still thought it could come in handy.

‘Let’s just get this over with.’ Cloud spoke as he continued towards the cliff.

If anyone has Cloud in their posts, and their character mentions the crowbar, you have to refer to it as either 'Kevin' or 'the Captain'. Have fun.

[Nebula]

As the sun went down over Bilgewater, the sounds of battle rang through the streets: the boom of artillery, the crackle of plasma, the hollow crash and clatter of breaking timber, and the semi-confused bellowing of affronted, drunken Darklings. A tang of ash and garbage drifted on the breeze.

Divided by circumstance and impulse, the scattered Liberators had their work cut out for them as they crept, blasted, and fought their way forwards, their aides pointing the way forward, designating the malign, forbidding cliffs overlooking the corrupted town as their goal.

Some were having an easier time than others. Vision and Protoman's android tag-team was a whirlwind of cybernetic flash and supeheroic thunder carving a swath through the center of town - and as a result drew a huge amount of attention; Almost as prominently  visible, Jaco's ship rose above the rooftops, prompting cries of alcohol-sodden surprise, and a massive hail of gunfire.

With much of the town either looking up or heroic fighting robots, it was Blink and Cloud who made the best time, and it was they who reached the cliff-face first. It seemed to grow as they approached, the lip of the plateau receding into the indefinite abyss above as the overhang cast them in shadow.

There was a promenade of sorts, where the piers and cobblestones met the cliffside - an avenue paved with wide granite tiles, abutting a staircase carved into the vertical black basalt of the island itself, retreating into the darkness above to disappear within the shadows of the grinning stone skull that loomed over them all. Their was an oiliness present within those shadows - a sort of glimmering electric edge which was only hinted at elsewhere in the town, flickering with shades of purple and sparks of gold. Just approaching it was enough to set a person's teeth on edge, an excercise in will... 
 
From out of the empty space between them and the staircase, they heard someone sigh. Both warriors drew their weapons. 

"Who's there?" demanded Cloud. 

In a puff of dirty mist, a man appeared - or possibly a robot; having met some very lifelike androids, it was genuinely hard to tell. He wore leather armor, complete with bronze re-enforced kilt and knee-length iron boots . His bright red hair fell to his shoulders beneath a bronze skullcap.  Both arms were clad in sandy-colored shoulder-length gauntlets, with the one on his left hand ending in a powerful steel pincer. He gripped a machete in his right, bouncing the dull side of the blade lazily against his shoulder.

Bandages hid the lower half of his face; his eyes looked rheumy and tired. 

"Well. You made it this far," the newcomer said, obliged but uninterested. "So I guess that means I have to stop ya now." 

He gave his head a rueful shake and leveled his blade lackadaisically towards the Liberators. 

"I hope you kids are proud'a yourselves. My partner's never going to let me hear the end of this." 

Blink and Cloud have been confronted by the powerful darkling Bolas, who has come to stop you yahoos from entering the stronghold-proper. The others are able to interrupt at any time, although they'll have to do some fighting to get there. The ale-sodden and dark-addled fiends of bilgewater have, naturally, been roused by the ongoing ruckus. 

Jaco - be aware that if your ship crosses the threshold of the cliff-face, you will truly be in Nebula Space, and it will immediately lose power. 

As for Bolas, he has the following powers, proficiencies, stats and move repertoire: 

Profs: Physical Strength, Ranged, Area Attack, Area Defense, Remote Control, Ranged Materialize, Homing
Powers: Survival, Flight, Master Acrobat, Phasing, Stealth, Teleportation (Master)
Moves: Cleaver, Blade-Arm, Blade Toss, Barrier, Sword Wave, Surprise Attack, Crash Drop, Barrier Wheel


Base stats:
ATK: 3
DEF: 2
SPD: 3
TEC: 5

Moves:
Cleaver: The large sword usually perched lightly on Bola's shoulder. It's sturdy, and heavier than it looks, intended for crushing as much as cutting. Good for breaking through guards, but a little unwieldy for more agile swordplay.

Blade-Arm: The bladed gauntlet on Bola's left arm. It's sturdy, and can be used as a defensive implement or shield in a pinch. Primary function is as a grabbing and crushing device, like a crab's pincer. Can apply truly tremendous force if it grabs something, but it locks Bola in place while he applies the squeeze. The bladed 'claws' can also deliver a nasty slash and serve as a backup weapon when his heavy cleaver fails him in close quarters.

Blade Toss: Bola swipes with his blade-arm, and releases a blade, spinning like a buzzsaw. It's about a foot in length, razor sharp on both edges. It moves as fast as a fastball from a competent pitcher, and trails a streak of blue energy. With a second to wind up, Bola can throw up to three of these at once, in a fan pattern. With a second to 'lock on' to a target, Bola can even make these thrown blades home in and track a target.

Barrier: Bola crosses his arms over his chest, pulling his legs up close to his torso and forms up a swirling barrier of blue-purple energy. It only takes about a second to prepare, but is only a minor defense at best, to ward off weaker projectiles or attacks, but he can move while using it at about half speed. It lasts up to five seconds or until dropped.

Sword Wave: Bola winds up heavily and unleashes a powerful swing of his cleaver, releasing a blast of compressed air which can knock targets flying. Doesn't do much damage, but hits with tremendous pushing force. Affects a 180 degree cone in front of Bola for about six feet.

Surprise Attack: Bola poofs into existence behind a target, and delivers a heavy overhand chop with his cleaver, the blade glowing a bright blue color. A simple attack, but it can prove devastating to a target he catches unaware.

Crash Drop: Bola drops out of the sky on a target, letting gravity assist him along and produce a heavy impact. On impact, he produces a small shockwave reaching outward two meters, to deter immediate counter attack while he gets back up.

Barrier Wheel: Bola summons in a huge, red wheel covered in blades. It's nearly five feet across, three feet tall. Spikes adorn both top and bottom 'faces', and a ring of foot long, curved blades decorate the outer edge, turning it into a deadly whirling saw as it slowly drifts across the battlefield. Summoning one takes two seconds, and each additional one takes another second, up to a maximum of five at once. They are durable, and he can remotely control them to drift toward a specific target, but they move fairly slowly (at about SPD 1, at top speed) and divert his focus. With all five, he needs to focus entirely on them or else they will just drift around aimlessly like big whirling tops of death.

He is not, of course, limited to these. He has some supermoves, items - other things. You'll find out soon enough. If you think of a move that seems to fit his demeanor and skill-set, by all means, write him using it. 

Round 1 is  nine days and 900 words. Make him take you seriously!

[Proto Man]

They came, they saw, they were conquered.

The snarling darklings—their inebriation fading as adrenaline surged through their corrupted bloodstreams—swarmed the Vision and Proto Man. Despite his initial remarks, the other android had stood his ground and fought alongside the preteen machine. He had shrugged off Vision’s quips, because the other machine likely failed to understand the nature of this problem. After all, would his rhetoric remain the same if they were pinned to their backs in Costa del Sol? When you deal with a plague, you trace it to the core and set fire to everything.

In the Moors, that had been Scylla. Out here in the Deep, Proto Man wasn’t quite sure what form the focal point of the infestation would take, but he had no doubt that these drunken pirate monsters were defending it. Despite their differences in philosophical approaches to a world full of vice and misery, the pair of machines played the part of stalwart warriors when the situation called for it. Never more than a few yards from one another, they played an eloquent dance of lasers, fists, and adaptoid attacks with the crowd of darkling pirates.

Somewhere in the distance, there was a thunderous crash. Proto Man swiveled his head in the direction of the skull-shaped cliff face, but a trio of attackers was on him before he could decipher what exactly the sound had been.

A sword sliced across the crown of his helmet, but the blade wasn’t sharp enough to slash through the ceratanium. Angling the Proto Buster, the preteen machine punched a sizzling, fist-shaped hole into his assailant’s chest. The other two pirates lunged and tackled him to the ground, but before they could land an attack, both were thrown backwards by a dazzling cone of yellow and blue light. The red robot swiveled his head back to the Vision, whose chest faded back to its normal appearance.

The other machine looked as if he was going to say something, but before he could find the words, Proto Man had aimed his arm cannon in his general direction. The Vision flinched as a beam went sizzling passed his head and tore apart a darkling on the verge of slashing into the other machine. After verifying his would-be ambusher’s presence, the Vision gave a quick nod before he had to deal with more adversaries.

“The others have pressed on,” Proto Man shouted as he rolled away from a cutlass swipe. He scrambled to his feet only to dive almost immediately as a musket discharged in his direction. Rather than land prone, he crashed onto his hands and knees before shoving up from the corrupted earth. Reforming the Proto Buster, he charged a blast, but the trio of pirates scattered at the sight of the barrel shuddering with yellow plasma.

They haven’t ever retreated.

Something shifted up at the top of the android’s field of vision. He glanced up to see a group of pirates at the top of a nearby public house. They had pushed what seemed to be a ship’s cannon up to the edge of the structure, and as one of them stepped aside, Proto Man saw that the wick on the vintage weapon had already burned down to the root.

Eyes wide, Proto Man summoned his shield and slammed it down into the earth just as the cannonball came belching forth from the barrel of the weapon. The shield held, although there were enough fissures on its surface to indicate that it wouldn’t survive a second attack, but fortunately, the preteen machine didn’t intend to give the pirates artillerists a second chance. Dropping his shield, he hoisted the Proto Buster and grinned as he discharged the powered shot. Aiming low, he watched as it punched through the building itself just below the location of the pirates, who grinned at what they perceived as a near miss on the part of the young prime.

As the darklings moved to reload, they must have felt the rooftop shift beneath their feet. One of them went so far as to glance down and shout before the roof of the building collapsed, swallowing them up in a giant cloud of smoke and wood chips. With that threat dispatched, Proto Man turned and watched the Vision sidestep a pirate before promptly leveling the drunken creature with a hammer blow to the back of the skull.

“Vision, we need to move!” Proto Man shouted as the other android discarded his weapon, which seemed to evaporate into binary. After taking a split-second to assess the situation himself, the machine nodded his head and moved to catch up to the smaller prime.

With the Vision behind him, Proto Man turned back to the skull-faced cliff. He had stolen glimpses of Cloud and Blink, who had to already been inside or near enough to have confronted the core of their ‘issues’ here on the island.

Getting closer to the source of the infection…

Once they had the source, they would be able to burn it out and let this place start on the long road to recovery.

[Blink]

Cloud and Blink stood in front of the newly arrived stranger. He didn't appear overly threatening all at once, at least from his general appearance. He was pale with long red hair coming out of a rounded hat, and a few too many decorations on his armor that screamed 'pirate' for Blink's taste. The claw-like gadget at the end of one his arms and the over-sized blade made him look like he was trying too hard. Add to that the cocky and dismissive attitude, and he had earned the annoyance of the fuchsia mutant. He moved the sword from his shoulder to point it forward at the two liberators.

Blink summoned her signature emerald energy around his arms, letting it gather around in her palms and form two curved daggers. Cloud held his own giant blade out in both hands. Blink noted that as big as this pirate's big machete was, it was still nowhere near as blade as Cloud's, and somehow that made her feel good.

"I don't like this guy." Blink told her companion.

"Me neither." He responded.

"Let's get this over with!" The ginger pirate finally explained and suddenly swung his sword sharply towards them. At first it just seemed like a threatening gesture from that distance, but both liberators quickly realized that it released a wave of compressed air at them. Cloud took the chance to lunge forward, using his sword as a shield to block the attack. Blink found herself pushed back, but she bent forward and recovered her balance by stabbing one of her daggers to the ground to keep her in place. She looked up just in time to see the stranger and Cloud lock blades.

Claire watched as Cloud and the hoodlum matched swords. It was evident very quickly that this arrogant pirate was more then just talk, as he moved expertly in his sword movements against Cloud. He almost seemed to turn into another person as he danced in front of Cloud, the two swords cutting against each other at a much faster speed then Blink would have thought possible. She found herself both scared of their opponent, but also impressed with Cloud's swordsmanship for handling the weapon as well he did. It didn't take long for the crimson-haired Darkling to surprise Cloud with his bladed gauntlet and catch him off guard with a spinning attack, forcing the spikey blonde to jump backwards. Blink saw her moment.

Blink jumped forward, but disappeared into a puff of green mist mid-movement. She appeared behind the attacker, glowing daggers in her hand, ready to attack. She stabbed them both forward, aiming for his shoulder-blades. He disappeared. "What the-?"

"Look out!"

She didn't notice the movement behind her. Cloud suddenly tackled her sideways and sent her flying. The over-sized machete came crashing down to the ground and slammed against the cobblestone pavement, shattering it. Both Blink and Cloud rolling to their feet, surprised.

"Did you just teleport?" Blink asked, astounded. She realized she probably should have thanked Cloud for the save, but didn't.

"You're not the only one with that trick," the cocky red-head grinned.

"Who are you?" Cloud asked, moving back into position with his sword leaning forward, both hands at the hilt. Blink decided to match him and went into a fighting pose of her own, though it wasn't near as crisp or professional. She held one of her daggers out, and the other behind her back.

"You haven't heard o' me?" He was standing straight up again, the big sword he had just crushed the ground with resting against his shoulder. "I'm Bola. And this? This here is Cleaver." He pointed it forward again. "Let me introduce you some more."

Again, Bola was the one who initiated the attack. He moved forward with Cleaver raised up, and then brought it down. Cloud blocked it with his own sword and pushed him back, once again going back to matching sword movements. Blink began to slice forward with her daggers, but she realized that Bola could use his blade-arm with just as much swiftness in defense as he could with offense. She found herself unable to get through the solid fighting style of Bola, who had much more technical prowess with his blade then Blink did with either of her's. After a bit, Bola suddenly jumped backwards to avoid an upward clash from Cloud, and disappeared.

"Where did he go?!" Cloud asked as his sword missed, slicing through the cloud Bola left.

"I don't know!" Blink exclaimed, looking around. "Is this how people feel when they fight me? Because this sucks a lot!"

"Above us!"

Blink looked just in time to see Bola coming down from the sky. How could she not think of that!? She did it all the time! She disappeared into her own green rift to avoid another downward sword strike. Bola dropped, crashing into the stoned pavement right next to Cloud, who easily side-stepped away. "You guys are pretty boring!" Bola declared, chuckling.

The pink teleporter appeared alittle further back from where she almost got hit. She gritted her teeth, summoning more and more energy into her slender form. Her daggers disappeared as her eyes began to grow green and dark. Her teleportation energy took on a physical form around her body, looking almost like armor. Her power surged as she eyed the staircase behind Bola. They couldn't afford to play around here with this idiot. They had to get past him and stop the darkness from spreading.

"I'll show you boring!" Claire screamed out. Then she blinked away.

Blink is using Energy Surge (Tier 1 Power-Up) and will continue to use it until the start of her next post. I assume since she's not technically in Nebula Space yet, we're still on SP, so that's 2 SP!

She will mainly be using the surge to teleport very rapidly and distract Bola so Cloud (or anyone who joins in) can attack him. Her SPD is 7.