[Thursday, October 23rd. 8:30 PM] [MAH GAWD! MAH GAWD! A SHOCKING SWERVE!] [Well, okay, maybe that's overstating things a bit.] [A good number of the civilians have made it clear of the battle area, now that Horus cleared off the Axe Effect goons on the right side of the battlefield. The three candidates have escaped from the stage, but were forced to seek cover when GrenaDeer lobbed a grenade at them. The candidates are mostly unharmed, but the cops protecting them are in pretty bad shape.] [GrenaDeer is down, having been finished off by Horus. Mac, Dog Pilum, and ChakRam are all still standing, having taken a hit or two each. Though Mac might not remain standing for long if he doesn't dodge that van Ugg just threw at him.] [Fortunately for him, he manages to do so, dropping flat to the ground as the van flies over his head. "What the hell?!"] [Session Start] [The van clips a tree and has its course altered slightly, which is fortunate, because it was on a rather direct course for Redcoat's current hiding spot.] * Christian kinda half-blinks at the van and then looks at Mac. "That's 'bout what I was gonna say," he adds under his breath before wrenching the pilum free. He's not quite able to keep his stoic demeanor and yells out as he wrenches it free from his calf, which is turning his jeans red at this point. * Jacqueline dryly says, "Gift horses, mouths, et cetera," as she fires her impossibly undulating lasers towards Mac's crouched position. [Mac, just starting to get up, blinks and jumps, and the beams, through a rather remarkable bit of good luck on his part, just miss changing his religion and impact into a tree behind him.] [Mac then throws a pair of daggers at Jacky, while ChakRam throws two electrfied chakrams at Abby and screams angrily. "You're a dead man, Ugg! You hear me? Deader than that pelt you wear!"] * Horus stares, because this is all pretty crazy. * Jacqueline 's force field visibly sparks out of existence as one of the knives pierces it, causing her to grunt painfully as she nearly falls to her knees. * TheRedcoat clings tight to her perch and takes a deep breath at the near miss. * Abby takes the chakrams at her sides, grimacing as she is now clearly bleeding heavily. Her staff is firm in her hand, but her eyes are wary. * TheRedcoat then re-aims at Mac and fires yet another one off. [Mac is a dodging machine. He looks down at the slightly singed inseam of his pants, and a bullet goes whizzing by his ear. He looks around frantically for the source, but doesn't spot Redcoat.] * Abby holds up her staff and sweeps it in a circle, saying quietly, "We yet fight, city. Let us stand strong that you will do the same." She then raises her staff. "To me!" And the air itself seems to take on an otherworldly glow as the people who... aren't the 5 supervillains all can feel the support of the city bringing strength back into wounded limbs and mending broken skin. [In addition to our heroes, the cops near the candidates are mended by Abby's healing waves. Basking in the glow of Horus aura simultaneously, they shakily get to their feet and resume their efforts to evacuate the three candidates.] [Meanwhile, Dog Pilum pulls out another black, runed javelin, and throws it up at Horus. "My canine senses tell me that the battle has turned against us..."] * Horus darts to one side, but the javelin nevertheless gets her in the calf, piercing right through her aura. "Nrg." She shakes her head. "Fuckin' crazy." She dives down towards the candidates and places her hand on each of them, and they attain a glow much like hers, though dimmer; somehow, hers only brightens as she does. * Horus orders, "Stay with me," and before they have any time to argue or respond, she takes off at breakneck speed for safety on a roof and they follow behind her, a sun with three trails. [The cops gawk for a moment, but seem glad for the assistance, stumbling along to help the other civilians get clear. The candidates react with all the grace, calm and dignity you'd expect from politicians, which is to say they scream and demand to be let down and pray not to be dropped. Though Wild Bill seems to take it relatively well.] [Meanwhile, Ugg grabs a television camera and beans Dog Pilum in the head with it. Dog Pilum gets knocked off his feet by the force of the blow, and gets back up shakily.] [He then calls out the Christian. "Hurry, little man! Get before they get away!"] * Christian rubs his head slightly and mutters under his breath. "I don't fuckin' believe this..." He then yells out more at Ugg. "Like I need you tellin' me what to do, pal!" He then turns back to Pilum and starts running towards him. "Hey Dog Breath, ya dropped this!" He chucks it back at him, but it looks like it's intended to miss as he rams his elbow into Dog Pilum's gut and lets the kinetic whistle fly. [Toot toot. The kinetic whistle, as well as Christian's elbow, slam into Dog Pilum's solar plexus, knocking him across the battlefield and into the stage. He weakly manages to pull himself to one knee.] * Jacqueline would, if she were using a weapon that obeyed the laws of physics, probably take the time to carefully line another shot up at the oddly evasive Mac; since she isn't, however, she casually pulls the trigger and relies on technology to do its job as the air around her faintly coruscates with the energies of her recharging force field. [Mac's luck runs out, and the beams slam into his side, staggering him.] [ChakRam surveys the scene, and curses loudly as he runs over to the fallen GrenaDeer. "Another round to you, heroes. But we'll be back for you... after we deal with the traitor." He points a ChakRam at Ugg, then makes a throat slash motion with it before the four villains disappear in puffs of smoke.] [Ugg surveys the scene, then walks over to Christian and claps him hard on the back, a big grin on his face. "Get them next time, no?"] * Christian looks up at Ugg, *clearly* not in the immediate mood of comradery, slightly tensed up, but not immediately attacking. He backs up and points at Ugg. "Okay. You. Start fuckin' talking. Now." [Ugg blinks at Christian, seemingly confused. "What? Was exactly according to plan.] * Abby tsses through her teeth and settles her feet on the ground. She closes her eyes a moment, then slams the butt of her staff in the ground once. "Someone handle him." She starts to float just off the ground to check woundeds. * Horus returns now, screaming to the ground and landing in the middle of the mess next to Christian and Ugg. Light washes out from her and out into the crowd, and she returns to her normal level of blinding brightness. "On it, Mizuki. I wanna hear this, too," she says before wincing as she puts weight on her bad leg. * Christian folds his arms. "Uh-huh. I ain't buyin' it." * Horus flaps her wings once and floats up a bit so that leg isn't such a problem. ["Ugg give you coded message at bar when you out with slutty girl dressed as teammate. You gave to Sister Admin, she decode, and that why you here, right?"] You're apparently missin' the--wait, what? * Horus raises an eyebrow, not that anyone can see it with that mask. Then she looks at Christian. * Christian raises one too, not looking at Horus. "The fuck you talkin' 'bout?" ["Message on napkin bartender give to you after Ugg hit you in head with pretzel. You gave to Sister Admin, no?"] * TheRedcoat turns off her disguise thingmajig, grabs her sash, and swings her way over to where the politicians were left and looks them over critically. * Christian *really* looks confused now. What's he talkin' about, Shockwave? * Abby , as the other two interrogate Ugg, is guiding people to their feet if they're mobile, floating them if not, and directing them to EMTs. She says to one, quietly, "It'll be taken care of... breath calmly..." * Jacqueline looks at Ugg, then Christian, then Ugg, then Christian. "The one situation in which being a careless horndog might have been useful, and you managed to muck it up." [Ugg sighs and facepalms. "You no give to Sister Admin. No wonder you all so confused. Did she no tell you about Ugg?"] Yeah, fuck off, Jackie. Well, we could, but you might miss /another/ important message. * Christian then looks at Ugg and sighs. "Guess not. But I need to check this in. 'Specially since you *still* threw a fuckin' generator at my head. And a scooter at Horus." [Various cops, including some of the wounded ones, assist Abby in getting the wounded to where a bunch of ambulances have pulled up.] [He shrugs. "Was playing role. When looked like might be danger that they turning tide, I break cover."] * Christian ignores Jackie, maybe bumping into her field, maybe not, before he heads off a ways and calls in to Sister Admin. [SA's voice comes over the comm. "I see you guys managed to fight them off. Good job. What's up?"] * Christian keeps his voice low. "The fuck's Ugg goin' on about? He says he's supposed to be on our side." * Abby smiles slightly, if a bit wearily and through her own wounds, at one female cop she's helping, and says, "You're a tough one in a tough bunch." [The cop, a sergeant in her late 30s, laughs. "Appreciate it. And getting that burning shit offa me."] [SA falls silent for a moment. "... what the hell are you talking about? He's on our side?"] * Horus keeps an eye on Ugg, in the meantime, and is thankful she can fly so she doesn't get all grumpy by standing on a wounded leg. * Christian starts to raise his voice. "THAT'S WHAT I--" He then checks himself and drops his voice lower. "That's what I said. I don't have a clue what the hell's going on. But he said you'd know about him." * Abby 's smile slips away and she nods, replying in a quieter tone, "I've seen it before... I knew it needed to go." She then chuckles faintly and half-waves her staff before continuing. * Christian looks at Ugg and Horus for a moment, then back to the comm. "But he started chuckin' stuff at Mac an' Dog Bastard in the middle of the fight. Started out as normal, then jus' fuckin' turned outta nowhere. Don't know what the *hell's* goin' on here." [SA responds after a moment. "I'm pulling up my files... I've got nothing here. I mean, it's not impossible that Scales of Justice set something up with him, but I'd know about it. And he'd have a code phrase in case he ever got caught."] So... Ugg? Why'd ya turn, assumin' ya did? * Christian gets real silent for a second and pauses. "Uh. Yeah. About that..." [Ugg shrugs. "Ugg been undercover for almost two years. Recruited by Scales of Justice."] I would have expected it from one of the other, brighter ones, to be perfectly honest, but I suppose this works too. [SA's audibly scowls. "About what?"] * Horus ignores Jackie. "Seriously, Scales of Justice? Fuck, if you're tellin' the truth, you must got loads of good stuff on how they operate." * Christian sighs. "Look, I'll have to tell you later. Hell if I know if he's legit or not now." ["Ask him for his codephrase. If he worked with Scales of Justice, he'd have one."] Right. Transmit it right to you, ya? [Ugg shakes his head. "Ugg and rest of Kitchen Cinqo no privy to plans of Master Magus, unfortunately. Just hired muscle. Will tell what can, though."] ["Yeah," replies SA. "Keep the channel open when you go talk to him. I wanna hear this."] Guess it might be Kitchen Quatro now. ... Don't sound as good, though. * Horus glances Christian's way briefly to see if he's done yet. * Christian nods. "Right." He puts his badge away but doesn't shut off the channel, and goes walking over towards Ugg. "Alright then." * Christian turns to Horus. "What's his deal?" * Horus tilts her head to Ugg. "Dude says he's been workin' with Scales of Justice for two years." Undercover shit, yadda. He hasn't attacked us yet, so bonus. Right. * Christian turns back to Ugg. "Then you should have a codephrase, right, pal?" [Ugg nods. "Codephrase is 'Doctor Barbarian'."] [After a moment, SA audibly gasps. "No fucking way..."] * Horus blinks and looks to the card Christian's carrying. "He checkin' out?" [SA's voice falters a bit. "That's impossible... he would've told me about this..." After a moment, she gathers herself. "It's all here. Records going back two years. Scales of Justice was concerned about the growing problem of super-mercs, and recruited Ugg to go undercover and gather intel."] Guessin' that's a yes. Fuckin' A. [Ugg tilts his head, and looks over at Christian. "He no tell Sister Admin? No wonder you no understand Ugg's message."] * Abby floats over to the group, flicking some blood from her fingers. "Don't mean to interrupt people not beating eachother to a pulp, but a question for the crowd. Where's our red-hatted girl?" * Horus blinks at Abby. "Hiding like usual? Shoulda come out by now, though..." I'll take a look. * Horus spreads her wings and rises into the air, getting a good view of the crowd and surrounding area. * Abby nods slightly and smiles weakly, murmuring, "Thought everyone woulda learned their lesson about letting someone disappear on them." [There's something red and hatted on the roof of City Hall.] * Christian just looks at Ugg for a minute, staring, then goes closer and hisses softly. "Look, Ugg. Ix-nay." He folds his arms. "If you wanted to pass messages, that was a fuckin' stupid way to do it." * Horus flies over to the red and hatted object on the roof of City Hall then! * Abby looks to Ugg and mms. After a moment she says, "So, was this a long term thing? Because you didn't just teleport away with the rest of 'em." [Ugg shrugs at Christian, then turns to Abby. "Spell is on each of us. Have to want to teleport, or be touching."] But it works if you're knocked out, too, yeah? Surprised they left you behind after what you pulled. If it were up ta me, I'd take ya back with me to deal with ya. If I were a villain, that is. ["Like I said, if touching. Is why ChakRam ran over to GrenaDeer." He turns back to Christian. "Maybe more worried about getting caught than getting me? I no know."] * Abby presses her lips together and nods slightly. * Christian then pulls out his comm card and checks it. "So...what do you want us to do with him?" [SA speaks up again. "I'm gonna wanna talk to this guy, see what he knows, make sure his story's straight. Have him head back to SPLEE-NY with the cops when Stone shows up."] * Christian nods slightly. "Gotcha." He then turns off the comm link and looks up at Ugg. "Not gonna put up a fight, are ya?" [Ugg tilts his head. "Ugg is on your side. Why fight?"] * Christian sighs. 'Because somethin' about this stinks. An' I don't know if it's your story or what's goin' on with Scales right now." [Ugg ruffles Christian's hair. "Ugg understand. Ugg be skeptical too if had had large things thrown at head by Ugg repeatedly."] * Abby squints a moment at the atta-boy, then glances to Christian. "Scales?" * Christian pushes the hand off. "Look, even if you *are* workin' for us, I still don't like you yet." He turns to Abby. "Scales of Justice. Apparently he's been workin' for him for the last two years." * Abby tilts her head just slightly, then replies, "Funny world." You're tellin' me. * Christian looks at Ugg. "An' it ain't like you're the only one who got hits in. You *know* what one of my punches feels like." * Abby lets out a sigh and looks upward for a few moments. [Ugg laughs. "Yes, you hit like big man, little man! With bit more work, soon you be strong like Ugg!"] * Christian gives Ugg the finger without really looking at him. [Session End]