THE QUANTUM CATS SHOWDOWN IN VEGAS [Stephy/Chaos, Jackie and SFX were kidnapped by metahumans and armed thugs who, unknown to them, are minions of the villainous Puppet Master. In another of Chaos' spectacular warpings of reality, they burst free, only to face not only Dom and Tatiana, but the sudden appearance of the rampaging creature that has terrorized the Southwest for weeks. While Dom and his troops fought the Beast, the Quantum Cats sought to make their escape...but Jackie decided it was time to make a stand.] [Stephy] "But, you're here to protect me!," she tells Alexi... Then stops dead at the scene before her. She glances at Jackie, then back at Dom and Titiana. She'll have to trust Jackie takes out their guns. Planting a hand on her cocked hip, readying some sleepbye nerve gas (but this time as an expanding stream of aresol, absorbed thru the skin) if he should attack, and planning to lower a bunch of super-absordant, super sticky glop if Titinia does instead, she sneers at Dom and says teasingly, "Like, ooo, you're a big man with all the guns, ain't you, d***less?" <><><><><> Jackie: *This is it girl, time to live or die like always, the hard way.* The adrenalin courses through her like the old days, singing a song of despair, not exactly a friendly reminder of the "good ol' days". She gives a snarling grin to Stephy. "George, leave us like you did in Louisiana, Gun it!" She hopes her bumbling friend's luck holds out just one last time. Or he put the damn Flak Jacket on. Bumping into Stephy, she breaks out into a dead run, making her way to the Nazi thugs in the middle of the highway, to the right of the disjointed truck cab. Her mind feels a mental tug, as she pulls on Spike as if he were tethered to an invisible leash and he follows at an obedient 15 ft or so distance. With the cannister slapping at her back and the metal hose in her hand, she imagines the old religious movie, with Chuck Heston, where the Red Sea just slams over the bad guys. But instead of the Sea, she directs it's fury from in front of her like an angry jet of twisted metal destruction directed at the metal held by the goons (except for the one in the truck's cab). <> <><><><><> Stephy: She started when Jackie bumped her, turned her head in time to see her begin her sprint. "F***!", she swore, expecting the bullets to start flying, hoping Jackie took care of the guns and doing the only thing she could think of as quickly as possible: she snapped in a whisper to Alexie, "Close your eyes!", snapped hers shut and concentrated *hard* on causing a very bright, blinding flash of light just in front of her, ready to duck towards the direction Jackie began runnning- and pull Alexie with her- as soon as possible. <><><><><> [GM] [The truck looks rather undriveable, but it is largely intact...plenty of metal to throw around. ] Jackie rushes forward. Dom's face becomes thunderous. "Bitch!" he snarls. "Fier!" The gunfire blazes from all directions....but as Jackie sprints towards the truck, the goons in her path scream in dismay, and pain, as their guns shudder and convulse in their hands, like living things...with the shells still ejecting. The result is a series of explosions that sends bits of metal in all directions, helped by Jackie's fury, that transforms shattered assault rifles and misspent shells into slicing, stabbing fragments that shred and tear at exposed flesh, before disintegrating, often inside their victims. If the thugs survive their initial injuries, metal blood poisoning is a serious possibility. But Jackie can only affect the guns immediately ahead of her...those of the fighters in the rest of the semi-circle continue to spray. Stephy notes briefly that Dom has removed himself from the line of fire...while the cloud of gas boils towards her, unaffected by the bullets whizzing through her mass. Some of the men are aiming at Jackie, and the bullets explode harmlessly to dust as they hit the running woman. But others are aiming at Stephy. Stephy concentrates on glowing, and feels her flesh burning, as her clothes burst into flames. Then shrieks in pain as a bullet tears through her side. Another grazes her skull- dazed and vision obscured by blood (hasn't she just been through this?) *STEPHY! GET DOWN!* Steven screams unhelpfully, while Sid, more pragmatic but not much more helpful under the circumstances, says **Just how often do you think we can put ourself back together after being mortally wounded?** Stephy falls- no, she's shoved. Alexei puts a hand on her shoulder and slams her to the ground, not at all gently, but effectively dropping her out of the line of fire. The gunmen were firing at Stephy with single shots, rather than full-auto, apparently not wanting to shoot their companion, and secure in their marksmanship. But Alexei raises his rifle and returns fire, one sharp CRACK! picking off a prone gunman...before several answering bursts blow him back into the RV's doorway, toppling to the stairs and then falling forward over Stephy in a bloody mess. <><><><><> Stephy: Stephy is **pissed**, but still confident (?) and **tired of this s***!** Smoke's on the way. God only knows where Dom is. Alexie's probably dead. Or dying. And she doesn't know if she has the strength to heal him. Or if she care too. So what the hell can she do now? She's not bullet proof. She doesn't know if she can make herself bullet proof. Judging by prior experience, probably not. Resistant, but not proof. **Damn!** And she can't seem to affect much beyond 10 feet or so. And Jackie's running, even if she can't see her. If she was invisble... but that didn't work. If she could go underground and come up behind them... but she wasn't some damn mole... And George and SFX where still in the RV... That only leaves the first idea. Blind them. How? Energy. She needs to be energy. Blinding birght, something bullets would pass through, like during her first orgasm with George. She reaches for the memory, grasps it, concentrates on becoming a ball of blinding fire... with any luck shell be able to burn Dom and Smoke and all the goons to ciders. <><><><><> Jackie - She runs headlong into the truck's back end, cutting loose Spike, who stops along the highway in mid run. She wills the metal around her, a second skin. Then a third, then a fourth, until she can't hold onto anymore. Dom's strong enough, to bounce her around, she needs as much as she can take and more. An image comes into her mind, of that cartoon, the Go-bots? The Transformers? Not sure, but like a robot, powered by a S****** of energy. Feeling the metal around her, knowing it's all in her mind, she needs a crutch to make things easier. Like all the lame-o experiments she's done before, but G*******! These are her friends being butchered. Too many already dead. How many times is she going to let them die or drive them away because of the same reason. Blood blossoms from Alexei and she sees Stephy go down. Too bad she can't be a real split personality and break down all her inner voices. Sid could do it. Sid, is probably a grade A a******. She feels the metal around her and imagines it powered by her anger, her fury, pulsing throughout like a dynamo of electricity. Push Jackie, you want to be a slave?! Time to show them what a real five alarm b**** you can really be. <><><><><> [GM] Stephy's clothes smolder and burn, painfully, but not as painful as the bullet wounds, which burn much more intensely. She wills heat and light, and suddenly she's exploding like a small sun, lighting up the desert like an atomic testing range. Gunfire spurts wildly for a moment, before they stop shooting. Despite her success, Stephy feels weak..whether from blood loss or the drain of using her power, hard to tell, but as she continues radiating energy, it seems that it has a depleting effect on her. Jackie was saved by the metal she was wrapping around herself...without much control, her head was momentarily encased too, and as she melts it away from her face, the light floods in, blindingly bright. A layer of metal an inch thick, then six inches, then she looks almost comical, more like a rusty iron Michelin Man than a Transformer, as metal rolls off the truck and flows over her. She moves it, slowly and stiffly, no doubt thick enough to stop a bullet, but forget running anywhere. The entire area is lit too bright to make out more than dark shapes, of the RV, the stripped skeleton of the truck, the moving men...and a shadow falling over Jackie, like a cloud obscuring the sun. <><><><><> Stephy: [Amadan- can S see in this form?] **Well... wha'dya know...,** Stephy giggles to Steven, et. al. **Too bad I don't have, like, some way to suck up energy too... I could fry them all...** With any luck, she blinded Dom as well as all the shooters. If she was *really* lucky, it was permanent. Better than they deserved. If it didn't seem to be draining her so quickly... or if she could figure a way to recharge... she'd float over to the truck... assuming Jackie made it... But, she'd best conserve her energy for now. She had a feeling she'd need everything she had left. With a silent sigh, she wills her body back to human and herself. Just in case, she hugs the ground, cautiously peeking over whatever cover is available. [assuming that stops the drain and she's still able to act...] She'd really they just run, she thinks as she looks to see what- if anything- is left of Alexei, then cautiously around to see what she can. Of course, with Jackie God only knows where or in what condition, that's not an option. And, hell, maybe she'll get really, really lucky and turn Dom into a BarbieDoll(tm). <><><><><> Jackie: Blinking at the sudden flare of light and the rolling cloud of shadow, she curses inwardly and slams a dome over her head, hopefully enough to catch a minute's air. She then wills herself to dive with her metal skin like a torpedo, trying not to move the whole bulk, but the underside in a back and forth motion like a snake. She will try to go for any form using her metal sense that carries a gun - like form in mid air to her perceptions near the RV. She will also note the metal cable she used before on the Beast and it's snapped hookup to the tossed battery. While she is moving haphazardly, she will try to get her sunglasses from her pocket. <><><><><> [GM] Stephy stops glowing, but sees that the ground, the RV, the truck...and the men, are all still glowing faintly, as if her radiated light "stuck" to them. It's like someone spilled luminous yellow-green paint on everything within about twenty feet. Many of the men seem blinded, but are moving purposefully towards cover, holding their weapons at the ready and straining for audible clues. A bullet-shaped metal shell is slithering along the ground near the truck, looking almost like one of Stephy's bizarre creations has stayed behind. Stephy sees a cloud of mist surrounding it. Jackie senses a weapon directly ahead, then a soft impact as she hits a body and knocks it to the ground (at least as far as she can tell.) <><><><><> Jackie - *I hate this. That B**** could be circlin' me for all I know, a quick look and lights out Jackie. I need a distraction and a weapon at the same time. Got it.* The large oblong shape stops moving and just sits. From the top, a metal encased form, that of a woman emerges from the mass of metal and starts to run towards one of the gunmen. (Jackie is trying to create a hollow form as close to hers as possible, getting more area out of less metal to move. Hoping it doesn't look too odd and doesn't crumple up with movement, the feet having a bit more weight to make sure it doesn't topple over too easily. Animating it to attack one of the other gunmen left.) <><><><><> Stephy: Cautiously, she raised her head and looked and saw... and apparently the goons *were* blind. For a while anyway. She glanced over her wound(s) [how bad?] as she touched fingers to the glow on the ground to see if it was something tangible or just light. **Pixy dust...**, she thought and almost giggled, but for covering her mouth quickly and tell herslef not to make a *sound*. Obviously, the goons could still hear... So, whether it was bllod or something else... it was from her. Maybe that meant she could affect them from longer distances while it was still on them? But that would have to wait. That metal slug on the ground... with that mist over it... Could that be... the result of a chaos storm? But she hadn't felt like she'd called a storm and everything seemed ok, except for the glow. So it probably wasn't... Metal... Jackie? Mist... **Smoke! Ms. Smoke. Titiana.** As quietly as possible, she slowly sucked in a deep breath as she started making her way towards the slug and mist. If Titiana was mind controlled, she wondered silently, would that mean another attempt would have a better chance at succeeding? Might be a little ood to have her as a love slave, at least for as long as that lasted, but if it worked... they'd turn one of their two most important enemies into an allie on the spot. Then Jackie could take care of the rest of the guns or if Dom showed up.. or maybe Titiana could put Dom to sleep and then Stephy... well, she smiled nastily, she'd think of something for Dom. And if Titiana attacked her... well, she was holding her breath so that should give her time.. and there was no way Titiana would escape her touch if she was attacking Stephy. And it would be the best use of her strength... which obviously wasn't endless. <><><><><> [GM] The wounds are bad enough that trying to stand sends Stephy back to her knees as a burning, tearing sensation accompanies the increased flow of blood from a wound in her thigh. She winces in pain, and half a dozen TV antennaes sprout from the glowing sand, rising about five feet and then exploding in feathers and ribbons. Barely, Stephy controls the about-to-run-amok power, but the fringes of reality are blurring and distorting around her. She sees Jackie's animated creation grow from the shell like a rising blister, then form into a silhouete and begin running. It looks like a weathervane-figure sprung to life. Dom suddenly appears in front of it, and sidekicks the metal mannikan, caving it in with a soft "krump!" Then he seizes it and rips it in half. A bullet snaps past Stephy's face, so close the air stings as it rushes aside. Not all the gunmen were blinded, it seems. Dom yells something in German, and the cloud of mist parts, making a space around the moving metal torpedo. Dom blinks, and appears next to Jackie's shell. He leaps into the air, and comes down slamming his foot into the side of the shell. It bends, slightly. Dom snarls. Jackie feels a sudden concussion, like being inside an oil drum as a giant kicks it. Her ears ring and her teeth are jarred. <><><><><> Jackie - *M***********!* She wills a large bear trap to snap up at the impact point and snap down hard. Curling up a bit in a fetal position, she tries to get more metal around her. Spike's head snaps up, as if he heard something, turns and runs to the large metal shape, diving in when he can. <><><><><> Stephy: **Like.. calm down, girl! So it hurts-- s***, it does! But... won't help to waste the energy... and the RV... So what do I do?** She hits the dirt as the shot goes by. **F***!** And then Dom shows up... **Oh hell...** She had two choices. She could heal herself... by that took a lot of energy. And if she used it all healing herself, it'd oonly get them caught or killed. Or... she could hope that the 'glow' extended the range of her powers to those tagged by it... And then if *that* didn't work? Well, she could always try to roll over towards Dom and Smoke hoping she got close enough before the pain caused a chaos storm... **So, ok. Hope on the glow... so for what?** IT had to be something that could help Jackie. What she needed was a way she could get the others to shot at Dom and smoke, but not Jackie. Well, Jackie was protected in her metal suit, so... If she could make them hear her over there, where Dom and Titiana were... *Wait!* She smiles evilly. What if she sounded like Dom? And told them to shoot there? It'd create some confusion anyway. She concentrates on changing her voice to sound like Doms- remembering what his sounded like- but no other changes in her. When she thinks it might be done, she first whispers. If it sounds like Doms, she- still hugging the dirt- yells in his voice, tryng to remenber her Hogan's Hero German, "Your , 4 feet off the ground! Fire! Mach snell!" That was all the german she could remember. [if that doesn't work...] She concentrates on the goons, reaching through the glow, visualizing, building a picture of them in her mind, turning and shooting at Dom and Titiana, picturing those that can see seeing Dom and Titiana as Jackie and her, those that can hear hearing- nevermind how you 'picture' that, you don't picture the voice, you picture the sound, waves flowing out, with a frequency and amplitude matching her's, like on an oscillascope, it'd help maybe if she knew what her voice looked like- her voice from where Dom and Titiana are... <><><><><> [GM] The metal shell around Jackie sprouts teeth, becomes a pair of metal jaws, gaping wide. They slam down on the wounded German, and he cries out in pain. Groans, and strains against the grip of metal, begins tearing Jackie's mentally- animated beartrap apart, while Spike runs up, awkwardly as his mistress tries to concetrate on so many things at once (springing the "trap", wrapping herself in a thicker shell, and moving Spike.) Stephy concentrates, while spouting off bad German. Someone yells back "Right of WHO?" but no one obliges her by firing. And her power fails...completely. Nothing happens. <><><><><> Stephy: [Amadan- you mean it didn't work, or she feels as if she has no power at all? btw, do I get another will roll? (not that it probably matters at this point) and could you repost that little asci gif?] **Oh s***!** That was the first time *that* had happened. Nothing, that is. Usually *something* happened. Never mind it might be totally weird. Now what did she do? She was stuck in the middle of desert surrounded by people who wanted to kill or kidnap her, Jackie was fight Dom and Titiana both, her friends were hurt, maybe dying, and she couldn't even try to get in the RV for fear one of these goons would hear and shoot her. Not good. Not good at all. She tried to press herself even more to the earth and asked the others inside her head, **Like any ideas, folks?** <><><><><> Jackie: Hearing a sound and feeling her metal being ripped to shreds, she focuses...trying to get a better picture of where Dom is. She then rams a large spike about 3 ft long and jagged outward, re-absorbing it quickly and sending out another a foot or so lower than the last. She feels Spike struggling and tries to imagine an invisible electric reel, and reel him in, trying to cut down the concentration on her faithful pet. <><><><><> [GM] [Stephy doesn't exactly feel the power inside her as a tangible force...it's just something that *happens* when she concentrates. Of course, when it does happen, she feels it surging inside her...but she can't tell if it's gone, or just failed to activate this time for some reason.] **Try again!** says Steven in Stephy's mind, while Sid agrees. **F*** it, babe, another reality storm is better than getting splattered!** Spikes thrust out and in. Jackie "feels" the soft impact of metal hitting flesh, though the flesh doesn't "give" as much as it should. <><><><><> Stephy: **Try again. Well, duh-ha,** she thought in reply to Steven and Sid. **And how do we get back if like a chaos storm trashes the RV, Sid?** I wasn;t that she had any better ideas, so much as the only way she could thing not to trash the RV was to crawl away, hugging the ground and hoping no one shot her. Not to mention what it was going to do to her nails and skin. She was going to get Dom and Titiana for this, she promised herself. And whoever was pulling their strings. She proceeded to squirm and crawl away from the RV, biasing in the direction of Dom, Titiana and Jackie if possible, until she thought she was at least ten feet away from it. She was right she fumed, looking at a broken nail. Peeking up enough to judge where the goons where, she concentrates on try the voice/sound trick again, this time saying, "Dumkoff! To *your* <><><><> Jackie - *What else can I track these guys with? We all got metals in our blood, but too small for me to try or play around with now. Metal plates in their heads? Fillings? Russians have bad teeth right? Yeah stereotype 'em girl.* She scans the area looking for real small pieces of metal floating in the air, where tooth fillings might be. Smallish spikes form outside the metal shell, the shape lurches forward, like a treaded vehicle. Running down or over anything in it's path. <><><><><> [GM] Stephy's voice deepens....lower and lower....until it echoes from her chest with a bass roar. Not *her* chest anymore- with green sparkles of light, she transforms. Into a demon. A male demon, complete with bat wings, horns, and a forked tail. Oddly enough, her mind reverts to plain old Steven, nothing demonic in his personality. Too bad, this really should be Sid's body.... Speaking of which, this demon body is big, fearsome, and muscular...but it's still bleeding profusely. Turning into something big and nasty didn't heal the bullet wounds. Needless to say, yelling "Dumkopf" as a demon only serves to *attract* the gunmen's attention. Though Steven notices one additional fringe benefit of this transformation....he can see MUCH better than before. Apparently demons have pretty good night vision. Bullets come spraying in his direction from one gunman, but poorly aimed. The others don't fire as Dom is in the arc (or else because Jackie has trashed their guns). The tall German is on his knees, gasping, and bleeding. Jackie's shell transforms into something like a cross between an armored garbage can and a sea urchin, and rolls over him- he swats it, causing it to tilt crazily away from him with a resounding "KLANG!" that gives Jackie a serious headache. The spikes punctured his skin, but not deeply before he pushes it away. Jackie can sense a few bits of metal that identify moving men....what she can't sense is the cloud of gas that's still hovering around her iron shell. Steven, with his new demonic night vision, sees the cloud change color though...and then there's a hissing sound, and a terrible acrid odor. <><><><><> Steven: **Holee s***!, Steven thinks, *well, not holy maybe... Damn!,** he swears silently as he hits the ground when the goon shots in his direction. Luckily, his aims poor. Of course, groveling in the dirt *does* point out *one* advantage Stephy had. Choking down a curse, he lifts his hips, noting he's still bleeding. It doesn't seem to be killing him (that he can tell), though, so he decides he can't waste the energy on that now. And as disconcerting as the form may be, it does have some obvious advantages. Too bad its not bullet-proof too. Seeing Titiana apparently turning into some kind of acid or other caustic gas and still attacking Jackie, along with Dom... *Too bad I can't get them together... Or maybe I can,** he thinks trying to flex his wings. [assuming they're functional] *Well, ok, now... I wonder who I should pray to?,** he thinks wryly, as he starts moving as fast as possible, first in a croach, then leaping towards Dom, Jackie and Titiana, trying to get his wings moving so fast he flies, or failing that at least makes a really big wind. If he's lucky and keeps the wind up, maybe Titiana will be unable to do anything as a gas. If not, at least maybe the goons won't shoot if he's near Dom. His intention is too leap at and hit Dom physically as hard as he can (or dive at him if he can fly), wings beating for all he's worth scaring up as much wind as possible to handicap Titiana, If he's strong enough, maybe he can actually fight Dom, though he doesn't expect that. All he's really hoping for is a good grab ahold of Dom or maybe knocking him into Titiana and then *immediately* using his powers- in an all out panic/effort to turn the air around Dom into fast acting, long lasting sleep gas (or even a fatal one). Steven'll hit Dom in the stomach if possible to increase the chances of his inhaling, while Steven holds his breath as long as possible and beats his wings for life, hoping that'll disperse the gas quick enough so he avoids it, but not so fast tht Dom does. <><><><><> [GM] You remember hearing an argument once between some nerdy D&D-playing friends of yours in college...apparently the subject was, how can dragons and demons and faeries and other winged critters fly, since their wings would have to be several times the size they're usually depicted as, to carry that much weight. The answer: "magic", of course. You don't have any magic. Your wings flap frantically in the air, but it doesn't feel like you're going to become airborne. You do barrel into Dom, since he's busy bleeding all over the sand. Your vaguely-conceived notion of fanning Tatiana around like a billiard ball doesn't materialize either, though. You do see the edges of her gaseous mass curl inward in reaction to the gusts generated by your wings, but while they do make nice big fans, it's certainly not a gale-force wind. Dom struggles as you grab onto him, and slams an elbow into your midsection, hard enough to crack a rib. You end up thrashing on the ground together, and you're quickly getting the worst of it. Dom may be weakened by blood loss, but he's still stronger than you, and not only that, but it's quickly apparent that he's had unarmed combat training. "A !%#$$ demon?" he gasps. "If you think...turning into some storybook monster....frightens me...." His foot swings in an arc, as you grapple and he rolls onto his side, dragging you with him. Pain explodes where he connects....you're definitely a MALE demon. You can't even concentrate enough to try summoning gas....but you are aware of a rumbling, and lights suddenly flare, blinding you. Jackie in her metal shell, still oblivious to the fact that a cloud of acid is working its way in, does perceive the RV starting to move. She does not, of course, realize that it's moving straight towards Chaos and Dom. <><><><><> Steven: Well, ok, he really hadn't expected to gfly, which was why he'd leaped after Dom. It was worth a try, though. Part of him promised himself that he'd take the time to try to figure out what all this meant, like getting better eye-sight as if it were a package deal (maybe 'demons' lived on the less massive world? or maybe he just dreamed it all up?)... When he got the time. He hadn't expected to be stronger than Dom, though he *was* disappointed that the wind he was kicking up had so little effect on Titiana... Of course, he really didn;t have time to pay attention to that either as he's getting pummeled pretty-well by Dom and "S***!" that hurt and what were those lights and that noise... **Can't see... Damn, hurts...!** Steven just tries to push Dom away from him and curl into a ball, trying as best he can to protect himself until he can think and/or see well enough to think of something. If he has any luck maybe Dom'll get hit but whatever that noise and light is. [Soon as he can, he'll try to turn himself into controllable liquid metal like the T2000 in T-2, hoping to start stabbing at Dom with kands and knees turned into knives. (And yes, I know that may make things interesting what with Jackie there and all...)] <><><><><> Jackie - [KLANG!] Dom flips her as she tries to roll over him and her teeth rattle a bit, worse pusnishment no doubt if she had no control of the shell. *Real f****** stupid girl. This guy flattened you good back in the funny farm, so what you weigh a half ton. He juggles that. Lucky you didn't get your dumb*** tossed worse. NO way to track Dom, he ain't got fillin's, take out the easy dumbs**** first, then Stephy can deal with them. You'll know when Dommy finds you, he can't do much damage, hopefully. Think smart or die stupid.* Jackie revs up the metal bullet and plows it snake fashion backwards into Spike, pulling him in lovingly as one with her shell. She heads for the criminals by the truck remnants, or any that look like they are still standing with arms ready. <><><><><> [GM] Steven morphs....manages to transform into something vaguely resembling the T-2, from the waist up. From the waist down, he's a rapidly-spreading puddle of mercury. The last of his strength gives out, and he can no longer hold himself together. He collapses with a splash. And the RV roars over him, and slams into Dom with a nasty "THUD!", then plows a furrow in the sand with Dom's hapless carcass being shoved along in front of the bumper, before he falls beneath the wheels, making the RV bounce up and down as it rolls over him. Dom groans, mutters something under his breath. The the RV stops, and George throws it into reverse. * * * Jackie runs down one more thug, impaling him with a sharp metal spike. The rest are scattering in all directions...those who are still able to move. Then she smells something sharp and acrid, and feels a stinging sensation on her skin. <><><><><> Jackie - She can see the RV move, George is alive! Then feels a sting over where she's not sure. *Damn this thin' must have holes, it's gotta be her, Stephy wouldn't go total schizo on me. Or would she? She inside? If she is best chance I got.* Thinking about a greased BB and it's power out of a small space, she ejects herself from the shell. She then thinks of a a metal wall drawing back in it like a syringe to pull her in, then try to seal all the gaps and holes. <> <><><><><> Steven: **Oh well,** Steven reflects, **at least Dom can't break any more of myy ribs this way. He's too tired to try to give himself even a semblance of human form. And he doubts he has enough gas left in his power to pull too many rabbits out his hat. **Better save whatever's left in case we need one last zap. Hope Jackie can take care of Ms. Smoke. Too bad I'm so pooped. Woulda been nice to try and free her from the mind control and see what happened. But, Dom just got hit by a truck and he's still standing. Kind of. Least it looks like it hurt him. Might as well try to get close enough to do something if necessary.** Steven starts trying to ozze in the direction of Dom and RV, trying to stay out of the RV's path. <><><><><> [GM] Jackie ejects herself from the shell, and feels the stinging increase to a burning sensation as she tumbles through the acidic cloud around her, then rolls free. The attempt to suck "Ms. Smoke" into the metal container doesn't work...part of her is drawn into the shell, but Jackie doesn't have such complete control that she can create such an airtight vessel with large valves capable of sucking in that much volume. The Smoke cloud whirls, then leaves the shell, rolling towards Jackie. Jackie sprints for the RV, which is backing over Dom. But this time, the "THUD" is followed by a terrible grinding sound from beneath the RV, followed by a metallic snap...Jackie perceives the axle being torn off, and a major dent punched into the undercarriage. Then there's a scream from inside the RV. <><><><><> Jackie - She runs to Alexei's dropped shotgun, picks it up and enters the RV, too late to prevent the damage. *You hurt George you are one dead m***********. Scratch. You are dead anyways. You or us, you made it clear. Slaves or dead.* Chambering a round, she feels prickly, just waiting for something to jump out or APPEAR. *We need to get out of here now!* <><><><><> Steven: Can a puddle- even a person sized puddle- of metal grumble? Well, this one does. **_What_ are we doing here? Now the RV's trashed... hope Jackie can fix it... Oh s***, Dom just got someone...** Oozing along, he tries to judge if its taking too much energy. If so, he'll stop and try to rest a little and watch. If not, he'll continue oozing towards the RV. One thing he's figured out: Dom may heal fast and be one tough sob, but he can be hurt, stabbed, etc. So Jackie can finish him off. Ms. Smoke on the other hand... Taking care of her was probably up to him. He might have one last zap. Judging by the experiments on Jackie, the love slave trick probably wouldn't work. So he'd have to thing of some way to disable her. He tried to remember exactly what that glop was Stephy'd dumped on her at the loonybin. <><><><><> [GM] Steven, in his current form, can see and hear, but attempts to make noise just cause him to ripple. Jackie runs past him, sensing the liquid metal on the ground, but too intent on grabbing Alexei's assault rifle (not shotgun.) Bursting into the TV, she sees Dom in the front, towering over George. Dom is covered with blood, his face is a bloody mess, he's barely able to stand, and one arm has an obvious compound open fracture. George is lying on the floor, his neck twisted unnaturally, his eyes staring out blankly. As Steven oozes along, the cloud of corrosive gas rushes past him, following in Jackie's wake, heading for the open door to the RV. <><><><><> Jackie - She grits her teeth and feels a touch of feeling wash over her. All she hopes is that the Russian didn't use all the ammo, not a chance he died too quickly. She aims and pulls the trigger back, not sure whether it's a full automatic, she keeps pulling the trigger. Body shots the easiest choice since she's never used a weapon like this and can't chance a missed shot. Jackie pulls a masque of death and vengeance to staunch the flow of what she is feeling. <><><><><> Steven: Seeing Ms. Smoke pour past him after Jackie, Steven takes a deep breath and, reluctantly discarding the idea of making her his love slave as probably not possible at least while she's awake, before she can get out of range, concentrates as hard as possible on droping a 'rain' of super -sticky, super- absorbant, akaline-ph glop on Titiana, visualizing the stuff and effect Stephy created to neutralize her at the La. loonybin. He'll put as much as he has to into it, up to everything, figuring that if he doesn't stop her, they're screwed anyway, even if Jackie can take Dom out. If they lose to them, he's probably better right now as a puddle anyway. With any luck, maybe they'd over look him. <><><><><> [GM] Dom isn't fast enough to blink out of the line of fire, and his costume is already shredded. Blood sprays as Jackie empties the clip into him...her unfamiliarity with the weapon and poor grip compensated by her control over metal, which holds it steady. Dom staggers back and collapses, sprawled over the driver's seat. His flailing arm smashes through the windshield. Rising from the ground, Steven concentrates with all his might on the corrosive gas passing overhead. Suddenly he feels very cold. And so does Ms. Smoke. The cloud turns white, freezes into icy particles, and rains down on the ground with brittle tinkling sounds. Ice crystals pile up in the sand, making a hissing noise as they begin to melt and react with the granules of sand. **Like Sub-Zero!** Chase says abruptly....at the oddest moment, the little boy has suddenly surfaced and decided you're playing a video game. And Steven is too tired to resist as Chase eagerly assumes physical form, forming out of the pool of metal and rising to his full 3'10" [I assume your original description listing him as 5'10", like Steven, was an oversight. ] He quickly realizes this is NOT a game. There's too much blood and gunsmoke in the air. A burst of weapons fire erupts in the RV. He's scared, and very sleepy. But, he also knows Jackie needs him. And even mean ol' SFX. **You've gotta be tough, Chase** says Steven, sounding very, very tired. Stephy adds *I know it's scary, but, like, you have to be a brave boy, OK?* <><><><><> Chase: The boy's eyes goes HUGE as he realizes this is NOT a game, TV or otherwise. Fear shoots through him, his little chest starting to rise and fall rapidly and allhewantstodoisrunaway... and "Wanna go sleep..." he mumbles. Yeah, sleep. With Teddy. Teddy would keep the bad men away. Only Teddy's not here. [or is he?] But Stephy and Steven are right. The pretty lady needs him. Even the mean man, who said he loves- YUCK!- the pretty lady. And what about the other man? Stephy's- YUCK AGAIN!- boyfriend. "O-ok," he replies outloud to Steven and Stephy, as he rubs his eyes with his knuckles, turning away from, trying to forget all the red and the bodies. "I-I'll t- try." Besides, Teddy might be inside too. Trying not to look, stumbling into the door step when he gets there from trying so hard not to look, wailing, practically crying, "JAAAAACKKIIIEEEE!!!" He starts climbing the steps of the RV, first one foot, then the other on the step, then the next step the same way. "JAAAACCCKKKIIIIEEE!!! THE BAD LADY! THE BAD LADY!" <><><><><> Jackie - She sees Dom do a crazy danse macabre as bullets slam into him, though it doesn't make her feel much better. In fact her hands shake and cold sweat starts to bead all over. Cold, it feels so cold. Popping the clip, she holds onto it as she pours the rifle from her hands into an angry snake which slithers over to Dom and pours down his throat. The snake becomes a rotor weasel and spins within his chest. Then she hears her name and she snaps out of what she's doing. A child's voice? Chase? "Chase?! Get in here! Are you ok?" She concentrates and feels the axle broken, snapped. She hesitates a moment..*George can tell me...* She wipes away the water that stings her eyes. She tries as best she can to reform the damage, to make the RV functional, a few miles is all she needs. <><><><><> [GM] Chase shudders as his entrance into the RV is half-blocked by Alexei's bullet- ridden corpse. **Just close your eyes and jump over him** Steven advises, with a mental shudder himself. Jackie sends the metal down Dom's throat. The big man groans, then gurgles as blood sprays everywhere, spurting out his ears and nose and mouth when the malleable metal turns into a propellor. His body convulses grotesquely, his eyes nearly pop out of his skull, then he collapses for good, gore pouring out of his mouth. She helps Chase into the RV, reaching mentally for the axel. Her power reconnects the broken shaft, smoothes over the hole Dom punched in the bottom, she doesn't know how long it will last. In the back, SFX is groaning. <><><><><> Chase: "Jackie!," Chase yells as he wraps his arms around her leg and buries her face against it, after she helps him inside. "Want Teddy!", he whines. "Bad lady..." He yanks at Jackie's pants as a huge yawn racks him, "...in dirt. I zapped her like Count Sub-zero." Without looking, he points out past Alexie's body towards the sand. [not sure, but if she looks I think there's a discolored patch out there] Emboldened a bit by Jackie's presence and the fact that he hasn't yet seen Dom's body, Chase turns and looks at SFX's groan. "Are we going to die?," he asks Jackie with the poignant wisdom only children and very old people seem to display, then sees the blood and gore and pieces of Dom. His eyes go huge a moment and then he buries his face in Jackie's pant's leg again, a definite green tint to him, and begins to cry. <><><><><> Jackie - Seeing it is Chase, she looks him over and sees he is wounded and the yawning, not good. Then SFX makes noise. She listens to Chase's stream of stoytelling and nods her head. *What the f**** is he talkin' about? Count Sub Zero? Some other weird personality in his head? Don't push it girl, you've done enough. NO time for trophies, THIS dead son of a b**** is plenty.* "Chase, I want you to watch Uncle SFX, make sure he's ok and stay with him. And look for the phone, we need a phone." Kicking Dom's body for good measure, she goes to the driver's seat and looks at George, she checks his pulse, there's always a chance...*Wise up you stupid b****, life don't belly up to you cause you want it too. Was all this worth it? We're alive...most of us.* She lifts/pulls George from the seat and climbs in, restarts the engine if she needs to. She will "look" over the range of what metal exists and if within range incapacitate the gunmen painfully. <><><><><> Chase: "But...," he starts through his tears, then nods, mumbling against Jackie's leg, "Smoke lady's still outside... in sand." But, Jackie doesn't seem to interested in that. Instead, she moves to and starts kicking Dom's bloody, gory corpse. Chase hangs onto her and follows- for about two steps. then he sees where she's goign and he tugs at her pants and shakes his head, which doesn't stop her. So, he lets go and stands there a moment studiously *not* looking at Dom or the blood. Sighing and rubbing his still cryng eyes, he whines, "Wan' Teddy!," but turns and walks back to where SFX is... Only to stop and stare when he sees the bloody severed arm... [Assuming its still there.] Slowly, he turns away and starts deliberately *not* looking at SFX, but instead for Teddy. If he stumbles over a phone, its not because he's looking. <><><><><> [GM] George has no pulse. He's dead. SFX's arm is still tucked in his pants. Chase turns away, and can't see Teddy anywhere. SFX stirs, mumbles something incoherent, then screams. "Wha- AAIAIEEEEYYAAAGAAGGGHHH!" His voice shifts rapidly back and forth from sob- to ultra-sonic, and Chase and Jackie both clutch their ears as the windows of the RV blow out. SFX is rolling on the ground, batting at the arm with his one remaining arm, screaming hysterically. <><><><><> Chase: The boy's screams join SFX's, as he covers his ear and cries. The way SFX is screaming and thrashing, the only thing he can think of is that he must be dying. Not knowing what else to do, he does the only thing he can think of. As soon as SFX is within reach, he grabs one of his legs in bear hug and holding on concentrates as hard as possible on healing. <><><><><> Jackie - She winces at the sounds of SFX waking up, not something she'd be happy about waking up to. There's no time to say a few soothing words, they won't do any good anyways. Steven can help him, once he's gotten some sleep and some food, he'll be back to new and so will SFX. Turning the key to the RV, she shifts it into gear and puts on the speed. Her ears register pain and the windows blow out. She covers her face with one arm, puts on more speed and looks for a direction to go. <><><><><> [GM] Chase's thoughts of healing SFX draw on his last reserves...the effort makes both shimmer, and Chase finally succumbs to exhaustion. SFX's arm remains unattached, but Chase's power drags the teenager to sleep with him, and both collapse on the floor of the RV. Grinding and jerking and rolling unevenly out of the sand and onto the freeway, Jackie guides the battered hulk that was their RV back towards Vegas, noticing something disturbing in the rear-view mirror. Or rather, NOT noticing something- There is no sign of the Beast. <><><><><> Chase: The boy doesn't notice whether it worked for SFX or not, cause he just slides to floor and into sleep, lying on his side, automatically snuggling up to the nearest warm body- in this case SFX. If Jackie looks, she'll notice Chase's sucking his thumb- something he no doubt would deny vehemently if asked about. <><><><><> Jackie - Her mind reels, blinking, she makes a triple take through the rear view mirror. *That is f******' impossible...* Her foot grows heavy and she pours a bit of speed on and upshifts making for Vegas or as close to a pay phone as she can. Looking over at her two live friends through the rear view, she grimaces *Kid..have to be pretty stupid to...with someone like me. You got me right the first time, a stupid bimbo. With a nut, a kid...* She looks at George's body and blinks away water. *George, I always knew your luck would run out, but I hoped it wouldn't be with me. I thought if anythin' you could get out and away from the life. You were there all the way this time. I wasn't.* "I'm sorry, George." The RV continues on it's noisy way, easily covering the sounds of one woman's grief. <><><><><> [GM] You rumble down the road, towards Vegas. Only a few cars pass you at this hour, but surely it won't be long before someone finds the carnage on the road behind you. As the lights of the city approach, it occurs to you that your battered, bullet-ridden and blood-spattered RV, with two mangled bodies inside, isn't exactly the most presentable way you might return to Las Vegas. <><><><><> Jackie - Pulling the Rv over to a stop, she moves out of her seat and goes to the back. Looking through the junk, she tries to locate the cellular phone. If that proves fruitful, she will try to remember the number of the lawyer (get info) and dial him. If it doesn't prove to be fruitful, she will find the first aid kit and try to bandage Chase's wounds. She will then put SFX's arm in the refrigerator. <><><><><> [GM] What's left of the cellular phone is beyond repair. You retrieve the first aid kit, but are perturbed to see that Chase's injuries are actually rather more severe than a first aid kit can handle...he's still oozing blood, and while he doesn't appear to be dying, he definitely needs to go to a hospital. Of course, so does SFX, with or without his arm. The boy groans, but doesn't wake while you do your best to bandage his bullet wounds. <><><><><> Jackie - *F*** it! These are my friends, they want to try to give me trouble, I'll give them trouble.* She stands, hops into the seat and drives to the nearest hospital, leaning on the horn as she gets close to it. <><><><><> [GM] The Quantum Cats' barely-mobile vehicle comes rolling onto the hospital onramp, on its last gasps and only able to come this far thanks to your mentally holding the axles and engine and undercarriage together. You grind to a halt in front of the emergency room, as a nurse and a doctor come running up. "What the hell!?" demands the doctor. "You can't park this thing here, you'll block the ambulances!" <><><><><> Jackie: She snarls at the doctor, "Look, I'll do what I can with it, but it is beyond repair. I have two of my friends in that piece of crap. They are in very bad shape, they are also Meta humans. Two corpses are there too. Get the cops and the FBI here, maybe a tow truck. Any expenses will be paid by the Quantum Cats, you can verify this through our lawyer, Mr. Lee. The sooner you move them, the sooner I can move this." She gestures to the broken down RV. Entering the RV she gathers a few bags of stuff and makes sure to point out SFX's arm, "Doc, they have special needs. If you can't do anythin' with the arm, put it in a freezer, the little boy can fix it. Do not get rid of it." When all are out, she places the bags down away from the RV and imagines a wall pushing against the front of the RV. The back goes soft and slowly compacts, she knows it won't be easy. <><><><><> [GM] The paramedics are stunned, but move to get Chase and SFX out of the RV. "Jesus Christ!" It takes them a few more moments to recover from the shock of spotting George and Dom. You turn away as they bring them out on stretchers, covered. Sirens already herald the approach of the police. "What the hell happened-" a doctor says, approaching, then stops, ashe watches you slowly compact the RV. It compresses like a slowly deflating balloon, metal shrinking into itself. Police cars pull onto the onramp and screech to a halt behind you. You don't know if they'll give you enough time to finish the job. The remnants of the special task force assigned to escort the two ubermen slowly regrouped. They had several casualties; Dima and Vlad had both been torn apart by the infernal creature that absorbed several hundred rounds at point blank range before dying, and Mikhail had been impaled by one of the ubers they were supposed to capture...that accursed woman who made metal come alive. And of course there was Alexei, who had succumbed to some power or another displayed by the shapeshifter, and turned against his comrades. His body lay in the sand also. Most of the other men were injured as well, ranging from minor scratches and bruises, to Radon, who was unable to walk, after his gun had exploded and not only blinded him, but sent fragments into his femoral artery. Captain Donavich was not happy. There was no sign of Dom or Tatiana, their vehicle was crippled, and the targets had escaped. They were stranded in the desert amidst the aftermath of a bloody debacle. The Colonel would be extremely displeased. He gave orders to begin rigging impromptu stretchers to carry the wounded away. They had no choice but to make their way back to the city, away from the roads. Sitting on a rock, a hundred meters from the highway, he sat with his AKSU across his knees, and took a short cigarette break. He had been in firefights from Afghanistan to Mongolia to Nicaragua...he was an elite soldier, and very little shook him. No battle had ever been like this. He was not frightened, or horrified, by what had just happened. But he was more than a little angry. Two empty-headed American women had just taken down half a platoon. A few "super-powers" had overwhelmed the best military training the former Soviet Union had to offer. Of course, that damned beast, that came out of nowhere, did a great deal to upset the balance as well. So what good had their own ubermen been? Captain Donavich's first real tingle of fear that night was when Jean came rushing over, breathing heavily, and gasped, "Captain...the creature....it's gone!" He spat out his cigarette and stood up so fast he almost dumped his weapon in the sand. "What!?" He glared down at the lieutenant, who had blood still oozing from a facial laceration, and had run with a painful limp from the site of the battle, closer to the road. Jean repeated; "The creature is gone, Captain." Captain Donavich's second tingle of fear, and the last thing he ever heard, was a deep growl behind him.