Welcome to the Apocalypse - Director's Cut IC

[kj1225]

After a while, Aquila walks up to Vitor since it's his place.

"Hey, do you have a place to practice hand to hand combat? I have a duel tomorrow and I wanted to practice."

From Vitor's point of view, a shirtless man with a sweet eagle tattoo and scary facial scars he hasn't seen before that sounds kind of familliar has come up to him and started talking. 

[DragonRage]

"Well, we've got a bag if you want to use it, assuming the other knight guy's finished.  Did he say what his name was?  Things have been going pretty fast," Vitor says, "Or if you'd rather we could go a few rounds.  I wouldn't call myself an expert but I've got a bit of experience."

[kj1225]

Aquila scratches the back of his head.

"... I... I don't know. I think I forgot with all the masked men running around."

Aquila pauses, perhaps to consider the irony of the statement. Then he shrugs.

"Well, I won't say no to the help but uh... are you really sure about that? I mean, I can probably do push ups with you on my back about as easy as I did with the necromancer."

[DragonRage]

"I survived a practice that Reinhardt and Zarya attended," Vitor replies confidently, "Reinhardt's seven five without his armor, built like a freaking castle, and dangerously overenthusiastic.  Zarya isn't quite that ridiculously huge, but she's literally the strongest woman in the world.  Ran out of ammo in battle, so she ripped a giant cannon off an armored vehicle with her bare hands to keep shooting.  Runs around in Russian winters in a vest to show off how tough she is, and look good on the Russian recruitment posters.  I'm not saying I won, because they kicked my ass.  But I was the only one who got into that ring and didn't need a trip to the infirmary afterward."

Edited October 28, 2017 by DragonRage

[kj1225]

Aquila rubs his chin in thought.

"First of all, that is impressive. Second of all, Zarya sounds like my commander. Anyways, if you're sure I suppose we could do it."

[Yours Truly]

Alan had cracked his fingers once before he immediately started to furiously type in a series of commands into the operating system as he set out to try and somehow bridge the decades long gap that would render his control rig completely incompatible with the DOOMBOT's systems...but rather fortunately it seemed that their benefactor was quite ahead of their time. As Alan found himself taking a suspiciously short amount of time to make some minor alterations to its systems that would allow him to assume direct control over pretty much every single part of it with relative ease!. Although course the fact that his matrix icon was now wearing DOCTOR DOOM's outfit was rather...worrying to say the least. But at the very least the DOOMBOT would presumably fare a lot better in combat now that he won't have to worry about something as trivial as "Not being able to hear me say anything due to how loud combat usually is" preventing it from performing what he (And presumably the man who made it in the first place) wanted it to do.

 

Alan would then continue to add tiny little bits and pieces of information inside of the DOOMBOT's operating system that would allow it to understand simple concepts that most people would take for granted in real life. Such as the ability to recognize that face tanking bullets is a terrible idea, or the proper way to fire, aim, and reload pretty much every single type of gun Alan could see potentially see it use in the near future. He would then jack out of the DOOMBOT's system before he set out to look for something good to eat.

[Projeck]

"Trust me, after years and years of wearing a gasmask, the nanobots are way better... the masks can be rather inhibiting."

Contagion coughs a few times, then clears his throat.

[Powder Miner]

Nader looks in Contagion's direction, but once again the mask makes any pointed look he could have been giving him rather invisible. "I'm not particularly fond of the idea of a man who makes chemical weapons putting a bunch of whatever a nanobot is into my bloodstream, if I'm going to be frank here. I want my bloodstream left alone, thank you very much, it's my bloodstream."

[Chevaleresse]

"Yeah, the .950 JDJ weighs as much as I do. They usually only shoot them from a bench or a really heavy bipod 'cause they're so hard to lift. The same company that made them also makes parts for rifle-caliber pistols and stuff. It's super awesome, isn't it? They're really rare, though, since SSK didn't make all that many." She sighed. "If only they'd kept going. Ooh, I bet I could find you videos online of them shooting it." She processed the rest of the conversation. "A nanobot is like, a really tiny machine? They do all sorts of stuff in science fiction. I don't really want any in me either, though. . ." 

[Projeck]

"It was uh... not actually made by me. Designed by the scientists at H.E.R.O. and... I don't make chemical weapons, really..."

Contagion seems kind of sad by the accusation, but rubs his temples through the gasmask.

[Sutoratosu]

The knights blows had grown faster, ever faster as the bag took each one of them with a resounding slam as the material became further and further distressed, flying backwards till it hung in the air nigh horizontally before pivoting back down only to be met by another furious fist. Darkness was beginning to surge around his physique, tendrils of it entwining his limbs like countless serpents born of the abyss, their malevolent hiss audible to any standing near by. The very light around them was drawn in, as if peering into a void from which no life could escape... until at long last, the Ogre unleashed one final punch, bare fist impacting the bag with such force that it sent the swinging on it's chain right into the ceiling, landing with a resounding boom as a great downpour of dust was knocked loose from the tiles as the nearby area shook.

 

"You know you want this gift... accept it boy, become mine...you've done well to resist all these years, but you could be so much more... think about it, mortal..."

"No." It was all the knight said to the voice, before he retrieved his gauntlets and walked away from the bag. The darkness that was by now coating his hands and trailing up and down his arms gradually began to fade, giving way for the light to return as he strapped his gloves back into place. Despite the fact that he had probably struck that punching bag with enough force to leave a lasting indentation in the ceiling, if not the bag itself, he mostly acted as though it was nothing, as he passed by the others. Ignored it, as he always had, for when he ignored the old demon's voice, it tended to give up and go silent, at least for a time.

 

As he passed by the other knight from earlier, now stripped shirtless, and the stranger who had met them upon arriving in this world however, he could not help but take notice in the conversation

    "A Sparring match, is it? Well, if you two are so inclined, I suppose you may need someone there to officiate. I've done it too many times before for young recruits, just say the word when you're ready to begin"

[kj1225]

Aquila looks at Vitor. Then he looks at Stellio. After a moment he claps a hand on the other knight's shoulder.

"Well, drawing a quick comparison... I think we should spar and have Vitor officiate. Seems like it would be a more worthy challenge, eh?"

Aquila smiles at Stellio.

[Sutoratosu]

"Hwat?" the terror knight asked, voice resounding from his helm in a confused echo "Are you quite sure about that, fellow? There is a reason why I merely officiated the recruits, never took them on personally... except when they got their heads stuck too far up their arses and needed a lesson in humility-"

 

"What's the matter, my child, fearful you will break this man like a toothpick? Come now, if you're so certain of your power to resist me, then surely you can restrain my gift enough to avoid fighting as if this is the killing field... unless of course, you've come to accept that such restraint over this power is foolish, and wish to sub-"

 

"On second thought my good man, you have yourself a deal..." The knight had practically done a heel face turn, with how quickly his tune had changed. He could... do this, yes, certainly, he knew it. Though there was very strong truth in there being a reason he never took on new bloods unless their arrogance proved likely to get them killed on the battlefield, he'd managed to reign this in many times before, when it was needed. The Dark God's prodding now was merely meant to try and knock him off balance, as he always did when such opportunities arose... but Stellio had never fallen to him before, and he would not let himself now. "Now, I assume we will be doing this unarmed and unarmored, hand to hand techniques only, no blasts of magics or other ranged trickery, correct?"

[Powder Miner]

"If you're making gas attacks, even if it's for a good cause or whatever, I'm going to be blunt with you, that's a chemical weapon. But that said, I don't want anyone putting small machines into my bloodstream, no matter who they are. I'm not even taking my armor off thanks to my constant and rampant paranoia, as you can see, so why in the world would I let people inject things into me?" Nader's tone shifted from wary to weary towards the second half of that, and then he shrugged, little clanking sounds sounding out as he did.

 

"But, yes, the JDJ does sound like a special kind of wonderful. I wonder if I could, given the chance to experiment with metallurgy, and probably given a lot of resources, come up with a lighter version... well, probably not meaningfully lighter. .95 cal is, well, a lot."

[kj1225]

Aquila's smile widens.

"Well, given my purpose for this is to prepare for tomorrow that would probably be best. Of course ranged trickery would be a bit unfair to my anyways given my utter lack of options beyond "try to block it"."

Aquila shrugs. It wasn't like it was a new or important shortcoming.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Once Freya left Aquila to do what he was originally doing, she simply went to the bed she had chosen out earlier, practically asleep by the time she hit the mattress. There wasn't really much she could  do right now anyway. But, given rest, she could start working on Aquila's request.

 

All she would need was a body, living or dead, and some gold...

[Projeck]

"Can't exactly help what my powers are. But I know. They're dangerous."

Contagion seems a bit strained in his voice, as he quickly replies, almost as if a nerve was struck.

[Hal Henderics]

This time, Blue simply uses Aura Hydrokinesis, pulling the magically coated blade into his psychic grip, and attempting to overpower the golem's strength.

If it were to strike, those sensitive to the effect would note time being frozen for a moment as he inputs a great deal of force into the blade before releasing his grip on the frozen time.

[Endlessblaze]

The golem tries to fight back and finish its swing, But as Blue fights against the swing Leo smirks and makes a small gesture, forming little orbs of force mana around the golem before hurling them at blue. "Tell me, how many things can you manipulate at once?"

[Hal Henderics]

"Only one is necessary"  Blue says, dragging the golem by the sword over to him, and orbiting.

 

The golem is dragged around as he flies uncontrollably around the incoming attacks, presumably slamming into some of them.

 

[DragonRage]

Blue Occultist gains 1 dexterity from sparring!

The group decides to take the time to eat and sleep, because that is important.  Ena doesn't need to sleep, and so stays up to research this world, gaining 1 intelligence.  4chan has not defeated her this time, but there shall no doubt be a reckoning.

The next morning, Snow wakes everyone up with a triumphant shout about how she's decoded the mysterious message!  It's a video file in two parts.  The first part is obviously shot through the scope of a sniper rifle, and shows a bunch of people in full-body, black armor swarming over what looks like a hull half-buried in sand.  Though the hull is encrusted with the grime of ages, some parts still shine through a reflective silver.  The armored people appear to be split between guarding the site, chopping at a hole in the hull with axes, and doing something to a huge, faintly-glowing crystal in the center.  Whatever they're doing to it, they're bringing in empty canisters and leaving with pallets of full ones.  The canisters look exactly like the one Roadhog used to heal himself.  Then the video shows an image of a map from the safe house to presumably wherever this wreck is, before ending.

"Holy-  That must be where they're getting the mana to keep Roadhog powered up!" Vitor exclaims, "Well, in absence of a better possibility.  But what the hell are Talon goons doing swarming over it?  Why would they want-  Oh, of course.  Talon's this crazy social Darwinist terrorist group.  Survival of the fittest, advance humanity through conflict, and all that shit.  Having Roadhog knock over the last source of law and order in this area, Junkertown, would sound great to them.  Best case scenario, it's just goons, and they think Roadhog and Junkrat are enough heavy hitter.  Worst case scenario, they've called in Reaper and the Widowmaker.  The Widowmaker is, hands down, the best assassin in the world.  Scary, blue-skinned bitch who only feels emotion when she's killing people.  Almost certainly got some surgical enhancements to make her a better sniper, but without much high ground around here she's a lot less dangerous than usual.  Also, point in our favor, no confirmed activity on her part since Strike Captain Lexiel and Agent Hanzo ran her off six months ago in Prague.  Reaper's this crazy, probably Mexican guy who only ever wears black cloaks and this owl skull mask.  Dual wields shotguns.  His aim sucks, but that's the only advantage you'll have, because he can turn to smoke whenever he feels like it and fly around, and he's strong enough to go hand-to-hand with a sapient gorilla.  Oh, and I'm pretty sure he's a magus, because he eats the souls of his victims and is completely immune to physical damage.

 

"If you've got any gods to pray to, pray that he didn't think this was worth his time.  Though he's got a huge hate-boner for Overwatch agents and isn't exactly subtle, so him not teaming up with Roadhog to attack my team definitely suggests he's not around right now.  But, well, you all deserve to know what the worst-case scenario is.  In short, we have enemies of unknown strength and quality.  Roadhog will destroy every glimmer of hope left for the people of Australia unless we cut off his access to that wreck and what they're getting out of it.  But stopping Roadhog won't help if Junkertown falls before we can cut him off, and I just got word from Overwatch mission control that Junkrat's bombed Junkertown's water pipeline.  They'll never hold out without water."

[Hal Henderics]

"They're denying water to those that require it? Vile!"  Blue shouts, snapping to attention.

 

"Where is this water pipe? Is it being repaired?"  Blue asks in rapid succession.

[kj1225]

"So we have a team on defense and one on offense? Will either team be getting reinforcements? Oh, and do you have any ideas about the person who gave us a hand the other day?"

Aquila is mostly in his armor by now, only his helmet is off and his face is serious.

[Strider]

"Consider that I should be able to remove one enemy's magic or other self serving defiance of physics at least once. I can't guarantee more, so who seems the best target for this? Reaper or Roadhog?" Ena's body was facing the screen, though her head was rotated at an awkward angle to directly address Vitor. "If we want to save that for a time later, I should be able to provide some cover fire and target elimination. I have calibrated this rifle to my systems, and I should be able to make decent use of it."

[Endlessblaze]

"Interesting. The crystal is likely a mana storage unit, or perhaps solid stable spellwork. We should try to avoid destroying It if possible. capturing it would be well...great."

"W-way to go captain obvious"

Leo ignores snow's sarcastic comment and carries on, missing her stutter.

"If we are going to launch an attack, we should at least employ basic tactics. Ill need time to prepare some weapons and golems for the attack. should we go all out assault or stealth? charge in? or attack from afar?"