2017-09-24 - Some Time Later

Deathlok - 10/10 Spice 9/10 Batwing 8/10 Nico Minoru 5/10 Anachronism - 7/10 Bloodstone - 4/10 Cammi - 9/10 Juston - ? Aquagirl - 10/10 Vanguard - 8/10 ? Starfire - 0/10 -DEAD- Red Raven - 0/10 -DEAD- Kid Briton - 0/10 -DEAD- Cir-El 0/10 -DEAD-

Some time has passed.

Last time, some days ago, Bloodstone's demon came out to play and two of the team ended up dying. Arcade apparently was pleased, and gave us food. Which Kid Briton had already started snacking on, but that was days ago and we're travelling now to look for more. People are hungry again and that food has run out.

Recently we've moved into a mountainous area. With Aquagirl rejoining the group, she brought a little bit of dried fish but again, many mouths.

Nico is still hurt, but introductions have been made. Apparently she's been dead, but came back to try and help out. Bitchy, but nice overall and some of that bitchiness can be attributed to the broken arm.

Aquagirl has brought some food, but there is still little to go round. She does not have issues with the weather, but she's still exhausted. Likely they all are. She looks about, still paranoid as the group is in camp.

Damian had been taken point most of the day but swings back to the main group when he begins to get tired. He's been keeping quite since the others died but has done his best to help. Even offering a few items from his med kit to help Nico with her broken arm. Now that he's back he says, "Didn't see anything on my trip but the terrain's been rough. Mike, your scanners could be useful there," he reports before sitting down on a log to engage in some Bat-brooding. Damian had been scouting most of the day but swings back to the camp when he begins to get tired. He's been keeping quite since the others died but has done his best to help. Even offering a few items from his med kit to help Nico with her broken arm. Now that he's back he says, "Didn't see anything on my trip but the terrain's been rough. Mike, your scanners could be useful there," he reports before sitting down on a log to engage in some Bat-brooding. (minor repose)

Michael Collins hasn't spoken a whole lot since he nearly shot Spice for reasons uncertain. Sort of put a bit on his mind that something is going on and someone needs to provide answers, but he doesn't yet know where to start. Cyber-brooding in the opposite corner from Damian in other words. He's letting others be in charge as a consequence. Fortunately, he as usual isn't one of the mouths that need feeding so it isn't taking up anything but a bit of water on his part.

Nico stays near to Damian, not trusting anyone who's too nice or overly friendly. Just how she is. She seems to be enjoying the throbbing of her arm almost. "I come back from the goddamn dead and get to play a game like this," she's muttering.

Anachronism and Bloodstone have kind of formed a pact. They stay together, and nobody screws with Bloodstone's ring hand. Cammi is busy rolling her eyes so hard they might fall out of her head. But staying close herself, since Bloodstone's been the biggest threat they've dealt with so far. The three of them are checking out a nearby cliff with a cool view down to a pool way below. Like, WAY below, waterfall and everything.

Which is when Spice, hanging around and making sure that everyone's bandages are good, says, "Nice."

And that's when Michael turns and fires his rifle at the three, blasting them right off the edge of the cliff. Anachronism, Cammi, and Bloodstone all fall screaming as the plasma slaps them over the edge.

Aquagirl is poking her head up and over and then lets out a scream as the others go to get blasted all off the edge. "NO!" She's going to leap off and race towards the others that have just been blasted, going into a tight dive off the edge. SHe's doing it like a leap off the high dive. Body arched, arms in front of her, positioned to minimize friction an dmaximize aerodynamics. She's going to try and hit the ground before them and catch them or brace herself to take thier fall.

As Aquagirl dives, she passes the group. They seem to be more surprised than hurt: Anachronism took most of the hit on his axe. She hits the water cleanly, then comes up...just in time to see all three of them vanish into thin air. Just a blip and they're gone.

You paged Damian Wayne with 'I do not mind if you abuse the emp by the way. It doesn't hurt my plot.' Damian had been looking down when Michael took aim and he was all out of EMP devices anyhow. There was nothing he could do but watch and shout a warning, "Down!" but it's too late and the trio are gone. Though not before he catches Cammi giving a Spice an accusing look. That's stored away for later. Seeing Aquagirl going after the trio Damian heads towards Mike sending an explosive batarang flying towards his rifle. "Weapons down!" he shouts hoping Mike can comply.

Hitting the ground, Aquagirl calls out up, "The other's.. They're gone!" She's confused. "Arcade has taken them!" Her tone is scared. What can they do?

A look of confusion mixed with fear is on the big cyborg's face as he rises in a blur. Even as his rifle is damaged by the batarang, his other hand has quickdrawn the pistol from his side and fired a blast at the junior bat. Deathlok is rampaging, and by his human side's expression doesn't know why.

The plasma pistol is relatively diminutive compared to the bigger rifle, but the bright green plasma it discharges is potent. Especially at full power. Whether or not Batwing is struck, the ground will be smoking glass where Deathlok has fired.

Flashing purple, the cosplayer of the dark arts Nico Minoru grabs her staff out of her chest. Literally out of her chest, it comes out of her body. "Getting sick of this, Shooting Stars!" she says. Apparently that's not a spell since it doesn't do anything. And she frowns, shaking the staff, and adds, "Sorry I can only cast spells once! Um.." As a bunch of flamingoes appear in the area with a flash of magic. Pink ones. Probably best since that spell had done massive damage to the demon.

Leaping up and over Aquagirl goes to try and start climbing her way back up towards the main fight, trying to get her way up to help the others as she's climbing, hurling herself up, and going as best she can go at high speed.

In the background, Spice is smiling. She stops when someone looks her direction, but she was definitely smiling. Damian twists and flips out of the way as Deathlok draws his gun. He lands but the impact of the blast knocks him off his feet. He rolls and then grabbing a rock from the ground he tries something. He trusts Cammi right? How far is about to be tested. He hurls the rock at Spice, right for her head.

Nico follows up with a lovely, "HELLFIRE!" that sends a wave of heat and brimstone at Deathlok. It doesn't miss, and is likely one of the nastiest things going on right now. She has her feet planted, both wide on the ground for stability, and POURS IT ON!

And as she gets up and over, Aquagirl is going to flank Deathlok and is racing towards him at full speed. As he's firing at hte others, she's going to leap over and trying to slam inot him wiht a flying tackle!

Deathlok raises an arm to defend himself against the eldritch wave of flames, feet planted as he trusts to his armor to hold. A moment later, he'll counter with a wave of plasma from the pistol directly into the arcane line of fire as his cyber eye flashes scarlet. Can the plasma overtake the hellfire blast or will it stalemate?

As Deathlok manages that, Computer is continuously cycling algorhythms on the situation and hasn't neglected the superstrong threat coming his way. Computer is fully in control at the moment, and his free arm whips out in a clothesline maneuver attempting to bat her aside with a force emphasized by an audible whirring of gears. Likely the wind could be felt off of it whether he connects or not.

Aquagirl is leaping through the air towards Deathlok at maximum power. His fist whirls around and SLAMS into her. And she skips along the ground like a rock. Hit hard, she bounces along and then falls off over the edge of the cliff she had just climbed up mere seconds ago, falling back over to take a brutal tumble off the side.

A few things happen at once.

First, the rock thrown by Damian is taken as a minor threat and ingored. It slams into spice's forehead, and some sparks visibly fly as she goes down spinning. The front of her head is open and you can see bits of sparks coming out from there.

Second, the fact that Nico Minoru is a glass cannon is made evident. Hellfire doesn't fight off the beam...it goes right through and hits Nico dead-on, and Michael's targeting computer takes out the main threat in one shot.

The Staff of One is blasted in half, Nico's right arm comes off at the elbow, and she falls to the ground in agony.

Deathlok is instantly released from being controlled but is still in combat with Aquagirl, as the hellfire stops abruptly. How quickly they realize they can stop killing each other is another story.

With Aquagirl knocked away, and Spicegirl KOed, and everything else that has happened...Deathlok is free once more. Free at last, free at last...

Michael's first instinct is as a doctor. He'll disregard all else as he powers down the plasma pistol and takes stock of Nico's health. The severity is patently obvious, but the solution seems apparent to him as a doctor.

Mike states,"Hold on, I think I think I can fix this...I know I can."

Mike will attempt using the beam to cauterize the severed arm.

"What in the hell..." Damian exclaims when his rock hits home. He begins to rise only to duck once more as Deathlok fires his gun. This time though it's not at him, he gets up swiftly, stunned by the carnage the cyborg has inflicted. Not another one. Even if Nico is no way his fault he has to stop this. He rushes over to Spice, a batarang palmed into his closed fist. He takes a moment to look her over before he demands "What are you?"

Impacting the ground at the bottom of the cliff, Aquagirl lets out a pained groan. She slowly gets up, crawling over, and as the sounds of shooting stop, she goes to start slowly, painfully, and roughly climbing her way back up.

It should be noted that Nico was in BAD shape when this fight started. She'd been looking like death since the fight with Bloodstone's Demon and was not doing well at all. Likely why she didn't manage any type of defense.

But when Deathlok bends down to attempt to use his beam to cauterize the severed arm, he sees what's happening. Nico has reached out to grab the largest remaining piece of the Staff, one of the most powerful artifacts on the planet, and is clutching it to her chest as she moans. "help me, oh god help me, hel..." and passes out. That's what happens when Deathlok approaches.

And the staff is glowing, with the small bits of itself apparently moving toward her severed arm. The POOL of blood she's lost is vanishing, and something is happening to her.

While Spice's eyes snap open and she looks up at Damian, crying out instantly, "FOR GOD'S SAKES TIE ME UP QUICKLY!!! And get the cyborg away from me!" She's not bleeding, her head is sparking. But this looks like a different person from the one you've known so far.

Michael Collins stops short of beginning his medical efforts when he sees the strangeness start with Nico. He'll look to Spice then with a serious expression, explaining,"Obviously she's who's been screwin' with me. What the heck is with her..."

Mike will eye her from a distance, running a scan on her to try to determine what extent her cybernetics go.

Damian blinks behind the mask and does what Spice asks him to. Grabbing out bat rope and tying her up. "Aquagirl I need your help!" he calls out then back to Spice he asks. "Do you breathe?" if she does, she's getting a sleep pellet.

Up over the cliff again, slowly crawling forwards Aquagirl can only stare, "What in gods name.." She hears the command from Damian and goes towards him, going over to help with the ropes and to try and bind Spice. "WHat.. Is she?"

Spice actually helps Damian tie her up. "Keep away from the fingers, I can cut rope with the lasers. I'm human, I've got an installed mental override. Haven't been able to do anything since we got here, you've been being handled by my computer brain. She's a bit of a bitch. Is the girl alright?"

Nico, on her rock, is apparently absorbing the broken pieces of the Staff of One. Her severed arm vanishes, and then she seems to relax as a glowing purple arm appears in place of the lost one. Slowly it coalesces into a physical arm, gripping the now-shorter Staff. Still totally unconscious, but that's probably best. All of her injuries seem to have vanished.

Nico's new arm? It's apparently purple and ...metal. With a purple gem in the center of the back of the hand.

Damian doesn't look up a Aquagirl arrives, he just holds out some rope. As to her question? "A cyborg of some kind," he answers. "I'll watch out for the fingers. What happens if I put you to sleep? Does the brain take over?" he asks.

Aquagirl just looks up as she helps Daian tie her down, "How many of us are robots?" Now she's worried that -others- of them are too. "Gods, is this what happened to Justin?"

Michael Collins elaborates to Damian,"That'd be my guess, Batwing. She has two frontal lobes. Probably shouldn't."

Mike will step away from Nico fully now, eyeing Spice warily all the while.

Spice looks annoyed. She shakes her head, saying, "Justin left a while ago, I have no idea what happened to him after he walked away. And get it tight, I don't want anyone else getting killed. I think you can put me to sleep safely, all Spice does is control robotics in her vicinity. Fingers are computer links, so long as I can't touch you you're safe." She looks up at Michael apologetically, then adds, "Sorry..."

Michael Collins grumps at Spice when she apologizes, levelling a finger at her sparking head,"Just tell me that all that hardware wasn't your idea. I darned sure didn't ask to be a tin can, I can thank corporate America for it!"

Arcade's voice chimes in with, "The sun's going down, but you've been very entertaining so I'll offer you this. The next food supply is about six hours away, directly north." Then he goes silent.

Aquagirl shivers, "So Arcade can control anyone that has electronics.." Then the next bit hits her. "What if he has ways to control the rest of us? He's not going to have just grabbed us all in here if he didn't have some way of making sure we did what he wanted.." Right as his voice echoes through. "Bastard."

"I'm not a robot," Damian says, which is exactly what a robot would say in a situation like this. When given two sets of instructions, he looks back to Mike. "What do you think then? Sleep or no sleep?" For now Arcade and his offer of food is noted but ignored.

Then Arcade adds, "Excuse me miss. I am not controlling anyone, and I did not put anything into anyone's heads. That's the point of the game. You do all this to yourselves. Ridiculous, if I took a hand in it I'd lose." Aquagirl shoots back, "No, you're too stupid to do that. You've totally failed at everything else already so you couldn't manage that." Defiant.

Spice says, "I definitely did not want this shit in my head making me do things that I can't stop from happening and giving me thoughts that aren't even mine. I got kidnapped and the surgery was done and whee, I'm an experiment in brain control. Look, stop pissing off the megalomaniac maybe?"

Michael Collins rubs at his cheek, realizing uncomfortably that hellfire is hot as his human facial half reminds him its nerve endings still work. He will comment at Aquagirl,"He may be a failure at life, but we probably shouldn't piss him off about it at the moment. We've got other things to deal with. Like fixing whatever Spicegirl here's alterego did to me."

Aquagirl closes her eyes, "He thinks he's going to kill us no matter what. I'm not going to let him find any amusement in it. If I can do things to hurt his enjoyment ouf ot this.." She'll take it as pure spite against thier captor.

Spice sighs. Then shrugs, what little she can with her bonds. "Let's just not kill each other. Y'know, until we have to...I get the feeling that at the end of the time if there isn't just one of us left...there will be."

Damian sighs and leaves Spice tied up but not put to sleep. He does sit her up though so she can see what's going on. He looks skyward, "Since you're being so loquacious, what happened to the others?" he shouts to Arcade.

Aquagirl just gives a nod to Spice. She's tired. Tired of all this. But she knows they have to work together. If even just to spite Arcade by not dancing to how he wants them to.

Spice then adds, "Sugar, by the way. Sugar and Spice. Apparently I have a sense of humor. I'm Sugar. The computer is Spice. Sociological Program Integrated Cortex Educator. Take from that whatever you want to take from it, it's basically able to take over my brain. Probably able to do it now, but no reason to since I'm tied up." She sighs, then closes her eyes. Whichever one of her it is.

Michael Collins fully plans to keep well out of arm's reach of Spice for the duration. He stays off and listens to what Spice has to say, his brow furrowed lightly as he works on his damaged rifle. The weapon is durable, judging by how moderate the damage was to it.