HF RPG 2.0
hf 2.0
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GM IC BRAIN MASTER
The beast and the brain master watched as the Old Timer approached rapidly. "Teleport!" the brain master shouted, but too late as the knife-like wings of the Old Timer slashed into the bottom of the ship. A warning buzz sounded as the ship registered a pressure loss from the lower decks.
The Brain Master scowled as the ship reappeared at a 90 degree angle to the gunship fight and the Old Timer, cursing the morons who made the factory intangible. "I need something solid to hit!" he whined. Then seeing the ships, "That doesn't move!" he amended.
Pilots (these are PCs onboard): Traferous, Fravi, 78 East, Dr. Lie (in control). Crowley, Dr. Lie, Night Stalker, and Kavok Quake. (These started there. For the actual battle, TBD.)
OOC: You forgot Mr Vyle. He's still on board, as well.
Fixed.
IC: Sir Reginald Buckley - Old Timer.
Reginald had seen a lot of crazy things during his time as a hero, but never a gigantic battleship that could teleport. With the resistance the wings had been facing suddenly gone, he overcorrected, sending the fighter into a wonky downward spiral.
Finally wresting back control, he leveled out and circled wide, running a quick diagnostic. Everything seemed to be mostly intact, although one of the wing blades was partially snapped, and he'd strained the rotating joint on the other, both factors that would likely impact his ship's overall maneuverability. He kept his distance for the time being, trying to figure out how best to strike next...
GM NPC ???
"You have deprived me of my prize, fool!" a voice sounded behind them the brain Master. "Where is Preston Stormer?"
GM IC THE BRAIN MASTER
"He's on Streptos II." the brain Master said. The beast nodded agreement.
GM NPC JAWBLADE
Jawblade got up, and began looking around for something to attack.
GM IC HERO FACTORY
It was in that dreadfully awful moment that the Hero Factory turned back solid again. The civilians which had escaped cheered.
The ones who had fallen to their deaths, not so much. Zib and Makuro looked at each other. It would take days of work to dig the corpses out of the walls' base, leaving the place looking like an house of horrors as limbs protruded from walls near the floor. A site to chill the spine.
GM IC THE CREATOR
The Creator would find himself...in a hallway near the center of the factory's ground floor.
GM NPC ZIB AND MAKURO (GROUND FLOOR)
"I'm going to my quarters," Mr. Makuro said. "I have a prototype to destroy. Zib-"
"I'm going back to mission control." Zib said, already on his way out the door.
Mr. Makuro stalked out of the door to the airbag room, using his cane to hit the elevator button. "And call in building services," he murmured to Zib.
GM NPC NEX (TALKING TO ABACUS)
"This, is an attack. And a public relations disaster of epic proportions." He got up. "I have a headache. Why do I have this job?"
OOC: Urp, kinda lost track of this while focusing all-in on Mafia. Is there anywhere particularly fun/interesting for me to throw Focus into?
OOC: Well, there's this battle where a bunch of Heroes are all fighting Luroka (and are about to get Jawblade-d). Perhaps that would suit your Focus?
IC: Shade - Conference Ruins
As Shade watched the other two heroes branch out to their respective vehicles, one headed for combat and one headed for villain storage (presumably), and then got a blip from his comm: "I'm here. To your right." As he turned, the cloak around The Scalpel came down, allowing Shade to see his beloved ship. He climbed in and gave Silke her destination before he headed into the recharge station.
IC: The Scalpel
The once-again cloaked ship took off and proceeded on the fastest route between Antropolis and Makuhero City.
OOC: Echo's fighting Anamnesis again in case Focus wants to help with that.
IC: Marrow - Traferous's Dropship
With nothing better to do, Marrow curled itself into a dripping, spine-bristling lump and fell back through reality into the nightmare that plagued its nights. What nobody would be able to realize until the monster woke up and moved was that the floor paneling it was sleeping on was now completely destroyed.
IC: Echo - Hero Factory
Echo dashed through an intangible wall and came out just behind the killer as they lifted Sharp and Flak into the air. Unfortunately, any backup that wasn't already close behind him was cut off by the Hero Factory suddenly reverting to a solid state. "Stop!" he yelled, unfolding his claws. "Join us. Your potential is wasted with them. This is beneath you!" The villain hadn't listened to him before, and as much as Echo wished he would, the Hero didn't have much hope that this time would be any different. He began charging a pair of concussion blasts in case things began to look ugly.
IC: Alex Drift - Hero Factory
Drift climbed to his feet and noticed The Mantis landed perfectly right next to him, amazingly not stuck in a wall! "Well this is a stroke of good luck!" Drift tried to open the hatch only to realize that all his fingers were stuck in a wall. "Well this is a stroke of bad luck!"
IC: Cobra Shard - Hero Factory
Shard found himself in the basement. He'd been unlucky enough to somehow fall on one of the open elevator shafts and go all the way to the very bottom level of the Factory.
IC: Gabriel Bliss - Makuhero Skies (Cor Solis)
With the Hero Factory tangible once again, Bliss took off to join the other Heroes assaulting the Brain Master's ship.
OOC: Why do I get the feeling that this mystery villain is Von Nebula?
GM IC THE CREATOR
The Creator would find himself...in a hallway near the center of the factory's ground floor.
IC: The Creator - Hallway.
He took a cautious step away from the wall, glad he hadn't still been standing in it when the building had abruptly shifted back to a solid state. He advanced slowly down the corridor, listening out for the sound of any one or thing approaching.
IC: Echo - Hero Factory
Echo dashed through an intangible wall and came out just behind the killer as they lifted Sharp and Flak into the air. Unfortunately, any backup that wasn't already close behind him was cut off by the Hero Factory suddenly reverting to a solid state. "Stop!" he yelled, unfolding his claws. "Join us. Your potential is wasted with them. This is beneath you!"
IC: Anamnesis - Outside Hero Factory.
"Do we have to go through all of this again?" he groaned, turning to face the hero. One of his eyes drifted around his face to settle on the back of his head, watching Flak and Sharp. "I'm already out of the building, the walls are sealed. It would be so easy for you to just walk away, tell your superiors that you couldn't reach us in time, pretend this conversation never happened."
IC: Echo - Hero Factory
"And it would just as easy for you to drop them." Echo countered. "Seriously, there are villains loose in here right now that could literally eat Heroes like me for breakfast, and here you are, a being made of pure energy wasting time with two pawns. You've already exposed them. Their lives are ruined. There's no reason to kill someone who's already been charged with a life sentence. That's just not efficient.
You're not their puppet anymore. Your strings are cut. Leave the puppet-masters with their broken fingers and do something useful for a change, won't you?"
IC: Anamnesis - Outside Hero Factory.
"If those villains in there are so dangerous, why are you wasting time trying to nag me into helping you?" he countered, sending a thin, crackling bolt of electricity skittering across the ground next to Flak as the civilian tried to scramble to his feet. "I got taken down with a single pair of hero cuffs, from a nobody rookie with barely any charge. I'm no use to you."
OOC: I'd love to fight Luroka, but Focus going at it with Anamnesis again is too good to resist
let me know if any of this doesn't really work, it's like 3am for me lol
IC: FOCUS [Outside]
"Stop."
The voice was clear, echoing through the air as Focus stepped into view - whether he had followed Anamnesis, followed Echo, or had already been outside... only he knew. He both looked and sounded calm; his energy sword was sizzling, activated in his right hand, although it was currently directed on-threateningly towards the ground. The scope on his helmet zoomed in on Flak and Sharp as he analyzed their current condition in the blink of an eye.
"Echo, you waste your breath," he said, stopping so that he, Anamnesis, and Echo all formed a rough triangle. "You will not change his mind. We either kill him, or we allow him to go free... and you know that we cannot allow him to go free. The programming wouldn't allow it, right? We'd be penalized for sure."
He glanced over to Anamnesis.
He doubted the villain would be open to handing over both of the civilians, even if doing so would guarantee his freedom; his thirst for revenge was too great. Fighting the villain had not worked out well the last time - and now they were outside of the Hero Factory without backup, while the other heroes dealt with an assault from within. If it came to a fight, Focus wasn't certain that he could win - or that he would be able to keep both of the civilians alive.
He wanted - no, needed - more information. He needed to know why these civilians had looked up to him, why they had seemed to almost worship him while at the same time designing a being specifically to destroy heroes. He needed to know why he was different.
But then, he'd only need one civilian for answers...
"But I'm open to a deal, Energy Eater. You give me one of the civilians - I don't really care which - and just this once I'll let you go free, no questions asked. You get to keep one of them for your revenge, and I get to keep the other for... my own revenge, I guess you could say."
IC Kathrine:
Another boost, this time to the left, letting the charging villain go past me.
I turned, my grin growing.
"Strike two." I said cheekily.
IC Jade Riley:
She flipped the comm off, "Have it your way, then, you robophobic wackjob....."
Suddenly, all thrust was reversed, hard, slowing the ship to a stop almost immediately, the othership scoring several solid hits as it roared past....
Right into Jade's firing arc.
"Eat laser!"
The twin machine lasers spat high energy bolts at the smaller ship.
IC: Echo - Anamnesis Confrontation
"I've said this before: I'm not built for combat. And I think you're forgetting that villains typically don't carry Hero Cuffs." Echo was interrupted by Focus making possibly one of the most illegal deals he'd ever heard. "Focus, we can't willingly let anyone die! What about the Hero Code?!"
OOC: *sigh* And this is why my Baldur's Gate character is Neutral Good instead of Lawful Good. Lawful Good characters always end up in situations like this. 
OOC: I'd love to fight Luroka, but Focus going at it with Anamnesis again is too good to resist
let me know if any of this doesn't really work, it's like 3am for me lol
IC: FOCUS [Outside]
"Stop."
The voice was clear, echoing through the air as Focus stepped into view - whether he had followed Anamnesis, followed Echo, or had already been outside... only he knew. He both looked and sounded calm; his energy sword was sizzling, activated in his right hand, although it was currently directed on-threateningly towards the ground. The scope on his helmet zoomed in on Flak and Sharp as he analyzed their current condition in the blink of an eye.
"Echo, you waste your breath," he said, stopping so that he, Anamnesis, and Echo all formed a rough triangle. "You will not change his mind. We either kill him, or we allow him to go free... and you know that we cannot allow him to go free. The programming wouldn't allow it, right? We'd be penalized for sure."
He glanced over to Anamnesis.
He doubted the villain would be open to handing over both of the civilians, even if doing so would guarantee his freedom; his thirst for revenge was too great. Fighting the villain had not worked out well the last time - and now they were outside of the Hero Factory without backup, while the other heroes dealt with an assault from within. If it came to a fight, Focus wasn't certain that he could win - or that he would be able to keep both of the civilians alive.
He wanted - no, needed - more information. He needed to know why these civilians had looked up to him, why they had seemed to almost worship him while at the same time designing a being specifically to destroy heroes. He needed to know why he was different.
But then, he'd only need one civilian for answers...
"But I'm open to a deal, Energy Eater. You give me one of the civilians - I don't really care which - and just this once I'll let you go free, no questions asked. You get to keep one of them for your revenge, and I get to keep the other for... my own revenge, I guess you could say."
OOC: Where's The Recall when you need it? 
IC: Anamnesis - Outside Hero Factory.
Had any other hero made the offer, Anamnesis would've likely laughed in their face. But this... this was the one his creators had been so obsessed with... the one they'd idolised... the one they'd basically betrayed by creating Anamnesis himself...
Perhaps this one did deserve some vengeance of their own. The mere fact that they were making this offer in the first place seemed to indicate that perhaps not all heroes were as constrained by morals and ethics as he'd been led to believe.
"Take Sharp," he turned, grabbing the former technician by the neck and tossing her at Focus' feet. "But I'm keeping Flak. He was a maintenance supervisor in the assembly tower. The others all had their involvement in my creation, but he was the one who put all of their components together inside the tower, in order to make me. He was one who tried to pull the plug. He's mine."
IC: Echo - This Is Getting Ridiculous
Echo couldn't believe what he was hearing. This couldn't be right!
IC: Gabriel Bliss - Makuhero Skies (Cor Solis)
Bliss locked on to the huge organic ship and fired a pair of rockets at it while strafing the sides with laser fire.
OOC: Poor Echo lol
IC: FOCUS [Outside]
Focus nodded, deactivating his sword as he kneeled down and grabbed Sharp by her upper arm with his left hand, hauling her to her feet as he ignored Echo.
"I suggest you leave now, before Echo here gets too antsy," he said, his eyes trained on the civilian technician in his grasp. "Good luck to you, Energy Eater - wherever you're going, I have a feeling you might need it."
He turned to Echo, tightening his grip on Sharp.
"I'm going back inside," he told the other Hero. "You can either come back with me or stay out here with him - but if you stay, I'm not going to waste my time breaking my word."
IC: Echo - I Have A Feeling This Guy's About To Die 
He'd heard enough. Echo exhaled a a small breath slowly. "I can't let you do that."
In a split second he'd rolled forwards and unloaded both sonic concussion shots, fully charged, towards the villain and Focus. Coming up to his feet, he followed up the sonic blasts with a sharp kick aimed at Focus and a vicious slash towards the villain's knee.
He wasn't going to let them kill Sharp or Flak, no matter what crimes they'd committed.
OOC: Ohohoho this is gonna be fuuun
Maybe Focus will be forced to take off with Anamnesis?? Fighting Echo is gonna earn him a lot of naughty points
IC: FOCUS [Outside]
Focus shoved Sharp to the ground and activated his hardlight shield. The concussion shots reverberated harmlessly off of it, and Focus swung the shield directly at Echo's kick, hoping to knock the other hero off course and away from the energy-eating villain.
"Don't be foolish Echo," he said. "I don't want to fight you."
In a split second he'd rolled forwards and unloaded both sonic concussion shots, fully charged, towards the villain and Focus. Coming up to his feet, he followed up the sonic blasts with a sharp kick aimed at Focus and a vicious slash towards the villain's knee.
IC: Anamnesis - Outside Hero Factory.
He'd been expecting an attack, and already started moving the moment the hero had begun to roll. The sonic blast missed, but he hadn't expected a follow-up so quickly from a hero who claimed to be so unused to combat, and the slash tore right across his knee.
Stumbling backwards, he let out a hiss of anger. "Don't start a fight you can't finish, hero," he spat, the wound already beginning to knit itself back together, "Make your choice - leave in peace, or leave in pieces."
IC: Echo - I Asked For This
"And I don't want to fight you, brothers," He emphasized the last word as he bounced off the oncoming shield and swung another claw slash at the villain.
IC: FOCUS [Outside]
The hardlight shield deactivated, and the energy sword sizzled as it activated. Focus swung it in an arc, aiming to block Echo's claw slash.
"I won't ask again," Focus growled. "Stop this now."
IC: Anamnesis - Outside Hero Factory.
"I am no brother of yours," he snarled, moving backwards away from Echo to grab Flak again, "I'd probably accept 'obscure, distant cousin-in-law' or something like that, but definitely not brother."
IC: Echo - Whyyy
He was hopelessly outmatched. Focus or the villain could easily kill him without much trouble, but they were holding back. Echo parried the hardlight sword and counter-attacked with his other claw, already charging a second pair of concussion shots. "Leave Sharp and Flak alone!"
IC: FOCUS [Outside]
The counter-attack was easily blocked by the hardlight shield; as Echo began charging another attack, Focus slowly retreated back towards Sharp. The action also got him far away enough from Anamnesis that Echo would be forced to target one of them over the other.
"Echo, have you never questioned protocol?" Focus asked. "Have you never asked yourself if blindly following the commands Hero Factory gives you is the right thing to do? Haven't you had to challenge their orders - their ideals - at least once in your career?"
IC: Echo - Whyyy
Echo almost laughed. "No."
He threw both sonic blasts at Focus half-charged and then whipped around towards the villain with a leg swipe and a quick flurry of stabs.
IC: Anamnesis - Outside Hero Factory.
He continued moving backwards, keeping out of range of the persistent hero's melee attacks. Flak was finally making a run for it, and Anamnesis refused to let his revenge elude him now...
He caught up with the panicked civilian without too much effort, catching him in a chokehold and positioning him in front of him as a shield. Echo wouldn't be able to take another shot at Anamnesis with those sonic weapons of his without running the risk of hitting the already-doomed hostage as well. "Mr Flak and I are going for a swim," he declared, turning back towards the two heroes and beginning to drag the struggling traitor back towards the water, "With any luck, you won't have to see either of us ever again."
IC: FOCUS [Outside]
"Feel free to say hello if you do," Focus called, as Echo's attacks were harmlessly deflected by the hardlight shield.
He blocked off the frustration he was feeling, refusing to let it control him.
It seemed Echo did not share his priorities.
The other Hero was a slave to his commands.
With Echo's attention focused on Anamnesis, Focus deactivated his hardlight shield and crept towards the other hero. He was still out of melee range (and far enough that he could activate his shield in time to deflect an attack, should Echo somehow notice his approach), but patience was the key. Hopefully Anamnesis would hold Echo's attention for just a little longer.
IC: Echo - Whyyy
They were still holding back. Echo could understand Focus not wanting to hurt a fellow Hero, but why was the killer not fighting back?
He started charging more concussion shots as he made his choice and began pursuing the villain instead of Focus. Focus still had the Factory to answer to; this murderer would just kill Flak and disappear. Flak's current position as a meat-shield limited his options however...
Echo suddenly realized he had forgotten to abide by his latest fighting protocol and tune down his high-powered auditory sensors before attacking. Good thing he had remembered in time to avoid being crippled by a sudden loud noise from one of his opponents. Unfortunately for him, he turned them down too soon to hear Focus creeping up from behind...
OOC: Augh, it's nearly 4:45 a.m. where I am, so I'm going to have to call it a night. 
OOC: I'll have an IC response soon; gotta wait for a reply to a certain PM first though
E: psst rylinth check your pms plox
IC: Anamnesis - Outside Hero Factory.
"If you're going to kill me, just do it," Flak finally spoke up, still trying to claw his way free of Anamnesis' grasp. "Kill me, and turn yourself over. You're not what we wanted you to be. You're a monster."
"I'm merely what you made me to be," Anamnesis laughed, the sound filled with spite. "You're the man who put me together, metaphorically. In return, I'm going to take you apart. Literally."
IC: Timothy Gyro - Hero Factory
Thankfully, Tim was in a hallway- the ground floor hallway, in fact- when the building faded back into existence. Unfortunately, though his blades weren't caught in the wall, they did clang against one and cause him to tumble onto the civilian he just rescued.
"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled, rolling to his feet and making a very hasty retreat. He passed by a ruined elevator chute and heard sounds of battle from inside. Then, he realised where this chute went. The villain lockup!
He heard a rookie's voice, Scarlet's, shouting at an attacker. He'd met Scarlet fairly recently, her being a very new rookie, and found they got along very well. They both flew, for one, and she either didn't know or didn't seem bothered by where his code came from. She was growing to be a good friend. Hearing her under attack, facing so many villains alone, made any hesitation he may have had about confronting a room full of villains disappear. He clacked his blades flat against his back and descended the chute in a quick but careful fashion, jumping from wall to wall.
~
IC: Amayika Orukam - With Striker
"Well," he said in a tone that attempted jovial as the building became solid once more, "At least we got somewheres t' park now."
IC: Epix - Conference Hall (Ruins)
Epix remained silent as he carried Kaiba Blader onto Furno's ship.
IC: Riot - Villain Storage
Hearing the massive Villain charging in his direction, Riot quickly threw himself out of harm's way, preventing him from seeing if his previous shots had connected as one of the blows was diverted by the Rookie. Picking himself up as the room became solid again, he quickly shot into the air, leveling his weapons at the being's back while his attention was diverted towards Kathrine.
"Fine by me, Scrap-Bag," he said as he fired off another few rounds. "But you should know that I have a nasty habit of cheating."
OOC: Was waiting for Fishers to respond as the Destroyers. Riot should be caught up to the present now.
IC: Kavok Quake
The situation was getting bad. In a panic he shot the nuclear waste in three different directions, hoping for the best.
OOC: Before I post an IC: seeing as Kavok Quake's reaction to being wrangled into handcuffs was to shoot slimy bullets everywhere without an attempt to physically move himself away or move his other hand away at all, did the wrangling work and he's got one arm cuffed? And the one with the gun's waving around and shooting? Do I have that right?
Also, I tried looking up Wayback Machine pages of HS01 and looking online in general, but I couldn't find anything about what exactly radioactive goop would do to a Hero, or to metal in general, besides something Nato found which suggested some really slow, gradual damage. I think it was implied in the show that it works kind of like acid, from memory, but since Stormer got hit directly in the chest and didn't suffer any ill effects besides the nanobots that Meltdown had added to the waste, maybe it's a weak acid. How are we treating it in this RPG?
Pilots (these are PCs onboard): Traferous, Fravi, 78 East, Dr. Lie (in control). Crowley, Mr. Vyle, Dr. Lie, Night Stalker, and Kavok Quake. (These started there. For the actual battle, TBD.)
OOC: Captor is on board as well.
OOC: Before I post an IC: seeing as Kavok Quake's reaction to being wrangled into handcuffs was to shoot slimy bullets everywhere without an attempt to physically move himself away or move his other hand away at all, did the wrangling work and he's got one arm cuffed? And the one with the gun's waving around and shooting? Do I have that right?
Also, I tried looking up Wayback Machine pages of HS01 and looking online in general, but I couldn't find anything about what exactly radioactive goop would do to a Hero, or to metal in general, besides something Nato found which suggested some really slow, gradual damage. I think it was implied in the show that it works kind of like acid, from memory, but since Stormer got hit directly in the chest and didn't suffer any ill effects besides the nanobots that Meltdown had added to the waste, maybe it's a weak acid. How are we treating it in this RPG?
OOC: Well seeing as you were distracted I suppose that's what I'll go with.
I don't know what you mean by "you were distracted", but sure. I'm still not sure what the radioactive waste does but I can still make a post.OOC: Well seeing as you were distracted I suppose that's what I'll go with.
Oh, and @Onaku: Fishers said that that list was for characters who started on the ship.
IC: Eloise Thumper - Secret Tunnel
One handcuff clicked into place and Thumper was about to help the other shackle find the villain's other arm when, out of nowhere, they started firing their weapon wildly. Thumper jumped back, though a few bullets skimmed her shoulder. She quickly swiped off the gunk that was left behind. "Hey! Stop swinging that thing around, el verde!"
~
IC: Kavok Quake
He would find that his energy would start to get absorbed by the Hero Cuffs.
IC: Breaker
"You'll stop mocking me. It's rather unpleasant." I stalk over to Kat, swords raised to stop Riot's shots. I fire at Kat continuously until I reach her with my plasma gun.
OOC: Just for reference, this was the page I found.
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IC: The Creator - Hero Factory.
"Hello?" he advanced cautiously down the corridor, claws splayed, gun in hand. "Anyone here?" He was hopeful that the machines would be able to understand his vocalisations, even if his mouthparts made his speech in their tongue sound somewhat distorted.
________________________________________________________________________________
IC: The Caretaker - New Dawn.
Having steered the Dawn towards the far end of the asteroid belt - far enough away that it wouldn't get caught up in the battle, but close enough to keep an eye on events - The Caretaker settled in to wait.
She disconnected from the interface, leaving the ship free to chow on some of the nearby asteroids, so long as it remained roughly the same distance from the battle. And then she sat down in one of the squishy, organic chairs and stared out through the viewport of the command bridge, watching the distant battle unfold.