Official RP Thread: The Evolutionist's Stone (4)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Settings (In Order- location shifts and stops are made in between)==
Boston

==Dramatis Personæ==

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Overlady Vandal-Savage==
Lillith stepped out of the shower, and pulled on one of many silk robes. She strode, silent as a phantom, down the staircase, and began to get ready. It was her birthday, after all, and now was not the time to think of battle plans or dealing with her enemies.

Her handmaidens had just finished putting out the attire for the evening, and so things were right on schedule.

Only a few more minutes and she would be on her way to see a play with some friends, and then go to a birthday gala being held in her honor.

Or at least, those were the plans.

"Mistress! I am SO sorry to interrupt you, but there's a bit of a problem in Sector 23-7BJ. A fight. A very INTERESTING fight." Lillith's technopath forgot herself momentarily, and reached for the Overlady's hand. Quickly remembering the horrible things Lillith had done to people who had touched those hands in the past, she retracted her hand, "This way, Overlady."

The two hurried to the VCC Database, and sure enough, familiar faces.

A black bald man with a bass strapped across his shoulder. A Brazilian with a makeshift taser. And a tattooed man who did not look comfortable with their current situation.

Opposing them, a trio of thugs closing in; one with a rusty chain, one with a broken pipe, and one with brass knuckles. The supers dealt with them swiftly.

Quickly, the biggest of the thugs, the tall, muscular white man with the broken pipe, runs for the bald black man, only to be riposted by the black man, who quickly whips out his bandoleon and blows a note that knock him back with a powerful sonic lance to the gut. Then he blows again, and the man goes reeling back, seemingly able to hear a sound attuned only to him.

The Brazilian's hand juts forward, quick as a snake and launches the taser pins into the chest of the smaller white man with the rusty chain. He goes down, hurt even more because of the metal chains.

And the tattooed man grabbed the black man with the brass knuckles and headbutted him, tossing him into the electrocuted thug, causing him to channel some of the current as well.

With a final tri-tone, the thug with the pipe collapsed in a heap along with the other two.

"Let's get the hell outta here. We got a rendezvous with Jack and some of his reinforcements soon. Camphrey assured that she could handle Overlady Savage, so that shouldn't be a problem." The bald black man looks to the Brazilian and the tattooed man, and they all head out into the alleyways.

Lillith looked to the technopath. Her party would have to wait.

"And this is a recent recording?"

"It was streaming. The whole thing was live." The technopath responded, but the Overlady was halfway out of the room before she got to finish her statement. She looked down at her pocket.

The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"This line secure?"

"Of course. I'm a technopath."

"Good. And how did the plan go?"

"As you predicted. She's steamed. Ready to attack the rebels. But I don't understand why you wanted to target the rebels... Why not just go after Camphrey herself? You said SHE was your objective."

"That's on a need-to-know basis. And you certainly don't need to know."

"But, Manuela--"

Click. No time to chit-chat. Both of them had work to do. The technopath took her hand from the monitor, and the monitor for Sector 23-7BJ went back to showing the calm, but busy streets of reality. Her cybernetic illusion had gone exactly as planned...

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Boston==
Ben slumped over, hands on his knees and panting, and didn't think to look back and see if the others were behind him.

"Hell, did we lose 'em?"

" *Huff* Yeah, I think we did...*huff huff* " Byne knelt down beside the stop sign at the beginning of the street, "I don't know how they keep finding us. It's like the Overlady has the whole damn place rigged."

Francesca looked at her watch, and it only said it was time to get a new one, "Crap, I can't even get the right time. We need to find some place to restock on resources...and crash for the night. Even Ben's music can't keep our energy up forever. We're running on fumes."

Ben scratched his head. She was right; they hadn't had much to eat or drink in days, hadn't had a good sleep in longer than that, and were nearly ready to drop from exhaustion. Time to find a place to kick back and relax a while. And besides, he had a feeling that he would be seeing them again soon.

And so, with that, they approached the booth outside the gated community they had arrived at. Infiltration time.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Overlady Vandal-Savage==

"This is ridiculous...I despise rebels. And worse, I despise SUPERHUMAN rebels." Lilith groaned.

"So, you want us to send our forces into Chicago, unprovoked? This won't end well, Overlady..."

Lilith menaced the video chat screen, "Of course it won't. That's my intention. The only way I see things ending well is if opposition is dealt with. And since Camphrey remains, things are not ending well..."

The General looked back to his subordinates, and they all shrugged.

"How much reinforcement do you want?"

"I want a small battalion on either side of her estate. By the next morning, I want a flag with my face flying from her flagstaff. That means I want very dangerous people. If you have to, offer some prisoners a pardon for their services."

The General exhaled deeply, unsure of what exactly to do. Each of his subordinates looked through the list that had been sent to them, dismayed. These were bad people. Malicious. A mix of active military officers, cop-killers, kid-killers, gang members and numerous violent and underhanded criminals.

They were perfect.

"I don't want to meet them, General, I just want you to send them directly to Camphrey. When they land, tell her officials that she and I are working on an alliance, and I've dispersed military forces to help her keep an eye out. The officials never check that stuff. And afterward, make sure that they disperse into inconspicuous groups until they meet up around Camphrey Manor. No need to get her feeling suspicious."

The General nodded slowly, and closed the notebook.

"General out." The screen turned off, and he sighed again, "Ugh...get Camphrey on the line."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Overlady Vandal-Savage==

As her own forces moved forward toward Camphrey, she was being approached at a slightly slower pace. They had to be much more careful than the soldiers heading for Ella, because Lillith was even less trusting.

All her days she was able to depend on one thing; that people were undependable. Her parents were there for her, of course. And school was about as bad as she she expected, but she saw no reason to put her trust in people. They could never see things her way unless she touched them. She never got her way unless she laid her hands on them. THEN she could get whatever she wanted.

She could go to any party, get things free, break the law...Kill.

It was rare that she came across anyone who could resist her wiles. And it was rarer that she came across anyone who would resist her ability. Things nearly always went her way, and when they didn't, things got ugly.

She thought fondly back to the first time she met someone with Superhuman Willpower. She commanded him, and it took him every ounce of his willpower to resist. He struggled with all his will to keep his hand down, to not harm his beloved girlfriend. He grunted and his body fought itself, until he could no longer take it. A nasty nosebleed was the only good that came of that struggle. Well, that and his subsequent fall into a coma, before he died four days later.

Ah, memories.

How she relished taking down those who thought themselves capable of resisting her. She loved proving them wrong. The gallant, noble cavalry became pathetic puppets in her hands, whether they wanted to or not.

She called one of her seers into the room and took her by the hand.

"If you see danger, reveal it to me."

The seer fell immediately into a clairvoyant trance. She gasped as she caught sight of Ella's forces.

"The Lady of Ravens sends her birds//
They hatefully flock about//
Their shadows dark and malevolent//
They seek to drive you out//"

Lillith recoiled, perfectly aware of the cryptic seer's warning. This was not good.

Not guaranteed failure, but not good.

So now was the time to act. Or rather, react. She headed to her room to prepare herself.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Overlady Vandal-Savage==

Meanwhile, the supers drew nearer, and the Overlady grew happier still inside. It was almost laughable to think they would go unnoticed by her. Clairvoyants, telescopics, accurates and numerous other optic supers nearly littered the town. Noticing it would only be a matter of time before they arrived at her doorstep, she headed downstairs.

"I'm still not sure what to do to take them out yet." She looked to either side of her at her maidservants as they descended, "Did we install those psi-panels I ordered? And what about those pesky rebel emissaries? Do you have a status report on them?"

The tallest maidservant, a lithe blonde responded, "No, ma'am. The rebels are gone without a trace. And one of the others were supposed to order those today. And they'd be here next week."

Lillith touched the girl, "Go upstairs, and find whoever's responsible. Whoever it is, lock them in the cold storage locker for an hour." The girl went upstairs to do as she was told.

When she and her second maidservant reached the parlor, Lillith had the maidservant call for her handymen and her clairvoyant.

"Greta, where are they now?"

"Nearly at your doorstep, Mistress, indeed. Your heart they will take, or your head they will need. Anything to make sure you're gone. They want you dead before the next dawn."

Lillith looked down, her face fallen from its usual condescending smirk.

"Then, it's a good thing I plan ahead. Mr. Desvanovich's work is always appreciated." She spoke finally, "Tell him to show me how to work this new device again. I'll meet him in the tower."

She trailed off, and waited for the mechanic's arrival. After giving his courtesies to the Overlady, he explained to her just what exactly her wicked planning had wrought by his hand. With her wicked grin restored, she had him activate his machines, dismissed him, and sat down to wait...The supers would be upon them in no time at all. Fliers from overhead, diggers from below, kinetics, tanks, elementals, agiles, accurates, regens and various other supers, as well as their unpowered counterparts. They converged from all sides, and were nearly close enough to the gates. Just a little closer....

She lay her hands firmly on the hand rests, and peered down from her tower at her oncoming prey.

The skies seemed just as dark there as they looked in Chicago, but the clarity of the skies made the weather more visible. The gloom seemed to sprawl far wider, as though her influence had stretched even to the sky. No animals dared make a sound, and the streets were without a soul. Days like this made the Overlay cranky, and nobody wanted a cranky Lillith.

The winds whispered of the coming onslaught, and momentarily were silent again. Just as the first wave of supers arrived near her gates. It was so poetic, all of it. In that moment, that calm before the storm seemed to speak more loudly than any condescending insult she could hurl at them. No, she wouldn't tease them with immature jeers like Camphrey. They KNEW the danger they were headed toward. This would most certainly not end well.

And they were about to see just how bad things would go.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

There had to have been at least a hundred of them in the first wave alone. Yet, sheer numbers wouldn't be enough. The supers charged full-speed toward her, ready to ram though her gates, when, all of a sudden...the first wave of supers paused, causing their forces behind them to stop short. Something was wrong. They stood there, simply stood, with their hands still on the bars of the gates. And then, Lillith made her plan known, for no sooner than the first wave hit the gate, did a sly camouflager reveal himself from the surrounding underbrush.

It was known to them all that Overlady Vandal-Savage could deliver mind-controlling imperatives at a touch, but they had yet to meet Igor Desvanovich, perhaps her deadliest asset of all. Of course, it was by force, at the threat of his family's lives, but he was deadly nonetheless. For he had made for her the very weapon she so hoped for, and it worked to full fruition.

Rather than have those ridiculously bulky psi-panels that Camphrey had bothered to buy off of some shady inventor, she had her security system built straight into the gates. Rather than deliver an electrical shock, it would channel her inhibition-negating powers. And to make things better, her control allowed her to temporarily bestow control on others as well. Hence, her camouflager, ready to give the word.

He called out to the first forces from behind the gate, as the second wave looked on in horror, in disbelief that they had rushed so foolishly into combat, "So THIS is what it feels like to be a persuader...I like it."

The brainwashed supers blinked in unison, awaiting the imperative.

"Anyone in military attire...kill them."

The onslaught was, needless to say, a bloodbath.

A replicator was telekinetically grabbed by the head and tossed bodily into a flier, causing him to replicate in defense and drag the flier down. A geokinetic grabbed numerous opponents with earthen constructs and dragged them beneath the soil. A screamer inhaled and let out a wail so loud, anyone within ten feet was blown away. Those sturdy enough to stand heir ground regretted it. An astral projector sent his spirit out, keeping his body still animated, and his spirit entered numerous supers, disrupting neural activity and knocking them unconscious. Right on time to be stampeded by chargers and other tanks. Strongmen were constricted by elastics, Elementals called up the forces of nature upon normals, speedsters fought teleporters and strongmen and agiles and the like.

None could tell who was on whose side, except Lillith and her camouflager, who both wanted to see them ALL dead. The Overlady watched with sadistic delight as she slowly, but surely, got her wish.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Ben's Group==

Meanwhile, Ben's team approached Black Eden's dark abode with a bit more caution. They were only up the street, but it seemed the stretch would last forever. Eugene and Snipe looked around at the tops of the buildings. They had heard of the Overlady's security measures, and were sure they were bound to encounter some overhead fire sooner or later.

Vicious trotted ahead with a vacant pleasantness in her face. Kitty admired her claws, occasionally slicing her own skin just to watch it heal. She was just aching to coat them in the blood-red nail polish that oozed from the veins of her foes.

Quentin chatted with Duke and Tock (the only two who could comprehend him easily) about what they planned on doing once this was over. They wondered among themselves who would take Overlady Vandal-Savage's place. They wondered how long it would take, how many lives would be lost. They even wondered if she had already fled. That would certainly make their job much easier.

Delilah played some on her phone against Alice and Jessica to relieve tension. They assured themselves that everything would be fine, and that would have to do for now.

It was no secret that these kinds of events were frightening. Every one of them knew the opposition they would be facing. They knew of the lives they would be saving, the deaths they would be avenging. They knew the prize for the head of an Overlord or Overlady was first of all, that you didn't lose your own life.

However, it had also dawned on them that the risk was definitely worth it. Perhaps no cause was more worthy. And perhaps no better prize could be won. More likely, no more noble thing could be done for one's fellow man than to restore him to the freedom which was wrongfully taken to him.

With that thought in mind, it was no difficult thing to swallow their nervous butterflies, put out all doubt and fears and head toward their fate.

From her tower, Lillith looked down on them hatefully through her telescope.

"There's more of them? I could've sworn I saw them all either killed or wounded...Oh! These are the rebels...come to kick me when I'm down, eh? Well, let's see if we can't put up a little more fight. I'd hate to disappoint."

She put up only a hand and the word was given. Those of her servants with abilities would have to go out into combat. It was decided that their combat inexperience would likely be made up for by their numbers.

As the supers got midway up the street from Savage's mansion, Vicious stopped dead. Her eyes darted around, and she began to tug at her leash, putting up a fuss even for Kitty. The others leaned in to help, only to be bronco-bucked in the face, or the gut. When she had finally wrenched herself free of Kitty, the animal-mimic took off back in the opposite direction, full-speed. Aggravated at not knowing what was on her companion's mind, Kitty got down on all fours and took off after her.

Byne looked back, "Well, that was...interesting. Does she do that a lot?"

Eugene huffed with a weak smile, "Um, yeah."

"Well, we don't have time to waste on goin' to get 'em." Ben piped up, hoisting his bass back up on his back, "Even if that little nutball has decided too fly the coop, we still have to press on. The Overlady's likely seen us by now, so it's not like she'll let us get away."

Francesca nodded. It would be foolish to go back for those two. True, they were valuable fighters, but victory waits for no man, and defeat is even less patient. She walked to the head of them, her special phone in hand. A few minor adjustments, and it would pack a bit more...punch.

When they finally reached the manor, however, things stopped being so light-hearted. As though the very gates themselves had put forth a hand, they simultaneously stopped in their tracks, put away whatever frivolous things they were doing, and their faces became deathly serious once again. Ben examined the gates, and took out his bass.

Francesca stepped back and analyzed the black gates, as well. Something was not right. She couldn't put her finger on it, and so instead put her finger on the "Analyze" button on her phone.

Just as she suspected, "This gate's been rigged. It's an energy conduit for psychic power, likely of the Overlady's."

Eugene quickly retracted his hand.

Lillith peered down at the supers gathered at the gate, hoping just one of them would lay a hand on it. Just one. Preferably a powerful one. Yet, they just stood there. The Overlady grew impatient.

"What's going on down there? They look suspicious. There's no way they could know about the gate, right?"

The seer didn't even care to peer down at what she knew was happening, "If they don't already know, they should be finding out about--" She and the Overlady winced at the crash of a powerful bass note, followed by the clanging of the collapsing gate, "About now."

Lillith cursed, and asked the seer to summon up some vision, some sight beyond mortal sight, that indicated the outcome of this visit. She had heard of what Tamara did to Caleb Trelaine, and she had no intentions of joining him in the hinterlands of astral existence anytime soon, if she could help it. Though, sadly, no vision would come.

"I apologize, Mistress. You know my visions don't work that way. I see what the Astral Realm has to offer. What the spirits WANT to say. And right now, they're silent as, well, as the grave. No pun intended."

Lillith menaced the softly smirking seer. A pun was definitely intended. And this was no laughing matter. These people were after HER, after all. Not some low-life, like Desvanovich, or even the SEER. HER. Things were more than simply not funny. They were urgent to the utmost.

And the supers took it as just that.

As Lillith sent out her emissaries, the supers felt their fear quickly fade, and their hearts were in their throats for another reason. It was party time.

Ben struck some rocky, unpleasant notes to summon a stone for him to sit on, and the fun began. Calling the song quickly to memory, he played vigorously a tune he'd heard a street musician play a couple weeks back. It was plucky and unpleasantly off-kilter, but catchy as hell, and fit his needs perfectly. Rocks jumped from beneath the feet of his foes, unsteadying even the most agile and dexterous supers who came at him. And when they managed to get too close, a quick jolting twang of the strings and they would be blasted back, kept at bay just a little while longer.

And as Ben handled his adversaries with a jazzy and plucky grace, Francesca was not so charming. A solar-powered stun-gun is hardly a nice way to be taken out. Especially not when the dial only has ten settings, and yet has been mysteriously cranked up to 11. From whichever side they came, they would either bump into one another as she dodged them, or take a powerful dose of un-prescribed electroshock therapy to whatever open flesh she could get to. The forehead, the eye, the crotch, it made no difference. As quickly as it recharged, she whipped it out, and it recharged with a speed that was very unfortunate for her enemies.

Even Byne had a good time of combat. It turned out that being cannon fodder had its advantages. Most forms of bodily harm had already been introduced to his exterior, and his interior was protected from too much damage. So, when a strongman came along, thinking he'd cave the poor guy's chest in, he only ended up hurting himself. Not to mention, he could be way more reckless in fighting back. No broken noses from headbutting. No dislocations from punching or kicking too hard. Sure being slammed around was unpleasant, but no damage, nonetheless.

Xiu, however? Not so much. He ran for dear life as he was pursued by a vicious telekinetic, and her energy-blasting sister. He dodged every blast hurled at him. Pillars from the mansion collapsed in front of him, and behind him. Rocks tossed, logs tossed, people tossed, and none managed to find him. Then finally, he could run no more. He was cornered. He braced himself as the two ran straight for him and...ran straight through to the other side of the wall before they could stop themselves. A lovely, lovely hologram put up by Alice.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

And when they finally stopped, the girls would be two of the many taken out by Eugene's bloody armor assault. Whacked to the side like the sniveling insects they were, the two were sapped of their blood upon impact with the wall, allowing Gene's armor to grow even larger and stronger. Normals, fliers, wallcrawlers and others crowded all around him, hoping to subdue him, and it would not be so. A strongman, not quite powerful as Ivan lurched forward and was subsequently the one furthest thrown across the Overlady's yard. This was getting more and more fun by the second, Eugene decided, as he turned back to the others.

As Eugene introduced them all to their deaths, Quentin and Duke tag-teamed against a replicator, a shapeshifter and a couple other supers whose powers were not obvious by looking at them. A swipe here, a jab there, kick, punch, duck, bob, weave, jab, duck, punch, kick. As the feel of combat came easier, it got to be a bit of a game: one would block while the other attacked. Duke fierce and merciless, Quentin deadly accurate, the two had quite a time taking out whatever supers would come at them.

Delilah looked around at the supers that approached her, and it seemed only to excite her. A dextrous super, two strongmen and a malleable super whose hands seemed the only part of her to shapeshift. She braced herself and waited to see who would make the first move. The strongmen would be the first to get the brunt of her effects, as she spun into a frenzied revolution, kicking up dirt and rocks. As she whirled violently, she grabbed the dexter, spinning her so hard that her power meant nothing, and then used her to bat away the strongmen, before tossing her into the malleable super. The malleable knocked out, and the dexter impaled on the malleable's bladed hands, Delilah decided to look for more baddies elsewhere.

And those who didn't come at the others seemed almost to LOOK for Snipe. A thorn generator, a couple normals and a regen. His tongue whipped out like a fleshy whip. Time to get to work. Naturally, the normals were taken out first. He grabbed one, and used him to bat away the thorny redhead. And upon disposing of those two, the regen would be used to bat away the other normal. The regen seemed to be the only problem.

"Dammit, why...won't...you...die?!?!" He continually slammed her from one side of the ground to the other, and she only grinned arrogantly.

Finally, he could bear the annoyance no longer, and simply held her in the air by her neck, and squeezed hard as he could. If her damn neck wouldn't break, she would still suffocate, and that would be good enough.

Jessica blasted a strongman with a powerful hit to the gut. She pounded chests, jaws and crotches with all her might, until only the toughest remained. A durable, a constrictor, a reflexer and a shrinker. They leered closer and closer, and she knocked back the reflexer. Knocked back the shrinker. The last two would pose a bit of a challenge, though. With a touch from the constrictor, her right arm felt numb, and then her left. She put up her legs to kick, and they were numbed as well. The constrictor grabbed her from behind, and pulled her closer than her most boyfriends got on a first date.

"Whatcha gonna do, now, Sweetness? Your hands are kinda...tied up at the moment."

The durable cocked back his fist, and Jessica shut her eyes. This wouldn't be pretty.

BOOOOM. Splat.

Her body reformed and that was that.

Though, perhaps the most fun was still to come.

As the others brawled as hard as they could against Lillith's plethora of minions, a subtle shaking could be felt in the ground. It grew steadily more powerful, and the supers would soon stop cold where they stood to figure out what the hell was going on. It certainly was no earthquake. And it couldn't have been a seismic super. It would've made more noise.

Then a second sound. More like, a mix of sounds. Sounds that didn't belong there, for sure.

"What the f**k?"

"Huh?"

"What the hell?"

"Is that...an elephant's trumpet?"

"Anybody know what sound a giraffe makes?"

"I'll be damned...sounds like a lion..."

It was. As quickly as she had taken off into the wild, gloomy yonder, Vicious had returned with not only Kitty, but an entire army of animals which she had "emancipated" from the zoo.

The unified roar of lions, the demented cackling of hyenas, the untamed neighing of the petting zoo's horses, the outraged trumpet of elephants, and all manner of battle-ready bird calls. Even the serpents and creepy crawlies were a welcome sight under Vicious' command. They easily picked out friend from foe, and foe was gonna get it...

The ostriches fluffed themselves imperiously and sprinted forward in the first line of attack.

Rhinos charged in right behind, lead by the rhino which carried Kitty and Vicious. They would be followed by various monkeys and apes. Some on foot, some mounted on various ruminants.

The lions and their lionesses, fierce as ever, moved in league with their cousins the tigers, the ligers, the jaguars, the leopards and the panthers. Even the much smaller ocelots leaped eagerly into the fray. It would not be a pretty sight when they were done.

And behind them, the alligators and crocodiles, who would make an even worse mess of things.

Overhead, the birds were a swirling matrix of impending doom. The songbirds were valiant even in their small stature, and the medium-sized birds fearless in their great numbers. Though, obviously the most frightening would be their regal counterparts, the birds of prey. The harpy eagles had been flown in just the other day, and they were restless, as were their allies the wild hawks, eagles and falcons. The buzzards, vultures and condors cleared a path through them to pursue any foe who managed to make it to cover.

The zebras bucked and stomped as their parents had on the plains of the Serengeti, and at their flank, the giraffes, unafraid to bash oncoming enemies with their long, powerful necks. Riding them were the chimpanzees, who would leap from their necks and backs to jump on anyone who dared approach their mounts with menace.

Then, in leaped the antelope and the gazelles, allied with the petting zoo's goats and rams. With the cows and their much stronger bulls, they would be a force to be reckoned with.

As the chaos ensued, Tock carefully made her way past it all, calling Duke and Quentin to her side. The Overlady was waiting for them, whether she knew it or not.

The three of them made their way inside, past the others, at blinding speed, but to them, their pace was, at best, a brisk stride. The three of them knew what they must do, and they were ready to do it.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Vandal-Savage Manor==

And as Ella faced her judgment, Lillith seemed more and more near her own. The three moving in hypertime drew nearer and nearer, and hoped to do her in swiftly.

They would have sped toward her in regular time, but something about simultaneously moving faster and slower than everybody else made them all the more excited to face the Overlady.It gave them time to think, and be mentally prepared, but also not to give her the chance to escape. Win-win.

And yet, it was perhaps too good of an idea, because it seemed that Mistress Lil had had the very same one. Sure enough, as the two nearly reached the top, they met with a less-than-friendly trio of temporal manipulators.

Damn, the three thought to themselves, Lil didn't kill ALL of Ella's opposing forces. She had kept the best, or rather, the worst for herself.

The one blonde with her long hair in a ponytail, the other a dark haired male, a much more skilled chronopath than Tock, and the third a husky fellow whose hands glowed. Temporal power had never been visible to Tock before, but it was this time.
He threw a punch at her, missed, and his hand landed on the wall. That portion of wall vanished, utterly blinked from space-time.

Fortunately his effects lay only in his hands, or Quentin would have regretted kicking him in the jaw. He would have also regretted grabbing him by the neck, slamming him face-first into the wall and tossing him down over the staircase banister. Worst of all, he would have rued the day he rushed down that flight of stairs to finish the chunky chrono off. Indeed, if not for that small limitation, things would have been ugly for Quentin.

"Thank God for the little things." Quentin chuckled.

Meanwhile, Tock hatefully handled the blonde. Temporal manipulation by others was simply aggravating as hell. It hummed so loud in her ears, and right before the effect waned, her ears popped. So, with that painfully in mind, she landed blows harder than she had landed before. The normally sweet and quiet Tock booted the girl in the nose and with one last angry motion, and cocked her head back for a mean headbutt, sending Blondie toppling down the stairs.

"I cleaned her clock, so says Tock."

And Duke had even better luck than the other two. As the blonde girl tumbled down the stairs, she was knocked unconscious. And no chronokinetic would mean no hypertime for their chronopath friend. The chronopath sensed it just as the temporal effects went back to normal speed for his mind. Duke looked at him with a smirk, and just vibrated there for a second. He wanted to see how much of a time he'd have of dodging a punch with only a split second's warning from his power. Not much, he would find out.

And with that, they made their way up to the top of the stairs. Quentin and Duke looked at one another and simultaneously put forth their shoes to bust the door in. They charged forward to deal with Black Eden before she had the chance to twitch but...something was wrong.

Tock put her hands on her ears, whimpering weakly as time slowly blurred back to normal. Quentin lost his footing. Return to normal time sucked.

"Hey, what--? My voice. It's...back to normal!" Quentin realized to his dismay, "What the hell did you--?"

"You like it?" Lillith smirked with condescending glee, "I had my mechanic set it up. It's as effective as a good-old-fashioned power negator to render you helpless against me. Let's see how you do without your fancy-schmancy abilities to sneak up on me."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Vandal-Savage Manor==

A gentle breeze blew in on Lillith’s tower, but neither Tock, nor Duke or Quentin took their eyes off of the Overlady. They each wondered how she planned to overcome them. Of course, she wouldn’t come quietly, that would be too easy. And she didn’t seem the type to go all Trelaine, and threaten to blow herself up, taking them all with her. Either way, they would have to think quickly about what to do with her, before she decided to take advantage of their idleness and do something they would regret.

Quentin and Duke ran to either side of her.

“Hold out your hands.” Quentin demanded.

Duke grabbed her by her wrists, putting her hands behind her back, and Tock looked around for something to tie her up with. A rope, a chain, some twine, anything would suffice. As though to answer her subliminal prayer, a maid ran up the stairs from the chaos below to make sure the Overlady was okay. Tock backed behind the door and took her by surprise, grabbing her ponytail from behind.

“Tick tock, maid, so says the clock. Show me supplies or I’ll knock off your block.” The maid panicked at first, but Lillith nodded to her and she calmed down. Tock tightened her grip on the girl’s ponytail and led her outside, down the stairs to the first supply closet the girl pointed out. The two would return shortly with twine to bind the Overlady’s hands.

“Sit.” Quentin snapped, stretching taut a length of twine. Lillith strode elegantly to the chair, looking back to Duke and Quentin briefly, putting the two on edge. They didn’t know whether or not to attack, but she quickly put their suspicions to rest, sitting into the chair demurely and putting her hands on either hand rest. The two leaned in, bound her hands to the chair, and began to look for the machine that negated their powers.

They turned the room upside down, inside and out, searching frantically for it; perhaps Francesca could use the technology at a later date, they decided. Just as they were about to head downstairs to search elsewhere, however, Cosmo appeared up on the balcony, powers perfectly intact…

“What’s the hold-up? What are you guys looking for? And…why’s that dude tied up?”

The three looked at each other in dismay, and then at Cosmo.

“DUDE? What du—?”

The illusionist that concealed herself ran out before any of them thought to react. No longer mentally deceived, Quentin’s perceptions accelerated once more, Tock’s mental clock began again, and the appearance of Lillith’s impostor went back to normal; a curly-haired redhead normal with a scruffy goatee. He begged them not to hurt him, explaining that he had only been her scapegoat, and otherwise had no grudge against them. He was harmless enough, and so they set him free, and went out to find the true Overlady. She would be found at the bottom of the staircase, in the dusty crawlspace, alongside her seer, their location betrayed by the psychic’s sudden sneezing fit.

“Alright,” Lillith hissed as the boys escorted the two of them back to the tower, “So what do you have in mind to do to us?”

The three ignored her. In all honesty, they hadn’t considered it. How they planned to kill the Overlady didn’t exactly come up in friendly conversation. And so they would contemplate it on the way up. They reached the room where they had been before, and tied her up next to her seer. Cosmo saw that everything was handled and so went back off to battle to let Ben know that their objective had been reached. Mission accomplished.

Meanwhile, Lillith looked her captors over. These didn’t seem the type to plan the downfall of sovereigns. In all honesty, they seemed like ragtag punks that SHE might have hired to do HER dirty work.

“You know”, she started, “You are some very talented supers. How you all worked together to capture me and take over my estate? Brilliant. I would pay handsomely for superhumans of your capability.”

“Touching us and COMPELLING us to work for you sounds more your style…” Duke retorted.

The Overlady chuckled. He was right, admittedly. Yet, now was not the time to admit fault. These people had one thing in mind; seeing her gone.

“I suppose you’re thinking of how to kill me now?” She began again, “I, personally, am deathly afraid of heights, if you get my drift. Perhaps you should throw me out the balcony to those animals your friend has running amok down there. Oh, or drowning! Drowning is definitely another of my deeper fea—”

“Would you shut the hell up?!” The seer finally spoke up, causing everyone to look at her, surprised, “Villains are only supposed to monologue when they’re on the brink of WINNING! These people already have you BEAT, and you still run your mouth like you have the upper hand! Honestly, if you stop talking RIGHT now, I’ll agree to let them kill me first!”

The supers chuckled at the outburst, entertained at the lackey’s newfound courage, but Lillith didn’t find it so funny. People hadn’t spoken to her so freely in years.

“G-Greta? How can you speak to me that way?”

The seer closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, unable to contain her outrage any longer. This woman simply didn’t get it!

“Mistre—LILLITH”, she started, getting up the courage she remembered so fondly, “You just don’t understand! I bet you think this is a frightening experience for me, don’t you? Well, it isn’t! I perceived this day MONTHS ago, and I’ve been waiting for it! Believe it or not, I come out of it completely unscathed! It’s YOU who’s got to worry about punishment! You know, to be entirely honest, I actually expected you to catch on earlier…”

The overlady looked at her, wide-eyed, “You…you mean…?”

“I told you when I first came to work for you. My visions are NEVER wrong. Yet, you didn’t think it was odd when my visions began ‘slipping up’? You’re obviously not as clever as you think. So, in case you STILL don’t get it…I’ve been trying to help this day ALONG from the instant I got here! But, just to show you I have no hard feelings, I’ve got one last prediction for you, so simple even YOU can understand…

I’ve perceived the depths of doom//
Of death, and of demise//
I’ve seen the sages changed into fools//
Who once professed themselves wise//”

The supers exchanged entertained glances, yet Lillith couldn’t help but look at her in horrified disbelief. Duke leaned down and, with a chuckle, untied Greta. He warned her not to try anything funny, but she assured him, she had no intention of trying to interfere with fate. Whatever they did to her, she was sure the Overlady deserved. She said her goodbyes to them, wishing them Godspeed with whatever they planned to do, and descended the stairs.

“What?” Ben replied to Cosmo’s wonderful news, “Perfect! Tell them I’ll take it from here. Their services are no longer needed, and they did an excellent job.”

Cosmo ‘ported off to relieve the supers of their duties, leaving Lillith tied up in her deactivated “control chair”. When he saw the four of them come out the front door, Ben pulled out his bass carrying case, and brandished a lovely new wooden bow Cookie had bought him special for tonight. She had foreseen the Overlady’s demise as well, and promised that the first song to pop into mind would be the one to do it.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

He held the bow to the bass, and as soon as it hit him, he played his heart out like it was Opening Night at Madison Square Garden. Out of the lovely mahogany instrument came not one sound, but the familiar overture of “O Fortuna”, voices and all…

The animals who had been wreaking havoc until now hearkened to the sound like soldiers at attention. And as the low notes came to follow that opening overture, the beasts uniformly took off full-speed into the nighttime yonder, as the very essence of Ben’s effects ran through them. All manner of wild and untamed calls rang from their ranks as they galloped, leaped, scampered, trotted, slithered and flew back from whence they came. Vicious and Kitty would have to escort them back to the zoo, so, unfortunately, they would miss the spectacle.

The music continued, Gregorian chants ringing ominously in the air, and Ben continued, undisturbed even by the animals rushing by him at every side. The skies stirred up into a fuss. Clouds began rolling in, breathing forth hateful lightnings and barking savage thunders as the chorus came to the next crescendo.

Through the profound psychic turbulence the song relayed, the winds kicked up like the horses they scared off, and galloped across the battlefield in a rush. They had the trees rapt up in a frightening war dance, tossing leaves about in every direction. And from Ben’s rock perch, a line of green energy emerged, slithering as the snakes had across the yard. It wormed its way past everyone as they observed it in amazement, and crept into the house under the door. It bounced onto the first step, and from there, slid up step by step, coloring its surroundings in the same eerie green glow as it ascended. Lillith listened to the song playing from the chair she once prized, and wonder didn’t come to her mind as she heard the music. Instead, it was fear.

This was her song.

Or rather, the song she was playing the night before she came to the throne. How they knew, she couldn’t fathom, but it was definitely her song. She could remember every Latin verse, word by melancholy word, and it all flooded back to her like it had been only yesterday. How she had kicked and scratched her way into working with the Overlord who came before her, Overlord Roland. How she had become his right-hand, and eventually his lover. How she ended his life so mercilessly while he slept, with a knife through his heart, and framed her partner for it.

She thought to herself, this must be what regret feels like.

Suddenly snapping her from her self-pity, a strange vibration passed through her as the binds that held her came slowly apart. She stood up against her will, becoming transfixed to the ground, and immediately felt as helpless as she had made so many of her victims feel. She had no choice, and her death was imminent. The final choir began, and the words played just as they had in the final moments of Roland’s life.

The green energy finally found the door of the tower, and slipped under it. It circled the Overlady a second, and she gasped, struggling in vain to be free of her immobilization. The green energy continued to circle, and finally started to rise around her as a hoop. She could only look down as little by little, her body changed slowly, painfully, from living flesh and blood…to cold, unfeeling stone.

The hoop of whirling light rose higher and higher. Feet…legs…thighs…stomach…chest…shoulders…neck…

The final notes of her demise played out, grand and magnificent from Ben’s bass. And as her form solidified at last into a statue of her former self, that impetuous wind finally found her window, blowing the statue away into dust…

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Vandal-Savage Manor==

The nighttime sky waned from its rhapsodic uproar, and the supers fell silent again. Ben put down his trusty bass and bow, and stood. He looked at his counterparts, wondering if his power had been as true as Cookie promised. Deep down, he knew that something felt different, but he couldn’t tell what. Finally noticing Francesca through the crowd, he decided to have her check things out.

She looked down to her phone, typed quickly some techno-mumbo-jumbo and looked back to him.

“No signs of life in the tower. And there’s no psychic energy sig matching hers anywhere else in the manor.”

Ben sighed, relieved. Then he turned back to the supers who had called her their Mistress for the duration of her rule. He thought to say some parting words, to apologize, but quickly, Greta made her way from the crowd.

“You have no need to apologize to these people, Ben.” The seer stopped him before he started, “On behalf of the Savage Lady’s departing service staff, I apologize to YOU for ever having been willing to serve her in the first place. These people didn’t have to die, but neither did the people who fell by Lillith’s hand. Leave this place with a clean conscience. We don’t fault you for any of this…”

She put her hand on his shoulder, and he felt a little better. Still, there would be the matter of who would rule Boston next. He called Byne and Francesca to his side.

“Francesca Vera Borges Santos, I honestly have no idea how to end this mess. You know I’m not the type of person to leap into combat! I haven’t got a militarily-aggressive bone in my body! So, that being said, would you mind—”

“Hush up, I’m thinkin’…” Francesca had already begun her selection process, eyeing everybody and remembering what she had observed about them all in combat, before looking back to Greta, “What did you say your name was?”

“Greta. Greta Sanders.”

Without so much as the shortest return salutation, Francesca motioned with a thumb, “I vote her.”

Byne and the bassist looked her over, and it seemed she was the best choice after all. She was poised and cordial, yet courageous, unafraid to speak her mind. And foremost, as Tock and Duke pointed out a while previous, she was not only patient, but incredibly clever. Not to mention, her powers of Precognition would do well to assist her foresight in matters of government and public relations. Yes, Greta Sanders seemed to be the perfect choice for new ruler of Boston and the rest of the Massachusetts Territories.

When the three of them had their say, Ben pulled the rest in to have a look at her.

“Everyone, take a look. What do you think? Does she seem like a good candidate to replace Lillith Vandal-Savage as ruler of Boston?”

The crowd cheered, and began clamoring over who would assist her and how. Some wanted to be advisors, some consultants, some PR agents, but overall, it seemed unanimous that she was their choice to rule.

And so it was settled. After giving them first-hand congratulations on surviving the previous Overlady, and picking out a shiny new one, the supers got their bearings. And with simultaneous sighs of relief, they headed back to where Adam had left waiting the portal to headquarters.