TOTAL ECLIPSO THE HEART [modplot/log]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Everyone who signed up
What| "Total Eclipso The Heart"
Where| Apokolips
When| The same time as "The Ninth Gate" and "The Gone-Away World"
Warnings/Notes| cw: suicide, due to the Catastrophists MO


Apokolips was intimidating enough when it was bleak and dead but now it's even more of a living nightmare. As Eclipso, Catastrophists, and monsters menace the defense garrison, screams cut through the air the way they used to back when Apokolips' old ruler was alive.

Catastrophists toss themselves into the firepits in droves and smoke starts to rise from them. Somehow their sacrificial bloodshed seems to be doing something to the core of the planet. It groans and strains and the ground shakes as machinery under the surface starts to slowly get stoked back to life.

Some of the Catastrophists even rise into the air while wearing winged uniforms and clash with garrison members capable of flight - Apokolips' old parademon troops, reborn in a new form.

This world is a death engine, and if they don't manage to stop it it from restarting, Chronoblivion's forces will have an entire world to make war from.

Comments

PART 1: THE UNMOLDED ONES

[letsgolegion]

Some of the team has been tasked with fighting the monsters to clear the way for the engineering teams to come back in and finish building the threshold gate that can move Apokolips to where the Catastrophists can't get it.

Even as they attack, these half-made creatures beg for death, communicating the ways to stop them to the same victims they're trying to kill.

[ooc: Go ahead and start threads with your partners here.]

[thebioticwoman]

Okay, they might be half-made fallen angels with flaming swords, but that just means they have no knowledge of modern, scientifically-developed fighting styles. Turns out you can hip-throw a person-sized blasphemous entity of shadow and pain almost as easily as you can a mercenary, and the blasphemous entities don't even carry ranged weapons to complicate things. Shepard rips one of the flaming swords out of the creature's many hands as it goes sprawling, and follows up the throw with a slash backed by her full enhanced strength, right through the center of the thing's amorphous mass. Re-form that.

Even if it hadn't been making a respectable attempt to murder Ray and her, Shepard would have defended her actions as a mercy kill, but given the hell the Legionnaires have found themselves in, she doubts the question will come up. In death, or perhaps merely unmaking, the creature melts away, but to Shepard's chagrin, so does her stolen supernatural sword.

"Oh, come on, I wanted to hang that on my wall," she complains to no one as she ducks back into cover, drawing the pistol that she hadn't had time for when the thing had ambushed them. She misses her HUD. "More on the way, Doc. How do you want to play this? I can hold 'em while you make a sprint for the building."

[gonebyebye]

Ray had come armed with a boson pack, rather than his usual proton pack, having foreseen a difficult fight ahead. It was for this reason, among others, that he cocks an eyebrow Shepard's way, being honestly surprised by her suggestion.

"You're kidding, right? I appreciate the sentiment Sentinel" he says, unhooking the boson pack's rifle from his back, "but I don't call myself Ghostbuster because I'm not prepared to fight half-formed abominations from the depths of the multiverse."

That said, he moves out of cover, and aims his rifle at the Spoken.

"Hey uglies! Eat hot fundamental particles!" Ray shouts, and fires. The blast of energy from the gun vaporises one of the angels, and damages two more enough to cause them to fade out of existence.

[thebioticwoman]

Shepard shrugs at Ray's back, but she's smiling. "Okay, frontal assault it is," she says, though Ray's probably too busy loudly shooting fundamental particle death at nightmare angels to hear her.

She throws up a biotic barrier, more from force of habit than need, and follows him out of cover, putting a shot dead center of one of the Spoken that looks like it's getting bright ideas about charging. Eh, probably her imagination. The explosive round goes off, blowing her target to inky black shrapnel. Thanks for the idea, America.

"Not a lot of people are less subtle than I am, Doc," says the woman loading explosive rounds and glowing blue-white.

[gonebyebye]

"I'm hauling around a nuclear-powered particle accelerator on my back." Ray says as he neutronizes another monstrosity.

"Sometimes I use one to blow up gods. Subtlety went out the door years ago. Really, I'm not certain it was ever an option to begin with."

[truefaceofthelaw]

Rico's on Apokolips doing what he does best; running and shooting everything that moves that isn't him. Or the brightly colored one with the dumb looking bucket on his head fighting near him. He's mostly content to ignore his presence in favor of picking out Catastrophists from the sky, which is his way of showing the most respect he'll give to these people.

But he starts to hear a strangely musical sound in the chaos of the battlefield, washed over by the stinging air currents, and Rico cocks his head to the side as he puzzles out what it is. It sounds like... giggling? Is that children?

Rico curses under his breath and starts running towards the sound.

"You! Nova Prime!" he snaps as he passes the man in question, gesturing him to follow with a hand. "You hear that? There are children here."

[iamresponding]

Rich is mostly trying to do the same thing. Fight. Protect garrison members. Avoid hitting the grim-looking guy in an even dumber-looking bucket.

But then the sound of giggling children echoes around them and his hair stands on end. Between the Lovecraft monsters and the space zombies back home, he's learned that the instincts carefully honed by years of watching horror movies are sometimes on point.

"Like hell there are," he says. "Just think for a second. Why would there be random kids in a fight like this? The only people here are us, the garrison, Catastrophists, and monsters."

The giggling is getting closer and starting to surround them.

[truefaceofthelaw]

Rico stops running, not just because his words have gotten through to him, but rather because he recognises that voice. The one with the vaguely familiar Mega City One accent. It pings something ill at ease in the back of his brain, but he pivots smoothly on one heel to cover up his discomfort, scowling viciously.

Sure, it's strange that the children would be laughing instead of screaming, but Rico would be a hypocrite if he said he didn't understand that reaction.

"Exactly. If you won't help, then fine." He snaps. "But their presence is so far-fetched that you'd assume..."

He doesn't quite get to finish that thought. The laughter suddenly surrounds them, and it's pretty difficult to defend his reasoning when several things that are most definitely not children flashes into a corner of his vision from a distance. He grips his lawgiver, training his aim as he backs slightly towards Nova.

[iamresponding]

"-- that I'd assume they're some kind of unholy horror from realms of existence man dare not imagine?" Rich finishes. "Yeah, I'm gonna assume that. That's just how this day has been going."

They start to see them, little creepy etched figures moving towards them with jarring movements. They're not even close to being solid and alive. The only solid thing about them is the very real and solid blood that's spattered on them.

"Oranges and lemons" say the bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings" say the bells of St. Martin's

"Creepy nursery rhymes? Seriously?" Rich blasts at them but it does nothing. "Physical attacks don't seem to be cutting it"

When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich" say the bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney
"I do not know" say the great bells of Bow

They start creeping closer and closer, their movements almost playful. Rich blasts one of the pillar-like constructs of Apokolips so it falls on one of them, but the little sketchy creature just pulls itself out from under it.

"Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head,
Chip chop chip chop - the last man's dead."

"Oh come on."

Way over the top.

Soldier and Healer vs Woes and Fragmented

[orbislife]

Zenyatta's role in this mission has been mostly support. When Legionnaires start falling under dark influences, he uses an Orb of Harmony to guide them back the other way. He has similarly healed wounds and tried to stop as many of the Catastrophists he can from tossing their lives away. Where the Orb of Harmony fails, an Orb of Destruction (or sometimes the orbs themselves) to the head does the trick. They cannot throw themselves to the fire if they are unconscious.

He also keeps an eye on Washington. Zenyatta wants to help the man to come out of this mission in better condition than the last. He's not babysitting Wash, merely checking in from time to time and offering his aid when needed.

"Washington, be wary. I sense something approaches us." It could be the heat of the fires that cause the air to shimmer and swirl in the distance, but it could be something else entirely as well.

[unrecovered]

Wash is pretty damn certain Zenyatta is keeping tabs on him, even in the middle of the chaos. On one hand, he feels like he should be offended, because he can damn well handle himself; on the other hand, he sure hadn't been acting like it when he'd met Zenyatta, and he can't exactly blame the guy for making sure a teammate comes out the other side of a mission in one piece.

"It's Freelancer in the field, Avatar." No better time to test terrible nicknames that may or may not work, right? "And this place is playing hell with my motion trackers. Do you have a direction?" Between the shifting scenery and the aerial combat, his motion trackers are false flagging so badly they're just about useless to him.

[orbislife]

"My apologies, Freelancer." Maybe at a later time, Zenyatta will comment and ponder on the name he was just called. (He also files away the need to learn everyone's heroic name after the mission.) However, he's more concerned about the disturbance he feels. The shimmering becomes more pronounced, and it appears to grow larger. Or... is it coming closer?

"The location is at your 5:00." Zenyatta opts for that directional instead of saying South South East, hoping it would be understood quicker and accurately. "I believe it is coming nearer or growing larger." Both?

it's only been a literal month 8DDDDD

[unrecovered]

At your 5 is speaking Wash's language, and he turns to face the- the-

His brain stutters a bit trying to categorize the entity rapidly approaching them, and after a moment he gives up and bypasses that process entirely. He'd like a fucking week where he doesn't have to deal with a brand new horror movie monster trying to kill him. Is that too much to ask?

That question's not going to do anything for him now, and he dodges out of the creature's path, turning to take a shot with stun ammunition-

That does nothing. Great. "Any ideas?"

PART 2: THE EVIL WITHIN

[legionnpcs]

"I'm going to open you up and see what's inside," Eclipso hisses as she pins each of them down, traps them, transforms them. "Your deepest darkest fantasies of ultimate power. You will be my champion. My beast."

Black energy flashes.

"Witness the monster within!"

Re: PART 2: THE EVIL WITHIN

[gonebyebye]

Dark light flashes over Ray's body. What darkness lurked in the heart of the he who hunts monsters was revealed as the light dissipated and Ray got to his feet.

"Was that supposed to do anything?" Ray asks, completely unchanged.

for Rich

[thebioticwoman]

"Not on the first date," Shepard manages to get out through gritted teeth before the dark energy (and not the familiar biotic kind, either) washes over her in a surge of irresistible power, and even her considerable self-control can't help her bite back a scream.

As Eclipso backs off to watch her handiwork take effect, the external change ripples across Shepard's Legion uniform, transforming it into a set of battle-scarred armor, dark gray and red and as ever displaying the elite N7 badge. And guns. Can't forget the guns. Anchored to her back are enough to equip a squad, the strange compact mass effect weapons of her home universe replacing the Legion-issued ones she'd had before.

After a disoriented moment, Shepard hops to her feet, rolling her shoulders as she looks down at herself, seemingly ignoring Eclipso. She holds her right arm up across her torso, almost like she paused a salute halfway, and around her hand and forearm springs up an elaborate construction of orange force fields forming a computer interface. Shepard makes a fist, and from the fields wrapping over the back of her hand springs a wicked-looking blade, almost two-dimensional and glowing white-hot.

"Heh." Shepard smirks at Eclipso as she she takes a couple of experimental swings with the omni-blade. "I guess you are good for something."

[iamresponding]

Realizing that this is just not going the way she planned, she reaches for the next nearest Legionnaire and grabs Rich, transforming him as well. When the black energy fades and he finishes the gruesome transformation, he turns to Shepard, breathing heavily, manifested into the perfect evil shape of...

Of himself. He hasn't changed into anything weird. It's just that he looks older, like his hair's just starting to get peppered with gray. His uniform looks a little less superhero-ey and a little more law enforcement..ey. He even has a big shiny police badge pinned to his chest now. By all accounts he looks like a highly successful and decorated commander of some kind of very successful police force. He's at least in his sixties, but he looks pretty good for an old dude.

"You almost made me spill my coffee. Blue Blazes," he says to Eclipso, frowning, trying to recover from said near-spill to calmly take a sip. The coffee is in a "Galaxy's Best Boss" mug.

After swallowing, he looks at Shep, and looks back up at the mystified ex-angel, and says, "You really didn't think this cunning plan through, did you." He turns to Shep, "She really didn't think this through."

[thebioticwoman]

"They never do." She shakes her head, turning back to Eclipso. "Do you honestly think everyone secretly wants to be sitting on a throne of skull--eh, stupid question, you probably do." As Shepard realizes she's giving Eclipso too much credit, her eyes start to glow with the blue-white of a powered-up biotic. "Let's find out just how immortal you really are."

Shepard has deep and unshakable principles, but none of them involve anything that might reasonably be described as pacifist.

OTA

[truefaceofthelaw]

Rico wears his darkest fantasies on his sleeve. He already partakes in them. But deeper than that, past the superficial sexual gratification and trappings of power and money, is something that he can't have but desperately craves.

What emerges from the chrysalis of dark energy is Rico, but different. He's kneeling, head bowed, wearing an elaborate golden eagle on his chest. The Chief Judge. The ultimate authority in Mega City One, the city he loved and owned. His shoulderpads catch the light of the fires of Apokalips, and reflect a strangely warm gleam. It's gold - he's covered in real gold, from his chain and badge to his shoulders, to anyone who would recognize it.

The most striking difference is that he looks older. More mature, more settled into his body but no less confident, and radiating an imposing presence that pulls heavy on the atmosphere around him. He gets up to his feet to face Eclipso, slight lines pulling at the corner of his mouth as he smirks, casual and languid in every hard angle of his body.

"How about you shut your drokking mouth, lady? I don't have to bend the knee to anyone. You don't own me. You didn't make me."

Slowly, consideringly, he turns away as he spits at her, waving a dismissive hand behind him in a deliberate show of careless disdain.

"I'm not just property anymore - I'm a person now. I don't jump for you. Not anyone, and not anymore."

He snaps his finger and points at the nearest legionnaire, his voice layered with an impossible authority.

"But you on the other hand... Kneel."

[orbislife]

Zenyatta doesn't know Rico beyond the fact that they are on this mission together, but he saw Eclipso encase the man in dark energy. Something must be done. Not knowing a person never stopped him from aiding them.

"You be--" His words are forgotten at the sensation of Rico growing taller. But, that's not it at all. Zenyatta looks down at the ground beneath him, puzzled. It was as if gravity chose that moment to become stronger and caused Zenyatta to hover lower. The moment passes quickly. Zenyatta returns his normal hovering height. "You belong only to yourself, but this... this is not you. It is Eclipso."

[truefaceofthelaw]

"Can't always take a thing like that for granted. You're one to talk about belonging to yourself, droid."

Rico looks with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, even as he's seemingly puzzled that he doesn't stay down. "Who do you belong to, I wonder?" he muses, drumming his fingers on his daystick in a patient rhythm as he comes down from his outcropping of rock to circle Zenyatta like a buzzard, his heavy tread shattering the earth beneath him with every footstep.

"This is the most me I've ever felt since coming here," he says as he spreads his arms wide open. The gold on his chest gleams in the light, against the wink of a ruby set in an eagle's eye, reflecting the obsessive spark in his visor. "This is who I'm supposed to be. Don't try to tell me that this doesn't feel right."

PART 3: ECLIPSO - Rich, Wash, Ray

[legionnpcs]

"Fools. There's no point in fighting. Even if you were to defeat the Herald who freed me, I won't be so easily overcome. I've existed since the beginning of time, since before my Creator wasted His will on the creation of you pathetic creatures."

She bares her teeth at them, her dark eye gleaming with energy.

"It was I who drowned the world in the great flood, who brought down the walls of Jericho. This time I will plunge the Earth and all worlds beyond into Eternal Darkness."

Re: PART 3: ECLIPSO - Rich, Wash, Ray

[gonebyebye]

"Oh shut your piehole lady. We've all that speech before. Repeatedly. Which says a certain something about how well it's actually worked." Ray snaps at Eclipso.

"That should do it," he says quietly to the others. "Remember the plan. Keep her mad and keep her chasing us all the way to the gate.:

[unrecovered]

On one hand, Wash is really goddamn tired of overpowered cosmic otherworldly entities waltzing in and fucking things up for everybody.

Then again, Wash is also really good at pissing people off. Might as well play to his strengths.

"Got it," he murmurs, then raises his voice. "Is that what you're bragging about? 'I blew shit up five thousand years ago, but I haven't done anything since!' You're a cosmic has-been. No wonder God's moved on to making better things."

[iamresponding]

Despite the whole...debacle with Rich getting arrested and all the fuss about Dr. Ry'kerr Rich falls in with Wash's lead immediately. He's still working out how he feels about being confronted the way he was, but one thing he does know is that he trusts Wash in a lot of things.

...Maybe even the stupid therapy thing is something he'll look back on as something he was wrong about and something Wash was right about. Who knows.

Either way, he jumps right in.

"Technically, the Biblical flood probably didn't actually happen 5000 years ago? You know, carbon dating and everything. The world's pretty old. That means you haven't done anything worthwhile in, oooh, at least tens of thousands of years? Probably?"

He blasts at her - a blast mostly meant to annoy - and tries to keep blasting at her to knock her off guard so they can all get into position. He uses the Nova Force arm that he uses in place of his prosthetic while fighting to swing up into some pipes and mechanical nonsense for cover.

Wash's powers make him better at being the big annoying target - the carrot. They work best when he gets right in there. And his powers, which make him a glass cannon, are the big stick. Lots of oomph, provided that he can avoid getting hit.

He hates fighting like this, so indirectly, but he can give Wash and Ray better cover this way. He can keep changing positions any time it looks like she's about to get the drop on either of them, and can snipe when she's distracted by attacking them. And if he can get a shot lined up to take out that dangerous blackened eye with a focused gravimetric pulse...all the better.

"Wash is right, no wonder The Big Guy traded up," Rich says, after blasting her with another concentrated Nova Force blast, and disappearing once more. "Sounds like that sure was a messy divorce, though."

He lets out a low whistle and changes positions again.