The Blood Stained Rose & A Dragon with a Heart of Stone (Thistle/Blood Weaver VS Sul-Fury/Xiaolongnu)

The onslaught had begun. Elena Vexus had made her move and has already restrained the Cabinet members and the President himself. At the moment she is waiting for her air lift to arrive to bring them back to the Genesis Vi Headquarters back in New York City. She has commissioned a handful of MetaHumans in order to help her in the assault. As time passes, the military forces will only become more forceful and though Elena is powerful, she cannot fight off an entire army. Vexus has placed all of these Metas in different key points in the D.C. area based on their skills and various abilities. They will have the responsibilities of fending off any Military advancements as well as any heroes that may be fighting against Vexus' cause.
Those who Vexus has picked to defend the Memorial Bridge go by Thistile and Blood Weaver. This bridge will be a heavier traffic area, giving reason for Blood Weaver's presence. With the area being quite populated due to Ms.Magic's appearance there will be much more 'ammunition' at his disposal. As for Thistle, there is much power and command to be had over nature and it is not one to be underestimated. Vexus knows this from personal experience.

Once Vexus' ride arrives the services of those she had recruited will no longer be needed, and it would be in their best interest to flee the area as soon as they can. Elena tends to be unpredictable in victory, or defeat. Her chopper will be easy to spot as it will most likely be the only non military air vehicle heading away from all the conflict. Everyone here is fighting for the future. Not only for the future of this country, but the entire world as a whole.

People crowded in the streets, looking high up into the air at a large screen suspended in the air. Dazed and confused, they were all watching the scene of their world changing. Everyone held their breaths, and stood still as statues as the news reporter was giving global news of an attack on the White House. In the far distant background, nothing but chaos ensued. Taxi cab drivers and delivery vehicles alike crowded up the street, unable to move from the unending traffic that ensued.

"What's going on?" Sul asked a bystander who had been witnessing the news longer than he had. As the man shifted his eyes at Sul, he was a bit taken back by his features. But that was the world they lived in, metahuman and humans alike needed to be together. The man quickly looked back at the screen and informed Sul-Fury that the place was under assault by Elena Vexus. "Who?" He thought. He was so focused on other villains, he didn't even hear of ones who were major threats to the world. That much of him needed to change, and in fact, it was going to change today. He was going to stop her, that was his mission for today. Taking off sprinting, he wondered if he would make it in time before she escaped.

Sul had thought the traffic on the way to the White House would be massively backed up. But in fact, he was only partially correct. The lanes were flooded of all the people trying to escape the area, but obviously, nobody was rushing towards the danger zone. Except Sul-Fury, that is. Running in long, full strides, he wasn't wasting any time. He accelerated his speed to metahuman rates and was moving faster than any car in the area possibly could have transported him. Nothing was getting in his way, until he got to the bridge.

It was so jam-packed full of people, they began to get impatient, with the danger looming behind them and all. They began driving on the wrong side of the road to try and pass traffic. A collision resulted, only backing up the civilians even more. People began getting out of their vehicles, abandoning them and running through the streets to flee. Sul moved his body through the area, and came across the car wreckage of the accident from earlier. If he could move the car, perhaps people could move traffic faster and flee. Pushing the vacant car out of the way and onto the shoulder of the road. People honked their horns and sped off in manic manner. Was he a traffic policeman or a Hero? He looked past the bridge, where the White House was within his grasp. The place he was destined to reach and stop Elena Vexus from assuming her control.

A woman with a small child began to try and run in the streets, only to meet head-on with a car speeding on the bridge to flee as well. Leaping inbetween the two, Sul placed his right hand forward at the vehicle and crushed its front bumper and hood, stopping the engine completely. Sul however, did not budge an inch or give way to the vehicle at all. The man jerked his head forward from the impact, but luckily for him he had been wearing his seatbelt. The woman and her small child ran off, continuing down the road. The man, afraid of Sul-Fury got out of his car and began running away too. Sul-Fury let out a sigh of relief, nobody had been hurt yet.

Yumo was walking across the bridge in a sort of bored tone. He figured he'd take front lines and intercept the first wave of people. After all those were his orders. He was supposed to, with the help of the lady that he met earlier in his life, stop by any means human or meta-human that wanted to stop what she was doing. He was supposed to just basically delay them until her ride got there, then she could do as he please whether it was fight or run. He already knew that he would probably fight unless this lady was about to do something insane when she left.

Yumo looked at the angry people who were raging about the huge amount of traffic and decided to help them cope with there rage. He looked around and decided to take a nearby car and toss it into the air. The people gasped and screamed to get away. Yumo wasn't going to do anything to them...yet but he was kinda bored and needed some entertainment. He laughed at the people as they ran away screaming and crying. The occasional kid got lost or just witnessed his parents get badly injured as the Demon slowly walked closer and closer; constantly tossing cars into the air.

"Oooo who is that?" Yumo asked with immense interest.

Down the bridge he saw a guy completely stop a car saving a woman who was about to be roadkill. Yumo smiled and dashed for the guy. His speed maxed quickly and he was but a blur on the bridge as he weaved through cars. He finally stopped when he was just across from the tall guy. He was at the mans backside so unless he had super senses or eyes in the back of his head Yumo wouldn't be noticed. He watched the guy curiously for a couple of minutes to see what he would do.

"Hey Mr. my names Blood Weaver what's yours." He called to the man with great happiness.

He's never really met anybody that could be stronger than him so he was overly excited to meet this guy.

A military helicopter flies overhead, close to the bridge. The modified Blackhawk had special features, but blended in with all the other military craft flying about. The side door opens, and Xia looks down on the situation on the bridge. She wore the domino mask given to her by Knightwatch, as well as grey-and-black military fatigues, improved with shiny regenerative nano-fabric. Trying to armor Xia was redundant though, and all it was good for was to provide reliable clothes.

“Please let me down here.” She said, speaking into the helmet’s microphone piece and patting the pilot on the shoulder.

“Ellie said you need to get to the White House immediately. The Yanks need their arses saved today.” The female pilot said, speaking in a british accent and most definitely not a member of the United States’ Air Force. Bernadette St.Croix had been tasked to deliver the Dragon Girl to Washington, and done it post haste.

“Those people on the bridge also need saving. and If I'm needed somewhere I can fly... kind of.” Xia said, lightly insisting her point. The pilot conceded rather easily, seeing the growing mess on the Memorial Bridge and all the people down there.

“There’s alot of people in trouble down there. Good luck, Dragon Girl. We’ll keep in touch.” She said, bringing the helicopter around directly over the river.

“Thank you very much.”

Xia simply walked out the chopper and free-fell into the river, making a splash, and swam the rest of the way to the bridge, jump-climbing up the bridge’s piers, and over the railings. Then she began assessing the situation, seeing a car flying through the air due to a metahuman with probable high strength. The car dangerously careens in a random direction and unsure if there were occupants within, catches it and gently sets it down.

The tall Xia sees people all around fleeing the bridge, which was good. She spots a few people trapped as cars get boxed in, making escape too difficult. Xia heads over promptly to move cars apart and give them space to open their doors. After all, ripping open car roofs just aggravated the car owners.

“Please get away as far as you can from here, miss.” Xia said, speaking in Dragon Girl Engrish as she helped a middle-aged blonde woman out of the vehicle.

“...Th...thanks...” She ran away, as scared of Xia as the rest of the situation. Xia was hardly surprised.

Once she’d helped a few people only then did Xia look around to better appraise the situation... she knew she had a greater responsibility, so she would settle the situation on the bridge as soon as she could.

The people; The Plague, converged on the other side of the bridge. The ones on their feet moved like liquid, desperately trying to squeeze through any gap they could find while the ones in the poison spluttering vehicles were more selfish, cramming and slamming into one another foolishly praying that science would break it's rules and allow them to morph through one another. They didn't. When they touched they created a mess of twisted metal and flames. And then they scrambled from their cars in order to join the masses of liquid people. Quite a pathetic sight.

Thistle, sat across the bridge watching the events occur quite blissfully. Every stupid action they did further went to reinforce her point that they were lesser beings compared the plants. The only stupid decision plants made was to not be fire proof. Looking around her she admired the little throne she'd made from a tree before she glanced at her assigned partner: Someone called Bloodweaver. She'd met him before. In a small town along the outskirts of New York, and the last time they met they were fighting on the opposite sides but it appears that he has broken the human trend and made a smart decision. He has decided to fight with her rather than against her. A decision she approved off as it meant she didn't have to dirty her foot by crushing the fly under it. When she saw him stand and approach the bridge they'd be assigned to protect while their temporary leader Elena Vexus awaited a helicopter, she knew it was time to act.

She stood up and began to walk from the brush to the concrete road which was feeding from the bridge and raised an eyebrow. The Bloodweaver was throwing cars aside; experimenting like a child. Toying with some flesh sacs inside their metal skin like they were some curious trinket. While she admired the torment on the faces within the car she couldn't help but be agitated that he had been clearing the road when more cars would have provided an effective blockade. It seemed she would have to have nature take over the only useful thing they were doing. She tilted her head when she saw Bloodweaver standing infront of what appeared to be a statue. How odd, she wondered - scratching her wrist.

She sighed before looking to the left, biting her lip. 'Twas now time for her to make the danger that was present obvious. Maybe scare away some of the rats and meta-humans she'd been assigned to stop getting through. Holding out her hands, the roots from the tree she was sat on heeded her call and slithered through the dirt under the road. The concrete cracked slowly at first but they eventually expanded into noticeable veins in the stone. Laughing, she patiently extended both her arms to either side as if she were being crucified before breaking the serene tone and slamming her foot onto the rock.

The roots under the road exploded upwards like spires, and burst from the sides of the bridge coiling around it like a boa constricts it's prey. The sides of the roads splintered sending shards of grey matter into the river. The white root towers bursting from the ground violently twisted together before spawning bark along their skin. The wooden skin spawned briars. The briars spawned thorns and the thorns spawned the blockade. It stretched across the stone limb that was the bridge and prevented most passage across. Smiling at her work Thistle walked towards it, the blockage brushing apart to allow it's queen to pass through it's body. And when she passed, the wood and thorns crossed over, resuming their nearly impenetrable state.

She found herself smiling once more when the humans scurried away from the beauty of nature. They feared that which was better. It was something she already knew but the fact still amused her. Holding it to the side, she extended her hand like a lady is awaiting a gentleman to help her out of a car and sure enough, a green tentacle slithered from the wooden mass behind her and assumed the role. Then beneath her feet, a wooden pillar extended - holding her above the masses. She wanted to get a view of any approaching threats. Something caught her eye however...

There was one of the flying metal containers; one of the things they'd be put here to wait for, flying nearby. A figure had leapt out of it unseen, and Thistle raised an eyebrow. The one she was awaiting had been vaguely described to her and this one only resembled it in two ways. It flew, and had blades on top. A smirk bloomed across her lips before she extended a smooth figure towards it. The wood groaned as rough tendrils of bark extended from the blockage and coiled around a nearby car. She maintained the point before thrusting her wrist forward. Almost immediately the wooden limbs extended upwards and threw the car directly towards the end of the vessel. There was about to be a Black Hawk Down...

A voice rang to his side, as he slowly shifted his head. How long had he been standing there? Looking him up and down, he seemed a bit too lax to be casually engaging Sul in conversation. Slight caution overcame Sul, but he didn't feel too threatened. Yet. His initial reaction was a slight scowl. He wasn't here for casual conversation, but to prevent a worldwide catastrophe. He had to get to the other side of that bridge and to the capitol before Elena Vexus escaped.

"My friends call me Sul." He responded bluntly. "I'm sorry I have no time to waste. Something more terrible than traffic is happening in the city. I'm going to stop it." Of course, the name was based off his 'hero' name. But that was how most people knew him these days. Sul pulled himself off the wreckage of the vehicle effortlessly and continued down the path of the bridge turning his back to Blood Weaver. That's when something quite unexpected happened. As Sul-Fury progressed down the road, the bridge was being transformed into a botanical environment. With roots sprouting and turning into trees, it was actually something beautiful in his eyes.

However, the plants had sinister intentions as someone else was pulling their strings. The growth spurts launched a car into the air whirling high over Sul-Fury's head and towards a helicopter. Nothing Sul could do at this point would save the helicopter. He whipped his head back slightly to watch its progression before returning his gaze back to the open road before him. Whatever was going on, this seemed like it was meant to prevent him from continuing. Someone had been planning this a long, long time. He would have to turn his progress into more than a jog if he were to get past this. He began to run as fast as he could, trying his best not to collide with any of the sprouting roots.

Yumo was about to say something else when the Sul brushed him off. Just as he did thistle unleashed her wickedly beautiful plants. Thorns and vines rushed out everywhere as if it was reaching for a hand it couldn't touch. It coiled itself blissfully around several parts of the bridges and a wall of thorns was formed on one end of the bridge. Yumo smiled again when he saw a car go flying towards a helicopter, then he noticed something drop out the corner of his eye but it was too fast for it to be worth his attention.

"I'm sorry mr. Sul." Yumo said as he launched streams of blood quickly past the giant in an attempt to block his path.

The blood formed into spears and impaled several cars at a perfect spot, and caused them all to explode. Yumo licked his lips at the violence then leaned back onto the hood of the car to face the other end of the bridge. He pointed to the top of the bridge and several tendrils of blood shot out and rushed towards the other end of the bridge. Once it reached it's destination it parted and began to shoot down and form a giant living wall. The blood inside the wall was changed and manipulated to be more acidic than water. A normal human would walk in and get stuck and be watched by everyone as he was slowly eroded away. When yumo figured that would hold up that side of the bridge for a few minutes he then began to head towards sul to block his path.

The modified Black Hawk’s sensors picked up the incoming projectile. Bernadette follows her training and punches the bail switch, launching her out the pilot door just as the tree connected with the craft, causing it to spin out of control.

“Bloody eagleland and its metahumans!” Bernadette shouted, throwing a foam grenade into the river as she plunged into the cold waters.

Xia looked on, taking a few steps away from the plants that overtook the bridge, and then as Bernadette’s chopper was struck and crashed. She was relieved that the experienced mercenary was able to evacuate the craft in time.

This was no longer a case of rescuing people from the bridge but having evil to beat up. She looked around and saw two more figures on the bridge in a confrontation, one large one who tried to move forward, and another creating barriers of blood... but no, up ahead was the one responsible for the plants around, keeping the people in. Xia’s superior senses picked up a female figure sitting on a tree. Her blood boiled with anger, but she kept it in check, thinking of a way to approach her opponent. The terrain all around was difficult, and she had demonstrated the ability to manipulate it. Xia could be  quickly pulled down before even reaching Thistle.

Xia leapt over the bridge once more and got into the river, going to the far end out of sight. She worked herself into a mood, and by the time she emerged from the river to flank Thistle from behind, Xia was now in her dragon form. Over the past months Xia’s dragon form grew larger and heavier, and more bony growths appeared over her body.

“ROOOAAAAAAAR!!!”

She roared in anger, attempted to tear Thistle from her throne, by fangs like swords, or by claws like spears, or by  a tail like morning stars; it mattered little, as Xia’s entire body was a weapon.

Thistle's head tilted to the side, she watched Bloodweaver talking to the statue man: Who quickly reacted to the plantlife that had began to grow with little warning. There was a twinkle in his dead grey eyes... admiration perhaps. 'Twas the expected response from anyone with any sense when they saw the power of nature. Everyone else only seemed to see fear it, which was an acceptable response as well but much more... primitive. Bloodweaver finally made himself useful once the rock man began to move towards her by making some form of red blockade. Blood she assumed, unless he named himself Bloodweaver for the sole reason of sounding like a child. Checking her dark green nails before blowing on them ever so gently. The helicopter she'd thrown the car at had been incinerated, and with it the human(s) who were residing within it. Everything was going well.

The vegetation was beginning to grow outwards in less hostiel ways. Grass spread across the road, with beautiful red flowers being born within seconds. Moss curled around the cracked rocks and despite the brutality of the scene it all looked quite serene. She crossed over her legs and was about to exhale, but was violently interupted by a large monstrous roar. Looking over her shoulder alarmed, the figure of a gigantic dragon stood on the bridge and was running straight towards her. The pillar she was on twisted and before the claws of the beast ripped into her body she feed into the wood, turning into leaves along it's surface and the leaves became wood and then nothing. Behind the monster in the grass, leaves scurried like insects conjoining in one spot, swirling like a whirlpool.

Her hands appeared first, fingers stretching upwards. Then came her head and shoulder, rising from the vegetation. She had her arms extended over her head before they slithered down her figure to her hips. Once her feet had appeared she remained stationary. The plants however; did not. Along the floor, roots and briars exploded upwards around her feet, swirling and coiling - attempting to grasp her in place and slam her into the road.

Red spears hailed over Sul-Fury's head and landed in front of him on cars in the middle of the road. Surprisingly accurate, it caused them to explode immediately. Not changing his pace to consider the consequences, the flames engulfed him and lit his entire upper body on fire. However, he did not feel any different as the flames hit him. His affinity to flames protected him from them, and the debris from the explosion just merely bounced off his rock-hard skin and harmlessly fell to the ground. His run slowed down to a light jog, and then a full stop. Sul shifted his body and turned his head to look at Blood Weaver, who was creating some sort of barrier made of the same substance that made the cars explode in front of him. Something was going on, but he didn't know what. And he didn't like it. After his barrier was complete, Blood Weaver began approaching Sul-Fury. He stood there still as the statue he appeared to be, until he was within earshot of Sul a ways down the road.

"I didn't mean to be rude, but I'm in a hurry. Don't take it the wrong way, but don't get in my way." The man responded bluntly, who was covered from the upper torso up, including his face and head in flames from the explosion. His chemically combustive genetic makeup made the fire spread more rapidly than fire would normally burn, as his waist began to flash from ignition as the flames spread down his body. That's all Sul took from his actions so far. So far, he had just been getting in his way. Sure, the explosion could have been lethal to a normal human, but he let it slide this time. He was going to make sure the guy was gone for good this time. Of course, Sul wasn't a killer. But he was known to rough people up if they deserved it.

Flowers grew around the two, as Thistle made her scene a lot more... enjoyable. Though, if his flames spread past his feet, they would destroy them. Still a strange phenomenon. Sul wondered if it was this 'Blood Weaver' that made this occur too. Just what was his ambition?

Yumo stared at the giant with happy eyes. He was very excited to see that he wasn't picking a fight with some weakling who would just stop at the sight of fire. Instead he walked right through it like it wasn't there. True it should have put Yumo on edge but it didn't, it just made him want to fight the guy more. However Sul seemed the least bit interested as he began to speak to yumo like he was an annoyance.

"I'm really sorry, but my job for the day is to make sure nobody interrupts Miss. Vexus as she tries to make her great escape." He said calmly shrugging as if it was out of his hands.

He then ran to block the way between sul and thistle just as some giant dragon appeared and tried to attack thistle. Yumo looked back for a second to check on the Plant Princess, but she seemed to be just fine. He turned back to sul and looked at him to see what he would do next, and as this went on flowers and vines began to slowly creep across the ground.

Dragon!Xia slides to a halt from the forward momentum of her attack, taking a moment to see if it was that easy to resolve the situation. She had precious little time though, as the plants and briars all around began to animate, and clearly intended to entangle her. Xia beats her wings and flies around, the air buffeting them back with strong wind. She also uses her tail to thresh at the plants; while able to crack concrete, the sheer mass of vegetation meant she started to get tangled.

Xia clawed at them with her hind legs, slicing through a layer, but the plants seemed extremely persistent. More and more grasped at her limbs and wings, though as always her sharp bony growths meant while she could be slowed, Xia moved enough to be extremely difficult to root without concentration.

Her rage filled eyes fell upon Thistle where she reanimated and stood, and unable to reach her effectively, the dragon let loose an immense, supersonic roar that shook the bridge itself and set off car alarms; the force of the roar kicked up a massive dust cloud originating from Xia, and the immense sonic energy (str 9, sonic attack 4.5) would likely slam into Thistle.

The beast was caught in nature's web, the ever growing plants circling and crushing around her body in a seemingly never-ending cycle. The monster's attempts to thrash and flies were all in vain as vegetation coiled it's limbs in place. Just as all hope seemed lost, the dragon's maw opened and from it's mouth came an almighty sonic roar. The dust that flew from the floor blinded Thistle and then the sonic waves sent her soaring backwards. She was about to impact the floor with a massive thud but instead the grass reached up and wrapped around her in a matter of milliseconds. The grass morphed downwards before Thistle's body rose from it again in a similar way as before. Her lip was bleeding and her leg had greeny yellow blood trickling down it's form.

Her arm rubbed across her lip, and grunted before exhaling slowly. With a contempt look on her face she drew her arm upwards, calling out to the dragon's botanical restraints. Immediately, all of them began to churn side to side and their green form sprouted with devastating thorns which moved with the churning, possibly slicing into the dragon's flesh. Her other hand was drawn towards the floor and the vines began to clamp around her head and tried to smash it into the concrete. That aught to shut it up, she thought.

She briefly examined her leg, shivering at the stinging sensation. A slice had made it's way across her thigh. A nail ran along it before she allowed a purple tongue to slither across her nails, tasting her own blood. "That. Hurt.". She felt a pain inside her chest as well, probably suffering from some form of internal damage too.


-------


The grass that grew underneath Sul-Fury's feet felt a structure it it's path. They rapidly began to grow it length and began curling around his feet - trying to overcome him like they had taken over most of the bridge.

The cars around the two had been mostly covered, flowers sprouting in a manner of seconds making the scene of devastation much more economically friendly. A poor women who had passed out in fear and fallen on the road had vines and flowers growing around her. Some of the plants even found their way into her mouth and had slowly began to grow inside her body, but in a few moments her body would be invisible and easily mistaken as another mound of plant-life.

A side effect of all the flowers was that the air was beginning to smell very enjoyable. As if one were stood in the middle of the forest.

Blood Weaver circled around Sul as he began to tactfully block off his route to the battle that would take place past them between the Dragon Girl and Thistle. He let him though. Sul was easily capable of outrunning the metahuman that was before him. Finally exposing himself as being in league with Elena Vexus, the very person he was in route to stop. This was but a rouse to keep him detained until she could escape. Looking past Blood Weaver as he spoke, he noticed something taking place up ahead. A skirmish taking place up further down the road.

A dragon appeared to be attacking a young girl in the distance. And by the look of things, it was starting to win. It tossed her a distance, and appeared to wound her, but the plants caught her. If he didn't do something, it may devour her or something. In the chaos that it was, he was thoroughly confused. But he still felt obligated to do something, despite Blood Weaver continually getting in his way.

"Hey! Leave her alo-" he began to shout, as vines began to twist and tangle around his ankles, his attention was diverted as he felt their strong grasp tighten on him. Straining and stretching his legs, he tore apart from their grasp with great difficulty, but eventually succeeded. These plants were tough. Once free, he raised up his head at Blood Weaver, who stood in his path.

"Ready or not, here I come.." he grumbled in a low undertone. His body lunged forward, darting full speed towards Blood Weaver, if he didn't get out of the way quick, Sul was going to blow him away like a steam train.

If it wasn't for the distance he put between him and this sul man Yumo would've been recovering from a bum rush from hell.  Yumo grabbed the car next to him without thinking and leaned a little out of sul's way.  If he was as fast as he was letting on to be then this was going to surprise him, at least yumo thought so.

It was clear that this guy saw him as no threat, heck the bum rush that was aimed at yumo wasn't even meant to harm yumo just make him run, and that was something he didn't like.  Once Sul was close enough Yumo swung the car at full strength in the opposite direction that Sul was running.  If this move worked it was going to connect a clean an violent blow to Sul's upper region.