A not-so-alien abduction (Closed: Khellendros, Vanguard, Were-alien kind)

Hearing that he was believed to be owed a debt, Khell cracks a smile from behind his helmet, "Debts can only be paid in this life, I have no intention of collecting in the next. If it exists that is." watching Hɇtallos kneel to the ground set off warning bells in Khellendros' mind. What are you playing at? Planting Wrath point down in the ground before him, he focuses solely on his intended opponent. "Malys, flank to the opposite side of Tsxero, cover him and make sure our gesture isn't wasted by him being turned into a carpet stain please? You're our damage Synch in this fight." "OK." Malys strides in the opposite direction of Tsxero in an attempt to meet him where Hɇtallos is kneeling, with what haste she is capable of given her current body. Khellendros simply watches as the other three carry out their initial attacks. Watch carefully, you've seen similar openings before somewhere... But what will he do? His silent question was answered when Hɇtallos suddenly vanished from his position on the patch of dirt he occupied. Well... he didn't move but the best guess would be he isn't there anymore. He watched casually as Tsxero dashed into the place his brother had occupied effectively confirming his guess before seeing Vanguard launch a barrage into the fray. "Malys! Block those shots! Alex, was there any sort of energy signature prior to his little parlour trick?" "None whatsoever." Fascinating! Finally an opponent worth fighting! He silently watches the field, ears and eyes open to every detail and patiently waiting for Hɇtallos' next move. The chess game has begun, the only pieces left in play are the two kings, a black knight, a rook and a bishop. Your move Hɇtallos.

Malys was moving as fast as her temporary body would allow her to close the distance to Hɇtallos before Tsxero got to him. She wasn't quite prepared for when Hɇtallos suddenly vanished from the spot, "What just happened? I didn't detect anything at all!" Her thought was interrupted when she registered the energy discharge from Colin and Khellendros' shouted command to defend Tsxero. She did the only thing she could at this point and just moved into the way of the projectiles, they struck with a fair bit of force but her armoured body held up to the assault well enough. "If I felt pain I suppose the proper response would have been ouch?" She slowly turns to Tsxero, keeping a wary eye out for the wayward knight, "Just what is your brother capable of exactly as a Knight of the Dream?"

"Thank.You." Tsxero said to Malys. That attack from Vanguard very well might have hurt.

"Dream. Knight. Trained. Bro-ther brings. Justice." Tsxero tried to say. difficult to communicate in a language you can't move lips to talk in. Of course he COULD say it, but his voice was like that of a Reikling. The voice was so perfectly similar. "Keep. Aware." he added as his tail began to coil around himself as if he were using it as additional armor. Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do given his current state. Even as Hɇtallos reappeared behind Khell with a blade just above his pauldron, near where the chestplade meets the neck.

  "Good luck..." Hɇtallos said right to Khellendros as he swung. As the blade passed through the neck area nothing would happen, well...not to Khellendros. Vanguard would find himself under the attempted assault of a random blade hilt smashing at his right side. His reflexes were great, but he had to react to someone he couldn't see until a literal second before they struck...or attempted to. The lack of time to react was a clear compensation on Hɇtallos not trusting his own martial skills against Vanguard. He must have known of Vanguard's skills and prowess from the reports of what happned to Tsxero. Tsxero himself charged. Hɇtallos turned to block him. Tsxero pushed off the ground and with a hand batted the blade away while flipping over Hɇtallos, preventing Hɇtallos from utilizing the blade against Vanguard, leaving him open for a brief second.

Regardless of what power Hɇtallos was using against them, one thing Colin could surmise was that he could not use the power f he was knocked out. The problem with that plan was managing to actually hit him, something he had a feeling could not be done with his suits current power. Rapidly, his scanners would move over the area in search of any irregularities within the area that might give away the illusionist, and yet nothing came to view. Within a second, the were-alien would appear behind Khellendros poised to strike him, enough of a ruse to distract him from the attack also aimed at him. Well, at least it was too late for him to react when the attack had actually came in his field of vision. Without even needing to be told to, the suit upped the synch rate once again, the percentage raising by around 10%, and with it everything seemed to be moving slower as a result.

Sure, he could see the attack coming at a slower pace, but that did not mean that he could possibly react to it now. If anything, now he knew the power he was dealing with, illusions and rather annoying ones as well. If they could fool his scanners, then they were not something to scoff at. Within the second before the blade would strike, tsxero came to the rescue, mostly rescuing him from a painful injury. Well, if the blade managed to break through his kinetic dampening field, as well as the armor at any rate. His move gave Vanguard a little time to react, and so he would use that to his advantage, using his now upped speed to do something about this. Without a second thought, his arm would whip out to the side, as energy rapidly gathered in his palm.

There was little to any delay within that motion, and then a burst of energy was unleashed. It wasn't meant to  pierce flesh, but it was meant to hit him like a hard punch, perhaps enough to give Khell an chance to strike, or Tsxero, Colin was not too picky.

"Proximity alert immediately behind." Khellendros just stood and continued to watch as events unfolded before him. I'm not a primary target at present and an attack like that doesn't fit him, I get the feeling he's a little more honourable than that. Who is he really after, who does he think of as the biggest threat? His silent question was answered as Hɇtallos materialized seemingly from thin air and struck at Vanguard before being stopped by Tsxero. Flying opponent in a suit made in the same fashion as their vaunted "masters" fair enough. Illusions are incredible, I'll give him that. "Take the swing Malys, separate him from his sword if you can. Alex, charge Wrath and switch Stormbringer to Bastion, we're in for an attrition fight until we can get countermeasures running." "By your command." Khellendros launches into the fray with a shield slam aimed at Hɇtallos as Malys winds up for a devastating haymaker aimed at her target's elbow while Khell's armour undergoes a few very obvious changes. Armoured plating shifts and begins to lock in tighter around his body as the lighting changes to a radiant golden colour designed to draw the attention of his foes. Regardless of success or failure in slamming with Aegis, Khellendros will unleash a short set of slashes to drive Hɇtallos away so that they can regroup and organize. "I hope it isn't too forward of me. Colin, gain some altitude, we need to gauge his reach and you seem to like blasting things at range. Malys and I will take up guard duty on Tsxero while he initiates blitzes. Malys, phalanx, eyes open to any openings or oddities in his movements, call out all proximity warnings. We'll have to work cohesively." Taking up the side opposite Malys, he readies Aegis for the next onslaught.

Malys watches in surprise as Hɇtallos pops out of the air behind Khellendros and swings his sword as her father stands still. NO! She starts to turn to attack before the real Hɇtallos appears and takes a shot at Vanguard, throwing her off for a scant second before she sees the sword pass through Khell harmlessly. He is too damn reckless sometimes! He'd be dead if that had been the real attack! He told her to take a swing so she quickly cranked back and let loose a brutalizing punch at Hɇtallos before seeing Khell suddenly act from the edge of the fray. She recognizes the armour going into it's superior defensive mode. He's going defensive? Why? there are more of us, this should be an easy fight if we can lock Hɇtallos down. When Khell calls out positions and roles, "Right!" she quickly takes up a defensive position on the opposite side of Tsxero from Khell and silently watches for the next assault. He's using illusions that aren't based in biology or any technology we've ever seen, nothing is registering the way it should.

No... if they tried to do it like this they would have no hope. They needed help, badly. Tsxero growled as events transpired. Vanguard gave a good blow that Hɇtallos wasn't ready for. Sadly it only broke his guard a moment. Malystrix managed to hit him and send him reeling back before rolling on the ground. Hɇtallos grunted as he stood up and his eyes narrowed. Well not it looked like he had his eyes aimed on more than just Tsxero. His hands were full here, of that he had no doubt. Hɇtallos raised his sword to point at Vanguard his blade moving slowly as he turned to point to Malystrix, then to Tsxero. There was an order, and it would be followed. Even if it brought him to his bitter end.

Hɇtallos took up his sword into both hands and began running at them, his eyes narrowed as he watched the group to see what they would do. He took note of the fact the superior suit excelled at it's design, and would be difficult to damage. Tsxero was still a challenge in his wounded form, Vanguard proved to be exceptionally skilled in combat and he would never underestimate a fellow knight, even if not of the same order. It would be interesting to see who would attempt to stop the man running at a lowly 20mph as he charged, blade slightly behind him as he charged.

His attack had hit Hɇtallos, knocking his guard off and allowing another strike onto him. Steadying himself, Vanguard continued to calculate every single thing happening around him, data flowing through the suit rapidly. True they had hit him, but he still had a power, so they had to prepare to deal with whatever it could do next. Malys had managed to hit him once his guard had been compromised, but it didn't seem enough to do any damage to him. This guy seemed to have skill, something that Vanguard would have to watch out for, and the sword likely had some serious piercing capabilities.

Khell called out for him to gain some altitude, and that was what he would do. Thrusters would start up, pushing him into the air fast enough that he was above the ground within a few seconds, blue flames spewing out in jets. Hɇtallos seemed to be running towards them but not quite at any sort of superhuman speeds, likely an obvious trap. Whatever he was doing, Colin would try something to stop him, letting a single sphere drop from a slot within the suit into his hand and letting it fall to the ground, nothing happened.

What did happen was Colin firing off some rounds at Hɇtallos to test what he was doing.

Well, that does not look like average running speed for this species if Tsxero is any sort of indicator... There's something else afoot here if he's planning on winning using an obvious trap. As silent as the grave when moving and has a clear tactical advantage over us with those illusions of his... Defence is untenable, attack may be the only option that can afford us the win but we can't leave ourselves open to be cut down. Might as well spring the trap to see what he'll do next then. "Malys, continue guarding Tsxero, I'm meeting him head on." Launching himself forward, he rapidly approaches what could very well be just a diversion to get at one of the others while Vanguard rains gunfire down upon it as well. Might as well use a tried and true method of leveling the playing field, people don't fight so well when a flashbang goes off in the room with them. "Alex, I want you to divert auxiliary power to the lights, amplify to 10,000 Lux and emit in full 360 degree radius, blind him!"[ The suit gives an audible high pitch whine before the golden light radiating from the armour makes it look as if a small sun has suddenly burst into the room before he closes the distance and delivers a vicious downward swing to the image before him.

If he connects with something solid, Khell will continue his assault, if his swing passes through harmlessly he will reassert his defensive stance to meet the first detected threat within reach of himself with Aegis.

Hɇtallos skillfully flourished his blade, entering a state of hyper-transe before deflecting the bullets fired off at him. The hyper-transe proved that Hɇtallos was able to keep up with the Vanguard suit, however he was not skilled enough to prevent the onslaught of what was coming next. Hɇtallos saw a flash of light coming, and while he was skilled enough to close his eyes...he still wasn't able to do it fast enough. His mind had a high pitched ringing as the whites of his eyes turned blood red, little rivers of blood cascading from his eyes down his cheeks, the emulation of a crying man.

"RAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Hɇtallos screamed out in agony, suddenly a high pitched shriek and a sonic wave was sent out. He still couldn't find his balance, his sight thrown through a loop as he tried to gather his bearings. He was exposed for a moment, and nothing more than that. His vision quickly realigned, but by that point he was likely already in trouble.

While the knight had a seemingly easy enough time deflecting the projectiles launched at him, batting them away with a considerable amount of skill. However, that seemed to distract them long enough for the assault that Khellendros had in mind, unleashing a rather painful flash of light. His suit already had protection against such light, rapidly adjusting to the situation, This bright light was enough to temporarily incapacitate Hɇtallos, meaning he had to take advantage of that while it was there. ”Put suit to 70% output.” Colin muttered and without skipping a beat the suit powered up. Within a moment he was already in motion, everything moving painfully slow.

The suit rapidly analyzed both Khellendros as well as the screeching were-alien, unleashing a sonic wave from it. Taking advantage of the temporary blindness, Khell seemed to be running in for the kill. If he knew anything, the blade could easy cut through flesh, armor and well....anything. As much as he doidn't quite like the knight, the whole killing thing did not feel right, granted he was mostly not fond of the one he was protecting, but that's neither here nor there. Reaching hyper sonic speeds within a second, he was in motion with a boom. To those without superhuman perception, he was in one place and within the next second he was somewhere else.

A blade of energy formed from one of his suits arms, meeting with the cold metal of Khell's blade, sparking out as it withstood the strike. Holding him back was a great amount of strength, impressive considering the size of the suit itself. With the other hand he had used it to attempt to deliver a swift but powerful backhand to Hɇtallos, which was less deadly than a sword strike to wherever.

Khell hadn't expected his ploy to work that well. What the hell did I just do to him?! That is full out agony I'm hearing, not a temporary stun! The screeching was horrible to be heard but was quickly shut out by the audio filter in the suit. Win the fight first, apologize after. He had an opening and an advantage and he was not going to let it go to waste, all he needed to do was deliver a decisive strike to render his opponent inoperable, a blow that was intercepted by an unlikely source as Vanguard interceded and backhanded in the direction of Hɇtallos. "Malys! Relieve Hɇtallos of his weapon and detain him, NOW! And check his injuries!" Looking into the featureless helm of Vanguard, he disengages from the sword lock. "What the hell are you doing?! I had him where we needed him! One strike to disarm or disable and we would be done here!"

Malys moved as quickly as she could towards the stricken knight, reaching for his weapon with one hand while being sure to interpose herself between him and any other potential attacks, from who was uncertain. Regardless of success or failure to perform the task she'll quickly look at him and notice the injury before asking, "Are you all right? Your eyes are bleeding..."

A backhand while he was blinded while following it up with a bum-rush to try and grab his blade so they could detain him. Malys did her little trick and managed to pry the blade form his hands, but to detain him....It was unfortunate for Khellendros and Malystrix that "detaining" a pissed off creature capable of shattering a star didn't take well to attempts against him. It was true, he lost his sword. There was nothing he could do about that, but the bastard would pay. For his eyes...and for this vile trick. "Retribution Incarnate..." Hɇtallos yelled. In that moment his strength was forced into Malystrix's arm. If he successfully hit her in the arm the joint would definitely feel the damage. The area around them was soon eaten, devoured by a total illusion.

They now stood upon barren earth, hundreds and thousands of blades stuck in the ground. Many blades were shattered or cracked, some of them of great technology, some of them not. "Judgment...." he said, his voice echoed throughout the entire area. He closed his eyes and instantly a blindfold appeared over his eyes. With a motion he would wipe away the blood. "...of the broken bladewind." He whispered to himself. In an instant they would see that the many swords in the ground all shattered at once and disintegrated into small shards and fragments, rotating and swirling like a massive sandstorm that almost instantly fogged the area. The blades would not hurt, though they did manage to accomplish the goal. The entire battlefield was shrouded in a fog of war, the meaning of sight rendered useless, and the wind making audible sensory difficult...though not impossible.

Now they were all on the same page, and the angry general would not fall for the wanna-be solar flare again.

(too lazy to switch accounts.)

He had succeeded in knocking the were-alien back, keeping the knights blade off as well, though they seemed to disengage well enough once they realized that the attack had connected with an unexpected target.  A stray thought passed through his mind, wondering what would have happened if the blade had not been hampered by his own, the damage it would do to his suit along within what was inside. Resulting mental image was by no means lovely, so he decided to cast that aside and worry about more important things, like how they still had a fight going on. Unless the knight was far too dazed to really continue. The reaction to what he did was expected, hell while he would have been fine not hearing it, it was something he would likely have to anyway.

”If you were trying to disarm him, I’m sure a fist would have done fine. When you swing a sword at someone, you aim to kill, not disarm.” Colin said rather point blank, letting his own blade fade. However this fight was far from over, because it seemed like the knight had only been enraged by the sudden attacks placed upon him. Followed by an exclamation of something, as the scenery around them changed into something else entirely. The earth they stood upon was now barren, with thousands of blades stuck within it, a sort of battle scene if he could assume correctly. A part of the males strange illusionary powers, though what came next he would not find so cool.

In an instant the blades would shatter until they were nothing more than fragments small amount to simulate dust. These fragments rotated and swirled until they made sight impossible. His suit had gone crazy trying to make up for the sudden lack of sight but it seemed that was not something so easily done. Across his visor, so many things were flashing but none of them seemed to be anything that would help him out in this sudden change. The wind made even hearing difficult, this meant likely that he couldn’t trust his senses in the fight. Normally that would have been okay, if you were some kind of enlightened zen master but he was still human, and an untrained college student at that. So Colin was perhaps in the most trouble of the two.

Forming from his suits right wrist was a decently sized construct of blue energy, seemingly solid and dense, perhaps enough to take most hits without even cracking. Whether it would be able to take the strike from Hɇtallos thought was the question, if he could block it. It seemed he would have to go full power to even keep up, if that would be enough anyway. ”Take me up to 90%” Colin thought and the suit reacted, increasing synch rate to the absolute limit he could do without any projected damage. For a single second the kinetic barrier around him would spark, though within this haze it was likely lost. His posture shifted into a defensive one, fist clenched as he prepared for whatever happened next.

I'd try to explain the finer points of combat and decisively making sure your opponent can no longer fight back in any way, but I get the feeling someone who's squeamish at the sight of blood wouldn't quite get the bloody and gritty side of it. "We'll discuss combat theory when we aren't in the middle of a fight." Going around Colin to see what the battlefield looks like. "You might not have noticed, but our opponent isn't exactly fighting with the hockey gloves on either, take that into consideration the next time he swings a sword at you. Your morals and ethics are all well and good, but they mean nothing if you wind up dead because of them." He thought about adding more before the room was basically wiped from existence and replaced with something Khell thought he recognized from one of his TV shows or fantasy novels he read. Interesting... Now I think we're in the shit up to our necks. He started moving towards Hɇtallos, Khell suddenly heard the sickening crunch of metal being barbarically crushed. Rushing forward before the vortex of dust and metal completely obliterated his field of vision. "MALYS! BACK AWAY FROM HIM! Alex, switch to infrared and heat sensors, there will be heavy interference but at least we won't be completely blind. Throw in sonar on the off chance this clears a little." The HUD inside his helmet quickly flashes before settling into a visual haze of various stark colours outlining vague figures and the debris circling around them while a secondary display started pinging everything within fifty meters, larger objects showing better on this but still horrendously inaccurate with all the shards flying around.

Malys hadn't been expecting it to be so simple to grab the knight's sword but the knight Hɇtallos proved to be every bit the uncontrollable variable he was when he completely ignored her inquiry as to his condition. Suddenly flipping the field of combat on it's head before brutally crushing the elbow joint in the arm she had tried to detain him with, Hɇtallos uttered some very strange words. She heard Khell barking commands for her to get away and she decided this was probably a better course of action than remaining within arms reach of the wounded general. Making her way back to the group slowly backing away from Hɇtallos, she almost doesn't notice when Khell is suddenly right next to her. "I obtained his sword, but I get the feeling that it's almost irrelevant given the circumstances. I'll be handing the weapon over to Tsxero at the earliest convenience." Addressing the group as a whole and as loudly as possible so that all would hear. "I believe we have only infuriated him further. Have caution, he is still extremely dangerous."

They were blind in every sense of the word. Heat signatures were scrambled, but still present. There was a pattern, but it was so convoluted that by time anyone had figured it out...he would have struck. Tsxero let out a growl as he looked around. He had to figure out who he was going after. He knew that his brother wouldn't likely go in for the kill, but the trick in this was their movements. Tsxero wasn't a fool. He noticed his brother's eyes going a long, long time ago. Tragic as it was, he once held an overflowing pride in his younger brother. Being virtually blind he still was the one that replaced him as the head of the knights when the fall from grace occured. Being blind he still had the ability to beat the living tar out of these three and manage to kill him. There was no doubt in his mind that he had the determination and he power. He had a motive too.

"You've taken away part of his very being... that sword is as important to a knight as a tail is." Tsxero informed them. Tsxero closed his eyes as he tried to listen. Malystrix made a rather fatal mistake in a moment's notice, she spoke loudly. as she said she'd hand the sword to him. "IF YOU. LIVE. SHUT DAMN MOUTH!" Tsxero said before he tried to feel the area around him. Unfortunately without his sword he couldn't kill Tsxero so Tsxero knew where he was headed. Following the noise of Malys' voice Tsxero decided to roll out at the speed of sound to intercept the attack. Tsxero placed himself between Malys and where he believed his brother would be. His brother was there indeed, taking the direct approach as his hoor dictated. Tsxero let out a howl, a trill of pain as he gurgled in a beastial manner.

Hɇtallos drove a powerful knife into Tsxero's shoulder before grappeling him on teh back of the neck and pulling his head down with a powerful thrust as he brought his left leg up and used the back of Tsxero's head as a stepping stair. Hɇtallos felt the vibrations of Tsxero's tail in the air moving to swat him away. reaching out he intercepted the tail, pushed off of his brother's back and did a front flip. With a large force of momentum Hɇtallos managed to literally flip Tsxero through the air and use him as a weapon to smash Malystrix in the head and probably Khellendros with the size of Tsxero, providing that he was successful of course. If not, then Tsxero just has a more permanent place on the ground. Honestly, if Tsxero hadn't intercepted his brother from the blindspot...that would have ended very poorly for Malys. Regardless there was calamity in the immediate area. Tsxero stood up just in time to see the darkness and smoke all vanish as it funneled into his brother. He closed his eyes before his brother burst into pure light, blinding all around just as easily as Khell himself had done moments before. The intensity was right next to them as he skillfully reached out to take the blade back if possible. Colin's defenses were well placed, but it didn't seem as though the herald of justice was targeting him. The sword apparently means enough to him that he was willing to leave himself open to an attack it would seem. Then again this man and his illusions were...not always as they seemed.

When his senses weren’t something he could rely upon, well Colin had a feeling he was just up shit creek without a paddle. This gave him a whole new reason to hate illusions, other than the fact that they sucked alot. His suit was perhaps in it’s most powerful mode at the moment, but something told Colin that would do him no good unless he even knew where the bastard was coming from. A sense of vulnerability came over him and damn did he hate it, especially when this suit usually took all of that away. ”Come on Colin, think. These illusions are just like any other power, they aren’t infallible. He isn’t infallible, there has to be some way to get around them.” Already the processor was calculating the many variables, considering everything around him and how to deal with it appropriately. You didn’t need superhuman intelligence to do something smartly, though it did help alot.

If anything , maybe the scanners would offer him some kind of sensory within the blade storm but all he got was jumbled up sight. It felt almost as if he were worse off than if he were simply blind, but that might have just been a rash thought on his own part. He could see vague flashes of a form, but not enough to allow him to follow the knight’s moves beyond simply being aware that he was still around. Something told him the mechanical dragon in it’s new body was only going to make this worse for them, and damn did he not need that. ”Keep track of all inactive chaos spheres.” Colin thought and the suit would react, scanning for what he was asking about, three present within the suit and one on the ground not too far from him. It would prove a hazard should he let it go off now, but then again radial attacks tended to work est when dealing with an enemy that could blind you.

If he could not use something pinpoint like his fists or his guns, then he would have to just fire blankly until he hit something. Part of him wished he had one of those sixth senses that he heard so much about in media, which would have helped in this time of annoyance. Sadly, he did not have the inner peace for anything beyond knowing that he was royally fucked. That being until he realized that something was going on only a few feet away from him within the maelstrom of chaos, likely Hɇtallos finally making an attack on the people he was working with. So, he was aiming to kill Tsxero and end this right now, but not like he could let him do that. If someone could so willingly murder their sibling, well he didn’t have any love for that person; justice or not.

Understanding really had nothing to do with it, just a misguided sense of right or wrong. It was then that he caught sight of what looked like Hɇtallos reaching for his weapon, and if it was half as important as Tsxero said then perhaps he would be willing to make such a desperate move. Still with those illusions it was not as if he could trust his sight, as likely that would also be just what Hɇtallos wanted him to do. That flash of light must have been something that he hoped would disorient him, but his suit had a few features built into that, protection for his sensory that would make any attempts to do so nearly pointless. Still, considering he had little time to react, he would attempt to stop hetallos by slamming a fist into his face, moving far faster than he had before. If the strike had hit, well Hɇtallos would likely realize that he shouldn’t let that happen.

A small jab of pain shot through the arm throwing the punch, nothing he should concern him but it was still something Colin felt. If it was another illusion, he would do something else. This would involved grabbing the holt of the blade itself, and taking it into the air with himself, if the guy couldn’t fly then he would likely have to take a chance and jump into the air to retrieve it.