Scene #550: Taking Down Lung

Owner	Pose
Defiant	It's a short but thoroughly awkward drive from the Protectorate HQ building to the docks district. Armsmaster, in his midnight blue power armor, sequestered himself away in the front of the PRT response vehicle - like a big armored APC - to continue running through the situation and all available intelligence with Dragon. He leaves the Union responders in the back, along with the members of his Protectorate team. They had only gotten the most cursory of introductions and, while friendly enough, one can't help but feel that the Protectorate capes kind of resent the Union Elites being there. Still, they're polite enough. There's Miss Militia, a woman in combat fatigues who has wrapped a pair of American flags around her face as a disguise. There's Triumph, a young man in armor that resembles a Roman gladiator with the stylings of a lion. The last two, a man and a woman, are Assault and Battery. By the sounds of it, the Protectorate is going right for the three ringleaders of the Azn Bad Boys. There's Lung, of course, the pyrokinetic leader of the gang. And then there's Bakuda, the bomb-making terrorist, and Oni Lee, the blade-wielding teleporter. Armsmaster did make sure that the Union Elites recieved the right files. The response vehicle pulls up in front of an old, abandoned tenement building in the Docks district, sirens blaring. Outside, Armsmaster pulls his Halberd from a cargo compartment and waits at the exit hatch for his people, and the members of the Union, to disembark!
Ainsley	Ainsley is polite and silent, only giving the most basic of introductions to the Protectorate members that are present in the van. She doesn't seem particularly aware of being resented, at least on the surface, more intent on writing on a little notepad with a modern ballpoint pen, something that seems a little dissonant when compared to her overall 'fantasy hero' attire. Any curious souls will notice that she's writing notes in a strange shorthand that's a mix of various languages. Exercising her language skills even when everyone is preparing to deal with a gang of dangerous superpowered people, or maybe she just doesn't like people seeing what she's writing. The vehicle stops. Her head raises and she smoothly deposits the notepad and pen back into her robes. She climbs out of the vehicle in an orderly fashion, mindful of the others who might have an inclination to be pushy about it. She's likely to be the last one out of the vehicle, in fact. Once outside, she finds a spot to stand that isn't in immediate line-of-sight of the windows on the building, and asks Armsmaster, "Are nonlethal measures preferred here as well?" She already knows what she can do to assist the group as a whole, she's just not terribly clear on how acceptable it is to leave survivors when the enemy forces are severely dangerous compared to Leet and Uber. She spends this initial period before the chaos thinking about the capabilities she may have read from the files that Armsmaster gave, giving her a distracted look on her face.
Noble Six	Along with the other armored figured in the back of the assault vehicle, the stoic SPARTAN-III sits quietly. She had been reading the files in their digital form on the HUD of her armor, going over the pictures of the three primary targets, as well as any other intel they had been provided in regards to their assault. She had two weapons cases sitting under her seat, both marked with the UNSC eagle logo. She would bring out whatever weapons were appropriate based on what role Armsmaster wanted her to fill, and whether or not they would prefer a lethal or non-lethal takedown of the targets. She's not opposed to either, but she knows living HVTs are worth more than dead ones.
Frederica	Frederica, somewhat sensitive to the resentment of the locals and intrigued by their costumes, was a bit torn in how to respond. Part of her wanted to just claim to be 'support', not a fighter at all. Try to get them to resent her less. Part of her simply wanted to play along, to introduce herself as some kind of codenamed hero-type. Caught between the conflicting desires, she ends up quite quiet. At least at first. Eventually she DOES introduce herself as FireFox. Then mumbles something that might be heard as 'But my name's Frederica' to those paying attention. As for lethality, well, she knows her role. She can't be lethal, not without playing into Lung's hands. She's fire support instead. Yep, literally.
Eric Bane	Rose had made it pretty obvious that she didn't want Eric to come here. But he wanted to find out what was going on here. That and, as he'd told her, if he started making waves, he might get some friends who could point him to the right people. This is what brings him here to Brockton Bay. However, what brought him to this part of town is the sight of the PRT response vehicle. Well, he can't outrun that thing. So Eric decides to use it to his advantage. As it passes by he concentrates on the roof... and disappears. A wave of shadows zips to the roof of the vehicle and then Eric reappears upon it. He has to grab on quickly to avoid being thrown off the roof, too. When the vehicle stops, Eric quickly finds a hiding place and Shadow Leaps to it. Hopefully he wasn't seen just then. The 'whhf!' sound can be heard by those with good (by human standards) hearing, and the maneuver causes a spike of shadow-laced magic in the area.
Defiant	Bakuda. Tinker. Master of physics-defying explosives - grenades that can simply explode, or freeze, vibrate, disrupt space-time... The list is long and exhaustive. Oni Lee. Mover. Assassin and murderer - when he teleports, he leaves behind a duplicate that continues to act for several seconds before disappearing. And Lung. Brute, Blaster. A capable pyrokinetic, he also transforms over the duration of any conflict - all of his natural abilities and powers increase the longer he is fighting. Rumors indicate that he once traded blows with an Endbringer. All in all, it's going to be interesting. Armsmaster rests his Halberd on his shoulder. "Non-lethal preferred, but our three targets are wanted for murder, arson and terrorism. If necessary, lethal force is authorised." He makes a brief gesture with one of his armored hands, and the Protectorate capes move out. Miss Militia, who had been the most friendly in the back of the vehicle despite her name, pulls a handgun from her belt and it dissolves into green-black energy, reforming in her hands as a sniper rifle. She slips it over her shoulder and begins scaling her way up a fire escape, looking like she'll be delivering long-range fire support. Triumph, Assault and Battery seem to take up positions on the doors leading out of the tenement building. Which leaves Armsmaster and the Union Elites to be the vanguard, it seems. Armsmaster points his Halberd at the front door and with a heavy 'whoomph' blasts the door from its hinges. Outside, in side-alleys and up the street, ABB members seem to be gathering - recognisable by the red and green livery of their gang colors. Armsmaster appears to have missed Eric's arrival entirely!
Frederica	"I'll need to get close to Lung." Frederica speaks up. "To try to control his flames. The farther away I am, the harder it'll be, the less I'll be able to do overall." she says. "Which probably means I'll need some protection. If they can attack me easily, I won't have the chance to control his flame at all... or heal anyone in an emergency." she warns. She can stay back, of course. Spend her energies more wisely while keeping herself safe, but then she'll be less effective. That might be for the best really... she can take the edge off the flames, prevent the worst of the destructive power, while having less need for a bodyguard whose power could be better spent elsewhere. Still, best to be upfront about her capabilities.
Noble Six	After offloading from the vehicle, taking her weapon cases with her, Noble Six opens both of them. She grabs the shotgun out of the first one, checking that she brought bean bag and taser rounds, and loads it up, locking it down to her back and loading the rest of the non-lethal and lethal shells onto the webbing built onto her armor. Once her shotgun has been all set up, she grabs the other weapon from the other case, a pair of smaller SMGs, and locks them down onto either hip. Fully armed, she turns in time to watch Armsmaster blast the door clean off of it's hinges. "Always nice of a gentleman to get the door for a lady." She remarks, before she rushes towards the now open doorway, pulling the shotgun off of her back, and turning to fire a beanbag round into the first hostile she comes across inside of the building.
Ainsley	Ainsley does not like the idea of going into a building that might contain someone specialized in explosives. So she doesn't! Instead, she floats up off the street with a few sparks of electrical energy, and begins to fly around the building, looking into each of the windows individually in a gradual and meticulous process. This is especially easy to do if nothing blocks her Visual Field abilities, because the Field gives her a limited x-ray vision sort of advantage. Her eyes glow with vague arcane power when she's using the Visual Field more actively. She's not exactly stealthy. Sparks dance along her form in tune to her flight patterns, and the faintest sound of wind follows her, and a couple times she sways too close to a window and kicks up dust from it accidentally. This vantage also lets her keep an eye on the various gang members gathering below, but they can also see her, and she might be a sitting duck should they decide to take potshots at her. "There /has/ to be traps in this place somewhere," she murmurs to herself during her search.
Eric Bane	While the Union Elites go for the building, Eric instead turns his attention to the surrounding area. He can see even without his blood vision that there are people starting to converge on this area. And with the way they're carrying themselves, he assumes they're not friendlies coming to help Armsmaster. So he sends a warning over the radio and heads for the nearest group he can see. Eric uses his blood vision to find a small group of them. He hides where they can't see him-- hopefully aided by that weird 'Jedi mind trick' his presence seems to do on non-Elites-- and waits until their backs are to him. Then he steps out and aims a suckerpunch for the back of one of their heads. Hit or miss, he'll teleport away afterwards, hopefully before he's seen.
Defiant	Before Armsmaster can say anything to FireFox, Noble Six has rushed inside. It's a rundown, broken building - just like any other part of the dock slums. Down the end of the foyer, a man in a black bodysuit and red, demonic Oni mask is charging. Six nails Oni Lee with a beanbag round and, as he goes sprawling, the villain teleports! His duplicate, the body he left behind, has just gotten to his feet before he vanishes in a cloud of white ash. Oni Lee himself, teleports his way towards Noble Six, almost between each footfall as he runs. By the time he reaches her, he has a pair of duplicates with him - and while they will explode and vanish in just a few seconds, they are aiming their knives for any weak points in the SPARTAN's armor! Ainsley finds nothing blocking her, but there's nothing that interesting to see, really. There's plenty of ABB members and plenty of civilians taking drugs or dealing in sex. At the sound of gunfire below, however, they seem to grow agitated. One of them, a tall woman in an intimidating gas-mask and long red coat that almost seems like more of a kimono, rises from her seat and pulls a grenade launcher out from beneath her chair. Bakuda catches sight of Ainsley, levels her grenade launcher at the window, and fires! She laughs, too - a harsh sigh of a mechanical rasp through her helmet. These grenades, it turns out, are filled with wicked shrapnel. On the plus side, there's no traps by the looks of it! Meanwhile, Eric drops one of the ABB members. His friends bristle, turning this way and that, drawing knives and handguns, pipes and chains, but Eric gets away before he's spotted. "Who the fuck..." Armsmaster grips his Halberd in both hands, bringing it into a ready stance. The blade hums as it cuts through the air. "He's coming," Armsmaster remarks to Frederica. In the foyer, the elevator goes 'ding!' and wisps of acrid-smelling smoke curl through the gap in the doors.
Noble Six	Oh good, the teleporter. His clones are still as deadly as he is until they vanish, according to the report. As the three of them close in on her, she opts to move to meet them, figuring he won't be expecting her to go on the offensive. He might be used to dealing with capes, but he's never dealt with a SPARTAN. She takes one of the knives between two plates of armor, turning the shotgun on the owner and firing a second shell, this one loaded with a point impact taser round. If it's another clone, it'll still help her narrow it down. She doesn't want to use her knife yet. After all, she doesn't want to make this an unfair fight.
Frederica	Frederica stands behind Armsmaster, somewhat jittery and nervous. Not at the prospect of a fight, of course. Frederica's a veteran, and fear of battle isn't something she's prone to. No, her fear's subtler than that. She's claimed to be able to control fire. She's put her ability on the line opposing that of another. If she's not good enough, people will be hurt. Risks to herself are old news... risks to others are rather worse. Calming that jitter, however, is easy. Frederica fusses with her hair, making sure she looks particularly adorable. Probably a completely wasted effort on Lung and Armsmaster, of course. She reaches back to pull hairtails forwards, then pulls her hood overtop it all, leaving those foxy ears pointing upwards. Perfectly adorable, at least in her own mind. Might be less so in others'. "I'm ready." Frederica promises, though she's not at all sure she is. Best to SEEM sure at least. She stands, one leg before the other, hips turned in something just a little too upright to be a proper martial stance. She's literally just posing. As the elevator doors open, she releases a few tiny flames into the air around her. Just to announce herself in as dramatic a way as possible. Little flaming comets, the flames too small to be much use in destruction, orbiting about her body in a way that does little more than draws attention. And it might well be a taunt to a pyrokinetic. Her little way of calling him out... not with the power of her flame, but with the dizzyingly-complex pattern the flaming orbs make as they whirl around her. Power for power she may be no match for the might of a Blaster, but in control and precision she's second to none.
Ainsley	Ainsley was pretty disgusted by the glimpse into the most corrupt fringes of society when she found Bakuda. And Bakuda really didn't give the lizard girl much time to react. So when the mild magnetic field went up and Ains tried to block the explosive burst, instead she was sent flying through the air and slamming into a nearby building, and falling on top of an old car with a soft THUMP. Only soft because she used her flight ability to slow her fall. She gets up from the car, and rests a hand on one of her arms, grimacing. The blast got her, but she repelled most of the shrapnel. She's not going to bleed out but she's going to feel that for a good while. And she /is/ still bleeding. A fact she notices when she pulls away her arm and sees blood smeared on her fingers. "Hnn." She flits into the sky again, and then picks a point in the air to float, standing at the ready on the air itself. She concentrates mana through her body and to one of her hands, flinching from the pain of her wounds. She directs the magic into a ball in her hand, fingers outstretched. A ball that is nearly invisible but for the pale glow that comes with wind magic. She fires the ball of wind into the wall, and tries to explode the inside of that room with pure concussive force, attempting to use the wind like a shockwave. Only then does she begin to advance in the hopes that she stunned Bakuda long enough to get close enough for a stunning zap.
Eric Bane	Well, that's one. And now Eric can see better what he's dealing with. The knives, pipes, and chains are the lesser threat-- just stay out of range. the guns, though? Staying out of range is a little harder with those. So those are the ones Eric needs to take down first. From his position in hiding, he will continue to pick off what thugs he can see, focusing on first gun-wielders, as they can hurt him from farther away. He will, however, have to take a breather. Because he's not draining any of these guys of blood, and he can't replenish his strength that way. He won't be able to keep it up forever...
Defiant	Noble Six nails Oni Lee at point blacnk with the taser round - he hits the ground and pops into an explosion of white ash. By now, the area around her is getting filled with ash, obscuring vision, making everything strangely dream-like. Horned figures in black and red, appearing out of ash before vanishing into yet more ash. There's two more, which one is real? Which one is going to teleport away? Could it be the one who has leapt onto Six's back, and is trying to drive his knife up and under her helmet? Ainsley's concussive blasts decimates the room, and there's the heavy 'boom' of someone - presumably Bakuda - being sent through one of the flimsy plaster and board walls. "You /bitch!" Bakuda spits, her voice a mechanical rasp thanks to her helmet, and she hurls a grenade in Ainsley's direction as she advances - right at her, like a baseball. When this one detonates, the temperature in the explosive radius drops below zero. Ice forms around the radius of the 'explosion'. Outside, Eric isn't having much of a problem decimating the ranks of the ABB gangers. Some of them talk about running, other indicate that maybe their boss is scarier than whoever this mystery cape is. One by one, however, they get picked off. Miss Militia sights down on the group with her sniper rifle, but seems content to let Eric handle them! The elevator chimes, and smoke billows out of the enclosed space. Lung, in nothing but jeans, boots, Eastern dragon tattoos and fierce iron mask, steps out. The elevator is burning, a fierce electrical fire. Lung roars, his voice a deep boom, and goes to bathe the entire foyer - Six, Oni Lee, Frederica and Armsmaster - in a terrific gout of flame! Can Frederica stop him or deflect his barrage!?
Frederica	Frederica feels the blast of flame even before it begins, gaining an understanding of the scope and power of it as the attack is merely forming. "Down!" she cries in warning, knowing this flame will be too much for her to completely defeat. She can handle massive fires, she can handle powerful attacks, and she can manipulate just about any flame once it's been loosed from control... but she can't do all of this at once trivially. Instead of opposing raw power with similar force, Frederica deflects that power instead. The flames that come close to her simply split, diverting harmlessly to the side. That should protect Armsmaster somewhat as well, since she's right behind him. The rest of it, she merely nudges upwards. Flame rises after all. Since Lung is presumably just generating powerful flames and directing them, rather than controlling them throughout their path, adding a little upward vector on the flame takes very little of the pyro girl's power. It should be enough to allow the flames to pass overhead, particularly for those closer to her where she has more available power... and particularly if people duck. And no, she does this with no outward sign. She just stares down the flames, WILLING them to obey her. Only her glare of concentration is a clue to how much will she's exerting against this much incoming power.
Noble Six	She's not about to let herself get stabbed in the back of the head. Six's reaction times are well anobe what most humans could ever hope for, and she turns around as the figure jumps onto her back, trying to ram an elbow into him to knock him away. She was about to switch to thermal vision to be able to pick out which one is the real one, but that plan is soon out of the window. As the fire washes down across six her shield flares to life and she quickly moves to get out of the way of the flames. She opts to switch to her twin SMGs, since the shotgun isn't having much effect on the teleporter, and she fires a spray of bullets from one of the weapons at Oni Lee, while trying to evade the flames.
Eric Bane	It's inevitable that Eric will run low on strength to teleport. At the last bit of strength he can muster, he teleports a final time, reappearing behind cover. If Miss Militia can see him through her scope, he seems to be wobbling slightly. Looks like he'll have to resort to more conventional methods of taking them out, then. So he changes tactics. It's a little more chancy than teleporting, but he doesn't have a choice. He starts picking up small objects and throwing them from his hiding place, hoping to cause a noise somewhere else to draw attention away. If the thugs split up to search, he'll start picking them off one by one again, but instead of teleporting to them, pulling them into hiding and cutting off their air supply until they pass out. ONLY until they pass out. This is indeed more dangerous. The longer the thugs are awake after they're aware of his presence, the more chance Eric takes in being discovered. And without access to his abilities, he's going to have to resort to just plain ol' running away if he's caught...
Ainsley	Ainsley is /slammed/ with the sudden sensation of cold. This does an interesting thing to a cold-blooded creature. She feels her body almost seize up instantly, and her metabolism is in for a nasty shock. Her concentration lapses and she slams into the floor and sliiiides. She's clear of the radius of the ice, but she's covered in ice crystals and thoroughly pained by the sensation, unable to so much as think. She can't even shiver, lacking the warm-blooded emergency mechanisms to fight off things like hypothermia or frost bite. So she takes emergency measures. She huffs and puffs, and then a surge of wind magic pulls /inward/ to her, dragging in warm air and pushing out the cold like a sort of emergency magical heater. It keeps her from passing out on the spot, but she's much more lethargic and borderline helpless, even as she shakily stands and faces Bakuda. And then she begins a vaccuum spell. She tries to pull air in toward her with a huge gust of wind, lacking any sort of precision, by rotating the wind around her. And then, assuming she drags Bakuda into sufficient range, she'd try to grab the explosive expert with both hands with all of that cold-hindered strength to try to stun her with a nonlethal pulse of electricity.
Defiant	Bakuda laughs. Even through the mask, it is obviously how harsh and mocking and utterly unhinged the woman is. "Aw, it looks like someone got a bad deal when it came to their powers," she gloats. "Someone doesn't like the cold?" And suddenly, she goes from unhinged mocking to violent rage as Ainsley stands, "We'll see how it feels when I detonate one of them inside of you, you fu-" She's pulling a grenade from her bandoliers as Ainsley pulls her in with a vacuum spell. She loses her grip on it, and the ice grenade detonates well away from Ainsley. She goes to pull another, just as Ainsley brings her in to range! Bakuda seizes up as the electricity floods through her - but she's got some decent armor under that kimono-coat. It makes sense, given the explosives she is apparently obsessed with, but it means Ainsley is going to need to up the juice to put her down finally! Bakuda shrieks, utterly enraged. Outside, some of the braver members of the ABB go to investigate Eric's little feints. Five in total, and they begin to split up. One of them blunders right into Triumph, who shouts so hard that the man gets flung into a brick wall and knocked out cold. That explains the lion motif. And that leaves four for Eric. Inside the foyer, there's a sound like a cork popping out of a bottle and Oni Lee drops. He can't so much as dodge bullets as just be elsewhere when someone starts shooting at him, but between the fire and the ash and burst of SMG fire, perhaps he isn't just sure of where he can go. Oni Lee drops, and he doesn't teleport away. Six has found the right one. It seems like he can only teleport to where he has line of sight - maybe. Meanwhile, Frederica diverts Lung's fire overhead, lighting up one wall and blasting up through the ceiling. An obvious ploy - the more he sets alight, the more he has to work with. Lung closes his hands and steps forwards. He's obviously a big man - thick muscle beneath those dragon tattoos, but he seems to be growing bigger, with metallic scales forcing their way up through his flesh. His voice carries a thick accent, something between Chinese and Japanese English, "I think that you overestimate the powers of your new ally, Master of Arms," Lung growls. "I overestimate nothing, monster," Armsmaster retorts, Halberd up and ready. "You should have been put behind bars long ago!" And with that, the battle proper is joined. Where Lung's fists, now sporting metal protrusions along his knuckles, find Armsmaster's armor, sparks fly. And Armsmaster's Halberd cuts through the air, shifting between flail, mace and spear, battering Lung down and around. But Lung is only getting bigger, and stronger.
Frederica	Yes, Frederica's power sent all that flame elsewhere. Yes, the fire seems to be amplifying Lung's power. Were she simply able to produce or direct fire, she might be essentially useless here. Lung would be right to dismiss her ability as something that can't harm him... but no, Frederica's not done. As Armsmaster joins battle with Lung, Frederica sets to work. Reaching out with her mind, she draws upon the flame. A piece here, close. Some more flame up above, threatening to catch and grow on some more flammable materiel. She ignores the flame that splashed into metal and concrete, at least for now, concentrating on that which might spread. Frederica begins to pull that fire to her. Where she reaches, she pulls it completely away from walls and ceilings. She might leave charred patches behind, but that's okay. She's not simply extending the flames, she's uprooting them. Yanking the flames to her, she sets the pyrotechnic energies circling around her, spinning and flaring in dizzying patterns, following her little flaming orbs and slowly being absorbed by them. She's not taking the flame into herself, not directly. She's expending the flame energy by transforming it into orbital motion, and allowing it to exhaust itself without fuel. The strain is great. Not to dissipate the flame, but to reach out across the entire area pulling flames away from walls. Still, it's not nearly as stressful as it might have been to contain that massive inital blast. She's good, but that much power might have melted her brain within her skull.
Ainsley	The cold does a number on Ainsley, that is for sure, but there's a key lesson she was taught by Amalthea herself: It's better to be craftier, and meaner, than your opponents, than to be more honorable, if they just lack honor completely. So the lizard girl tries to get purchase on Bakuda's outfit with those lightly clawed fingers, and instead of just zapping the woman again, she tries to reach to unbuckle the bandolier and pull it off with one free hand with a vicious jerk that strains her own muscles to do. And, should she succeed, then she would throw it quite recklessly over her shoulder and onto the floor, while a pulse of electricity climbed up her arm and she pushed forward with all of her body weight and a bit of magical flight, trying to knock Bakuda off of her feet and electrocute her. Staying at close range may, actually, be a much better idea than at a range Bakuda is comfortable with. That other hand goes for the grenade still in the woman's hand, and squeezes down on her fingers to try to pin it to the floor and make sure the grenade doesn't go off, and if it does, it goes off right next to Bakuda's head. She wheezes at Bakuda, at that tail end of her maneuver, with a lot of effort heard in her voice, "Electricity does not feel very nice, either, does it?" Almost conversational.
Noble Six	Six wasn't trying to kill him with the burst of gunfire, so she really hopes he's not dead. At this point, now she's going to need to shield him from the flames. The SPARTAN moves towards the downed villain, and moves to cover him up with her armored form. She does, however, put one of her armored gauntlets over his eyse...If he is still awake, the last thing she'll want him to do is teleport away while she's on top of him. She'll try to haul him out of the building, towards the exit that they entered from...And perform first aid on him, if he is still alive. Armsmaster did want the villains taken alive is possible, after all. Once he's stable, if the two fighting Lung haven't finished the job, she'll go back in to help them out.
Eric Bane	Eric's only going to be able to take out one of those thugs at a time. But since they've split up, that's a little easier. He hears the shout, and winces. Ouch. But it means he has a distraction tactic to use. He'll try to skulk around the area, keeping as quiet as he can, using his blood vision to track movements instead of peeking out of cover. It's true he's not the bat/wolf/mist form-taking, fireball-throwing terror that Dracula is. But he's still faster and stronger than a normal human. So when he finds one of those thugs? He'll act. Eric will track the man's path with his blood vision, situate himself behind cover where the thug has to pass by, and wait. Once the thug passes he'll leap out of cover, attempt to grab the thug, pull him back behind cover, and try for a headlock. Just long enough for the thug to pass out. Of course... he might miss. The thug might see him and jump back. Or worse, attack him. Eric's not really prepared for that eventuality. The thug could flail around too much and call attention to himself so his buddies can deal with Eric. There are so very many ways this can go wrong...
Defiant	Without Lung to give them energy, without any fuel to consume, Frederica succeeds at extinguishing Lung's burst of pyromania. Lung seems to notice, turning his masked face in Frederica's direction. He charges her, claws - when did he get /claws/!? - raised high. Its just in time for Armsmaster to reach out and clothesline him, they fall together and Armsmaster picks Lung up by the shoulders and slams him against the ground. Once, twice, three times! Lung might look like a monster, but he's still human beneath all the shapeshifting, and Armsmaster is doing his best to knock him unconscious. Lung braces his foot against Armsmaster's cuirass, and kicks out. The blue-armored hero slams into the /ceiling/ and drops back down, calling his Halberd back to his hand in a flash of light, and slamming the base of the weapon into Lung's throat. A blow like that might kill a normal person, but Lung just staggers backwards! Oni Lee isn't dead, it seems, but he's not really moving either. He says nothing as Six checks him. When she goes to haul him away, Armsmaster snaps: "Leave him! We need to bring down Lung /now/!" Lung, for his part, growls something incoherent. Upstairs, Ainsley brings Bakuda down. Bakuda screams and thrashes, the movements finally dying off as Ainsley manages to shock her into unconsciousness. She goes mostly silent and still, taking in gasping breaths through her mask, twitching occasionally. Outside, the first thug is too busy looking around for the imminent threat of Triumph's vocal kinetics to spot Eric. In mere moments, Eric has taken out another thug - strangely, it might occur to him that every single one of them has been East Asian in ethnicity. But when another one comes looking, a tire iron in his hands, Eric might need to be prepared for a fight!
Eric Bane	And this is what happens when Eric gets distracted with a single task. He doesn't have the juice to teleport away, and there's no time to find proper cover. But he can jump. And he will indeed note the ethnicity of all of these guys is similar. But for right now, he's concerned more with that guy with the tire iron. When Eric catches sight of the thug with the tire iron, he drops the thug he'd just taken down, picks up whatever that one was using as a weapon, and jumps up on top of his cover. He should have enough time for that. He stays up there only long enough to get a bead on the one with the tire iron. Then he jumps down, trying to land on top of the guy and whack him sharply in the back of the head.
Frederica	Frederica eyes Lung as he charges at her, going a bit wide-eyed. She can usually defend herself reasonably well. Her best defense is, after all, a good offense. The problem is that offense is FIRE, which would only feed Lung's power. He seems to be getting stronger the more stuff burns around him after all. In that case Frederica's careful control, her extinguishing, does far more harm to Lung's fighting ability than her firebolts ever count. But in that moment when she's charged at, she has to wonder if she can do enough damage to dissuade him from attacking without actually empowering him so much that her attack becomes utterly counterproductive. No, Frederica's only real option when charged by this pyro maniac is to call upon her lesser talent. Fire is energy. Heat is speed. Speed is life. Straining body and mind, she accelerates herself. Just her senses and reaction speed. Enough to allow her to come up with a few micro-second dodges. For a pass or two, she'd have the defensive reflexes of an epic melee fighter. Enough to dodge claws before Lung catches on and his greater experience wrecks her. Fortunately Armsmaster defends Frederica. She pants, backing away, then tearing her gaze away from the fight. Putting one hand on her forehead, she brushes her hood back, moaning a little in pain. Accelerating her senses like that, on top of fatigue from exertion of long-range fire control, caused some feedback within her mind. Nothing she can't handle, but it's an ongoing strain on top of all the effort. Still, she has to do this. It seems all Armsmaster can do to fight this opponent. If Frederica doesn't continue to weaken Lung, the dragon-warrior will be able to tear free and rip into her. No, she HAS to keep fighting as she is. Keep reaching out, pulling the flames to her and forcing them to die. Fortunately any leftover flames should be easy. She'd gone for the dangerous flames first. The ones threatening combustibles. Now all she's got is those fitfully burning against concrete, with no fuel to sustain them. A simple matter really, only there's just such an exhausting volume to consider.
Noble Six	It looks like she'll have to hope that he's too injured to escape, as Six turns her attention to Lung once Armsmaster calls for her help. She breaks the shotgun back out, still having six shells in the chamber. A mix of beanbag and taser rounds, she brings the weapon up to her shoulder. Considering these don't function like normal buckshot, she's not worried about hurting her team members and instead focuses on landing all six of her shots on her target, intent on slamming Lung with every single one of these shots. And when she's out of ammo, she'll move in on Lung and engage him in melee range. She's got plenty of enhanced strength and speed as well, and might be able to hold her own against him in close quarters combat. But first thing's first, she'll weaken him with all of those non-lethal rounds before going in.
Ainsley	After Ainsley finishes zapping the ever-loving hell out of Bakuda, she sits up on top of the unconscious gang leader and stares down at her. She considers the sight for a few moments, inwardly pleased that she could do this without killing someone in the process. She then turns her head to look around the room, which is thoroughly damaged from their brief encounter, bits of plaster and drywall thrown everywhere. Her whole body is covered in a fine layer of the stuff, in fact, which makes her wounds sting nastily. She hisses to herself and gets up to a stand, staring down at the body tiredly. --A couple minutes later-- Ainsley can be seen coming out of the building from another doorway, stepping out into the street, dragging something behind her. Her robe has been taken off, and torn into ribbons to use as rope to tie up Bakuda, and a frameless, deformed mattress -- probably covered in all kinds of unmentionable filth -- is wrapped around the woman to keep her restrained, the makeshift rope holding it shut. The lizard girl is dragging it like a sled. She leaves the mattress next to the Protectorate party van, and then drops the bandolier, which she was holding in her off hand, inside the vehicle, in a little box designated for that kind of stuff. She packs it down with some more of the torn cloth to make sure a jarring bump doesn't set off any of the grenades. Once that's finished, she moves over to seat herself inside the vehicle, shutting the doors, and shifts her mana affinity to Blood Magic. She begins picking pieces of shrapnel out of herself, with horrid growls and squeaks and whimpers accompanying the pain from it, dying down when she begins to heal her wounds a bit.
Defiant	Outside, Eric finds himself with a short section of metal pipe. He waits for the thug to approach, and then has no problem in dispatching him. These thugs might be able to cause trouble for the ordinary person, maybe even handle regular police officers, but they're nothing to any serious cape - or Elite, for that matter. Frederica has extinguished anything. The air is still filled with smoke and the floating ash of Oni Lee's many copies, but nothing is burning anymore. Lung lets out a shout, and goes to flash-ignite the air around him - but Frederica can presumably quickly get a handle on that before it starts. It probably helps that Six hits him with all six of her rounds. The beanbag rounds don't seem to cause Lung any concern, but the taser rounds... Well, electricity conducts through metal. And Lung is sporting a decent amount of it by now. The draconic-figured man stumbles, spitting out curses in his own language, and turns to look at Six. He growls out something that might be 'you' but it sounds more like 'oo' given his distended jaw and fangs. As Lung turns to glare at Six, Armsmaster whirls, reversing the grip on his Halberd with expert ease. The end of the haft collides with Lung's temple, and the sheer concussive force that blasts through the air disperses the rest of the smoke and ash. Lung stumbles backwards - weakened, dizzy. Giving Armsmaster, Noble Six and Frederica an opening to bring him down! Inside the PRT vehicle, a monitor blips to life on the opposite side of the vehicle to Ainsley. A woman's face blips to life there, obviously not-quite real, speaking with a Newfoundland accent. It's only just obscured by a mechanical filter. "Do you need medical assistance?" Dragon asks.
Ainsley	"Yes. I took a shrapnel blast from one of Bakuda's grenades," Ainsley tells Dragon, in that soft and very tired voice. She picks out one last splinter, carefully... and then she carefully slumps over against one of the inside walls of the vehicle. "Ice grenade. I'm cold-blooded. My body temperature is... too low..." She huffs and rubs at one of her arms, frowning at the chilly temperature of her skin. It may also be the blood loss. She is pretty bloody and she tore up some of her wounds with her efforts. She's not a very durable creature. Might explain her hesitance leaping into the fray against Leet and Uber.
Eric Bane	Eric's being sure to be careful with these people. He's stronger than a normal human, even if he's really no match for most Elites himself. And while it may be true these guys aren't a match for an Elite, they could definitely cause problems for the people cleaning out that building if they got in. Normally he'd try to hide the downed thugs, but they're not dead, just unconscious. That should leave three left, right? Where are the others? He presses the button for his ear-mounted radio again and asks quietly, "There was someone on the roofs, right? Can you see where the others are?"
Frederica	Frederica's tired, but she's got a better idea of what Lung can do now. That shout, the one that causes flames to spew forth... THAT is what she's got to stop. Once the flames are out in force, she'll have a mess to clean up. And with her energy somewhat depleted now, that battle would be a slow and difficult one. Fortunately, she's got a plan. Deflecting energy, like she'd done before, is better than opposing force with force. Shao's advice is with her however. Having felt him ignite flames before, she knows where the point of origin is. If she can catch it there, before it can spread, she can oppose his force with all of hers. Stop the flame before it begins to move... like stopping a punch by blocking the shoulder rather than the fist, preventing him from aligning force effectively. This will be tricky, but she can probably do it. At the moment of the flame's ignition, she transforms it. Instead of energized air, Lung would instead attempt to shout out a gel of semi-solid flame. It's only a small amount of flame at that point, and she can hold it still, preventing him from building up more power behind it. He might even choke on it, though she'd be quick enough to release the hold and draw the flame out of his mouth once he's out of breath to expel the power. She's not looking to actually burn him, and he's probably protected from the flame fairly well anyways... she's just looking to block him from spewing that power everywhere and boosting his physical abilities beyond the ability of the heroes to stop him.
Noble Six	With Armsmaster's massive blow to Lung, Noble Six sees her chance to move in on him and finish him off. If he's unhappy with her blasts from the shotgun, he's going to hate what she does next. She tosses the weapon to the side, and instead grabs all of the taser shells she has attached to her gear. She shoves them between her knuckles on either gauntlet of her armor, and rushes towards Lung. The plan is dumb, but if it works, it should be enough to hopefully bring him down. Use her enhanced strength to strike him with a full powered blow, and use the taser rounds in the course of the attack to continue to electrocute him. It'll work even better if she can strike him somewhere that he has no armor and she can lay into flesh directly with those high voltage strikes.
Defiant	"There should be a first aid kit beneath the seats, and you can adjust the temperature in the front of the vehicle," Dragon replies, offering Ainsley a small, sympathetic smile. "And I'll have a medical team standing by back at the local HQ. Sorry I can't do more to help." Inside, Armsmaster and Six advance upon Lung. As he roars again, ready to ignite himself and everyone around him, Frederica jams up his mouth with his own fire. In that moment, as Noble Six hits him again and again - finding the few vulnerable points where Lung hadn't yet manifested his metal carapace - and Lung needs to draw in a breath to remain standing, he is unable too. Voltage pours through his body, and Lung wavers on his feet. Slowly, he pitches forward, crashing to the ground. Armsmaster steps up and detaches the point from his Halberd, drawing out a considerable length of chain. With the chain in hand, he begins binding Lung - arms, legs, around his shoulders. "This," Armsmaster declares, taking the moment of victory to gloat, "Can't be melted, can't be broken - not by you. I worked on it with Dragon, worked on it to specifically contain /you/. You are going to the Birdcage, Lung - and I am going to ensure that they throw away your key." Lung's molten red eyes, transformed by his power, smoulder with burning hatred, as Armsmaster hauls him up and goes to frog-march him towards the PRT vehicle. Lung takes a long moment to glower at Six and Frederica. Outside, Eric watches the remaining ABB scatter and run. The last few diehard members make a break for it as Armsmaster, armor smouldering and charred, dented and torn in places, marches their leader outside and straight into the back of the PRT response vehicle. Armsmaster gives a signal, and the rest of the Protectorate capes come wandering back.
Defiant	In the foyer, however, there's no sign of Oni Lee. But still, Lung and his second-in-command - that's a significant victory, even not counting Oni Lee's wounded status.
Frederica	That last blast of flame took a lot of power to control. Unlike the earlier flame, reaching out to touch flame being generated b yanother caused feedback. That'll leave, if not a mark, a serious headache... and possibly a bit of blood coming from Frederica's nose. Not a big deal though. She DID it. That's what counts here. She can sleep the sleep of the just and victorious, later. Or maybe in the van on the way back. Whoever's sitting next to her might just end up with a pyro girl's head on their shoulder.
Eric Bane	That signal catches Eric's attention, and he heads back to the building. He looks tired, and appears to be out of breath. He looks between the gathered Elites, as if checking their condition, then asks breathlessly, "Everything under control now?" He's definitely going to need to replenish his strength after this somehow. Also he's going to need a ride out of here too, because he can't teleport until he does.
Noble Six	The glare from the dragon creature is met with the emotionless faceplate of the SPARTAN warrior. She turns to go look for Oni Lee, but he is long gone...She's not surprised, but is a bit disappointed she couldn't take the time to knock him unconcious before going after Lung. Still, they got the important target. She turns to head out, since the locals of this world can no doubtedly handle the cleanup.