[Deleted]

Angel

Alice Morrow

- Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. -

Angelica sat atop one of the towers of the, looking across the water toward San Francisco’s North beach. Though in truth there was not a whole lot of beach in that area anymore as it was now covered in industrial docks. Odd name, but it also just went to show you just how much places could change over time.

Shifting a few muscles in her back, she splayed her wings out slightly behind her, enough to let the currents of air up where she was playing through the feathers, but not enough to start lifting her off of her perch. That was one thing she never tired of actually, ever since she developed her powers, the feel of the air flowing around her was simply bliss. There were times when she felt like she could stay up here forever. Honestly, there were a few times when she wished she could.

There was no hiding that she was a powered individual from the world. No way to hide the rather massive pair of wings on her back. The other changes people couldn’t see but the wings were always there. It had honestly take a bit of time for her to adjust but she had.

As the sound of an explosion of some sort and a massive cloud of jet black smoke floated up in the air Angelica stood up on her perch overlooking the city. She could see the source but really wasn’t sure what was going on. She was no fighter but with an explosion like that and so much smoke, there was bound to be someone hurt. Maybe she could help in that way?

With a snap her wings extended fully and caught the currents of air. Angel leaned diving from the tower of the bridge and made her descent, skimming over the cars as she made her way towards the city, on peripherally aware as voices called out from the vehicles below. Some in shock from the explosion, some at the sight of the woman above their heads wearing a flowing light blue gown and angel wings. Her golden hair catching the sunlight as she soared past.

She would arrive soon, especially with the burst of speed her dive gave her. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too late.

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + @angelica + wearing

Paladin coughed. That one had hurt. She hadn't seen the blast coming, or rather she had, but once it had flown by over her shoulder she thought it had just missed. Unfortunately it seemed that a particular quirk of this particular metas power meant that the damn energy balls came back. It had flipped around somewhere behind her and hit her below her chest on the way back. It had melted straight through her costume and taken a hefty chunk out of her side as it had done so. That wound was now bleeding, heavily. She coughed again and groaned in pain, moaning as she tried to put pressure on the wound. The metas had been knocking over a bank. Why was it that every vaguely criminal person who developed abilities thought that robbing a bank was a good idea. She'd downed two of them. Their brick hadn't even scratched her, the second meta had been some kind of metal controller, but she hadn't been too much trouble either, a few scratches, nothing more. Maybe if they'd been more of a challenge she'd have been more concerned about the blaster with the damn boomerang bolts. It had really hurt. She heard a clinking, heavy boots moving through the collapsed construct the metal manipulator had been controlling. It could only be the blaster, a huge guy with steroid boosted muscles and a clear penchant for tank tops. His voice rang out, a laugh in his tone. "Did I get you with that one Paladin?" She couldn't blame the laugh, or the clear pride in his voice. It'd be a big deal to be the one to take her down. She was the face of the Hero Program. The most famous Hero in America. She could see a billboard with her face on it from here for god's sake. She looked to the side in time to see the man's foot coming around the corner, followed by his sharklike grin. As he reached out a hand she kicked out, hitting the side of the car and loosing a blast from her feet. The energy bolt missed, at least it seemed good for one target. It blew a hole in the road where she had been lying. Meanwhile, having skidded across the asphalt on her back, she rolled awkwardly behind another car. It seemed his bolts were only good for one target before he had to recharge, which explained why he didn't just blow the obstacles out of the way. Paladin tapped the bud in her ear. "I could really do with some backup here guys."

© seadra of gs

[Deleted]

Angel

Alice Morrow

- Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. -

Angelica made good time, but even at the speed she could travel it wasn’t fast enough as she approached the site. Just as she feared chaos and destruction was all over. People screaming in fear as they ran away. Understandably really as she saw what was obviously a pair of Meta’s battling it out in the street. Lucky for her she recognized one of them.

It was kinda hard not to recognize the hero known as Paladin. But then the woman wore a distinctive white and purple suit with her telltale blue short hair. Even still, considering the woman literally had her face plastered around the area Paladin was hard to miss.

As she circled the area quickly accessing what she could possibly do, it quickly became evident that the battle was still going on. Though for the most part Paladin was doing well, Angel quickly saw that the woman was hurt. And judging by the amount of crimson staining her uniform, Angel felt hat Paladin was probably hurt pretty bad.

She was very empathic by nature, Angelica was even before her powers manifested. She also knew that she had to prioritize injuries. Despite the other wounded, she knew that right now Paladin was their best bet to stop this guy and their best bet to minimize casualties. Best to try and get that woman back on her feet so to speak then play triage in the middle of a battlefield.

With a sharp bank of her wings, Angel swooped in and dove coming in fast before dropping a few feet behind the same car as the Hero in Spandex. Because of her height and her wings she had to practically crawl up to the woman for her own safety. “Hey Paladin, I’m Angel. I’m a healer. You’re hurt, may I?” Silently she reached her hand out towards the woman's side a warm glow enveloping her hand as she readied to do what she could to help the woman.

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + @angelica + wearing

Speaking hurt, so Paladin was relieved that the winged Hero that arrived didn't bother waiting for a response before she reached out, her hand beginning to glow. She nodded, teeth gritted, and rolled a little, exposing her wound to the woman so that she could reach more. The experience was an unusual one, and not overly pleasant. It felt a little like the itching you experienced from a freshly healing scab, only amplified a thousand percent and crawling over the whole area of her wound like an ant colony had decided she was an excellent place to make a fresh anthill. Groaning, the blue-haired Hero did her best to hold still and not attempt to tear the fresh scab from the wound. It took a great deal of her self-control to do so and she almost missed the shout of anger and the sizzling sound of an incoming energy bolt. Obviously the villain stalking her had noticed the winged Hero's arrival. They were still crouched behind the car, but those bolts had a hell of a kick, and right now the healer was between her and the vehicle. She grunted, "Sorry" as she grabbed a hold of the woman's forearm, starting to pull kinetic energy through her a fraction of a second before the car was flung towards her winged back. It was just in time, and the now shattered hulk came to a dead stop as it hit the woman's feathers. Paladin released her forearm, hoping that her wound was healed enough now to let her fight properly. She didn't want to have to do that again. She was immune to the effects of her own power, thankfully, but she'd been told it was extremely unpleasant, feeling your heart beating and the blood refusing to move, like being unable to breathe even when your lungs were working. "Am I good?"

© seadra of gs

[Deleted]

Angel

Alice Morrow

- Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. -

Angel felt a stab of pain in her own side as she healed Paladin’s injury, in Angel’s case however it wasn’t a gaping wound like the woman had, it was more like a really badly pulled muscle at this point in time. Certainly more than enough for her to not move as freely as normal, at the very least she would need to take a day or two not exerting herself as she recovered.

If anything what happened next just proved that Angel needed to spend more time training in combat situations. Part of her peripherally was aware of the villain firing another blast. She was aware of it smashing into the car they were both ducked behind.

Angel was just about to brace herself for what was sure to be a painful impact that would most likely crush her when Paladin reached out and took hold of Angel’s arm muttering sorry. Angel didn’t have time to wonder when suddenly the car slammed into her but it stpped dead as soon as it touched her. It was an odd feeling however. The whole time Paladin had her hand on Angel’s arm, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t even blink. Her whole body was frozen for a moment as the vehicle impacted against her with a loud crunch.

When Angel could finally breathe again she collapsed bracing herself with her arms on the ground. The sensation was, well it was one she wouldn’t want to experience again if she didn’t need to. “I uh, I mean” Was there a good answer to that? “Yeah, thanks.”

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + @angelica + wearing

They were both still alive, and while Paladin could definitely feel the pain in her side, it felt more like a recent burn now than an actual hole. She'd been avoiding looking at it, not wanting so see how bad she'd been injured, but she did now. The skin was livid, raw and blistered, but even that was healing as she watched. She pushed the healer away, "I'm fine now, I can fight, there's people that need your healing more than me right now." She heaved herself to her feet, wincing at the sting in her side. It was painful, but she could fight through it. Which was exactly what she intended to do right now. "I owe you big time. Just let me deal with this jerk first." Taking a step forward, Paladin planted her foot against the side of the burning hulk that had once been a car. That comparatively light blow was amplified by her power and the vehicle exploded, it's structural integrity too compromised by the villain's blast. A good portion of it still went flying in her target's direction, shattering into dozens of pieces as it did so like a shotgun shell. The hulking body builder took a dive coming back up peppered with small scratches and bleeding cuts. He looked angry, definitely angrier than he had been before, probably because his chance at being the one to take out Paladin was now vanishing rapidly over the horizon. He roared, "Stupid bitch" in the winged meta's direction, launching another blast.

© seadra of gs

[Deleted]

Alice Morrow

- Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. -

Angel nodded as Paladin got back on her feet. She was glad the woman was bouncing back as fast as she was because Angel really was not a front line combatant. She was right however, there were more people that needed her help. “Alright, go get em. I’ll help people here.”

With that said she let Paladin get back to work and did her best to stay low. The last thing she wanted at the moment was her own wings to be clipped by whatever those blasts were. Instinctively she ducked down as there was an explosion of parts. She had no idea what happened but didn’t make it far when another blast suddenly came Angels’ way. Angel managed to launch herself skyward well enough but still felt the blast clip a wing.

With a crash she landed on the hood of a car crumbling into a ball and crying out in pain. After a moment to clear her head as the fight continued on, Angel managed to pull herself out of the hole she found herself in, her wings screaming in pain as she instinctively flexed them. Oh yeah they were not in the best of shape but she would recover. Angel looked around her trying to see if there was anyone else hurt or if they simply had run already. Hopefully they had left the area.

She saw a woman off to the side however clutching her arm and leaning against the wall. Doing her best to keep her head down just in case. “Hey let me help.” She reached out to the woman doing her best to smile reassuringly. “I can heal.” Chances are it would hurt like hell when she did but better her then the woman. Angel wanted to get the woman clear.

i suck at combat

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + @angelica + wearing

Paladin's approach of making herself the biggest threat on the battlefield clearly hadn't been effective. The meta hadn't quite ignored her, but he'd focused on damaging her saviour instead launching one of his strange boomerang energy balls in her direction. The blue haired Hero hadn't had a chance to intervene, and the bolt caught the wings of the angelic figure in mid-flight. Instead of going to check if she was OK, Paladin focused on her real priority in this situation. Angel was a healer, Paladin was a warrior. Disasters, accidents, these were all situations that suited a Hero like Angel. Paladin did one thing, and she did it well. She kicked ass. Naturally that was her focus now. Dust flew through the air as Paladin rocketed forwards, the motes spiralling wildly in the vacuum she left behind as she blasted towards her enemy. She'd seen him work, and the blaster seemed to need time to build up each fresh blast. If it came back he could send it out again straight away, but the energy seemed to dissipate once it made contact with a target. That meant she had to get her hands on him before he could launch another bolt. Fortunately she could move a lot faster than he could. The man had been cradling his hands together, clearly summoning enough energy to release another blast. That strange flickering glow faded as Paladin drew closer however, the man dropping his hands and scrambling backwards in an attempt to get out of her way. Paladin had learned since attempting to catch Punk however. She dropped one foot down, that single contact with the asphalt allowing her to absorb all the kinetic energy of her headlong flight and enabling her to turn on a dime and launch herself shoulder first into the man's stomach. Normally a woman Paladin's size would have had little impact on the tank-like blaster, despite the muscle packed onto her lithe frame. Fortunately the costumed woman was anything but normal, amplifying the impact of her shoulder with stolen kinetic energy to deliver a blow that left the man doubled over and wheezing. Instinctively he tried to punch at his assailant, Paladin didn't even bother trying to block, absorbing the force of the impact and using it to juice up her next blow, this one into his shoulder. She'd taken a shot from him herself, and seen the woman that came to her rescue go down from one of his blasts. She was in no mood to be merciful. The man screamed as the bones in his shoulder shattered. It definitely wouldn't be fatal, but it would be extremely painful and would take a long time to heal, not that it should be a concern to him at the moment. Paladin pushed a palm into his forehead, the blow, once again augmented by her ability, knocked his head back. Unconscious, and probably concussed, the heavy man collapsed backwards. Paladin winced, putting a hand to her side and lifting it to discover that she'd started bleeding, whatever work Angel had done clearly hadn't been finished. Awkwardly and painfully she rolled the villain over, pulling his wrists behind his back and strapping them together with a zip tie. Standing, she tapped her here, "Threats neutralised, several injured though, including me." Propping the guy up against a chunk of rubble, she turned and walked gingerly over to where Angel was starting to clear the wounded out of the area. "Thanks Angel, I think you literally saved my life."

© seadra of gs

[santa]

The man was of average height, but stooped by age and physical labour. His clothes were old and a little threadbare, but still the kind of clean that suggested a man who wanted to be respectable, if one fallen on very hard times. The kind of man who always walked, because both car and public transport were too expensive. In short, the kind of man who would be most in danger in a street fight between metahumans; unable to hide inside a vehicle, or leave the area quickly.



The battle was already over when the man arrived, which was perhaps a good thing. He was no hero after all, just an ordinary man. So ordinary, in fact, that no one paid attention to him as he crossed the torn up street, stepping carefully over and around the few pieces of rubble scattered on the ground. So ordinary that no one cared that he was steadily approaching the hero, standing strong and as tall as she could, even as blood stained the blue of her costume.



He paused a few feet from her, and looked around. No one could call the fight particularly clean, but to expect it to have been would be unfair. After all, Paladin had been fighting several opponents, on her own for much of it, and had still managed to end the conflict with no civilian casualties. She had done well, had done better than expected in fact. But then, she always was one for exceeding his expectations, even before she was granted her powers. She truly deserved her spot on his list.



The object that appeared in his hands was oddly shaped and wrapped in a garish pink wrapping paper that turned it into a blob of colour, rather than offering it any actual definition. Still, a present was a present, even if the man found the giver’s choice of colour a little questionable.



He pushed it into Paladin’s hands, smiling gently at her. “This is supposed to be a secret gift for you, though between you and me the giver is a little obvious.” He stepped back, casting a look around the aftermath of her fight. “Still, I must say you deserve it. A friend to those who need one, a hero for those who deserve one, and a terror to those who don’t. I’m not supposed to play favourites, but you’re definitely testing that resolve.”



The man winked, smiled, and vanished, leaving behind a few flakes of snow, and the faint jingle of a bell.

Alice Morrow