Cracking Some Skulls: Brian, L’Qatu and their team take Merc entrance exam (10/07/2403)

It had taken a while but L’Qatu had finally finalised Nd'Raeldaghk’s Boss Form, and the team could get on with their task.  Upon arriving in the area, Brian and his Delgranger associates had already managed to do some initial reconnaissance on the area and locate their targets, leaving them with just the task of dealing with the 12 power users held up in the small facility.

As planned, Zeer and Kerad would scout forward first, while Brian activated Blackout for stealth and L’Qatu initiated his stealth as well, moving towards the large band of relatively weak power users.  Unfortunately for the team of four, the small facility had been rigged with scanners to alert its inhabitants to the arrival of any possible threats.  These scanners allowed the power users on the inside to quickly arm themselves before Zeer and Kerad could bust in through the windows, completely abandoning their stealthy approach now.

Zeer would dodge to the left as a beem from a Whistler impacted Kerad’s form now, forcing the Delgranger to vanish from its location and appear behind his attacker, releasing a powerful mouth blast which knocked the frail user off his feet.  Instantly, the two blasters could begind targeting the two Delgrangers and Brian snuck up behind them, grabbing them both by the back of the neck and charging his Angle to max before slamming their heads together at full strength.  Much to his surprise, this didn’t knock the two users unconscious, but only managed to stun them, forcing him to repeat the process a few more times before they both simultaneously expanded a wave of energy that blasted him away and into a nearby wall.

On the other side of the room, L’Qatu would also launch his first attack, latching his feet around one of the speed augmented users before performing his Sjennejher technique.  The users would watch in horror as a storm of body parts now turned to blades, and L’Qatu attempted to reform himself in the same position that the user already occupied.  This modified Iron Maiden would be the first to dispatch a user, as L’Qatu now found himself covered in blood.  This would needless to say draw an instant barrage from the two remaining speed augmented users, both equipped with vipers and tekbytes as they wasted no time barraging the boss level channeler that had just killed their teammate.   This would force L’Qatu onto the defensive as he moved his body parts into blades and attempted to defend himself from the constant assaults.

Zeer and Kerad was having a bit of a hard time against their 5 opponents, who now kept the two scouts, who had only recently ascended to the boss tier, on their toes.  The two would spend more time dodging than actually attack to avoid falling prey to the ‘noob-rush’ while they attempted to formulate some kind of strategy for their attackers.  Unfortunately, Zeer would be caught off guard by a lunging attack and pinned, allowing two of their opponents to begin pounding on him while Kerad was forced to avoid the other two channelers.

Brian would also find himself in a bit of a state as the two defense augmented Power Users made it their task to keep the blasted alive, armed with Personal shielding devices and Judicators, they would engage Brian and ensure that they kept their own forms between him and the blasters at all times, while they whittled down his health.  Fortunately for the combat expert, dodging the relatively slow users would prove to be an easy task, allowing him to charge his Angle until it reached its maximum output.  With this done he would unleash a blisteringly fast combo to the first defense based channeler.  Brian would open with two uppercuts to the gut before landing two hooks to the face.  He would then shift his body to avoid blast from one of the ranged users before he grabbed his opponents hand and shoulder threw him into a nearby wall, keeping his Judicator for good measure.  A quick slash down his back would cause Brian to growl loudly as he turned to face his other opponent, before two beams impacted his side, forcing him to Dynamic Guard and shave the rest of the incoming damage.

L’Qatu was having a much easier time with his targets, being far faster than they were naturally.  His cavorting bones would also prove to be a problem, as when modified with Shtaeta, it allowed him to use any part of his body, even his head as a weapon.  This allowed him to overwhelm his opponents four blades, with a tornado of blades which they simply could not defend against, forcing them to attempt to run.  But it was all to no avail, wherever they could go, L’Qatu could follow, it would not take long before they two suffered the same fate as their associate, shredded into what could barely be considered ‘meat’.

A bright flash of light would be seen as Zeer unleashed a powersaved jet of fire, pinning his opponent to the wall as he ignited now, while L’Qatu moved in to help him deal with the others.  A drill blade type maneuver would pin yet another power user to the wall, allowing Zeer to focus on the last of his attackers.  Kerad was having slightly more luck staying outof melee ranger and blasting his pursuers with flame breath attacks, only taking the occasional strike when he got sloppy or his opponents genuinely out maneuvered him.

Brian on the other hand was quickly getting tired of his match up, finally taking a Judicator to the weakened defense type and pinning him to a wall by it, allowing blood loss to take care of the rest.  A Now Omega Driven Brian would vanish from sight as his energy accelerated towards its peak.  The shadowy channeler would appear behind one of the damaged ranged users and put him in a headlock before using his highly augmented strength to snap the user’s neck.  Blasts would impact the area where he was, but by then Brian was long gone.  A forearm strike would catch the other ranged user off guard, cutting his wind as Brian rushed him into a wall, charged Angel into his first and punched straight through the users before allowing him to fall to the ground.  Brian would then drop his stealth and look at his final opponent with a sadistic grin, this one he might draw out for a bit.

Back on the other side of the room, L’Qatu was busy introducing power users to his new ability,  the iron maiden, while Zeer and Kerad each dealt with a single power user each.  In moments it would be done.  The hideout would look more like a slaughter house when they were done.  Brian and L’Qatu would each activate their Restoration and leave the area, alerting the authorities to the clean up that was necessary before opening a communications link with Bayman to let him know that the task was done.

Outcome: L’Qatu and Brian have passed their test and accepted into the Mercenary Army.

Brian: 330 Exp (healed)

L’Qatu: 290 Exp (healed)