In Over Their Heads: DX takes on Power Users in Russia (30/06/2403)

It seemed that his Stryfe military training had left the young Lieutenant Commander a bit too confident in his own abilities as he went over his latest plan with the rest of his team.  Even the usually laid back Bobby, who tended to be up for everything, thought that their methods might be a bit over the top for what it was that Paco wanted to accomplish.  But being out of the picture for almost two months had left Paco eager to get back into the game, and he could think of no better way to show the Power User menace their place, than a joint faction assault using the members of DX.

With this in mind, he and his team ventured deep into the Russian city of Plavsk, a relatively small city, but with a very high Power User percentage.  As Paco as his capped team made their way into the city, even their small ethereal signature seemed to put the enhanced user hosts on edge, drawing a great deal of attention to them.

“Look Paco, they are admiring our channelling greatness.”  Mavrick stated loudly now.  “I told you that it was impossible for users to hate us... after all, who hates gods?”  Mavrick inquired casually, drawing mild laughter from Nicholas while ROM and Reign shook their heads silently.

This was all part of Paco’s plan however, he needed a demonstration of channeler might, but he couldn’t afford to simply attack a group of power-users.   He needed to be the victim of the attack, and as much as he hated to admit it, Mavrick was perfectly suited for the task of drawing aggression from the power user masses.

It would take surprisingly long, but eventually, their presence and Mavrick’s loud-mouth would draw enough attention and aggression to their small group for an angry mob to form in the town.  This mob would slowly evolve from an unorganised group of non-channelers into a mobilised militia, fuelled on my Mavrick’s incessant ravings about channeler superiority.  Paco would watch with a silent smile as their opponents amassed themselves, before the numbers quickly accumulated against them.

“Okay Mavrick, I think that’s enough provocation.” Paco whispered to the Mercenary Recruit, causing Mavrick to raise an eyebrow.

“What are you talking about, I haven’t started drawing aggro yet...”  Mavrick replied before a voice sounded before them.

“You have thirty seconds to turn around and leave, before we revert you and take you in for disturbing the peace.”  A woman, who appeared to be the leader of the small militia sounded.

“We’re just standing here talking... it’s a free country isn’t it?”  Bobby inquired now, causing the woman’s eyes to narrow.

“No.” She stated calmly.  “No it’s not, your kind made sure of it.”  Came the puzzling reply before Paco cut her off.

“As a Stryfe, I won’t stand here and be lectured to by a... a user...”  Paco stated now.  “The might of the Stryfe clan is legendary, what right do you have to tell us to leave?”  He inquired now, uncapping his form to max and signalling for his group to do the same.

As they did this, Paco’s energies began to spread through the atmosphere, priming the area for the inevitable battle.  This did not go unnoticed by their aggressors however, who’s scanning abilities quickly picked up the influx of coded energy in the area, causing them to order the streets to be cleared.  This revealed the power users that would actually take place in the assault, a group of 12 that outnumbered the DX team two to one.

“Bring them down quietly, no collateral damage.”  The woman ordered as four men instantly rushed past her at blinding speeds.

The Power User militia would watch as Reign summoned two Dagon Cannons and enforced the powerful energetic drain on the battlefield, before Bobby and Rom began to fill the battlefield with clones of themselves.  Despite this however, the four high mobility channelers would easily weave between them, making a break for Paco.  Noticing this, Nicholas did his best to get in their way, teleporting to intercept them while summoning his Reckless’ World in an attempt to slow their movements.  His tactic would be successful, giving Paco enough time to change position now as the four channelers were slowed, allowing Yasmin to take to the air as well in her Blui form.

Unfortunately, a quick sweep and a choke slam would prevent Reckless from getting off any shots as two of their speedy opponents focused on him, while two others changed their path to pursue Paco.  By now, the others were already preparing to open the assault against the still stationary 8 members of the militia, while Reign locked both of his Dagon Cannons on the two channelers that were chasing Paco.  As they got close to Paco, he would vanish using his Chaos Realm, reappearing behind the remaining 8 members of the militia while Reign opened fire on the two speedsters that had previously been pursuing his group leader.

This initial assault would mobilise the others now, allowing Paco’s plan to go into full effect.  Instantly the channelers on the left and right side of the group would be attacked viciously in an attempt to herd them into a tight group.  Unfortunately for DX, the leader of the small unit was having none of this, using hand signals to send another four members of the group towards the members of DX while she and the remaining three members turned to their rare to deal with Paco.  Back amidst the members of DX, ROM had now turned his attention to getting at least one of the two speedsters off of Nicholas, who now found it impossible to teleport out of their grip as they did their best to pummel him into reversion.  As ROM stealthily Plain Walked into the midst of the scuffle, he charged his M. Overload, emerging from his stealthy walk to deliver a powerful palm thrust to his target, detonating the matter of his opponent’s form on impact to blast him away.  The blast and ROM’s sudden appearance would act as enough of a distraction to allow Nicholas to break his opponent’s grip, delivering a powerful GunKata blow to his opponent’s head to send him realing backwards before ROM charged another M. Overload and delivered a double palm attack to this opponent to send him skating away as well.

Meanwhile, Reign and Bobby were having far less luck fending off their two speedy opponents.  Even with Reign’s powerful energy drain, it didn’t seem to slow these two users to the point where they could be caught.  A quick combo had already dissipated one of his Dagon cannons, forcing him to unsummon the other and focus the might of his Golems on taking these opponent’s down, while Bobby used his high accuracy and high speed tracking to whittle down their HP.  Unfortunately for the Xelot Knight, while his attacks were whittling down his opponent’s HP, their attacks were taking large chunks out of his health, burning up his Trials and those of his summons.  This bad situation was only made worse as Yasmin’s Dragon form came crashing down to the ground, as two power users rode her directly into the ground.  The impact would knock Mavrick and both of his opponents away before Yasmin deactivated the Morph and went into her Nova form, exploding with a dome of red flames to blast her opponents away.

On the otherside of the battlefield, Paco found himself like Reckless, unable to teleport out of the range of his attackers, forcing him to rely on his natural mobility to avoid their assaults while he engulfed them in flames.  Unfortunately for Paco, with this four on one assault, their strategy, even though simple, seemed to work far too effectively.  As they attacked him, two of the power users would absorb his flaming damage and shield the others while the leader of the small militia, who was an exceptional hand to hand combatant, pierced his flames to deal critical strikes to the Stryfe.  This frustrated Paco greatly, but he couldn’t seem to get around their attacks, being so heavily outnumbered.  It wasn’t until his usually red flames darkened into a dark brown that the two defensive fighters would actually be blasted away, sent skating down the street as Yasmin’s Nova form stood some distance away with a smile on her face.  This also drew a smile from the power user militia leader as she noted the positions all of the members of DX.

“Just what I needed.”  She stated, making a unique hand signal as the small residential area which they were in now erected city class ethereal dampening.  “Arrogant channeler fools...”  She stated now as her team quickly subdued their opponents, putting them in various military style arm and neck-locks to keep them restrained.  “First rule of tactical engagement, never engage in battle in an unknown environment which the enemy controls!”  She yelled, as if talking to new recruits.  “Put them with the others, we’ll ship them off to the facility later this evening.”  She stated.  “I’m sure that the doctor could use some more of their kind for testing.”

“Tests!?”  Came the exclamation from a voice in the distance.  “I think not.”  The voice sounded once again, before a surge of energy impacted the generator of the DMZ to cancel the ethereal suppression.  The mysterious channeler’s next words would be masked by the high pitch sound of energy cutting through the atmosphere to impact the leader of the militia, pinning her to the wall and causing her body to convulse violently as a myriad of energies flowed through her form.

As the figure emerged from the shadow’s now, he activated his Omerga Drive, causing his blue eyes and the blue Streaks in his hair to glow brightly before enough stream of energy took out the Power User that was restraining Paco.

“What the hell!  Was that a...”  Bobby started, before the figure spoke again.

“Getting beat up by users bro?”  The figure stated as the members of DX now began to struggle with their captors in an attempt to break their respective grips.  “Have I been gone that long?”  Came the question as the Power Users now focused their attentions on the new comer.

Whistlers and Iger-V4s would emerge from windows and begin to flood the street with energy damage, causing the smiling  Stryfe to vanish into the shadows.

“That sounds like our cue to leave.” He stated now, causing Paco to give the order for his team to Omega Flash out of the area to avoid reversion.

The members of DX would appear some three kilometres away where their ships would be waiting, quickly boarding them and leaving the area to avoid being pursued.

Bobby: 210 Exp
Maverick: 220 Exp
Nicholas: 200 Exp
Paco: 210 Exp
Reign: 460 Exp
ROM: 260 Exp (fully healed)
Yasmin: 260 Exp