Eye-Catching

[Michael Asters]

"Don't speak to me of horrors until you can look at the darkness inside your enemies... or the light!" Cassiel snarled, a telekinetic wave slamming into the energy to hold it back. "Attacking children, razing lives... you have honor, Gladiator, but you've abandoned it!"

"I'm the one who does not forget that the pain of one is as great a tragedy as the pain of many, and my people will not roll over to you again!" With that, he launched himself forward, bringing this battle into close quarters.

[ASHLIE]

ASHLIE was standing in the middle of the chaos, miraculously unbothered but also utterly confused. With the help of the campus security cameras it had no problem visually tracking all the participants but that doesn't mean it really understands what is happening except that they are obviously under attack. All of this takes a while to process but when it does it takes a couple hurried steps in an attempt to cut off and tackle Fang with it's deceptively heavy frame.

[Hussar]

"I am superguardian Hussar!" she declared, feinting low but lashing her whip up to snap it around Roland's neck. "We are the arm of the Shi'ar empire, we stand for the safety of countless worlds! You will not stop us!"

[John Hino]

Neutron would also find John bearing down upon him once more with a mighty blow.

[Madrox Saavedra]

Madrox joined Bear in trying to ground Manta, firing off a precise laser blast at the alien's wings. No more Mister Nice Android. Because, man, fuck the Shi'ar.

[Roland Sackville]

"I am superguardian Hussar!" she declared, feinting low but lashing her whip up to snap it around Roland's neck. "We are the arm of the Shi'ar empire, we stand for the safety of countless worlds! You will not stop us!"

It would have hit Roland's neck had he not brought his shield up to block it.

"I am a knight of the round table and of the crusades. You SHALL not scar England while I draw breath.

And I've been drawing breath for a very, very long time," he added, thrusting with his sword.

[Alyson Gregory]

Alyson wasn't injured, and dropped down to check on Onyx.

[Chloe Grant]

Chloe launched herself at Hussar's back.

[Rachel O'Brien]

Rachel fired at Neutron, once John's blow had knocked him to one side, her mind reaching towards his.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

After seeing Starbolt only get stronger with the continued application of fire, Stephanie reconsidered attacking, and left that to someone with more ranged abilities. She spotted Chloe and coming up from behind Hussar and decided to give her some help. She let out a primal howl and charged at Hussar's from the front, hoping to distract her and aid in the shredding and biting.

[Kevin Gravis]

A sword of golden light suddenly lashed at Smasher as the strongman made his attack on Cal. Not that Cal needed help, but you gotta help your friends, right?

[Gladiator]

"Do you simply think she will be more merciful towards your people?"

He grappled with Cassiel, small tremors in his grip speaking of the mental struggle that was still going on, the telepath starting to gain a foothold.

"Time and again the Phoenix has manifested on Earth. One wonders why she keeps getting sent here. What has she left undone?"

[Calvin Strong]

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WARNING!  TELEP-

The warning didn't even have time to finish processing before Cal felt the fist driving into his back, straining his shields and throwing him forward, painfully bouncing off the ground. Ow. Ow. Ow... He may have blacked out for a moment, or simply have been senseless. The next thing he knew he was getting ready to push himself back up with a damage report scrolling.

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Tactical sensors offline, autorepair systems initialized to recover functionality.

Damn. Well, time to show I don't need a computer to help me fight...

[Neutron]

Neutron was rocked by the shockwave, then tried to ride out that shockwave to use it to get out of the way of the oncoming attacks... but found himself stuck in place by Will. He flicked Jane's forehead in annoyance as he tried to get his feet unstuck, managing to pull the ground up around one foot before Rachel's rifle shot caught him in the chest while one of the taser rounds managed to find purchase and hamper his mobility... both of which held him there dazed for John's attack to plow him into the ground.

[Will Stanton]

Will decided to test Neutron's shell with a diamond-pointed stab.

[Manta]

Manta looked like she was about to reply... but with Bear and Bobby holding her down, Ryan and Madrox's attacks slammed home with brutal force. Tommy's flame attack added the final touch, the Superguardian giving Sam a horrified look before she fell to the ground, unconscious.

[Valdis Hallsdottir]

Since she didn't want to bring any harm to John, Val how focused her efforts on Plutonia, sending out a wide shock wave from her open palm.

[Fang]

"Hrrrh... they send toys against us? Toys?!" He grunted as he was tackled, struggling to find purchase with his claws against ASHLIE.

[Madrox Saavedra]

Madrox switched back to his repulsors and strafe-fired at Starbolt, hoping to keep him from evading Taliyah's earthen assault.

[John Hino]

John wasn't usually the type to kick a man when he's down. However, today he made an exception, stomping Neutron further into the ground for good measure.

[ASHLIE]

ASHLIE's design was surprisingly smooth, though there obviously had to be some gaps in it's plating for joints and cables. Still, by nature of it's frame it's servos produce a lot of strength that it uses to try to pin him down and bring a metal fist to bear on Fang's head.

[Salma Tournier]

"Titan, cease fire on Neutron." It looked like he was getting a good pummeling now by John, anyway. Salma began pressing buttons on the side of her not-a-scouter, surveying the battle and looking for better targets.

"There, the one who's pinned down--Fang! Lock on and prepare to dispense rubber bullets!" I doubt that the android holding him down would be damaged by a stray one of those, but he looks just fleshy enough for them to work.

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Acquiring target.

...

Target acquired.

"Fire!!"

[Krakoa]

Arc, though, didn't even physically move as he let out a powerful electric discharge, both to hold Janice back and to detonate Melody's explosive charges a safe distance from himself... though how close that would put them to the girls was not exactly an issue that came up in his mind. He took to the air, riding out the edge of the blasts by letting them carry him in the air a bit.

[Plutonia]

Plutonia seemed to fall into the ground, letting Daniel's heat vision pass harmlessly over her and come dangerously close to Alyson (though not hitting her). She rose back up like a shot, driving a fist hard into the approaching Daniel.

[Hussar]

Hussar spun toward the onrushing students, lashing out with her whip to catch Steph's ankle, sending a paralyzing jolt through the werewolf's body as she spun in place, hauling the whip to use Steph's own momentum (a bit redirected) to send her careening at Roland. She threw a leg out, driving a kick at the dinosaur as her whip came free of the werewolf's leg.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan kicked the unconscious Imperial Guard over, reaching down and ripping the flight patch off of her uniform. "No time to stop! Help everyone else!" he shouted to the others over the roar of the battle.

[Michael Asters]

"You speak of intent to someone who can touch a being's soul!"

Cassiel's expression, the quivering of his muscles and his telekinetic field, everything about him showed the strain that this battle was giving him. But he was damned if he was going to give up. "Will you let them make you a murderer of innocents, of children, Kallark? How much more will they pervert you before you say that it's enough?"

His eyes flared as a telekinetic wave slammed out from him. "The Phoenix manifests here for the same reason that, time and again, the Shi'ar turn here for help, or to place blame! And we will not allow you to persecute her for the sins of past hosts any longer!"

[Roland Sackville]

Roland lept over the sliding werewolf, forced to drop his shield to keep the maneuver up.

He stabbed backwards as his momentum took him past the Guard, aiming for a direct hit.

[Bobby Bowen]

with Manta down, Bobby turned his attention to Arc, grinning and taunting him with a very rude hand gesture.

[Byrna Cooper]

bear, meanwhile, joined Rachel in attacking Neutron, tossing out a sticky ball to keep him slowed down.

[Gladiator]

Gladiator tumbled back from the blast but surged forward again, rage in his eyes.

"Past hosts? Is that what you think this is about?"

"Bellerophon recently went supernova unexpectedly, incinerating a half-dozen vassal worlds. Don't lecture me on the deaths of innocents, human!"

[Michael Asters]

Cassiel was caught by Gladiator's blow head-on, smashing straight through a tree before skidding to a stop. He glared at the praetor as he stood up again, launching himself back in a counterattack. "And the Phoenix was seen there," he said scornfully, obviously doubting it. "The Shi'ar go on their usual witchhunt, why am I not surprised!"

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan managed to peel the section of uniform that had torn off off of the flight patch, and found that yes, it would stick to his uniform. All right... how do I- oh my god, this is amazing. It wasn't like flying with wings, of course. That would have been perfect, but still... he had all eight degrees of movement open to him again.

He looped back a moment, then streaked through the battle, taking a blast at Starbolt as he flew past.

[Eric Osgood]

Eric continued raining a flurry of super speed blows on Smasher, not letting up even when he teleported to a different location.

Powpowpowpowpowpowpowpowpowpowpow

[Jake]

jake, meanwhile, was still trading punches with Starbolt, looking much bigger stronger, and super dense as he did so.

[Janice Gilbertson]

Captain Britain spasmed again, and marshaled her strength to fling a large piece of metal wreckage at Arc, hoping to ground him out and discharge his energy.

[Starbolt]

The firestorm surrounding Starbolt was greatly reduced by the dirt clods which rained upon him as he traded burning blows with Jake. His gaze snapping towards the sources of repulsor fire and energy blasts, he aimed twin gouts of plasma at Madrox and Ryan.

[Samantha McManus]

"Hold that thought," came Ms. McManus' telepathic voice, as she took advantage of Plutonia needing to be solid to hit Daniel, and tried to prevent the Guardsman from phasing.

[Gladiator]

"And the man who claims to touch souls cares not about countless billions dead. Why am I not surprised?"

He grunted as he took the blow from Cassiel, his defenses starting to falter.

"I suppose you know where she was the whole time?"

[Michael Asters]

"Do you see a starship for her to have come back on? Or do you expect me to believe that she's omnipresent now," Cassiel shot back, not relenting in this match of wills despite growing fatigue.

You know what you need... You know what you need to be to defeat him...

Any psychics looking on would see his avatar shifting... growing...