The Contest - Part 3 (Backdated to June 6th)

[whoneedsdepthperception]

([LAST TIME on OMEGAFRIENDS: The sinister villain SLADE marked his return to Venture city by hosting a dangerous competition of might for villains and heroes alike, with rewards of cash and other valuable prizes! But when all the OMEGAFRIENDS proved to be
above such greed, Slade hatched an even viler plot! Seeing that Mrs. Helen Parr, innocent mother of two, had befriended many of the younger heroes in town, he kidnapped her and held her hostage! As the heroes were forced to do as Slade said for Helen's sake, Samus Aran and Superman tried to stop the villain, only to be caught in a trap! Will they escape? Will Slade succeed? What is his ultimate goal, anyway? Find out in this week's exciting conclusion on OMEGAFRIENDS!!!])

[A- Omeganet. Audio and Visual]
A little after 6 pm, Slade once again hacks into the Omeganet.

"Good evening, Omega Friends. For such supposedly noble heroes, you certainly don't play very fair, do you? Attacking the referee in the middle of a contest? You should be ashamed of yourselves.
It seems I have no option but to make an example."

The video feed flips to show Slade's latest prisoner:
Superman, barely conscious, hangs in restraints similiar to the ones that hold Helen Parr. Those who look closely can make out flecks of glowing green material imbedded into the man over a wide area.

"I have shot the so-called Man of Steel with exactly enough Kryptonite to slowly and painfully drain him of his life energy over the next 48 hours. After that...
Well, let's just say it's in the best interest of his health that you give me your full cooperation. If, in the next 48 hours, I receive detailed information on every member of the Omega Friends, including civilian identities and data on their known powers, I will release my prisoners to a neutral hospital capable of treating them.

I trust I will be hearing from you soon."

[B- Action. Parr Household. Locked to Robert Parr, Ruby Rose, and Blake Belladonna.]
((Slade will not be commenting in this thread. It takes place shortly after Slade ends his conversation with Bob via the Omeganet. The Parr kids are with friends of the family for the evening.))


[C- Action. Slade's Lair - Detention Level. Locked to Helen Parr, Samus Aran, Superman, and Slade]
Slade enters the room with a calm and confident posture. He looks each prisoner up and down in their restraints, then comments to them in a condescending tone.

"How good to see you all again. I trust you are comfortable?


[D- Action. Entrance to Slade's Lair. OTA]
Venture Munitions Lab A1-13 has been abandoned for well over a decade, yet it seems very busy tonight. Slade's robot commandos can be seen exiting and entering the building in coordinated teams, and occasionaly a black and orange drone flies overhead.

[E- Final Showdown in Slade's Lair. Only open to those who bypass D]
After facing all the obstacles Slade has thrown at you, it is time for the final showdown! Take him down hard!

Comments

C

[bigshoulder_lady]

Well, Samus wasn't.

"You %(@#$*% Pirate! I will @#$(*@#$ rip out..." She took a moment to breathe, staring at him with a level of emotion that she had hardly shown before. Of course he had taken the last gift from her family that had raised her, so there were reasons she wanted to do things that weren't strictly in the scope of the environment. Of course, after taking a few moments to think, she knew he could never operate it. Not a single thing he could do to break it. Plus others were bound to come.

That wasn't something she normally relied on, but Rundas had saved her before. Maybe it was time to let others try. For now... "Or maybe you had something more important to do here than just torment us with snide, sarcastic wit?"

Re: C

[whoneedsdepthperception]

"Tut, tut, such language. Someone should wash your mouth out with soap, young lady."

Slade raises his hand to the side of his helmet, where his ear would be. "Bring it in."

A robot commando wheels Samus's suit in.

Slade looks at it and back at Samus. "Tell me how to use this."

Re: C

[bemoreflexible]

Helen looks over to Superman with obvious concern as the Man of Steel strains to keep conscious.

She then glares at Slade and asks through gritted teeth, "If we tell you, will you remove that stuff from Superman?"

Re: C

[bigshoulder_lady]

Samus gives a look over at Helen as she says that. "Well, before I can do that, you need to repair the damage forcibly removing it from me did. I mean, the back thrusters are busted, the visor has half the screens not working, and the gun's power supply is shot to hell." She acted like she was just babbling off a list...

"Need a Photon accelerator, electron wave generator, an EM field containment generator, and a superconductor energy conduit for the gun. And the visor needs an advanced IR tracker, an essence of Darkness, and a EW suite installed. PLus the gravity unit is shot in the suit itself. It just won't work until that's all fixed. Not at all. Then we can negotiate on telling you how to use it."

She was angry, but she knew well enough that no amount of tinkering with her family's gift would give anyone but her access to the suit. Best he could do is make a shoddy copy.

[big_blue_boyscout]

It's plain to see that Superman is not doing well. Most of the color drained from his skin a while ago and not long after that he started to sweat like he was running a high fever. Clark was fading in and out of consciousness, though conscious might be generous. The pain and the radiation poisoning was taking it's toll, and even when he was awake, he wasn't cognizant.

Words were muddled and sights were blurred, but he did manage to focus in on something once he heard it. Slade's voice. No sooner did Slade speak then Superman started moving, sluggishly and weakly, but he was moving, struggling against his restraints.

D

[omnitrixter]

[Ben has been sneaking as close as he can to the entrance, not wanting to attract any attention from the bots or any other heroes that might be in the area. He really needs to invest in a mask. Once he's close enough, he pops up the dial and rotates it to cycle through his available forms, landing on a frog-like alien.]

C'mon Grey Matter... [Slamming his hand down on it, there's an explosion of green light along with a spike in strange energy readings if anyone had scanners up.]

[Ben looks down at himself.] ...Or Upgrade. Upgrade's even better.

[He flattens himself into a goopy techno-sludge which slithers along the ground and up into the closest of the Sladebots. It turns black with glowing green lines as he takes over it, going over its systems and giving its laser Gatling gun a spin.]

I am going to have waaaaay too much fun with this.

[He brings up the targeting system, locking onto a black and orange drone that's approaching, raising his weapon and firing.]

Re: D

[whoneedsdepthperception]

[The drone takes a direct hit to its right propeller, and plummets right toward Ben, a trail of black smoke streaking behind it.]

[omnitrixter]

Aw man!

[He uses the hydraulics to launch himself out of the way, changing the configuration for maximum effect. Of course this also ensures he's in the other Sladebots' line of sight.]

...Don't suppose you guys will buy I'm one of you, huh?

[whoneedsdepthperception]

[In response, three of the commandos draw ninja swords, while two cock their laser rifles. All of them silently advance on Ben.]

[omnitrixter]

Yup. Didn't think that'd work.

[He lifts his free arm to build out a rocket launcher, firing with both it and the laser Gatling at the three with swords.]

B

[feelingincredible]

Bob was currently in his study, surrounded by trophies from his past, but only seeing his super suit. Dare he put it on? Mr. Incredible was retired. He was supposed to just be Robert Parr now.

He sighed, and closed the door to the case. For now, it was the ski mask and black clothes. Then, it was just a matter of hunting down Slade and punching him through a wall.

[sociallyawkward]

Thankfully, Ruby and Blake had managed to come to an understanding before taking off each others' heads. Now all that was left was tracking down Slade, rescuing Mrs. Parr, and possibly saving the city. Kind of, sort of. Ruby was a bit iffy on that last part.

The first stop was the Parr household. Or, rather, it was on the way, and Ruby had insisted they stop by to at least see how the family was holding up and possibly assure them that everything would be okay! Maybe. Ruby was still new to this.

"Come on, it'll take, like, two seconds," Ruby insisted as she knocked on the door. Politely. Without breaking in through any windows - that last part was important. She learned her lesson about that one.

[descendsfromshadow]

Before they took off each other's heads or managed to destroy any more apartments.

Of course, Blake had protested this side trip almost the whole way. They don't have time for this, every moment that passed was one less than Superman had for certain, and possibly Helen as well. Nonetheless, Blake was beginning to suspect Ruby had some sort of superhuman power of persuasion because here she was anyway at the Parr's doorstep, arms folded and hood up over her ears as always.

"Fine." She sighed, folding her arms. "But five minutes at most. We don't have time for conversation."

[feelingincredible]

Why NOW? Bob stuffed the ski mask in his pocket and did his best not to look like an impatient wreck as he answered the door.

"What?"

D for DW please.

[terrorwhatflaps]

[he knew that woman. she'd helped him out in the supermarket. and the other one, too, she was the one that'd been mouthing off to the guy with the syringes at the bank over the 'Net. small city. he didn't owe either of them much, but that didn't matter. they were Good Guys, and this guy was clearly Not, and that was reason enough for Darkwing to seek him out. so now he crouched in the shadows outside the building, watching the comings and goings of the robots. it seemed like the best way to get in was to infiltrate their ranks somehow ... or maybe to hitch a ride on one of those drones, if they were big enough to do so.

which option, indeed...?]

Re: D for DW please.

[whoneedsdepthperception]

[A drone flies by. It looks just big enough for DW to try and ride it like a flying skateboard - if he has enough balance and coordination, that is.]

Ddddddd

[birdarang]

Robin didn't care what he had to do to make it to Slade. When it came to psychotic people like him, the less time you wasted, the better.

Whatever free time he had was dedicated on how to stop this; it was a normal feeling anymore. He was trained by Batman himself- there should be no reason why it would be hard for him to figure this out. But whenever he felt like he had a lead, it vanished. He kind of felt like this was a wild goose chase...until he saw drones flying up ahead.

Black and orange. Okay.

He followed them right to an abandoned lab, and from there Robin knew he was in the right spot. Slade bots could be seen everywhere, walking in and out as they pleased. Drones dropped off and took back up again, helping in this cause in any way Slade saw fit. Robin wanted to charge, to blast through whatever bots he could...but that was a waste. Slade needed to be stopped now.

Robin started to creep a little closer to the lab, his heart pounding away in his chest. He wasn't all that far away; just a few quick turns and he should be there.

Straight lines aren't always the quickest route my little friend

[whoneedsdepthperception]

[A squad of five robot commandos stands between Robin and the entrance. There don't appear to be any routes to sneak past them.]

robin is frowning intensely

[birdarang]

And, of course.

Robin grumbled as a few Slade bots slid in-between him and the entrance. Of course. With Slade, you could never get to the point without taking a million pit stops along the way. That was something that always irritated Robin...and he had the feeling that Slade knew, too. He would.

He pulled out his staff, charging forward with a roar. He swung his staff hard, knocking it right up against the head of a bot.

Re: robin is frowning intensely

[whoneedsdepthperception]

[Two of the bots pull out laser blasters and begin firing away at Robin.

Pew pew pew!]

E - Locked to Elastigirl, Samus, Superman, Mr. Incredible, Ruby, Blake, Ben, Robin, Shadow

[whoneedsdepthperception]

((This thread will start as a free-for-all, so for now there is no waiting for your turn. However, I will maintain this Plurk thread to discuss what is going on, make requests about comment order at certain points, etc. If you are posting here, you should be checking there first.))



Slade doesn't seem to notice you at first as you enter the room. He is instead focused on watching the footage he's collected the past few weeks of all the heroes in town, couple with some sort of power analysis software.

After a moment though, he speaks up, without bothering to look.

"So, you're finally here."

[sociallyawkward]

Ruby has no qualms about being the first one into the room with a maniac kidnapper-slash-maniac. She also has no qualms about being extremely loud about it. Which is why she chose to enter by slicing the large metal door into the room off of its hinges with her scythe, then blasting it with the gun portion of the weapon.

She followed soon after.

She certainly hoped he would notice that much.

"Slade!" With a flourish, the girl threw back her hood (which she was using to keep her identity secret,) and pointed Crescent Rose at him in what she thought to be a menacing way. "We're here to stop you, and rescue everybody you've taken!"

[whoneedsdepthperception]

Slade chuckles, and still doesn't bother to turn to face her.

"Well well, I seem to remember you telling me you weren't a hero. I'm so glad I got you to come out of your shell."

[omnitrixter]

Ben came next, currently in the form of Heatblast after he'd timed out as Upgrade. It was the form the watch had given him after he'd hidden away to recharge despite him trying to get Upgrade again.

He looked to Ruby with one eye slightly wider than the other, pointing at Slade.

"You know this nutcase?"

[birdarang]

Robin wants to say he's freaked out when he sees some footage of himself on the screen. But he's not. He hops down to the floor, just waiting. He doesn't really wait for all that long, but anxiety starts to pool inside of him. There were so many things about this villain that literally kept him up at night. Slade held some pretty bad memories, and seeing him here again for the first time in a long while quickly stirred that pot.

He almost jumps when Slade speaks. "Putting me through an obstacle course wasn't necessary."