I Need a Hero (Open AT)

Despite the title implying he'd be region-locked, 'Central City Police Chief' was more of a diet superintendent role. Central City was the seat of Earth's government and the hub of most response units that weren't independent to some degree. If shit went down on the other side of the planet, HE was notified. Doubly so now that 'Task Force Shield' had become more of an official thing. No doubt Fark or Glainne would be showing their mugs over at South City soon enough. "Hell of a way to come back..." Marshall grumbled, taking a long swig of his dollar-store coffee in a paper cup.

-

The distant scream of sparking fuel addled engines roared across the city as a shielded cruiser came out of cloak, blackened tristeel armor accented by staggered placements of flashing blue-red lights. The bay door opened, Marshall leaping out from a good fifty feet up - only to touchdown with nary a crack in the asphalt. Curiously the attacker had yet to cause any true devastation. The Demon was certainly capable of it. A few unfortunate people had already died from the initial shockwave, but overall the situation seemed... artificial. Ploy or no, Marshall made a vow, and he couldn't let Sesame do as he pleased.

Seems like someone had beaten him to the punch. Marshall wasn't familiar with any Earth Heroes outside of TFS, meaning the orange-haired chick could very well be an unregistered, unknown element. Not that Marshall particularly cared. Her power was a comforting blanket capable of stuffing whatever dread Sesame could inflict. A 'smarter' man may have backed down then and there, allowing Jackie to handle it, but Marshall wasn't concerned with his own safety. With a grunt, he'd speak into an earpiece: "Aux units. Focus on evac; we have way too many civilians down here still in danger. Main team will focus on threat neutralization. Contact any available Shield operatives and get their asses down here."

Visually he towered over the villain in raw size, but his battle power was more than dwarfed. It'd only take a single half-hearted strike from Sesame to take him out. Still, Marshall moved forward, undeterred. "Son, I ain't sure what you're trying to accomplish here. If you give up now, ya can get imprisonment instead of execution." The Terran's arms folded over one another, a stern glare shot Sesame's way. "N' that's a generous offer."

Not one they were likely to take. The freaks attacking entire cities always thought they'd get away with their crimes. "Miss, grateful for yer help. Just remember this is still a city - we're trying to prevent a catastrophe." If Jackie went off the rails too much, it wouldn't be farfetched for her to be pegged as a secondary target alongside Sesame.

Tomoma gave a huff as he landed on the outskirts of South city. A preposterously large Space Pod on his shoulder. The young Saiyan cracked his neck as he stared down towards the cityscape. It wasn't too long after that a massive explosion violently lit up the towns center. Tomoma gritted his teeth. A bead of sweat fell from his brow as he looked inside his space pod to find out the time.

"If I don't hurry they might shut down the pod" Tomoma mumbled to himself looking back at the now desolated city center. He'd lived on Earth long enough to now that an event like this was all too common. That being said every time some maniac came and caused trouble normally the earth had to spend years fixing their damages. "Unless lot. I'm gonna miss my opening" Tomoma said with a defeated sigh.

His eyes couldn't help but glance towards the area once again though. A slight smile came from his face as he closed his space pod and pulled out his notebook. "Well the least I can do is give a good idea of the assailant" Tomoma decided. He'd recently taken to learning the various alien species that live amongst the stars. Recently he'd found out about his own origins. His tail twitched and lashed inside his pants as he refused to openly show it.

After a moment of hesitation Tomoma lifted off the ground flying in the air once more. "Huh?" The boy said scanning the city as he grew closer. He was around three blocks away now as he flew towards a taller tower. With his note pad out and pen ready he drew rough pictures of everyone there. "Large old guy Pretty strong. Little Guy Definitely strong" The young Saiyan muttered sitting on the rail as he noticed the red haired girls power spike. "Well that's impressive" Tomoma commented in a dull tone.

He didn't have to worry about them overhearing while he was nearly 10 meters and on a higher elevation than them. He was a non-combatant after all. He was only there to research a way to survive more of the evasions and nothing more. "Well there they are" Tomoma commented as countermeasures began taking place. The Bearded man was obviously some sort of commander. Tomoma began to kick his legs back and forth as he sat on now windowless towering building. "Well lets see if Earth wins this time" Tomoma mumbled as his body swayed side to side.



IC: Right now Tomoma is sitting on one of the lesser destroyed buildings around 10 meters out observing the ongoing assault. Due to the overwhelming power levels Tomoma didn't bother lowering his own as it seemed dwarfed anyways.
PL: 10,000
KP:6/6
Momentum:1/6
Damage: 0/250
Words: 418

Even way out in East City, where he'd still been busy repairing the last crisis, Celerous had felt South City light up like a Christmas tree.

Naturally, he'd taken off in a hurry, magic-ing his gi onto his body, and flying South as fast as his power could possibly allow. He made good time, or at least, as good as he could have considering how far away he'd been. By the time he arrived, it seemed as though a few people had beaten him to the punch. Marshall was there, the older man who'd been assigned to his Task Force Shield as a sort of government liason. Celerous hadn't properly met the man yet, and considering that there was an odd looking man throwing his power around the city, the young farmer figured this wasn't the time for a meet and greet.

Then there was Russ, the blue haired Saiyan Celerous had met in a forest once. His power was astounding: Cel had no idea he was that strong. He'd just seemed like any other ordinary person when they'd met before. Much to his relief, the man was trying to help evacuate the citizens of South City before they could get hurt.

Jackie... He knew, now, who Jackie was. Kami of The Lookout. Guardian of Planet Earth. Celerous was well aware that she was strong: she had to be, in order to protect the Earth on her lonesome. But seeing her here, her power burning like a brilliant flame... it was unreal. Even though she was clearly furious, her radiating strength put him at ease. With her around, they had a real chance to nip things in the bud.

Engrossed in the demon attacking the city, Celerous failed to notice Qarinah. If he had, he would have been worried about where her loyalties lie. He hadn't been present for most of her involvement in East City, after all. 

Lastly, there was some dude hanging out on a rail above them all.

Celerous shouted at Tomoma, "you need to get out of here! We can't guarantee your safety if you stay!"

Then, with a roar, Celerous pushed his power to its maximum. White light seemed to glow beneath his skin, as his muscles increased in size, bulking in a way that was almost uncomfortable. He felt that familiar Saiyan fury burn in his chest, but he had long since learned to push it down and ignore it. He did not have the luxury of rage. Not when it tended to blind him to his surroundings, and certainly not when the enemy in front of him was far more powerful than he was.

He set himself down beside Jackie, but turned his head to nod at Marshall, "Chief. The PCRT is on the way. They'll defer to your men, and assist in the evacuation, and set up safe camps outside the city."

"Jack," Celerous turned his head in the other direction, and whispered to the Guardian, "even with our evacuation efforts, we can't get people out of this city in time. It's just too populated. If there's going to be a fight today, we need to force it into the skies. As high up as we can manage. That's our best chance at limiting collateral."

But even then, that wasn't a perfect plan. Ki blasts could so easily be thrown astray. He'd have to be diligent, and work in the background to make sure none of them hit the ground and caused unnecessary damage.

She was thankfully not the only one on the scene. Very quickly, as the screams and chaos of civilians fleeing the area rang through the are, so too did helpful actors. Jackie herself hardly could be everywhere to also escort people out by hand, so the few that showed alongside a sort of task force were appreciated. The quickest on approach was an older gentleman she'd never seen before, instructing her like a police chief. Must not know her, then... She lowered her voice back down to a proper shout from herself, giving the man a slight nod.

"Isn't my first rodeo, sir. Don't gotta tell me twice!"
Then came more familiar faces. Russ and Celerous both had made their way pretty efficiently, also funneling people out on their way here. She was impressed by their strength still, especially Russ who came from a smaller place the last she felt his power. Combined, they conglomerated into a pretty formidable little force against the singular demon here. From what she could sense, at least.

"Russ, Cel."
Jackie gives a quick greeting before squinting back at Sesame. Russ said he was there at the battle island. Which... Wait, that all made sense. Damn it... Back then, when she first met him... She knew she should have been more thorough and actually did something about him! Look what he's been doing since he was left off with a warning.

"You serious? He was there too? I'm... Why!? What did you have to gain by doing all of this?"
Pointed at the demon, he seemed to have little interest in explaining himself any further than ramblings about sound. Sounds of a hero. He did look like shit, combined with that nasty unnatural mark that scarred his torso. Must have been... Had to have been...!

"Not so fast! I'm your target, punk!"
Before the demon could reach Cel, Jackie launched off the ruined pavement and met him half-way with her own arm held up as a brace. It wasn't even thought on, she just felt her body react to the sudden threat with her own body. The sound would ripple into her arm, but it wouldn't deter her from pushing up at him. Her other first lighting aflame as she tried smashing a few punches at him to force him upwards. She was attempting to get the pair way above the skyline to avoid accidentally crashing into anything, or blasting buildings.

"Boys!"
Both Russ and Celerous would get a more personal message in their mind as she struggled to bash at the demon.

"I need you both to focus your assault and keep him up high! We absolutely need to keep him away from the city with his sound powers. Out of anyone his level, he has some of the most potent destructive powers I've seen if aimed! Let's make it quick!"

---

Russ and Sesame glared at each other like one of those pistol stand-off showdowns in a cowboy movie. He damn well better ingrain Russ in his memory, it's time for Marrow's accomplice to pay for innocent lives lost that day. Two more power levels showed up on the urban battlefield, one was Celerous he acquainted with recently, a very strong fighter with a noble heart. "Glad you made it Celly" Russ smiled. Both him and Jackie are as strong as Sesame, with them on his side there's no way they can lose. The other one was a Saiyan kid who looks to be a teenager observing the fight from a building. 'I thought I told everyone to evacuate the city, some people are hard of hearing.' Russ thought. He frowned in annoyance while keeping his eyes trained on Sesame. There was no point exchanging words with their little spy, Celerous has that covered. To his credit, the boy was stronger than most civilians but still...If they want to put themselves in danger, it's their funeral.

There was one more power level present in the city observing the battle. Unlike Tomoma, Russ cannot sense their energy. For this reason, the blue hybrid didn't pay attention to them, which could be his downfall if this vampire demonic being has wicked ideas to disrupt the brawl. Jackie and Marshall's reactions from Russ were varied. The Guardian was bewildered and seems to have history with Sesame. The old timer was dismissive, deeming the case closed. 'Not Quite..Marrow is still out there...' Russ kept it to himself in his head. Battle Island sinking was HIS greatest failure, Marrow was HIS responsibility. Aside from Jackie being with him to face her in case she got stronger, he'll be damned if he let anyone else get involved to clean up his mess.

Celerous and Marshall were discussing deploying PCRT for the evacuation and building safe houses. The latter decided to give Russ and Jackie official field hero status which makes the vigilante legal to do his thing. "Uh Thanks?" Russ glanced at the old stranger expressing confused gratitude. He never needed anyone's permission to help people, illegal or not.

Sesame was spouting bologna about hearing a sound of a hero and the choices were between Russ, Jackie, and Celerous...the strongest trio. "Bring it on Sesame Chicken!" going into a battle stance and taunting the man, adding one more face to the butt of his jokes. The dude shouldn't have spoken his name out loud to the populace, it was begging to be said. It was time to remove this sound-loving mercenary from the chess board and the battle begins. Sesame attacks Celerous first attempting to slug him in the jaw. "Celerous!" Russ exclaimed. Jackie intercepts in time and stopped the attack, with telepathy she instructs the blueberry wonder and farmer to focus thier assault and keep him away from the city.

Russ nodded at Jackie 'You got it Red' he faced Sesame once more and charged toward him. He pulls back his right arm and ignites it with violent blue energy, a Z mark appears on his fist as he attempts to bash him upwards in sync with Jackie. At the same time Marshall splits into four clones of himself and they all shot a fist-based projectile at the terrorist. "Taking the elevator up!" he may be struggling to push this guy upwards but Sesame doesn't need to know that.

Qarinah stroked her chin in thought as she watched her fellow demon start to clash with the would be defenders of this southern city. <He's deliberately looking for a "hero"... To what end?> she thought to herself, observing as the fiery woman got in the way of the blow meant for the Saiyan before she unleashed an attack of her own. The official looking person then split himself into four versions and unleashing a peppering towards the demon, even as they all began to bark out orders to the locals and each other.

The blue haired warrior began to try and take this battle up into the air, which made sense if you were trying to minimise any collatoral damage to the surrounding city. What briefly caught her interest however aside from the fight was the one who was sitting on the railings had apparently spotted her, and began to scribble something down on a notebook of some sort...

But that was a problem to be dealt with later. Right now though, her fellow demon was looking for the equivelant of a fair fight, against powers that were equal to his own. He was looking for heroes, not soldiers, not police... And sadly for them, the bearded quadruplets did not fit that bill in the vampiric succubus' eyes.

Keeping in mind that there was still one of the higher power levels still yet to engage with the sound demon, Qarinah took careful aim with her wings towards two of the bearded fellows and fired off the energy blast version of sniper shots towards them! She then quickly tried to retreat deeper into the alleyway so as to remain hidden from view.

Thankfully Sketch Boy had moved himself away due to the ensuing combat between the larger powers, so he shouldn't be an issue... for now. And if he did become a liability, well... He was easily dealt with.