The Remedy - The Cure for the Common Hero Chapter 4
The five members of the Remedy made it to the crypt with little incident, save for the piecemeal excuse that their newest recruit gave for showing up in Dark Astoria. When confronted, Mori had simply offered the explanation that shed heard the radio and gone searching. Her mentor had sighed and trudged ahead, ignoring the usual sarcastic banter from his teammates. Now inside the caves, Sang stood off to the side and watched as the others crept along the walls in varying shades of invisible. Mori stayed ahead of him, Stealthy and nervous while the rest of the group went forward.
"Shouldn't we go with them?" Her voice shook as she wrung her hands in the inconstant glow of Sang's aura "I mean, I could-"
"No." It was forcibly delivered, and came out in a nasty tone. "No, you're not going to do anything. You are going to stand back with Scimitar and not throw anything; no spells, no heals, nothing." He pointed at her comparably smaller form as he stressed the syllables of the last word. "And if you get tagged with a hospital transport disc because you didnt stand far enough back, then don't come back."
"But, I-"
"I said no."
Her chin jutted out in defiance. "Fine. Screw you, Hardy." Mori turned around and headed down the passageway, throwing one hand behind her in parting. Around her mentor, the air hummed for a brief second before his form blended into the background.
Sang paused as he watched his hands disappear in front of him, an odd buzzing between his ears as the rest of his body disappeared from sight. Frowning slightly, he hurried to catch up with the young woman. That was a new trick, and one that he clearly hadn't seen before. "When did you train for that?"
"Why do you care?" came the exasperated reply.
"Because, I-"
"All right, kids, that's enough." Scim's voice called back through the tunnel. "Sang, quit the pillow talk, and get moving." He hovered over a small patch of ground, waiting for the tank to catch up. "Go on, I'll be right behind her... oh, stop that," he admonished Mori, whose Stealth hadn't been able to completely conceal her expression. "You're just going to have to suck it up for now."
She gave a self-righteous sniff and kept walking. "I don't need pity," she declared in an injured tone. The last thing that Mori wanted was a baby-sitter.
Scimitar laughed again, making sure to stay a few steps behind her. "If it hasn't occurred to you already, this isn't pity. It's common sense. You just don't have the skills to run off on your own, yet. Contrary to what you might think, none of us really want to see you ported off to the medical center every time we head out."
She grumbled something incoherent, following the rest of the group. The passageway emptied into a large cavern, pools of water reflecting the glow of luminescent moss here and there. At the mouth of the cavern, the group had gathered next to a large rock outcropping, each of the heroes assessing the situation inside.
The Professor made a motion to the back of the cave. "I count six shamans, including the pair in the back," he noted quietly. "They've got three of the hostages there."
Pong nodded, arms folded across his chest. "And four times as many undead running around. Fantastic."
Junk stepped up, rubbing his hands together and grinning. Clearly, the thought of two dozen lumbering rotting corpses didn't bother him as much as it should. "Sang, I think it's time for you to do a little round-up," he offered.
Sang arched an eyebrow. "Nova time?"
"Nova time." The blaster flexed his fingers as he spoke.
"Wait, what about the shaman?" The Professor spoke up, causing Junk's smile to fade slightly. "The last thing we need is for either of you to be held before you can get an attack off.'\"
"The 'wang can take care of the shaman," Pong quipped. "With a little help from the Professor, perhaps?" He looked to the older hero, who nodded in agreement. "Perfect."
Sang stepped forward, the Invisibility wearing off as he did. "Well then, here goes." Tossing his mace from one hand to the other, he grinned fiercely. "Hey! Hero on deck!" As a nearby group of Chamber grunted and looked up, the red-armored tanker took off on a quick jog around the room, often charging into packs of five and six to lead them back to the center of the room. As each shaman came forward to retaliate, a torrent of ice would hold them down as a streak of gold-white rushed up, the silver katana making short work of each target before the obligatory port disc could be affixed.
Three of the shaman blinked out of sight after falling, proof that Paragon City would have a trio of new additions to the prison for at least a little while. In the center of the room, Sang dodged a blow as he kept the attention of the group, waiting for the blaster to move forward. Junk paused a few meters from the group, hands thrust out as an azure-white burst sped to the center. The tidy ball of energy gave a quick pulse as it folded in upon itself, only to erupt outwards on second later. The resulting shockwave shot out in all directions, flattening the group such that they made a neat circle about the tanker's feet.
The blaster grinned fiercely at the display. "That's how it's supposed to go," he laughed, backing up as a column of green rose up around him. Fully healed once more, he joined the group in taking down the last of the shaman in the room. With the last one tagged and ported, the pharmacy workers took off down the passageway, nearly knocking over Mori in the process.
"Well, I sure hope they don't run into anything on the way out," she remarked dryly. "I wonder why Paragon doesn't bother to give us any transport discs to get -them- to safety."
Scim snorted behind her. "Multi-destination transport discs... you have no idea how many times I've mentioned that to them, but no one ever listens..."
This CoH fanfic was written by V. Likenesses and attitudes of all characters are property of their respective owners.