[06th April 2011]

[Bay Central Hospital, Downtown, Brockton Bay, United States of America, Earth Bet]

Kneel. Steady. Launch...

...discard RPG launcher and continue to retreat. Improved haste was fading now, seconds ticking by as my gloved hand impacted the ground and summon the earth one more time into a stone barrier as the explosion erupted on the other side. Not much of one, but 'warhead' was a slimy-gung that could restrain a tank...as damaging Cain by all reports outside traps and indirect means led to causal fuckery to the attacker. I didn't have time to do that directly as I turned and ran again; had to buy time as the stone broke behind me. This thing was tearing through magically hardened stone like it was made of fucking paper and easily pacing me.

"Stairs are rigged" Cheshire's came over the communicator as I moved, a glance back showing clawed hands prying their way out of the barrier...

"Copy, Barrier down?"

"Barrier down"

"Then blow'em, I'm Dooring out! Ten seconds!" I replied summoning divine power, flinging a topaz crystal behind me so that erupted in a searing orb of blinding bright and hot holy light. The power surging through me wasn't for that though, instead I poured it into my staff, driving it into the empty air before me and connecting to beacon of hellish power distant to rent dimensional barriers at my command. Always prepare your escape routes, and while I could have used it earlier...there were too many lives at stake to just run. Not now though as the black slit widened as my staff reached the ground, the rumble of Jade's explosives coming to my ears as I stepped through...

...into a fading sunset on a road it looked like as I dashed through. No matter, no time to think, as I gripped a flash-bang, flicking the pin with my thumb before throwing it back behind me into the black rectangle. But I had to keep moving, staff at the ready, ignore the eyes watching me, as the very angry primordial likely behind as I 'foolishly' waited 'too long' with my dimensional tear. The primordial had own such abilities, and it was best hope trickery worked by dint of me being the annoying insect that had just disrupted his grand summoning and city-wide mind-control ritual. I know if I was an undead blood-sucking sorcerer I'd certainly want to kill me right now.

"Here you come to flee his coming wrath, to walk along the shadowed path. Now we will see battle joined, to have your worth truly defined"

"Oh, shut up you damned rhyming demon..." I ground out at the seven foot tall red-skinned demon towering over, and mocking me, as I waited for...felt the approach of the undead thing, wreathed in power. I got on well with Jason Blood, but Etrigan was another story as I saw the local superheroes out in numbers along with those soldiers of theirs with non-lethal weapons "...I'm still fucking alive, as are the civies, and that counts! Let's see you do better when the rage-vampire charges through for my blood like right about..."

The roar was bestial, enraged as clawed hands gripped the dimensional door and my magic shuddered as the creature ripped control from my hands, stepping through "...now"

"Containment foam" someone, a commanding woman in the air, called out, one of the locals I found as the well built demon warrior shouldered his unholy fiery greatsword with an easy one handed move. I kept moving, using the moments to gain space, as I retreated at a backwards step and watching as 'foam' exploded out from a van that came in at speed as confused colourfully clad people hovered about. Good sign they were out in numbers...bad sign that they thought the undead horror would be held by foam. Hopefully it was stronger stuff that I thought, and at least they weren't rushing in to punch the reality-warper ala Superman, or Connor would have.

As I'd expected, feared, the 'containment foam' had little impact as the stuff enveloped Cain's wolf-man body...and the Sire of All Vampires simply burned through. Or perhaps decayed his way through it was the correct term as odd foam substance simply rotted away around his now bare-chested human form strolled out, glaring around in irritation. In sunlight, I hated seeing the unaffected nature of it, though I felt the Dimensional Anchor cast by the large Demon Knight as he slammed his fiery blade into the ground with a gout of flames that temporarily trapped our foe in this dimension, this area. My own Dimension Door warped and twisted, then flashed out of existence.

"Fear aura" I muttered calmly as the darkness, invisible, yet shivering the very air at a far greater distance than my own flowed out as Cain jumped forward, crumpling the front and engine of the 'PRT' van with the force, before jumping skywards, wings emerging from his back. For the moment I just watched, caught by surprise by the move as instead of attacking after catching sight of myself and Etrigan the Vampire Sire decided to try go airborne. Not that I could do much as I took a moment to recover my strength, but Etrigan snarled and sent a blast of fire after Cain.

A loud cracking sound filled the air, a booming noise as my haste enhanced head moved and saw a flying woman...Alexandria, the local female Superman...slammed into Cain, her fist smashing into his chest with a stunning impact. The vampire's body flew backwards at barely track-able speed, slamming into the asphalt with a crushing impact, dust filling the air. Alexandria flew forward to crush down upon the vampire, some sort of super speed to finish off the...

...slammed into the being known as Cain, driving through his beating heart causing the universe to rage against this insult given. High above Brockton Bay a cargo plane that had slipped through FAA flight plans due to a navigation error had experienced a mechanical error, part of the fuselage falling off, and screaming down through the sky to smashing into Alexandria's head on its torn, sharpened, edge. The force drove her head forward and down, body below her neck being knocked upwards where the second piece impacted a few moments later. By the time the eyes of puny mortals could track she had slammed head first into the lamppost at the edge of...

[Wait, that's not what I wanted to write...]

"Oh...shite" I muttered as one of the local heavies went down, and I moved at the same time as Etrigan. It was one thing to expect a backlash based on strength, but this was quite another as someone fired beams into the dust cloud in a panic. My own movement was a jump and dash to the downed superhero, though my healing was unneeded thankfully as I saw the masked and cloaked woman stagger out of the impact crater she'd made shaking her head. Seeing she wasn't dead I chanted out a spell of flight, watching as the heroes came alive and then...

...suffered the right full fate for daring to harm the Blessed One, the Suffering One, the One known as Cain with their pathetic,borrowed, mortal powers...

[What? No, he's supposed to get knocked down by...]

I pushed myself up into the sky as...weird shit happened really, a piano falling out of a window and dropping on a woman in white shooting laser beams, while a flock of birds flew into the face of another flyer, causing him to slam into a nearby building. Probability manipulation was bullshit as a power, though Etrigan was able to deal with...though sadly he went flying through the air into a building thanks to the punch of a horribly mutilated looking topless man. Or at least he was horibily mutilated for a few seconds as I felt the Life Drain, saw the armoured men nearby die, corpses falling to the ground...

...then rise again at a gesture of the now unharmed vampire. My hand went to my chest, drawing another topaz, infusing divine energy into it, then flinging it at the bloody corpses just after they turned their guns on the nearest local heroes. I moved in the air as the searing orb of divine light ignited between the two armed corpses and disintegrated them before they could do any more damage than apparently wounding a local hero. They clearly hadn't listened to Jason, or they had failed to grasp what the Mark of Cain truly meant to a fight with the damned monster. Whatever the case I flew over to the nearest casualty, a girl in an all white with pink-red stripes with a...pool cue?...driven through her shoulder.

"No, no, Healer!" I stated commandingly gripping her, holding her down a second as I pulled out the shattered piece of wood before doing a crude and fast healing "Healer! Helping! See! Better!"

"Ugh, ugh...what?" she asked me confused, but I shook my masked head, gesturing at the battle. There really wasn't time, but best to advise her not to repeat the process I found.

"Don't hit him directly, he has a warping effect inflicting damage when you harm him!"

"That's...really unfair!" she choked out and I shrugged as I helped her stand, looking for the next to heal and use to give warning. Really, it was desperate unfair now wasn't it?

Ding~a~ling~Ding~a~ling~Ding~a~ling...

"Don't I know it, now spread the word! Aim for indirect attacks, have him walk into debris if you can! It's...is that an ice-cream truck?"

...Ding~a~ling~Ding~a~ling~Ding~a~ling...

Oh, it was...

Except it was on fire, and Etrigan was driving it...

I could just stare a moment as he shrieked past at great speed 'This job gets more terrifying, yet ridiculous, with each passing day'

--